Long-Time Gambino Crime Family Member Pleads Guilty to Racketeering Conspiracy

Earlier today, in federal court in Central Islip, New York, John Ambrosio, also known as “Johnny Boy,” a member of the Gambino organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra, pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, admitting his involvement in acts of loansharking and illegal gambling.

Ambrosio, an acting captain in the Gambino family, is the last defendant to plead guilty in a superseding indictment that charged him and six members and associates of the Gambino family and a member of the Bonanno organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra. Co-conspirators Frank Salerno, also known as “Frankie Boy,” a soldier in the Bonanno family, as well as Thomas Anzalone, Alessandro Damelio, also known as “Sandro,” Joseph Durso, Anthony Rodolico and Anthony Saladino, associates of the Gambino family, have previously entered pleas of guilty to racketeering conspiracy.  Today’s proceeding was held before United States Magistrate Judge Gary R. Brown.

Richard P. Donoghue, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; William F. Sweeney, Jr., Assistant Director-in-Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation, New York Field Division; Angel M. Melendez, Special Agent-in-Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, New York; Geraldine Hart, Commissioner, Suffolk County Police Department; and James P. O’Neill, Commissioner, New York City Police Department, announced the guilty pleas.

As detailed in the superseding indictment and other court filings, between January 2014 and December 2017, Ambrosio and his co-conspirators engaged in a racketeering conspiracy, which included predicate crimes of loansharking, operating illegal gambling businesses, narcotics distribution conspiracy and obstruction of justice conspiracy.  At his guilty plea, Ambrosio admitted to participating in the affairs of the Gambino family by collecting an extortionate loan from one victim, and supervising a gambling business involving poker games, electronic gaming machines and sports betting.  As part of his plea agreement with the government, Ambrosio will forfeit $100,000, including $66,116 in cash that was seized from his home in Huntington, New York, at the time of his arrest.

When Ambrosio and his co-conspirators were arrested on December 12, 2017, law enforcement agents executed numerous search warrants at various locations, including a storage facility in Nassau County, and recovered gambling and loan sharking records, electronic gaming machines, narcotics and narcotics paraphernalia, and numerous firearms, including an AR-15, a .38 caliber revolver and a sawed-off shotgun.  Law enforcement agents also recovered letters addressed to Ambrosio from Bonanno family boss Michael “The Nose” Mancuso and former Gambino family boss John Gotti.

When sentenced, Ambrosio, Anzalone, Damelio, Durso and Rodolico each face a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment.  Saladino and Salerno each face a mandatory minimum of five years’ imprisonment and up to 40 years’ imprisonment for cocaine distribution conspiracy offenses.

The government’s case is being handled by the Office’s Long Island Criminal Division.  Assistant United States Attorney Artie McConnell is in charge of the prosecution.

Defendant Who Pleaded Guilty Today:

JOHN AMBROSIO (also known as “Johnny Boy”)
Age: 74
Huntington, New York

Defendants Who Have Previously Pleaded Guilty:

THOMAS ANZALONE
Age: 44
Queens, New York

ALESSANDRO DAMELIO (also known as “Sandro”)
Age: 49
Queens, New York

JOSEPH DURSO
Age: 26
Glen Cove, New York

ANTHONY RODOLICO
Age: 46
Huntington, New York

ANTHONY SALADINO
Age: 67
Glen Cove, New York

FRANK SALERNO (also known as “Frankie Boy”)
Age: 43
Queens, New York

E.D.N.Y. Docket No. 17-CR-522 (S-1)(SJF)