A 75-year-old man went into cardiac arrest and died after he was handcuffed during a raid Tuesday afternoon at the Italian social club he managed in Bensonhurst. Besides running the Banner Civic Social Club on 72nd Street, Sam Nastasa had bit parts in The Sopranos and other crime movies like Rounders; neighbors say the club was a hang-out for old men who would chat and play cards. But state and federal investigators say the club was once the base of operations for the Bonanno crime family, and has been patronized by members of the Colombo crime family.
An autopsy on Nastasa proved inconclusive, and the medical examiner’s office needs further testing to determine what caused the cardiac arrest. Obviously, being arrested can be traumatic, and one law enforcement official confirmed to the Times that Nastasa was going to be charged in state court in connection with an illegal gambling machine. Tuesday's raid was conducted by a group of NYPD officers and the F.B.I. joint Organized Crime Investigation Division. Sam Nastasa Jr., his 24-year-old son, tells the Times, "I've never seen anybody get money from the [electronic poker game]. They found like $15 in the machine or something."
Another unnamed official tells the Times that Nastasa was "totally cordial, he was totally compliant" during the raid. His daughter says he was never arrested before (which the city's Department of Correction confirmed) and recalls that her father, a retired ironworker, arrived at the club at 8 a.m. every day and "made sure everything was clean...He had no heart problems. He would be happy and jolly every morning. He did not look his age at all." Speaking to the Post, she adds, "I think the police were very rude and had no consideration. They treated a 75 year-old man as if he were a young kid."
