Reputed mob figure tied to betting ring

Karen Matthews

Tuesday, Dec. 10, 2002 | 9:27 a.m.

NEW YORK -- A reputed Gambino crime family captain, his son and 15 other men were indicted Monday on charges of running a sports gambling operation that took in $30 million worth of wagers a year.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said the arrests of Ronald Trucchio, 51, of South Ozone Park, his son, Alphonse Trucchio, 25, of Howard Beach, and their associates send the message that "We're not going to allow these kind of activities to continue."

"Illegal gambling reaps millions of dollars on behalf of organized crime each year," Brown said at a news conference in his office. "It is money that is diverted into some of the more insidious criminal activities that organized crime is involved in, such as auto theft, narcotics trafficking, labor racketeering and loan sharking."

The 36-count indictment charges that the Trucchios ran the gambling operation out of two wire rooms in the Ozone Park neighborhood. Their operation allegedly took bets as high as $15,000, including wagers on professional baseball, football, basketball and hockey and college football and basketball.

Detective Louis Wirth, an officer with the New York Police Department's asset forfeiture unit who worked on the case, said Ronald Trucchio, known as Ronnie One-Arm because he has a withered right arm, runs loan-sharking, gambling and drug sales in most of Ozone Park, the Rockaways and Woodhaven for the Gambino family. His son is a reputed Gambino soldier.

"Ronnie's been a target for a long time," Wirth said.

Monday's indictments followed a seven-month undercover investigation. The charges against the Trucchios and their alleged flunkies include enterprise corruption, conspiracy and promoting gambling.

Ronald Trucchio additionally was charged with failing to file state tax returns for 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Brown said that more than a dozen of the defendants were arrested Monday morning. They were to be arraigned in Queens state Supreme Court.

As of late Monday, not all the defendants had been arraigned, and a spokeswoman for the district attorney's office was unable to identify any of their lawyers. There were no telephone numbers listed for either Trucchio.

The defendants each could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.