HARTFORD, Conn. – A one-time $4 million credit union that was liquidated by regulators last week was known locally in the 1980s and 1990s as the “piggy bank” of local gangsters who controlled the multi-million dollar illegal gambling business.
At a time before casino gambling legal in Connecticut and throughout New England and gambling parlors were still controlled by the Mafia, South End Mutual Benefit Association (credit union) was making unsecured small loans routinely available to participants in the local gambling parlors, according to law enforcement officials and court documents connected to the convictions of some of New England’s most notorious mob figures. Today gambling is legal throughout New England on Native American reservations where several of the country’s biggest casinos are operated.
The credit union connection, first reported by the Hartford Courant newspaper, shows that mobsters who ran illegal “social clubs” in Meriden, New Britain and Hartford had ready access to pre-approved applications for unsecured loans that were pre-signed by Salvatore “Butch” D’Aquila., the reputed head of the local mob. D’Aquila in 1991 was convicted of racketeering for his connections to Raymond Patriaca, the Providence-based head of New England’s Mafia. The credit union loans were routinely provided to betters to finance their wagers. Court documents show that the FBI seized hundreds of pre-approved credit union loan applications during a 1988 raid that were blank except for the signature of D’Aquila.
The credit union, which had just 360 members, was seized on Thursday after reporting losses of $149,161 for 2008 and of $14,829 for 2009. State regulators said it was unable to correct problems with its credit administration, lending practices, internal controls and audit.
Officials said no charges were ever filed against the credit union, as the much bigger racketeering case that resulted in convictions of several key Mob figures in New England took precedence.
Credit union officials could not be reached for comment.
But court records filed in the D’Aquila case show law enforcement focused on the tiny institution in the 1980s and the early 1990s.
D'Aquila, who ran the Hartford offshoot of Patriaca’s crime organization, was convicted in 1991 of 15 offenses, including helping to bury the victim of a mob killing. Among the other figures convicted with D’Aquila were Vito “the Ox” DeLuca, Louis “Pug” Faillia and Ralph “the Butcher” Daniello.
The tiny institution was the fifth credit union failure this year and the first in Connecticut since 2008.
