# Benjamin Ruggiero

Canonical: https://mobfiles.org/people/benjamin-ruggiero/

Convicted of RICO conspiracy at the 1982 New York trial and sentenced to fifteen years; the Eleventh Circuit says the evidence showed he "was a member of the 'crew' captained by Napolitano." The Seventh Circuit records that he "described himself as a member of the Bonanno crime family of New York" and pleaded guilty in the Milwaukee extortion case.

The family line is his own description of himself, as the Seventh Circuit reports it; the court made no finding about it. The role line uses only the courts' wording. The FBI's labels differ: "acting 'capo'" in its October 1981 report, and "a capo" in Director Webster's 1983 statement. They are given in the events, and none of them places him on the [Bonanno](/families/bonanno/) chart.

Two FBI records give different arrest dates. The S.D.N.Y. opinion and the FBI's October 1981 report give August 29, 1981; a Newark memorandum of March 1982 prints 9/21/81. This archive uses the court's date. The FBI Vault's Operation Donnie Brasco file, Part 01, also records a January 1982 bail order, with a bond to be set in Milwaukee. The 1984 Second Circuit affirmance of his New York conviction is [United States v. Ruggiero, 726 F.2d 913](/items/courtlistener-us-v-ruggiero-726-f2d-913/).

## Sources

- United States v. Balistrieri, 778 F.2d 1226 (7th Cir. 1985): https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/461629/united-states-v-frank-peter-balistrieri-john-h-balistrieri-and-joseph/