Crackdown on the Gambio Organized Crime Mafia Family Includes Allegations of Craig’s List Teenage Prostitution Ring

In a scene that could come right out The Sopranos or The Godfather, officials announced that 14 alleged members of the Gambino crime family have been indicted on a number of charges. But with difference: some have contended that the Mafia had a kind of unwritten law that they wouldn’t get involved in prostitution involving minors. If that was the unwritten law, it was allegedly broken. Here’s CNN’s report:

Among other things, the alleged crime family members are accused of running a teenage prostitution ring through Craig’s List — which the New York Daily News calls a “new low.” And, indeed, it seems sleazy among the sleazy:

The Mafia is alive and kicking – and pimping out teenage girls for sex on Craigslist.

Authorities on Tuesday charged seven reputed members of the Gambino crime family with running an interstate sex-trafficking ring – calling it a “new low” for the mob.

Another seven wiseguys – including the family’s current boss, Daniel Marino – were also busted for a litany of crimes, some dating back to the era when John Gotti was in charge.

Authorities said the prostitution service was a first for an organized crime crew.

“No crime seems too depraved to be exploited if it was a money-maker, including the sexual exploitation of a 15-year-old,” said FBI Special Agent-in-Charge George Venizelos.

Allged Gambino soldier Thomas Orefice is accused of hatching the scheme to recruit young women from various strip clubs to work as prostitutes.

Prosecutors say Orefice advertised the girls, ranging in age from 15 to 19, on Craigslist with ads that included the phone number of Gambino madam Suzanne Porcelli.

Here’s a WPIX news report:

 
In Hollywood productions such as The Sopranos and The Godfather, key Mafia figures trigger a kind of guilty reaction on the part of many viewers: they know these are repehensible people that are being portrayed, but there is a kind of romantic aura surrounding them. That kind of aura would never exist at all of the productions portrayed the mafiosos pimping out minors to aging Johns. But watch for some future gangster movie to take note of it next time…