Judge blasts Genovese soldier for hiking costs

A Brooklyn federal judge blasted a Genovese crime family soldier for helping to hike city construction costs by mobbing up work sites, before sending him to prison for mire than two years.

“Every little bit of extortion affects the cost of doing business,” Judge Nicholas Garaufis told James Bernardone, 47, of The Bronx, in Brooklyn federal court Tuesday. “This is part of the big rip-off that goes on in this town day after day, year after year.”

The hoodlum, a former business agent for Local 124 of the International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades, pleaded guilty to conspiring to extort a subcontractor on construction projects in Queens and Manhattan so he could line the crime family’s pockets.

With several teary-eyed relatives sitting in the court gallery to support him, Bernardone apologized to the court and to his union before being sentenced.

“I just want to apologize to the court for letting my members down,” he said. “Now I know what I did was wrong — which I didn’t know then.”

Bernardone’s lawyer said that his client’s judgement had been clouded by drug addiction.



http://nypost.com/2014/08/06/judge-blasts-genovese-soldier-for-hiking-city-construction-costs/

Reputed mobsters get two years in prison for union kickbacks

A reputed Genovese soldier who was forced to resign his $148,000 union position for taking kickbacks at construction sites in downtown Brooklyn and Queens was sentenced Tuesday to 27 months in prison.

James Bernardone, the former secretary treasurer of Local 24 of the International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades, acknowledged in Brooklyn Federal Court that "I let my members down."

Bernardone, 47, pleaded guilty to conspiring with mob associate, Paul Gasparrini, to extort $2-per-load of soil removed from the construction sites.

In letters submitted to Judge Nicholas Garaufis seeking mercy, the gangster was depicted as a modern-day St. Francis of Assisi who built a pigeon coop on the roof of his Bronx building for a tenant's granddaughter who suffers from agoraphobia and also came to the tenant's aid when her dog suffered a seizure.

Other letter writers praised Bernardone for his humanitarian efforts to raise money for surgery for their son.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis urged the judge to send a message to the powerful Genovese crime family that mob shakedowns are not the cost of doing business in the construction industry.

Garaufis agreed. "This is part of the big rip off that goes on in this town, it's insidious," he said.

Gasparrini, 41, was also slapped with a 27-month sentence. Although the contractors were not threatened with violence, they understood that they would not get work at other construction sites if they did not pay Gasparrini and Bernardone their "commission" for each load of dirt, according to court papers.

Both mobsters agreed to forfeit $10,000 in illicit profits from the scheme to the government.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-...ticle-1.1893713

From last year...

Reputed Genovese family associate scolded by judge for attending mob wake.

A reputed GENOVESE gangster indicted for racketeering was caught dead to rights in violation of his $750,000 bail — he was photographed hanging out at a Bronx funeral home packed with mobsters, authorities said.

But a judge gave the alleged wiseguy an earful, only to let the bail agreement stand.

Camera-toting FBI agents snapped photos of James Bernardone at a wake last March that was a Mafia who’s who and was attended by more than two dozen members of the Genovese and Luchese crime families, including Luchese underboss Steven Crea, authorities said.

Bernardone claimed he was simply paying his respects to the deceased father of longtime neighborhood friends. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis said the 45-minute visit amounted to a “flagrant” violation of a court order not to associate with mobsters.

Brooklyn Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis agreed that Bernardone could have paid his respects more quickly.

“A 45-minute visit means you either sat in a chair in the room with the coffin and prayed — or talked to people (you shouldn’t be talking to),” Garaufis said Wednesday.

The wake was for Anthony Villani, Sr., whose son Anthony, Jr., is a reputed Luchese soldier, according to the prosecutor.

“Wakes and funerals are a fertile environment for the discussion of activities of organized crime,” Garaufis noted.

After delivering a tongue-lashing, the judge declined to revoke Bernardone’s bail and toss him in jail for the 45-minute lapse in judgment.

Bernardone, 46, the business agent for Local 124 of the International Union of Journeymen and Allied Trades, is awaiting trial on charges of conspiring to extort a subcontractor on construction projects in Queens and Manhattan.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/mob-wake-trouble-wiseguy-bail-article-1.1377401

Made or not?

Not sure

http://www.justice.gov/usao/nye/pr/2012/2012apr18b.html

Well he was indicted as a made guy in that link you posted so that's good enough for me.