A Long Island construction company owner said he got into deep debt with the mafia and Bonnano soldier John “The Maniac” Ragano because the COVID pandemic all but killed his business.
Vincent Martino, 47, a mob associate and on-again, off-again marijuana distributor, described the circumstances that brought him into the orbit of Ragano — a contentious relationship that the feds say ended with the hulking, blustery mobster forcing him to strip naked to prove he wasn’t wearing a wire.
Ragano, 62, is on trial in Brooklyn Federal Court for extortion and other charges for forcing Martino to keep paying his debt even after Ragano was sentenced to five years in prison for, among other crimes, extorting Martino over that same loan.
“On July 5, 2023, the defendant, John Ragano, forced a man who owed him money [Martino] to strip naked in a garage in Queens and threatened to slap the s–t out of him,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Reich said in his opening argument Tuesday. “What he didn’t know and what he couldn’t know is that Martino still managed to record the whole thing.”
Martino’s testimony, which started Tuesday afternoon, hasn’t covered the garage episode yet, or where he hid the recording device. He’ll continue on the stand Wednesday.
Ragano, who also goes by the nickname “Bazoo,” and Martino were co-defendant’s in a union shakedown indictment that led to the convictions of the entire leadership of the Colombo crime family. Martino was charged with going into the marijuana trafficking business with Ragano and others.
His business was already struggling, and in 2020, “Basically the entire country was shut down,” he said. Though he got some COVID relief funds, he needed more, and he couldn’t find a bank to lend him money, he said.
“I went to the street loans,” he said.
Martino, who had ties to the mob, said he knew Ragano from a few mafia parties.
He first borrowed $25,000 from a Colombo crime family mobster, then another $100,000 from longtime Colombo soldier Michael Uvino, he said. His debt kept “snowballing,” he said, so he borrowed $150,000 from Ragano, with the understanding that his weekly payments of $2,250 were meant to cover the interest alone.
Informant Andrew Koslosky — a classical tenor and theater performer who’s now singing for the feds — testified he acted as go-between, collecting weekly payments from Martino.
Ragano wanted the businessman to know that he’d “slap the s–t out of” Martino if he fell behind, so Koslosky warned him to keep making payments.
“John was well-known by everybody as someone who was intimidating,” Koslosky, 66, said. “He wasn’t somebody you should be fooling around with…. When he put his fist down on the desk, the whole room shook.”
As to why Koslosky turned snitch, the church singer explained, “For two reasons. I didn’t want to go to jail, and I didn’t want to go to hell.”
Martino testified he was making regular payments until the Sept. 2021 takedown that led to his and Ragano’s arrest.
Ragano was ultimately convicted in the union shakedown indictment — part of which included the loan to Martino — and started his five-year prison sentence on July 10, 2023.
But despite that arrest and the looming sentence, he still pressured Martino to keep paying his debt, unaware that Martino had gone to the FBI and started recording their interactions, the feds allege.
At each court conference, Ragano would approach Martino asking him about the money, Martino said.
He told Martino to contact an associate, Simone Barca, who’d collect on his behalf, but Martino ducked Barca’s calls, afraid of violating the terms of his bail, he testified.
When Ragano left a voicemail on Martino’s phone wishing him a happy new year, Martino realized it was time to call the FBI, he said. From there, he agreed to wear a wire, and started calling Barca, arranging phone calls and meetings that the feds could record, he said.
Ragano’s lawyer, Ken Womble, said prosecutors were only providing part of the picture. “Yes, John Ragano was in the mafia. We admit that. You can judge him morally for that. Don’t hold that against him,” he said.
Womble said that Ragano was simply trying to have a debt repaid, and wasn’t threatening Martino.
“Asking for a loan to be paid back is no crime at all,” he said. “Folks, the call is coming from inside the house … This is a case about money amongst mobsters. That’s the whole story of this case.”