It was a novel defense for two men federal prosecutors had accused of being in control of one of New York’s oldest crime families: they claimed the Mafia had long ago been dismantled and they were being unfairly profiled as gangsters because of their Italian ethnicity. But the strategy seemed to work.

On Wednesday, a jury in federal court in Manhattan acquitted the men, Joseph Cammarano Jr. and John Zancocchio, of racketeering and conspiracy to commit extortion charges, after a colorful two-week trial. Prosecutors had presented evidence that Mr. Cammarano and Mr. Zancocchio were the boss and consigliere, respectively, of the infamous Bonanno crime family, one of the five families that once controlled organized crime in New York.