New York Daily News

Wiseguys give up burbs for big house

- BY NOAH GOLDBERG

A gaggle of Gambino family mobsters face the possibilit­y of giving up Tony Soprano-type suburban lifestyles for time in the Graybar Hotel.

Seven of 11 mobsters who’ve recently pleaded guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court in a wide-ranging constructi­on racketeeri­ng probe are from suburban towns north of the Bronx — including swanky places like Briarcliff Manor, Scarsdale and Rye. An eighth is from Brentwood, L.I.

One of the guilty is Andrew Campos, 51, a Gambino captain who ran a carpentry company called CWC Contractin­g Corp.

Campos and several accomplice­s paid CWC employees millions in wages without handing over payroll taxes, the government says.

The group is also accused of drawing money from CWC by writing checks to pay for work that was never performed.

The cash from these schemes helped Campos build his house in Scarsdale, the government says.

Campos pleaded guilty Friday to charges of racketeeri­ng conspiracy that involved wire fraud, money laundering, and obstructio­n of justice.

An associate, Vincent Fiore, a Gambino soldier from Briarcliff Manor, pleaded guilty Friday to the same charges, said the feds.

CWC also paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes and kickbacks between 2018 and 2019 through John “Smiley” Simonlacaj, the former managing director of developmen­t for HFZ Capital Group, a real estate developmen­t company.

HFZ is the developer behind The XI — a high-end high-rise project in Chelsea.

The bribes and kickbacks were in the the form of free labor and materials to renovate Simonlacaj’s home in Scarsdale, the feds say. Simonlacaj pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States