Acting Capo of Genovese Organized Crime Family Sentenced in Manhattan Federal Court to 10 Years in Prison for Murder Conspiracy

PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that ANTHONY PALUMBO, a/k/a “Tony D.,” was sentenced today in Manhattan federal court to 10 years in prison in connection with his participation in a conspiracy to murder an individual associated with Russian organized crime. He previously pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder in aid of a racketeering enterprise before U.S. Magistrate Judge JAMES L. COTT on August 30, 2010. U.S. District Judge RICHARD J. HOLWELL imposed the sentence.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA stated: “Anthony Palumbo’s decades long crime spree has finally come to an end. He is going to prison which is exactly where he belongs.”

According to the information and other documents previously filed in Manhattan federal court:

ANTHONY PALUMBO was a soldier and acting capo in the Genovese organized crime family, operating crews in both Brooklyn, New York, and New Jersey. During the time he served as an acting capo, he supervised racketeering crimes of his own “crew” of Genovese family members and associates. PALUMBO was involved in overseeing various of the Genovese organized crime family’s rackets, including gambling, loansharking, and extortion activities as both a soldier and an acting capo.

In 1990, PALUMBO was placed in charge of overseeing the Genovese crime family’s interests in an illegal mob cartel that extorted petroleum companies affiliated with Russian organized crime figures engaged in a motor fuel bootlegging scheme. Through this scheme, the petroleum companies evaded the payment of federal and state motor fuel excise taxes, and the Genovese and other organized crime families extorted a share of the illegal proceeds.

In late 1992 or early 1993, during PALUMBO’s involvement in that scheme, one of the Russian organized crime figures asked PALUMBO and others to murder a hitman who worked for him. PALUMBO and his co-conspirators agreed to murder the Russian hitman, but higher-ups in the Genovese crime family would not authorize the murder, so it did not happen.

In addition, PALUMBO was involved in the 1992 homicide of Angelo Sangiuolo, an associate of the Genovese organized crime family. As proven by trial testimony in the case of United States v. Angelo Prisco, 08 Cr. 885 (NRB), former Genovese crime family boss Vincent “The Chin” Gigante ordered the murder of Sangiuolo because he had ripped off a gambling business associated with PALUMBO. After PALUMBO complained to Gigante, Gigante ordered Angelo Prisco, a Genovese capo, to murder Sangiuolo. Prisco recruited two of his associates to commit the murder. On or about June 2, 1992, Prisco’s mob associates shot and killed Sangiuolo in a van in the Bronx.

In sentencing PALUMBO to the statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in prison, Judge Holwell emphasized that such a sentence is necessary to deter others, ensure the safety of society, and promote justice.

In addition to his prison term, Judge HOLWELL sentenced PALUMBO, 62, of New York, New York, to three years of supervised release.

Mr. BHARARA praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York City Police Department in this investigation.

This case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys AVI WEITZMAN and DAVID B. MASSEY are in charge of the prosecution.