By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
The acting capo of the Genovese organized crime family pleaded guilty Monday in federal court in New York to taking part in a conspiracy to commit murder of a hitman for the Russian mob, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
Authorities say that Anthony Palumbo, a soldier and Acting Capo in the Genovese Organized Crime Family and operated crews in Brooklyn and New Jersey and oversaw various rackets including including gambling, loansharking and extortion.
Around 1990, when capo Daniel Pagano went to prison, Palumbo was placed in charge of overseeing the Genovese Crime Family’s interests in an illegal mob cartel, which extorted petroleum companies affiliated with the Russian mob.
The Russian mob ran a fraudulent motor fuel bootlegging scheme, in which the petroleum companies evaded the payment of federal and state motor fuel excise taxes, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
The Genovese and other Organized Crime Families extorted a share of the illegal proceeds, authorities charged.
In about late 1992 or early 1993, a member of the Russian mob asked Palumbo to murder a hitman who worked for him.
Palumbo and his co-conspirators agreed to murder the Russian hitman, but Genovese Crime Family’s higher ups refused to authorize the murder, and the Russian hitman never was killed, authorities said.
