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Alleged Mafia Consigliere Surrenders After Three Days in Hiding

Alleged Mafia Consigliere Surrenders After Three Days in Hiding

The reputed consigliere of the Colombo crime family, the only one of 14 people charged in a sweeping U.S. racketeering case to avoid arrest earlier this week, turned himself in to federal authorities in New York on Friday.

Ralph DiMatteo, 66, surrendered to federal agents and is scheduled to be arraigned at a virtual hearing Friday afternoon before U.S. Magistrate Judge Taryn Merkyl in Brooklyn, said Adrienne Senatore, a spokeswoman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

DiMatteo and 13 others were charged Tuesday in one of the biggest New York prosecutions of alleged Mafia members brought by the U.S. in recent years. They’re accused of trying to take over a Queens-based labor union and attempting to extort at least $10,000 a month from both the union and its health fund, according to prosecutors in the office of acting Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Jacquelyn Kasulis.

Also charged were reputed Colombo crime family boss Andrew “Mush” Russo, underboss Benjamin “Benji” Castellazzo and Colombo family captain Vincent Ricciardo. While the others were arrested Tuesday, DiMatteo was considered a fugitive, and his son posted a picture of him on Twitter standing shirtless in a pool in Florida, the New York Daily News reported.

The defendants in the racketeering case used extortionate means, including direct threats of bodily harm, to control the management of the union and caused it to make decisions that benefitted the crime family, prosecutors said.

Matthew Mari, a lawyer for DiMatteo, couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

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