A Bonanno crime-family member who threatened to “slap the s–t out” of a turncoat after which pressured him to strip butt bare to discover a wire was discovered responsible of extortion Friday by a Brooklyn federal jury.
John Ragano, a hulking solider nicknamed “The Maniac,” was convicted following a four-day trial the place the mobster was caught on tape threatening to beatdown Vincent Martino, a mob informant who owed him $150,000 in unlawful loans.
The July 2023 recording was captured simply 5 days earlier than Ragano was despatched to jail on a separate racketeering conviction — when the portly gangster met Martino, who accused Ragano, 62, of being a rat behind A&G Auto Dismantlers in Ridgewood.
The Mafioso could be heard appearing dumbfounded by Martino’s accusation earlier than he accuses the mob affiliate of carrying a wire and demanding him to drop his trow.
“Then take off your f–king shit proper now, man. Take off your f–king pants proper now,” a raging Ragano says within the recording.
“Let me see — I need to see. I don’t have a wire on me both.”
Martino testified Wednesday that his pants have been round his ankles and his shirt because the made man looked for a wire and continued lacing him, telling him he was going to “f–king slap the shit out of [him]” if he ratted him out to the feds.
“You owe me my f–king cash. Let’s see the way you’re going to do after I get out,” Ragano seethes within the recording.
The strip search failed to search out the hidden microphone, which was hooked up to Martino’s garments, prosecutors mentioned.
Martino, a mob affiliate, mentioned that he observed two males have been approaching him from behind with what seemed to be a tire iron and one other metallic weapon so he grabbed his pants and ran to his automotive to name the feds — as Ragano’s final phrases on the recording warn Martino that he is aware of the place he lives.
Martino was one of many key witnesses at trial after he discovered himself $275,000 within the gap to the mob after taking a sequence of loans out when he fell on onerous occasions.
He mentioned he started cooperating with the feds to dig himself out of the debt gap to the mob.
Ragano, who’s serving an almost 5 yr sentence for the racketeering, was acquitted of extortion conspiracy, witness harassment and witness tampering.
“The defendant’s extortion of a sufferer whereas on pre-trial launch, carried out even within the sanctity of the federal courthouse, is an affront to the legal justice system and a obvious instance of this Bonanno mobster’s flagrant disrespect for the legislation,” United States Legal professional Breon Peace mentioned in an announcement. “With at the moment’s verdict, the jury has delivered a transparent message that the rule of legislation will prevail over extortionate threats.”
The wiseguy shall be sentenced at a later date and faces as much as 20 years in jail.
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