Torture expert gets prison time for extortion plot

Sun, Mar 26, 2000 (10:29 a.m.)

A reputed torture expert from Florida has been sentenced to about 3 1/2 years in prison for his role in what authorities called a mob-backed conspiracy to take over the outcall entertainment industry in Las Vegas through extortion.

Vincent Congiusti, 50, was the first of six defendants in the case to enter a guilty plea and the last to be sentenced. He pleaded guilty in July to one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by threats or violence.

Congiusti was indicted with five other men in October 1998 after authorities prematurely ended a massive undercover investigation. FBI agents decided the threat to potential victims had grown too great.

Indicted with Congiusti were Las Vegas outcall service operator Christiano DeCarlo, Mario Stefano, Anton Nelsen, Kenneth Byrnes and Joshua Snellings.

When he entered his plea, Congiusti said he came to Las Vegas from Tampa, Fla., in October 1998 at the request of Stefano, whom authorities have described as an associate of New York's Gambino crime family. He said he did not intend to hurt anyone.

Congiusti admitted in his plea agreement that Stefano referred to Congiusti as "Vinnie Aspirins" and said he had a reputation for torturing people.

"According to Stefano, Vinnie Aspirins was known to have used a cordless drill to drill holes into an individual's head on one occasion," the plea agreement states.

U.S. District Judge Philip Pro sentenced Congiusti Friday to 41 months in prison. The judge imposed the same sentence on Nelsen and Byrnes.

DeCarlo was sentenced to about 4 1/2 years, and Stefano was sentenced to about five years. Snellings was sentenced to the 10 1/2 months he already had spent in custody.

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