Fake Mobsters Face 20 Years for Extorting 198k From a Former Pizzeria Owner

Fake MobstersUpdated: 1:29 AM ET, Wed April 10, 2019

An actor and two others involved are now facing 20 years in prison after confessing to extort $198,000 from an owner of a former New York pizzeria in a plot described as a mob shakedown.

Douglas Singer, Leroy Wilson, and Marianne Wood have each pleaded guilty on Tuesday to being involved in an extortion conspiracy that involved an unnamed victim in Brooklyn.

The incident took place last year after the victim sold his pizzeria in a building he granted to Singer, the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York mentioned in a statement.

The pizzeria was sold by the victim for $60,000, including a $15,600 security deposit and monthly rent payments of $5,200, according to legal documents.

From that point, the business deal took a severe turn, that of which you would see in a scene from a mobster movie, one of which that is complete with a muscular man in dark outfits and sunglasses.

The three men carefully scripted a plot to force the victim into giving them $200,000, said United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Richard P. Donoghue.

The victim reported the incident to police authorities with the investigation soon revealing a series of messages among the three men which explained how they planned the alleged extortion scheme.

FBI agents executed a search warrant at Wilson’s home on December 14, finding a black prop pistol and the leather jacket Wilson was seen wearing on the surveillance footage during the pizzeria meeting, federal officials mentioned.

“A group of people doing their best to act like a group of mobsters, shaking down a pizzeria owner, will now face a steep price for what they described as ‘kinda fun,'” said William F. Sweeney Jr. of the FBI New York field office.

“Business owners who are trying to make an honest living shouldn’t have to fear someone with no legal power over them extorting and threatening their livelihoods.”