Man linked to Genovese family pleads guilty to racketeering in

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) A man linked to the Genovese crime family's South Florida operations pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to racketeering conspiracy. <br/><br/>Charles Steinberg, 31, was

Friday, December 29th 2006, 9:53 pm

By: News On 6

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) A man linked to the Genovese crime family's South Florida operations pleaded guilty in federal court Friday to racketeering conspiracy.

Charles Steinberg, 31, was charged in June with racketeering, robbery and loan sharking. Six other men were named in the indictment, including Renaldi Ruggiero, who prosecutors say ran South Florida operations for the Genovese syndicate.

Steinberg admitted he forged checks, made illegal loans, and drove the getaway car in a 2002 robbery of a bookmaker. Investigators learned of the robbery after Steinberg bragged about it to an undercover police officer, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Kaplan said.

Steinberg, who did not agree to cooperate with prosecutors, could get up to 20 years in prison, said his attorney, William Norris.

Steinberg was deep in gambling debt and the pressure to pay it off caused him to get involved in the crime ring, Norris said. He said his client owed at least $28,500 to Ruggiero.

Ruggiero's attorney, Michael Salnick, has disputed prosecutors' claims that his client was connected to the Mafia or that he was a dangerous person.

The case, considered the latest blow to one of New York's most powerful Mafia families, deals with 10 years of alleged criminal activity, including murder. The family's reputed acting boss, Liborio ``Barney'' Bellomo, and 31 others were arrested in February in New York.

Kaplan has said the investigation of the Florida group began in 2001 and lasted into 2003, when Internal Revenue Service agents searched Ruggiero's home.