Ex-Nassau Det. Hector Rosario, accused of moonlighting for Bonanno crime family, wants conviction vacated, court papers say

The former Nassau County detective found guilty last month in Brooklyn federal court of lying to the FBI about his familiarity with New York City crime families and mob gambling spots wants his conviction overturned.

The defense lawyer for Hector Rosario, 51, filed a motion on Monday to vacate the March 5 jury verdict, arguing his lies to federal agents were not "material," meaning they did not interfere with any investigation.

The former detective was swept up in a joint Long Island organized crime investigation, dubbed "Double Jackpot" that netted nine members of the Bonanno and Genovese crime families who were charged with racketeering and gambling offenses.

Rosario, a 15-year police veteran, was also indicted on obstruction of justice, a charge that carries a maximum of 20 years in prison, and lying to federal agents about knowing about mob activity. He was fired from the department in August 2022.

Defense attorney Louis Freeman said in his motion that nothing his client said made any impact on the FBI’s case.

"Mr. Rosario’s denials did not affect the FBI’s ‘Double Jackpot’ investigation, nor did they have the capacity to do so," he said in court papers.

Federal prosecutors said the ex-cop had been drafted by a Bonanno associate to conduct fake raids on backroom gambling dens run by rival crime families and tip off Nassau County police, hoping they would shut them down.

"He protected them from law enforcement. He chose the crime family over the public he was sworn to protect. He lied to cover it all up. The defendant was a corrupt police officer on the Bonanno family payroll," Brooklyn federal prosecutor Anna Karamigios said during her opening statements.

During one such raid of a Genovese gambling spot in the backroom of Sal’s Shoe Repair in Merrick, Rosario showed up with his shield out, accompanied by two other men. They pushed their way into a room with several joker poker machines, claiming to be police and broke one of the machines, then left without writing a summons or making any arrests. Sal Rubino, who ran the shop, testified no one gambling that day believed the men were police officers.

After his friend, Salvatore Russo, was busted for selling cocaine to an undercover officer, Rosario met him in a Queens growhouse filled with marijuana plants and warned him not to transport the drug himself for risk of being watched by the FBI. Unknown to Rosario, Russo was wearing a wire and the conversation was recorded.

In January 2022, Special Agent Orlando Tactuk and another agent showed up at the detective’s Mineola apartment to ask him about his friendship with Russo and a Bonanno captain, Damiano Zummo.

Tactuk testified at trial that Rosario denied knowing Zummo or any knowledge of the shoe repair shop.

Freeman said these lies were harmless and do not reach the level of criminality needed to charge his client.

"The facts and circumstances of this case demonstrate that Mr. Rosario’s statements to the FBI, regarding his knowledge of Zummo’s identity and Sal’s Shoe Repair, did not have the capacity to influence the FBI or distract its investigators away from a critical matter," Freeman said in his motion.

The Brooklyn U.S. Attorney’s Office is expected to file a response by May 12.

U.S. District Court Judge Eric Vitaliano will then issue a decision.