John J. Rainone, the father of a once-feared mob enforcer,
pleaded guilty to an extortion plot Thursday.
By: Jon Seidel@SeidelContent
The father of a once-feared mob enforcer pleaded guilty to
his own extortion plot Thursday and now faces 20 years in federal prison.
John J. Rainone, 83, admitted to U.S. District Judge Jorge
Alonso that he helped shake down a businessman six years ago in Bartlett, once
meeting the victim at a Dominick’s grocery store and warning that “nobody is
going to give you a problem if you do the right thing.”
Rainone was quietly indicted in 2015 along with his
41-year-old grandson, who shares the same name. The younger Rainone pleaded
guilty to the same scheme in October and agreed to cooperate with federal
investigators, records show. The judge has yet to set a sentencing date for
either man.
While the attempted extortion charge they pleaded guilty to
carries a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, the elder Rainone is more likely
to face about three years in prison. His grandson is likely to face the same if
he continues to cooperate with the feds.
The men are the father and son of Mario Rainone, the former
Outfit muscle once described as an “urban terrorist” by a judge. Prosecutors
have accused Mario Rainone of using violence and threats to squeeze Outfit
debtors, even threatening to chop off the heads of a restaurateur and his
children if he wasn’t paid $200,000.
Fearing his associates in the Outfit were out to kill him,
Mario Rainone once entered the federal witness-protection program only to
change his mind when his mother’s porch was bombed. Mario Rainone is serving a
15-year prison sentence, but he is hoping for a reduction in prison time based
on a change in the law, his defense attorney Joe “The Shark” Lopez said.
The younger John J. Rainone was sentenced in 2015 to 38
months in prison after he pleaded guilty to access device fraud and aggravated
identity theft, records show.
Now grandfather and grandson have been caught up in the same
scheme. They’ve admitted that, in August 2010, they told a businessman that a
reputed Outfit leader wanted to be “taken care of” and demanded $10,000. The
businessman refused to pay. The younger Rainone then told him in October 2010
that he had to pay $2,000 a month in “street tax” after the unnamed Outfit
leader had gone to prison.
During a meeting at a Bartlett Dunkin’ Donuts, the younger
Rainone told the businessman, “You’re going to have to pay.”
The two Rainones met the businessman at the Dominick’s later
that month, where the older Rainone searched him for a recording device. He
told the businessman that “nobody is going to give you a problem if you do the
right thing” and then he demanded $5,000 a month. When the businessman asked if
he could pay less, the elder Rainone said he’d have to check because “everybody
answers to somebody.”
They met at the Dominick’s again the next day, where the
elder Rainone said, “You’re going to have a little problem later on” if he
didn’t pay $4,000 a month. The businessman agreed to make the payment Oct. 13,
2010, but the elder Rainone showed up at his business a day early and insisted
on receiving the payment. The businessman refused.
The elder Rainone then said “they” were going to “send the
rough guys to collect,” according to his grandson’s plea agreement.