Reputed NYC Colombo mobster released from jail on $5 million bond
A top-echelon Colombo crime family leader was freed Friday on $5 million bond over the objections of federal prosecutors.
Mob consigliere Ralph DiMatteo, 66, walked out of a Brooklyn jail just five months after making headlines when his son posted a photo of his fugitive father lounging in a in sunny Florida pool following a September 2021 federal indictment.
DiMatteo eventually surrendered and was charged with 13 other reputed mobsters on racketeering and extortion charges for the attempted takeover of a local labor union.
DiMatteo’s release won’t be a day at the beach. Under the agreement, the reputed Mafioso agreed to electronic monitoring, with freedom from his home limited to attorney visits, court appearances, medical treatment and religious services.
Defense attorney Gerald McMahon argued that DiMatteo’s release was important in preparing their case. The $5 million bond was co-signed by his wife, daughter and niece.
DiMatteo, indicted alongside family boss Andrew “Mush” Russo and underboss Benjamin Castellazzo, turned himself in three days after the charges were made public. Prosecutors lost the battle to keep him inside the Metropolitan Detention Center, just as the 87-year-old Russo was freed last October on a $10 million bond.
In court papers, authorities asserted that DiMatteo continued to orchestrate family business from inside the Brooklyn federal lockup, even making calls from inside the jail to Colombo members on the outside. In one recorded chat, he somewhat ironically advised a relative to “stay off the phones” because of possible FBI surveillance.
Another call cited by prosecutors captured DiMatteo advising a Colombo associate to avoid a garage once used as a crime family meeting spot because the feds were aware of the location.
“In the months since his arrest. DiMatteo has continued to associate with and communicate with members of organized crime, seek their financial assistance, and remain involved in the affairs of the Colombo family,” prosecutors alleged.
“The weight of the evidence against DiMatteo is overwhelming,” the eight-page court filing continued. “The government’s evidence includes witness testimony, wiretap intercepts, consensual recordings ... text messages, surveillance photographs.”
But Brooklyn Federal Court Magistrate James Cho ruled DiMatteo was not a flight risk, ultimately deciding home detention and phone monitoring was enough to “alleviate the risk” posed by the senior citizen gangster.
The indictment detailed a long-running mob operation to loot money from the union representing construction workers in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, with an eye on taking over the operation and its lucrative health care fund.
Court papers mentioned Colombo capo Vincent Ricciardo threatening to whack a union official who was already forced to turn over part of his salary to the mob.
“I’ll put him in the ground, right in front of his wife and kids, right in front of his f---ing house,” said Ricciardo, according to court documents. “You laugh all you want, pal. I’m not afraid to go to jail. Let me tell you something, to prove a point?
