Nicky the Mouth: Bonanno Capo

Nicky Santoro has had a long run in the Mafia.  He was part of the Sonny Black crew that was taken down by FBI Special Agent Pistone aka Donnie Brasco. He has been part of the Bonanno crime family for decades as an associate, made guy, capo and underboss.  Today he is an inmate with the state of New York awaiting trial.  He has gotten away with a lot over the years, but something he can’t get away from has caught up to him: father time.  He is in a hospital bed,  on a no bail hold, and he has filed a lawsuit against the New York City Department of Corrections for negligent and malicious treatment.

I was down at BaMonte's in Brooklyn one Saturday many years ago, and I met Nicky in the parking lot with a loud mouth Colombo guy.  Nicky gave us some NFL jerseys.  Soon after that he was made a capo, then back to a soldier and finally after the boss Joey Massino flipped, he was briefly the underboss of the family.

He has been locked up on a number of charges in the past, but now he is just old and sick.

The state case of enterprise corruption ended in a mistrial last year after two months of trial.

The state is going to retry it, but they want to keep Nicky locked up.

The heart of the case revolves around an online gambling book and the selling of prescription drugs. This is hardly like the Tommy “Shots” Gioeli case. The problem is he has gotten away with a lot in the past.

In 1994 Genovese associate Michael D’Urso and his cousin Bonanno associate Sabatino Lombarti were playing cards at San Giuseppe social club in Greenpoint, Brooklyn when Giancarlo “John” Imbrieco shot D’Urso in the head and then shot Lombardi.  D’Urso survived the hit, but his cousin was killed.

He went to his Genovese capo Rosario Gangi, who told him not to retaliate.  The shooting went down because another Genovese associate owed them $60,000 for a gambling debt.  D’Urso tried to get one of the people involved in the hit, but failed twice.  He was warned by Gangi that if it was him who was behind the failed attempts, he was in big trouble.  So D’Urso went to the FBI and started wearing a wire.  He wore it for three years and took down at least 60 guys, including two bosses of the Genovese family.

It seems John Imbrieco who is now more than 15 years into his 20 year plea deal has asked the judge who sentenced him to give him some leniency.

Imbrieco wrote Judge Leo Glasser and told him that he was a changed man.  He has been a model prisoner, taking plumbing classes and even spin class.

Imbrieco noted that his coconspirator had their case overturned. The Judge asked prosecutors to work out a timed served deal.

The family of Sabatino Lombarti are outraged.  Lombarti might have been a loan shark, but he didn't shoot two people in the back of the head for money.

Once again more drama in the mafia world. I wonder, since most of these guys are getting up in years, if they will find a litigator to keep on retainer who specializes in mafia “slip and fall” civil suits?

Sonny Franzese will be 100 this year and he has not filed one yet.

Criminals Crossing Borders: Salvatore Marciante

Lately the media is filled with outcries against President Trump's strengthening of the US borders.  What nation is able to let anyone who wishes to enter do so with no vetting at all? A nation that will not be sovereign long.  

It is not just Mexican and South American criminals crossing borders, it's terrorists and criminals from around the world.  Last week a small article appeared about a man named Salvatore Marciante, also known as “Baby Face,” who was arrested for entering the country in Nogales, Arizona.

Baby Face was born in Italy and brought to the US by his parents as a child. He grew up in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn on 18th Ave. Some would consider that a bad neighborhood.

His parents came here for a better life.  Instead, Baby Face fell in with a Zip crew from 18th Ave.

"Zips" are what American mafia call the Sicilians operating in the US, because they speak such fast Italian.  

According to a childhood friend of Baby Face, he was a really good guy before he embarked on his life of crime. However, he became deeply involved with the Zips, moving large quantities of cocaine and heroin in what would come to be known as the Pizza Connection II case.

Baby Face and a crew also started robbing wealthy Italian restaurant owners they knew, mostly in Pennsylvania, but also New York and New Jersey.  They targeted them because they knew they had a lot of cash in their homes from unreported income.

Baby Face's best friend was Vincent Carini. Vincent and his brother Eddie botched a hit that was ordered by Carmine Persico, the boss of the Colombo family. They were supposed to kill a federal prosecutor, William Aronwald, who had angered Carmine Persico.  

Persico had given the hit to Joel Cacace, then acting boss of the Colombo family. Cacace scouted out the law office and gave the hit to the Vincent and Eddie - the Carini brothers.  They mistakenly killed George Aronwald, the father of the prosecutor, instead of William the prosecutor.

As a result, Vincent and Eddie were killed. They were found dead inside their cars, parked together on Ave X in Brooklyn.  That's when Baby Face lost his best friend.

In the 1994 Pizza Connection II, the indictment claims Baby Face ran a crew that sold multi kilos of heroin and lesser amounts of cocaine. He was arrested while still locked up for his involvement in what would later be known as the Petrified Forest case. He did his time for the heroin case and the home invasions, and he was then deported to Italy.

He moved to Canada, where he opened a restaurant that did well.  He was found out by the Canadians and was deported for overstaying his visa.

He lived in Italy for twelve years, and apparently kept out of trouble.

He recently made his way to Mexico where he attempted reentry into the US. People ask why we need to strengthen our borders. Salvatore Marciante, formerly of Staten Island, is one good reason.

Colombo Follies

The Colombo family never fails to deliver when it comes to material for the blog, and this week is no exception.

Carmine Persico, who received a 100 year sentence in the Commission case back in 1987, filed a motion to have his sentence set aside.

Persico claims that new FBI files prove that he was not boss of the family when Carmine Galante was murdered.  

The Galante murder was ordered by the Commission and it was carried out in Bushwick Brooklyn at Joe and Mary's Italian restaurant. The photograph of his corpse splayed out with a cigar in his mouth is iconic.  

Persico claims that if he was not boss in 1979 then he was not on the Commission and could not have ordered the murder.  

Judge Kevin Duffy does not agree.  He found that Persico’s new material was not case changing and the outcome at the trial would have been the same.   

The good news is that Persico will remain behind bars until he gets parole, or he is maxed out in 2050 when he will be 115 years old.

Speaking of oldtimers, how about the oldest federal prison inmate Sonny Franzese who filed papers last year for compassionate release consideration from his 96 month sentence.

Franzese was convicted of racketeering in a case that featured his son John testifying against him.  He was convicted of extortion of the Penthouse and Hustler stripclubs in Manahatten.

Franzese was also caught on tape speaking about murdering so many people he could not remember how many he committed.

So far he has been denied early release and he is now appealing the decision.

Franzese is scheduled to be released in june of 2017 when he will be 100 years old.  

Franzese has spent over 40 years of his life behind bars, a feat that Teddy Persico seems determined to match.

This week Louis Barbati the co-owner of L&B Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn was shot multiple times in his backyard by a hoodie-wearing gunman. Barbati was returning from the pizzeria carrying a bag of bread and 10k in cash.  He went around to the rear entrance when he was confronted by a 30 year old white male wearing a hoodie.  The man fired five times, striking at least twice in the back.  He then took off and escaped in a white car leaving behind the cash and a dead man.

The police are saying it was a robbery, but usually with robbery the object is to take cash, not murder.

L&B Spumoni Garden was the center of a mafia sitdown a few years ago.  Frank Guerra aka BF is a long time Colombo associate who was married to one of the owners.  A former employee stole the sauce recipe from L&B when he worked at L&B.  He opened a pizzeria on Staten Island called The Square.

BF Confronted him with another Colombo soldier and later received 4k in a family sit down.

The Colombo family delivers again.

A Semi-Victory for the Bonanno Family

People probably wonder why state and federal law enforcement agencies spend so much time and resources to put away a few men.  There are, after all, cartels, sex traffickers, Russians, Albanians, Chinese and the big one: Islamic terrorists on the streets of New York.

The Cosa Nostra is like no other group.  The Bonanno family is the cockroach of the underworld.  Law enforcement thinks they got rid of them, yet they come out of the woodwork again and again.

They lost their namesake boss Joe Bonanno when he went power hungry and caused a war. Then he wrote a book.  They had a rough time when the family broke into factions and part of the Sicilian crew did their own thing.  Then came Donnie Brasco, a jewel thief who became part of their crew.  They even drew in the legendary boss of Tampa, Santo Trafficante, and the boss of Milwaukee, Frank Balistrieri.

One of the guys who had interactions with Donnie Brasco was Nicky Santoro. Nicky Santoro has been an associate, a soldier, a capo and even an acting underboss.  Nicky has lived in that world his whole life.

On May 10, 2016 Nicky Santoro won a small victory in a Manhattan courtroom.  Nicky, Vito Badamo, Ernst Aiello and Anthony Santoro had been on trial for the last two months.  They faced charges including Enterprise Corruption which is the state's version of RICO.  

They took part in bookmaking, loan sharking, and get this: selling Viagra.  They infiltrated Teamsters Local 917.  

The jurors heard over 450 intercepted phone calls and heard from cooperating informants. The problem?  Not much action.  No murders, just talk.  The Bonannos just won another trial when the Feds took on Vincent Asaro.  They charged Vincent with the Lufthansa Heist at JFK that was immortalized in the film Goodfellas and a murder with Jimmy Burke.   The problem is they were decades old cases.

Nicky and his crew had a Costa Rican internet based sports book that brought in millions. Nicky was heard on tape telling Vito Badamo that he had to know everything he was doing in the street.  That no card games could happen without him.  

The state may try again or maybe they will settle for a plea if they will take one.

When I was in Brooklyn we met Nicky Santoro at BaMonte’s in Brooklyn.  He was selling knock off NFL Jerseys and he gave me one. I did record that day.  I saw a guy close with Craig Marino (Colombo soldier) and John Baudanza (Lucchese soldier) in the place meeting with some guys.  Jerry Degerolamo is there and he asked me not to say anything.  Jerry would later go down with Craig and John in a stock fraud case.  I hear both of those guys are out in a halfway house.

The people who were handling me at this time toyed with the idea of trying to sell Nicky and the Bonannos a warehouse full of knockoff software. They decided to go with Teddy Persico instead because he was a loose cannon.  

Nicky's boss was Joe Massino, who had changed the Bonanno family name to the Massino family after Joe Bonanno’s book disgraced the name.  Joe would later go with Team America and become the first boss to flip.  Nicky is still living the life. I wonder if he is happy?

Tales from the street

If you just ran across this blog today, I will share with you a short version of my story.  I was on the street many years with the LA Family in Los Angeles and the Colombos in Brooklyn.  I also wore a wire for the FBI for 8 years.

I no longer miss that life at all.  It is still and always will be a part of me, but it's the past.  I do wonder what will happen to some of those I once knew.

I heard this week about the passing of an old timer that I liked.  He was the last of a breed. He was a second generation wiseguy whose father was made famous in “Guys and Dolls.”

He was in the music business for decades.  He was very close to English gangsters and their firms.  He met with the Kray Brothers and when one came to America he was there.  I once sat in his place when he called Joey Pyle, an English gangster, and he put me on the phone.  I played Joey a tape of a guy here.  Well he made it to his August 31st 90th birthday and passed away on September 11th, 2015.  I know he missed going to the Thursday Spaghetti night at Pelham Club.  Goodbye, RIP.

I recently spoke to an FBI Agent who handled me when I was on the street.  It had been awhile and I’m sure he was glad to hear that I had moved past that life.

The FBI kept every promise they made to me.  They treated me very well. Looking back, it was a good decision.  They gave me a life and all I can say is thank you.

When you lived that life, it is hard to let go of old habits. Once you cooperate you are no longer part of that life.  You are faking it, a strange acting job.  Many guys cannot get passed it.  They live in the past.

I was surprised when I read a story about Joseph Barone Jr. who was an informant inside the Bonanno family for 18 years. He won a ruling in Federal Court that he could sue the FBI.

Joseph Barone Jr. was the son of Joseph Barone Sr., a Genovese family guy who was murdered on orders by Chin Gigante in 1992. Joseph Barone Jr. started informing for the FBI not long after his murder.  I know another guy who wore a wire after the Colombo family killed his father. They might as well, those people are not their friends.

After 18 years Joseph Barone Jr. says the FBI could no longer use him as an informant so they set him up on charges. He was rolled up in a plot to murder a businessman for insurance money. He was kept in solitary for 18 months while his case went to trial.  He was acquitted by the jury. I cannot see him winning this case but after all, stranger things have happened.  

In Chicago there was some updated Outfit news. Frank Calabrese Sr. supposedly had a stolen rare Stradivarius violin hidden in a vacation home in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.  I heard from some people that it was not actually a rare Stradivarius violin and that it was long gone.  Frank Sr. knew it, but a priest fell into his trap of greed. Eugene Klein, a former Roman Catholic priest visited Frank Sr. and accepted notes from him.  The government wanted the judge to give Klien 5 years for the whole scheme but the judge only gave him one day and 200 hours of community service.  He doubted the violin story. The police in Williams Bay said a burglar broke into the home and gained entrance to a secret room which was emptied.  Who knows what was there.

Greed will do you in every time.

Joe Denti Jr. Follows in His Father's Footsteps

Joe Denti Sr. was a Bronx shylock who became a capo.  He had a payphone business that did really well.  The rumor is that he also had some friends that helped him stay out of trouble.

Joe Denti died in Beverly Hills from a heart attack in 1996.  He was in the movie business living in Charo’s Beverly Hills home.  He produced the movie Opposite Corners, which was a bomb.

He was friendly with Joe Pesci and a few other actors.

He was still doing business in Los Angeles from Nicky Blair's on Sunset Blvd.  In the mid 1990’s some LA Family guy's got $100k from a real wannabe.  They used it to bankroll some card games.  The guy then told them the $100k was Joe Dente Sr.’s.  This sent Jimmy Caci through the roof.  He called his buddy Rudy Santobello about Joe.  Rudy and Jimmy had spent a few years in Attica together.  Jimmy had never been introduced to Joe so he went to Nicky Blair's.  It was on Sunset that a pistol Jimmy had in his waistband slid down and smashed his foot.  Jimmy would complain for years that it gave him “the Gout.” The wannabe was on the hook for the cash.  The LA guys made a pile of cash and gave it back to Joe Denti.

It would seem the apple didnt fall far from the tree because on March 16th Joe Denti Jr. was picked up by the New Jersey detectives of the Division of Criminal Justice.  They claim Heidi Francavilla, Joseph Giardina, Ralph Perricelli Jr. and Joe Denti Jr. all took part in a scam business.

Heidi Francavilla seems to be a mover.  She was charged in another bogus investment scheme in September 2015, in which she is charged with stealing 3 million dollars from investors.

This time the NJ Detectives snared a bigger fish in Joe Denti Jr., a Genovese Capo.

Joe Denti Jr. is charged with convincing a Doctor to advance $250k for a surgical center and then using the money for his own use. He also scammed a married couple into giving him $100k for a blood testing center.

Ralph Perricelli and Joe Denti Jr. laundered the money through a blood testing company that he used to own.  

Heidi Francavilla used a number of shell companies to launder other money.

They got away with it for a long time because they stole the doctor’s money back in 2011, but they held him off by making him promise after promise.

They claimed that they would each put up $250k for the surgical center and that they would have a union send all of its members to the center.  The doctor would be repaid first and then they would split the money that came into the business.

They are facing 5 to 10 years in prison, but we all know they will not get that much actual time. Unless somebody else flips and gives up other crimes.

Most likely they will all take plea deals and spend maybe four years inside.

The Edcia Saga

Edcia was a company formed by “Mob Wives” Alicia Garofalo and Debra Specchio and operated under the name Big R Trucking.  It was listed the office at the same address as a porn company and later had its trucks at the Bonafide yard in Brooklyn. On February 11, 2005, Edcia filed an application for an exemption from licensing and a trade waste registration with the City of New York Business Integrity Commission.

If you look at the name you can see where they came up with Edcia.  Eddie and Alicia.

Debra Specchio is the wife of Steve Marcus who would later wear a wire against Eddie and the Persicos.  Steve was caught on tape by me and the FBI was able to go up on their phones.  Steve was confronted by the FBI and they made him an offer he couldn't refuse. Steve joined Team USA.  

On August 18, 2006, the Commission issued a 15-page recommendation that the application be denied.

Eddie and Steve Marcus were already doing business all over New York and parts of New Jersey.  

One of the reasons the Commission denied the company and exemption was Eddie’s friendship with Teddy Persico Jr.  Teddy was released from prison on April 28, 2004 after 16 years for dealing cocaine.  Eddie knew full well what Teddy was going to do when he got out.  Eddie arranged Teddy’s limo ride home. Eddie knew Teddy was going to eat at a restaurant in the city with other Colombos.  Eddie was supposed to keep Teddy out of trouble while he got acclimated to being free.  Eddie knew Teddy most of his life and after Eddie’s father was killed Teddy stepped up for him so he could make a living.  Eddie knew without a doubt that Teddy was in the Colombo family.  

Eddie was recorded by the Commission telling them he knew Teddy all his life and they were friends and that he did believe he was what they claimed.  The Commission used the tape I made in Eddie’s truck with Teddy yelling about Craig Marino and his brother Carmine having dirty bullets in his gun.

Eddie also claimed to the Commission that he was helping out Teddy because he had no family and his father was in prison.  Really?  Danny, Sean, Carmine and all the cousins?  

May 27, 2004 a month after Persico’s release and during the same time period Persico possessed the gun charged in the indictment, Persico incorporated T&E Leasing Corp. (“T&E”) which is for Teddy and Eddie.  Eddie had him buy some trucks and then lease them to him so he had something to show money coming in monthly.

Eddie told the Commission that he did not know Teddy was a member of Organized Crime until he got Teddy’s indictment from his brother and he read about Teddy.  

Even after Teddy took the plea deal Eddie still would not believe he was a Colombo.

The biggest farce is that Michael Persico loaned Eddie the money to start Edcia on a handshake and promise. Don’t most people get 100k on just a handshake from the boss of the Colombo family's son?  He had to go back and ask Michael for an extra 50k.

Eddie worked for Edcia for free and did not take a salary.  I wonder how he paid for his gambling and vacations?  He told the Commission that he was his wife’s “fire man,” “If there is a fire, I go put it out.”

Eddie is now free and back with his family.  Teddy is locked up and Michael is still awaiting sentencing.   He and his wife sure got off easy.

Joe Colombo

I write about the Colombo family often, but how many know how it all started?  

It came about after prohibition-era gangster Frankie Uale was murdered and his rackets were divided up between men in Brooklyn.  Giuseppe Profaci was granted the largest piece of the rackets.  One of those who also received a piece was a man named Anthony Colombo who had a son named Joseph who would one day head the family.  

Anthony would be garroted and found in a car on a Bay Ridge Brooklyn street when Joe was high school.  Joe’s mother was afraid gangsters would kill him or his family so she decided to move the family to California.

Joe decided to stay in Brooklyn.  He was hooked up with jobs through Carlo Gambino and he started hustling on the side.

He was a hard worker and he was pulling down cash by having craps games.  Then came World War Two and one year into the war he volunteered for the Coast Guard.

He was assigned to the Falgout which was on escort duty for convoys.  He saw combat when German planes and submarines attacked the convoys.

Joe ended up in trouble for being AWOL when his ship was in New York.  He had to spend 7 months in the brig on Hart's Island. He did receive an honorable discharge and was offered disability checks for his shock but he decided not to take them.

He started working on the Brooklyn docks that were run by Albert Anastasia, who at the time was head of the family.  Soon it would become the Gambino Family after Albert was gunned down while getting a shave in the city.

When the police and the FBI started putting the heat on the Brooklyn docks he decided on a new line of work.  He soon started to work for Peter Castellano in the meat business as a salesman.

He opened a social club and it soon became a hub for various gambling ventures.

Joe was working hard moving up in the life when Joey Gallo and his crew on President Street carried out a hit on Frank “Shots” Abbatemarco for Giuseppe Profaci the boss of the family.  

They thought they would receive a piece of Shots’ gambling action in their neighborhood.  Profaci decided not to give them anything and that started a war.

The Gallos started kidnapping members of Profaci’s inner circle.  Larry Gallo was lured to a lounge where an assassin tried to strangle him.  He was unconscious when a policeman stumbled in on the whole thing and saw his feet as he lay on the ground.  

That scene and another incident from the Gallo war would become part of popular culture when they were played out out on the big screen.  The Gallo’s would get a package with a fish and clothes that belonged to their toughest enforcer Joe Jelly.  The message was clear Joe Jelly slept with the fish and he would not be seen again.

Next week Joe Colombo ascends to the top spot and joins The Italian American Civil Rights league.

Bartolomeo "Bobby Glasses" Vernace : The Gambino Capo

Bartolomeo “Bobby Glasses” Vernace struck out recently with his appeal.  The US Court of Appeals upheld his conviction for the murder in the Shamrock Bar during Western Night in 1981.

Bobby’s lawyers argued that the killings were over a personal dispute and not part of the Gambino Crime Family business.

Bobby Glasses had beat a state case for murder in the killings.  The Feds took another bite at the apple by charging him with racketeering.  It's really a catch all because they just have to prove that he is guilty of the predicated acts listed in the indictment and then he gets a big sentence.

The murders went down like this.  April 10, 1981, Gambino associate Frank Riccardi was in the Shamrock  when someone spilled a drink on the girlfriend of a friend.  He started arguing with the guy.  Bar owners  John D'Agnese and Richard Godkin approached Frank and tried to calm him down.  They exchanged words and Frank grabbed a bottle of vodka from the bar and slammed it down and said, “No, I run this place.”   Frank left and went to a Gambino social club where he asked Bobby and Ronald Barlin to help him.  They returned to the Shamrock and shot D’Agnese and Godkin.  They both died the next day.  The bar was full of people that night, but everyone was afraid.  Bobby went on the lam until years later.  He was acquitted in state court for the murders and then inducted into the Gambino family.  

The government claimed that it was part of the Gambino crime family crimes that he was charged with in the indictment.  They claim the two murders were to enhance the Gambino crime family.  They played a tape in court when one of his associates referenced the two murders to scare a loan shark debtor into paying what he owed.

Bobby had done well since the murders.  He had gone from associate to capo on the ruling panel of the family.  He ran lucrative Baccarat games at cafes and coffee shops.  He had a lot of money on the street in shylock loans.  He also ran a lot of “joker poker” machines in cafes that brought in more than 2,000 dollars a day.

They used some old convictions for heroin trafficking to show that he was committing crimes on behalf of the Gambino family.  Robbery also became another predicated act.

To pile on counts they also charged him with possession of a firearm when he went into the Shamrock bar.  The jury found him guilty of nine predicated acts of racketeering.

Another highlight of his trial was Linda Gotti, the daughter of Peter Gotti, former boss of the Gambinos and brother of John Gotti.  She testified that her father and uncle talked her into recanting her identification of Bobby, Ronald and Frank that night in the Shamrock.  Her boyfriend was John D’Agnese and she was present that night.  

It took the FBI 33 years but they served up some justice.

Gambinos: Still Making Book.

The Brooklyn District Attorney's office just spent 17 months, and I'm sure millions of hard earned taxpayer dollars, to take down a bookmaking operation.

The operation was run in New Jersey by Patrick Deluise, a bookmaker, Illegal fireworks seller and a shylock debtor.

The Brooklyn D.A. may have some problems of its own now. Detective Investigator Nicole Byrd, who was in charge of the 24 hour command center for the investigation, was fired for falsifying records so she could get overtime pay when she was not even on the job.

Four other investigators are being looked at by law enforcement for possible padded hours on the job.

Now it may have really blown up in their faces, because Patrick Deluise shot himself after he was approached to flip on his co-conspirators.

I understand that they were trying to shut down a mafia run book making operation.  We know they will use the cash to fund other operations.  The government now picks and chooses which crimes to go after.  Betting on football, basketball and baseball is a joke.  Everyone bets and that is why they have so many viewers on Superbowl Sunday.

They cannot stop the million plus illegal immigrants pouring across our southern border, but they pour tax money into shutting down a bookie in New Jersey?

Tons of heroin is coming across the border but they can’t bother to secure our border.  Something is wrong here.

Patrick Deluise is considered a “victim” because “he borrowed cash from a shylock.”

He borrowed $50,000 to pay for an experimental cancer treatment in Germany for his wife.  He agreed to the terms and took the cash.  He was not forced to take a loan.  

Most people could not borrow from a shylock and would just lose their homes, cars etc., paying for medical care.

He borrowed the cash from Anthony Vallario at a rate of $2,400 a month interest.  He had paid $129,600 interest on it.  He knew what it would cost when he took the cash and he knew it was an interest loan, not a knockdown loan, which means he had to pay back the $50,000 all at once.  

So the DA will charge Anthony Vallario with Loan Sharking, a guy who ran a 10 million dollar online bookmaking business.  Patrick used wagersport.com and other sites for his customers in Brooklyn.  They would bet online or call in and his guys would pay in Bay Ridge Brooklyn.  Patrick involved his two sons in his operation.  

Anthony Vallario is a big fish for the Brooklyn DA because his brother Louis Vallario is a capo in the Gambino family.

Still, one has to wonder is the time and money worth taking down a bookmaker who will be replaced before I'm done writing this blog?

The Mafia Hit Man's Daughter

If you google the name Gregory Scarpa, up will pop words such as his nickname, “the Grim Reaper,” “Mafia capo,” and “FBI informant.”

Greg was also a husband and father.  

I recently read the new book, “The Mafia Hit Man's Daughter,” written by  Greg's daughter Linda.

I did not know Greg, who was a capo in the Colombo Family.  I did, however, know a lot of people in the book.  I knew some of his intended victims and those that tried to make him a victim.  

The book is a well written look inside a mafia leader’s family life.  Greg comes off as charming in beginning.  It sucks you into the life so you are almost living it with Linda and her mother, Big Linda.  This is a not a book that glamorizes the life, but a look at the truth.

As you read along, you begin to accept things as okay even when you know they are not - which is exactly how it happens in the life.  I'll give you a few examples.  

When someone goes into the armed forces they go away to bootcamp.  They go through physical stress as well as emotional stress.  Everyone around them is dressed the same and going through the same experience.  They use the same lingo for common things, which people outside that life don't use.  Everything about that life is becomes normal to them, but if you were to do the same things for a day you would find it grueling.  The same with going into law enforcement or the fire department. Life in service (that is not normal to anyone outside of service) becomes normal and accepted when you are a part of it.

Greg Scarpa’s wife Big Linda grew up in Brooklyn and the people she saw often were involved in the mafia.

Today it is easy to forget that the Italians and Jews were once the immigrants who lived in the ghetto.  They were blue collar and many worked hard to assimilate into American society.  They kept their heritage but became Americans.  They still lived in neighborhoods like Bensonhurst, Brooklyn but they worked their way up to become middle class.  I knew some old Italian mafia guys and they still talked about how they were spit on as kids.  A couple of them boxed and they took Irish names so they could get fights, since Italians were not seen as fighters.  

In 1962 at Flamingo Lounge at 72nd St. and 13th Ave in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Big Linda met a 35 year old Greg Scarpa.  It was the glory days of the American mafia and these guys ruled the city with an iron fist.  She was already dazzled by these men in power, but Greg was a different story.  He was handsome and very self confident, but he was very nice. He did everything for her and she was willing to overlook the small things like gambling and robbery.  Why not - he was a good man to her.  When she found out he murdered people it was the same, because she did not see the devastation up close.

Big Linda was also a witness to Greg's double life as an FBI informant.  This is the part of the book that is fascinating. When you read it you will be shocked at how far the government is willing to go in order to put away certain people.  

I was an FBI informant, and guess what, so are many guys still on the street.  The founder of the modern mafia, Lucky Luciano, was an informant.  It gives you an edge to others on the street. You don't have to worry about the law, just those in the street.  

Greg loved the life and he never intended to leave it.  He used the FBI for money and most importantly, intel on his enemies or other law enforcement agencies.  I've known a lot of informants over the years.  I knew many who did just what I did and got out.  I knew others that used the FBI to continue their crime spree and even commit murder.  One man I knew flooded Southern California with cocaine from the Medellin Cartel and murder whoever displeased him.  He was a long time FBI informant that never should have been.  The DEA warned the FBI not to use him because he was still a top cocaine supplier and a murderer.  They used him anyway, and he died of old age in his bed.

The book gives names and times Greg met with the FBI and intel agents gave him.  The agents broke the rules and became friends with Greg.  They vacationed with him and ate meals.  How they did not get put away is beyond me.  I guess this is why today the agents work in pairs and when important papers have to be signed a fresh agent must witness it.

The book is not a Mafia tell all that names names and specific crimes, but it is a great look into the world.  I know guys who were on the hit Linda describes in the book when the Wild Bill faction of the Colombo family tried to get him.  I've been told first hand by a shooter what went down and the version in the book is right on.  

Linda talks about going to Florida with guys from her father's crew when they were on vacation.  The guys from the crew were really going to carry out a murder.  The guy she named was Joe Peraino.  Joe Peraino and his brother Tony owned a porn company Arrow Film and Video.  They had many, but Arrow was the most famous.  Tony’s son Butch produced Deepthroat which became a moneymaker beyond anything the Mafia ever did in porn.  Tony, who I knew as Big Tony, was a made Colombo and so was his brother Joe.  They came from a line of mafia bosses.  They had interests in the garment center but after Deepthroat took off, the money became an issue.  

The Colombos sided with Big Tony.  A hit team that included Tommy Shots Gioeli chased down Joe and his son in Brooklyn.  They killed Joe’s son and a nun, but Joe lived out his life in a wheelchair in Florida.

The book is accurate and a great read, pick it up today if you’d like an inside peak into the life.

Battista “Benny” Geritano

Battista “Benny” Geritano is a long time Gambino Family Associate and a real tough guy who comes from a long line of wiseguys.  He once had a problem with a young made guy from the Lucchese Family.  The guy came to see him and the guy started telling him he had better watch the way he spoke.  Benny looked at him and said, “Why? Who are you? You got guns?  I got guns. Get lost.” This is how Benny felt towards guys who for one reason or another got inducted into a family and then thought they could throw their weight around.  He would respect you if you were a tough guy and laugh in your face if you were not, regardless of your status.

Alphonse "Allie Shades" Malangone was a Capo for the Genovese Family and a huge money maker.  He ran the Fulton Fish market and controlled a lot of the private carting industry. He also had restaurants and nightclubs in Brooklyn. His status as a money maker never stopped Benny from messing with Allie Shades’ girlfriend, Margo. He was told to stop and he kept it up.  Allie Shades banned him from the Brooklyn night spots Pastels and Turquoise. Benny didn't care and he would show up at the clubs anyway with the rest of his friends until the guys running the clubs would beg his friends to leave so they wouldn’t have trouble.  Margo and Benny eventually had a falling out and she ran to Allie Shades, who went to the Gambinos for a sit down over it.  Nothing happened to Benny though.

Benny’s stepfather Anthony "Shorty" Mascuzzio was once one of John Gotti’s inner circle.  That is, until he went to shakedown Bedrox  (a Mid-town disco) where he began pistol whipping the owner who then took his gun away from him and shot him dead. Benny’s stepbrother, Anthony Mascuzzio Junior is a Gambino who went away until this year for being part of a marijuana trafficking group. He also used a baseball bat on some black thugs that tried to steal his Rolex once.  

Preston J. Geritano was Benny’s uncle and a Genovese associate.  He was stabbed to death by his brother-in-law, Genovese mobster Andy Gargiulo, aka Andy Wilson, in front of Amici’s in Brooklyn.

Preston J. Geritano Junior was arrested for money laundering.  

Benny was part of what would be called the Night Drop Crew by the Feds.  The crew robbed banks by prying open the night deposit boxes and taking the deposits.  They developed remote controlled drills and used fishing gaffs to retrieve the cash.  

They all had walkie talkies and police scanners.  They got away with it from 1993 to 2003.

Benny ended up with a 71 month sentence for his part in the 10 year crime spree.

He went away and did his time.  He was busted for smoking weed when his urine test came back dirty.

An FBI Agent testified at his parole hearing that he was a suspect in four separate murders.  

Then Benny got into a fight in April of 2011 on Court Street in Brooklyn with Mark Iacono, owner of Lucali pizzeria. He was soon stabbing him on the sidewalk until both men were bloody.  Benny took off from the scene and was later found at a hospital with stab wounds including some in his back.  Benny and Mark both declined to press charges or testify in front of a grand jury.  Benny however did tell the court during his parole hearing some strange stuff.  He told the court he had been a Gambino associate and that members of a crime family wanted him dead.  He then told the court that he was trying to go straight.

The same FBI agent who claimed he was the suspect in four murders told the court that Benny was also a suspect in a bank burglary in Bensonhurst Brooklyn that took place over a holiday weekend.

The FBI had him under surveillance but failed to keep track of him.

Benny managed to get away with that stabbing but he was soon in trouble again.  This time on the night of December 23, 2012 he went to Nouveau bar in Brooklyn. He must have been in a foul mood because when a guy named Nunzio Fusco bumped into him Benny went crazy. Nunzio apologized to him and went to the bar for some drinks.  Benny followed him and Nunzio told him again he was sorry and did not want any trouble.  Benny shoved Nunzio’s girlfriend and Nunzio jumped to her defense.  Benny and Nunzio were soon trading punches until bouncers broke it up.  Benny took off and Nunzio noticed he was bleeding.   He had been stabbed three times.  Twice in the gut and once in the shoulder.  Detectives went to the bar owner who turned over a video of the incident.  The video showed Benny with the knife.  A few days after turning over the video to the police the bar owner was shot on Staten Island. He lived but he claims to not have seen the shooter.

Benny went to trial on the stabbing charges and was found guilty.  The judge gave him 12 years in prison.  He will be be 50 when he gets out and he will still be plenty tough.