By Jeff Lipton
The two local defendants were identified as Milton "Milty" Bialostok, 77, of Wilson Court in North Woodmere, and Aniello "Neil" Colello, 68, of Waldo Avenue in East Rockaway, officials said. They were among 14 members of the Luchese crime family, including underboss Joseph Caridi, 53, of East Northport, arrested in spontaneous raids by Suffolk County authorities on Wednesday, Nov. 13 and the following day.
The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office, Suffolk County Police Department and Special Investigations Bureau prosecutors executed search warrants and raided locations in Nassau, Suffolk, Brooklyn and Queens in the most extensive organized crime bust by Suffolk authorities in about 20 years.
The investigation was launched last February, with more than 70 detectives working on the case. Members of the crime family face charges of racketeering, loansharking and illegal gambling, among other crimes.
"The message we are sending is that we have a wonderful tool to actually get enough evidence to arrest these people, as clever as they think they are," Suffolk County Police Commissioner John Gallagher said in a telephone interview after the raids. "As electronically sophisticated as they are, we have shown that we can keep up with them.
"Sometimes we glamorize these crimes, and after these arrests I made allusions to 'The Sopranos' myself," but, Gallagher said, even though millions of viewers are devoted to the popular HBO show, residents shouldn't confuse TV with reality.
"These people we arrested have no respect for any people," Commissioner Gallagher said. "They ruin innocent people's lives to get ahead. They are thugs. There's nothing glamorous about it."
Gallagher said the prosecutors' surveillance and evidence show that Bialostok and Colello were "an intimate part of the conspiracy." He compared the surveillance to peeling an onion: it revealed layer after layer of criminal activity. "One would just lead to another," he said, adding that the alleged crimes were spread throughout Nassau, Suffolk and Queens.
The probe began in February when Robert Scherer, the owner of Sinderella's, an adult-entertainment complex in Brentwood, complained to the D.A.'s office that he had been pushed out of his place of business by the Lucheses.
But John Ray, an attorney representing Bialostok in a civil case, said, "This is a civil case against three partners in business": Scherer, Bialostok and James Bozart, another of the five men charged last week with enterprise corruption.
"This was always a civil matter, a partnership dispute complaint," Ray said. "Mr. Scherer took this dispute and turned it into a criminal complaint. This case is not at all what it appears or what it is being painted by the D.A."
The organized crime ring grossed about $5,000 a week from the business and took in about $1.5 million over the past two years from illegal activities, officials said. Authorities seized about $2 million in assets, including close to $100,000 in cash, they said. During a press conference, prosecutors displayed some of the items they confiscated, including large stacks of cash, computers, dice, ledgers, a large bag of marijuana, a switchblade and a .25-caliber semiautomatic handgun.
"They are not interested in what harm they could do to you," Gallagher said.
Police used electronic surveillance to stay one step ahead of the ring, he explained. The men attempted to constantly switch cell phones by switching accounts, but authorities followed them every step of the way, Gallagher said.
Bialostok was released on $15,000 cash or $150,000 bond and Colello, $25,000 cash or $250,000 bond. They each face 8 1/2 to 25 years in prison if convicted.
