Five Boston-Area Men Charged with Extortion and

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THE LYNNFIELD ADVOCATE - Friday, April 22, 2016
Five Boston-Area Men Charged with Extortion and Gambling
BOSTON – Five men were
arrested and charged on April
14 in the U.S. District Court
in Boston with conducting
an illegal gambling business,
making extortionate loans and
collecting loans by extortionate
means.
Joseph Yerardi, 62, of
Newton; Anthony Corso,
51 of Cambridge; Michael
Burke, 45, of Winthrop; Robert
Conway, 27, of, Lynnfield; and
Michael Habicht, 59 of Boston,
were indicted on one count of
operating an illegal gambling
business from March 2015
through April 2016. Yerardi and
Corso were also indicted on
three counts of conspiracy to
make and making extortionate
extensions of credit.In
addition, Yerardi, Corso,
Burke and Conway were
indicted on various counts
of conspiring to collect and
collecting extensions of credit
by extortionate means from
six debtors.The defendants
appeared before U.S. District
Court Magistrate Judge
Jennifer C. Boal.
The charge of operating
an illegal gambling business
provides a sentence of no
greater than five years in
prison, three years of
supervised release and a fine
of $250,000.The extortion
charges each provide a
sentence of no greater than 20
years in prison, three years of
supervised release and a fine
of $250,000.Actual sentences
for federal crimes are typically
less than the maximum
penalties.Sentences are
imposed by a federal district
• Molly
from page One
Get a
FREE
STORAGE BOX
with purchase
of a
New Jonway
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(A $50 Value)
Biker’s Outfitter
1039 Broadway, Revere
(781) 289-6466 • www.Bikersoutfitter.com
for the registrant from 6:30
p.m.–7:50 p.m. A $10.00
registration fee will include
public skating from 6:30 p.m.–
7:50 p.m. only. Skate rentals
will be available free of charge
for those who need them,
courtesy of the Burbank Ice
Arena. All spectators (not
registered as Skate-A-Thon
or Exhibition Participants)
will be charged $5.00 for
entrance to the arena during
the Exhibition and the SkateA-Thon.
About Molly: In January one
of the North Shore Skating
Club’s longtime club members,
15-year-old Molly Malone,
was diagnosed with Ewing
sarcoma, a rare form of bone
cancer. Immediately she
started receiving treatment
that must be continued through
August. Molly has three much
younger siblings, and her
parents are trying so hard to
keep life as normal as possible
for all of them. They are dealing
with so much at this time, and
there are so many expenses
associated with battling this
terrible disease that health
insurance doesn’t cover. Molly
is a Lynnfield resident and a
sophomore at Lynnfield High
school.
Please participate in this
Skate-A-Thon. One hundred
percent of all profits made
from this event will go directly
to the Malone family.
court judge based upon the
U.S. Sentencing Guidelines
and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney
Carmen M. Ortiz; Harold
H. Shaw, Special Agent
in Charge of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation,
Boston Field Division; and
Colonel Richard D. McKeon,
Superintendent of the
Massachusetts State Police,
made the announcement
last week.Assistance
with the investigation
was also provided by the
Internal Revenue Service’s
Criminal Investigation, the
Massachusetts Department
of Correction, and the Boston,
Medford, and Quincy Police
Departments.The case is
being prosecuted by Assistant
U.S. Attorney Timothy E.
Moran of Ortiz’s Organized
Crime and Gang Unit.
The details contained in
the charging document are
allegations.The defendants
are presumed innocent unless
and until proven guilty beyond
a reasonable doubt in a court
• Hoax | from page One
the trend of robo-calling
bomb threats has been
happening at various spots
on the East Coast throughout
this school year. A number of
school districts have even
received multiple bombthreat calls, she said.
“Unfortunately, it is the
state of where we are right
now,” said Tremblay. “No
matter how many we get,
we will take each one of the
threats seriously, no matter
how many we end up getting
before the end of the school
year.”
Tremblay also described
how in Lynnfield, a response
team decides how to handle
various emergencies that
might come up in the
schools. This team includes
the police chief and fire
chief, as well as Tremblay,
Town Administrator James
Boudreau and Lynnfield
Middle School Principal
Stephen Ralston, who
participates in the state’s
School Threat Assessment
and Response System
(STARS) program.
The threatening call
received by the Lynnfield
School District was one of
about 20 such calls received
l a s t M o n d a y th r o u g h o u t
eastern Massachusetts
(another three dozen or so
went out later last week),
and Lynnfield was informed
of that almost immediately
when it reported the threat
to state authorities. That
and other factors led the
response team to conclude
that the threat was of a
very low level that did not
require the evacuation of
school buildings. Tremblay
said the staff was informed
and the students found out
afterward. Parents were
also informed via email
of the situation, although
an unrelated technology
problem apparently delayed
at least some of those
messages, added Tremblay,
explaining that in the event
of a higher threat level, the
town could have activated
its Reverse 911 system.
She also reported meeting
individually with a handful
of parents who felt that the
school should have been
evacuated anyhow.
“The number one thing we
want members of community
to feel is that they and their
children are safe, so it’s
important that they are as
informed as possible,” she
said.
In general, Tremblay also
reported, the Lynnfield school
system follows emergency
protocols from the state
police which are signed off
on by the FBI and which
are constantly subject to
updating and examination.
“Security and safety is
our number one job,” said
Tremblay.
Annual Town Meeting on Monday,
April 25 at Lynnfield Middle School
Annual town meeting will be held on Monday, April 25 at the Lynnfield Middle School, at
7:30 p.m. All registered voters in Lynnfield are eligible to attend, participate in discussion
and debate and vote on warrant articles, which include the Fiscal Year 2017 operating
and capital budget for the Town.
The annual town meeting warrant booklet with all warrant articles – including operating
and capital budgets proposed by the Board of Selectmen, the budget with explanatory notes,
and warrant article recommendations of the Finance Committee – is now available on the
Town’s website. Copies are also available at the Town Clerk’s Office at Town Hall and at the
Lynnfield Public Library. If you cannot obtain a booklet and wish to have a booklet sent to you,
please contact Finance Committee Chairman Jack Dahlstedt at [email protected].
The 2015 annual town report is also available online. The report can be downloaded using
Microsoft Word. It might take some time for the document to download as it is a large file.