Informants and Law Enforcement

The FBI has used informants and the RICO statute to rip the guts out of the mafia in recent years. Why do they need informants?

The mafia was almost untouchable until the 1980’s because they had a structure with a defined chain of command.  The FBI or the local police would make a case and they would mostly get the low hanging fruit: soldiers or associates, occasionally a capo.

Then they started using a four pronged attack plan to go after the mafia: 1) informants 2) electronic surveillance 3)RICO and 4) witness protection.

They would use RICO to enhance sentences, seize assets and take down members who for a long time were almost immune to prosecution.  Decades long sentences made guys think twice about keeping their mouths shut.  

There are two kinds of informants. One flips when he is already awaiting trial.  He will testify at the trial of his co-defendants and others.  Another is an informant that agrees to help law enforcement gather proof of crimes by wearing a wire and gathering intelligence.  Both kinds of informants can be of immense help to law enforcement because of their historical knowledge and unique access to the group. They can give valuable insight into the types of crimes and the M.O. of the people being investigated.  They can can give layouts and details about places that will be bugged.  They can get and give up cell phone numbers that are used for crimes.

Then law enforcement began to master electronic surveillance.  They use pen registers to figure out what numbers are frequently called by a target.  With that knowledge and other information from informants they can obtain a wiretap and begin listening in on criminal conversations.  In the old days they would have to put a device in the phone or tap into the actual wires.  Most of the wires they use are not transmitters but recorders that last 10 hours or more. They are so small they can fit inside a watch.  They had remote video cameras all over because they are cheap and small. Today they just serve a warrant to your carrier and its done.  

Then comes RICO, which allows them to charge people with crimes that they may have already served time for in the past.  All they have to prove is that you committed them in concert with the organization.  They can seize assets that you gained or were used in crimes. This hit the mafia hard because guys would do the time and come back to economic ruin.

All of this would have not been so effective if not for the WITSEC or witness relocation program.  If you would just be left on street to be killed you might as well do the time.  The program offered a new life, new name and a new place to call home.  This is one of the most effective tools in law enforcement's arsenal against organized crime.

They do let some bad guys off with short sentences but they believe the long term good for society more than makes up for it. There are some bad apples that return to a life of crime, but most just live out their lives.  This aspect of law enforcement is very different in the United States than it is in Europe where they rarely use informants.  When they do, they refer to them as infiltrators and they do not provide WITSEC.

This week in Florida Governor Rick Scott and the clemency cabinet agreed to commute Kevin Bonner’s sentence.  Bonner had cooperated against the Gambino family in the Florida case 10 years ago.  He testified that John Gotti Jr. stabbed Danny Siva to death at the Silver Fox bar in Queens in 1983.  The jury chose not to convict Junior Gotti for that crime or a host of others.  

The FBI and the US Attorney's office went to bat for Bonner.  They all sent letters and some testified.  One of his letters was from Loretta Lynch, the Attorney General of the United States.

Bonner did not commit the murder with the Gambinos, but he was around them.  

You decide, are informants good?

Joe Watts

The rule for a long time was that you had to be 100% Italian to be inducted into a Mafia Family.

The rules were changed by the Commission in the 1980’s to include those who had an Italian father.  That way, guys like John Gotti Jr. could be inducted into the Gambino family. Some of the toughest, most loyal and biggest moneymakers are the non-Italians that were close to the Mafia. One man served the Gambino family from the days of Carlo Gambino to the dark days of Junior Gotti.  The man? Joseph Watts, a German who was one of John Gotti Sr.’s most loyal men.

When John Sr. barked, it was Joe Watts that would bite.  He was so trusted that he was in on the planning and the hit of Gambino Boss Paul Castellano.  The spectacular murder took place in midtown Manhattan during rush hour.  Joe Watts was a back up shooter wearing a fur cap and trench coat.  It has been said that Joe took over Tommy Bilotti’s Shylock loans after the murder.  Joe was known as a Shylock’s Shylock who gave out huge loans.

Frederick E. Weiss ran a real estate company but his real money maker was carting.  He made a fortune with others dumping solid waste.  Frederick leased an 80 acre site known as Port Ivory on Staten Island which bordered a protected area.  He would haul asbestos and medical waste and then dump it in the landfill illegally.  It was a huge money maker that pulled in a reported 7 million dollars.   On September 11, 1989 Weiss was on trial for RICO when he walked out of his apartment towards his car at 8:30am.  The shooters were waiting for him and they opened fire killing him before he hit the ground.  Weiss had sealed his own fate when he dropped his Gambino family lawyer.  John Gotti Sr. suspected that he was cooperating with the Feds so he ordered a hit on him.  Joe Watts was given the contract and he put together a crew to carry it out.  He had guys dig a hole and they had a house set for where the murder was to take place.  Weiss was supposed to come to the house and Joe Watts was waiting in the garage with a pistol but he never showed up.  It really didn't matter because three shooters from the New Jersey DeCavalcante family murdered him the next day.  

Joe Watts ended up getting taken down in a number of cases so he was locked up for a long time.  Junior Gotti hated Joe Watts because he thought Joe had made sure he was not able to kill Daniel Marino the Gambino Capo.  Junior Gotti has a book out now, which I am sure is a self serving pile of shit.  The guy went in and flapped his mouth to the prosecutors and he still pretends he is a stand up guy.  I do not care that he is a rat but I do care that he talks bad about those that have also cooperated.  He is no different.

There is a new book out by John Alite that gives the inside details of the Gotti family and their rule over the Gambino Family.  One of the things included in the book is a word for word transcript of John Jr.’s talk he had with the Feds.  He gave up Joe Watts and Daniel Marino for a murder.  He also told the Feds about a murder his father committed.  Too bad he won't tell them where they buried the poor man who worked at Castro Convertibles.

Joe Watts never killed Weiss but he pleaded guilty to murder because it was the best deal he could get. Weiss was a Government witness who was murdered so he could not testify.  The Government wanted to send a message that they would not let anyone murder their witnesses.  Joe Watts was able to plead out to 13 years and a 250k fine.  He will be 82 years old when he gets out.

Eddie Boyle Irish Gambino

The Government called it the Boyle Crew but I think it is safe to say it was just a loose group of changing Organized Criminals that were mostly associates of the Gambino Family (but not always).  The Government claimed in the indictment that the so called Boyle Crew led by Edmund "Eddie" Boyle stole 1,970,151 from banks by punching out the night deposit boxes. They made special tools so they could grab the bank bags of cash deposited by businesses over long weekends. They would search all over for banks in area's with a lot of business and that catered to them.  This loose group of thieves was the only group taking down scores like this in country.

They also charged Eddie, Letterio DeCarlo and Tommy Dono with killing Frank Hydell for the Gambino Family.  Frank Hydell was a nephew of Gambino Capo Danny Marino and he was also the brother of James Hydell who was kidnapped by the Mafia Cops Louis Eppolito and Stephan Carracapa.  They delivered him to Lucchese underboss Gaspipe Casso so he could torture him and then kill him because he believed that James tried to kill him. Frank Hydell, whatever his reasons were, decided to cooperate with the Feds. He gave up 10 to 20 crimes committed by Mobsters. He also alerted the Feds about a burglary that was going down in New Jersey in 1998 where they were caught in the act.  The Gambino Family gave the contract to Thomas "Huck" Carbonara who in turn enlisted Edmond Boyle, Letterio Decarlo, John Matera and Tommy Dono. On April 28 1998 John Matera, who was a close friend of Frank Hydell, lured him to Scarletts Strip Club. Outside the club, just after midnight a Lincoln Continental sat idling in the parking lot of Scarletts Strip Club on Staten Island. The men inside were watching the front door and a white 1998 Camry when they saw Frank Hydell exit the club at 12:15 am two of the men got out and started walking towards him. Frank had just opened his door when Eddie Boyle blasted him 3 times in the back.  The Lincoln, driven by Huck Carbonara, pulled up and they made their getaway.  The car would be found a few miles away still running with a .357 Pistol under the front seat. Tommy Dono would be proposed into the Gambino Family for his part in this murder in 2001.

Who is Eddie Boyle and how did this Irish criminal get so close to the Gambino family? Eddie was a great car thief and he was valued for it. That was his main part in the bank gang. He grew up in the neighborhood and his family was close to Hucks.

He has been in the news lately because he is trying to get a new trial by using the so called Withdrawal Defense. What this defense is basically is because he was charged with RICO all his crimes have to committed in a 10 year period as part of a conspiracy.  The Gambino Family is just that conspiracy but Eddie is claiming that in 2003 he walked away from the family.  He claims that he told Huck’s wife that he was done with the family and for her to tell Huck.  There are a few things wrong with this defense.  Why would he just tell Huck’s wife, when he could easily pass the message himself.  This is the same defense that Junior Gotti used but Baby Gotti actually went in for a pro offer session with the prosecutors.  He actually gave up guys like Danny Marino and Joe Watts.  Eddie should have done that before he claimed the Withdrawal Defense. Things do not look good for Eddie because he was already doing 12 years when he went to trial for the murder of Frank Hydell.  He was cleared of being the shooter but guilty of racketeering conspiracy.  The judge ruled that the evidence showed that he was up to his ears with the Gambinos so she sentenced him to 20 years.

Andrew Didonato: Life in the Gambino Crew Part 2

Bank Robbery is a full time job. If anyone tells you it is not it is because they have no idea. Andrew, no longer able to work with the same guys he had always worked with now that he was wanted for absconding on his parole, hooked up with a serious crew.  These were Genovese guys and they would take their time looking for a big score so they didn't have to step out more than once a year on a job.

And rew would get up early and go watch an armoured car depot. The crew had a tipster inside that gave them the truck to follow. They watched it make its scheduled drop at the bank they were studying.  They learned that the bank employees, busy when the cash delivery arrived, would store the bags of cash behind the counter until later when they would move it into the vault.

The members of the robbery crew were friendly with an old guy who lived a few miles from the bank.  On the day of the robbery, they staged at the old guys house. The getaway car was parked in back of the bank and the driver was the old guy.  Andrew went in, jumped over the counter and grabbed four bags that had been dropped off earlier that day and had not been moved to the safe.  While they were inside a women saw them and ran screaming outside. They walked past her and got into the car and ducked while the old guy calmly drove away.  They knew the police would set up roadblocks.  They heard later that they were looking for the crew and a woman.  They thought that the woman was part of the crew!

They would hide out at the old guys house until the heat died down.  They opened the four bags and only two of them had cash.  There was still over 400,000 dollars to be split up amongst them.

Andrew’s world was getting smaller by the day. He was wanted and Nicky Corrozzo was having guys reach out to the Genovese Crew to see how much cash he was making.  Nicky was not happy that one of his men was pulling in cash and not giving him a cut.  No matter what Andrew was facing or how much he needed, Nicky wanted his end.

This is the way the Mafia works: money flows up, never down.  Back when Andrew needed $5,000 to pay his Lawyer he had asked Nicky for a loan and what do you think Nicky said to him?  Nicky said "You are not a good investment at this time" That is always nice to hear from a guy you have been loyal to for many years.

Years before when Andrew had gotten out of prison he had asked permission to whack out a guy who was really bad to a relative. Nicky had given the okay, so his friend and fellow Gambino Crew member Mikey Yanotti came up with a plan.  They would call the guy, who was a plumber, and they would tell him that Mikey had a problem in his place.  Mikey lived in a three story apartment home and his place was in the middle.  There was a stairway down to the garage from his place so it was private.  They would have him come up through the garage and when he did they would kill him.  They decided against it in the end for whatever reason.

Around the time of the bank robbery, Mikey Yanotti called him and asked him to come by his place.  Andrew went to Mikey’s place.   They were upstairs and just when they started to talk Mikey put his finger to his lips and pointed at the ceiling (Meaning his place was wired) He motioned for Andrew to follow him down to the garage.  Andrew could not help notice the lights were off, so as he walked behind Mikey he fingered his pistol in his waistband.  He thought for sure that someone was waiting to pop him in the dark, but as he got towards the ground there was some light and he could see the place was empty.  They went outside and Mikey talked about what they would do to the Luchese Crew that was after him.  Mikey was talking about Danny Cutia, Sal Cutia, John Baudanza and Craig Marino (who was a Colombo).  John and Craig had asked Robert Arena where Andrew lived on Staten Island like they were going to do something to him.  I personally know both of those guys and the only thing they are capable of is shooting their friends in the back. As Andrew stood talking to Mikey, the only thing going through his mind was that this entire conversation is window dressing, and Mikey had just pulled a dry run on him to see if he would play along.  The next time he was invited over to “talk” the real hit would take place.  It reminded him a lot of their old plot to hit the plumber.

Andrew went out on a score with another crew soon after this incident, he was hoping to raise some cash fast.  This was not an armed robbery but a bank burglary.  They went and stole a piece of heavy equipment from a construction site to bust out a night deposit box and chute.  The bank was in the Bronx and they had cased it good. They went there on the night of the burglary and the idiot kid driving the machine accidentally drove it through the wall!  He didn't use the scoop to bust open the chute as planned, and pretty soon the building collapsed.  They had to make a run for it! No cash on that job.

Andrew laid low from the cops better this time than he did after a previous shooting he had done on the streets.   The previous time he had flown to Los Angeles and then taken a plane to Las Vegas and from there a bus to Laughlin. This was in 1988 and Laughlin was a small dusty town with only a few hotels.  Andrew was there with his dad hiding out and had just gotten to sleep when there was a loud pounding on the adjoining door to his room. Andrew was sure it was the Feds coming to grab him and take him back to New York.  The pounding grew louder and a voice was screaming,”What are you doing in there!”  Andrew jumped out of the window and started running down the street in his underwear.  It didn’t take long for his father to yell at him to get back in the room.  Andrew was already pretty far away and people started looking at him in his underwear with bare feet. It turns out that an elderly couple had the room next to their room and maybe the guy had never been in a hotel before because he thought the door was another part of his own room.

The more experienced on-the-run Andrew stayed low in the tri-state area.  Nicky would have meetings at diners at 3am or later in out of the way places in order to avoid the Feds.  This was a good idea because the FBI likes to work 9 to 5 Monday through Friday.  He sent for Andrew one night and they met at a diner.  Nicky wanted cash from the Bank jobs to pay some legal bills.  They spoke about the Lucchese Family problem and his troubles. Nicky was pissed because of the headache Andrew had caused him, and he didn't even make anything from it.  Then Nicky wanted Andrew to bring the kids he had been getting cash from drug deals to meet the crew.  Andrew knew right then that they were going to kill him because in all the years Nicky had never asked him to meet anyone.  He never needed to meet them, because he had Andrew to be the middle man.  Andrew knew that it was only a matter of time before the Genovese crew would have to give him up to the Gambino's (Nicky) so that was the end of his run on the street as a bank robber with the Genoveses.