Daniel "Danny the Lion" Leo (born January 16, 1928 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, ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
) is the former acting boss of 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 Ame ...
East Harlem Purple Gang
The East Harlem Purple Gang was a gang or organized crime group consisting of Italian-American hit-men and heroin dealers who were semi-independent from the Italian-American Mafia and, according to federal prosecutors, dominated heroin distrib ...
in the 1970s. He is also known as "Daniel Leonetti" and "Daniel Leonardo" (the
Federal Bureau of Prisons
The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is a United States federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Justice that is responsible for the care, custody, and control of incarcerated individuals who have committed federal crimes; that i ...
has his name as "Danny Leo").
Rise in the Genovese family
Leo resides in a luxurious manor in
Rockleigh, New Jersey
Rockleigh (pronounced ROCK-lee) is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough's population was 531, Anzisi and his girlfriend were murdered in 1978 in the
Bronx
The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...
.
Leo was once the President of a construction company named Elite Ready Mix. Allegedly promoted to captain under the regime of
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 May 2007, Leo was one of many Genovese crime family members indicted on federal
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
extortion
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, ...
charges. In early 2008, Leo pleaded guilty to
racketeering
Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit.
Originally and ...
and loansharking. He was sentenced to five years in prison. His projected release date was October 7, 2011, but on January 10, 2010, he pleaded guilty to racketeering charges and faced up to 40 years in prison.Bautista, Justo "Reputed acting crime boss pleads guilty to racketeering charges" (January 27, 2010) North Jersey.com In March 2010, he was sentenced to an additional 18 months in prison and fined $1.3 million. Leo began serving his time at the low security facility at
Federal Correctional Complex, Coleman
The Federal Correctional Complex, Coleman (FCC Coleman) is a United States federal prison complex for male inmates in unincorporated Sumter County, Florida, near Wildwood. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), a division of the U ...
in
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 ...
, but was subsequently released into community corrections in Miami. He was released from federal custody on January 25, 2013.