9 New York mobsters busted for racketeering/money laundering

For a decade, families visited a small coffee shop in suburban Long Island for pastries and gelato. Most were unaware of the longstanding gambling operation playing out just feet away from them: a secret underground gambling den in the store. Several across the island and in Queens served as a front for two of New York’s oldest crime families. The Long Island coffee shop alone typically earned them more than $10k per week. When other gambling clubs threatened their turf, Nassau County detective Hector Rosario, 49, offered to conduct police raids on the rival clubs in exchange for payments. 9 members and associates of the Genovese and Bonanno clans, and the dirty cop, were charged in a racketeering case.

Carmelo Polito

The Gran Caffe was opened around May 2012 and members of the two clans agreed on a profit split. The pattern was similar at the other fronts, which included Sal’s Shoe Repair in Merrick, N.Y., and La Nazionale Soccer Club in Queens.

Bonanno capo Anthony Pipitone

Genovese family capo Carmelo Polito, 63, threatened and extorted money from a man who lost several thousand dollars in bets, saying he would break the man’s face in a taped October 2019 call.