Former Gambino crime family gangster and current Englishtown City Council member John Alite was arrested Friday on multiple charges of theft by extortion, corporate misconduct, loan sharking and terroristic threats.
The 63-year-old is suspected of having provided loans above the interest rate permitted by law, and then taking possession of the victims' money and property by threatening them with violence.
He also allegedly misused his corporation, Straightened-Out Entertainment, Inc., to promote his criminal scheme.
Another person, Stephen Locrotondo, 67, of Bridgewater, was also arrested and charged Friday with racketeering and conspiracy. The attorney general's announcement said Locrotondo was working in coordination with Alite.
Alite became a member of the Englishtown City Council in April 2025 during a tumultuous city meeting. In 2008, Alite pleaded guilty in federal court to two counts of murder, four counts of conspiracy to commit murder, and at least eight counts of shooting.
He also admitted to being part of armed home invasions and robberies in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida . Alite said in an interview that the home invasions and robberies were carried out against drug dealers.
Alite had a reputation for brutality, according to his 2021 book "John Alite Mafia International," which he co-wrote with Lou Romano. It was this reputation and his connection to John Gotti Jr. that drew him into the Mafia. Gotti Jr. is the son of John Gotti Sr., who was the boss of the Gambino crime family.
A 1989 New York Times article mentioned Alite, then 26, with Gotti Jr., then 25, at a Long Island restaurant where they got into a fight.
A trail of violence and criminal activity followed him for several years until he was found in Brazil, and he was subsequently sentenced to 10 years in prison in 2011. He was released in 2012, with credit for his previous prison time, plus a reduction in his sentence.
Since his release, he has declared himself reformed, giving interviews about his former life and recording podcasts.
Alite said he moved to Englishtown after his daughter Chelsea died from fentanyl use in 2022. His family owned the house in Englishtown, but had been renting it out.