Wyckoff Mobster Sentenced To 10 Years For Racketeering

WYCKOFF, NJ - One of the top members of the Lucchese crime family was sentenced to 10 years in state prison for his role in running a multi-billion gambling operation that used violence and extortion to collect debts, authorities said.

Joseph M. Perna, 46, of Wyckoff, was initially charged in Operation Heat in 2007. The gambling operation handled an estimated $2.2 billion in wagers, mostly on sporting events, in 15 months, said state Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman.

Perna’s father, Ralph, a capo in the crime family, was sentenced to eight years in state prison and his brother John, was sentenced to 10.

“Putting this top New Jersey capo behind bars along with two of his sons represents another red-letter day for the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice in its decades-long tradition of fighting organized crime,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice.

The gambling operation involved package holders who brought in bets from a group of gamblers, one of whom allegedly wagered more than $2 million in a two-month period, authorities said.

Bets were processed using password-protected websites and a Costan Rican “wire room” where wagers were recorded and results tallied, Hoffman said.

The proceeds were divided amongst the holders and the members they worked for. Tribute payments were made to the New York bosses, including Matthew Madonna and, allegedly, Joseph DiNapoli, Hoffman said.

Those who owed money were often threatened or violence was used against them, authorities said.

Madonna, a member of the family’s three-man ruling panel, was sentenced to five years in state prison. Martin Taccetta, 64, of East Hanover, and John Mangrella, 73, of Clifton, were sentenced to eight years.

Operation Heat also revealed that a former New Jersey corrections officer and a high-ranking Bloods street gang aligned with the Lucchese crime family to smuggle drugs and pre-paid cell phones into East Jersey State Prison, Hoffman said.

(From left: From left to right, Ralph V. Perna, John G. Perna, and Joseph Perna/N.J. Office of the Attorney General)