Interesting case. Was this guy an innocent victim getting extorted? or more of a player and why he got shot.
"Co-owner of Royal Crown Bakery describes sitdowns, shouting matches with reputed mobster
Updated Oct 15, 2009; Posted Oct 14, 2009
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By Jeff Harrell
10-07-ROYAL-CROWN.jpgAdvance file photoFormer Royal Crown co-owner John Galano corroborated prosecutors’ contention that he, Joseph Generoso and brother Frank Galano were strongarmed into shelling out $2,000 to $3,000 in payouts to the Gambinos once a year at Christmas.
BROOKLYN -- A noted Gambino mobster patronized the Royal Crown Bakery until the owner got fed up with shelling out annual tribute payments at Christmas, the Grasmere bakery’s former co-owner told jurors.
John Galano, 40, recalled driving Royal Crown Bakery owner Joseph Generoso to meetings with Anthony Anastasio at his travel agency in Brooklyn, and hosting the longtime Gambino soldier "frequently" at the Hylan Boulevard bakery, including three separate sitdowns between Generoso, Anastasio and the mobster’s friends.
Galano said he never saw money exchange hands, but he was working at the bakery when a third and final meeting erupted in front of patrons with a loud argument between Generoso, Anastasio and a third man identified by prosecutors as reputed Gambino muscle man William (Billy) Scotto.
Scotto, 42, of Arden Heights, is currently serving two and two-thirds to three-and-a-half years in federal prison after pleading guilty in August 2007 to racketeering involving two predicate acts of extortion.
"I never saw [Anastasio] after that," Galano said today.
Anastasio, 80, of Brooklyn, is on trial at Brooklyn federal court on charges of racketeering, loansharking, arson and extortion stemming from the torching of a Brooklyn Dunkin’ Donuts and years of alleged shakedowns at the Royal Crown Bakery.
David Benedict, 39, of Dongan Hills, and Benedetto (Benny) DiCostanzo, 45, of Oakwood, also face extortion and loansharking charges in the trial.
Galano corroborated prosecutors’ contention that he, Generoso and co-owner brother Frank Galano were strongarmed into shelling out $2,000 to $3,000 in payouts to the Gambinos once a year at Christmas - between December 2004 and December 2005.
In September 2005, Generoso was shot in the face outside his Radcliff Road home in Grasmere as he prepared to go to work. Generoso survived, but no arrests were made in the shooting.
Galano began cooperating with the feds in 2006 following his arrest on charges of wire fraud for allegedly skimming $54,500 from Royal Crown Bakery profits in 2005."
http://www.silive.com/eastshore/index.ssf/2009/10/co-owner_of_royal_crown_bakery.html
