Photo Courtesy of FBI
Salvatore Delligatti
By Michael V. Cusenza
A reputed Genovese Organized Crime Family associate has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for conspiring to murder a Whitestone man in 2014 and other racketeering charges, federal prosecutors announced on Thursday.
Salvatore Delligatti, 42, of Oakland Gardens, was convicted of racketeering conspiracy, conspiracy to commit murder in aid of racketeering, attempted murder in aid of racketeering, murder-for-hire conspiracy, participation in an illegal gambling operation, and a firearms offense in March after a three-week jury trial in Manhattan.
According to charging papers and evidence presented during trial, from at least in or about 2008 through in or about May 2016, Delligatti was an associate of the Genovese family. In this capacity, Delligatti conspired with others to participate in and conduct the affairs of the Genovese family through a pattern of racketeering activity that included a murder conspiracy, an extortion conspiracy, and the operation of an illegal sports betting business.
From in or about May 2014 through in or about June 2014, Delligatti conspired with Robert DeBello, a Genovese soldier from Whitestone, and Ryan Ellis, an associate of the Genovese family who lived in Bayside, to murder Joe Bonelli, a reputed neighborhood gangster from Whitestone. Delligatti sought and obtained permission from DeBello to murder the intended victim.
However, instead of carrying out the murder himself, as DeBello had authorized him to do, Delligatti hired a crew of hitmen from the Bronx to ambush and kill Bonelli at his residence. Delligatti provided the hitmen with a loaded .38 revolver and a get-away vehicle, and offered to pay them several thousand dollars for the murder. As a result of wiretap surveillance of Delligatti by the Nassau County Police Department and the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, the crew of hitmen was apprehended in the get-away vehicle just a few blocks from Bonelli’s residence on June 8, 2014. In their vehicle, law enforcement recovered the loaded revolver, a spray bottle containing a bleach solution, and other materials.
Additionally, from in or about April 2014 through in or about May 2014, Delligatti and others in the Genovese Family, including DeBello and Ellis, participated in a conspiracy to use threats of violence and economic harm to extort the owners and promoter of a night club located on the rooftop of a hotel in Queens. And Delligatti participated with others in a large-scale bookmaking and sports betting operation that took bets from bettors in Queens and Manhattan, among other locations, and made use of an offshore wireroom.
“Salvatore Delligatti, in order to increase his standing in the Genovese Family, recruited a group of hitmen to murder an individual. But Delligatti’s hitmen were caught red-handed by the Nassau County Police Department and the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office before they could carry out their hit. Delligatti now stands convicted of this foiled murder plot and other crimes he committed with the Genovese Family,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman.
DeBello and Ellis previously pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy offenses for their roles in the murder conspiracy, the extortion conspiracy, and the illegal gambling operation.
