Salvatore LoCascio (born July 21, 1958) is a reputed former

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 ...

in the New York

Gambino crime family The Gambino 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, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Ame ...

. His father,

Frank LoCascio Frank "Frankie Loc" LoCascio (September 24, 1932 – October 1, 2021) was an American mobster in New York who became the Consigliere to the Gambino crime family boss John Gotti. Biography LoCascio was born to Italian immigrants from Baucina, Sic ...

, was the acting underboss (1988-1990), and acting consigliere (1990-1992) for

John Gotti John Joseph Gotti Jr.Capeci, Mustain (1996), pp. 25–26 (, ; October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002) was an American gangster and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. He ordered and helped to orchestrate the murder of Gambino boss ...

Early life

LoCascio grew up in

Eastchester, New York Eastchester is a town in southern Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was over 34,641 at the 2020 United States census over 32,363 at the 2010 census. There are two villages within the town: Bronxville and Tuckahoe. The ...

. In 1985, with $115,000 that he received from wedding gifts he started his own business, Creative Program Communications, Incorporated with a few friends.

The Scores case

In 1998, LoCascio and Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo were arrested for attempting to extort money from Scores, a famous upscale

strip club A strip club is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease or other Erotic dancing, erotic or exotic dances. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or Bar (establishment), bar style, and can also ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. However, the case against LoCascio was weak, so prosecutors offered to drop the charges. In return, LoCascio pleaded guilty to

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 taxp ...

for deriving income from illegal gambling. He was sentenced to ten months, part of which was home arrest, and a $1.5 million fine. At the time of his plea, Locascio ran numerous 900 number phone services, from

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws, ...

hot lines to sports scores.

Pornography and credit card fraud

While serving his time in home, LoCascio was already building what would be called the largest consumer fraud in American history. Along with Gambino mob soldier Richard "Richie" Martino, LoCascio created a number of

pornographic Pornography (often shortened to porn or porno) is the portrayal of Human sexual activity, sexual subject matter for the exclusive purpose of sexual arousal. Primarily intended for adults,

websites. These websites were formed through a partnership between Martino and Norman Chanes, a direct marketer. The scam required an

age verification An age verification system, also known as an age gate, is a technical protection measure used to restrict access to digital content from those who are not appropriately-aged. These systems are used primarily to restrict access to content classifie ...

check before an adult could access a "free preview" of the

sexual content In media discourse, sexual content is material depicting sexual behavior. The sexual behavior involved may be explicit, implicit sexual behavior such as flirting, or include sexual language and euphemisms. Sexual content is a large factor in most ...

. To perform an age verification check, the customer had to enter their credit card information. The websites clearly stated that the viewer was getting a ''free preview'' and their credit card would not be charged. In reality, Locascio and crew were fraudulently charging $25 to $75 on these accounts. Local phone carrier services had been allowing third party telecommunication companies to bill existing customers for services rendered. Typically this would include items such as

voice mail A voicemail system (also known as voice message or voice bank) is a computer-based system that allows users and subscribers to exchange personal voice messages; to select and deliver voice information; and to process transactions relating to ind ...

and overseas long distance charges. The LoCascio crew then set about billing customers located primarily in the United States mid west for charges they had not requested. This billing was facilitated through the now defunct USP&C of

Overland Park, Kansas Overland Park ( ) is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas. Located in Johnson County, Kansas, it is one of four principal cities in the Kansas City metropolitan area and the most populous suburb of Kansas City, Missouri. As o ...

. The scheme is known as ' cramming'. Soon complaints from victims of both the internet sites and phone bills caught the attention of the

US Justice Department The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and a ...

. By February 2004, the entire LoCascio crew had been arrested. Federal prosecutors estimate that the Gambinos grossed approximately $500 million from the phone cramming operation. LoCascio was sentenced to two years in federal prison; he was released on August 1, 2008.

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:LoCascio, Salvatore 1961 births Living people American gangsters of Italian descent Gambino crime family American money launderers People from Scarsdale, New York American people convicted of tax crimes