Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra Associate Sentenced
| U.S. Attorney’s Office September 25, 2013 |
WASHINGTON—Robert Ranieri, 38, of Glendora, NJ, was sentenced today to serve 12 months and one day in prison for his participation in loan sharking activities on behalf of the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra (LCN) Family.
In addition to his prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Eduardo Robreno ordered Ranieri to pay a $1,000 fine and ordered three years of supervised release.
On June 13, 2013, Ranieri pleaded guilty to conspiring with Philadelphia LCN Family capo Anthony Staino and others to make a usurious loan to an undercover FBI agent and to use threats of violence to collect payments on the loan.
The case was investigated by the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police, the New Jersey State Police, the Philadelphia Police Department, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration. Additional assistance was provided by the New Jersey Department of Corrections.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney John S. Han of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frank A. Labor III and Suzanne B. Ercole of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Valuable prosecutorial assistance was provided by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General.