Alleged victim of mob extortion pleads guilty to fraud
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She is not in the league of disgraced financier Bernard Madoff.
But the controversial Howard Beach housewife, whose financial misfortunes got some top reputed Bonanno crime family leaders in trouble, pleaded guilty herself yesterday to taking part in a local $1 million real estate investment fraud.
Yvonne Rossetti, 43, also admitted in federal court in Brooklyn to defrauding a health care assistance program out of $100,000 in a fake billing scheme.
Dressed in a dark pants suit and wearing her hair long, Rossetti, a mother of four, earned a reputation among her old Howard Beach neighbors for being a stylish woman around town. She faces a possible sentence of 27 to 46 months under sentencing guidelines, assistant U.S. attorney Patricia Notopoulos said in court.
Rossetti was thrust into the spotlight in late 2006 when the FBI said she was the victim of a $100,000 mob extortion scheme. Investigators alleged that a Bonanno family associate threatened her reputation if she didn't pay back the money, which he had borrowed from a reputed Bonanno soldier and used to top off an earlier investment of $400,000 in Rossetti's bogus real estate venture.
The case became a Howard Beach melodrama, with Rossetti's husband, Vincent, himself under indictment in a different federal extortion case, becoming a cooperating witness who began tape recording suspects.
But after reputed Bonanno crime family acting underboss Nicholas Santora, consiglieri Anthony Rabito and others were charged with playing roles in the extortion, defense attorneys and former friends of Yvonne Rossetti on Long Island and in Queens came forward with allegations in court papers that she was involved in a real estate scheme or had borrowed money from them without making repayments. Federal prosecutors also alleged in court papers that she was involved in bank fraud. Santora and Rabito pleaded guilty to charges unrelated to the Rossetti extortion and were given minor prison terms.
Yesterday, Rossetti admitted before Magistrate-Judge Cheryl Pollak to having two nurses who worked with her disabled daughter send in bills for hours they didn't work. Rossetti said they gave her money in return.
Rossetti also told Pollak that she with others cheated investors in a real estate scam that purported to involve property in California. Notopoulos said investors lost $1 million.
Notopoulos told Pollak that Rossetti admitted her crimes early in the investigation. Pollak released Rossetti, who no longer lives in Howard Beach, on a $100,000 personal recognizance bond. She set sentencing for July 10 before U.S. District Court Judge Raymond Dearie.
Vincent Rossetti, a reputed Bonanno associate, testified earlier this month as a prosecution witness in the federal murder racketeering trial of Gambino soldier Charles Carneglia.
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