Trial opens in federal case of former Nassau detective accused of working for Bonanno crime family

A former Nassau County detective, accused of moonlighting for the Bonanno crime family to help them shut down illegal gambling parlors run by rival mobsters on Long Island and Queens, went on trial Tuesday.

Hector Rosario, who worked for the Nassau County Police Department from 2007-22, was charged in 2022 with lying to the FBI and obstructing justice as part of an organized crime takedown that netted eight other members of the crime family for running illicit backroom joker poker operations in cafes and shops from 2012-19.

"The defendant, Hector Rosario, was a police officer who sold himself to the Bonanno crime family," Brooklyn federal prosecutor Anna Karamigios said during her opening statement Tuesday morning. "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."

The Nassau County Police Department fired Rosario after his indictment was unsealed.

The prosecutor said a federal organized crime investigation on Long Island identified several gambling dens run by the Bonanno, Gambino and Genovese crime families.

Tensions brewed between the organizations, and Rosario was drafted by the Bonanno family to act as an enforcer to quell the competition and to tip them off to law enforcement probes into their operations, Karamigios said.

During his employment with the Bonannos, Rosario conducted a fake raid on a rival gambling parlor and handed the name and address of a confidential witness over to the criminal organization, the prosecutor said.

On Jan. 27, 2020, the FBI showed up at Rosario’s home and asked about his role with the crime family. He denied it, though he had been caught on a wire, while standing in a marijuana growhouse, warning Bonanno soldier Sal Russo to be careful speaking about illicit activity, prosecutors said.

The former detective’s lawyer, Louis Freeman, said his client had not known there was a grand jury investigation going on at the time and therefore was not obstructing the investigation.

The defense attorney also told the jury that though his client denied knowing about a marijuana growhouse, it was "not material" to the charges against him.

He also cast doubt on the witnesses, all former mobsters, that the prosecutors planned to call to the stand.

Freeman said they all have been convicted of crimes and are hoping to shave years off their sentences by testifying.

"They have great incentive to lie," he said.

Damiano Zummo, 51, a former Bonanno soldier cooperating with the prosecution, was the first witness to take the stand. He told the jury that Rosario was paid $1,500 a week for his services.

"He's a street guy," Zummo testified when asked why he trusted Rosario. "Meaning, he'd break the law if he had to."

The Bonanno soldier said the crime family made about $10,000 a week, splitting the proceeds from gambling machines in the back of a Lynbrook cafe until the Genovese crime family staked a claim to the same parlor.

The Genovese also set up a backroom den in Sal's Shoe Repair in Merrick and poached a gambler known for losing big bets, Zummo said, which upset the crime family bosses.

Russo drafted Rosario to perform an unsanctioned raid, one that prosecutors say, had no warrant and yielded no arrests.

"Sal came up with the idea to intimidate them to shut down," Zummo said. "It meant more money for me."

Rosario tried to do a similar raid at a gambling spot in Valley Stream run by the Gambino family but couldn't get through the security door.

Zummo also testified that Rosario came to his house to warn him that authorities were watching him.

"He said we were being investigated. He saw my photo at a precinct," the mobster said. He said Rosario warned him to "stay off the phone because the feds could be listening."

Zummo, who had been arrested with Russo for selling an ounce of cocaine to an undercover officer, testified on cross-examination that he was hoping to get time served for his cooperation. Three months after his arrest, he said, he agreed to cooperate with federal authorities and wear a wire. He faces a maximum of 40 years on drug trafficking charges.