Glen Cove Mobster Gets Prison Time For Racketeering Conspiracy

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The 67-year-old Glen Cove resident is an associate of the Gambino crime family, officials say.

The last of seven members and associates of the Gambino and Bonanno crime families, hailing from Queens and Long Island, were sentenced to prison this month for their involvement in loan-sharking, illegal gambling and narcotics trafficking, according to the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.

Anthony Saladino, 67, of Glen Cove, an associate of the Gambino family, was sentenced on Dec. 6 to 63 months in prison for racketeering conspiracy.

“Organized crime continues to plague our communities with violence, coercion, and intimidation,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney said in a press release. “The mobsters grow richer while their victims live in fear as they struggle to make payments while dealing with daily threats. Today’s sentences demonstrate that the shirt button of a ‘made man’ is no match for a badge."

Other co-conspirators who were sentenced include:

  • Frank “Frankie Boy” Salerno, 43, 0f Queens, a soldier in the Bonanno organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra, was sentenced on Thursday to 60 months in prison for racketeering conspiracy.

  • John "Johnny Boy" Ambrosio, 72, of Huntington, an acting captain in the Gambino organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra, was sentenced on Dec. 6 to 51 months in prison for racketeering conspiracy. He pleaded guilty to loan-sharking and illegal gambling charges in March.

  • Anthony Rodolico, 46, of Huntington, an associate of the Gambino family. He was sentenced on Nov. 5 to one year in prison.

  • Joseph Durso, 26, of Glen Cove, an associate of the Gambino family. He was sentenced on Nov. 5 to two months in prison.

  • Thomas Anzalone, 44, of Queens, an associate of the Gambino family. He was sentenced on July 24 to 34 months in prison.

  • Alessandro "Sandro" Damelio, 49, of Queens, an associate of the Gambino family. He was sentenced on July 11 to two months in prison.

Ambrosio and his co-defendants were involved in a racketeering conspiracy from January 2014 to December 2017, officials say. Salerno would collect payments from extortionate loans and gambling-related debts, often at the direction of Ambrosio, officials say. They would collect loans from numerous individuals, often charging high interest rates and employing violent and threatening collection methods, officials say.

Ambrosio also was involved with a variety of gambling operations, including illegal poker games, electronic gaming machines and internet sports betting, officials say. Damelio, Durso, Salerno and Saladino were allegedly responsible for many of the daily operations.

Anzalone, Damelio, Durso, Saladino and Salerno also distributed a variety of narcotics, including cocaine, marijuana and Xanax, officials say.

Ambrosio and company were arrested on Dec. 12, 2017 after law enforcement executed search warrants at several locations, including a storage facility in Nassau County. Gambling and loan sharking records, electronic gaming machines, narcotics and narcotics paraphernalia, and numerous firearms, including an AR-15, a .38 caliber revolver and a sawed-off shotgun were recovered.

As part of his sentence, Ambrosio will forfeit $100,000, including $66,116 in cash that was seized from his residence in Huntington on December 2017.

“These individuals were caught up in an elaborate racketeering conspiracy; acting as loan sharks, operating underground gambling rings and trafficking narcotics,” Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent-in-Charge Angel Melendez said. “Today’s sentencing should serve as notice to those pursue this criminal lifestyle, that law enforcement is diligently investigating these cases and you will be caught and serve time for your actions.”

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