A half-dozen members of the Gambino organized crime family pleaded guilty yesterday in what the New York Daily News calls “the biggest consumer fraud in U.S. history.” The case involved preying on porn Web site users and phone sex customers in a $650 million scam. The Daily News said the scheme was masterminded by Richard Martino, a John Gotti favorite believed to be the biggest earner in the infamous crime family’s history.
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf said thousands of customers in the U.S., Europe, and Asia were victimized by bogus credit card and phone bill charges between 1996 and 2002. Visitors to X-rated Web sites were required to provide credit or debit card numbers as proof of age; then they were hit with charges of up to $90 on their cards. Others who called an 800 number for free samples of phone sex, horoscopes, and phone dating found that their phone numbers were billed at least $40 a month for unwanted voice mail service.
Link: http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/281049p-240833c.html