Mafia Father and Son Get Prison for Gambling Extortion Racket
Michael Poli has always followed in his father’s footsteps. Like his dad, he became a Mafia associate and helped to run a gambling and extortion racket for New York’s Genovese crime family, according to prosecutors.
Michael Polis, left, with be joining his father, Thomas Polis, right, after both reputed Genovese associates pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy in relation to a Mafia gambling and extortion ring. (Image: NY Daily Post)
Now the Mount Pleasant, N.Y. man will follow his father into the slammer after a federal judge in Manhattan sentenced him to 31 months for racketeering conspiracy.
Thomas Poli, who received 22 months for his role in the racket, looked on from the gallery as his son was sentenced, reports The New York Daily Post.
The Polis were among six alleged mobsters charged in April 2022 with “terrorizing New York communities with violence and illegal businesses” via underground gambling and loan sharking operations.
‘The Undertaker’
Their fellow defendants included two alleged Genovese “capos,” Nicholas Calisi and Ralph “the Undertaker” Balsamo. Michael Messina and John Campanella were allegedly “soldiers” of the outfit. All have pleaded guilty.
Calisi and Campanella were sentenced to 24 months and 13 months in prison, respectively, in June. Balsamo and Messina await sentencing.
Michael Poli’s attorney, Anthony DiPietro, asked the judge for clemency, explaining that his client’s family would suffer from losing the “two men they rely on.”
Poli was essentially a “good man,” who doted on his children, including his third who had been born with Down Syndrome, DiPietro argued.
But Assistant US Attorney Cecilia Cohen reminded the judge that Poli had threatened indebted gamblers with a gun at least once.
Do I need to f–king punch you in your f–king face to get my point across?” Poli asked one gambler, according to Cohen. “I’ll put a f–king bullet so far into your f–king head.”
They also noted that Poli had previously pleaded guilty in a separate federal racketeering case in 2016 but had lied to a different judge about his association with organized crime in a bid to get off supervised release early, according to The Post.
Diaz Disgrace
All six men were committed to “preserving and augmenting the power, territory, and financial profits of the Enterprise through intimidation, violence, and threats of physical and economic harm,” according to prosecutors.
The elder Poli was convicted in 2019 in a separate criminal charge that led to the downfall of former New York state assemblyman Luis Diaz.
In 2022, Diaz resigned from his position as Bronx County Clerk for the New York State Supreme Court after pleading guilty to falsely certifying that Poli had completed his court-mandated community service from a previous sentence.
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