By Thomas Tracy
Was that Tony Soprano we saw whacking his ball out of a sand pit on the back nine? That’s the question some are asking ever since the City Comptroller announced last week that the newly refurbished Marine Park Golf Course has a new set of links – mob links. Officials from the city’s Department of Investigation are reportedly looking into the charges City Comptroller William Thompson made against Marine Park Golf Course last week. In a letter penned to Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe on January 2, Thompson claimed that Domenick Logozzo, the president of East Coast Golf, which was responsible for refurbishing and currently maintains the 6,900-yard course, has connections to the Colombo crime family. “Based upon information uncovered by my office, it appears that Mr. Logozzo has a financial relationship with Mr. Craig Marino,” Thompson wrote. “Marino is an alleged member of organized crime, i.e., the Colombo crime family, and was indicted this past year by the United States Attorney’s Office on federal racketeering conspiracy charges, including charges related to securities fraud and securities fraud conspiracy.” In 2005, the city Parks Department signed a contract with East Coast Golf to repair the Marine Park Golf Course, and run course concessions and a pro shop. Located at 2880 Flatbush Avenue off the Belt Parkway, the Marine Park Golf Course, originally designed by the renowned architect Robert Trent Jones in the early 1960s, was in disrepair before East Coast Golf signed the $9.6 million contract with the city – an agreement that won’t be re-negotiated until December 2026. In his letter, Thompson said that he wanted Benepe to know about Logozzo’s past before the city re-registers the contract. Officials allege that Logozzo loaned Marino’s father $48,000, so the alleged mobster’s dad could invest in the popular, celebrity-endorsed Zone Diet. Prosecutors contend that the investment into the Zone Diet plan was simply a cover to hide illegally gained profits from Marino’s criminal enterprises. Federal prosecutors claim that Marino made more than $20 million from criminal activities. “Although Mr. Logozzo is not implicated in any of the criminal activities alleged in the Marino indictment, the information we have obtained gives rise to numerous integrity concerns about the concessionaire,” Thompson said in his letter to Benepe, where he encouraged the commissioner to find a way to dissolve the agreement. Parks Department officials claim their contract with Logozzo was hammered out months before his alleged connections to Marino were unearthed. “We awarded the contract before the indictment [against Marino] was handed down and we complied with all relevant legal requirements in issuing the Request for Proposals and awarding the contracts,” Parks Department spokesman Warner Johnston said in a statement. Calls to the Marine Park Golf Course for comment were not returned as this paper went to press.
