Cambridge Man Sentenced to Five Years for Extortion and Gambling

BOSTON – A Cambridge man was sentenced yesterday in U.S. District Court in Boston to five years in prison for extortion and conducting an illegal gambling business.

Anthony Corso, 52, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to five years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. Judge Casper also issued an order forfeiting over $68,000 in cash recovered in searches or from bank accounts, as well as 30 fake luxury watches also recovered in searches, and a forfeiture money judgment order against Corso for $60,000.

On Dec. 20, 2016, Corso pleaded guilty to conducting an illegal gambling business, conspiring to make and making extortionate extensions of credit, and conspiring to collect and collecting extensions of credit by extortionate means. Judge Casper deferred acceptance of Corso’s plea agreement until yesterday.

Corso was the last of  three men to be sentenced as part of an illegal bookmaking business. Co-defendant Joseph Yerardi was sentenced March 17, 2017, to seven years in prison for extortion and conducting an illegal gambling business. On March 21, 2017, co-defendant Michael Burke, 45, of Winthrop, Mass., was sentenced to two years in prison, to be followed by two years of supervised release.

In 1995, Corso was convicted in U.S. District Court in Boston of racketeering and was sentenced to 151 months in prison.

Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division; and Colonel Richard D. McKeon, Jr., Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, made the announcement today. Assistance with the investigation was also provided by the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation, the Massachusetts Department of Correction, and the Boston, Cambridge, Medford, and Quincy Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy E. Moran of Weinreb’s Organized Crime and Gang Unit prosecuted the case.