John "Porky" Zancocchio (born November 27, 1957) is an American mobster and former
Consigliere
Consigliere ( , ; plural ) is a position within the leadership structure of the Sicilian, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word was popularized in English by the novel ''The Godfather'' (1969) and its film adaptation. In the novel, a c ...
with the
Bonanno crime family
The Bonanno crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, and in the United States, as part of the criminal phenomenon known as the A ...
who is a
loanshark
A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law.
Description
Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...
and a
bookmaker
A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds.
History
The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795.
Range of events
Bookma ...
.
Biography
Born in
Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, Zancocchio started working under Bonanno
caporegime
A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to capo or informally referred to as "captain" or "skipper", is a rank used in the Mafia (both the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia) for a ''made member'' of an Italian crime family who head ...
Dominick Napolitano
Dominick Napolitano (June 16, 1930 – August 17, 1981), also known as Sonny Black, was an American Mafia caporegime in the Bonanno crime family. He is known for unwittingly allowing FBI agent Joseph D. Pistone to become an associate in his ...
in the early 1970s. After Napolitano's killing as a result of the
Donnie Brasco scandal, Zancocchio worked for capo
Anthony Graziano
Anthony A. Graziano (November 12, 1940 – May 25, 2019) was an American mobster and consigliere in the Bonanno crime family.
Bonanno crime family
Captain
In 1990, Graziano pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion. He had failed to pay $100,000 t ...
. During the 1980s, Zancocchio married Graziano's daughter Lana, making him brother-in-law to Bonanno mobsters
Christian Ludwigsen and Hector Pagan.
Over time, Zancocchio built a major bookmaking operation that grossed $280 million a year at its high point. His operation served many influential and wealthy gamblers, including
Pete Rose
Peter Edward Rose Sr. (born April 14, 1941), also known by his nickname "Charlie Hustle", is an American former professional baseball player and manager. Rose played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1963 to 1986, most prominently as a membe ...
. Zancocchio also opened a Brooklyn
pizzeria
A pizzeria is a restaurant focusing on pizza. As well as pizza, dishes at pizzerias can include kebab, salads and pasta.
Many pizzerias offer take-away, where the customer orders their food either in advance or at the restaurant and then take ...
called "Mama Rosa's", which he leased to his mother. However, Zancocchio's financial dealings with the restaurant resulted in his first prosecution for
income tax evasion
Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...
. Zancocchio pleaded guilty and was fined $100,000 and sentenced to one year in prison. His mother Rose was also indicted at this time.
In 2002, Zancocchio and Lana were charged with income tax evasion for the years 1995 to 2000. The two pleaded guilty and Zancocchio received 71 months in prison and a $300,000 fine. Lana faced a 16-month sentence, but her attorney negotiated a
house arrest
In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if all ...
deal so that she could take care of their three young children. Lana told an author writing a book on mob women that,
... after the split with her husband, she was forced to admit the possibility that John married her only to get closer to her father. 'I have to face it that I was used, that he really didn't love me. In plain English, if that's how he feels, fuck him.'
Zancocchio served his sentence at the Devens
Federal Medical Center in
and was released from prison on August 29, 2008.
[Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator]
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In February 2018, he went back to prison. He was held at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York
The Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York (MCC New York) is a United States federal administrative detention facility in the Civic Center of Lower Manhattan, New York City, located on Park Row behind the Thurgood Marshall United States ...
on racketeering charges. Zancocchio was released from prison on July 31, 2018,[ and was acquitted of racketeering and conspiracy charges on March 13, 2019. At the time, he was a resident of ]Staten Island
Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...
."The Bonanno Family: After Claiming Ethnic Profiling, 2 Accused of Being Mobsters Are Acquitted"
''The New York Times'', March 13, 2019.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zancocchio, John
1957 births
Living people
American gangsters of Italian descent
Bonanno crime family
American people convicted of tax crimes
People from Brooklyn