A longtime mafia thug who compared himself to notorious Depression-era gangster John Dillinger sent one of his extortion victims a screenshot of his face on a “Mob Facts” website to prove he meant business.
Joseph Cutaia, 47, grandson of the late Lucchese capo Domenico Cutaia, sent his mob bio to a business owner he was shaking down on Dec. 2023, shortly after his release from prison in a home invasion robbery case, according to court filings.
“Lucchese Crime family Associate Joseph Cutaia (T-L) Son of Soldier Salvatore (B-R) & Grandson of deceased Various Crew CAPO Domenico (B-L) has been released from Prison. Speculated to be a future force to be reckoned with,” the bio reads, according to the feds.
Cutaia, who was indicted on the extortion charges in 2024, has since pleaded guilty, and is expected to be sentenced on Tuesday in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Prosecutors are asking for roughly five to six and a half years behind bars, plus another two when he’s sentenced in a separate hearing June 26 for violating his supervised release from the robbery case.
Cutaia, who has a criminal record dating back to the 1990s, extorted two businessmen starting in 2023 — even before his release from federal prison at the end of his 15-year sentence. He called one of the victims, described as “John Doe #1” in court documents, while still behind bars, demanding he send money to Cutaia’s wife. The victim, who’d never met Cutaia but knew of his crimes, forked over $850.
That started a months-long extortion effort. Cutaia sent the “Mob Facts” screenshot to John Doe #1, and during an exchange of messages, warned the victim, “I don’t care who’s listening [I’m] going to put you under that building, and told him, “You want to make this go away send my wife 10,000 and you will never hear from me again.”
Don’t send it I promise you your [sic] going to see me real soon I don’t let no one talk crazy to me not my family not my friends and definitely not you,” he said.
At one point, Cutaia enlisted his wife to contact John Doe #1 of his behalf and demand an immediate cash infusion after he was busted for erratic diving in Indiana. In all, he squeezed the victim out of $50,000.
His second victim, John Doe #2, co-owned a merchant cash advance business, and in April 2024, Cutaia showed up with a gun, threatening to “spray the place” and yelling that he was owed $100,000. He then demanded the victim and a second man give him the watches off their wrists, a Rolex Daytona with a gold face and black leather wristband and a Patek Philippe Nautilus.
After his arrest in June 2024, he asked his wife to get rid of the Rolex, and to disable his cell phone for good measure, according to federal prosecutors.
He compared himself to Dillinger in a recorded call from the MDC Brooklyn jail.
“I do eight years and then I’m home. And then you know what I do then? And then, you know what I do then, ha, I gotta do another 10 years?” he bragged. “Then it’s over, then I come out like John Dillinger. Ain’t nothing stopping me.”
Cutaia’s lawyer, Gary Cutler, pointed out in a court filing that he even though he admitted the extortion, he thought of John Doe #1 as a friend, and John Doe #2 was the brother of a good friend of his.
He also said Cutaia was commended by the warden at MDC Brooklyn for preventing his bunkmate from committing suicide by hanging.