THE DIPPER DON
Mob guy surrenders after brief Fla. vacay
The Colombo consigliere who ducked arrest by dipping down to Florida on the eve of a massive mob family takedown surrendered to authories, a law enforcement source told the Daily News on Friday.
Ralph DiMatteo, 66, was indicted along with 13 other members of the crime family on Tuesday, but was in the wind in Florida and refused to turn himself in after talks between prosecutors and his lawyer broke down, sources said.
He was ordered held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, but his lawyer, Mathew Mari, plans to file a bail application after speaking to DiMatteo’s family.
On Wednesday, DiMatteo’s son, Angelo DiMatteo, posted a picture on Twitter of his shirtless, heavyset father casually hanging poolside — though it was not clear where or when the photo was taken.
Angelo also posted a rat emoji, suggesting someone in the Colombo spilled to the feds.
But after his brief taste of illicit post-indictment freedom, DiMatteo scooted back up the East Coast and turned himself in to the FBI at Federal Plaza in Manhattan, a source told The News.
Known as “number three” by other Colombo clan members in deference to his rank in the family, DiMatteo was slapped with charges of racketeering, extortion and money laundering, along with 87-year-old boss Andrew “Mushy” Russo.
Other co-defendants include underboss Benjamin “The Claw” Castellazzo and four capos — including the nephew of former Colombo family boss Carmine Persico.
The consigliere was also charged with conspiracy to steal and embezzle health benefit funds, attempted health care fraud and other crimes.
DiMatteo, along with other high-ranking members of the Colombos, were accused of infiltrating a union that the family extorted, prosecutors said.
One member of the family, Vincent Ricciardo, threatened a high-ranking local union official into paying money from his annual salary to the Colombos — which he did for the better part of 20 years, the feds claim.
DiMatteo was directly responsible for overseeing Ricciardo, prosecutors say.
It’s not DiMatteo’s first time on the wrong side of the law.
He was convicted of conspiracy to distribute heroin and drug trafficking in 1985 in Brooklyn and sentenced to eight years in prison. And in 2001, he was convicted of conspiracy to commit money laundering and received another 18 months in the pen.
“The wiretap interceptions also showed the command [DiMatteo] had over lower-ranking crime family members, including summoning them immediately to meetings at Russo’s home or to report to ‘Brooklyn,’ a reference to meet at a garage in Gravesend,” prosecutors wrote in a motion to have DiMatteo detained pre-trial.
The consigliere pleaded not guilty to all the charges Friday afternoon in Brooklyn Federal Court in front of Judge Allen Ross.