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Acting New Jersey Attorney General Robert Lougy announced Wednesday that Joseph DiNapoli, 80, a ruling boss of the New York Lucchese crime family, was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to second-degree racketeering earlier this year.
DiNapoli controlled the family’s gambling operations and other criminal activities in New York, according to Lougy, along with a second member of the family’s ruling panel, Matthew Madonna, 80, who pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to five years in prison.
DiNapoli is the latest member of the crime family to be sent to prison as part of Operation Heat, an investigation by the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice that has put six other members of the Lucchese crime family behind bars.
During the investigation, Operation Heat uncovered “an international criminal enterprise.” According to records seized, more than $2 billion were wagered, primarily on sports, during a 15-month period ending in December 2007.
The gambling operation involved “agents” who brought bets in from hundreds of gamblers in the area. Proceeds were then divided, with tributes being made to bosses like DiNapoli. Collection operations occasionally included the threat of violence.
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