Daniel Pagano (pronounced "Pah-GAH-noh") (born 1953) is a New York mobster and a caporegime in the Genovese crime family who was involved in a famous gasoline bootlegging racket of the 1980s. Born in New York, Pagano is the son of Joseph Pagano, a soldier in the Genovese family. In 1973, the

New York Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

(NYPD) arrested Daniel Pagano for selling

narcotics The term narcotic (, from ancient Greek ναρκῶ ''narkō'', "to make numb") originally referred medically to any psychoactive compound with numbing or paralyzing properties. In the United States, it has since become associated with opiates ...

to undercover officers. During the arrest, Pagano was shot in the back by police while leaning against a police car.

Meeting with Sharpton

In the early 1980s, Pagano became acquainted with African-American activist Al Sharpton. In 1983, Colombo crime family mobster

Michael Franzese Michael Franzese () ('' né'' Grillo; born May 27, 1951) is an American former mobster who was a caporegime in the Colombo crime family, and son of former underboss Sonny Franzese. Franzese was enrolled in a pre-med program at Hofstra University ...

arranged a meeting with Pagano, Sharpton, and another mob associate (who was an undercover

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, t ...

(FBI) agent). The meeting was ostensibly about the mob associate asking Sharpton for an introduction to boxing promoter Don King. However, during the meeting, the associate unsuccessfully tried to enlist Sharpton's assistance in distributing narcotics. After the meeting, the FBI approached Sharpton and allegedly garnered his assistance as an informant against Pagano. However, Sharpton denies this claim to this day.

Promotion

In the late 1980s, Pagano became a made man, or full member, of the Genovese family. He operated in the Bronx and Manhattan and was close to Genovese capo Dominick "Quiet Dom" Cirillo. With the incarceration of Genovese soldier Joseph "Joe Glitz" Galizia, Pagano was promoted to capo. Pagano oversaw the family's numbers game and sports betting rackets in

East Harlem East Harlem, also known as Spanish Harlem or and historically known as Italian Harlem, is a neighborhood of Upper Manhattan, New York City, roughly encompassing the area north of the Upper East Side and bounded by 96th Street to the south, F ...

, which were operated by the Pisacano brothers. Pagano also owned a business interest in Third World Records, an African/

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

music label in New York. In June 1989, Pagano was indicted on charges of illegal gambling, loan sharking and extortion in Westchester County and

Rockland County Rockland County is the southernmost county on the west side of the Hudson River in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. It is about from the Bronx at their closest points. The county's population, as of th ...

north of New York City. Pagano and his associates mediated disputes between trash haulers in the area, exercised control over a waterfront construction project in Yonkers, New York, and conducted loansharking activities. Pagano eventually pleaded guilty to criminal usury and promoting gambling.

Gasoline bootlegging

After become capo, Pagano became the Genovese family contact in the "Gasoline Bootlegging Rackets". Originated in the 1980s by a

Soviet Jew The history of the Jews in the Soviet Union is inextricably linked to much earlier expansionist policies of the Russian Empire conquering and ruling the eastern half of the European continent already before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. "For ...

ish crime family led by Marat Balagula and based in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn , the scam involved fake transactions of large quantities of gasoline and diesel that defrauded the State of New York out of hundreds of millions in

excise tax file:Lincoln Beer Stamp 1871.JPG, upright=1.2, 1871 U.S. Revenue stamp for 1/6 barrel of beer. Brewers would receive the stamp sheets, cut them into individual stamps, cancel them, and paste them over the Bunghole, bung of the beer barrel so when ...

es. When the New York's Cosa Nostra families discovered the scam, the Genovese and three other families forced Organizatsiya to pay them a cut of their illegal profits. The families set up a group known as the Association to run the scam. Pagano and his trusted aide, mobster Anthony Palumbo, represented the Genovese interests in the Association. In late 1992 or early 1993, Pagano thwarted a proposed murder of a Russian mobster. Palumbo's business partner, Russian mobster Victor Zilber, asked him to arrange the murder of a Zilber employee, Russian mobster

Monya Elson Monya may refer to: *Sergei Monia (alternate spelling: Sergey Monya) (born 1983), Russian professional basketball player *Dmitri Monya Dmitri Monya (born September 10, 1988) is a former Russian professional ice hockey winger who played in the Ru ...

. When Palumbo approached Pagano for approval, Pagano immediately vetoed the hit. Pagano was afraid that killing Elson would cause major problems with the Organizatsia. In the early-1990s, the FBI and the U.S.

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

(IRS) set up a fake fuel company in Trenton, New Jersey, as part of "Red Daisy", a

sting operation In law enforcement, a sting operation is a deceptive operation designed to catch a person attempting to commit a crime. A typical sting will have an undercover law enforcement officer, detective, or co-operative member of the public play a role a ...

aimed against the bootlegging ring. In February 1992, a suspicious fire destroyed the company facilities. Soon after the fire, a mob associate approached the company owners and informed them that they would have to pay a "mob tax" to sell the bootleg gasoline. In September 1996, Pagano and Palumbo were indicted on charges of defrauding the government of $77 million in tax revenues. In September 1999, Pagano pleaded guilty to motor fuel tax evasion and was sentenced to 105 months in prison. As a result of his imprisonment, Pagano lost control of many of his former rackets, including the Pisacano brothers illegal gambling operation. On May 12, 2007, Pagano was released from federal prison.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pagano, Daniel 1953 births Living people Genovese crime family American gangsters of Italian descent American people convicted of tax crimes