Norwalk Man Guilty of Impersonating Organized Crime Figures in Extortion Plot

A 45-year-old Norwalk man waived his right to be indicted and pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of extortion in connection with a plot to coerce $200,000 from a Fairfield County businessman, according to Acting United States Attorney Deirdre M. Daly.

Between September 2010 and December 2011, Joseph Casolo impersonated organized crime figures to extort the money from an unnamed Fairfield County small-business owner, according to authorities.

In addition to threatening the business owner in person, Casolo also used telephone calls and text messages to impersonate multiple people, court documents stated. Casolo threatened the victim, their spouse and their daughter with physical violence if the victim did not make extortion payments.

“Casolo also enlisted the assistance of an individual who identified himself as 'Lorenzo,' the organized crime family’s 'enforcer,' and made multiple threatening calls to the victim at Casolo’s direction,” said Daly in a statement. Casolo shared a portion of the extortion money with “Lorenzo,” but the identity of that individual was not disclosed.

Casolo has been in federal custody since his arrest in November, 2012, and he is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant in October. He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

The case is being investigated by the FBI Fairfield County Organized Crime Task Force, the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, the Stamford Police Department, the Bridgeport Police Department and the Connecticut State Police.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Chen is prosecuting the matter.