96-year-old facing trial on racketeering charges

MIAMI – With his trial on racketeering charges set to begin in February, Albert “The Old Man” Facchiano may be living proof that the only way to leave the mafia is feet first.

Facchiano, 96, is believed to be the oldest person ever indicted by the federal government and would likely be the U.S.’s most senior of senior-citizen inmates if convicted and sent to prison for alleged violent service to the Genovese crime family.

A federal grand jury in 2006 issued a six-count indictment of Facchiano and six other South Florida men tied to the New York mob, alleging they ran the mafia’s Miami operations and engaged in “a pattern of racketeering activity” that included extortion, robbery, money-laundering and loan-sharking.

A parallel New York indictment of 30 reputed Genovese family members accuses him of trying to intimidate or eliminate a witness in the federal government’s case against the nation’s most powerful crime family.

Facchiano’s attorney, Brian McComb, said he is trying to negotiate a plea bargain for his client, whom he describes as having “a lot of medical problems” but still able to participate effectively in his own defense.

The U.S. attorney’s office for South Florida reports its prosecution of Facchiano is on track to begin Feb. 22.

A Federal Bureau of Investigation undercover operation supported by federal tax authorities led to the grand jury indictment in June, which details extensive mob-related activities by the Florida defendants over a 12-year period through last year.

After a reputed life of crime that began before the Great Depression, Facchiano is no stranger to the federal prison network. His first conviction, on robbery and fencing charges, stemmed from a 1932 arrest, and he was also jailed for mob activity in 1936 and 1944. His last incarceration, an eight-year stretch on a 25-year sentence for racketeering, ended in 1989.

Facchiano is free on personal recognizance and a signature bond, said McComb. He is living with a daughter in upscale Bal Harbour but will not speak to the media until his case is resolved.

Neither the U.S. Bureau of Prisons nor the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics could say definitively that there are no prisoners as old as Facchiano being incarcerated. But officials at both offices, as well as McComb, speculated that the 96-year-old was probably the nation’s oldest accused perpetrator.

If convicted, Facchiano, aka “Chinky” or “The Old Man,” could face a prison sentence of as much as 60 years and fines up to $750,000, according to the federal prosecution statement issued at the time of his indictment.