Colombo crime boss and 11 others arrested in fraud, corruption raid

The reputed boss of the Colombo crime family and his top henchman were among 12 alleged mobsters arrested in an early-morning raid Tuesday over fraud and corruption, federal officials said. 

Andrew Russo, 85, and his underboss were scooped up with seven other members of the Colombo crime family - the youngest of five families said to control organized crime in New York City, a U.S. attorney spokesperson said.

The feds also arrested a soldier for the Bonanno family, another of the five families, as well as two other unidentified men, the spokesperson also revealed. 

The alleged wiseguys were cuffed on charges connected to healthcare fraud and union-related corruption, NBC News 4 reported. 

They are expected to be taken to federal court in Brooklyn and will appear before a judge later Tuesday on the healthcare fraud counts. 

Feds expect to arrest a 13th suspect who remains at large, officials said. 

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Russo, known as 'Mush,' is a cousin of former Colombo family boss Carmine Persico, and first rose to prominence in the family when he was promoted to acting underboss in 1973. 

Russo was sentenced to 14 years in state prison in November 1986, until his release in July 1994, under special parole conditions. 

After his release, Russo was named street boss, while Persico's son, Alphonse 'Allie Boy' Persico, served as acting boss.

During his reign, he brought the then-warring Colombos back from the brink after a devastating civil war, but was arrested again in 1996 by the FBI, who slapped him with racketeering charges, claiming he illegally controlled and oversaw Long Island’s garbage hauling industry. 

In August 1999, Russo was convicted of jury tampering and sentenced to 57 months in jail, compounded by 123 months for both parole violation and his involvement in the racketeering case.

In 2010, at 76 years old, Russo again took over the family as street boss after his parole expired, succeeding the incarcerated Ralph DeLeo. 

In 2013, he was sentenced to another 33 months in prison.

Carmine Persico, nicknamed the Snake, died in 2019. 

Alex Hammer For Dailymail.Com