During the closing arguments at Rosario’s trial, Assistant US Attorney Sean Sherman informed the federal jury that the accused officer received $1,500 monthly from the Bonanno crime family and subsequently “lied to cover it up.”
“He lied to hide information about illegal gambling and organized crime,” Sherman said, adding that Rosario was a “cop in name only” and lied to the FBI more than 30 times when the feds interviewed him about his illicit activities in January 2020.
He was so thoroughly involved with the Mafia — orchestrating phony police raids on competing gambling establishments across Long Island — that, according to Sherman, the Bonannos didn’t even regard him as a law enforcement officer.
“The Bonannos knew the defendant. They trusted him,” Sherman said, adding the family knew he could be bought and had helped them slip the long arm of the law “time and time again.”
Rosario, 51, faces serious charges for hindering a grand jury investigation into racketeering and providing false information to the FBI. He is accused of conspiring to attack rival members of the Genovese and Gambino families amid a feud that arose from a failed profit-sharing arrangement between the two groups.
According to federal prosecutors, the Bonannos and Genoveses initially reached an agreement to divide the profits from the Gran Caffe, an illegal gambling establishment.
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As the trial commenced, prosecutors presented jurors with an extensive roster of purported mob figures and outlined a network of illicit gambling activities — culminating in the extensive 2022 crackdown that resulted in the arrest of Rosario and eight other alleged mobsters.
During her closing arguments on Monday, Rosario’s attorney, Kestine Thiele, asserted that the prosecution did not establish their case, as they concentrated on the mob rather than on Rosario’s supposed actions.
“There’s no evidence of payments to be collected, no texts or recorded calls or meetings or photos of cash exchanging hands,” she said.
Deliberations by the jury are set to commence on Tuesday.
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