Nine suspects indicted in Massachusetts in connection with mob gambling ring

Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2000 | 9:58 a.m.

In addition to facing up to eight years of federal jail time, the defendants stand to lose nearly $1 million in cash, cars and homes if convicted in U.S. District Court in Springfield.

The indictments are the latest development in a 15-month investigation that has targeted, among others, a barber, a baker and a former civilian police dispatcher.

The indictments come 11 days after law enforcement agents arrested three generations of suspected mobsters in early morning raids in five Greater Springfield communities. Anthony J. Delevo, 60, and Albert A. Baba Scibelli, 80, both reportedly entrenched in the local mob for decades, were indicted on two counts each of illegal gaming after being recorded on state police wiretaps.

Defendants facing both gaming and loan sharking charges include South End barber Carmine Manzi, 51, of East Longmeadow, his son Giuseppe "Little Joe" Manzi, 26, of Springfield, and Todd Illingsworth, 25, a painter and former city employee from Springfield.

If prosecutors win convictions, the government will seize both the elder Manzi's home, valued at between $250,000 and $300,000, and his son's duplex.

Emilio Fusco, 28, a baker from Longmeadow, was indicted on six counts of loan sharking and running an illegal gambling business. If convicted, he may also lose his home, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew G. Luvchek once referred to as "one big money-laundering project."

Fusco's wife, Jenny C. Santos-Fusco, a 28-year-old special education teacher in Westfield, was indicted on two counts of assisting in her husband's illegal business. The couple has two children and were married after Fusco emigrated to the United States from Italy almost a decade ago.

He gained his American citizenship just two years ago, according to law enforcement officials.

Former police dispatcher Ralph A. Santaniello Jr., 41, of Springfield, and Andrew J. Scibelli, 49, of Agawam, a former teacher at the city-run Massachusetts Career Development Institute, were also indicted on two gaming counts each.

Lawyers for several of the defendants did not return phone calls last night. However, George G. McMahon, a Quincy lawyer defending Albert A. Scibelli and Emilio Fusco, told the (Springfield) Union-News he had not heard about the indictments. He said neither client had been formally notified.

"But this is obviously no surprise to us," McMahon said, adding that he believed the prosecution's case lacked the punch required to send his clients to jail for significant periods of time.

"The gambling case is there, but it's not racketeering. It's not as serious as people are trying to make it," he said.

All nine suspects, who made initial appearances before Magistrate Judge Kenneth P. Neiman on Dec. 16, are due back in court for arraignment Tuesday.