WCNYH

Genovese Soldier and Checker Plead Guilty in Port Loan Sharking Case.

October 28, 2011

            Genovese Soldier Joseph Queli and Checker Nicholas Bergamotto pleaded guilty today before Superior Court Judge Anthony J. Mellaci, Jr. in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

            Queli pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Criminal Usury (loan sharking) and Money Laundering as well as Filing False Tax Returns. Under the plea agreement, Queli will be sentenced to seven years in state prison.

            Bergamotto pleaded guilty to Money Laundering and will be sentenced to a term of probation. Bergamotto has been suspended from the Waterfront since his arrest on April 22, 2010. Both Bergamotto and Queli were highlighted in the Commission’s Public Hearings held last year.

            The indictment was the result of an on-going investigation by the Waterfront Commission and the New Jersey Attorney General’s Division of Criminal Justice into organized crime in the Port.
 

            A copy of the Attorney General’s Press Release is attached.
 

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