FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, July 17, 2015
Colombo Crime Family Captain And Two Associates Charged In Racketeering Conspiracy Indictment

Acting Captain Luca DiMatteo Charged with Extortion and Loansharking; His Nephew, Associate Lukey DiMatteo, Charged with Two Extortions, Loansharking, Illegal Gambling, and Sports Betting



A ten-count indictment was unsealed today in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York charging Luca DiMatteo and his nephew, Lukey DiMatteo, with racketeering conspiracy, extortion, loansharking, and operating an illegal gambling business. The indictment was returned under seal by a federal grand jury sitting in Brooklyn, New York, on July 9, 2015, and relates to the defendants’ alleged criminal activities in Brooklyn and elsewhere between January 2009 and June 2015.

The charges were announced by Kelly T. Currie, Acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Diego Rodriguez, Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Office (FBI).

As alleged in the indictment and detention memorandum, Luca DiMatteo is a long-time member of the Colombo organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra, and has served for several years as the acting captain in charge of a crew of the crime family’s members and associates.

As alleged, both Luca DiMatteo and Lukey DiMatteo participated in the extortion of a local business owner for more than ten years that lasted until the business owner closed down the business last month. The business owner paid the DiMatteos $100 to $200 every two weeks based on his fear of these defendants and the potential consequences of not paying. The DiMatteos are also charged separately in loansharking counts. Lukey DiMatteo is separately charged in an additional extortion count, as well as in counts alleging the operation of illegal gambling businesses – based on his operation of a gambling club in Brooklyn, along with co-defendant John Shields and others – and sports betting.

“Along with our partners at the FBI, we are committed to defeating organized crime,” stated Acting United States Attorney Currie. “We will not tolerate the use of violence or threats of violence to extort local business people, and we will shut down illegal gambling businesses in our neighborhoods.”

“As alleged, Luca DiMatteo and Lukey DiMatteo picked up a check every couple of weeks from a local business for more than ten years, but it wasn’t a paycheck—rather they picked up a shakedown check. In addition to facing charges of racketeering conspiracy, extortion, and loansharking, Lukey DiMatteo and John Shields are charged with allegedly operating an illegal gambling business. The FBI will continue to work to protect victims and root out any and all organized crime activity—wherever we may find it,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Rodriguez.

Two of the defendants, Luca DiMatteo and John Shields, were arraigned yesterday before United States Magistrate Judge Cheryl L. Pollak at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn. The third defendant, Lukey DiMatteo, is scheduled to be arraigned this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Ramon E. Reyes, Jr., at the federal courthouse in Brooklyn. The charges in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The government’s case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Organized Crime & Gangs Section. Assistant United States Attorneys Elizabeth A. Geddes and Allon Lifshitz are in charge of the prosecution.

The Defendants:

LUCA DIMATTEO
Age: 70
Merrick, New York

LUCA DIMATTEO (“Lukey Dimatteo”)
Age: 46
Brooklyn, New York

John Shields (“Scott Greco”)
Age: 46
East Atlantic Beach, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 15 CR 334 (ILG)

http://www.justice.gov/usao-edny/pr/colombo-crime-family-captain-and-two-associates-charged-racketee

Unless I'm mistaken, DiMatteo is acting captain of the crew Ralph Lombardo ran.

50 bucks a week... Big time stuff.

Risk getting sent to prison for extortion just to pocket $50 dollars a week!

They need to start doing a risk vs reward assessment before they do anymore schemes.

Just as embarrassing as the Philly loans.

It is if a couple dozen are paying the same thing. Like Capeci said, money is money to these mob guys, big or small.

Good post.

Thanks Ivy

Yep if you got 20 places paying that $200 a month that adds up. Not bad to sit on your ass.

And I should add that this is just the one place being shook down coming out against him, no telling how many are operating that won't talk at all.

That is great, but point is, 50 a week can get you a RICO charge. Doesn't matter if other people aren't talking.

how much of that does he turn in to the admin? must have been a lemonade stand of dirty water dog cart.. it took two of them to do it .. should just get jobs as flag guys in the labors union or have the coffee boy route..embarrassing ..he is the real clutching hand..

There you go. A protection racket in 2015. Call me a selective moralist, but I hate that shit. I mean, bookmaking, shylocking, dope, even whores, and your clientele is coming to you.

Somebody's gonna provide that stuff anyway, and your customers have no one to blame but themselves. But shaking people down like that is something that I never approved of. And when I think of the old Black Handers shaking down their own people in their own poverty ridden neighborhoods it makes me sick.

Of course, LCN did the exact same thing for years. That's something you can't lose sight of when you look at the big picture. Just think of your poor immigrant great-grandfather a hundred years ago. He's making maybe $20 a week as a tailor or a fruit vendor, and some scumbag comes around every Friday for half of it.

It's a lowlife crime to begin with, but you'd hope that it would have outdated itself in this day and age with so many corporate owned businesses that will call the FBI in a heartbeat. Go try shaking down a Starbucks or a Panera Bread and see if the 22-year-old manager isn't on the phone with 26 Federal Plaza before you walk out the door.

that is so true Pizza, i would tell guys go to boro park and shake down the jews , see what happens. abuse the weak in your own area? go in the bottled water biz sell them water , fruit, bread, at least they can make a profit with you..

Different story altogether. It's like telling the bakery where to buy the flour, or telling the salumeria where to buy the curd for the mozzarella. They get to turn a profit, too. Everybody eats, nobody cares. And more importantly, nobody picks up the phone and rats.

very true Pizza, and when a wise guy goes eats in their restaurant they won't spit in their food because they hate you for the straight shakedown... with all the hooks these guys have, some still resort to being straight up bullies. it is not 1910 ..it is 2015..if they are that lazy, set up a corporation , go to a linen guy or any distributor of a product or service, bring in twenty accounts, they cut you a check to the corp, got to make more than the $100 a week they now are pinched for. like you said everyones happy. now they will need $300 a month in otisville

Unless it was a gambling debt or these two collected money by keeping competition away from the biz owner where everyone was earning, stealing money from a small time shop keeper is straight up being a bully.

Just like any body if you can't be the best or at least half best" give it up"

bronx it sounds like you had a good rabbi lol

yes i did, lol.. a few by the way

from what i can tell you spent a lot of time in the club under the pigeon coops... sound right lol?

I was trying to make this same point in another thread,its not the number of guys or whattever, but what are they involved in, and Im sorry but this is mega-bullshit stuff for a near 100 year old organization, no? I was just saying any mob guy still making book out of a damn restaurant or whatever,street level loans and extortions, at risk for a rico, forfitures, no way this shit is worth it. AND JESUS CHRIST, BRONX, YOU GIVE ME IDEAS, LOL. That sounds like great business, lol

I was trying to make this same point in another thread,its not the number of guys or whattever, but what are they involved in, and Im sorry but this is mega-bullshit stuff for a near 100 year old organization, no? I was just saying any mob guy still making book out of a damn restaurant or whatever,street level loans and extortions, at risk for a rico, forfitures, no way this shit is worth it. AND JESUS CHRIST, BRONX, YOU GIVE ME IDEAS, LOL. That sounds like great business, lol

I dont think they even pay protection in sicily anymore, at least now they fight back at least...

The crimes listed in this indictment - gambling, loansharking, and extortion - remain the bread and butter for all the families. And that includes Chicago. They all know the risk and accept it as a cost of doing business. We may not think it's worth the risk but that's irrelevant.

But my point was look at WHAT they are doing as viability, not number of guys. Like someone asked, how much does he kick up? Whats left for the crew?
Look at that Tuzzo indictment, with the check cashing credit lines, money washing looking like regular cashed checks... I see that and im like they are still rolling, I see this indictment and I think, wow they are struggling, like more so than I would have even thought, like its fuckin NEW YORK, get out there and make some money. 50 bucks a week, dude I shit you not, broke kids in the projects made 75 bucks a day being lookouts...
I mean, ill try and find out what the other crews are into, but again, THATS MY criteria for determining how viable a family is... but please, dont chop my head off lol...

Oh, and the thing BRONX said, with the corporations, getting account supplying services that people want or need anyway, and NO ONE COMPLAINS CAUSE EVERYONE WINS, its the point i was trying to make with the clubs in the loop, who provides thier liquor, lines n shit, the casinos around the burbs like horseshoe, who provides the liquor n shit. All I was saying was that you would Probably, MAYBE, make some connections, But okay rant over, wasnt really trying to argue, but, Great Researching, really

Nobody is saying the quality of their membership isn't a factor. Just not to ignore the importance of quantity. Especially when attrition has led to the demise of more families than anything else.

And you can't base your entire view of the Colombo family on one indictment. That's why I have compiled them like I have. Looking at them all in the broader picture gives one a much better idea. After all, should one assume the extent of the Outfits operations are video poker and theft because that's what was in the Sarno indictment?

You talk about "50 bucks a week" but money is money to these guys, big or small. Of course the idea is, and it's often the case, that they have several people paying x amount of money each week. It adds up.

And using basically legit or quasi-legit means (rather than just blatant extortion) is hardly unique to Chicago. There are more examples in NY than anywhere of the mob using their clout to get business for their companies with "everybody winning."

"Money is everything to these guy"

Amen to that.

Who was that wiseguy who was caught shoplifting something for like $10 when he was on parole?

Shit, which one? There have been a few guys

I remember reading that Massino stole like cigarettes or toothpaste or something silly while he was on the lam in PA haha

That's fucking gold. Is that true?