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Federal Bureau of Investigation mugshot of Anthony Megale.

Anthony Megale (August 1, 1953 – July 21, 2015), also known as "The Genius" was a mobster, caporegime and later acting underboss of the Gambino crime family. His base of operations was in southwest Connecticut.

Criminal history

Allegedly born in Italy, Megale moved to Connecticut as a young man. Megale's residence was in Stamford, Connecticut. He married with a son and two daughters.^[1]

At some point, Megale joined the Gambino family. In 1982, Megale was convicted of a narcotics offense.^[1] ^[2]

In 1990, Megale pleaded guilty to racketeering and was sentenced to six years in prison. Megale's plea deal included an admission that he belonged to a La Cosa Nostra family, which infuriated Gambino boss John Gotti.^[2] In 1995, Megale was released from prison on parole. However, in 1998 he returned to prison for 11 months for associating with other criminals, a parole violation.^[1]

In August 2001, Megale became a caporegime in the Gambino family for its Connecticut operations. Megale died in July, 2015, just 8 months after being released from prison.

Extortion victims

In August 2002, Megale met with Harry Farrington, aka "Oil Can Harry" the owner of two strip clubs in Fairfield County, Connecticut, who was being extorted by mobsters from the Patriarca crime family of New England. Megale contacted the Patriarca mobsters and told them that Stamford was his territory and then proceeded to extort Farrington himself. In September 2002, Megale told Farrington that he would have to pay Megale $2,000 a month in "protection" money plus a yearly $3,000 "Christmas bonus." If the payments were late, Megale threatened Farrington with violence and property destruction. Farrington's response was to go to law enforcement, which set Farrington up with a listening device for future meetings with Megale. Between November 2002 and February 2004, Farrington made regular payments to Megale while recording their meetings.

In September 2002, Megale started extorting $200 a month from a vending machine operator who already been making payments to the Gambino family since 1996. During this period, Megale also extorted money from a construction company in Westchester County, New York, and a New Jersey trucking company.

Connecticut and New York convictions

In September 2004, with evidence from Farrington, Megale was indicted in Connecticut on 38 extortion charges. In October 2005, Megale pleaded guilty to lesser charges and on April 3, 2006, was sentenced to 86 months in prison.^[3]^[1]

On March 31, 2006, Megale pleaded guilty to reduced charges in the New York case.^[4] On September 6, 2006, Megale was sentenced to more than 11 years in prison. ^[5] Farrington sold his two clubs and moved out of state.

Megale served his sentence at the Allenwood Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. On December 1, 2014, he was released from prison.^[6]

Megale died on July 21, 2015, at Stamford Hospital after suffering a heart attack.^[7]

External links

The Laborers: An Insider Look at The Connecticut Mob by Ted Shaffrey
A bitter mob dispute over who controls Stamford gave the F.B.I. the opening it needed to wiretap a vital witness' by Ted Shaffrey December 1, 2005

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Mahony, Edmund H. (April 4, 2006). "Mob Underboss Returning To Prison". Hartford Courant. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
^ ^a ^b Allison, Leigh Cowan (September 30, 2004). "Connecticut Man Charged in Extortion by Mob". New York Times. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
^ "Conn. mob leader sentenced to 7 years in prison". USA Today. April 3, 2006. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
^ Preston, Julia (April 21, 2006). "Guilty Plea Is New Blow to the Once-Feared Gambinos". New York Times. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
^ "Manhattan: Crime Boss Is Sentenced". New York Times. September 7, 2006. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
^ "Anthony Megale". Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator. Archived from the original on December 12, 2012. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
^ Nickerson, By John (22 July 2015). "Former Gambino family boss dies in Stamford". StamfordAdvocate.