A Bonanno crime-family soldier referred to as “The Maniac” pressured certainly one of his loan-sharking victims to get bare to see if he was carrying a wire, barking, “Take off your f–king pants proper now!” prosecutors mentioned Tuesday.
John Ragano, 62, allegedly made affiliate Vincent Martino strip whereas threatening to “slap the s–t out of him” if he was carrying a wire for the feds throughout a gathering July 5, 2023, simply 5 days earlier than Ragano was to be despatched to jail in a Brooklyn federal racketeering case.
“OK, properly, then take off your f–king s–t proper now, my man. Take off your f–king pants proper now, lemme see, I need to see,” a raging Ragano allegedly instructed Martino at his workplace when the underling denied being wired up.
Martino, who apparently had a wire on his garments, adopted Ragano’s directions — and by some means nonetheless managed to secretly document the entire assembly anyway, whilst he stood bare whereas two different males stood behind him with a crowbar and one other with a tire iron, federal prosecutors have mentioned.
“John Ragano pressured a person who owed cash to strip bare in a storage in Queens and threatened to slap the s–t out of him,” federal prosecutor Andrew Reich mentioned at first of Ragano’s trial in Brooklyn Federal Court docket.
One other mob affiliate, Broadway-show-tunes singer-turned-criminal Andrew Koslosky, 66, testified that he collected mortgage funds from Martino for Ragano — who he painted as a hair-trigger-tempered “huge fella.
“He made it clear that folks didn’t need to cross him,” Koslosky mentioned.
Throughout Kolosky’s testimony, jurors had been proven a photograph of how he recorded funds in an envelope named “Italian” — whereas one other picture confirmed stacks of money amounting to $6,200 that was paid by Martino in April 2021.
“When he put his fist down on the desk, the entire room shook,” Koslosky mentioned of Ragano, who’s charged with extortion, harassing a witness and witness tampering.
Martino — who went into the marijuana trafficking enterprise with Ragano — had taken a $150,000 mortgage from Ragano in February 2021 and he agreed to pay $2,050 in curiosity per week till the mortgage was paid off in full in money, in line with prosecutors.
However Martino stopped making funds sooner or later, and he started working with the feds in March 2023, when he agreed to begin recording any conversations he had with Ragano and his debt collectors, Reich mentioned.
Martino went on to make a slew of $1,000 funds after cooperating with the feds, however in June 2023, he was instructed by certainly one of Ragano’s guys that the Mafioso wished to debate “a problem” with the mortgage in particular person, prosecutors alleged.
Martino then met with Ragano that July 5 and instructed Ragano that he wished to cease repaying the mortgage.
Each males accused one another of working for the feds earlier than Ragano made him strip off his garments, in line with courtroom papers.
The alleged shakedown got here simply 5 days earlier than Ragano was to report back to jail for almost 5 years after pleading responsible to extortion fees in November 2022.
Martino testified late Tuesday that he resorted to taking “road loans” — slang for taking money from the Mafia — in the course of the pandemic in 2020 after falling on arduous occasions when his development firm did not take off in 2018.
He racked up $125,000 in debt from members of the Columbo crime household earlier than turning to the Bonannos for one more $150,000 as a result of he was falling behind on debt funds, Martino testified.
Martino wound up owing the mob $275,000, in line with prosecutors.
Each Ragano and Martino had been named in a serious racketeering case that took down the Colombos — together with boss Andrew “Mush” Russo — associated to the infiltration of a Queens labor union in 2021.
Martino pleaded responsible in the identical case in December 2022 to conspiracy to distribute marijuana.
Ragano, additionally identified by the nickname “Bazoo,” had beforehand served a 10-year jail stint after he was convicted in state courtroom for kidnapping in 1999.
Martino will proceed testifying Wednesday as he particulars how he snitched on Ragano.
Ragano’s lawyer, Ken Womble, admitted to jurors that Ragano was a member of the Mafia whereas downplaying the intimidation techniques alleged by prosecutors in his opening statements.
“It is a case about cash amongst mobsters. That’s the entire story of this case,” Womble mentioned, including that “asking for a mortgage to be paid again just isn’t a criminal offense in any respect.
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