NEWARK – Angelo Prisco, a Capo in the Genovese Crime Family, was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison today for his role in attempting to assault an electrical contractor who was competing with another electrical contractor with close ties to Prisco, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

U.S. District Judge Joseph A. Greenaway sentenced Prisco, 68, to the statutory maximum penalty of 5 years in prison and also ordered him to serve three years of supervised release upon the completion of his prison term. Prisco, who has been held without bail since his arrest in March 2006, will begin serving his prison term immediately.

Prisco entered his guilty plea on May 17, 2007, before Judge Greenaway. Prisco pleaded guilty to a one-count Information which charged him with conspiring to engage in interstate travel in aid of racketeering.

At his plea hearing, Prisco admitted authorizing the assault of the electrical contractor, identified in the Information as “EM,” who was competing with another electrical contractor, John Cappelli, the owner of an electrical contracting business in the Bronx.

Prisco admitted to enlisting the services of Michael Visconti to assault EM. Visconti, in turn, sought the assistance of a man who turned out to be an FBI cooperating witness to carry out the assault. Investigative steps were taken to provide the cooperating witness with a reason to report to Visconti that the assault had to be aborted. Prisco admitted that, following the aborted assault, he received $2,500 from Cappelli as payment for authorizing the attempted assault.

At the time of his arrest, Prisco was on parole for a state conviction for arson. He was also on federal supervised release for an extortion conviction in New York (Southern District of New York, White Plains).

In determining the actual sentence, Judge Greenaway consulted the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide appropriate sentencing ranges that take into account the severity and characteristics of the offense, the defendant's criminal history, if any, and other factors. The judge, however, is not bound by those guidelines in determining a sentence.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.

Christie credited Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Newark Division, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Weysan Dun; Special Agents of the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation; Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service; Special Agents of the Department of Labor, Office of Labor

Racketeering; Detectives from the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor; and Detectives from the Hudson County Prosecutor’s Office, with the investigation leading to the guilty plea.

The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven D’Aguanno of the Criminal Division in Camden.

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Defense Counsel:
Miles Feinstein, Esq.