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“Old Man Bill” was a bookmaker and part-time loan shark who reported to Capo Joey Gatto. Finding his body slumped over his Caddy’s steering wheel, a bullet in the back of his head, seemed a ruse to throw authorities off the scent.
But it wasn’t going to be that easy for 43-year-old Silvi or his brother-in-law, Daniel Tunks, who authorities said pulled the trigger. Both are charged with murder, conspiracy and weapons offenses in the 2008 killing.
Investigators from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office went out to Colorado Springs, where Silvi lived from March 2005 to January 2008. While having their two suspects taken into custody, they learned of another probe, this one involving a mortgage fraud scheme.
On Tuesday, a federal grand jury in Colorado indicted Silvi — also known as William Kachur — for wire and mail fraud and money laundering in a scheme to defraud financial institutions and commercial lenders to obtain money and property.
Nearly 20 years ago, a Colorado jury convicted Silvi of killing a 2-year-old boy he was baby-sitting while on parole for a burglary conviction.
Silvi’s booking shot (courtesy Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office)
Silvi is now in the Bergen County Jail, awaiting his murder trial. Colorado authorities want him next.
Federal prosecutors say Silvi, before having his father killed, hatched a scheme involving nearly a dozen Colorado properties that were bought and sold several times.
After plucking buyers, Silvi inflated or lied about their income and assets to various financial institutions and commercial lenders for mortgage loans, the indictment says. He also submitted false IRS W-2 forms or paycheck stubs, it says.
The sellers were Silvi’s buddies. They jacked up the sale prices, giving their pal the skim, usually at closing, the indictment says.
But it clearly wasn’t enough: Silvi apparently needed more money. For what, exactly, is expected to be answered, if not in the murder case, then in the other.
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