U.S. Attorney’s Office June 24, 2013 • District of
New Jersey (973) 645-2888
NEWARK, NJ—A Monmouth County, New Jersey man admitted today
to conspiring to collect a debt using extortionate means, U.S. Attorney Paul J.
Fishman announced.
John Balsamo, 49, of West Long Branch, New Jersey, pleaded
guilty before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden to an indictment charging
him with using threats of violence and economic harm to collect a debt from the
victim, an Ocean County, New Jersey construction contractor.
According to documents filed in this case and statements
made in court:
Balsamo and conspirators Timothy Kelly, 37, of Jersey City,
New Jersey, and Robert C. Bantang, Jr., 44, of Oceanport, New Jersey, used
extortionate means in order to collect $50,000 the contractor owed to Kelly
from 2009. The conspirators made the victim believe that the money he had
borrowed from Kelly was owed to the “Old Man,” a member of organized crime who
would cause physical harm to the victim if the debt was not paid. Balsamo also
displayed a key to a construction site where the victim was working in Brick,
New Jersey, and warned that the key could be used to gain access to and cause
damage to the site, due to the victim’s failure to fully repay the debt.
Balsamo and Kelly sent Bantang to the construction site on three occasions to
deliver threats purportedly on behalf of the Old Man.
On March 24, 2011, Balsamo and Kelly went to the Brick
construction site, which was now a completed restaurant, to confront the
victim. Kelly told the victim that if he had brought his “boys” that it would
have gotten “done right in here, right in this place, right like this, in front
of everybody...and your wife gets it too.” Kelly also told the victim that he
deserved “a beatin’ just out of f-—kin’ principle.” Balsamo warned that the Old
Man wanted to “beat the s—t” out of the restaurant owner due to the victim’s
failure to repay the debt, which Balsamo and Kelly now stated had grown to
$70,000. Balsamo also advised the victim that the Old Man has been “promoted,”
implying that the Old Man now possessed a higher position in organized crime.
During the course of the conspiracy, Balsamo received a
Rolex watch and $2,500 in cash from the victim towards payment of the debt.
Kelly and Bantang previously pleaded guilty in February 2012
to conspiring to collect a debt from the victim using extortionate means,
before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden. The two men are scheduled for
sentencing on September 10, 2013.
Balsamo faces a maximum potential penalty per count of 20
years in prison and a fine of $250,000. Sentencing is scheduled for October 8,
2013.
Fishman credited special agents of the FBI, under the
direction of Special Agent in Charge Aaron T. Ford in Newark, and special
agents of the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation, under the direction
of Executive Director Philip James Degnan, for the investigation leading to
today’s guilty plea.
The government is represented by Senior Litigation Counsel
Leslie F. Schwartz of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Economic Crime Unit in Newark.
