Colombo Consigliere Gets 3 Years for Extortion

Ralph Di Matteo, an “old school” Colombo crime family consigliere who notoriously was photographed lounging shirtless in a swimming pool was sentenced to three years behind bars for a labor union extortion plot.

DiMatteo, 68, called “No. 3” by his fellow mafioso, was sentenced in Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday, after his 2021 indictment alongside the entire Colombo leadership for shaking down a Queens construction union.

“He’s old school,” DiMatteo’s lawyer, Gerald McMahon, told Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Hector Gonzalez. “Mr. DiMatteo did wrong. He accepted responsibility. He took a plea. He’s taking his medicine. He wants it to be on him.”

DiMatteo pleaded guilty to racketeering in July, admitting to extortion and money laundering. One of his underlings, Vincent “Vinny Unions” Ricciardo, pressured a high-ranking union official into paying a $2,600 monthly “pension” to the mob family for nearly 20 years — nearly $600,000 in total.

All 14 suspects in the case have pleaded guilty — except for family head Andrew “Mush” Russo, who died in April 2022 at age 87.

Other co-defendants include underboss Benjamin “The Claw” Castellazzo and Theodore “Skinny Teddy” Persico Jr. — the nephew of notorious Colombo boss Carmine “The Snake” Persico and the heir apparent to the crime family

The Colombos also pressured a health fund associated with the union into picking mob-friendly vendors and paying $10,000 a month in tribute. DiMatteo was directly responsible for overseeing Ricciardo, and the consigliere was caught on wiretapped conversations commanding Ricciardo to move faster with his extortion efforts.

“Part of the privilege of being towards the top is that you don’t have to get your hands dirty yourself. You have other people do that on your behalf,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Gibaldi said at DiMatteo’s sentencing. When the judge asked DiMatteo if he wanted to make a statement, he replied, “I’m fine, thank you.”

DiMatteo was the only member of the 14 Colombos indicted in 2021 to initially evade arrest, after he traveled to Florida the day before. He surrendered three days later, after his son, Angelo DiMatteo, posted a picture on Twitter of his shirtless dad casually hanging poolside.

Angelo also posted a rat emoji on the social media site, suggesting someone in the Colombo family squealed to the feds.

DiMatteo, who’s set to surrender Jan. 15, told reporters Tuesday he had no regrets showing off his beach bod in the photo.
“Why?” he asked. “It was a great picture.”

https://www.nydailynews.com/2023/12...gliere-gets-3-years-for-union-extortion/

Nice to see the guys still got the best lawyers in town like Gerald McMahon.

I don't know if I'd consider McMahon to be among the "best" criminal lawyers out there. I mean, after all, whats his trial record of wins vs losses? I suspect the only reason why you're seeing him a bit more in recent years is because he's one of the only ones left "specializing" (for lack of a better word,) in so-called organized crime cases. But is he good? Well thats a matter of opinion.

Who else is on the scene who's a stand-out legal beagle today? Matt Mari? And even Mari. who many guys has he gotten off? Who else? Who's won a bunch of cases the earn him the right to that title?

Its not like back in the old days - 1960s to 1990s - when you had a cadre of top "mob lawyers" defending guys; Gerald Shargel, James LaRosa, David Breitbart, Barry Slotnick, Albert Kreiger, Anthony Lombardino, etc., etc. They're all gone.

IMO, McMahon and Mari are just the few mouth pieces still around, thats all.

McMahon has made so many careless mistakes in recent years that I don't even understand why they keep hiring him. Don't get me wrong though. When he was good, he was the best! I don't know what happened to him, but he's not the same lawyer he once was

I believe he's already 75 maybe he is getting too old, ten years ago he helped reputed Colombo associate Francis “B.F” Guerra beat double murder, extortion and assault charges and won an acquittal on extortion charges for alleged Genovese capo Anthony Romanello.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...e-led-arrest-hes-jailed-three-years.html

Mobster Ralph DiMatteo, 68, who was caught after his son posted a shot of him lounging in a Florida pool says he has no regrets about image that led to his arrest as he's jailed for three years

Didn’t Roy Cohn represent a couple mobsters too?

‘Boss-In-Waiting’ Says He Deserves Leniency

https://themessenger.com/news/new-y...-persico-sentencing-union-colombo-family

Not just a couple, Tony Salerno, Carmine Galante, Paul Castellano among others..

So he was on the run? How exactly did they use that oic to find him? Is that only a portion of it in the article?

He wasn't on the run. He left the day before the arrests happened for a Florida vacation. He then had his lawyer contact the feds for his surrender.

As was/is typical for many lawyers. If I remember correctly, Cohn started out as a government attorney. In fact, he served on several U.S. Senate Hearings, at least one of which was probing organized crime. Years later, he was now representing those same organized crime figures as a defense attorney.

If your last name is Persico, stay out of the life..They'll jail ya for jaywalking !!!