Reputed Longmeadow mobster Ralph Santaniello is headed to prison in the near future for engaging in various criminal activities in Springfield. Santaniello and Giovanni
Calabrese, both named by the U.S. Justice Department as members of the Genovese La Cosa Nostra crime family, entered guilty pleas to extortion charges in federal court in Worcester on Monday.
Prosecutors say members of the crime family acted as loan sharks for legitimate and illegitimate businesses in the area, and that Santaniello and Calabrese, along with two others, attempted to extort money from a Springfield businessman in 2013, assaulting him and threatening to cut off his head.
Each charge provides for a sentence of no more than 20 years in prison.
(MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)