Brick Man Charged in Genovese Crime Family Racketeering Bust

John Tarinor (Photo: NJ Office of The Attorney General)

A Brick man has been charged alongside several others, described as members and associates of the Genovese crime family, with racketeering for allegedly reaping millions of dollars in criminal profits in New Jersey through loansharking, unlicensed check cashing, gambling and money laundering, including laundering of proceeds from narcotics trafficking.

John W. Trainor, 42, of Brick, an alleged “sub-agent” of Vincent P. Coppola, son of imprisoned Genovese capo Michael Coppola, is charged with helping to run a multi-million dollar illegal sports gambling enterprise in New Jersey that utilized an off-shore “wire room” in Costa Rica to process bets, the New Jersey Attorney General’s office said in a statement.

Jerry J. Albanese, 47, of Scotch Plains, was also charged in the sports betting portion of the racketeering bust with Trainor and Coppola.

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Agents, in this case Coppola, decide which bettors can open accounts and gamble using the enterprise’s website and toll-free phone number, the statement said. They also dictate how much a bettor can gamble per game and per week, and monitor the action and balances of the packages they oversee. Eventually, it is alleged by prosecutors, Coppola gave Trainor and Albanese more complete control of the bettors in their packages. Coppola allegedly had four packages under him, including those of Trainor and Albanese. In a single year, in 2011, Coppola’s packages allegedly handled more than $1.7 million in bets, and Coppola, Trainor, Albanese and the Genovese crime family – through Vito Alberti and Charles “Chuckie” Tuzzo, who were also arrested – allegedly made more than $400,000 in profits.

The charges stem from “Operation Fistful,” an ongoing joint investigation by the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice and the Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, conducted with assistance from the New York and Queens County District Attorneys’ Offices and other law enforcement agencies. The total of eight men targeted for arrest face racketeering and money laundering charges that carry consecutive sentences of 10 to 20 years in prison for each charge, including lengthy periods of parole ineligibility.

Trainor, specifcially, is charged with first degree racketeering , first degree money laundering, first degree conspiracy, third degree promoting gambling, third degree forgery, and third degree failure to file a tax return.