By Frank Donnelly
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A federal judge lit into a Genovese organized crime family capo from Tottenville while sentencing him for extortion, telling the defendant he is "bad for America," according to a published report.
"Your behavior disgusts me," District Judge Nicholas G. Garaufis of Brooklyn federal court recently told Conrad Ianniello, 71, before sentencing the mobster to three years in prison, said a report in the Daily News.
Last year, Ianniello pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, federal prosecutors said.
The Genovese captain conspired with other purported wiseguys in 2008 to muscle out a labor union trying to organize workers at a Long Island company, said court papers.
Their goal was to pave the way for an alleged Genovese associate, who was an official at another union, to unionize the company instead, prosecutors charge.
In an April 17, 2008, wiretap, Ianniello allegedly thanked co-defendant and Genovese associate, Ryan Ellis, for delivering a message to the union not to organize the Long Island company.
"You got his (expletive) attention. He called me," court papers quote him as saying. "He says they got nasty. ... I said, 'I got your (expletive) attention now, don't I?'"
Garaufis blew up after Ianniello apologized to his family before the judge imposed sentence, said the report.
"You need to apologize to this country," the report quoted Garaufis as saying. ... "When organized crime figures try to influence the lawful process of organizing a workplace with a labor union, the rights of many people are adversely affected."
"I'm tired of mobsters coming into this courtroom and apologizing to their families when they should apologize to their country," said Garaufis, according to the report.
The mob big's criminal history dates back four decades, court papers said.
He was convicted in November 1972 of felony grand larceny and sentenced to five years' probation.
Later, in October 1986, he was convicted of felony drug possession and misdemeanor weapon possession and sentenced to 100 months to life. Court papers don't say when he was released from prison.
In a pre-sentencing memorandum, his lawyer, Lisa Scolari, had requested a sentence beneath the guideline range of 33 to 41 months in prison.
She said he earned a bachelor's degree in behavioral science while incarcerated for the latter conviction and helped fellow inmates renew their driver's licenses, seek employment and enter post-release programs.
Ms. Scolari said Ianniello had worked his entire life, most recently as a union steamfitter. She submitted a letter from his boss of 10 years who called Ianniello an "exemplary" employee who "does not shirk any task no matter how arduous or dangerous."