Jury Finds Angiulo Guilty of Racketeering

A federal jury yesterday found reputed New England mob underboss Gennaro J. Angiulo, two of his brothers and an associate guilty of running a racketeering operation the government said included murder conspiracies, gambling and extortion.

The U.S. District Court jury of eight women and four men deliberated 30 hours over seven days before reaching a verdict in the seven-month trial, which court officials said was the longest federal criminal trial in Massachusetts history.

After the findings were announced, the 66-year-old Angiulo, who had commented frequently throughout the trial, turned to one of his brothers and said, "It turned out exactly the way it was supposed to."

The government had claimed conversations the FBI taped at Gennaro Angiulo's headquarters in the city's North End and at a poker game site on North Margin Street proved the men were involved in illegal activities and used threats of force to protect the operation.

Each of the defendants was charged with two counts of constituting a criminal enterprise and engaging in at least two illegal activities within 10 years.

Gennaro, Francesco, and Donato Angiulo, and Samuel Granito, 78, of Revere, were all found guilty on those counts. Another Angiulo brother, Michele, 58, was found innocent of racketeering offenses and guilty only on one gambling count.

"It's not victory; a battle is won, but the was isn't over," said Jeremiah O'Sullivan, head of the New England Organized Crime Strike Force and chief prosecutor in the case.

Anthony Cardinale, Gennaro Angiulo's lawyer, and other defense attorneys said they would appeal and said they felt confident the verdict would be overturned because of trial errors by the judge, the poor quality of the tapes and other factors.

Gennaro Angiulo faces the stiffest penalty, 150 years in prison and $185,000 in fines when sentenced by U.S. District Judge David S. Nelson.

The jury determined the Angiulos must forfeit four buildings, a 68-foot yacht worth an estimated $300,000, another $300,000 in stocks and bonds, and $370,000 seized from a safe upon the arrest of a the Angiulos on May 4,1981, at their Prince Street headquarters in Boston.

Gennaro Angiulo was convicted of two racketeering counts, four illegal gambling counts, four extortionate credit transactions, and two obstruction of justice schemes.

Francesco Angiulo, 65, was found guilty on nine of 13 counts against him, including the racketeering charges, gambling and extortion. Donato Angiulo, 62, was found guilty on four of eight counts, including the racketeering charges, extortion and gambling. And Granito was found guilty on the three against him, the racketeering charges and gambling.

Prosecutors said Angiulo was underboss to the late Raymond U.S. Patriarca, who allegedly ran mob enterprises across most of New England from his Providence, R.I., headquarters.

The prosecution had based its case on tape recordings culled from a total of 850 hours of conversations the FBI secretly recorded in 1981, was a judge's permission.

The federal racketeering trial of Gennaro Angiulo's 27-year-old son, Jason, and five defendants has tentatively been scheduled for March.