SPRINGFIELD -- Reputed Longmeadow mobster Ralph Santaniello has pleaded guilty in New York City to acting as a financier for loan sharks in a "profit-sharing" agreement, according to filings in U.S. District Court.

He admitted providing $15,000 to an undercover FBI agent during a meeting at a Chicopee pizza shop in 2014, documents and investigators have stated. Present at the meeting were New York Genovese mob boss Eugene "Rooster" O'Nofrio, Springfield gangster Francesco "Frank" Depergola and the agent, according to the original indictment handed up in August of 2016.

Santaniello, of Longmeadow, and Depergola, of Springfield, were swept up in a massive dragnet of reputed Mafiosos from up and down the East Coast. Meanwhile, the two were charged along with three other local men in a separate indictment out of federal court in this city, accused of extortion, loansharking and other crimes.

Santaniello continues to fight the charges in Springfield, according to his attorney Daniel D. Kelly.

"We have significant concerns about the credibility of the main witness against my client," Kelly said, referring to a Springfield tow company operator only referred to as "Victim One" by investigators.

The witness contends Santaniello and others threatened to kill him if he didn't immediately pay $20,000 in back "tribute" payments the businessman once paid to slain mob boss Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno before Bruno's murder in 2003.

They confronted Victim One in 2013 on a parcel he owned in Hampden, according to the charges. The defendants intimated they were the new, self-proclaimed leaders of the "Springfield Crew," which has long been affiliated with the New York-based Genovese crime family, investigators said.

The Republican previously reported that Santaniello has emerged as the quasi-head of the "Springfield Crew" under the Genovese crime family with the backing of his father, Amedeo Santaniello. The elder Santaniello was once a close confidante of Bruno but has reportedly since fallen out of favor with the new "crew" while his son has been imprisoned.

The current faction has been, according to law enforcement sources, bolstered by the fear factor of Albert Calvanese, a convicted loan shark who has not been charged in this case. Nor has the elder Santaniello.

Santaniello faces up to 30 months in prison at his sentencing, which has not yet been scheduled. However, he was denied bail and has been held behind bars at prisons in Rhode Island and Brooklyn since his arrest more than a year ago.

The local defendants arrested along with Santaniello and Depergola were Giovanni "Johnny Cal" Calabrese and Gerald Daniele, both of Longmeadow, and Richard Valentini of East Longmeadow.

Santaniello, Depergola, Calabrese and Valentini all featured in the shakedown of Victim One to varying degrees, with Santaniello as the ringleader, according to investigators.

Daniele is charged in connection with a separate alleged scheme in which he made an extortionate loan to a gambler.

All the Springfield defendants have denied the locally-based charges against them, while prosecutors in New York are in the midst of a "global" plea deal with dozens of defendants there.

Meanwhile, Jared Olanoff, a lawyer for Valentini, filed a motion to suppress evidence in the case earlier this month.

Olanoff has argued in previous hearings that his client was merely present at some of the recorded meetings and did little but look physically large and nod his head.

Arguing to toss audio and video recordings made by Victim One at the behest of state police, Olanoff contends in his motion that key recordings in the case were based on an illegal warrant.

Olanoff argues the recordings should be thrown out of evidence because they were secured in state court and ran afoul of state wiretap laws.

After a previous pretrial hearing before trial Judge Timothy Hillman, Marianne Shelvey, a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice who specializes in gangs and organized crime cases, said the warrant was properly secured by Hampden Superior Court Judge Tina S. Page.

The affiant on the warrant was Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Brendan O'Toole and authorized electronic transmissions with Santaniello and Calabrese. The two allegedly first approached Victim One and threatened to behead him before Santaniello smacked him in the face. The warrant was broad and authorized transmissions "wherever the named victim is present."

Massachusetts has two-party wiretap laws that vary from the federal system, but there are exemptions. The government has not yet filed its response and a hearing on the matter is set before Hillman on Nov. 6.

Olanoff argues O'Toole was not authorized to seek the warrant and raised other questions about the tactic. Kelly has signaled that he will join Olanoff's motion on Santaniello's behalf.

During the five Springfield defendants' detention hearing last summer, prosecutors presented photos of the witness with an apparently battered face, plus samples of the recording he made over several weeks. These included one recorded in October of 2013, according to prosecutors:

Victim One: "Bruno ... he used to bring me and my mother (opera tickets) all the time. Now I gotta meet this new guy and I get a smack?"

Calabrese: "Well ... you offended him."

Victim One: "Why? Because I told him I didn't know who he was?"

That, Calabrese affirmed, and the fact that Victim One refused to "give them a number," or a "street tax" figure he was willing to pay.

A trial date for the five Springfield defendants has been scheduled for Dec. 17.