Ozone Park Boys - Criminal History

Criminal History

Since as early as 1986, this crew has been responsible for auto theft and "chop shop" operations, book making, racketeering, murder, robbery, arms trafficking, arson, assault, bank robbery, extortion, kidnapping, drug trafficking, tampering with witnesses, retaliating against witnesses, credit card fraud, identity theft, illegal gambling, intrastate travel in aid of racketeering activities, interference with commerce by threats and violence, interstate transportation of stolen property, insurance fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion, wire fraud, and thefts from interstate shipments.

They organized theft of automobile and automobile parts throughout the New York metropolitan area. "The crew members stole specific cars and car parts on order and dismantled the stolen cars in several chop shops in the New York area", the government said, adding that the group also used the shops to facilitate credit card fraud, insurance fraud and robbery conspiracy.

Crew members stole credit cards and account information from the U.S. mail and thereafter purchased consumer goods from merchants in New York and Florida. "The crew participated in violent armed robberies of businesses and individuals during which victims were kidnapped and assaulted", the government alleged.

Members of the criminal crew traveled from New York to South Florida to commit robberies and traffic drugs, as well as perform credit card fraud and illegal weapons sales. In 1999 Damian Ely Bachovacchi was sentenced to five years for interstate drug trafficking, weapons possession and witness tampering. He was released on parole after serving only thirty-four months leading many to believe that Bachovacchi had an "inside man". Although he quickly rs, the government has failed in every attempt to indict him. In 2004 the Federal government had a sealed indictment for Bachovacchi which was never handed down due to a "sudden" disappearance of suspects. To this day literally hundreds of files that are linked to The Ozone Park Boys remain unsolved. The government also said the crew transported stolen property from Florida to New York and also engaged in numerous armed bank robberies in the New York area.

In 1995, nightclub bouncer Vincent D'Angola and his massage-therapist girlfriend, Jamie Schneider, were found dead in D'Angola's Fort Lauderdale apartment. The next day, the bullet-riddled body of Little League coach Mark Rizzuto was found in Boca Raton. Federal and local authorities have linked the crew to these three unsolved South Florida murders.

"The Trucchio organization" operated two separate wirerooms, first in the basement of an attached, one-family house at 149-29 122nd Street and thereafter in a third-floor apartment at 89-07 North Conduit Avenue, both in Ozone Park.

The crew has been in operation for over two decades.