A member of the Bonanno crime family who threatened with “slap the s – t” of a turncoat And then forced her to undress naked to find a wire was found guilty of extortion on Friday by a federal jury in Brooklyn.
John Ragano, an obstacle soldier nicknamed “The Maniac”, was sentenced following a four -day trial where the gangster was taken on a threatening band to beat Vincent Martino, an informant of Mafia who owed him $ 150,000 in illegal loans.
The recording of July 2023 was captured only five days before Ragano was sent to prison for a separate conviction of racketeering – when the gangster corply met Martino, who accused Ragano, 62, of being a rat at the rear of the belly A&G auto in Ridgewood.
The mafioso can be heard stunned by Martino’s accusation before he Accuse the partner of the crowd to wear a thread and ask him to drop his trrow.
“Then remove your F – King shit at the moment, guy. Remove your F – King pants right now,” said a ragano unleashed in the recording.
“Let me see – I want to see. I also have no thread on me. ”
Martino testified on Wednesday that his pants were around his ankles and his shirt when the man was looking for a thread and continued to lace him, telling him that he was going to “slap the shit of (him)” if he translates it to the federals.
“You owe me my money F
The strip search did not find the hidden microphone, which was attached to Martino’s clothes, the prosecutors said.
Martino, a partner of the crowd, said that he had noticed that two men approached him from behind with what seemed to be a tire iron and another metal weapon, so he caught his pants and ran to his car to call the federal – like Ragano’s last words on the recording warning Martino that he knows where he lives.
Martino was one of the main witnesses at trial after finding $ 275,000 in the hole in the crowd after having taken a series of loans when he fell on difficult times.
He said he had started to cooperate with the federals to withdraw from the debt hole in the crowd.
Ragano, who is serving a sentence of almost five years for racketeering, has been acquitted of extortion conspiracy, harassment of witnesses and falsification of witnesses.
“The extortion by the defendant of a victim when she was in preliminary liberation, carried out even in the sacred nature of the Palais de Justice Federal, is an affront to the criminal justice system and a blatant example of the blatant respect for this Bonanno gangster,” said the United States prosecutor, Breon Peace, in a press release. “With today’s verdict, the jury has given a clear message that the rule of law will prevail over extorted threats.”
The Wiseguy will be sentenced to a later date and risks up to 20 years in prison.
