Ten members of NYC crime family arrested including 87-year-old boss
Members of a New York City crime family threatened violence, pressured workers and pocketed phony “pension” payments in a two-decade plot to seize control of a city construction union and its lucrative employee health insurance program, prosecutors alleged in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
Ten members of the Colombo crime family, including 87-year-old boss Andrew “Mush” Russo, were charged in connection with the scheme, which prosecutors said had all the major trappings of Mafia-type shakedowns seen in TV shows like “The Sopranos” and movies.
Prosecutors said crime family members pressured the union to steer health plan business to pals, sought at least $10,000 (£7,200) per month in kickbacks and threatened to kill a union official if he didn’t comply, telling an associate on a recorded telephone call in June: “I’ll put him in the ground right in front of his wife and kids.”