ACTING BOSS OF GAMBINO CRIME FAMILY SENTENCED TO 92
MONTHS’ IMPRISONMENT FOR RACKETEERING AND EXTORTION OF
THREE METROPOLITAN AREA BUSINESSES

MICHAEL J. GARCIA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that the Gambino Family Acting Boss and Official Underboss ARNOLD SQUITIERI, a/k/a “Zeke,” a/k/a “Bozey,” a/k/a “Sylvester,” was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to 92 months’ imprisonment, following his conviction on racketeering and extortion charges. United States District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein also imposed a term of three years’ supervised release and a fine of $30,000, and ordered Squitieri to forfeit $100,000, representing the proceeds of his criminal activity.

Squitieri’s sentencing today followed his guilty plea on April 20, 2006, to four counts of an Indictment unsealed last year, which charged 32 defendants -- most of whom are members or associates of the Gambino Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra (“LCN”)-- with wide-ranging racketeering crimes and other offenses spanning more than a decade, including violent assault, extortion of various individuals and businesses, loansharking, union embezzlement, illegal gambling, trafficking in stolen property and counterfeit goods, and mail fraud. As part of his guilty plea, Squitieri admitted participating in a racketeering enterprise and extorting the owners of construction companies based in Mineola, New York and Westchester County, and a New Jersey trucking company.

As set forth in the Indictment, SQUITIERI was made Underboss of the Gambino Family by John J. Gotti, the former Boss of the Family, shortly after SQUITIERI was released from jail following a narcotics conviction. The Indictment further alleges that SQUITIERI was promoted to Acting Boss after Peter Gotti’s 2002 arrest on racketeering charges.

The charges leading to Squitieri’s conviction were the result of an almost three-year long investigation that included obtaining court authorization to intercept conversations among high-ranking members of the Gambino Crime Family at several locations in the Bronx and Westchester County, including at the United Hebrew Geriatrics Home, located in New Rochelle, New York. An undercover FBI agent also infiltrated the Gambino Family in the course of the investigation.

All of the defendants charged in this case with racketeering offenses have pled guilty or, in the case of Gambino Family Capo GREGORY DEPALMA, been convicted at trial. One of those defendants, LOUIS FILIPPELLI, who acted at times as a “street boss” for SQUITIERI, was sentenced by Judge Hellerstein on July 19, 2006, to 46 months’ imprisonment, three years’ supervised release and a fine of $20,000, and was ordered to forfeit $100,000.

Mr. GARCIA praised the diligent efforts of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and expressed appreciation to the Department of Labor.

Assistant United States Attorneys CHRISTOPHER P. CONNIFF, EDWARD O’CALLAGHAN and SCOTT L. MARRAH, are in charge of the prosecutions.