Colombo had 'hook' in state prosecutor

Christopher Colombo bragged in 2001 that he had "a hook in" former New York State Attorney General Dennis Vacco that shielded him from prosecution, according to stories by Kati Cornell of the New York Post and Thomas Zambito of the New York Daily News.

A surveillance audio tape of the boast was played last week in Manhattan federal court, where Colombo and his brother Anthony are on trial for gambling, loan-sharking and extortion.

Christopher Colombo was taped during a conversation with contractor John Sitterly. Sitterly, charged with robbing elderly clients of over a million dollars, reportedly wore a wire to a Jan. 19, 2001, meeting. Discussing then-Attorney General Eliot Spitzer's investigation of Sitterly, Colombo said, "Spitzer is the worst. Vacco was the best. He didn't care about anything. I had a hook in him."

Vacco (left), now with a lobbying firm, told the Post that he had never before heard of the surveillance tape or of Christopher Colombo. "The guy's full of baloney," Vacco said. "...If I ever met him, he never registered on my radar screen."


Spitzer was inaugurated New York State's 54th governor on Jan. 1.

Christopher and Anthony Colombo are the sons of slain mob boss Joseph Colombo, after whom the Colombo Crime Family in New York was named.

Related MobNews posts:

• Colombo judge rules against the M-word 01-23-07
• Colombo admits gambling, denies intimidation 01-19-07
• Colombo's sons head to trial this week 01-16-07
• Colombo son objects to use of crime family name 11-30-06

Colombo judge rules against the 'M-word'

Judge Naomi Rice Buchwald decided Friday that there can be no mention of the Colombo Crime Family or the Mafia during the racketeering trial of Anthony and Christopher Colombo, according to a story by Thomas Zambito of the New York Daily News.

Anthony and Christopher are the sons of Joseph Colombo, the slain boss of the crime family that bears his name (formerly the Profaci Family). They are accused of using their perceived connections to the mob to extort money from victims. Anthony is charged with demanding payoffs from a New York construction firm. Christopher is charged with running a gambling operation in East Harlem and the Bronx.

Buchwald ruled that prosecutors had not sufficiently linked the defendants with the mob clan.

In his opening statement a day before Buchwald's ruling, defense attorney Louis Fasulo said Anthony Colombo (right) was guilty only of being Joe Colombo's son. While his client is accused of extorting $100,000 from the construction firm, the attorney argued that the firm hired Colombo to generate business - something he accomplished.

Yesterday, a prosecution witness stated that he gave Christopher Colombo $600,000 in interest payments through six years on a loan of just $90,000. "I could see that it was never, ever, going to be paid off," John Sitterly said. Sitterly, 52, is facing a five- to 15-year sentence for robbing customers of his upstate home improvement business. The Post indicated that Sitterly testified against Colombo "hoping to shave time" off his sentence.

Related MobNews posts:

• Colombo admits gambling, denies intimidation 01-19-07
• Colombo's sons head to trial this week 01-16-07
• Colombo son objects to use of crime family name 11-30-06