Gambino Mobster Frank Camuso Arrested for Massive New York City Construction Kickback Scheme

Authorities said Wednesday that the prominent Captain Gambino was among two dozen people detained in a sprawling multi-million dollar construction kickback scheme that has affected several major high-rise construction projects in Manhattan.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office said Frank Camuso, 59, was arrested along with gang leader Robert Basilis, who, as vice president of a construction firm, illegally referred real estate developers to subcontractors with whom he was in cahoots.

As part of the plot, Basilis provided inside information about competitors’ bids to his co-conspirators and ordered subcontractors to raise their bids to an amount that would allow him to get a kickback.

Some of the winnings went to companies owned by Camuso “and his family,” District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.

Projects affected by the eight-year scheme include the FiDi Hotel, the CitizenM New York Bowery Hotel and the Fifth Avenue Hotel, according to the statement.

A source familiar with Camuso told The Post that he is a respected member of the Gambino family who has been in the construction business for many years.

“He stayed out of sight,” the source said. “He’s not screaming.”

Egghead previously worked for Joe Jo “Blonde Joe” Giordano, a former Gambino capo and close confidant of John Gotti, who died in prison in 2013, the source added.

The arrests came after an investigation by the District Attorney’s Racketeering Bureau, the Investigations Department and the NYPD.

“Bribery and kickbacks should not be a cost of doing business in this city,” Home Office Commissioner Jocelyn Strauber said in a statement. “This indictment shows that construction firms in this city must operate with integrity and integrity or face the consequences.”

Bragg added: “When the bidding process is rigged, we all lose. The market suffers from a lack of quality competition, developers are prevented from hiring the best companies at fair prices, and, not least, honest, law-abiding companies are being squeezed out by those who break the law.”

Additional report by Ben Feuerheard