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The New York Eastern District Attorney’s Office announced the arrest of practically t all the leaders of the Colombo mafia clan, accused of blackmailing a construction workers union for two decades.
On Tuesday, 11 members of the leadership and several associates of the Colombo crime family , including all clan leadership of the mafia , were accused in a case of labor extortion filed by the United States Attorney’s office in Brooklyn.
All but two of the men went to were arrested Tuesday morning in New York and New Jersey , prosecutors said. Another was turned over to authorities on Tuesday; Another defendant, identified as the family consigliere, remained at large, prosecutors said.
The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York unveiled the imputation of a total of fourteen people , including ten members or collaborators of the Colombo -including their boss- and a member of the Bonanno, two of the great families of La Cosa Nostra New York.
Among those arrested is Andrew “Mush” Russo , of 87 years and the head of the Colombo; Benjamin “Benji” Castellazzo , his number two; and several “captains” and “soldiers” of the mafia group.
Ralph DiMatteo, the clan’s “consigliere”, is the only accused who by now remains on the run.
According to prosecutors, The Colombos had been operating a plot for about twenty years to extort money from the leadership of a construction union to to make decisions in favor of their businesses and keep part of their salaries.
The alleged criminals used various threats for this; For example, the Prosecutor’s Office highlights a call recorded last June in which one of the accused threatened to assassinate a union leader if it did not meet your requirements.
“Everything we allege in this investigation proves that history repeats itself. The support of the New York crime families is alive and well. These soldiers, consiglieres, deputy chiefs and chiefs are clearly not students of history and do not seem to understand that we are going to catch them “, said the deputy director of the FBI office in New York, Michael Driscoll .