Mob Suspects Charged in Stripper Murder

F O R T  L A U D E R D A L E,&nbsp Fla., Sept. 28 -- Nine alleged members and associates of the Gambino Mafia family have been charged with crimes ranging from racketeering to murdering a stripper and then planning to murder her accused killer.

All nine were charged with racketeering and some with loansharking, counterfeiting checks and being accessories to murder, U.S. Attorney Guy A. Lewis said Wednesday.

“This indictment should send a message to organized criminals who are targeting South Florida that they will be prosecuted and punished,” Lewis said.

Anthony “Tony Pep” Trentacosta took control of the New York-based Gambino family’s Florida operations in March 1999 after the death of Anthony “Fat Andy” Ruggiano, according to the indictment.

Beachside Mario’s and LoansharkingTrentacosta, an Atlanta resident, gave his orders to Frederick J. Massaro, 60, who owned Beachside Mario’s, a storefront restaurant in Sunny Isles, prosecutors said.

They say the restaurant was used as a front to procure information needed to counterfeit checks, sell stolen merchandise, conduct loansharking and as a place to plot Jeanette “Jade” Smith’s murder.

Prosecutors say Smith, 22, of Pembroke Pines, was strangled on March 20, 1999, at a Sunny Isles motel. Her body was found two days later in the Everglades.

Ariel A. Hernandez, 35, is facing state first-degree murder charges for her death. Federal prosecutors say Massaro knew about the killing in advance and on March 25, 1999, solicited Carlos Garcia, 33, of Miami, and another man they did not name to kill Hernandez. Police arrested Hernandez before the hit could be carried out, prosecutors said.

Lewis would not say why investigators believe Hernandez killed Smith or why Massaro wanted him killed.

Trentacosta, 61, was arrested Tuesday and charged with racketeering. Prosecutors did not know who his attorney is.

Massaro, also arrested Tuesday, is charged with murder, murder conspiracy, racketeering, bank fraud, loansharking, theft and illegal possession of firearms