5 convicted in California in organized-crime case

November 17, 1980

Five alleged mob members were convicted of a series of charges in what a Justice Department official said was the mot successful prosecution of organized crime in the United States. The jury was convinced that all five had engaged in racketeering involving attempts to extort money from gamblers, bookmakers, and pornographers, and that two of them had extorted $7,500 from undercover FBI agents who they believed were pornographers. The defendants face possible prison terms of 20 to 60 years.