Charles Stango: FBI Arrest, Murder Plot, and Sentencing

Charles “Beeps” Stango is a captain in the New Jersey-based DeCavalcante organized crime family who pleaded guilty in 2016 to a murder-for-hire plot and was sentenced in March 2017 to ten years in federal prison. The case, built on an FBI undercover operation, also swept up nine other members and associates of the family, often described as one of the real-life inspirations for The Sopranos.

A Long Prior Record

Stango was a five-time convicted felon by the time federal agents came for him in 2015. His record included a 1981 homicide conviction in New Jersey. In 2003, he pleaded guilty to racketeering charges that included a murder conspiracy, construction industry extortion, and securities fraud, and received a thirteen-year federal sentence followed by three years of supervised release.¹

He was released from federal prison in November 2012 and moved to a modest home in Henderson, Nevada, outside Las Vegas. He had lived there about a year before his next arrest and was still on supervised release at the time. Federal investigators said he continued to run a DeCavalcante crew from Nevada.¹

The Undercover Operation That Caught Him

The 2015 case came out of an FBI probe called Operation Charlie Horse. At its center was undercover officer Giovanni Rocco, working under the alias “Giovanni Gatto,” who spent nearly three years inside the DeCavalcante hierarchy starting around 2012.² The investigation initially targeted cocaine dealing by James “Jimmy Smalls” Heeney, a trafficker with ties to the Bloods street gang. Rocco built a reputation as an “earner” by trading seized counterfeit goods and contraband cigarettes for Heeney’s cocaine, and eventually rose high enough to be offered a chance to become a made member.³

Stango came to treat Rocco like a “favored son,” giving him a street crew and authorizing him to speak on Stango’s behalf at meetings with senior members of the DeCavalcante, Gambino, Genovese, and Lucchese families.² Rocco secretly recorded hundreds of conversations about drug trafficking, truck hijackings, warehouse robberies, and counterfeit and contraband goods. The operation ended in early 2015 when Stango ordered Rocco to murder Luigi “the Dog” Oliveri, a made member of the family. Rather than let the killing proceed, the FBI moved in.³

On March 12, 2015, agents arrested Stango and nine other members and associates of the DeCavalcante family in a coordinated sweep across New Jersey and Nevada. U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman said the case showed that “traditional organized crime remains a real problem.”⁴ Stango, then 71, was charged with murder conspiracy, cocaine distribution, and promoting prostitution.⁵

The Murder-for-Hire Plot

The most serious charge involved a plan to kill a rival within the DeCavalcante family, identified in court documents only as “Victim 1” and known by the nicknames “the Pet” or “the Mutt.”⁶ The target was an Elizabeth, New Jersey, resident who Stango believed had falsely claimed to be a made man and had insulted a high-ranking family member at a social gathering.⁷

In recorded conversations described in the federal complaint, Stango told the undercover agent that the victim had to “meet death,” be maimed, or be “put in a wheelchair for the rest of his life.” He proposed hiring two members of an outlaw motorcycle gang and paying them $25,000 each. He also supplied photographs of the intended victim to the undercover agent, who forwarded them to men Stango believed would be the shooters. They were also undercover FBI agents.⁸ Stango used co-defendant Paul Colella as an intermediary to secure approval for the hit from consigliere Frank Nigro and other high-ranking members.⁵

The conversations were laced with code. “Amazon” meant to kill the victim. “Spray paint” meant to shoot him.⁶

Cocaine and a Planned Brothel

Beyond the murder plot, the investigation captured audio and video of Stango and several co-conspirators conducting cocaine transactions with the undercover agent between December 2014 and March 2015.⁵

Stango and his son Anthony also planned to run a high-end escort service in the Toms River, New Jersey, area, aimed at white-collar clients and disguised as a legal gentleman’s club. According to the Asbury Park Press, Stango told Anthony to keep drink prices “reasonable” and to display fundraising materials purporting to benefit wounded veterans as a way to deflect police attention.⁷ Prostitutes were to pay the crime family $350 per hour, with an additional $50 per hour set aside for a defense attorney on call to post bail if anyone was arrested.⁹

Guilty Plea and Ten-Year Sentence

On December 7, 2016, Stango pleaded guilty in Newark federal court before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls to one count of using an interstate facility, a telephone, with intent to commit murder, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1958.⁶ He admitted using the phone to plan the killing and said his motive was his belief that the intended victim had falsely claimed to be a made man and had insulted a high-ranking family member. He also pleaded guilty to violating the terms of supervised release from his 2003 racketeering case.¹⁰ Under the plea, the remaining charges tied to the brothel scheme and cocaine conspiracy were set to be dismissed.⁷

On March 28, 2017, Judge Walls sentenced Stango to 120 months, the statutory maximum of ten years, followed by three years of supervised release. The federal case number was Criminal No. 16-18 in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.¹⁰¹¹

The DeCavalcante Context

The DeCavalcante family, based in Elizabeth, New Jersey, has long been cited as one of the inspirations for The Sopranos.¹² Announcing the 2015 arrests, FBI Newark Special Agent in Charge Richard Frankel called them “a severe blow to the La Cosa Nostra family.”⁴ The undercover officer at the heart of the case, Giovanni Rocco, later entered the federal witness protection program with his family. He has said he was the first task force officer ever placed in the program.³

1
Las Vegas Review-Journal. New Jersey Mobster Arrested in Henderson Just Couldn’t Stay Low-Key
2
Chicago Review Press. Rocco, Giovanni
3
New York Post. Bringing Down the Sopranos for the FBI Destroyed My Life
4
The Mob Museum. FBI Plucks Alleged New Jersey Mobster From Las Vegas-Area Home
5
FBI. Ten Members and Associates of DeCavalcante Organized Crime Family Arrested
6
NorthJersey.com. Mob Captain in Gang Inspired by Sopranos Admits Murder Plot
7
Asbury Park Press. Capo Caught in Toms River Brothel Plot Admits Murder Plan
8
U.S. Department of Justice. Stango, Charles et al. Complaint
9
Asbury Park Press. Toddler Tragedy, Capo’s Loose Lips
10
U.S. Department of Justice. Member of DeCavalcante Crime Family Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison
11
U.S. Department of Justice. United States v. Charles Stango, Criminal No. 16-18
12
The Mob Museum. Taking Down the Real Sopranos