Mass Organized Crime Figure Joseph Giallanella Sentenced to 2 Years

WOBURN, Mass. (Associated Press) — A 64-year-old North Andover man prosecutors say was a key associate in a loan sharking and illegal gambling operation has been sentenced to two years and a day in prison.

Attorney General Martha Coakley said Tuesday that Joseph Giallanella was sentenced in Middlesex Superior Court after pleading guilty to charges of criminal usury, conspiracy to attempt extortion and attempt to procure perjury. The sentence will be served at the same time as one of two to four years he received this month on Essex County charges related to illegal gambling and loan sharking.

Giallanella was one of about 30 people indicted in eastern Massachusetts in 2010 after a multi-agency investigation. Alleged mob captain Mark Rossetti has received concurrent 12-year sentences in Suffolk and Essex counties on charges including loan sharking and drug trafficking.