Colombo Family Busted

The racketeering indictment unsealed in New York is part of a federal takedown of the crime family that has used informants and electronic surveillance over the past three months. Three other defendants already in custody were also charged, including John “Sonny” Franzese, 89, suspected of being the family’s underboss.

Gioeli and the other defendants pleaded not guilty. All were held without bail, except one, who was released on a $1 million bond.

Gioeli was charged in three of the four murders listed in the indictment, including a 1992 double homicide that took place during a bloody war for control of the family. The indictment also alleges that Gioeli helped hold up a fur shop in February 1991, when he posed as a customer shopping for a Valentine’s Day gift. He and the other robbers handcuffed the owner and filled garbage bags with fur coats before fleeing.

Also in June, Nicholas “Little Nick” Corozzo, walked into an FBI office and surrendered on charges that he had ordered a decades-old gangland hit that had killed an innocent bystander. Corozzo, a reputed Gambino family capo, had fled his Long Island home last winter amid a pre-dawn roundup of 62 alleged Gambino mobsters. The formerly lone fugitive was held without bail after pleading not guilty to racketeering, extortion and murder.