Almost four dozen alleged members of organised crime families were rounded up by the FBI on Thursday morning, including the reputed Mafia boss in Philadelphia and an alleged old-school mob in New York.

Prosecutors said the charge sheet - including allegations of extortion, loansharking, running illegal sports books and health care fraud as well as a string of colourful nicknames- resembled an old-school mob novel or Martin Scorses film.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said the defendants formed a syndicate stretching from Massachusetts to Florida.

Diego Rodriguez, head of the FBI's New York office, said: “The indictment reads like an old school mafia novel, where extortion, illegal gambling, arson and threats to ‘whack’ someone are carried out along with some modern-day crimes of credit card skimming."

The names read like characters in a Scorsese film, including Anthony “Tony The Cripple” Cassetta, Nicholas “Nicky The Wig” Vuolo and John “Tugboat” Togino.

Among those charged was Joseph "Joey" Merlino, the flamboyant alleged godfather of the Philadelphia mob. Pasquale "Patsy" Parrello, identified as a longtime member of the Genovese family in New York City, was also among those indicted.

Merlino's longtime lawyer, Ed Jacobs, declined to comment on the allegations, saying to the Associated Press he hadn't yet studied the indictment.

Bill Bratton, New York police commissioner, said: "These mobsters seemed to use every scheme known to us, from arson, to shake-downs, violence, health care fraud, and even untaxed cigarettes to keep the racket going."

Prosecutors said 39 of those charged were arrested on Thursday. Agents recovered three handguns, a shotgun, gambling gear and more than $30,000 in cash.

One count accuses Parrello, 72, of ordering a beating of a beggar he accused of harassing women outside his Bronx restaurant in 2011.

The panhandler was "located and assaulted with glass jars, sharp objects and steel-tipped boots, causing bodily harm," the court papers say.

Afterward one of his alleged associates was recorded reminiscing. “Remember the old days in the neighborhood when we used to play baseball? . . . A ball game like that was done,” he said, according to the papers.

Prosecutors also detailed how in 2013, Parello ordered retaliation against a man who stabbed a member of his crew outside a Bronx bar. According to the charge sheet, Parrello cautioned him to

“Keep the pipes handy and pipe him, pipe him, over here [gesturing to the knees], not on his head."