22 THE QUEENS COURIER • AUGUST 23, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Convicted Howard Beach mobster must sell Sopranos-style home
BY ROBERT POZARYCKI
rpozarycki@qns.com
@robbpoz
A Howard Beach man connected to
the mob is paying a heft y price for his
involvement in a loansharking ring.
Ronald (aka Ronnie G) Giallanzo, an
acting captain in the Bonanno crime
family, pleaded guilty earlier this year to
a federal racketeering conspiracy charge
and for violating conditions of his supervised
release aft er being previously convicted
of racketeering.
During his sentencing on Aug. 15 in
U.S. District Court in Brooklyn, Giallanzo
was ordered to serve 14 years behind
bars, pay $268,000 in restitution to his
victims, forfeit $1.25 million in assets and
sell his mansion in Howard Beach.
Federal prosecutors said that Giallanzo
used proceeds from his racketeering ring
to transform his home from a humble
ranch into a two-story palazzo that
could have rivaled Tony Soprano’s digs
on “Th e Sopranos.” Th e mob captain
reported spent more than $1 million to
reconstruct and furnish the home, which
features fi ve bedrooms, fi ve bathrooms,
radiant heated fl oors, luxury appliances,
three kitchens and a salt water pool with
a waterfall.
“Giallanzo is headed to prison, forced
to sell his mansion built on ill-gotten
proceeds and held responsible for brazenly
committing many of his crimes
from behind bars while serving another
organized crime-related sentence,” U.S.
Attorney Richard Donoghue said.
According to law enforcement sources,
Giallanzo participated in the loansharking
scheme between 1998 and 2017, operating
both on the street and event while
serving an eight-year prison sentence
during the period. He provided borrowers
with loans, charged exorbitant interest
rates and demanded weekly payments
under penalty of violence.
Prosecutors said Giallanzo dispatched
fellow mob associates to collect weekly
payments and mete out penalties —
from verbal threats to brutal violence —
against those who failed to pay.
Th e ring, authorities said, gained more
than $26 million in proceeds over 19
years. Most of the crimes occurred in the
Howard Beach area.
Giallanzo and nine other alleged associates
were arrested in March 2017
on a 37-count federal indictment that
was the result of an extensive investigation
between federal and state law
enforcement agencies. Prosecutors built
their case using evidence and testimony
obtained from court-authorized wiretaps,
reviews of government and public
records, electronic and video surveillance,
and with the help of several cooperating
witnesses.
Four of Giallanzo’s associates —
Evan Greenberg, 46; Richard Heck, 46;
Michael Hintze, 52; and Robert Tanico,
50, all from Queens — were previously
convicted and sentenced for their roles in
the ring. Five others — Queens’ Michael
Padavona, 50, Michael Palmaccio, 47, and
Robert Pisani, 45, along with Christopher
Boothby, 39, of Brooklyn, and Nicholas
Festa, 40, of Oceanside, Long Island —
are still awaiting sentencing.
Photos courtesy of U.S. Attorney’s offi ce
Ronald Giallanzo is shown at an October 2006 meeting with a Colombo crime family captain and
associate.
Photos by Ryan Kelley/QNS
New eatery brings traditional Chinese fare to Bayside
BY RYAN KELLEY
rkelley@qns.com
Twitter @R_Kelley6
A new restaurant opening this weekend
in Bayside is bringing authentic Chinese
food to the neighborhood straight from
Shanghai.
You Garden Xiao Long Bao, located
at 41-07 Bell Blvd., is set to make its soft
opening on Saturday, Aug. 25, according
to manager Alan Gao. Th e restaurant will
quickly follow up with a grand opening
event on Tuesday, Aug. 28, when guests
will be treated to free samples of its signature
dishes.
You Garden will be the fi rst expansion
from its owners, who also own the bustling
Shanghai You Garden Dumpling House
in downtown Flushing. According to Gao,
the move coincides with their desire to
introduce authentic Shanghainese food to
new neighborhoods.
“I’m not sure if you’ve tried other
Shanghainese food, but mostly they are
accustomed to the U.S. fl avor,” Gao said,
with help from a translator. “But us, we
are trying to bring back the old traditional
Shanghainese fl avor.”
Th e primary example is the Peking
Duck, a dish that has been served in
China since the imperial era. It’s one
of the many new additions to the You
Garden menu at the Bayside location, and
guests at the grand opening can receive a
free sample.
Th e other sample option during the
promotion is an order of steamed dumplings,
or “xiao long bao” in Chinese. Th e
soup-fi lled dumplings are made using the
same techniques as dumpling houses near
the Yuyuan Garden in the Old City region
of Shanghai, China, hence the restaurant’s
name.
Other menu items unique to the Bayside
location include mango shrimp, fi sh fi let
with pickled vegetables, beef with broccoli,
Shanghai chives with chicken chowder,
sweet and sour shrimp casserole and
sweet and sour crispy chicken.
While the menu mirrors that of the
Flushing location, Gao said the new items
are intended to appeal to families and the
diff erent clientele in Bayside.
Th e Bell Boulevard storefront is also
much larger than its Flushing counterpart,
which oft en has an hourlong wait for
customers to be seated on the weekends,
Gao said. Moreover, the new You Garden
has a takeout window for guests who prefer
to pick up their food on the go without
having to enter the restaurant.
Yet using the takeout window would
mean missing out on the You Garden’s
decor, refl ective of its Old City roots.
Lanterns hang from the ceiling, paintings
of fl owers and birds adorn the walls; writing
on the tables explain what the Yuyuan
Garden is; dishes are served on traditional
platters; and VIP rooms are separated
from the rest of the seating by a curtain
of beads.
Gao hopes that the all-around uniqueness
and novelty of the You Garden will
lead to its success.
“I don’t really see a lot of authentic
Chinese restaurants around here, maybe
mostly for delivery but not really for
dine-in,” Gao said. “So hopefully they
love it.”
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