A reputed acting captain in the Genovese crime family was arraigned this afternoon on a new indictment that ties him to the 1992 murder of a mobster’s cousin.
Anthony “Tony D.” Palumbo — who was previously charged with racketeering and extortion — is accused of conspiring to have Angelo Sangiuolo whacked for robbing Palumbo’s gambling joints in the Bronx.
Sangiuolo — whose rubout was allegedly sanctioned by then-Genovese boss Vincent “The Chin” Gigante — was later lured to his death by his first cousin Angelo Prisco, a Genovese captain who was sentenced to life last year after triggerman John “Johnny Balls” Leto turned rat and testified against him.
The remaining suspected member of the hit team — alleged getaway driver Paul “Doc” Gaccione — was arrested in April and charged with murder.
The new Manhattan federal court indictment against Palumbo, who the feds say was named head of the Genovese family’s New Jersey operations in 2006, alleges that he met with Leto and Gaccione after the killing “to thank them for murdering Angelo Sangiuolo.”
The indictment also says that that in late 1992 or early 1993, Palumbo — who had allegedly been involved in a plot to shake down Russian mobsters running a gasoline-tax scam — conspired to murder an unidentified hitman who worked for the Russians.
The plan, which never came off, was to lure the hitman to a Bronx social club “where Palumbo would murder (him),” the indictment said.
Palumbo, who’s free on bond, pleaded not guilty to the new indictment during a brief court appearance.
Outside court, defense lawyer Steven Frankel called the new charges more of the “same nonsense.”