By David Amoruso for Gangsters Inc.
Gambino mafia family Trooper James “Jimmy” Laforte pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, Hobbs Act extortion and Hobbs Act extortion conspiracy, witness retaliation and being a felon in possession of a firearm in Brooklyn federal court last week.
He is the last of ten defendants charged in a 2023 indictment to plead guilty or be convicted of various offenses committed by Gambino family gangsters.
Captain Gambino Joseph Lanni led the crew of which LaForte was a part. He engaged in extortion, fraud, flightevidence of retaliation and embezzlement schemes, prosecutors said, to infiltrate the carting and demolition industries. Lanni displayed a vicious temper and extreme willingness to commit violence.
On October 17, 2025, Lanni and several other gangsters pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy.
Debts, rats and punches
LaForte became involved in the case in 2020 after one of his associates introduced him to someone who owed him money and failed to pay. It was a set-up, of course. LaForte requested the debtor to execute a poker and a game of craps for him.
After a successful night of games, the debtor asked LaForte for his share of the winnings. He completely forgot about the fact that he owed money to one of LaForte's associates. Instead of handing him some dollar bills, LaForte punched the man in the face and gave him a black eye.
Later, LaForte even spoke to the man's father to pressure him into paying what he owed the mob.
Text messages exchanged between the associate and another man in November 2020 show annoyance and anger over the unpaid debt. “(H)is other punk is playing games. He might come over to his house on Saturday with one of my guys from here.”
The associate responded, “I took him to Jimmy, he made it clear. We'll get it. He's scared to death of Jimmy.”
Indeed, “Jimmy” LaForte did not hesitate to get his hands dirty, even in public. On February 17, 2021, he and Gambino associate Vincent “Vinny Slick” Minsquero assaulted a man they suspected of being a snitch in a restaurant, while capo Joe Lanni sat nearby and watched in amusement.
LaForte called him a “rat” and hit him in the face with a bottle. He and Minsquero overturned the man's table, sending drinks and broken glasses everywhere and causing a chaotic mess inside the restaurant.
This wasn't the only time this Gambino gang caused trouble. tense scenes in a restaurant. It would, however, be their last for the foreseeable future. It will be a few years before they can all dine in a place without steel bars or prison walls.
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