NY Post
Aren’t these the guys she’s supposed to be putting away?
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz boosted her campaign for district attorney by holding a fund-raiser at a mobbed-up eatery in Rego Park, The Post has learned.
Sources said Katz partied with supporters Tuesday night at the Barosa Italian restaurant, which is co-owned by reputed Genovese associate Frank Barbone.
Barbone, 47, has twice been convicted in illegal-gambling cases, including one in Queens for which he served a 1 ¹/₂ to 4 ¹/₂- year prison term.
He’s currently on supervised release in the other — in which he admitted to a Manhattan federal judge that gangsters might drop by his place from time to time.
Barone was present at the restaurant during Katz’s fund-raiser, for which tickets cost $150 each, sources said.
“Shouldn’t she know where the owner is a mobster?” a source wondered.
In 2016, Barbone was among 46 reputed gangsters busted in what the feds called a “sprawling and long-running racketeering conspiracy” that involved four of New York’s “Five Families,” as well as the Philly mob run by Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino.
Prosecutors said Barbone ran an illegal sports-gambling operation with reputed Genovese member Alex Conigliaro, with whom he was also convicted in 2000 on state gambling charges.
In 2017, Barbone struck a plea bargain that got him a one-day, time-served jail sentence, and three years supervised release.
Katz campaign spokesman Grant Fox said: “It’s surprising that Melinda’s opponents, who are tripping over themselves claiming to be reformers, are floating this kind of half-baked opposition research to hurt someone who paid his debt to society and now runs a popular restaurant that has hosted events for candidates on both sides of the aisle.”
13 comments:
GREG LASAK - the only qualified candidate.
Not that I'm a fan of Katz, but why does allegations of mob connections for a neighborhood-owned restaurant only get raised when a unpopular pol visits it? Maybe Italian mob, PIRA, or Polish organized crime deserves more attention, Crappy?
Stupid feds, all that time, money and effort to pinch some businessmen over gambling.
How about going after deBlasio, the gangs, human smugglers and sex trade running wild in northern Queens from Woodside to Little Neck.
Don't forget that her mentor Alan Hevesi is a convicted felon
Melinda Katz served the people of Queens well as Borough President. She has rarely if ever been in a criminal court. It is insane to vote for her to become our District Attorney. We need somebody with experience in the criminal justice system to be our DA, not just some term limited elected official looking for their next job.
Aurelio “Tony” Arcabascio, Republican candidate for Borough President in 2013, set the tradition
If it was an establishment owned by a black or a Latino/a that had paid his/her debt to society, it would be considered a triumph for supporting someone who was rehabilitated.
Saturday morning, Marino's Supermarket, Paul Vallone in front of the supermarket with his little board greeting people. Told him to get lost. Soon he did, got into his Dodge whatever, PAV-LAW license plate !!! almost ran a STOP sign stopped somewhere in the middle of the road.
Not that many signatures will do that to one's ego. Fuck you, you piece of shit.
If they're actually rehabilitated it's not really an issue, but when do the organized-crime inclined actually make good on those pretenses? Money-laundering and looking legitimate are practical prerequisites for operating just enough below the radar to stay out of jail. Just hold the thing at a park, or a diner, or a friggin Dunkin Donuts or something - doing otherwise and pretending ignorance of the "background connections" on display is really just sending a different sort of message...
Mobsters vote, too!
I have to agree on Greg Lasak,no one come close.
GREG LASAK!
Maybe they made her an offer she couldn't refuse ?
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