Career
Captain
In 1990, Graziano pleaded guilty to federal tax evasion. He had failed to pay $100,000 to the Internal Revenue Service (Internal Revenue Service) and had hidden some personal assets under the names of relatives. Graziano was sentenced to five years in prison and fined $250,000.
In 1994, Graziano ordered his crew to find and kill John Pappa and Calvin Hennigar, both mobsters with the Colombo crime family.
On one occasion, the two men had fired shots inside a topless bar in Staten Island owned by Graziano, wounding one patron. An enraged Graziano had sent his Brooklyn crew hunting for them.
However, Graziano later met with Colombo family representatives and agreed on a settlement to the problem. Graziano called off the murder order, but in 2002 he would be indicted on two counts of murder conspiracy due to this episode.
Consigliere
In March 2002, Graziano was indicted on separate racketeering charges in New York and Florida.
On March 19, 2002, Graziano was indicted in New York on charges of bookmaking, murder of a rival gangster, and conspiracy to commit murder. On March 20, 2002, he was indicted again in Florida on charges ranging from illegal gambling to investment fraud in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His investment scams, carefully disguised by the once successful Bulls and Bears Fund, defrauded customers out of $11.7 million.
On December 23, 2002, Graziano pleaded guilty to the New York tax evasion and racketeering charges, including conspiracy to murder Pappa and Heniger in 1994.
On July 18, 2003, Graziano was sentenced to 11 years in prison on the Florida charges. On November 13, 2003, Graziano was sentenced to nine years in prison on the New York charges.
At the New York sentencing, Graziano"s lawyer asked for leniency, saying that his client had diabetes and had survived two episodes of bladder cancer. In August 2011, Graziano was released from prison.
In January 2012, Graziano was indicted on federal racketeering and extortion charges.
Graziano later took a plea in April 2012 and will serve 19 months in prison. He was released to a halfway house in September 2013.