Mob Links

Friends of ours: Craig Marino, Colombo Crime Family

A gangster has been linked to the new operator of a city-owned golf course in Brooklyn - creating a hazard and trap that has nothing to do with water and sand.

Sources familiar with the matter say the city Department of Investigation is examining the contract held by East Coast Golf to run the 18-hole Marine Park Golf Course, one of 12 public courses in the city.

The company, based in the Brooklyn Terminal Market, won out over four other bidders in 2005.

City Controller William Thompson asked the Parks Department to reconsider the deal in a letter yesterday. "The information we have obtained gives rise to numerous integrity concerns," Thompson wrote.

The owner of East Coast Golf is listed as Domenick Logozzo, who is financially connected to Craig Marino, an ultraviolent Colombo crime family soldier, according to Brooklyn federal prosecutors. Marino, who has the phrase "F--- the Police" tattooed on his chest, has been accused by mob informants of stabbing two men and shooting another, prosecutors say. The two are linked through their joint investment in a company called Zone Chefs, which delivers food to dieters, according to court records.

Marino and several others - including Zone Chefs' president, Arthur Gunning - were indicted by Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Roslynn Mauskopf last March on racketeering charges that included stock fraud and extortion. Logozzo was not charged.

Although Marino's name does not appear as an owner or officer of Zone Chefs, prosecutors say he is invested in the company through a bank loan taken out by Logozzo. Prosecutors say Marino was caught on a wiretap boasting of his ownership interest in Zone Chefs. Marino's lawyers have said in court papers that the investment is his "sole source of income."

Three months before the indictment, East Coast Golf began running the Marine Park course on Jan. 1, 2006, after agreeing to pay the city $9.6 million over 20 years.

The Parks Department could not say how much East Coast netted in fees in its first year running the course, where greens fees run from $16 to $38. "We awarded the contract before the indictment was handed down," said Warner Johnston, spokesman for the Parks Department.

Calls to Logozzo were not returned.

Thanks to Greg B. Smith