Reputed New Jersey mob captain arrested at Henderson home

Henderson resident Charles Stango didn’t need to be in New Jersey to participate in a scheme to kill a rival crime syndicate member there, federal authorities said Thursday.

Stango, 71, a captain in the DeCavalcante crime family, conspired to kill the rival while living in the Las Vegas area, where he told an undercover cop he had “planted the f—-ing flag” for organized crime, according to a federal complaint unsealed in New Jersey.

Late Thursday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Koppe ordered Stango held behind bars and transported back to New Jersey to face felony charges that include the murder scheme.

Federal authorities said they have secret cellphone recordings of Stango in the Las Vegas area planning the mob hit with other crime family members back in New Jersey. The mobster also talked openly about the murder scheme in face-to-face meetings with an undercover agent who had infiltrated the New Jersey crime family, the complaint said.

Stango’s arrest was the result of a three-year investigation of the DeCavalcante crime family by the FBI in Newark.

Stango, also known as “Beeps,” oversaw a street crew that distributes drugs and contraband cigarettes in New Jersey for the DeCavalcante organization, a wing of New York’s powerful Gambino Mafia family, the complaint alleges. The HBO series “The Sopranos” was reportedly based on the DeCavalcante family.

Stango, whose five prior felony convictions include a 1981 homicide, was arrested by FBI agents at his Henderson home Thursday morning on the New Jersey charges, which include allegations he conspired with other crime family members to distribute cocaine and run a prostitution business, authorities said.

Nine other people, including Stango’s son Anthony, 33, were arrested on varying charges in New Jersey.

Koppe ordered the elder Stango detained as a flight risk and danger to the community after Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Dickinson told her that Stango lived in Henderson while under federal supervised release in connection with a racketeering case involving a crime family murder plot in New York.

It was unclear how long Stango has been living in Henderson. His residence is north of Interstate 215 near Green Valley Parkway.

Dressed in a white sweatshirt, patterned slacks and large-rimmed glasses, Stango politely answered Koppe’s questions in a soft voice.

But he showed a different, profanity-laced side in discussing the makeup of the DeCavalcante crime family and his rank in the organization during a secretly recorded meeting with the undercover agent in New Jersey, according to the criminal complaint.

“Right is right and what’s wrong is f—-ing wrong,” he said. “And that’s what they do. That’s how we live. Now me. I planted the f—-ing flag in New Orleans, in Las Vegas, f—-ing LA, Ok?”

The murder scheme was discussed between Dec. 15 and March 13, the complaint said.

In one conversation with the undercover agent in Las Vegas, Stango said he wanted his rival maimed or killed because the man had insulted the acting boss of the family and was out of control, the complaint alleges.

Stango said the man “had to meet death or you gotta maim him or you just gotta put him in a wheelchair for the rest of his life or somebody’s gotta get a f—-ing jar of acid and throw it in his f—-ing face …”

During another conversation in Las Vegas, the undercover agent suggested hiring two motorcycle gang members to kill the man, and Stango agreed and suggested each would be paid $25,000, the complaint said. Stango obtained permission for the hit from Frank Nigro, 72, the crime family’s reputed consigliore, or counsel, according to the complaint.

Stango assured the undercover agent in the recorded conversations that other high-ranking members of the family wanted the rival dead, the complaint alleges.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter: @JGermanRJ.