Authorities on Friday arrested John Alite, a sitting Englishtown councilman who once claimed to have committed 15 killings as a Gambino crime family associate, and charged him with running a usury and extortion operation that prosecutors say generated at least $75,000, according to the New York Times.

Alite, 63, of Englishtown, faces multiple counts of second-degree theft by extortion, second-degree corporate misconduct, second-degree usury and terroristic threats, Attorney General Jennifer Davenport announced. Authorities allege Alite made loans carrying interest above the legal ceiling and then threatened violence to seize cash and property from victims. Authorities also accuse him of misusing his corporation, Straightened-Out Entertainment Inc., to advance the alleged scheme.

Authorities also arrested Stephen Locrotondo, 67, of Bridgewater, and charged him with usury and conspiracy. Prosecutors say he agreed to receive interest above the legal limit on loans in coordination with Alite. Locrotondo is not an elected official and holds no position on the Bridgewater Township Council, according to municipal records that list the current council members as Joan Geiger, Andrew Bucko, Ridwana Isla, Michael Kirsh and Timothy Ring. Bridgewater Township has not posted a press release or official statement on its municipal website regarding Locrotondo's arrest.

The $75,000 prosecutors allege is a fraction of the millions Alite said he earned during a good year in the mob, according to Yahoo News. Alite waived the borough council's $3,500 annual salary, according to Yahoo News, and told the publication that his earnings were "a far cry from the millions of dollars" he made in the mob.

The $75,000 prosecutors allege is a fraction of the millions Alite testified he earned annually in the 1980s and 1990s trafficking narcotics for the Gambino family, according to NJ Advance Media. Alite waived the borough council's $3,500 annual salary, according to Yahoo News, and told the publication that his earnings were "a far cry from the millions of dollars" he made in the mob.

Alite's arrest comes 15 months after the borough appointed him to the Englishtown Borough Council in March 2025 as a Republican, according to the New Jersey Globe. He joined the council after two seats opened, according to News 12. The borough assigned him to co-chair the Administration and Finance committee, according to the Englishtown Borough website.

Alite grew up in Queens, where he and John Gotti Jr. — the son of the infamous "Teflon Don" — were boyhood friends, according to the New Jersey Globe. CBS News described him as a top enforcer for the Gotti crime family and a longtime member of the Gambino family.

Alite told CBS News in 2015 that he had killed 15 people. He also said he had shot 30 to 40 people. He told the network he had beaten more than 100 others with pipes and baseball bats. He described one murder in stark terms, telling the network: "While we were in the conversation, I shot him two or three times in the head, then spit on him. It was nothing, like going to a baseball game, I went out [afterward] for a cheeseburger, double cheese, Coke and fries."

After serving more than 14 years in prison in the United States and Brazil, Alite was released and repudiated his mob ties, according to Yahoo News. He went on to launch a podcast and wrote or appeared in numerous books and documentaries, according to Yahoo News. He told The Guardian he wanted to run to help the community after his daughter died from a fentanyl overdose, according to Yahoo News.

"People ask me why? I tell them I have more experience than all these politicians," Alite said in a Guardian interview last year, as reported by Yahoo News and AOL. "Plus I'm not a criminal anymore – I'm on a mission to do things the right way."

The day before his arrest, Alite posted a photo on social media showing himself sunbathing while Tony Bennett's "The Good Life" played, a track whose lyrics include "it's the good life to be free," according to AOL News.

Englishtown Mayor Daniel Francisco said the allegations do not involve borough operations and that Alite deserves a presumption of innocence. "There are often opportunists ready to pounce on calamity; I implore those following along to remain human — there are always innocent bystanders on all sides, like family, impacted by the urge for commotion," Francisco wrote in an email to News 12 New Jersey.

Councilwoman Janet Leonardis told NJ.com she had not seen the arrest coming. "I absolutely have no idea what that's about, so I can't comment," she said. "I can tell you I'm surprised because he's been an excellent citizen and councilman."

In a May 2025 interview with NJ Advance Media, Leonardis said Alite's "past is his past, and he can't change that. However, we live in the present, and presently he is a great councilman."

Stephen Locrotondo, the Bridgewater resident arrested alongside Alite, faced financial-crime charges in three cases across 17 years. In 2009, a federal grand jury in Newark returned an indictment charging Locrotondo and Edward Dombrowski with wire fraud conspiracy tied to a $15 million insurance fraud. At the time, Locrotondo ran Millennium Benefits Service, which pitched a fraudulent group life insurance product to Linden and multiple unions. Through forged paperwork, they secured $15 million from a financing firm, but the firm issued no actual insurance policies. The fraud surfaced when employees died and their beneficiaries discovered the firm had paid no death benefits. Locrotondo later pleaded guilty to one wire fraud count and one conspiracy count.

Three years later, in October 2012, a Union County jury convicted Locrotondo of issuing a bad check for $100,000. Prosecutors said he took the money from a friend who expected repayment with interest, then wrote a personal check he knew his account could not cover. A judge sentenced him to seven and a half years in state prison on Dec. 7, 2012.

Fourteen years later, Deputy Attorney General Heather Hausleben is prosecuting the case. Detective Sergeant Michael Gallant of the New Jersey State Police Government Services Section led the investigation under the supervision of Commanding Officer Justin Blackwell, according to the Monmouth Journal. News 12 New Jersey reported that the New Jersey State Police Official Corruption North Unit investigated the case. The charges do not include official corruption, and the attorney general's office has not alleged that Alite used his council position in the scheme.

Alite's defense attorney is Thomas R. Calcagni. Public records did not immediately identify Locrotondo's legal counsel.

On Thursday, Alite posted a song about freedom. On Friday, prosecutors charged him with extortion and usury. The $75,000 they allege dwarfs the $3,500 salary he waived. As of Saturday, he had not resigned from the Englishtown Borough Council.

Sources

• AOL, "Englishtown Councilman, Ex-Mobster Charged In Loan-Sharking Scheme: AG" (June 20, 2026)

• Bridgewater Township, "2026 Township Council Reorganization Meeting Minutes" (January 5, 2026)

• CBS News, "New Jersey council member, who previously admitted to several murders, arrested for extortion" (June 20, 2026)

• Englishtown Borough, "Borough Officials — Mayor and Council" (accessed June 20, 2026)

• The Guardian, Edward Helmore, "Former mob killer leaves crime behind to become New Jersey councilman" (May 17, 2025)

• Monmouth Journal, "Englishtown Councilman Alite Arrested For Theft By Extortion, Terroristic T..." (June 19, 2026)

• New Jersey Attorney General's Office, "Press Release: John Alite and Stephen Locrotondo Arrested" (June 19, 2026)

• New Jersey Globe, David Wildstein, "Ex-Gotti mob enforcer who served time for murder is new Englishtown councilman" (March 15, 2025)

• News 12 New Jersey, "Englishtown Councilman Among 2 Men Charged In Organized Crime Investigation" (June 20, 2026)

• NJ Advance Media, "A life of lies" (May 23, 2025)

• Patch, "Bridgewater Man Convicted of Issuing Bad Check" (October 19, 2012)

• Patch, "Bridgewater Man Pleads Guilty in Insurance Fraud Scheme" (March 22, 2012)

• State of New Jersey, Office of the Attorney General, "Stephen Locrotondo Sentenced to Seven and a Half Years in State Prison" (December 7, 2012)

• The New York Times, "Former Gotti Associate Turned Councilman Arrested in..." (June 20, 2026)

• U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, "Dombrowski Indictment" (December 9, 2009)

• U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, "Dombrowski Guilty Plea" (February 14, 2011)

• U.S. Attorney's Office, District of New Jersey, "Dombrowski Sentenced" (March 21, 2012)

• Yahoo News, "New Jersey council member and former mob boss arrested for extortion" (June 20, 2026)