North Andover Man Charged in Connection to Larceny, Loan Sharking and the Mob

A North Andover man accused of having ties to a Boston mob was indicted Wednesday by a state grand jury in Boston -- along with three other men -- in connection with embezzlement from a temp agency and involving organized crime.

The men charged are Joseph Giallanella, 62, of North Andover; Michael Petrillo, 56, of Peabody; Charles Davis, 44, of Salem, N.H.; and Charles Toomajian, 53, of Malden.

Essex First Assistant District Attorney John T. Dawley said that Davis was an account manager for Randstad Professionals in Wakefield, which is a temp agency, and allegedly embezzled almost $1.9 million from the company to pay off gambling debts and loan sharks. Toomajian, an attorney, would then launder the money. Prosecutors say Toomajian also stole almost $660,000 from Randstad Professionals, diverted through Davis.

Davis allegedly paid off loan sharking and gambling debts to Petrillo and Giallanella. And as a way of making payments owed, both Davis and Toomajian allegedly paid money toward Giallanella's mortgages and gave Petrillo $308,000.

Giallanella is charged with conspiracy and being an accessory after the fact of felony larceny relating to loan sharking.

Petrillo is charged with conspiracy, receiving stolen property and accessory after the fact of felony larceny. Davis is charged with conspiracy, larceny and making false entries into corporate books. Toomajian is charged with conspiracy, larceny, receiving stolen property and being an accessory after the fact of felony larceny.

Giallanella, Davis and Toomajian will be arraigned April 11 in Middlesex Superior Court, Woburn. Petrillo will be arraigned the same day in Salem Superior Court.

Dawley said that Randstad Professionals had been "caught completely off-guard by the alleged embezzlement," and he added that the company has been fully cooperative with the investigation.

Mob Ties

All four men were already on bail for other charges in the investigation from last October. Giallanella was charged in October with assault and battery, intimidating witnesses and extortion, among other crimes, after a lengthy investigation into the alleged widespread organized crime empire of accused mob boss Mark Rossetti, 51. Rossetti's organization allegedly engaged in drug trafficking and other serious crimes as well.

This latest list of charges stems from that investigation.

The investigation started with Giallanella, who was allegedly a local bookie going by the alias Jason Peters, and that evolved into a massive statewide organized crime investigation by the District Attorney's office, Attorney General Martha Coakley and the Massachusetts State Police.

"This criminal enterprise went well beyond the original gaming and loan sharking we were targeting," District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said in a statement in October. "These individuals not only perpetrated threats of violence and vicious attacks in order to collect gaming debts but also engaged in extensive drug trafficking. Bringing these individuals to justice has been a long and pain-staking process which I am confident will continue through to successful prosecutions and convictions.”

Colonel Marian J. McGovern of the State Police said at that time that the charges against Rossetti and his cohorts showed that organized crime still operates in the state and is still a problem for society.

"First, there are still organized criminal enterprises in this state that engage in activities such as bookmaking and extortion," McGovern said. "But it is also important to note that these defendants are alleged to have committed extremely violent acts as well. Violence and organized crime have always gone hand-in-hand."

Rossetti was also indicted in October for extortion, drug trafficking, robberies, assaults, money laundering, loan sharking and other crimes. His organization has allegedly committed armed home invasions, armed robberies, possession of pipe bombs, assault, kidnapping and other violent crimes. And Rossetti had been arrested earlier last year on related charges of trafficking heroin and conspiracy to violate the drug laws.

Prosecutors say Giallanella employed an “enforcer” who would collect money from gamblers who fell behind on their debts -- often through violence, sometimes in front of the victims' families.