https://www.timesunion.com/news/art...ady-father-son-mafia-linked-17901290.phpTrial begins of Schenectady father and son, Mafia-linked N.J. manConstruction businessman and son accused of conspiring to traffic cocaine; jury selected
Robert Gavin — April 17, 2023
ALBANY — A jury was selected in U.S. District Court in Albany on Monday to hear the trial of a Schenectady businessman, his son and a Mafia-linked New Jersey man charged with conspiring to traffic an estimated $600,000 worth of cocaine between Schenectady and New York City.
Jeffrey Civitello, 51, and his 23-year-old son, Jeffrey Civitello Jr., are standing trial with Richard Sinde, 58, of Fort Lee, N.J., a reputed associate of the Bonanno crime family, in a case before U.S. District Judge Mae D'Agostino. The jury and three alternates were sworn in late Monday afternoon in a packed first-floor courtroom.
Opening statements are set to begin on Tuesday at 9 a.m.
Federal prosecutors allege the elder Civitello, who owns Focus Construction in Schenectady, conspired with his son as well as Sinde and two others to move the cocaine starting on March 31, 2021, when they allegedly met on Albany Street in Schenectady to discuss transporting the drugs downstate from Schenectady in the younger Civitello's blue Jeep Grand Cherokee. Sinde and the other the two other men allegedly went downstate in three separate cars, with Sinde in the Jeep.
Investigators with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had placed a GPS tracking device on that vehicle. It recorded the Jeep traveling from Schenectady, staying in Fort Lee that night, then traveling over the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan and eventually a residence in the Breezy Point section of Queens. The vehicle then went back to Fort Lee, prosecutors said.
On April 2, 2021, State Police acting at the direction of the DEA stopped the Jeep on the Thruway in Greene County. Investigators seized 9 kilograms of cocaine that was in a hidden compartment in the SUV. Neither of the Civitellos were in the car at the time. But a man driving the vehicle, 76-year-old Robert Ingrao of Lodi, N.J., was charged. Sinde and another conspirator were allegedly following the Jeep when it was intercepted.
A four-count superseding indictment handed up last May charges the defendants with conspiring to distribute and possess with intent with intent to distribute cocaine. Ingrao pleaded guilty in November to conspiring to move the drugs. Ingrao, who is not cooperating with prosecutors, has not yet been sentenced.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michael Barnett and Dustin Segovia are prosecuting. The elder Civitello is being represented by Capital Region attorney Eric Galarneau, the younger Civitello by the local team of James Knox and Julie Nociolo. Sinde is being represented by Bronx attorney Stacey Richman.
When the judge individually asked all the defendants if they were OK with the jury that was selected, the elder Civitello said no. His attorney then told the judge he was OK with the panel.
In pre-trial rulings, D'Agostino held off deciding on whether jurors will be able to learn about the elder Civitello's previous conviction in federal court for conspiring to sell cocaine. Whether or not that information is heard would appear to depend on whether he testifies in his own defense. The judge will not allow jurors to hear about Sinde's conviction in 1992 for conspiring to possess heroin with intent to distribute it.
The judge will also not allow jurors to hear evidence about organized crime. In court documents, federal prosecutors have identified Sinde as an associate of the Bonanno crime family, one of five Cosa Nostra clans based in New York City.
The younger Civitello faces another case, set for trial next month before D'Agostino, on charges that he possessed a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking crime.
More info about the bust:
https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Schenectady-father-and-son-eyed-in-Mafia-linked-16820105.phpSchenectady father, son eyed in Mafia-linked cocaine investigationRobert Gavin — February 1, 2022
ALBANY — A penthouse apartment. A job at a family-run construction company. A baby on the way.
At 22, Jeffrey Civitello Jr. appeared to be riding high, but his story took a downward turn on Oct. 21 when federal drug investigators raided his home on the top floor of a Schenectady building on Albany Street and seized 75 pounds of marijuana, loaded weapons and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Now, the Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons School graduate is facing federal drug and weapon charges in Albany – and is being investigated in a separate cocaine-trafficking case involving a reputed Bonanno crime family associate from New Jersey, according to court papers filed in U.S. District Court.
Attorneys for Civitello, who is being held in the Albany County jail, are hoping to convince U.S. Magistrate Judge Daniel Stewart to reconsider an earlier order to detain him without bail. They noted in a motion that Civitello has no criminal history and strong family ties in Schenectady, lessening his risk of flight. He has pleaded not guilty.
In court papers opposing Civitello’s release, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Barnett suggested the defendant's family ties did not entirely help his case. The prosecutor described Civitello and his 50-year-old father, Jeffrey Civitello Sr., who owns a construction company located in the same building where the raid took place, as sophisticated drug dealers with numerous criminal associates.
On Oct. 21, when officers with a federal Drug Enforcement Administration task force raided what they called a penthouse, they found a gun in the first-floor office of Focus Construction, a company owned by the senior Civitello, who as a convicted felon is prohibited from possessing firearms. Civitello Sr. has prior federal convictions for cocaine trafficking and money laundering, the prosecutor stated.
Barnett said investigators also found two boxes for Glock handguns, including one purchased in Kentucky by a known gun trafficker.
And the prosecutor said the younger Civitello and his father are being investigated in connection with the DEA’s seizure on April 2 of 9 kilograms of cocaine found in a hidden compartment of Civitello’s blue 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Civitello was not in the Jeep at the time, but had been spotted by investigators two days earlier meeting with the three men charged in that case, including Richard Sinde, 56, a reputed Bonanno crime family associate from Fort Lee, N.J, the prosecutor said.
On March 31, Sinde, Robert Ingrao, 74, of Lodi, N.J., and a third man, Christopher Kelly, 54, of Brooklyn, met in Schenectady with both Civitello and his father to borrow the Jeep. On April 2, when the vehicle was stopped in Greene County, police found the 9 kilos of cocaine in a trap compartment in the trunk, Barnett told the judge at Civitello’s detention hearing in October.
At the hearing, Barnett said Civitello had been using the Jeep every day and was well aware that it had been seized.
"This would have been a good time for the defendant to say, 'You know what? That was a close call. I'm a smart guy. Maybe I should go to college. Maybe I should try something other than drug dealing.' And that was more than six months ago," Barnett told the judge. "And we know now that the defendant did not choose that path."
In court papers, Barnett told the judge that Civitello had also exchanged messages over Snapchat that appeared to be related to the distribution of opioid pills.
Barnett said investigators seized more than $856,000, including $407,545 found in Civitello's apartment, another $319,387 found in the home of a relative alleged to be a co-conspirator and an additional $128,860 in Coinbase cryptocurrency. The prosecutor said the Coinbase figure was nearly all traced to a transfer of $101,440 from Civitello's father to him.
"This transfer reinforces the government’s argument that the defendant is involved in drug trafficking activities with his father," Barnett said. He said it took place at a time when both the father and son were receiving unemployment insurance benefits when each was "dubiously claiming" that they had lost their jobs at the father's construction company.
Barnett said the younger Civitello's 2020 tax return listed his business as "sales" and placed his total income at $66,273. He alleged that Civitello and his family are falsely claiming to work at the family business.
"Of the several dozen character reference letters submitted by the defendant, not a single one is from a co-worker, and no letter appears to reference his supposed construction job," the prosecutor stated.
Civitello is now on his third and fourth attorneys, Syracuse-based attorneys Robert G. Wells and Derek S. Andrews. They sent the judge 25 letters from Civitello's mother, sister, other family members, a former teacher, assistant principal and ex-tenants all attesting to Civitello's good character. That was in addition to a photo of the defendant with his girlfriend announcing that a baby is on the way.
Photos show Civitello working on construction sites and posing with family members. In one photo, a tattoo is visible on Civitello's arm which states: "La Famiglia è tutto." In Italian, it translates to "The Family is Everything."
More info on Bonanno associate Sinde:
https://nypost.com/2013/10/01/pot-arrest-proves-costly-for-bonanno-associate/Pot arrest proves costly for Bonanno ‘associate’Rebecca Rosenberg — October 1, 2013
Reputed Bonanno associate Richard Sinde was tossed in jail Tuesday after a judge learned he was arrested for marijuana possession and having a brass knuckle outfitted with a knife just a month after he made $300,000 bail on charges in Manhattan.
Sinde, 49, was arrested last July as part of a takedown of a Bonanno crew that was allegedly selling Viagra and Cialis on the black market.
Sinde’s doting mom put up her $600,000 home in Englewood Cliffs, NJ to spring her son from Rikers.
But only a month later, the mama’s boy was caught in the Bronx with pot and a weapon during a traffic stop, prosecutors told Manhattan Criminal Court Judge Melissa Jackson who swiftly remanded the recidivist ruffian.
“He was upset, very upset,” said his defense lawyer Joel Winograd. “He has a young child and his mother’s sick. It was like a kamikaze attack out of nowhere.”
Winograd, who has referred to his client as a “degenerate gambler,” said he was contesting the allegations. The matter will be heard at an October 10th hearing, he said
Prosecutors believe Sinde was major Viagra dealer and helped to run a $9 million-a-year bookmaking business.
Sinde possessed a money counter and kept meticulous computer records, according to court papers.
