Joseph Caridi

Joseph "Joe C." Caridi (b. 1949) is a New York mobster and current Consigliere of the Lucchese crime family.

Lucchese family

In the mid 1980s, Caridi was reportedly inducted into the Lucchese crime family, then under the leadership of Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso. When Amuso was sent to prison in the early 1990s, Caridi became the caporegime of the Long Island and Queens factions. Caridi's crew included soldiers Joseph Datello and Vincent "Vinny Baldy" Salanardi.

L.I. & promotion

In February 2002 acting boss Joseph "Little Joe" DeFede was released from prison. Fearing mob retribution, he became a mob informant. The targets of his testimony included Caridi and Salanardi. Defede described how Caridi and Salanardi extorted owner of a popular Freeport, Long Island restaurant bar. The owner's partner, an associate of the Gambino crime family, had been stealing from the restaurant. Caridi and his men got rid of the Gambino investor and then took control of the restaurant themselves. At one point, the Lucchese family mobsters extorted as much as $10,000 a night from the business. [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column308.htm] DeFede also gave the prosecutors operations of racketeering, loansharking, illegal gambling and even murder charges, which saw to it that official Consigliere and then-current Lucchese family acting boss, Louis "Louie Bagels" Daidone, was put on trial in late 2002 on various charges. This also led to the promotion of Caridi, who stepped up as the acting consigliere of the Lucchese crime family while Daidone went on trial.

Consigliere

In late 2002, Caridi was first recognized as the official Consigliere of the Lucchese crime family because Daidone was sentenced to life imprisonment, and operated regularly with fellow captain John "Johnny Sideburns" Cerrella in extortion and loansharking activities in the Long Island and Queens factions of the Lucchese crime family. In early 2003, Caridi, Cerrella and Salanardi went on trial for loansharking, extortion and racketeering charges. At this point, Salanardi decided to become a government witness and testify against Caridi and Cerrella. In May 2003, Caridi pleaded guilty to extortion and loansharking, as well as admitting to have been running a sports book operation out of his house in East Northport, New York. These charges resulted from a year long investigation with over 1000 hours of taped conversations. Caridi was sentenced to eight years in prison. [http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/2002/12/11/2002-12-11_feds_bust_l_i___sopranos___s.html] [http://www.geocities.com/timmlimm/nick.htm] [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column328.htm]

As of January 2008, Caridi is imprisoned at the Allenwood Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) in Pennsylvania. His projected release-date is November 28, 2009. Despite being imprisoned, he is still the official Consigliere of the Lucchese crime family. [http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&LastName=Caridi&Middle=&FirstName=Joseph&Race=W&Sex=M&Age=&x=0&y=0]

References

External links

* [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column308.htm This Week in Gangland: Mafia Ambassador or Deadbeat] by Jerry Capeci
* [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column328.htm This Week in Gangland: Vinny Baldy Tells Family(s) Good-Bye] by Jerry Capeci
* [http://www.geocities.com/timmlimm/nick.htm Nicholas Garaufis, Federal Judge of the District Court, Eastern District of New York]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/blog/organizedcrime/lucchese/newlayout.html Lucchese Crime Family(NY)]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0DEFDA1331F933A15750C0A9659C8B63&scp=1&sq=Joseph+Caridi&st=nyt New York Times: Mob Figure Admits Skimming From Long Island Restaurant] By ANDY NEWMAN