Charles "Chuckie" Tuzzo (born November 22, 1933) is a New York mobster who is a capo with the

Genovese crime family The Genovese crime family, () also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American M ...

Criminal career

A reputed captain in the Genovese crime family upon the takeover by

Vincent "Chin" Gigante Vincent Louis Gigante (; March 28, 1928 – December 19, 2005), also known as "The Chin", was an American mobster who was boss of the Genovese crime family in New York City from 1981 to 2005. Gigante started out as a professional boxer who fough ...

in the 1980s, Tuzzo's criminal activities were mostly white collar crimes in Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn. In the early 1990s, Tuzzo, former acting boss Liborio "Barney" Bellomo, and capo Ernest "Ernie" Muscarella participated in several lucrative

pump-and-dump Pump and dump (P&D) is a form of securities fraud that involves artificially inflating the price of an owned stock through false and misleading positive statements, in order to sell the cheaply purchased stock at a higher price. Once the opera ...

stock schemes."Gigante Is Sane And Runs Mob, U.S. Charges"
By WILLIAM GLABERSON New York Times January 24, 2002

Controlling the ILA

In 1997, Gigante was convicted of federal racketeering charges and sentenced to 12 years in prison. With Bellomo incarcerated on similar charges and reputed Consigliere Dominick "Quiet Dom" Cirillo resigning, Muscarella became Genovese acting boss. His rise would also increase Tuzzo's influence in the Manhattan faction. In the late 1990s, Tuzzo, Muscarella and other members of the family dominated the

International Longshoremen's Association The International Longshoremen's Association (ILA) is a North American labor union representing longshore workers along the East Coast of the United States and Canada, the Gulf Coast, the Great Lakes, Puerto Rico, and inland waterways. The ILA h ...

(ILA) and began

extorting Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, al ...

companies such as Orex Gold Mines Corp. operating on the piers in the New York City and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

metropolitan area, and in Miami,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. Tuzzo's other criminal activities included bid rigging,

loansharking 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 racketeering.

Indictments

In January 2002, Tuzzo, Muscarella, and Gigante were indicted on federal racketeering,

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agre ...

and extortion charges. The Genovese family had gained control of

(ILA) locals in New York, New Jersey, and Miami, Florida. They used this power to extort money from

shipping container A shipping container is a container with strength suitable to withstand shipment, storage, and handling. Shipping containers range from large reusable steel boxes used for intermodal shipments to the ubiquitous corrugated boxes. In the context of ...

repair companies and other waterfront-related businesses."Vincent "Chin" gigante, boss of the genovese crime family, together with genovese acting boss, former acting boss, family captain, 2 soldiers, and 2 associates indicted and charged with infiltration of longshoremen's union"
Press Release IPSN January 23, 2002 Additional charges against the defendants also brought in evidence of extorting the Laborer International Union of North America,

Teamsters The International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT), also known as the Teamsters Union, is a labor union in the United States and Canada. Formed in 1903 by the merger of The Team Drivers International Union and The Teamsters National Union, the ...

Local 32B/J of the Building Services Workers Union and the Mason Tenders District Council of Greater New York. On April 7, 2003, Tuzzo pleaded guilty to extortion conspiracy. He was later sentenced to five years in prison. Tuzzo was released from prison on February 2, 2006. As part of his plea agreement, Tuzzo is prohibited from participating in the ILA or any waterfront-related business.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tuzzo, Charles 1933 births American gangsters of Italian descent Genovese crime family Living people American people convicted of fraud