“Frankie the Bug” Sciortino

Frank Sciortino was a true product of East New York and would become notorious during his lifetime. He was a close associate of Colombo boss Vic Orena and heavily involved in the infamous mob-controlled gas tax scam, among many other rackets.

Frank (Frankie the Bug) Sciortino - aka Little Frankie- was born on April 4, 1932, in Brooklyn’s East New York section to Salvatore and Agnes Sciortino. He married young, and by the mid-1950s, had relocated his wife and kids out to 1659 Stewart Avenue in the New Hyde Park section of Queens.

A younger Frank Sciortino

By 1960, he had moved again to 66 South Bay Avenue, a waterfront neighborhood in Massapequa on Long Island.

With his continued success, by the early 1980s, he again relocated his brood, but this time to Nassau County’s Gold Coast community of Brookville. He purchased a beautiful stone and brick longline ranch at 18 Ormond Park Drive, situated on two acres. This is where he would reside for the rest of his life.

The way Sciortino acquired his nickname was twofold. He was very small in stature at approximately 5 feet 3 inches tall and weighing 130 pounds. But he also got his nickname because, in his younger days while coming up in the underworld, his wild antics led his friends to jokingly call him a “bug job.” It was a mob moniker that would fit him well.

He had thinning dark brown hair that was receding in front, brown eyes, and soft-round features that often deceived people who met him. Coupled with his small stature and easy demeanor, it belied his position as a potentially dangerous guy.

During his mob career, he was picked up numerous times on a litany of charges, not the least of which was the 1966 shooting the treasurer of Bankruptcy Sales Inc., in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Frankie shot the man in the neck in a hijack-shylock money dispute that obviously got out of hand. An all-points police bulletin was put out on him almost immediately. Little Frankie was a character indeed!

As a young man, he listed his job as working in automobile sales in Brooklyn. By the age of 25, he was employed as a used-car salesman at a Nassau County car lot.

In 1957 he was arrested for extortion, felonious assault, and possession of a .25 caliber handgun after another man swore out a criminal complaint that Frankie had pulled out a gun and threatened his life in a loan dispute at the car lot.

Winding Through the Underworld

He started as a mob associate of several crews in Brooklyn but would form a lifelong connection to the Brooklyn-based borgata of Joe Profaci . In later years, this group would become better known as the Joseph Colombo Family .

Because of an early friendship with Bonanno capo Nicholas (Nick the Battler) DeStefano, Sciortino was often misidentified as an affiliate of that Family by the authorities and the daily newspapers.

But in truth, he was originally close to senior Gambino capo Ettore (Terry) Zappi . Sciortino and Zappi would eventually become neighbors. Zappi was the one to encourage Frankie the Bug to move out to the Island and helped him find his home in Massapequa, Zappi also helped Sciortino secure the financing required for the down payment.

By the 1950s, he was firmly allied with the Profaci/Colombo crew as an associate. He operated under Anthony (Tony the Gawk) Augello , a notorious soldier serving within Long Island’s Franzese regime, one of the deadliest factions of that Family.

Tony the Gawk Augello

Through the years, the FBI officially listed Sciortino as an “inducted” soldier, and authorities said he served alternately in the regimes of Sonny Franzese , capo Pasquale (Patty) Amato, Victor Orena Sr., and, in his later years, under Vic Orena Jr.

In 1969, Sciortino was nabbed with two associates for operating what Suffolk County prosecutors called a charity fraud scheme since 1967. Operating as the Children’s Center Rehabilitation Fund of Babylon, they were accused of selling tickets for a phony raffle that offered tickets for non-existent grand prizes.

As if Frankie didn’t already have his hands full fighting the fraud case, in 1969, he was also picked up by Nassau Rackets Squad detectives for threats he had made to the owner of an area diner.

In a failed attempt to secure the diner location as a “stop” for a carting firm he owned, The Bug had warned the diner's owner, George Doukas, that his property would be damaged and his eatery burned to the ground unless he acquiesced to Sciortino’s demands to hire Star Carting as his garbage hauler. Frankie the Bug was subsequently charged with attempted coercion and extortion. He faced 11 years in prison for that little foray.

Stolen Goods

In 1970, while out on double bail in the charity fraud and garbage coercion-extortion cases, he was arrested again, along with Tony the Gawk. They were charged with receiving a tractor-trailer load that was hijacked back in 1965. The trailer contained a shipment of garments stolen, and because it was interstate commerce, going over state lines made it a federal offense. So, the FBI got involved.

After several weeks of surveillance, the Suffolk District Attorney’s Rackets Squad and federal authorities moved in and arrested all the hijackers at a “drop” they operated at a warehouse and garbage truck depot in Commack, Long Island.

Back in 1965, the very first arrests related to this case for criminally receiving $26,000 in hijacked goods had been lodged against Angelo Garofalo and his brother Vincent. They were well-known garbage racketeers on the Island and suspected mob associates. The Garofalo brothers were soon out on bail.

Angelo Garofalo

Sciortino and Augello, as well as another Colombo hood and convicted hijacker by the name of Joseph (Joe Red) Conigliaro, ended up getting arrested a few years later, in 1970, for hijacking the same shipment.

They were each charged with the federal crimes of theft of an interstate shipment, criminally receiving stolen goods and conspiracy. Sciortino was held on a high $50,000 bail. Augello was already behind bars serving a jail sentence on other charges.

It seems that both Garofalo brothers had quietly turned rat shortly after their arrests in 1965, but their cases were put on the shelf with a series of supposed long “legal delays” without them coming to trial or a final court disposition. They had both “flipped” to the government and had been working to reduce their penalties by providing information to Suffolk and federal law enforcement about organized crime on the Island.

After a short trial with Fat Angelo (450-plus pounds of rat meat) and his scumbag brother, Vinny the garbage man, testifying for the prosecution, both Sciortino and Augello were quickly convicted.

The case would be drawn out by defense lawyers until all appeals were exhausted, then they both hoodlums rolled it up, and went into the can. Both Sciortino and Augello both faced 20 years in prison but were got sentenced to 5 years and 7.5-15 years, respectively.

Befriending a Future Boss

Somewhere along the way, Sciortino befriended an up-and-coming soldier named Vittorio (Little Vic) Orena. They would form a close bond, working in tandem over the years in a variety of racket schemes. Sciortino would eventually “officially” affiliate with Orena, becoming a member of his personal crew.

By the mid-1980s, the duo would grab hold of Long Island’s vast newly organized bootleg gasoline rackets. The crew, headed by iconic capo/underboss John (Sonny) Franzese, originated the gas tax evasion scheme. Orena and Sciortino quickly filled the void left after Franzese, his son, and many crew associates had been jailed on racketeering charges.

The feds had successfully busted up the Franzese daisy-chain network of cooperating front “shell” companies needed to help facilitate the gas scheme. Federal officials said that Sciortino and Orena were two of several mafiosi from several of New York’s borgatas to see the potential and grab hold of a mostly already established fraud network, and then ran with it.

They glommed most loose ends before other Families could move in, with Frankie serving as the designated Colombo Family point man.

Vic Orena

Side Note: It couldn’t have come at a better time for Sciortino who’d only been released from prison a few short years earlier. He was always a good earner, but after doing years in stir, he had depleted his bankroll considerably.

Little Vic and The Bug re-established the racket design and groundwork needed for reshuffling hundreds of millions of gallons of gasoline to confuse the IRS taxmen. They successfully skimmed all tax profits instead of declaring the revenue collected and forwarding the tax debt to the government. As they say, “The rest is history!”

Several wholesale gasoline distribution companies were then utilized by the Orena faction of the Colombo Family to dominate the petroleum industry throughout the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area.

This multimillion-dollar racket network brought in untold millions in profits to four of New York's five borgata’s, but a first among equals, was the Colombo Family headed by boss Carmine (The Snake) Persico and his troops.

Side Note: The Bonanno Family was barred from participating in the scheme by the Commission, who had earlier declared them “persona non grata," a designation that would hold for some years to come.

Within weeks of their coup, hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits were again pouring into the Colombo coffers weekly. Only this time, much of it was flowing into Frankie the Bug’s pockets and that of his partner and direct superior, Little Vic Orena.

The Bug also became the liaison man between the Colombo “brigade” and the point men assigned to handle the gas rackets in the other three families.

Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso of the Lucchese’s, Anthony (Fat Tony) Morelli and his partner Anthony (Tony Pep) Trentacosta for the Gambinos, and Joseph (Joe Glitz) Galizia for the Genovese,, among several others were part of what was essentially a mafia “gas rackets panel” of soldiers who were “specialists” for their respective mob Family.

The result was a massive criminal conspiracy generating money the likes of which hadn’t been seen by law enforcement since the 1920s Prohibition era. It would make Sciortino a millionaire many times over, and a very popular guy within the Colombo hierarchy.

Beyond the Gas Tax Scam

In addition to gas-tax bootlegging, Frankie the Bug was a very active hoodlum who engaged in a wide range of other rackets to earn over the years, including policy, card games, shylocking, strong-arm tactics, extortion, labor shakedowns, garbage racketeering, truck hijackings, and frauds.

He had a police file that spanned forty years and included over fifteen arrests on such serious charges as:

1952 - attempted assault

1954 - felonious assault

1955 - grand larceny

1957 - possession of a gun, felonious assault, and attempted extortion

1966 - assault with intent to commit murder

1969 - felony possession of dangerous weapons (6 handguns)

1969 - attempted coercion, and attempted extortion

1969 - conspiracy, grand larceny (charity fraud), promoting gambling, falsifying business records

1969 - federal liquor law violations

1970 - truck hijacking, and grand larceny

1979 - racketeering and RICO conspiracy

1990 - grand larceny, wire fraud, gasoline sales-tax evasion, and conspiracy

1990 - labor extortion, and RICO conspiracy

1993 - murder, and conspiracy to commit murder

1995 - illegal possession of multiple firearms by a felon

He served numerous prison terms on convictions stemming from the above arrests, which totaled over 20 years behind bars.

In addition to his racket operations, Sciortino was always interested in legitimate business. Over the decades, he held ownership or was a partner in numerous businesses to put his racket profits to work. Some of them included the following:

The Chateaubriand Restaurant and Lounge in New Hyde Park, NY.

Star Carting Co., a private garbage disposal firm based on Denton Avenue in New Hyde Park.

The Colonial Inn, a large hotel-motel, and several other large motel complexes and properties down in South Carolina and the Daytona Beach, Florida areas.

Extensive real estate holdings on Long Island, Manhattan, South Carolina, and South Florida.

By the late 1980s, and again in 1991, Sciortino had been indicted in relation to the gasoline tax evasion scam, and a separate shakedown and labor-extortion racket he perpetrated with his partner, Vic Orena, against air-freight companies operating inside JFK International Airport in Jamaica, Queens.

Side Note: By 1987, Orena had been elevated by the imprisoned Persico to lead the Colombo troops as their “acting boss.”

Busted Again

In late 1989, the FBI coordinated early morning raids against twenty suspects, including top members and associates of the Colombo and Lucchese crime Families. A group of Israeli racketeers who they worked in tandem with and were subservient to the Italians, were also grabbed in the counties of Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island.

Among the suspects seized was associate Frank Campione, capo Victor (Vic Jr) Orena, soldier Joseph (Chubby) Audino, and 14 members of the Russian-Jewish mob.

Side Note: In essence, the Colombo Family was actually “shaking down” the Russian-Jewish racketeers for 1.5 cents per gallon of gasoline they sold for the right to operate in mafia-controlled territory.

Sciortino was nabbed by two teams of federal agents who descended on his Brookville home just as he and another mobster, future soldier Frank (Frankie Camp) Campione, were leaving in Campione’s Cadillac with Frank behind the wheel.

Agents dragged the men out of the automobile at gunpoint, threw them to the ground while frisking them for weapons, then cuffed them and hauled them away to the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn by the old Bush Terminals to await arraignment. It was over in seconds.

Frank Campione

Sciortino and Campione were charged with various RICO counts of conspiracy, racketeering, wire fraud, mail fraud, sales excise tax and income tax evasion, and grand larceny.

They joined a small cadre of hoodlum associates also nabbed that morning. Prosecutors charged the mobsters had evaded a whopping $34-million in gasoline excise taxes by skimming .14 cents off every gallon of gasoline sold over three years by operating a complex “daisy chain” of fictitious companies that had disguised the final destination of the fuel and the taxes due. They each faced up to 30 years in prison.

They were initially held on high bail by prosecutors who said they were dangers to the community. But most defendants would eventually make bail.

After reviewing the indictment and discovery papers, the wiseguys realized that the feds had them dead to rights. They all pled out, with Sciortino receiving 60 months and Orena Jr. 51 months in federal prison. Campione took 30 months. The others got similar terms.

Side Note: The feds also confiscated $1.7 million that was hidden in safety deposit boxes, $1.2 million from public bank accounts, $1 million in a stockpiled supply of gasoline, and a luxurious yacht valued at $500,000.

Extortion At JFK

While The Bug was still out on bail at home awaiting his surrender to prison, he got indicted again. This time it was for a major Colombo Family extortion racket directed at air-freight companies at JFK Airport.

Charged with extorting $200,000 from three Kennedy Airport freight-forwarding firms from 1983 to 1985, federal prosecutors successfully argued that Sciortino and his associate, Frankie Cammarano, were dangers to the community and should be denied bail. Sciortino was also specifically charged with threatening a potential witness with violence if he testified against him.

Cammarano eventually got out on $50,000 bail, but Sciortino was detained without bail as a dangerous felon and organized crime leader. They would both end up pleading out, with Sciortino getting more years added to his previous plea agreement with prosecutors.

Side Story: On May 2, 1989, a mob-linked Brooklyn businessman named Michael Markowitz was shot to death as he drove down a Mill Basin street in his sparkling new Rolls-Royce. As his car smashed into two parked ones, the forty-three-year-old Markowitz had staggered out of the driver's side door and collapsed to the pavement. He died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.

A notorious Russian-born gasoline wholesaler, Markowitz had pled guilty to evading Federal, New York State, and Florida excise and sales taxes. He had agreed to repay $5,000,000 and was subsequently sentenced to a mere six-month house arrest, and five years probation afterward.

As part of his plea agreement, he had secretly cooperated with federal prosecutors investigating gasoline bootlegging and tax evasion by the mafia. Another Brooklyn gas distributor named Philip Moscowitz was strangled back in 1987 after he was also suspected of having become a rat.

A Very Serious Case

Fast forward to 1993. Frank the Bug was quietly serving the multiple prison sentences imposed on him earlier. Doing “good time” in the federal penitentiary with other wiseguys when one day, federal agents came and hauled him out, flying him back to New York City for arraignment on a new case, and a very serious one, at that.

He was charged with the contract murder of Russian Jewish racketeer Mike Markowitz back in Brooklyn in 1989. Prosecutors alleged that Sciortino orchestrated the gangland killing at the behest of his superiors in the Colombo mob, who had suspected Markowitz of being an informer.

The prevailing theory was that Frankie the Bug had used several of his young crew associates to shoot Markowitz twice in the head and chest to ensure his silence to protect everybody from future arrest. He faced a mandatory life sentence if convicted.

Of course, prosecutors prayed that Sciortino would fold, “rollover,” and play ball with the government. It would have enabled the feds to take down many more key members of the Italian mob once and for all.. But if that was their hopes and plans, they were sadly mistaken.

Frankie the Bug

Frankie the Bug Sciortino held strong. And although they did their best to sweat him for many months, the case against Sciortino was not strong, and eventually, the feds were forced to drop their prosecution against him. Frankie got very lucky with that one.

Frank Sciortino was finally released from federal prison in 1999. He had served almost 11 years on this last go around.

He returned to his loving family and did his best to maintain a low profile. Frankie still had “federal paper” with several years worth of parole, so he avoided mob figures and mob watering holes, alike.

He would get to spend the next 20 years operating his legitimate businesses and enjoying life on his bucolic sprawling Brookville estate, surrounded by his devoted wife, daughters, son, and grandchildren.

Like so many others in New York and across the country, he ended up getting Covid-19 at the height of the pandemic. At 88 years of age, a frail and elderly Frank Sciortino succumbed to this deadly scourge of a disease within several days of contracting it. He died on April 23, 2020.

What a lifetime in New York’s underworld rubbing shoulders with New York’s most deadly mafiosi could not do to him, an invisible deadly little bug did.

“The Bug” was done in by THE bug.

Until next time..."The Other Guy"

“Frankie the Bug” Sciortino

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John Malizia: The Race Fixer

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