New York mafia has long maintained a very profitable racket by keeping its hooks in the distribution of New York newspapers in both NY and New Jersey. The mafia newspaper racket has been controlled for the last several years by the Bonanno crime family but times are changing as the beleaguered family losses its grip. Mob sources confirm that powerful Genovese crime family captain Peter “Petey Red” DiChiara has taken control of the mob local newspaper rackets. The Bonanno family continues to lose ground as other families including the Genovese family have once again began to re-establish themselves to an extent as law enforcement focuses more efforts on anti-terrorism.
The 72 year old DiChiara although not all that well known is said to be a powerful member of the Genovese family operating out of his social club in Knickerbocker Village. According to sources he used his connections with members and high ranking officials inside two newspapers worker unions to grab control. Payoffs from the racket come from kickbacks and payoffs from the a bootlegging scheme which has stolen magazines and newspapers delivered by non union workers.
The elder mobster was busted back in 2001 on gambling, extortion, and money laundering charges after mob associate Michael “Cookie” D’Urso turned rat and wore a wire for feds for three years. He and several members of his crew were taken down and Peter Red ended up doing 63 months. When he returned to the streets along with members of his crew his Market Street social club once again became a hotbed of NY mafia activity according to the feds. It was clear the elder wiseguy was back in action on behalf of the Genovese family.
In 2008 Peter Red was being investigated by organized crime detectives along with members of the Newspaper and Mail Deliveries and Mailer Unions for involvement in a check cashing and tax evasion scheme. According to the investigation it involved the use of a shell company to hide illegal payoffs and kickbacks received by the men from the non union drivers bootlegging scheme. To date prosecutors have yet to be able to make a case against DiChiara or any of the Union members for the alleged money laundering and check cashing scams or any form of labor racketeering they investigated.