Manhattan U.S. Attorney And FBI Assistant Director-In-Charge Announce Charges Against Gambino Crime Family Associate For His Alleged Participation In 1990 Murder Of Suspected Informant

Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and George Venizelos, the Assistant Director in Charge of the New York Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (“FBI”), announced today the unsealing of an Indictment charging DANIEL FAMA, an alleged Associate of the Gambino Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra (the “Gambino Organized Crime Family”), with the 1990 murder of a suspected informant, Eddie Garofalo. FAMA was taken into custody yesterday, and was presented and arraigned in Manhattan federal court this afternoon before United States Magistrate Judge Kevin Nathaniel Fox. U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. has been assigned to this case.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “More than two decades since Daniel Fama allegedly killed a suspected government informant, he has finally been arrested. Any attack against someone working with, or suspected of working with, law enforcement will be strongly answered, and no matter how long it takes we will bring alleged criminals to justice.”

FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge George Venizelos said: “The charges announced today allege once again that mob families are willing to commit murder to enforce the oath of Omerta. A person suspected of cooperation was gunned down at his doorstep to silence him. The charges also demonstrate the resolve of agents and prosecutors to fulfill their oath to enforce the law and see justice done.”

According to the allegations in the Indictment unsealed today in Manhattan federal court and other court documents:

The Gambino Organized Crime Family is a criminal organization whose members and associates engaged in numerous acts of violence, including murder. The head of the family is known as the “Boss,” and he is typically assisted by an “Underboss.” At all times relevant to the charges in the Indictment, John Gotti, Sr., was the Boss and Salvatore Gravano, a/k/a “Sammy the Bull,” was the Underboss of the Gambino Organized Crime Family.

The Gambino Organized Crime Family operates through groups of individuals known as “crews” and “regimes.” Each crew consists of “made” members, sometimes known as “Soldiers,” “wiseguys,” “friends of ours,” and “good fellows.” Soldiers are aided in their criminal endeavors by other trusted individuals, known as “Associates,” who sometimes are referred to as “connected” or identified as “with” a Soldier. Associates participate in the various activities of the crew and its members.

In 1990, Gravano ordered Associate FAMA and others to murder Eddie Garofalo for, among other things, purportedly cooperating with a law enforcement investigation into the Gambino Organized Crime Family. On August 8, 1990, FAMA and others shot and killed the Garofalo in front of his Brooklyn, New York, home.

FAMA, 48, of Staten Island, New York, is charged with killing a person with the intent to prevent that person from communicating to a law enforcement officer information related to the commission of a federal offense. The charge carries a mandatory term of life in prison.

Mr. Bharara praised the investigative work of the FBI.

The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys Harris Fischman and Jason Masimore are in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

U.S. v. Daniel Fama, et al. Indictment