New York- Even Tony Soprano never thought of this one.
The Gambino crime family actually took over a bank as a cover to run a nationwide Internet porn ripoff, the feds have charged.
The New York-based wiseguys used a frontman to buy the Garden City Bank – not on Long Island but in Garden City, Mo., population 63,808.
The FBI says the bank really was being controlled by Gambino soldier Richard Martino, who used it as a cover for numerous Internet and phone scams.
The bank’s ad slogan? “Come Grow With Us!”
The feds say they uncovered the Gambino family’s motive after an October 2003 raid of Mical/Telecom Online, one of Martino’s businesses on Third Ave. in Manhattan.
They found Garden City Bank documents and correspondence “discussing the possibility of using Garden City Bank as a merchant bank for purposes of credit-card processing,” the FBI alleged.
That was important to Martino for his Internet porno scheme, the FBI alleged.
Martino was indicted last year by Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf for allegedly duping hapless Net surfers to give up their credit card numbers in order to get “free” tours of porno sites.
Later, the users learned their credit cards had been smacked with repeated and outrageous fees for the supposedly “free” tours.
Instead of risking suspicion at major banks, Martino would use small banks like Garden City as cover to bill victims.
The FBI alleged that Martino used Missouri businessman Kenneth Matzdorff as a front, helping him buy Garden City Bank in February 2001 for $3 million, according to an affidavit filed in Kansas City by FBI Agent Beth Ambinder.
Matzdorff “acted as a frontman for Richard Martino, the Gambino clan’s computer whiz, in connection with the acquisition of Garden City Bank,” the affidavit alleges.
The FBI claims one of Martino’s mob-linked associates, Anthony Marano, wired $500,000 to Matzdorff and his wife six days before they bought the bank. It charged that another mob-owned company, LEC LLC, backed up the $2.5 million loan that paid for the rest.
Matzdorff was arrested at his home in Belton, a suburb of Kansas City, and later released without bail. He did not return a call seeking comment.
His attorney, Stan Mortenson, said, “We feel these charges are without basis and intend to mount an appropriate defense.”
Matzdorff is listed as the president of LEC LLC, an alleged shell company used by the mob to launder proceeds of both its phone cramming and Internet schemes.
Records show that the majority of shares in LEC are held by Martino and his immediate mob supervisor, capo Salvatore LoCascio, a close associate of John A. (Junior) Gotti.
Martino, LoCascio and several other mob associates have been indicted in Brooklyn Federal Court and are awaiting trial. Gotti Jr. was charged last week in an unrelated matter by Manhattan U.S. Attorney David Kelley.
A woman answering the phone at Garden City Bank declined to comment and hung up the phone yesterday.