LawFuel.com –
LEV L. DASSIN, the United States Attorney for the
Southern District of New York; WEYSAN DUN, the Special Agent-in-
Charge of the Newark Office of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (“FBI”); and JOSEPH M. DEMAREST JR., the Assistant
Director-in-Charge of the New York Office of the FBI, announced
today that ANGELO PRISCO, a Captain in the Genovese Organized
Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra, was found guilty after a two-week
jury trial before United States District Judge NAOMI REICE
BUCHWALD of crimes including murder, racketeering, racketeering
conspiracy, robbery, extortion, firearms crimes, property theft,
and operating an illegal gambling business.
According to the evidence at trial and other documents
filed in the case:
PRISCO was “made,” or inducted, as a member of the
Genovese Organized Crime Family in the late 1970s and was later
promoted to Captain. As a Captain, PRISCO supervised, oversaw
and profited from the criminal activities of his own crew of
Genovese Family soldiers and associates. PRISCO’s crew operated
in the New York City area and in New Jersey.
On June 2, 1992, PRISCO arranged the murder of ANGELO
SANGIUOLO, who was PRISCO’s own first cousin. PRISCO received
the order to kill SANGIUOLO from VINCENT GIGANTE, a/k/a “The
Chin,” who was then the Boss of the Genovese Organized Crime
Family. GIGANTE ordered PRISCO to murder SANGIUOLO because
SANGIUOLO had been stealing from another Genovese soldier.
PRISCO assigned two members of his crew, one of whom was JOHN
LETO, a/k/a “Johnny Balls,” to carry out the murder. PRISCO
lured SANGIUOLO to PRISCO’s social club in the Bronx. When
SANGIUOLO arrived, PRISCO told him to get into a van with LETO
and the other crew member. Inside the van, LETO shot SANGIUOLO
numerous times, killing him. SANGIUOLO’s body was left in the
back of the van in the parking lot of a McDonald’s restaurant in
the Bronx. PRISCO then picked up LETO at the McDonald’s and
accompanied him while LETO disposed of the murder weapon.
PRISCO was found guilty of conspiring to commit
robberies with members of his crew, from 1991 to 1992, and later,
in 2003 to 2005. In robberies in 1991 and 1992, PRISCO oversaw
various crew members who carjacked and robbed at gunpoint jewelry
dealers who were transporting large quantities of gold and other
jewelry that they had purchased in the Dominican Republic.
PRISCO received $20,000 in cash from one robbery, and a bag of
gold worth about $50,000 from another robbery. PRISCO also
bragged about the armed robberies at his Bronx social club, where
he passed around a December 13, 1991, Newsday article about the
robberies.
Also, from 2003 to 2005, PRISCO ordered, approved, and
supervised multiple violent home invasion robberies targeting
individuals believed to possess cash in their homes. During the
robberies, numerous victims were tied up and beaten inside their
own homes. PRISCO had to “green light” the robberies before they
could occur, and PRISCO received a portion of any money stolen
during the home invasions. PRISCO also instructed his crew
members on his own personal robbery “policy” — specifically,
that his crew members should “play dumb” if it turned out that
they had robbed another person who was tied to organized crime.
PRISCO also was found guilty of extortion and
conspiracy to extort a Manhattan construction company owner.
PRISCO and his crew first extorted the victim’s company in 1997,
when a member of PRISCO’s crew at the time broke a glass coffee
pot over the head of the victim’s business partner. Members of
PRISCO’s crew then pressured the victim and his business partner
to drop the assault charge against that crew member. Seven years
later, various other members of PRISCO’s crew — acting on
PRISCO’s orders, and following PRISCO’s advice about how to
collect the money — returned to the same construction company
and threatened to cut off the victim’s finger and harm the
victim’s family. The victim paid PRISCO and his crew a total of
$50,000. In addition, PRISCO extorted other individuals and
businesses, including the owner of a diner in the Bronx; the
owner of a night club in Manhattan; and an electrical contractor
in Brooklyn.
PRISCO was found guilty of (1)racketeering conspiracy;
(2) racketeering; (3) Hobbs Act Robbery conspiracy; (4)
possession and use of firearms in connection with crime of
violence; (5) extortion conspiracy; (6) extortion; (7) interstate
transportation of stolen property; (8) receipt, possession, or
sale of stolen property; (9) operating illegal gambling business
PRISCO, 69, faces a maximum sentence of life in prison
and a mandatory minimum sentence of fifteen years in prison. He
is scheduled to be sentenced on July 23, 2009.
Mr. DASSIN praised the work of the FBI’s New York Field
Office and the FBI’s Newark Field Office, which was instrumental
in developing the evidence supporting PRISCO’s prosecution. Mr.
DASSIN also praised the New Jersey State Commission of
Investigation; the Orange County, New York District Attorney’s
Office; the Westchester County, New York District Attorney’s
Office; the New York State Police; the New York City Office of
the Chief Medical Examiner; the New York Police Department; the
United States Bureau of Prisons; the Morris County, New Jersey
Prosecutor’s Office; the Rockaway Township, New Jersey Police
Department, all of which contributed to the investigation and
prosecution of the case.
Assistant United States Attorneys ELIE HONIG and LISA
ZORNBERG are in charge of the prosecution.
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