Prosecutors: Sweep cripples Gambino crime family
NEW YORK (CNN) -- A massive anti-Mafia sweep that stretched from New York to Sicily has not only cut off the head of the Gambino crime family but lopped off "the shoulders and chest" too, prosecutors said Thursday.
Sixty-two members of the Gambino, Genovese and Bonanno families face 80 charges, ranging from money laundering to illegal gambling and murder.
"These charges strike at the very core of the Gambino family," said Benton Campbell, United States attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
The Gambino family profited from extortion within the New York construction industry and its labor unions, according to the charges.
Several companies allegedly paid a "mob tax" in return for "protection" and "permission to operate," said Gordon Heddell, inspector general of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Other charges involve an alleged illegal gambling ring, said Richard Brown, Queens County district attorney.
Nicholas Corozzo -- a reputed captain in the Gambino family -- was involved in a sports gambling enterprise that relied in part on toll-free telephones, Brown alleged....
"Today we are able to bring closure to crimes from the past that have never been forgotten," Campbell said. He said the crimes span back over three decades.
Key to the Gambino arrests Thursday was a member of the Attorney General's Organized Crime Task Force who infiltrated the Gambino family and recorded hundred of hours of conversations, said John Milgrim, a spokesman for the attorney general.
