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Anthony Staino, 55, of Swedesboro, N.J., pleaded guilty yesterday to participating in a racketeering conspiracy as a capo in the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra (LCN) Family and committing loan sharking and illegal gambling.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and Edward J. Hanko, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division, made the announcement after the plea was accepted by U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
Staino pleaded guilty to conspiring to conduct and participate in the affairs of the Philadelphia LCN Family through a pattern of racketeering activity. He faces a maximum penalty of 70 years in prison when he is sentenced on Jul. 17, 2013.
Through court documents and statements yesterday in court, Staino admitted that, as a made member and capo of the Philadelphia LCN Family, he gave a usurious loan to an undercover FBI agent and used threats of violence to collect payments on the loan. Staino also admitted that he ran an illegal electronic gambling device business for the mob, providing video poker machines and other gambling devices for bars, restaurants, convenience stores, coffee shops and other locations in Philadelphia and its suburbs, and then collected the illegal gambling proceeds.
The case is being investigated by the FBI, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the Pennsylvania State Police, the New Jersey State Police, the Philadelphia Police Department, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration. Additional assistance was provided by the New Jersey Department of Corrections.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney John S. Han of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frank A. Labor III and Suzanne B. Ercole of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Valuable prosecutorial assistance was provided by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General.
