A former bodybuilder and reputed Mafia associate who served as a debt collector for a now-defunct Philadelphia-based lending company was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in federal prison for using loan shark-style threats as he sought to collect overdue funds from customers.

Renato “Gino” Gioe, 57, was an enforcer for Par Funding, the former Old City firm that offered quick loans at high interest rates to borrowers deemed too risky to secure financing from traditional banks.

Starting in 2013, prosecutors said, Gioe worked at the direction of Par’s founder, Joseph LaForte: confronting overdue borrowers, ordering them to pay up, and telling some that if they didn’t he would deliver frightening consequences, such as sticking a fork in their heads or cutting off their hands.

Most of the visits made by Gioe — then tanned, tattooed, and muscle-bound — were unannounced, court documents said, and in one instance he stole a customer’s Rolex watch, leading the man to text LaForte: “Please call off the hounds … and by that I mean that animal you sent down here.”

In another episode, according to court documents, Gioe warned a borrower that his wife could become a widow if he failed to pay what he owed.

Still, the sentence given to Gioe on Wednesday was far less than the 15 years a judge imposed on LaForte last month — and not only because of Gioe’s more limited role at the company, which collapsed in 2020.

Prosecutors said Gioe — who pleaded guilty to conspiracy and extortion-related charges in 2022 — became an “exceptional cooperator” in their broader investigation into Par’s misdeeds.

He offered a substantial amount of information about threats he made while working for LaForte, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Newcomer, and provided details that proved invaluable as prosecutors built cases against other Par executives.

“He didn’t shy away from anything,” Newcomer said. “He gave it to us clean and unvarnished.”

In court Thursday, Gioe cut a far less imposing figure than he had during his time at Par. Using a wheelchair because of medical issues that affect his ability to walk, Gioe told U.S. District Judge Mark Kearney that he was “beyond remorseful” for what he did — and that many of his prior transgressions were driven by a drug addiction he has since moved beyond.

“Turning to sobriety allowed me to express my remorse and feel my remorse,” he said.

Kearney said Gioe’s incarceration should be served at a low-security facility focused on inmates with medical issues. While the judge said Gioe deserved credit for his sobriety and cooperation in this case, he said time behind bars was necessary because Gioe had nonetheless played a key role in Par’s illegal activities.

“You were the threat — not because you actually hurt somebody,” Kearney said, “but because you’d be menacing enough that people would be scared.”

Par Funding portrayed itself as a legitimate cash-advance lender, running radio ads and staging elaborate solicitation events to attract investors looking for better returns than the stock market.

The business raised around $500 million over eight years, with LaForte saying the money would be lent to make high-interest-rate “cash-advance loans,” mostly to small businesses that did not qualify for bank loans, and promising yearly returns of 10% or more.

But federal authorities said the business was simply a fraud, operating with massive yearly deficits that it masked through hidden representations in its books. Other issues included failures to properly insure the investments, and a failure to warn investors about LaForte’s prior conviction for financial crimes.

The conspiracy began to unravel in 2020, when Par was unable to pay investors their monthly dividends.

The Securities and Exchange Commission then persuaded a federal judge to put Par under control of a court-appointed receiver, and federal prosecutors in Philadelphia began building a criminal case against the company’s leaders.

Gioe was the first defendant charged in that case, and he pleaded guilty in 2022. Prosecutors said he gave extensive, truthful, and credible testimony against LaForte and his former employers.

(He and his lawyers have long denied assertions authorities made in earlier federal cases that he was an associate of New York’s Gambino crime family.)

LaForte pleaded guilty in 2024 and was sentenced last month to 15 years in prison.

His brother and Par cofounder, James LaForte, was sentenced in March to more than 11 years behind bars.

Three other Par executives are scheduled to be sentenced later this spring. A fourth — a former accountant for the LaFortes, and the only defendant who has not pleaded guilty — is scheduled to go to trial in May.

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