Florham Park man gets prison time for role in mafia

A Florham Park resident was sentenced Wednesday to 28 months in prison for his role in the affairs of the Genovese organized crime family.

Nunzio LaGrasso, 64, engaged in a pattern of racketeering activity by extorting tribute payments at Christmas time from members of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA), according to a press release from New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman and Eastern District of New York U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch.

LaGrasso, who had been vice president of ILA Local 1478, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi in Newark federal court to racketeering conspiracy. LaGrasso admitted to conspiracy to commit extortion and extortion.

According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court:

Since at least 2005, co-defendant Stephen Depiro, 59, of Kenilworth, has managed the Genovese family’s control over the New Jersey waterfront—including the nearly three-decades-long extortion of port workers in local unions.

Members of the Genovese family, including Depiro, are charged with conspiring to collect tribute payments from New Jersey port workers at Christmas each year through their corrupt influence over union officials, including the last three presidents of Local 1235 and vice president of ILA Local 1478.

During their guilty plea proceedings, LaGrasso, Depiro and co-defendant Albert Cernadas, 79, of Union, former president of ILA Local 1235 and former ILA executive vice president, admitted their involvement in the Genovese family, including conspiring to compel tribute payments from ILA union members, who made the payments based on actual and threatened force, violence and fear.

LaGrasso and Cernadas admitted to carrying out multiple extortions of dockworkers. The timing of the extortions typically coincided with the receipt by certain ILA members of “Container Royalty Fund” checks, a form of year-end compensation.

In addition to the prison term, Cecchi sentenced LaGrasso to two years of supervised release and fined him $25,000. Cernadas was previously sentenced to probation and DePiro is scheduled to be sentenced Friday.