Wantagh-based Ernest Aiello, reputed Bonanno member, catches a bail break

Terrible traffic congestion on Long Island and in New York City has seemed, in a fortuitous way, to have worked out for reputed Bonanno crime family member Ernest Aiello, of Wantagh.

Aiello, 46, said by the FBI to be a high-ranking member of the crime family, was able to use onerous traffic conditions — along with other factors — to convince a federal magistrate judge last week to lift a curfew and other restrictions imposed on him after he was indicted along with 30 others in last year’s NBA gambling case tied to organized crime.

In a separate development, another defendant in the case, Angelo Ruggiero Jr., 53, of Howard Beach, a reputed Gambino crime family member, is renewing an attempt to get out of jail on bail. Ruggiero, son of the late Angelo Ruggiero, a confidante of the late crime boss John Gotti, failed last year to get released on a proposed $5 million bail package in the gambling case.

Both men are alleged, along with more than two dozen others, including suspended Portland Trail Blazers coach and former NBA star Chauncey Billups, to have taken part in a card-cheating scheme that bilked unwary players out of $7 million over a roughly two-year period.

Aiello, according to records filed in Brooklyn federal court, had been freed on a $3 million bail deal, although the terms of his release included limiting his travel to between his home in Wantagh and New York City. He also had to wear a GPS monitoring device and was under a curfew.

Aiello’s defense attorney, Jeremy Iandolo, of Brooklyn, said in a court filing his client had displayed exemplary conduct while out on bail, which warranted Aiello being allowed to travel without penalty across the metropolitan area to take care of his businesses, including a small construction company in New Jersey. Aiello also has family residing in Westchester County, Iandolo said.

"As the court is well aware, traffic conditions in and around New York City — particularly involving bridges, tunnels and interborough travel — are often unpredictable and severe," Iandolo said in the court filing. "The existing curfew therefore place him at constant risk of technical violation despite, good-faith effort to comply, rendering the curfew impractical and punitive rather supervisory in nature."

On Jan. 27, Magistrate Judge Clay Kaminsky ordered the GPS monitoring to cease and lifted the curfew, records show. Aiello is apparently still bound by geographic restraints allowing him to travel to and from Long Island and the metropolitan area.

Iandolo didn’t return phone and email messages seeking comment. In his filings, Iandolo said the evidence in the case contained nothing factually supporting the allegations against Aiello.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District in Brooklyn said prosecutors had objected to Aiello’s request for no curfew and monitoring but didn’t file any formal papers.

Ruggiero has been in custody since his arrest in late October. Defense attorney James Froccaro Jr., of Port Washington, filed court papers in late January asking that the bail request for a $5 million bond be reopened before Judge Ramon E. Reyes Jr., also of the Eastern District.

In essence, Froccaro argued he had uncovered new evidence from old court records, and transcripts from an earlier case involving his client, which undercut the argument of prosecutors that Ruggiero, if released on bail, might try to intimidate witnesses in the case.

In a response filed Tuesday, federal prosecutors replied in their own court papers that Ruggiero’s new bail request presented no new evidence that would undercut a finding by an earlier judge in 2006 that Ruggiero attempted to intimidate a witness.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.