Additional Charges Filed Against Acting Boss and Longtime Associate of Gambino Crime Family

LEV L. DASSIN, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today the filing of a superseding indictment against JOHN D’AMICO, a/k/a "Jackie the Nose," allegedly the Acting Boss of the Gambino Crime Family, and JOSEPH WATTS, allegedly a powerful Gambino Family associate. The superseding Indictment adds WATTS to the racketeering conspiracy that had previously been charged in Count One against D'AMICO, and expands the scope of that conspiracy from murder, gambling, extortion, and obstruction of justice, to also include commercial bribery, money laundering and fraud involving, among other things, an energy drink company, American Blast Ltd., established by WATTS and used by him to launder the proceeds of Gambino-related criminal activity. The superseding Indictment also adds a second count, charging D'AMICO alone with participating in a racketeering conspiracy that ran for many years, up to approximately March 2008, to obtain an interest in a beverage and liquor distribution company, Big Geyser Inc. The superseding Indictment also continues to charge D'AMICO and WATTS in the September 1989 murder of FREDERICK WEISS, a potential witness in a federal trial.

If convicted, D'AMICO, 72, and WATTS, 67, face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment on Counts One and Three of the superseding indictment. D'AMICO faces a maximum sentence of twenty years' imprisonment on Count Two.

Mr. DASSIN praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Assistant United States Attorneys MIRIAM E. ROCAH and ARLO DEVLIN-BROWN are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.