When they weren`t terrorizing suburban business owners, members of a mob street crew were busy double-crossing and threatening to kill each other, according to a document released Friday by federal prosecutors.
The document, called a proffer, outlined the evidence prosecutors intend to use in the conspiracy trial of reputed mobsters Gus Alex and Leonard Patrick and provided a glimpse into the operations of an organized crime crew. Living by a code of violence, the alleged crew members allegedly turned on each other with as much force and vengeance as they displayed toward business owners. At various times, three of them ratted to the government about the others, and one put out a ”hit” against another, according to the proffer.
Patrick and Alex, both in their 70s, are charged with running the crew that attempted to extract hundreds of thousands of dollars from business owners from 1983 to 1989, allegedly demanding payments of $50,000 to $500,000 from five suburban restaurants and two car dealerships.
According to prosecutors Chris Gair and Mark Vogel, Alex approved the shakedown schemes while Patrick directed the activities of his enforcers Nicholas Gio, 25, and Mario Rainone, 37.
All four say they are not guilty.
Former crew member James LaValley is now cooperating with the government and is expected to testify against the others.
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In one case, Rainone allegedly told a restaurant owner that he would
”blow his kids away” if the owner failed to pay a mob ”street tax,”
according to the proffer.
Prosecutors also disclosed in the proffer the names of six men who had allegedly also been part of the crew. Two are dead, and none of the other four has been charged in the case. They include:
– Raymond Spencer, described in the proffer as a crew boss until his death in 1984. At the time, Spencer was a suspect in the gangland-style killing of mob-linked millionaire Allen Dorfman. The Dorfman slaying has not been solved.
– Leonard Yaras, who was gunned down in 1985 by two men in ski masks, has been described by authorities as a go-between for mob bookies.
– Gary Edwards, who ”assisted in the crew`s extortion, juice loan and gambling operations,” according to the proffer, will testify about a juice loan racket allegedly run by Patrick and Alex. Prosecutors say Alex and Patrick lent gamblers and business owners money at interest rates of 260 percent annually.
Also named were three men described as mob accessories: Pete Buonomo, who allegedly picked up extortion payments on behalf of Rainone; Joe Vento, described as an ”outfit member assigned to oversee the crew`s juice loan business”; and Phil Tolomeo, who ”assisted in the crew`s juice loan business,” according to the proffer.
No further details were available about the six.
Patrick cooperated briefly with federal agents in 1989, according to the proffer, secretly tape recording a meeting he had with Alex. They discussed payments to an unnamed union official, the proffer said.
Rainone also cooperated with the government briefly, joining the witness protection program in 1989 because he feared a hit had been put out on him.
But Rainone`s attorney Martin Agran said Rainone had second thoughts after his mother`s house was bombed and stopped cooperating with the government.
”He didn`t tell them anything,” Agran said.
The trial is to begin May 4.