The Portobello Soccer Club

I was wondering if anybody knows much about the Portobello Soccer Club that I think was frequented by Leonard DiMaria. I was wondering when it closed down and where it was?

Same rackets as everywhere else....

Ok.

I think you may be referring to the Portofino Soccer Club. (It says Portobello in Leonard DiMaria's Wikipedia article but Wikipedia often contains incorrect typed info). This was a phony social club set up by an undercover agent in Canarsie Brooklyn.

The story goes that an undercover fed got in with a Canarsie based Gambino crew including Louis Facciolo and DiMaria, and got approval to open the club and run fencing operations out of there. If you google this you'll find several news stories around Jan 1997 about this club and the feds sting. Here's a couple of links if you're interested:

http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news...rticle-1.758163

http://www.nytimes.com/1997/01/24/nyregi...fia-outfit.html

Business records show the Portofino Soccer club was set up in 1994 and located at 3516 Flatlands Ave. which makes sense as the sting operation apparently took about 3 years, then probably closed straight after the bust in 97.

Hope this helps.

Thanks Benny, very helpful.


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