Gambino Crime Family Bust

(Manhattan, New York) Sixty-nine-year-old reputed boss in the Gambino organized crime family, Daniel Marino, and 13 other members of the family have been arrested and indicted on multiple charges, including sex trafficking of a minor.

Papers filed in federal court in Manhattan allege that Gambino soldiers and associates recruited prostitutes at strip clubs, including a 15-year-old, and advertised their services on the Internet.

Prosecutors said the mobsters drove the prostitutes to appointments in Manhattan, Staten Island, Brooklyn and New Jersey, splitting their earnings with them. The defendants also "made the young women available for sex to the players at the regular high-stakes poker games" hosted by the family, the court papers said.

At a news conference, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called the sex trafficking ring both a "new low" and an apparent "first for the mob."

Since the prosecution and sentencing of Gambino boss John Gotti, known as the "Teflon Don," the family has suffered a series of indictments and prosecutions prompting a lower profile. Nevertheless, the Gambinos are still reportedly 200 members strong and ubiquitously influential.