They say the bloodshed — a double slaying at the Shamrock
Bar in Queens — was all over a spilled drink.
Vernace's luck ran out Thursday when he was charged in the
killings in one of the largest Mafia takedowns in FBI history. He was among 127
defendants named in 16 indictments stemming from separate underworld investigations
in New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island.
Past investigations have resulted in strategic strikes aimed
at crippling individual crime families. This time, authorities used a shotgun
approach, with some 800 federal agents and police officers making scores of
simultaneous arrests.
They also used fanfare: Attorney General Eric Holder made a
trip to New York to announce the operation at a news conference with the city's
top law enforcement officials.
Holder called the arrests "an important and encouraging
step forward in disrupting La Cosa Nostra's operations." But he and others
also cautioned that the mob, while having lost some of the swagger of the
"Dapper Don" John Gotti era, is known for adapting to adversity and
finding new ways of making money that still harm the economy and spread fear.
"Members and associates of La Cosa Nostra are among the
most dangerous criminals in our country," Holder said.
In the past, the FBI has aggressively pursued and imprisoned
the leadership of the city's five Italian mob families, only to see ambitious
underlings fill the vacancies, said Janice Fedarcyk, head of the FBI's New York
office.
However, the FBI has gained a recent advantage by
cultivating a crop of mob figures willing to wear wires and testify against
gangsters in exchange for leniency in their own cases.
"The vow of silence that is part of the oath of omerta
is more myth than reality today," she said.
In the latest cases, authorities say turncoats recorded
thousands of conversations of suspected mobsters. Investigators also tapped
their phones.
Among those arrested Thursday were union officials, two
former police officers and a suspect in Italy. High-ranking members of the
Gambino and Colombo crime families and the reputed former boss of organized
crime in New England also were named in the indictment.
The indictments listed colorful nicknames — Bobby Glasses,
Vinny Carwash, Jack the Whack, Johnny Cash, Junior Lollipops — and catalogued
murders, extortion, arson, drug dealing and other crimes dating back three
decades.
Other charges include corruption among dockworkers in New
York and New Jersey who were forced to kick back a portion of their holiday
bonuses to the crime families. Members of the Colombo family also were charged
with extortion and fraud in connection with their control of a cement and
concrete workers union.
The case against the 61-year-old Vernace stood out not for
his nickname — Bobby — but in part because of his old-school pedigree. The
alleged Gambino captain was a regular at the Ravenite, John Gotti's social club
in Little Italy, in the 1980s, prosecutors said in court papers.
Over the years, he's "been observed with other members
and associates of the Gambino crime family at 20 weddings and wakes," the
papers said. One of the wakes was for Gotti, who died behind bars in 2002.
More recently, Vernace controlled cafes in Queens where
mobsters met and federal authorities made secret recordings, the papers said.
In raids three days before his arrest, agents seized illegal gambling machines
at one of the spots.
The most serious charge goes back to the night of April 11,
1981, when "a dispute arose between a Gambino associate close to Vernace
and others in the bar over a spilled drink," court papers say.
The associate left the bar and went to pick up Vernace and a
third man; they returned and killed the two owners, shooting one in the face
and the other point-blank in the chest, the papers say.
Prosecutors say they have an eye witness who identified
Vernace as one of the shooters. They also claim to have incriminating
recordings and forensic evidence.
Vernace pleaded not guilty in federal court in Brooklyn on
Thursday and was ordered held without bail.
Outside court, Vernace's attorney, Gerald Shargel, said his
client was facing charges similar to those he already beat in a state case
about 10 years ago. He also questioned the splashy way the charges were
brought.
"It seems there was a public relations aspect to
it," he said.
