A campaign volunteer for Brooklyn state Senate wannabe Vito Bruno has quoted Hitler and Mussolini and posted numerous antisemitic messages on his Twitter account.
“Hitler was right then, and it applies today. As he said in his book he didn’t hate the Jewish religion, he hated communism,” Raymond Ranaletta wrote Tuesday, including a picture of the infamously anti-Semitic dictator and a swastika in the tweet.
Ranaletta’s also approvingly tweeted a picture of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, along with a quote attributed to him. The campaign volunteer’s Twitter bio describes him as a “3rd positionist,” part of a movement described as a new form of fascism.
Ranaletta proudly showed his connection to Bruno — a former nightclub owner whose past includes since-denied claims of paying off cops and supplying celebrities with drugs — by tweeting pictures of himself campaigning, with one image that appears to show Ranaletta alongside the candidate.
“This month during American Italian Heritage month we look to Italians like @VitoBruno718 Nov 3 to keep our history going,” Ranaletta tweeted on Oct. 3.
The volunteer’s tweets include vile rants against Jewish people.
“I live in Brooklyn the 1st mistake u can make is blaming them, or giving them credit. Every level of gov’t from local, state, federal is nothing but a jewish/zionist 👈 👉 civil war at the expense of both goyim/jew alike,” he wrote Oct. 19.
“Antisemitism has no place in our society and I unequivocally condemn these tweets. This individual is not on my campaign payroll and does not represent my views. Period,” Bruno said in a statement.
Bruno’s spokesman Nick Chambles said Ranaletta “volunteered a few times,” adding he hadn’t seen him in “weeks.” The campaign appeared to unfollow Ranaletta on Twitter after it was contacted by the Daily News.
Ranaletta retweeted numerous antisemitic statements since he joined Twitter in July.
One stated: “Google’s algorithms are programmed to be pro-Israeli. Are not all the TEch [sic] oligarchs Jewish Zionists.
Bruno is running as a Republican against state Sen. Andrew Gounardes, a Democrat, in the November election to rep a swath of South Brooklyn including Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst. Bay Ridge saw tense exchanges between “Blue Lives Matter” activists and counter-protesters over the summer.
“We’re shocked and disgusted, though sadly not surprised, that this is the kind of person Vito Bruno surrounds himself with and the kind of judgment he exhibits,” a spokesperson for Gounardes said in a statement.