Salvatore LaGrasso, Extortion Conspiracy, New York 2024

A former longshoreman from New Jersey has been sentenced to 12 months in prison for conspiring to extort others in his union for Christmastime tribute payments, federal authorities announced.

Salvatore LaGrasso, 58, of Edison, New Jersey, a former supervisor on the New Jersey piers, pleaded guilty to conspiring to extort Christmastime tributes from the union members, a crime he admitted to in court.

According to documents filed in the case, LaGrasso and others conspired to compel tribute payments from ILA union members, who made the payments based on actual and threatened force, violence, and fear. 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.

LaGrasso’s sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi in Newark federal court on January 1, 2024. The sentence is the result of a superseding indictment that charged LaGrasso with conspiring to extort Christmastime tributes from ILA union members.

Charges are still pending against three defendants in the superseding indictment, including a racketeering conspiracy charge against Stephen Depiro, 59, of Kenilworth, New Jersey, a soldier in the Genovese organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra (Genovese family).

Since at least 2005, Depiro has managed the Genovese family’s control over the New Jersey waterfront, including the nearly three-decades-long extortion of port workers in ILA Local 1, ILA Local 1235, and ILA Local 1478. Members of the Genovese family, including Depiro, are charged with conspiring to collect tribute payments from New Jersey port workers at Christmastime each year through their corrupt influence over union officials, including the last three presidents of Local 1235.

LaGrasso’s case is the latest in a series of high-profile cases targeting organized crime figures in the New Jersey waterfront.

The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.

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