Manhattan prosecutors yesterday brought the hammer down on the Bonannos, announcing enterprise-corruption indictments against seven members of the crime family, including jailed Donnie Brasco-era gangster and reputed underboss Nicholas “Nicky Cigars” Santora.
Two leaders of Teamsters Local 917, which handles liquor-store and parking-lot employees, were also indicted for allegedly helping the Bonannos gain loansharking and bookmaking footholds among union members.
They are the local’s president, Nicholas Bernhard, and shop steward Scott O’Neill, of Howard Beach, Queens.
Investigators pulled an illegal, loaded gun from under the pillow of Bernhard’s Congers, NY, bed when search warrants were executed on the suspects in February, a source told The Post.
Additional illegal firearms had been seized at that time from Bernhard’s home and from the Staten Island home of alleged soldier Anthony “Skinny” Santoro, including a TEC-9.
“F–k your mother!” a sweat-suited and rotund Santoro told reporters as he was hauled in cuffs into court.
“Many mistakenly believe that the mob has disappeared entirely except when you watch HBO,” Manhattan DA Cyrus Vance Jr. told reporters.
“Whatever name it’s called, the Mafia, La Cosa Nostra, the mob, this indictment demonstrates that organized crime is still operating in New York City and still has its hooks in the labor movement,” Vance said in announcing the fruits of a two-year joint investigation by his office and the NYPD Organized Crime Control Bureau and Organized Crime Investigation Unit.