Kenny Guido
Well-known member
FBI to dig up possible mob burial ground in Farmingdale
BY ROBERT E. KESSLER AND CARL MACGOWAN
October 2, 2008
FBI agents got ready yesterday to excavate a Farmingdale site that could be a mob burial ground, containing the bodies of at least three victims of the bloody wars in the 1990s for control of the Colombo organized crime family, according to sources familiar with the situation.
James Margolin, an FBI spokesman in Manhattan, at first said only that the agents were "conducting a search for physical evidence on the ground" at an industrial complex at the southeastern corner of Baiting Place Road and Del Drive.
But the sources said the FBI's Manhattan-based Colombo squad had a good tip that the site was a dumping ground for the three bodies. The sources would not name the three who the tipster said were believed to be buried there.
At 7 p.m., Margolin said: "We have concluded searching for the day, and we have not found what we're looking for. Agents will remain on site for the overnight to secure the scene, and the search will resume tomorrow morning."
At least two dozen FBI agents were at the location, a one-story brick building occupied by several businesses.
Accompanying the agents were Suffolk homicide detectives and a van from the New York City medical examiner's office. An ambulance was also on the scene. The investigators declined to comment.
Agents at first blocked off a section adjacent to a building at the site. The section was marked off with yellow police tape, extending about 20 yards from a tree next to the building to the sidewalk and running along the sidewalk. A second investigation scene was set up at a vacant lot farther down the street at Carolyn Boulevard and Boening Plaza.
A man who identified himself as the owner of All County Flooring Supply, the business nearest to the Baiting Place Road investigation scene, declined to comment and asked a reporter to leave the store.
"We have a business to run," he said.
More than a dozen people were believed to have been murdered during the 1990s during the battle for the control of the Colombo family. The war was between factions headed by Alphonse Persico, the son of imprisoned boss Carmine Persico, and onetime underboss William Cutolo.
The younger Persico was convicted at a federal trial last year of having Cutolo murdered in 1999. But the body of Cutolo, 49, of Staten Island, has never been found.
Federal prosecutors said at Persico's trial that after Cutolo was murdered, his body was dropped into the Atlantic.
Staff writer Anthony M. DeStefano contributed to this story.
BY ROBERT E. KESSLER AND CARL MACGOWAN
October 2, 2008
FBI agents got ready yesterday to excavate a Farmingdale site that could be a mob burial ground, containing the bodies of at least three victims of the bloody wars in the 1990s for control of the Colombo organized crime family, according to sources familiar with the situation.
James Margolin, an FBI spokesman in Manhattan, at first said only that the agents were "conducting a search for physical evidence on the ground" at an industrial complex at the southeastern corner of Baiting Place Road and Del Drive.
But the sources said the FBI's Manhattan-based Colombo squad had a good tip that the site was a dumping ground for the three bodies. The sources would not name the three who the tipster said were believed to be buried there.
At 7 p.m., Margolin said: "We have concluded searching for the day, and we have not found what we're looking for. Agents will remain on site for the overnight to secure the scene, and the search will resume tomorrow morning."
At least two dozen FBI agents were at the location, a one-story brick building occupied by several businesses.
Accompanying the agents were Suffolk homicide detectives and a van from the New York City medical examiner's office. An ambulance was also on the scene. The investigators declined to comment.
Agents at first blocked off a section adjacent to a building at the site. The section was marked off with yellow police tape, extending about 20 yards from a tree next to the building to the sidewalk and running along the sidewalk. A second investigation scene was set up at a vacant lot farther down the street at Carolyn Boulevard and Boening Plaza.
A man who identified himself as the owner of All County Flooring Supply, the business nearest to the Baiting Place Road investigation scene, declined to comment and asked a reporter to leave the store.
"We have a business to run," he said.
More than a dozen people were believed to have been murdered during the 1990s during the battle for the control of the Colombo family. The war was between factions headed by Alphonse Persico, the son of imprisoned boss Carmine Persico, and onetime underboss William Cutolo.
The younger Persico was convicted at a federal trial last year of having Cutolo murdered in 1999. But the body of Cutolo, 49, of Staten Island, has never been found.
Federal prosecutors said at Persico's trial that after Cutolo was murdered, his body was dropped into the Atlantic.
Staff writer Anthony M. DeStefano contributed to this story.
