Bonanno crime family soldier Frank “Frankie Boy” Salerno has been sentenced to 60 months behind bars for racketeering conspiracy.
He was busted back in 2017 along with acting Gambino family capo John “Johnny Boy” Ambrosio and five other alleged Mafia associates. They were charged with racketeering conspiracy, including predicate acts of drug trafficking, loan sharking, gambling and obstruction of justice as part of a 13 count indictment. According to prosecutors, Salerno made collections from 2014-2017 for a massive illegal gambling and loan sharking operation controlled by Ambrosio. All of the Cosa Nostra mobsters involved in the indictment have now been convicted.
“John Ambrosio and Frank Salerno”
Ambrosio and Gambino family associate Anthony Saladino was sentenced last week on racketeering conspiracy charges. The 74-year-old Ambrosio got 51 months behind bars while 67-year-old Saladino was hit with a 63-month sentence. During a conversation with an informant, Saladino said Salerno “has got that thing,” pointing to a button on his shirt indicating that he was a made guy in the New York Mafia. New York FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney said the sentences “demonstrate that the shirt button of a ‘made man’ is no match for a badge.”
According to court records the feds also obtained several other recorded conversation between the mobsters discussing illegal gambling and loan sharking. In one conversation Saladino and an associate discussed unpaid gambling debts, during which Saladino said he would give the debtor “something to be scared about.” During another intercepted conversation Saladino recounted for Ambrosio a collection effort in which he threatened an individual, saying “when I get my hands around your your f—–g neck, everything is going to pop out of your ears.”
United States Attorney Donoghue said “With these sentences, each of the seven defendants has now been punished for continuing organized crime’s corrosive influence on Long Island. There should be no doubt that putting a stop to the criminal activities of La Cosa Nostra continues to be a priority of this Office and our law enforcement partners.” With Frank Salerno headed to prison, it closes the books on a very successful operation to take down organized crime.
