NEW YORK – A Captain of the Genovese Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra, Daniel Pagano, plead guilty Thursday to racketeering and admitted to being a leader of the criminal enterprise, officials said.
Pagano, 61, will be sentenced in July. He is facing up to 20 years in prison.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “Danny Pagano, a capo in the Genovese Crime family, has now admitted to being a leader in a racketeering conspiracy that spanned nearly five years.”
Adding that the plea demonstrates that La Cosa Nostra is not a thing of the past or a relic of movie myth.
From 2009 through August 2014, Pagano, along with other members and associates of the Genovese Crime Family, committed a wide array of crimes including operating an illegal gambling business.
Pagano, a captain, exercised a leadership role within the Family by, among other things, settling disputes between and among associates of the Family.
The Mafia Crime Structure
- The Capo typically receives a share of the illegal earnings of each of his crew’s Soldiers and associates, which is sometimes referred to as “tribute.”
- Each “crew” has as its leader a person known as a “Caporegime,” “Capo,” “Captain,” or “Skipper,” who is responsible for supervising the criminal activities of his crew and providing “Soldiers” and associates with support and protection.
- The Genovese Crime Family operates through groups of individuals known as “crews” and “regimes,” most of which are based in New York City.
- The Genovese Crime Family is part of a nationwide criminal organization known by various names, including the “Mafia” and “La Cosa Nostra,” which operates through entities known as “Families.”
- Daniel Pagano is a Caporegime or Captain in the Genovese Crime Family.
- Each crew consists of “made” members, sometimes known as “Soldiers,” “wiseguys,” “friends of ours,” and “good fellows.”
- Soldiers are aided in their criminal endeavors by other trusted individuals, known as “associates,” who sometimes are referred to as “connected” or identified as “with” a Soldier or other member of the Family.
- Associates participate in the various activities of the crew and its members, officials said.
- In order for an associate to become a made member of the Family, the associate must first be of Italian descent and typically needed to demonstrate the ability to generate income for the Family and/or the willingness to commit acts of violence.