Mafia Tomato Gets Squished
By MURRAY WEISS and CHUCK BENNETT, NY Post
Cops plucked the "Top Tomato" of a Staten Island sports-betting operation yesterday, along with a rogues' gallery of leg breakers, bookies and corrupt government workers involved in two resurgent Mafia factions, authorities said.
The early-morning raids by a state task force against the Gambino and Luchese crime families in Staten Island targeted their gambling, loan-sharking and city contract bid-rigging operations.
The biggest fish caught in the sweep was alleged Gambino capo Carmine Sciandra, who authorities say reaped the rewards from a multimillion-dollar sports-betting book while running the popular Top Tomato grocery chain.
Sciandra, 57, last made headlines in 2005, when he was shot in the stomach by ex-cop Patrick Balsamo because the Mafioso's brother groped the former lawman's daughter.
Investigators with the state Attorney General's Organized Crime Task Force and NYPD touched off "Operation Pure Luck" earlier this year when Sciandra's top bookie, Vinnie LaFace, was busted for allegedly trying to bribe two cops for police protection.
Their surveillance of LaFace, 31, led them to Sciandra, the alleged muscle for an international sports-betting book that took in millions through a Costa Rican wire room.
Sciandra's right-hand man, reputed Gambino soldier Michael Murdocco, 64, was allegedly caught on wiretaps and surveillance video making loans to debt-ridden bettors -- at interest rates up to 156 percent.
Authorities said they worked with fellow shark Benny Casale in his shop, Casale Tile, which was bugged.
Murdocco also was busted for allegedly acting as an intermediary for his son-in-law, Fred Grimaldi, a Sanitation Department deputy chief, and a New Jersey concrete company willing to pay bribes for an inside track on city contracts.
Grimaldi was just months away from collecting his pension when he was arrested.
Court Officer Scott Weissman, 47, was busted for allegedly acting as LaFace's sheet holder -- someone who takes bets and collects a commission from all the losing wagers.
Separately, the task force's "Operation Night Gallery" busted a handful of Lucheses for allegedly running their own gambling and loan-sharking ring out of a New Dorp Plaza bar.
Reputed capo Anthony Croce, 76, was allegedly caught multiple times talking mob business on Financial District streets and the Staten Island Ferry.
His soldier Joey Datello -- co-owner of the Night Gallery bar with mob-connected brother Frank -- are accused of running their operation out of the dive.
All defendants pleaded not guilty and were released on bail or bond. With Katherine Romero
