Salvatore Carta was a member of a Genovese family protection racket headed by Yonkers hoodlum John Tortora. The racket preyed on Yonkers and Westchester County restaurant and bar owners. Tortora was closely associated with a racket that extorted money from management of Red Grove Social Club in Yonkers. Carta was charged with multiple counts of perjury before he was also indicted for assaulting his girlfriend. Late one evening in August 1969 Carta was found dead. He was slumped over the steering wheel of his wife's late model Cadillac, on Route 9 near Cortland and Chimney Quarters.