US prosecutors said Tuesday that 16 alleged leaders and associates of the Gambino crime family have been arrested in the United States and Italy.
The charges against them include extortion, extortion, witness retaliation, conspiracy and fraud.
Italian authorities arrested ten in the New York area and six in Palermo, Sicily.
Another suspect remains at large, according to the US Department of Justice.
The US-based suspects are scheduled to appear in court in New York on Wednesday.
In the indictment, prosecutors outline a pattern of intimidation and violent assaults aimed at embezzling funds and defrauding unions and employee benefit plans.
The union targeted demolition companies and the wagon industry – also known as waste management or garbage collection.
According to the indictment, members of the group threatened businessmen and demanded protection payments. They evaded union rules and rigged bids to obtain lucrative demolition contracts.
The defendants were also charged with threatening witnesses, money laundering and firearms offences.
Those arrested included the leader or “captain” of the Gambino family, Joseph “Joe Brooklyn” Lani, alleged Gambino soldier Angelo “Fifi” Gradillone, and Francesco Vicari, also known as “Uncle Ciccio”, an alleged associate of the Sicilian Mafia and the Gambino. a partner.
The Gambino family is one of the five prominent New York area mafia gangs collectively known as La Cosa Nostra.
The family was headed by President John Gotti until his death in prison in 2002, and then led by Frank Calley, who was murdered outside his Staten Island home in March 2019.
His death was the first targeted killing of a Mafia boss in the city since the death of then Gambino family boss Paul Castellano in 1985.
A number of recent investigations and police operations have targeted the group in the United States and Italy.
The defendants face maximum sentences ranging from 20 to 180 years in prison.
