Genovese linked extortion attempt busted

A Pequannock man who battled allegations of mob ties when he served as president of Teamsters Local 560 in the 1980s was arrested Thursday in an alleged plot to extort more than $200,000 from a Hawthorne landscaper by using the threat of Mafia muscle.

Michael C. Sciarra, 74, reportedly a onetime associate of infamous Local 560 boss and late Genovese capo Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano, was arrested at his house by the FBI.

Also charged was his nephew Michael A. Sciarra, 46, and Mark Ventricelli, 25, both of Union City.

They are accused of conspiring to shake down the victim, identified only by the initials M.H., by using threats of injury and death between May 2006 and February 2009.

An eight-count indictment, unsealed after the arrests, outlines a scheme to force the victim to make interest-only payments on a series of loans, or “vig,” to Ventricelli, an employee of the landscaping business.

Ventricelli initially claimed he was investing his own money into the company, Harrington Landscape and Construction, but later told the victim that the funds were actually obtained from others, including the elder Sciarra, the indictment states. Ventricelli implied Sciarra was associated with organized crime and would harm the contractor unless he made monthly payments that did not reduce the principal amount of the debt, the indictment alleges.

In one case, the indictment alleges Venticelli invested $100,000 in the business to purchase equipment and supplies for a project in Edgewater and later advised the contractor to make $9,000 monthly payments to Sciarra, who would kill them if they did not pay. Venticelli and Sciarra allegedly received $72,000 in monthly payments.

The victim also paid $86,000 after Ventricelli bought a boat with company money and then borrowed $60,000 from an unidentified individual to repay the company, telling the victim to pay $15,000 every other month or else risk being stabbed in the back by the lender, the indictment said.

Another time, Ventricelli fired a .22-caliber pistol from the victim’s apartment balcony, telling him such a weapon has a better chance of killing because the bullet “bounces around in their head,” the indictment said.

The indictment details a total of $211,900 in extortionate payments made by M.H. It also mentions several occasions when Sciarra threatened the victim outside the Oak Leaf Social Club in Hoboken, which the four defendants allegedly frequented.

During a bail hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Faye Schwartz said the elder Sciarra once smacked the contractor and was recorded describing how he “grabbed the victim by the head” and told him “if you don’t give me the money you’re better off dead.”

Sciarra served as president of the Union-City based truckers local for 18 months in the mid-1980s after the last of the Provenzano brothers went to jail.

A government-appointed overseer expelled him from the union for allegedly associating with organized crime. Provenzano and his brothers Nunzio and Salvatore all served as president or secretary-treasurer of the local, and went to prison on charges ranging from racketeering to fraud and extortion.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Patty Shwartz released Sciarra on $250,000 secured bond, with home confinement and electronic monitoring. The judge released his nephew and Peter Ventricelli on $100,000 and $150,000 bond, respectively. Mark Ventricelli was detained pending a bail hearing Friday.

Each of the extortion counts carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Also charged in the scheme was Ventricelli’s brother Peter, 31, of Parlin, who was already under house arrest on charges in a separate check-cashing scheme and surrendered voluntarily, the indictment alleges.

A Pequannock man who battled allegations of mob ties when he served as president of Teamsters Local 560 in the 1980s was arrested Thursday in an alleged plot to extort more than $200,000 from a Hawthorne landscaper by using the threat of Mafia muscle.

Michael C. Sciarra, 74, reportedly a onetime associate of infamous Local 560 boss and late Genovese capo Anthony “Tony Pro” Provenzano, was arrested at his house by the FBI.

Also charged was his nephew Michael A. Sciarra, 46, and Mark Ventricelli, 25, both of Union City.

They are accused of conspiring to shake down the victim, identified only by the initials M.H., by using threats of injury and death between May 2006 and February 2009.

An eight-count indictment, unsealed after the arrests, outlines a scheme to force the victim to make interest-only payments on a series of loans, or “vig,” to Ventricelli, an employee of the landscaping business.

Ventricelli initially claimed he was investing his own money into the company, Harrington Landscape and Construction, but later told the victim that the funds were actually obtained from others, including the elder Sciarra, the indictment states. Ventricelli implied Sciarra was associated with organized crime and would harm the contractor unless he made monthly payments that did not reduce the principal amount of the debt, the indictment alleges.

In one case, the indictment alleges Venticelli invested $100,000 in the business to purchase equipment and supplies for a project in Edgewater and later advised the contractor to make $9,000 monthly payments to Sciarra, who would kill them if they did not pay. Venticelli and Sciarra allegedly received $72,000 in monthly payments.

The victim also paid $86,000 after Ventricelli bought a boat with company money and then borrowed $60,000 from an unidentified individual to repay the company, telling the victim to pay $15,000 every other month or else risk being stabbed in the back by the lender, the indictment said.

Another time, Ventricelli fired a .22-caliber pistol from the victim’s apartment balcony, telling him such a weapon has a better chance of killing because the bullet “bounces around in their head,” the indictment said.

The indictment details a total of $211,900 in extortionate payments made by M.H. It also mentions several occasions when Sciarra threatened the victim outside the Oak Leaf Social Club in Hoboken, which the four defendants allegedly frequented.

During a bail hearing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leslie Faye Schwartz said the elder Sciarra once smacked the contractor and was recorded describing how he “grabbed the victim by the head” and told him “if you don’t give me the money you’re better off dead.”

Sciarra served as president of the Union-City based truckers local for 18 months in the mid-1980s after the last of the Provenzano brothers went to jail.

A government-appointed overseer expelled him from the union for allegedly associating with organized crime. Provenzano and his brothers Nunzio and Salvatore all served as president or secretary-treasurer of the local, and went to prison on charges ranging from racketeering to fraud and extortion.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Patty Shwartz released Sciarra on $250,000 secured bond, with home confinement and electronic monitoring. The judge released his nephew and Peter Ventricelli on $100,000 and $150,000 bond, respectively. Mark Ventricelli was detained pending a bail hearing Friday.

Each of the extortion counts carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Also charged in the scheme was Ventricelli’s brother Peter, 31, of Parlin, who was already under house arrest on charges in a separate check-cashing scheme and surrendered voluntarily, the indictment alleges.

Source: northjersey.com