Alleged Gambino Bookie Threatened to Behead Debtor’s Son: Feds

• Federal indictment details illegal sports betting and loansharking scheme.
  
• Prosecutors cite violent threats against debtors and witnesses.
  
• Recorded calls allegedly reveal mafia-linked gambling profits.

An alleged Gambino bookie and loan shark threatened to cut off the head of the son of one of his debtors, according to court documents. He also ordered an attack on another with the words, “I hope his wife is there too, you hear me? You’re really not supposed to, like, beat him in front of his wife, but I think he deserves a beating in front of his wife.”

Mark Liverano, 59, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Brooklyn in December 2025 on charges including extortionate collection of credit (loansharking), interstate stalking, illegal gambling, marijuana distribution conspiracy, being a felon in possession of firearms and ammunition, and attempted obstruction of justice.

The allegations about Liverano’s threats toward his clients are detailed in a government opposition letter arguing that he should be denied release pending trial.

Extortionate Rates

From 2015, the defendant operated a loansharking business in Staten Island that dished out cash loans at weekly interest rates of up to 10%, according to the indictment. Borrowers who fell behind were terrorized with threats and beatings, according to prosecutors.

So extortionate were his loans that he was covertly recorded confiding with an associate that some clients repaid the sum multiple times over. One such debtor, identified in court filings as “John Doe #1,” had already repaid the original loan nine times, yet when he missed a payment, Liverano confronted him and kicked him in the chest, according to prosecutors.

Violent History

“Liverano’s criminal history, which spans 40 years, is rife with violence, including murder, and the use of firearms,” prosecutors wrote in their opposition letter.

It’s a criminal history that includes a stretch in prison for manslaughter in the first degree. In April 1995, Liverano got into a fight in the Vegas Diner in Brooklyn. When the security guard, a 37-year-old widowed father of two children named Richard Boeke, attempted to break up the altercation, Liverano shot him in the head, killing him. He was sentenced to 12 ½ to 25 years’ imprisonment and was released in or about April 2014.

…[W]hen it benefited him, Liverano emphasized his years-long connection to the Gambino crime family of La Cosa Nostra … a criminal enterprise that engages in violent crimes, extortion, loansharking, drug trafficking and fraud,” prosecutors wrote in arguing that he remained a threat to the public and a flight risk.

“Recorded conversations show Liverano discussing crime family politics, including his own possible induction into the Gambino crime family, stating his intention to attend crime family gatherings, and using his connections to the crime family to further profit from illegal money-making schemes,” they added.