One of the heads of the Colombo crime family was freed from a Brooklyn jail on a $5 million bond on Friday despite federal prosecutors' objections that he was still conducting mafia business.
Mob consigliere Ralph DiMatteo, 66, walked out prison just five months after turning himself in to the FBI in New York City after his son had posted a photo of the wanted fugitive at a sunny Florida pool.
DiMatteo was charged with 13 other mobsters on racketeering and extortion charges and has pleaded not guilty.
Despite prosecutors' claims that DiMatteo was still an active member of the Colombo crime family and offering the group advice, Brooklyn Federal Court Magistrate James Cho said the mobster was not a flight risk and that home detention and phone monitoring was enough to 'alleviate the risk,' the New York Daily News reported.
Ralph DiMatteo, 66, had surrendered himself to the FBI in September after his son posted a picture of his parents at a Florida pool. The Colombo family consigliere was freed on a $5 million bond on Friday
DiMatteo served as a consigliere, an advisor to the Colombo family boss
DiMatteo's defense lawyer, Gerald McMahon, argued his client's release was necessary to prepare for their case, and as part of the deal, the mobster has agreed to electronic monitoring and home detention.
The mobster is allowed to travel outside his home only when visiting his attorney, going to court, seeking medical treatment and attending religious services.
According to court documents, prosecutors said that DiMatteo was still orchestrating Colombo family business while imprisoned as officials monitored his phone calls.
During one of the calls, he allegedly advised a relative to 'stay off the phones' because FBI surveillance and told a Colombo associate during another call that they avoid using a crime family meeting spot because authorities were aware of the location
In the court documents, the prosecutors wrote, 'In the months since his arrest, DiMatteo has continued to associate with and communicate with members of organized crime, seek their financial assistance, and remain involved in the affairs of the Colombo family.
'The weight of the evidence against DiMatteo is overwhelming. The government's evidence includes witness testimony, wiretap intercepts, consensual recordings... text messages, surveillance photographs.'
DiMatteo stands accused of colluding with fellow mobsters to devise a scheme to launder money from union healthcare contracts and payments.
DiMatteo is said to have done this through various channels linked to Joseph Bellantoni, who was named as a co-conspirator in the indictment, and eventually to the Colombo crime family's leaders, according to the federal indictment.
He was also accused of
