Huntington Man Pleads Guilty to Illegal Gambling, Loansharking

A Huntington man who is a member of the Gambino organized-crime family pleaded guilty Thursday to charges of racketeering conspiracy, admitting his role in loansharking and illegal gambling.

John “Johnny Boy” Ambrosio, an acting captain in the Gambino family, is the last defendant to plead guilty in a superseding indictment that charged him and six members and associates of the Gambino family and a member of the Bonanno organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra.

 Co-conspirators Frank Salerno, a soldier in the Bonanno family, as well as Thomas Anzalone, Alessandro Damelio,  Joseph Durso, Anthony Rodolico, also of Huntington, and Anthony Saladino, associates of the Gambino family, had previously entered pleas of guilty to racketeering conspiracy.

Thursday’s proceeding was held before United States Magistrate Judge Gary R. Brown.

As detailed in the superseding indictment and other court filings, between January 2014 and December 2017, Ambrosio and his co-conspirators engaged in a racketeering conspiracy, which included predicate crimes of loansharking, operating illegal gambling businesses, narcotics distribution conspiracy and obstruction of justice conspiracy.

At his guilty plea, Ambrosio admitted to participating in the affairs of the Gambino family by collecting an extortionate loan from one victim, and supervising a gambling business involving poker games, electronic gaming machines and sports betting.  As part of his plea agreement with the government, Ambrosio will forfeit $100,000, including $66,116 in cash that was seized from his home in Huntington at  his arrest.

When Ambrosio and his co-conspirators were arrested on Dec. 12, law enforcement agents executed  search warrants at various locations, including a storage facility in Nassau County, and recovered gambling and loan sharking records, electronic gaming machines, narcotics and narcotics paraphernalia, and numerous firearms, including an AR-15, a .38 caliber revolver and a sawed-off shotgun.

When sentenced, Ambrosio, Anzalone, Damelio, Durso and Rodolico each face a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment.  Saladino and Salerno each face a mandatory minimum of five years’ imprisonment and up to 40 years’ imprisonment for cocaine distribution conspiracy offenses.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Long Island Criminal Division.  Assistant United States Attorney Artie McConnell is in charge of the prosecution.

 

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