Feds Put A Hit On NYC Mob

More than 70 people were charged Wednesday in a crackdown on New York's biggest Mafia family - a case built largely on the heroics of a single detective who infiltrated the Genovese mob.

The federal indictments came after a three-year investigation.

In all, 73 people were charged, including 34 capos, members or associates of the crime family, authorities said.

Despite a two-decade-long crackdown on organized crime that had decimated other Mafia families, the Genovese family had flourished because it avoided attention-getting violence, U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White said.

The family stole millions of dollars through loansharking, extortion, embezzlement, labor racketeering, credit card fraud, attempted bank fraud and gambling, crimes that led to conspiracy and racketeering charges, the prosecutor said.

Between 1998 and 2001, the defendants made more than $14 million illegally, White said.

FBI Assistant Director Barry Mawn said the case demonstrated that the mob could not assume that because of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, "the FBI and its law enforcement partners have been distracted and have suspended their investigation of organized crime activities."

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