Richard Martino (born 1961) is a member of the New York Gambino crime family who was involved in

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

and phone scams that cost consumers $750 million. Martino introduced the

Cosa Nostra The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily ...

into this area of crime.

Biography

A major earner for the Gambino family, Martino owned expensive homes in Harrison, New York and

Southampton, New York Southampton, officially the Town of Southampton, is a town in southeastern Suffolk County, New York, partly on the South Fork of Long Island. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the town had a population of 69,036. Southampton is included in the stret ...

, wore Prada shoes, and drove a

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

car. Martino and Gambino capo Salvatore LoCascio created what appeared to be a pornography

website A website (also written as a web site) is a collection of web pages and related content that is identified by a common domain name and published on at least one web server. Examples of notable websites are Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Wi ...

. Like many such sites, visitors could tour it for free by providing

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numbers to confirm they were adults. This concept originated from a cousin of Martino's who had created a course for men, instructing them "how to pick up girls." However, Martino and LoCascio then charged the visitors an unauthorized monthly website subscription. This scam cost consumers approximately $230 million. In a different scam, Martino and Locascio created a " cramming" scheme that sent bills to customer phone companies for unwanted services costing them $420 million. On March 18, 2003, Martino was charged in New York with federal racketeering fraud involving the website scam. On February 10, 2004, Martino was charged in New York in a second case with federal racketeering involving the phone scam. Finally, on January 25, 2005, Martino was charged in Kansas City, Missouri on federal charges of illegally obtaining subsidies from two federal programs. On February 14, 2005, in a plea bargain that covered both New York cases, Martino pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of extortion. On January 6, 2006, Martino was sentenced in Missouri to five years in prison and a $4.6 million fine. On January 30, 2006, Martino was sentenced in New York to nine years in federal prison. Martino was released from federal prison on July 15, 2014.

References

External links

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PCPro: The Soprano Connection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martino, Richard 1961 births Living people American gangsters of Italian descent Martino, Gambino American money launderers American people convicted of fraud