Nearly four dozen suspects were arrested on Thursday in a massive case charging them with wanting to break knees and commit other crimes that sound like something from a Martin Scorsese movie, reports WABC.
The 41 suspects who were arrested are reputed members of the Bonnano, Genovese, and Columbo crime families. During the arrests, agents recovered three handguns, a shotgun, gambling paraphernalia, and more than $30,000 in cash.
An indictment filed by federal prosecutors in Manhattan accused 46 defendants of extortion, loansharking, casino-style gambling, sports gambling, credit card fraud, and health care fraud. It said they formed a syndicate operating in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Florida.
Several of those arrested are accused of running an illegal casino-like operation in Yonkers that took horse bets, and staged poker and dice tournaments.
The indictment "reads like an old school Mafia novel, where extortion, illegal gambling, arson, and threats to 'whack' someone are carried out along with some modern-day crimes," such as credit card skimming, said Diego Rodriguez, head of the FBI's New York office.
The arrests follow a multi-year investigation. In all, 46 people were indicted in the case.