Agreed. This guy Big Frankie never sat down with any made guys. He only hung around low level guys. He did an undercover case out in Las Vegas about Boxing and after spending millions of dollars nobody even went to jail. Patsy is a very cautious guy and no way he would meet with this guy! Here is the Vegas case
BIG FRANKIE'S VEGAS STING Cop posed as wiseguy to probe fight-fixing
BY MICHELE MCPHEE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, January 13, 2004, 12:00 AM A A A
http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news...rticle-1.574495 In Las Vegas boxing circles, he was known as Big Frankie, a wiseguy from New York trying to unload stolen swag. He schmoozed with fighters and promoters, sitting ringside as he handed out business cards from his firm, YGJ & Company. And each time he gave a card out, Big Frankie Manzione couldn't help but smirk at the irony: YGJ stood for "You're Going to Jail.
" As a result of a 20-month probe dubbed Operation Match Book, at least a dozen Las Vegas fighters and promoters may be indicted as early as May on charges they fixed fights, forged boxers' medical records and bribed officials, several law enforcement sources told the Daily News. The probe was spearheaded by an undercover NYPD detective working with an FBI special agent. That detective, Big Frankie, moved with the swagger of a made member of the mob, and talked with the heavy-as-cement Brooklyn accent he said he acquired as a kid in Red Hook. But the raven-haired 34-year-old was really a decorated NYPD cop from Staten Island whose past undercover success made him an obvious choice when the FBI was looking for some help. Big Frankie was pulled out of Las Vegas last week, his cover blown after FBI agents stormed the office of Top Rank last Tuesday, seizing computers, medical documents, financial records, and tapes of professional bouts. "He's a very gutsy guy. He's terrific. He did an excellent job," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said yesterday. "They know who he is now, though.
" It was a far different story when he blew into town 20 months ago. The first anyone in Vegas saw of Big Frankie was when he began making the rounds with his "cousin," Joey Torres. Torres, 42, had served 23 years in jail for killing his former boxing manager in 1979, a slaying he maintains he committed in self-defense during a cocaine-fueled fury. While in prison, Torres was credited with saving the life of a female prison guard. Then he won temporary freedom on Jan. 6, 2002, on a technicality that vacated his murder charge. He tried to resurrect his boxing career, pleading with Top Rank's head Bob Arum. Arum was won over, hooking Torres up with a trainer, a cell phone and a hotel room - even as California prosecutors refiled the murder charges, allowing Torres to be free on $100,000 bail. "Here was this kid who looked like he needed a break and been screwed out of 20 years of his life," Arum told reporters after signing Torres. "He deserved a shot at a fight.
" Torres' debut fight in April 2002 was as shady as his past. A crowd in Anaheim, Calif., booed after Torres knocked down fighter Perry Williams, whose performance was so listless that the fight's judges temporarily withheld his purse. With Torres usually at his side, Big Frankie soon began running with Top Rank employees, becoming a regular at the posh Charlie Palmer's Steakhouse at the Four Seasons and in the private nightclub Foundation Room in Mandalay Bay. Big Frankie also was a fixture in Top Rank's offices and had even been offered a job as a cornerman, several law enforcement sources said. Big Frankie and the FBI agent, who posed as his driver, accumulated evidence as the probe grew. Then things nearly blew up. In a murder retrial last year, Torres was found guilty and ordered to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom to resume his 25 years-to-life sentence. Instead, he jumped bail and threatened to blow Big Frankie's cover before fleeing, furious that his work in Operation Match Book didn't earn him a reprieve from prison, said a high-ranking law enforcement official with knowledge of the case. "He was saying he was going to tell Bob Arum that he was cooperating with the FBI," the source said. "He put the investigators in a lot of danger.
" Torres is still at large. Yesterday, Top Rank officials refused to comment on the case or discuss the undercover investigators who infiltrated their company. "We will not comment on rumors," said Top Rank spokesman Patrick Smith. GRAPHIC: Before Operation Match Book, Big Frankie's biggest undercover takedown wiped out the Genovese family: PROBE: Operation Steel Fences MISSION: Infiltrate Genovese crime family. THE "SET": Big Frankie posed as a crooked businessman who ran a Virginia trucking company that trafficked in swag and bootleg cigarettes. RESULTS: 72 Genovese capos, soldiers and associates were either convicted or pleaded guilty to charges including loansharking, extortion, embezzlement, labor racketeering, credit card fraud, bank fraud and gambling. Among those locked up were capos Pasquale (Patsy) Parello, owner of Patsy's restaurant on Arthur Ave. in the Bronx, and Rosario (Ross) Gangi.
