Alleged NYC mob figure arrested near Charlotte, charged with violent extortion of union
An alleged high-ranking member of a notorious New York crime family was arrested in Waxhaw on Tuesday, part of a federal crackdown on what court documents describe as the longtime Mafia extortion of an East Coast labor union.
Vincent “Vinnie Unions” Ricciardo, identified as a captain in the Colombo crime family, appeared in federal court in Charlotte on Tuesday morning. He was to be transferred to the custody of federal officials in New York, where his case and those of other defendants will be prosecuted.
In all, about a dozen suspected Mafia figures — including top Colombo crime boss Andrew “Mush” Russo, 87, and most of his lieutenants — were named in a 19-count indictment issued from the federal courts in the Eastern District of New York.
Jacquelyn Kasulis, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said the defendants’ crimes are part of “a long-standing, ruthless pattern” to prey on the unnamed union and its leaders.
The charges include racketeering, loansharking, Hobbs Act extortion, money laundering, drug trafficking and conspiracy to steal and embezzle health care benefit funds, among other allegations.
“Everything we allege in this investigation proves history does indeed repeat itself. The underbelly of the crime families in New York City is alive and well,” said Michael Driscoll, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York field office.
“These soldiers, consiglieres, under bosses and bosses are obviously not students of history and don’t seem to comprehend that we’re going to catch them.”
Most of the Tuesday arrests took place in reputed Mafia hot spots New York and New Jersey.
Ricciardo, paradoxically, was picked up by the FBI in Waxhaw, a bucolic, gentrifying Union County community of 10,000 some 30 miles southeast of Charlotte. He had been been living with family there for an undetermined time. The Department of Justice lists Ricciardo as a resident of Franklin Square, N.Y.
Court documents portray the 75-year-old as a violent enforcer in the mob’s 20-year conspiracy to extort the union.
The Colombo family used threats of bodily harm to siphon off a portion of the salary of one union executive, federal prosecutors say. Since 2019, according to the indictment, the defendants also strong-armed the union to use vendors associated with the Colombo family while ordering a union executive, identified as John Doe #1, to divert $10,000 a month from the union’s health fund into the mob’s hands.
In a June 21 recorded phone call, Ricciardo threatened to kill Doe if he did not meet the crime family’s demands, according to court documents.
“I’ll put him in the ground right in front of his wife and kids, right in front of his f-----g house,” Ricciardo said, according to prosecutors. “You laugh all you want, pal, I’m not afraid to go to jail. Let me tell you something: To prove a point? I would f-----g shoot him right in front of his wife and kids.”
The other defendants named in the indictment are:
▪ Joseph Bellantoni, 39 of Massapequa, N.Y.
▪ Benjamin “Benji” Castellazzo, 83, of Manahawkin, N.J, an alleged “under boss” of the Colombo family.
▪ Thomas Costa, 52, of West Islip, N.Y., described in the indictment as a Colombo “associate.”
▪ Ralph Dimatteo, 66, of Merrick, N.Y., the alleged “consiglieri,” or counselor, for the Colombo family, who remained at large on Tuesday.
▪ Richard Ferrara, 59, of Brooklyn, identified in the indictment as a captain and soldier in the Colombo family.
▪ John Glover, 62, of Queens, N.Y.
▪ Vincent Martino, 43, of Medford, N.Y.
▪ Theodore “Teddy” Persico Jr., 58, of Brooklyn, an alleged Colombo captain and soldier
▪ John Ragano, 59, of Franklin Square, N.Y., an alleged soldier with the Bonanno crime family.
▪ Domenick Ricciardo, 56, of Franklin Square, an alleged Colombo associate.
▪ Erin Thompkins, 53, of Franklin Square.
▪ Michael Uvino, 56, of Garden City, New York, an acting Colombo captain and soldier.
