Underboss of Philadelphia mafia sentenced to 5 years for leading racketeering conspiracy

Philadelphia mafia underboss Steven Mazzone was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for conspiring to participate in a racketeering enterprise.

Mazzone pleaded guilty to the charges in June.

As the underboss of the Philadelphia mob, also called La Cosa Nostra (LCN), Mazzone directed criminal enterprises including extortion, sales of illicit drugs, illegal sports betting and extending loans to gamblers he knew could not pay them back, the Department of Justice said.

“Mazzone financed high-interest loans to customers of the sportsbook who were unable to pay their debts, resulting in the collection of interest rates on loans of as much as 264%. Members of the LCN made several threats of violence to debtors who did not pay, including one threat to make a victim ‘disappear,’” the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania wrote.

“Even though the Philadelphia mob has been weakened over the decades due in large part to persistent law enforcement, the LCN and its criminal activities are still very much a problem and are damaging the communities in which it operates,” said Jacqueline Romero, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

The criminal network Mazzone oversaw included Philadelphia and surrounding parts of New Jersey.

“In this case, the defendant used his role as the underboss of the Philadelphia organized crime family to try to revive its fortunes, extorting victims in Pennsylvania and New Jersey,” Assistant Attorney General Ken Polite Jr. said.

The investigation that busted Mazzone and others used wiretapping to intercept conversations between mob operatives.

On one of the tapes used by prosecutors, Mazzone can be heard saying at a 2015 meeting, “We got to get a hold back on Atlantic City, buddy! That’s what I want. That’s what I want. We have to get that back,” the Department of Justice noted.

It was not the first time that method had nabbed Mazzone.

In 2000, he was convicted of conspiracy to commit racketeering and illegal sports bookmaking after he was caught on tape discussing an extortion in which one of the victims was wounded by gunfire. Mazzone served nine years in prison for the offense.