Genovese Capo Sentenced for Illegal Gambling on Long Island

Posted on: December 16, 2024, 08:00h. 

Last updated on: December 16, 2024, 10:14h.

Philip Conneller Read More
Expertise: Gaming Business, Regulation, Tribal Gaming.

A former acting capo of the Genovese crime family was sentenced to 30 months in prison Friday on racketeering charges in connection with an illegal gambling business in Lynbrook, Long Island.

Carmelo Polito, Salvatore Rubino, Sal the Shoemaker, Joseph Macario, Joe Fish, Joseph Rutigliano, Joe Box, Gran Caffe, Lynbrook, Long Island
Carmelo Polito pictured leaving a federal court in Brooklyn on Friday. He once threatened to put a gambler “under the f***ing bridge,” according to prosecutors. (Image: Ed Quinn/Newsday)

Carmelo “Carmine” Polito, 64, pleaded guilty on April 5 to operating a gambling parlor out of the Gran Caffé, a gelateria and coffee bar in Lynbrook. It was part of a sprawling network of illegal gambling establishments in and around Nassau County, which prosecutors contend was a joint operation between the Genovese and Bonanno families.

Each establishment operated “illegal joker poker-type gambling machines,” as well as poker games, generating more than $2,000 for the mob each day, according to prosecutors.

Mob Profit Split

“Beginning in at least May 2012, the Genovese and Bonanno families jointly operated a lucrative illegal gambling parlor concealed inside a coffee shop called the Gran Caffé in Lynbrook,” prosecutors wrote.

“Polito and co-defendant Joseph Macario, also known as ‘Joe Fish,’ on behalf of the Genovese crime family, and Anthony Pipitone, also known as ‘Little Anthony,’ on behalf of the Bonanno crime family, successfully negotiated a profit split for the gambling location, which ensured that each crime family benefited from the illegal gambling operation.”

Longtime made man Polito, of Queens, also admitted to operating an illegal online sports betting business, PGWLines. He would extort debtors who failed to pay their debts on time, once calling a customer and threatening to “break his face.”

On another occasion, he told one of his agents to tell a debtor he would “put him under the f***ing bridge” if he didn’t pay.

“The cards did not favor Carmelo Polito’s illicit gambling parlor or his extortionate methods,” said FBI Assistant Director in Charge James Dennehy in a statement after the sentencing. “His illegitimate business and death threats financed the operations of two crime families.”

Detective Indicted for Kickbacks

Polito and Marcario are two of five indicted by federal authorities in 2022 on charges that included racketeering, attempted extortion, and illegal gambling. The others are Joseph Rutigliano, 65, aka “Joe Box,” Salvatore Rubino, 61, aka “Sal the Shoemaker,” and Mark Feuer, 61.

Federal prosecutors also indicted Nassau County Police Detective Hector Rosario. He is accused of organizing police raids at competing underground gambling dens in return for kickbacks from the mob.

Rosario has been charged with obstructing a grand jury investigation and with making false statements to the FBI, and has pleaded not guilty.