Former Bulger associate among five indicted on gambling, extortion charges

Five Boston-area men face arraignment in federal court today on charges related to the gambling ring they allegedly ran - and the tough-guy ways they supposedly used to get people to pay their debts - the US Attorney's office in Boston reports.

Among the men: Joseph Yerardi, 62, of Newton, released in 2012 after serving 17 years in federal prison on a sentence for racketeering, money laundering, loansharking and illegal gambling - much of it in connection with Bulger's Winter Hill gang, to which he paid protection money and in turn collected protection money for the gang. The feds say that Bulger hitman John Martarano helped Yerardi continue his loansharking in Florida when Yerardi fled there after he was indicted back in the day.

According to the US Attorney's office:

Joseph Yerardi, 62, of Newton; Anthony Corso, 51 of Cambridge; Michael Burke, 45, of Winthrop; Robert Conway, 27, of, Lynnfield; and Michael Habicht, 59 of Boston, were indicted on one count of operating an illegal gambling business from March 2015 through April 2016. Yerardi and Corso were also indicted on three counts of conspiracy to make and making extortionate extensions of credit. In addition, Yerardi, Corso, Burke and Conway were indicted on various counts of conspiring to collect and collecting extensions of credit by extortionate means from six debtors.

Innocent, etc.