A former longtime police detective has been convicted of
lying to the FBI to protect a Mafia family in a bombshell case that played out
in court last week.
Hector Rosario, 51, was paid thousands of dollars by the
Bonanno crime family to protect their illicit gambling operations at chess
clubs, gelato parlors and shoe repair shops around Long Island while staging
fake raids on rival dens from 2013.
Though the former Nassau County cop was acquitted on
Wednesday of his top charge - obstructing justice - following a tense seven-day
trial in Brooklyn federal court, he could be jailed for up to five years for
lying to FBI agents.
Organized crime expert Dr Declan Hill told DailyMail.com
Rosario now faces a grisly fight for survival behind bars - while former Mafia
boss Anthony Arillotta revealed how the local gang networks are likely to
react.
Dr Hill, an associate professor at the University of New
Haven, added that he doubts the crooked cop acted alone within local law
enforcement.
'I can't think of a larger target to paint on your back than
being a dirty cop in prison,' Dr Hill told DailyMail.com
'There are thousands of inmates who are going to hate him.
He's going to need to be in a protected unit if he has any hope of surviving.
'As a low-level flunky who sold himself to the Bonanno crime
family, I can't use words strong enough to describe what's going to happen to
him in prison.
'He's not going to get any support from law enforcement
because he sold the badge for very little financial reward.
'And he betrayed the Bonannos, so he's got no protection
from them. He's living out a death sentence now.'
Arillotta, 56, a former boss in the Genovese gang which
rivals the Bonanno family, agreed that Rosario is 'going to have issues' in
jail.
'I was in prison for 13 years and I know that former cops, a
lot of them get killed,' the Massachusetts-based reformed mobster told
DailyMail.com.
'Usually what they do with cops is they put them in a
protected custody wing where they are not around the other inmates - the ones
that could do harm to them.'
Arillotta added though that if Rosario survives jail, he's
unlikely to face any trouble from the local Mafia groups on the outside because
there's no financial gain in going after him.
However, the public court case could shake the foundations
of the Bonannos - one of the five major Italian-American crime families that
have been dominating the Northeast US Mafia scene for decades.
'If anyone has a problem, it's the guys that were giving
Rosario the money to go after the families. I have been involved in murders for
these kind of reasons,' Arillotta said.
'I don't know if they will kill them, but they will have
issues.'
Rosario's case represents only the tip of the iceberg in
terms of local police affiliation with Mafia gangs, according to Dr Hill.
'I'm sure there are other crooked cops like him out there,'
the professor told DailyMail.com. 'He was not acting alone'.
Dr Hill said the case highlights 'the level of corruption
that's necessary for the mob to survive - the cooperation between the overworld
and the underworld'.
Rosario was indicted in 2022 along with eight members and
associates of the Bonanno and Genovese crime families after a year-long
investigation into racketeering and illegal gambling on Long Island.
Nassau County Police Department fired him after 15 years of
service, shortly after the indictment. He was the only defendant who didn't
accept the plea deal, and his case went to trial.
The prosecution's argument relied on testimony from three
mobsters, including Damiano Zummo, a Bonanno soldier who recounted the night
Rosario staged a fake police raid in 2013 on Sal's Shoe Repair shop run by the
Genovese family.
Zummo told the court they planned for Rosario to 'go in
there and just intimidate them in the hopes that it would close down'.
Wearing a police badge, Rosario burst in with two associates
and destroyed a gambling machine by smashing it with a flashlight.
The store owner, Sal Rubino, said he saw the bust and felt
that 'something was not right' because Rosario did not confiscate anything or
ask for ID - and he didn't leave in a cop car.
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