- John Baudanza
John Baudanza (born 1969) is a New York mobster and a powerful soldier in the
Lucchese crime family . John's fatherCarmine Baudanza , is a longtimeColombo crime family associate. His uncle,Joseph Baudanza , is a powerful Colombo captain who once headed the family's ruling panel.John is supposedly a history buff, an avid
New York Yankees , and a fan of actorJohn Wayne . He also plays video games, gambles, and is dedicated reader.Violent History
As a teenager, John and
Craig Marino extorted money from small business inCanarsie, Brooklyn andMill Basin, Brooklyn . In 1990, the two men got into a dispute with a man in a local diner. John and Marino beat him and John then shot him in the back. According to formerBonanno crime family captain and turncoatFrank Lino , John once stabbed a man during a barroom brawl.During the Colombo family war from 1991-1993, John served as bodyguard and chauffeur to Colombo family members and was even enlisted as a member of a hit team. Shortly after the war, John married Danielle Cutaia, the daughter of
Lucchese crime family captainDomenico Cutaia . In 1995, John was inducted into theLucchese crime family and placed in his father-in-law's crew. To date John's main man and friend since childhood is Louis Fontana who is also an associate in the Luchesse Family .tock Scam
On March 23, 2006, John, Carmine, and Joseph were indicted for operating a "
Pump and dump " stock scam. The stock firms were located in theManhattan ,Brooklyn andStaten Island boroughs of New York. In this scam, both licensed and unlicensed brokers, receiving large commissions, sold stocks to potential investors by making wild claims about their future growth. The mob enforced strict discipline among these employees. Prosecutors alleged that one enforcer beat a broker with a bat and then stabbed him in the head. Another time, a phone solicitor was pummeled with a golf club. In 2000, Colombo associateRobert Podlog kidnapped a stock promoter and chained him to a parrot until he paid an alleged debt.As the scam progressed, the mobsters who owned large positions in these stocks waited for the stock prices to be driven up. The inflated stocks were then sold at a considerable (illegal) profit to the mobsters. Everyone else was left with worthless stock and lost their investments, more than $20 million. To hide the proceeds from this stock scam, the mob laundered their profits by wiring funds and making cash transfers through domestic and foreign banks. They used nominee accounts and phony corporations to hide the true ownership of the illegal proceeds.
On April 17, 2007, John, Carmine, and Joseph all pleaded guilty to
racketeering charges related to the stock scam. In December 2007, Baudanza was sentenced to seven years in prison. He is currently serving his sentence inFederal Correctional Institution, Ray Brook in upstate New York. His projected release date is 07-20-2014.New Charge
In March 2008, John Baudanza was reportedly named as one of the eight defendants in an indictment charging several Luchese Crime Family mobsters with racketeering crimes including drug dealing, loan sharking, bank fraud, gambling and extortion. John Baudanza was named along side the main target of the probe father in law Domenico "Danny" Cutaia and brother in law Salvatore Cutaia.
External links
* [http://www.businessweek.com/1997/50/b3557008.htm BusinessWeek.com - The Mob is Busier than the Feds Think] by Gary Weiss
* [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column481.htm May 4, 2006 Gangland: Growing up Baudanza] by Jerry Capeci
* [http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/nye/pr/2007/2007Apr17.html April 17, 2007 The U.S. Attorney's Office Eastern District of New York Press Release]
* [http://www.bop.gov Federal Bereau Of Prisons]
* [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column575.htm March 13, 2008 Feds Nab Last Luchese Wiseguy Still-Standing in Brooklyn]
* [http://www.finalternatives.com/node/3142 FIN Alternatives: Hedge Fund Mobster Gets Seven Years]
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