Two of New York’s Oldest Mafia Clans Charged in Money Laundering Scheme

For nearly a decade, families visited a small coffee shop in suburban Long Island for pastries and gelato. Many were unaware of the longstanding operation playing out just feet away from them: Mafia members were running a secret underground gambling den in the store.

The business was one of several across the island and in Queens that served as a front for two of New York’s oldest crime families and their illegal moneymaking schemes, according to two federal indictments unsealed Tuesday. When other gambling clubs threatened their fortunes, a Nassau County detective offered to conduct police raids on the rival clubs in exchange for payments, prosecutors said.

On Tuesday, nine reputed members and associates of the Genovese and Bonanno clans — including the detective — were charged in a racketeering case brought by the U.S. attorney’s office in Brooklyn that centered on the illegal parlors and the money laundering and extortion schemes.

Seven of the men, who appeared in Federal District Court in Brooklyn on Tuesday, pleaded not guilty to the charges. They were expected to be released on differing bail packages.

Federal prosecutors said that for 10 years, the gambling activities brought in “substantial revenue” for the two families as they hid under the cover of businesses like a soccer club and a shoe repair store. The Long Island coffee shop alone typically earned them more than $10,000 per week, funds that were laundered up to the crime families’ leaders.

Breon S. Peace, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in a statement Tuesday that the arrests “demonstrate that the Mafia continues to pollute our communities with illegal gambling, extortion and violence while using our financial system in service to their criminal schemes.”

He added: “Even more disturbing is the shameful conduct of a detective who betrayed his oath of office.”

Patrick Ryder, the Nassau County police commissioner, said in a statement that the detective, Hector Rosario, 49, of Mineola, N.Y., had been working on a restricted assignment and did not interact with the public while the investigation was continuing. Mr. Rosario has now been suspended without pay until his administrative hearing in the department.

He has worked for the Nassau County Police Department for more than 15 years, according to his LinkedIn page.

“The Nassau County Police Department continues to have a zero-tolerance approach toward any member of the department who is involved in criminal activity,” Commissioner Ryder said.

The power of the city’s five fabled Mafia clans began to decline in the 1980s and 1990s, as aggressive prosecutions disrupted their leadership and the authorities targeted their grip on unions. The Bonanno family in particular saw a string of damaging convictions and defections through the 2000s. Even the family’s longtime boss began cooperating with the authorities after a 2004 conviction for a series of murders.

The families still exist, but with far less widespread control.

In recent years, they have faced charges for similar types of organized crime — extortion, illegal gambling, fraud — in smaller cases with a few defendants as well…