Former mafia boss Michael Franzese sounds warning over match-fixing

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Gambino Sanitaion boss Grimaldi, Pleads Guilty:

NEW YORK—A top Department of Sanitation official pleaded guilty on Tuesday on bribery charges in connection with the Gambino organized crime family.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo’s office said that New York City Department of Sanitation Deputy Chief Frederick Grimaldi, 44, was involved in a scheme where he obtained illegal kickbacks for a construction project.

Grimaldi apparently got the kickbacks while overseeing a Department of Sanitation contract on building blocks that were supposed house road salt. His father-in-law, an alleged Gambino crime family member Michael Murdocco, orchestrated the deal, said Cuomo’s office.

“This corrupt Sanitation manager betrayed the public and the city agency where he held a coveted, well-paid position,” said Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn. “Fittingly, he stands convicted of a felony, his fate sealed by his own greed, incriminating words, and conduct,” said Hearn.

Another man, William Cosidente, 45, also had connections with Murdocco, pleaded guilty on the same day on extortion charges.

Cosidente was the apparent “muscle” in an illegal sports betting ring controlled by an organized crime syndicate operating out of Staten Island. According to Cuomo’s office, Murdocco had Cosidente strong arm various people to collect gambling debts.

Grimaldi pleaded guilty on bribe receiving in the third degree and will receive somewhere between 2-7 years when sentenced. He is expected to be sentenced on July 14. Cosidente will be sentenced on May 27 for grand larceny and will receive between 1.3 to 4 years.

Murdocco pleaded guilty last year on Enterprise Corruption charges and will be sentenced on June 22.

The gambling ring was run by the Gambino family, generating hundreds of thousands of dollars. Gamblers bet on horse races, professional football, baseball, hockey, and basketball games. If the gambler didn’t pay up, the crime family would use threats of violence to get their money.

“My office will continue to work closely with our colleagues at all levels of law enforcement in our ongoing efforts to combat organized crime in our neighborhoods and corruption in our government,” said Cuomo.

The attorney general’s Organized Crime Task Force along with the NYPD obtained evidence via wiretaps and traditional investigative techniques, said Cuomo’s office.

Back in November, Gambino crime family captain Carmine Sciandra pleaded guilty on enterprise corruption and grand larceny for his role in the crime syndicate, which included loan sharking and illegal gambling. He is forced to give up $1.2 million and will be sentenced to 1.5 to 4.5 years in prison starting on June 22. http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/33319/

Jeffrey Castardi,Guilty plea in Gin Rummy club illegal gambling case

Jeffrey Castardi

A man who ran a high-stakes poker business in Denver catering to Denver media figures and sports personalities and allegedly had ties to the New York mob, has pleaded guilty to violating Colorado's Organized Crime Control Act, Colorado Attorney General John Suthers announced today.

The man, Jeffrey Castardi, 48, who ran the Gin Rummy Club, 2380 South Broadway, faces up to 24 years in prison when sentenced on Dec. 14 in Jefferson County district court

According to an indictment returned by the state grand jury, Castardi was the ringleader of an organization that involved gambling, bookmaking and loan sharking - all of which Castardi learned during his youth and early adult years when he lived in the New York City area

Investigators said that Castardi told people who engaged in Castardi's high stakes poker and sports-betting or bookmaking activities that the Gin Rummy Club was a Mafia or mob-affiliated establishment.

Castardi's use of this tactic was designed to strengthen the intimidating influence of Gin Rummy Club and also to further the success of the club's illicit business methods, according to investigators.

Among the people who frequented the club were former Broncos fullback Reggie Rivers; former Broncos running back Rod Bernstine; Francois Safieddine, president of the Monarck nightclub in Denver; and John Sacha, a pain medicine doctor who teaches poker strategy on a "Dr. Poker" instructional video.
In announcing Castardi's guilty plea, Suthers said that Castardi's operation allegedly collected significant amounts of money between May 2003 and late 2008 through a "complex, persistent and intimidating system of individual debt collectors, front businesses and various bank accounts."

Castardi and his associates were suspected of violating numerous laws including running an illegal professional gambling and bookmaking business, loan-sharking, money laundering, tax evasion, theft and unlawful debt collection.

A key to the enterprise, said the grand jury, was a system established at the Gin Rummy Club where poker players and those betting on sports played on credit.
The system was referred to as playing on the "book."

The existence of the book often led players to accrue significant financial debt to the Gin Rummy Club and Castardi. Some players and others then felt it was necessary to take out "street loans" that were usually orchestrated and financed by Castardi.
Ralph Gagliardi , an agent with the Colorado Bureau of Investigation, said the club would take in as much as $750,000 in a single year.

In 1988, Castardi was arrested on Long Island for promoting gambling. Also involved in the gambling operation was Richard Giordonello, a member of Gambino captain Nicholas "Little Nicky" Corozzo's crew