NY mobsters convicted of Seagal extortion

Two New York mobsters have been convicted of trying to extort almost €3m from Hollywood star Steven Seagal.

Anthony Ciccone and Primo Cassarino, who worked for the Gambino crime family, were found guilty yesterday of demanding payoffs from the Exit Wounds star.

The actor told Brooklyn Federal Court he was ordered to hand over the cash during a meeting at a Brooklyn restaurant arranged by his former business partner.

According to Seagal, the partner later told him: “If you would have said the wrong thing, they would have killed you.”

Ciccone, 68, from Manalapan, New Jersey, and Cassarino, 46, Brooklyn, were convicted of racketeering, extortion and money laundering.

Peter Gotti, brother of the late Gambino family Godfather John Gotti, was also found guilty of racketeering and money laundering – unrelated to the Seagal case - following a six-week trial.

“They got me,” Gotti, 63, said after the jury reached verdicts.

“It’s easy to convict a Gotti. All you have to have is the name.”

Another Gotti brother and three other members of the mob were also convicted.

US Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf the case was “a historic day in law enforcement’s fight against organised crime.”