NEW YORK – A Gambino crime family member was indicted Tuesday for the 2002 murder of a crime partner who was allegedly shot in the back of the head at point-blank range, the U.S. Justice Department announced.
Gennaro “Jerry” Bruno of the Gambino organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra was arrested in Las Vegas for the murder of Martin Bosshart, officials said.
He is charged with racketeering and racketeering conspiracy, including predicate acts of murder, narcotics trafficking, extortion and obstruction of justice.
“In January of 2002, Bruno executed Martin Bosshart by shooting him in the back of the head. Bruno was as ruthless as he was calculating, and after a long run of evading justice, Bruno’s gig is up,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos stated.
According to the indictment, which was unsealed Tuesday, these are the facts and circumstances surrounding this case:
- Gennaro Bruno, 41, was released following a term of imprisonment from 1997 to 2000. He emerged as an associate of the Gambino crime family, having graduated from the local gang of young men referred to as the “Liberty Posse” or the “Young Guns.”
- Over the next 14 years, before his arrest Tuesday, Bruno engaged in a myriad of crimes with and on behalf of a faction of the Gambino crime family aligned with Joseph “JoJo” Corozzo, a powerful Gambino member who had risen to become the consigliere of the family.
- Bruno and other Gambino crime family members and associates moved large quantities of high-potency marijuana from Canada into the New York City area.
- In 2001, Bruno’s criminal associate Martin Bosshart began efforts to exclude one of Bruno’s coconspirators from the marijuana importation operation.
- In an effort to prevent Bosshart from doing so, Bruno plotted with other Gambino crime family members and associates, including Todd LaBarca, to murder Bosshart.
- On the night of January 2, 2002, Bruno and others lured Bosshart to an isolated location in Queens, New York. There, Bruno allegedly shot Bosshart in the back of the head at point-blank range, killing him immediately.
- The body of Martin Bosshart, who was 30 years old at the time, was recovered at the scene.
Bruno evaded justice for years and conspired with other Gambino associates to obstruct an official grand jury proceeding into the Bosshart murder, while continuing to participate in the core money-making activities of the Gambino crime family, including drug trafficking and extortion, officials said.
As part of the alleged pattern of racketeering, authorities said Bruno, among other things, used his position in the Gambino crime family to extract extortionate payments from the owner of a waste carting company in Queens, New York.