Aug. 17 (Bloomberg) -- The highest-ranking member of the Genovese organized crime family in New Jersey and 15 associates were charged today with running a $5 million gambling, loan sharking and extortion racket, federal prosecutors said.

The lead defendant, Lawrence ``Little Larry'' Dentico, 81, of Seaside Park, serves in the ``administration'' of the Genovese family while its boss, Vincent ``The Chin'' Gigante, is in prison, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Christopher Christie's office in Newark.

The Genovese mob has been considered among the most powerful of New York's Five Families, according to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

``This is a major hit against the influence and impact of the mob in New Jersey,'' Christie said in the statement. ``The decline of the major crime families continues with prosecutions like these, but we will tighten our grip even more.''

The men are accused in a 19-count indictment of running a football betting ring from a social club in Hoboken and a pub in Jersey City, that took in $1.6 million in loan sharking, $2.8 million in gambling and $600,000 in ``tribute'' payments to the New York-based crime family since 1997, the statement said.

Fourteen of the 16 defendants were arrested this morning and are to appear in U.S. District Court in Newark today, prosecutors said. Most of the defendants are from Hudson County, New Jersey, though others were arrested elsewhere in the state and in New York, authorities said.

Dentico, who ranks as a capo or captain, and three other family members were indicted on racketeering charges by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Brooklyn in April. Dentico was already in custody on the earlier charges, authorities said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Dolmetsch in New York at cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 17, 2005 15:39 EDT