A crew operating in South Florida under the direction of the New York-based Bonanno crime family engaged in a wide-ranging criminal enterprise that included Medicare fraud along with conspiring to commit murder, arson, violent extortion and narcotics trafficking, according to a grand jury indictment unsealed May 21.
The indictment, announced by the U.S. attorney’s office in Miami, alleges that Boynton Beach, Fla., resident Thomas Fiore, 46, supervised and managed the crew and funneled proceeds of their crimes to “made members” of the Bonanno family, one of the families involved in the syndicate known as the Cosa Nostra. Fiore and the other 10 defendants are charged with racketeering conspiracy. As part of the conspiracy, Fiore allegedly instructed the crew to submit phony Medicare claims and launder the proceeds through an escrow account, according to the indictment.
