Federal Judge Fredric Block (E.D.N.Y. Clinton) denied bail on July 16 to a Gambino family”captain” indicted for infiltrating two ILA locals in NYC and intimidating dissidents.
Anthony “Sonny” Ciccone was charged last month with intimidating ILA bosses into placing a Genovese associate on the ILA’s Executive Council, as a stepping stone to the ILA presidency. Ciccone and others were also charged with intimidating trustees of the ILA’s national health plan into awarding a prescription contract to a firm from which the Gambino and Genovese families then split a kick-back of approximately $400,000. Further, between June 2000 and Aug. 2001, Ciccone and others, allegedly coerced ILA Local 1 officials into following Ciccone’s directives regarding the management of the local, including the placement of members in particular jobs.
At the July 16 hearing in Brooklyn, federal prosecutors cited enough wiretaps and other evidence of Ciccone’s threats, that Judge Block ruled that they had shown in its “proffer” of pre-trial evidence that Ciccone was too dangerous to be released, and Block ordered that he be held without bail. [NYT, 7/17/02]