Jersey Lucchese racketeering bust includes Vegas resident

Nearly buried in this week’s racketeering bust of Lucchese crime family members and associates in New Jersey is the presence of little-known Las Vegas connected guy Frank Cetta, 71, who allegedly helped run the operation’s Caribbean bookmaking layoff room.

In all, nearly three dozen men were busted on charges of racketeering, conspiracy, and money laundering, including former New Jersey capos Ralph Perna and Nicky Scarfo Jr. from the heart of Tony Soprano country.

Of importance to mob aficionados is the indictment of two members of the Lucchese hierarchy, Joseph DiNapoli and Matthew Madonna.

Says New Jersey Attorney General Paula Dow, “The Lucchese crime family allegedly employed sophisticated measures such as electronic record-keeping and offshore wire rooms designed to thwart detection of their illegal gambling activities by law enforcement. I’m proud to say that their innovations did not stop our investigators from infiltrating their criminal enterprise and obtaining the evidence needed to indict their alleged top leaders in both New York and New Jersey.”

For more, check out the New Jersey government Web site, here.