http://www.nytimes.com/1984/03/31/nyregion/reputed-leader-of-a-crime-family-is-indicted-by-us.htmlREPUTED LEADER OF A CRIME FAMILY IS INDICTED BY U.S.
By ARNOLD H. LUBASCH
Published: March 31, 1984
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Correction Appended
Paul Castellano, the reputed head of the Gambino organized-crime family, and 20 other people were charged in Manhattan yesterday with operating a group that committed 25 murders and scores of other crimes.
The charges were contained in a 51- count Federal indictment, which described the 68-year-old Mr. Castellano as the boss of a crew that had participated in a ''pattern of racketeering activity'' since 1973. The racketeering charges included extortion, theft, prostitution and drug trafficking, as well as the murders.
The group committed murders to obtain money and to get rid of witnesses and competitors, according to the indictment. It said six members of the group had not been named as defendants because they had been murdered.
'A Very Big Case'
Rudolph W. Giuliani, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the indictment at a news conference in his lower Manhattan office. It was attended by Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward, District Attorney Elizabeth Holtzman of Brooklyn and other law enforcement officials.
''This is no doubt a very big case,'' Mr. Giuliani said. He added that the continuing investigation involved extensive cooperation among Federal and state law enforcement agencies, with the city's Police Department deserving ''the lion's share of the credit.''
Commissioner Ward said the investigation began three years ago when a police unit uncovered a scheme to ship stolen cars from Brooklyn to Kuwait.
The indictment said the defendants included the leaders, members and associates of a crew or group that constituted a criminal enterprise under the Federal racketeering law.
It said the crew was headed by ''the defendant Paul Castellano, also known as Big Paul.'' Another defendant, Anthony Frank Gaggi, 58, of Brooklyn, was identified as the crew's captain and was said to have reported to Mr. Castellano.
James M. LaRossa, Mr. Castellano's lawyer, said after the news conference that ''we deny the entire indictment.'' He added that Mr. Castellano had ''no knowledge of any of the underlying facts even having occurred.''
Mr. Castellano, who lives in Todt Hill, Staten Island, has been identified in law enforcement records as the boss of the Gambino crime family, Mr. Castellano was a brother-in-law of the late Carlo Gambino, who headed the crime organization until he died in 1976. The New York group has been described as the largest and most powerful crime organization in the country.
In recent years, the Government has used the Federal racketeering law to prosecute many organized-crime figures for a wide range of crimes. Murders are not generally Federal crimes, but can be included as racketeering acts, as they were in yesterday's indictment. State murder charges frequently require more evidence than the Federal racketeering charge.
Released on Bond
At a bail hearing, United States Magistrate Naomi Buchwald set bail of $2 million for Mr. Castellano, who was released when he posted a bond secured with his home and other assets. Several more defendants were released on lower bail, some remained in prison on previous charges and the rest were scheduled to be arraigned soon.
According to the indictment, the ''street leader'' who supervised the crew's day-to-day operations was Roy DeMeo, who was slain last year.
All 21 defendants were named in a racketeering charge and a related conspiracy charge. The defendants were also named in various other charges, with Mr. Castellano cited in 26 charges.
If convicted, Mr. Castellano could face up to 20 years on the racketeering charge and additional sentences on the other charges, according to Walter S. Mack Jr., the assistant United States attorney who is supervising the investigation.
Five defendants were named in a separate charge involving the murders of two witnesses, a charge carrying up to life in prison. They are Ronald Ustica, 39, of Brooklyn; Joseph C. Testa Jr., 29, of Queens; Anthony M. Senter, 28, of Brooklyn; Joseph Guglielmo, 56, of Brooklyn, and Henry Borelli, 35, who is in prison on other charges.
Slaying of Witness
Mr. Testa's brother, Patrick Testa, 27, of Brooklyn, was named in fraud and theft charges.
Most of the 25 murders cited in the indictment were listed as part of the racketeering charge. One defendant, Richard Mastrangelo, 38, of Dix Hills, L.I., was accused of conspiracy to murder James Bennett, who was killed in Brooklyn in 1981, a few hours before he was to testify in a narcotics trial.
The indictment said Mr. Castellano, Mr. Gaggi and Mr. DeMeo had murdered James Eppolito Jr. and Mr. Eppolito's father, who were shot to death in Brooklyn in 1979. The Eppolito murders were listed in the indictment as racketeering acts.
Acquitted of Murder
Mr. Gaggi was acquitted of murder in the Eppolito case in 1980, but yesterday's indictment said he had bribed a juror, Judith M. Hellman. She was named as a defendant in the racketeering charge, along with her husband, Wayne Hellman of Marlboro, N.J., and her father-in-law, Sol Hellman of Brooklyn.
Among the defendants charged with extortion were Peter LaFroscia, 34, and Paul Dordal, 39, who are both in prison on other charges; Ronald Turekian, 26, and Edward J. Rendini, 34, both of Brooklyn; Douglas Rega, 34, of Staten Island, and Guy Kalevas, 31, of Holmdel, N.J.
A charge of transporting stolen cars named several defendants, including Herman Weisberger, 63, of Brooklyn, and Pedro Luis Rodriguez, 54, who is already in prison on other charges.
Another defendant, Salvatore Mangialino, 47, of Queens, was named with Mr. Castellano and several others on charges of possessing guns.
photo of Rudolph W. Giuliani (page 46); photo of Paul Castellano
