A former associate of the Bonanno crime family-turned-government informant was arrested again over the weekend.
Gene Borrello, 40, was arrested at an undisclosed location in Miami, Florida, at 1 a.m. on Saturday, according to Miami-Dade County jail records.
The suspect faces a misdemeanor charge of stalking and two felony charges, including strongarm robbery and battery. He could face up to 21 years in prison and more than $15,000 fine if convicted on all counts.
Borrello was being held in Miami Dade County Prison. According to a post on his Instagram Story, Borrello bonded out of prison sometime on Sunday. In another upload, Borrello wrote, “party at @moxies,” a restaurant chain in Florida.
He is set to be arraigned next month.
An associate is a term used to describe members of a mafia family who have not become “made men.”
Footage obtained by crime history podcast The Sit Down appears to show Borello’s arrest in the early hours of Saturday morning. The video purports to show Borrello being led by a police officer down a stairwell lined with gold walls. He is handcuffed.
“It’s alright Gene, we’ll figure it out,” the cameraman, who claims to be Borrello’s brother, said.
Law enforcement officials did not immediately provide more information on Borrello’s arrest. The Independent has contacted the Miami Dade Sheriff’s Office for more information.
Borrello has an expansive criminal history that includes him formerly leading a gang in Howard Beach, Queens, that specialized in robberies.
He was arrested for his role in September 2014 and pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy in 2016.
According to prosecutors, offenses included multiple shootings, “home invasions, where people were tied up, brazen daylight burglaries,” arsons, and beatings.
After his sentencing, Borrello agreed to become a government witness and testified against several Bonanno members, including reputed mobster Vincent Asaro.
Asaro had allegedly tasked Borrello to burn the car of a man in a severe road rage case. Asarao was sentenced to eight years in prison in 2017 in connection to the case.
In 2019, Borrello was issued a time-served prison sentence of five years after helping Brooklyn federal prosecutors convict more than 21 mobsters.
Following his release, Borrello became a podcaster and book author and regularly reflected on his life in organized crime.
A string of arrests followed, including being booked for violating the terms of his release in January 2021 after allegedly threatening to murder his ex-girlfriend’s husband and “beat the dogs***” out of her father after she refused to allow the former mobster to use a photograph of her in his book.
Borrello also breached the terms of his release by allegedly participating in organized crime podcasts and associating with other convicted criminals in February 2023.
He was incarcerated in the same prison as disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, who was awaiting trial for his role in the collapse of the defunct FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
Source: independent.co.uk