I can't imagine the millions of dollars spent on investigations and court costs into some alleged two bit loan operation.

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Did your wife use the ladies room while you were there? They would take over the ladies room to hold their most sensitive conferences because they thought it wasn't bugged. Of course it was. The famous line caught on tape, "go piss in the street lady, we're talkin here". It was in the ladies room where the Genoveses hatched a plan to whack John Gotti in retalliation for whacking Castellano. The feds picked it up on the bug and felt duty bound to advise Gotti of the plot. Ironically, they approached Gotti in a mens room in NY with the information.

Jersey City Mobster Convicted Of Racketeering, Loansharking
WNBC - May 24,2006

NEWARK, N.J. -- A Jersey City man who prosecutors say was a soldier in the Genovese crime family has been convicted of racketeering and loansharking.

Michael Crincoli, 46, an Italian national who once ran loansharking activities from a deli he owned in Jersey City, was one of 16 reputed mobsters rounded up last summer in a gambling ring bust, but he was the only one to decline a plea bargain.

"It shows a thorough analysis of the evidence and is another blow by the government against organized crime," Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Faye Schwartz told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Wednesday's newspapers, about Crincoli's conviction.

During the Tuesday court proceeding, Crincoli was also acquitted on one count of extortion and one count of transporting in aid of extortion.

The arrests of the Genovese family members were the result of a four-year federal investigation.

Crincoli is to be sentenced August 24, and is expected to spend about seven years in prison after which he will be forced to leave the country.

Jurors, who deliberated for two days, heard testimony from four men who said Crincoli lent them thousands of dollars but charged a weekly interest of 3 percent. Crincoli was also photographed with reputed Genovese members Lawrence "Little Larry" Dentico and Joseph "Big Joe" Scarbrough, and heard on taps provided by federal informant Peter "Petey Cap" Caporino.

Jersey City 'mobster' convicted

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

By JOHN P. MARTIN

NEWHOUSE NEWS SERVICE

A former Jersey City deli owner whom prosecutors described as a made member or powerful associate of the Genovese crime family was convicted yesterday of racketeering and loansharking.

A federal jury in Newark deliberated for more than two days before finding Michael Crincoli guilty of racketeering and multiple counts of extortion. He was acquitted on a single extortion count and also of transporting in aid of extortion.

"It shows a thorough analysis of the evidence and is another blow by the government against organized crime," Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Faye Schwartz said of the verdict.

Crincoli, 46, was among 16 suspected mobsters charged after a roundup last summer, but the only one to decline a plea bargain.

Prosecutors said he handled at least tens of thousands of dollars in loans for the mob, charging weekly interest rates of 2 percent or 3 percent. Four borrowers, including three diner owners who had amassed gambling debts, testified for the government.

The indictments and subsequent trial also forced the courtroom debut of a longtime FBI informant, Peter "Petey Cap" Caporino.

Caporino, 69, who owned a social club in Hoboken, said he spent more than 40 years in the mob and more than 15 feeding information to the FBI.

His attorney, Michael Ferrante, was disappointed but not surprised.

"There was a mountain of evidence here," Ferrante said, pointing to Caporino's recordings of Crincoli. "Jurors have a tendency to make people responsible for their own words."

U.S. District Judge William Martini scheduled sentencing for Aug. 24 and ordered the defendant to remain under house arrest. Crincoli faces between six and seven years in prison, Schwartz said.

Years ago my wife and I stumbled upon Casellas, not knowing that it was a mob hangout. Other than the two of us, there was a round table of 8 or 9 guys on the other side of the room. Every so often the waiter would bring them drinks and appetizers. It seemed like they stayed there indefinitely - eating, digesting, eating some more, laughing, whispering, more eating, etc.

The service was poor. The waiter would disappear into the kitchen, and we heard screaming, pots and pans clanging and things thrown about. We got the feeling that they were not interested in our business. As I recall, the chicken parm and spaghetti I ordered was pretty good, and the service was the worst that I have ever had, but it did make an impression.
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Mob witness describes triple life
Caporino was businessman, numbers runner and FBI informant
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
BY JOHN P. MARTIN
Star-Ledger Staff

Peter "Petey Cap" Caporino spent about 40 years in the mob and nearly half that time as an FBI informant, but looks neither part, which might explain why he was successful at both.

Now 69, Caporino has a slight frame, thick white hair and wire-rimmed glasses. At his courtroom debut yesterday as a mob turncoat, he could have passed for a school administrator or maybe even a museum curator, wearing a light gray double-breasted suit and delivering clipped phrases in a slightly nasal North Jersey accent.

What poured forth, however, was Caporino's criminal autobiography, one that began with him running numbers as a young man at a freight company and ended with him running a hidden recorder during hundreds of conversations with Genovese crime family associates.

Caporino's library of tapes led to charges last summer against 16 defendants, prompting prosecutors to proclaim they had delivered "a body blow" to the state's dominant crime family. Fifteen of them, including high-ranking captain Lawrence "Little Larry" Dentico, have pleaded guilty.

Michael Crincoli, accused of running loansharking operations from a Jersey City deli, was the lone holdout, the one who forced Caporino, the well-known and liked Hasbrouck Heights resident, from the shadows to the witness stand.

Crincoli's trial, now in its third week before U.S. District Judge William Martini in Newark, had so far been a parade of diner owners who testified they had borrowed tens of thousands of dollars from Crincoli at extortionate rates.

As the government's crowning witness, Caporino is expected to spend the next two days explaining to the jury his role as a prolific mob informant. Prosecutors hope he can persuade them Crincoli was not, as his attorney contends, a businessman lending friends money, but part of the organized crime family with Caporino.

"When you say 'our family,' what family were you with?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Schwartz asked.

"The Genovese," Caporino replied, matter of factly.

Caporino said he grew up in Hoboken, served three years in the Army and returned to work at a freight company in Fairfield. A co-worker asked if he wanted to help collect bets from workers.

"He said, 'I'll work the platform, you work the drivers,'" Caporino recalled. "I was a numbers runner."

Bettors won when their numbers matched the winning horses that day at Aqueduct or other racetracks. Caporino said he kept 25 percent of his gross collections, and passed the rest up the ladder.

After his father died, Caporino left the warehouse to take over the family business -- an amusement company that placed pinball machines and pool tables in taverns, he said.

But his numbers ring continued, growing got so big that he soon was introduced to James "Jimmy Nap" Napoli, a powerful Genovese captain. Caporino agreed to pay Napoli 25 percent of his proceeds. In return, he got protection; he was under the mob's wing.

"He said, 'If anyone ever approaches you, you just tell them you're with me, mention my name,'" Caporino recalled.

In 1969, the year of storybook seasons for the Jets and Mets, Caporino expanded into sports bookmaking. From then on, the names of his bosses changed but the operations remained largely the same.

After Napoli went to prison, Caporino said, he began paying $2,500 weekly tribute to Louis Anthony "Bobby" Manna, the New Jersey-based Genovese consigliere. He made his payments through intermediaries at reputed mob hangouts, like Casella's restaurant in Hoboken, and succeeded in getting Manna to ultimately lower his payoffs to $850 a week.

When Manna went to jail in 1988, Caporino said, he paid tributes to his wife, Ida Manna. And in 1998, he shifted his tribute to Joseph "Big Joe" Scarbrough, an associate in West Orange, who pleaded guilty in the case earlier this year.

Caporino had a club, the Character Club, along Monroe Street in Hoboken, where friends came to toss back drinks and "have a good time," he said. All the while Caporino had secretly been helping the FBI.

"I was an informant," he testified, his voice dropping a notch.

For how long? Schwartz, the prosecutor, asked.

"More than 15 years," Caporino replied.

Crincoli watched the witness intently at times, sometimes cracking a half-smile. Other times, he kicked his head back as if he was bored. Caporino rarely returned glances toward the defense table, instead focusing on the prosecutor.

In 2002, Caporino, his wife and about 30 others were arrested on state gambling charges. He decided to become a cooperating FBI witness.

"My wife had been to prison before, and I knew she couldn't do it again," Caporino testified. "I knew she wouldn't be able to do the time."

The couple also has a disabled adult daughter.

Caporino wore a pager for his numbers ring, so agents gave him one with a hidden recorder that they could activate remotely. Toward the end of the three-year probe, he said, they let him turn it on and off by himself.

He taped hundreds of conversations, although prosecutors are expected to play only about 30.

Caporino said he had been considering giving up the business, or relocating his operations. At one point, he said, he went to Philadelphia to meet with an associate who had relocated his betting rooms there.

"He told me how great it was down there, how you could operate much freer than you could up here," Caporino said. "So I went down for a look-see."

But he never made the move.

John P. Martin covers federal courts and law enforcement. He may be reached at (973) 622-3405

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Mob rat on stand at trial of Jersey City 'soldier'
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
By MICHAELANGELO CONTE
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

NEWARK - Eighteen years as a Mafia turncoat came to a climax yesterday when Peter Caporino took the witness stand in U.S. District Court.

Jurors also heard the first of 300 conversations between reputed mobsters recorded over three years by Caporino, who wore a wire for the feds.

Caporino testified for the prosecution against reputed Genovese crime family soldier Michael Crincoli, 46, of Jersey City, who allegedly ran a loansharking and extortion business out of his deli at 944 West Side Ave. Caporino ran a bookmaking operation, also protected by the Genovese family, out of the Character Club in Hoboken.

Caporino said he'd already been working as an informant for the FBI for 15 years when he was busted by the Hudson County Prosecutor's Office on gambling charges in February 2003. At that point, he said, he decided he would go from confidential informant to cooperating witness.

"Cooperating witness meant I would wear a wire and testify," he said.

He said his FBI handlers gave him a recording device, disguised as a pager, that could tape up to 10 hours of conversations.

Caporino's recordings resulted in 16 arrests in 2005. All save one - Crincoli - has since taken a plea deal.

Among those arrested was Lawrence Dentico, 81, of Seaside Park, one of a handful of men thought to run the Genovese crime family since Vincent "the Chin" Gigante was convicted of extortion in 1997. Dentico has pleaded guilty.

Also snared was Joseph "Big Joe" Scarbrough, 66, of West Orange, an alleged Genovese family associate accused of loansharking, illegal gambling and extortion. Scarbrough has pleaded guilty.

Jersey City Incinerator Authority Inspector Russell Fallacara, 38, of Keansburg, was picked up in the sweep and he later admitted he demanded a $100,000 payment from Nacirema Carting and Demolition of Bayonne, which had a contract with Jersey City.

Caporino said he grew up in Hoboken and graduated from Demarest High School, now Hoboken High. He worked for a trucking company before joining the Army; after his discharge, he returned to the trucking company and discovered the man who'd run the local numbers game had died. He and another worker then took it over, he said.

He eventually expanded the business to the point where he had to make a weekly tribute payment to the mob in order to continue operating.

Caporino will likely be on the stand until tomorrow, when Crincoli's attorney will have a chance to cross examine him.

But there is a bright side to borrowing from the mob sharks. If you default, they might break your legs or even kill you but they can never damage your credit score.

Alleged mobster's rackets trial told of loans to ex-restaurateur
Saturday, May 06, 2006
BY GUY STERLING
Star-Ledger Staff

The federal racketeering trial of reputed Genovese crime family associate Michael Crincoli began in Newark yesterday with the former owner of a Greek restaurant claiming Crincoli arranged for him to get thousands of dollars in loans from the mob over the years.

George Vlahos maintained he even got new loans through Crincoli while still paying off old ones. The interest rate on the loans ranged from 1 to 3 percent a week, he testified before U.S. District Judge William Martini, in a trial that is expected to last two to three weeks.

Asked by a prosecutor what could befall him if he failed to make his payments, Vlahos replied: "Anything could happen to me from all the stories I heard. ... I believe I would have to pay by force, or someone would go to my family."

Vlahos, 53, was the first witness to take the stand and the first of three Greek men slated to testify they allegedly got usurious loans from the Mafia through Crincoli, 47, a Jersey City resident who later moved to Las Vegas and is charged in an 11-count indictment.

As part of the case, mob turncoat Peter "Petey Cap" Caporino is scheduled to testify about the loansharking operation of the Genovese family. Thirty of the hundreds of tapes he secretly recorded for the government also will be played, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Faye Schwartz told the jury.

Schwartz and defense lawyer Joseph Ferrante sparred in their opening statements over what Crincoli's relationship to organized crime was and if, in fact, there was anything sinister in the loans he arranged.

The first thing Schwartz said was that Crincoli was Italian-American and an associate of the Mafia, one who ingratiated himself with the Greek community in Jersey City and relied on fear and intimidation to get his loans repaid in a timely manner. But the weekly payments meant little since the only way a loan could be paid back was in a lump sum, she added.

When payments were late, Crincoli resorted to the "Mafia card" by saying the matter was out of his hands and that he'd been ordered to collect the money by higher-ups, often employing mob muscle in the process, Schwartz said.

In addition to presenting the loan victims, the government will prove its case with tapes, surveillance photos, the testimony of Caporino and an FBI expert on the Genovese crime family, the prosecutor added.

Ferrante countered by saying there was no proof he was aware of that Crincoli was a Genovese associate. He did not deny his client arranged the loans for Vlahos, Tommy Triantafillikis and Tommy Diakos but claimed he did so for no other reason than to help out boyhood friends of his.

Those who looked to Crincoli for the loans were mostly degenerate gamblers in search of quick money off the books, the defense attorney added. When loan payments were not made, Crincoli was made responsible for the debts by those supplying the funds because he'd been the one to vouch for those in need, he said.

"You can be involved in illegal loans unwittingly just by making an introduction," Ferrante said, referring to his client's actions. "But if he doesn't pay, you've got to pay. That's the way it was in the realm these men lived in."

Crincoli was one of more than a dozen defendants rounded up in a sweep last year after a three-year investigation of Genovese family activities in North Jersey. He was the only one not to accept a plea deal.