Five members of a New Jersey-based Genovese crime family crew have pleaded guilty to loansharking, unlicensed check-cashing, and various other crimes.
The mafia crew was taken down back in 2014 during “Operation Fistful” a joint operation between law enforcement agencies from New Jersey and New York that targeted organized crime. According to the feds, the Cosa Nostra crew was under the supervision of Genovese family captain Charles Tuzzo and soldier Vito Alberti. Tuzzo also known as “Chuckie” allegedly reported directly to the hierarchy of the New York Mafia family. The criminal schemes generated millions of dollars in revenue that was laundered through check-cashing businesses in Newark run by an alleged Genovese family associate named Domenick Pucillo.
“Charles Tuzzo and Vito Alberti”
Pucillo and Alberti both plead guilty to second-degree criminal usury and are facing up to five years behind bars. The other three members of the mob crew that plead guilty included Vincent Coppola, Robert Spagnola, Manuel Rodriguez. Coppola is the son of jailed Genovese family capo Michael Coppola. “The Genovese Crime Family has historically exerted its influence on the Port of New Jersey. Disruption of its profits from gambling, loansharking and money laundering weaken that family’s grip,” said Michael Murphy the New Jersey Commissioner of the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor.
He went on to say that this case is another instance of the Waterfront Commission and law enforcement efforts to disrupt the influence of organized crime. All of the defendants who plead guilty are scheduled to be sentenced in September. Charges are still pending against alleged captain Charles “Chuckie” Tuzzo and a few of the other defendants in the case.
