After a long career as a Genovese capo, Matthew “Matty the Horse” Ianniello was corralled yesterday by local and federal mob probers who aim to stable him in prison for the rest of his golden years.
Ianniello, 85, a decorated World War II vet and witness to the 1972 slaying of Jo seph “Crazy Joey” Gallo at Umberto’s Clam House in Little Italy, was among 20 alleged Genovese gangsters rounded up. They were charged with ille gal gambling, loan shark ing, racketeering and ex tortion in a federal indictment.
Some in law enforce ment believe that after Vincent “Chin” Gigante was imprisoned in 1997, Ianniello became one of the Genovese family’s acting bosses.
But Ianniello’s law yer, Jay Goldberg, de nied his client was an acting boss, and pre dicted he’d be cleared of all the charges – which carry a maxi mum 125-year prison sentence.
Matty the Horse has been around so long, no body in law enforcement is sure how he got his nickname – so FBI agents asked him yesterday. “I have had it since I’m a kid,” he explained.
A news clipping says Ianniello got the moniker for his broad neck and thick shoulders.
He was rousted from his Old Westbury, L.I., home at 6 a.m. and arrested on charges of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, extortion and influencing a union official after a three-year investigation of mob infiltration of Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union.
Local 1181 represents bus and handicapped-transit drivers. Most of its members drive buses for city public schools.
The feds say Ianniello supervised the shakedown of Local 1181 and its pension and welfare funds. Three top officials with the Queens-based local, including its president, Sal Battaglia, were indicted.
Also indicted was Julius “Spike” Bernstein, a Local 1181 organizer who law enforcement sources said visited Ianniello in prison when the capo was hit with racketeering charges in the early 1990s.
In 1997, administrators of a medical center that rented space in the union’s building wereforced to fork over $100,000 in cash to renew its lease, and had been making regular payments ever since, the feds charge.
The defendants all pleaded not guilty.
Ianniello is involved in managing Umberto’s, and was at the restaurant when Gallo was assassinated. He told police he saw nothing because he dived for cover.
Additional reporting by Bill Sanderson