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?

Bill Ferrante

I have been asked if Louis Ferrante is related to Bill “The Crusher” Ferrante.  The answer is No.

In the 1990’s I was hanging around Jerry Zimmerman, who was a close friend of both Bill Ferrante and Sonny Franzese.  Jerry was a huge man and one of the best con men that ever lived. I called him the gentle giant.  The name Sonny Franzese is thrown around by many people.  I never met him in person, only spoke to him on the phone.  Most of the people who drop his name have never laid eyes on the man.  

Back in the days I was hanging with Jerry, I was working as a criminal also and I was known as one of the people who could get x rated movies made.  Porn was an outlet we used to launder money from other crimes.

My “work” brought me to the right place at the right time, because Jerry and Bill decided to become partners in a wholesale porn warehouse. I was on parole at the time and my parole officer was on me about getting a job.  So when I was chosen to go to Fort Lauderdale by Jerry to meet his partner Bill, I was really happy.  It was a great way for me to get out of town and out of sight.

I met Bill and we hit it off immediately. Only a select few of us were allowed to call Bill “Billy,” including Jerry Zimmerman and Sonny and Michael Franzese. I also met Billy's younger sister Gina, who was the widow of Vinny Lynch.  Vinny was a bank robber and a suspect in over a dozen murders.

I would get to the porno warehouse early everyday before Bill or Gina arrived. I answered the phones a lot and more than a few times it was Sonny calling.  He often called not only to speak to Bill but to speak to Gina also.  Sonny and Gina were close and had been since the 1970s.  I quickly discovered Sonny and Gina had a long off-and-on relationship.  Bill never bragged or spoke about his criminal activity.  If anything, he played it down.  He is 30 years older than me and had quite a record.  Bill Ferrante, also known as “The Crusher” and his partner Vinny, aka “The Butcher” (not to be confused with Vinny Lynch the bank robber) were in Michael Franzese’s innermost circle. They were the two main enforcers for Michael during the gasoline scam. Bill had gas stations all the way from Long Island down to Florida.

Bill and Vinny (The Crusher and The Butcher) were partners involved with a multi million dollar counterfeit scheme that also included stolen bearer bonds. They were so slick that the agents from the secret service tried to infiltrate them. The undercover secret service guys went along on some of their deliveries. They met with the crusher and the butcher and gave them a downpayment of $10k on some paper and when they returned they were busted.  They were both given the maximum sentence that the judge could give them.  Immediately upon their release both men resumed their roles with Michael.

Soon Michael and his whole crew were in the gas business. To this day, the gasoline scam was the largest money maker in organized crime history. For years everyone was flying high.  The pressure became too much and a player in gas business, Larry Lorizzo, decided to flip in 1986. That was all the government needed, and they started falling like dominos. They started rolling up the whole operation and nobody was safe.  Most of the Russian criminals who had worked alongside them in the gas business also plead guilty.  

Bill was soon indicted by the state of Florida.  To make it worse, he was already out on $250k bond from the feds.  While in the Dade County jail he hired Jayne Weintraub and she represented him in his state RICO trial.  

One day during the trial everyone was asked to evacuate the courthouse. They all thought it was a bomb scare. When they all came back to the courtroom there was Larry Lorizzo in the witness box.  All 500 pounds of him.  He was sitting there surrounded by marshalls, ready to testify how Bill was part of the Colombo family, a collector for Sonny, and Michael’s enforcer.  A lot of guys testified against Bill in his state RICO trial in which he was facing 30 years.  Could it be a surprise that he got convicted? Bill was off to prison, once again, to do his time.  Bill hired Stanley Neustader to represent him on his appeal. 2 ½ years later  Neustader won Bill’s appeal. The Feds could not try him because the state found him guilty.

Michael Franzese never testified against Bill. Bill found out Michael became an informer while he was in prison.  One thing I must say about Billy, he is a stand up guy.  I miss him, his sister Gina and my late friend Jerry Zimmerman. Don’t ever think for a moment that Bill is related to that other Ferrante guy on TV who claims to be a former gangster (Louis Ferrante). I never met Sonny in person, only over the phone.

Where are the Happy Endings?

I get interesting emails all the time from blog readers.  Some just like to call me names or others like to make threats from behind their keyboard. Some readers ask good questions. One that has been asked a few times is, “Why do you say that the life is bad? That it is a dead end?”  One guy said that it is only after a guy in the life gets caught or needs revenge that they say the life is no good.  He is right. That does not take away from the fact that these guys are not dying millionaires in their beds with extended family by their side. They think I am lying when I say there are no happy endings.  I myself do not know of any happy endings in the mafia. If you just consider having some money but no quality of life a success, then I question your idea of what life is all about.

Lets look at the man who started what today is the American Cosa Nostra as we know it. Charlie “Lucky” Luciano. To be fair, it was already around, but he did a major reconstruction on the whole organization.  He was sentenced on July 18, 1936 to 30-50 years of prison time for his part in a prostitution ring.  He sat in lock up until he made a deal with the United States Government to work for them.  Let's be clear on this.  He broke the rules of Cosa Nostra by working for and cooperating with the government.  I know a lot of people will say he did it for the war effort, but the bottom line is that he did it for Charlie Lucky.  He was a cooperator. He was deported to Italy where he continued to deal in heroin. He married, cheated many times on his wife and never had kids. He was basically broke when he died at the Naples airport where he was selling his story to a movie producer.  

Al Capone was sent away for tax evasion and spent his last years drooling on himself in his Florida mansion.  

The point I am trying to make is that none of these stories end well.  If money is what drives you and all you want is the flash, then yes, the life will most probably give you that.  You will go through some tough times, you will have to rob and steal.  You may have to kill a friend or two, but you will get some good years.  If you are lucky, you will get five years and then its RICO.  You will lose everything and so will your family.  They got Joey Massino to flip after they took his mother’s and wife’s homes away.  He could have done his time, but knowing the two women who stuck by him would suffer was too much for him. So he did what any smart guy would do.  He made a deal. They let his wife and mother keep their homes.

RICO is the hammer the Feds use to smash the life out of guys.  In the old days, if it was not in your name you would be able to keep it.  Today, guys go away and their families live in poverty. When they come home they have nothing and their crews don't help much at all.

A young guy with flash and money, okay I can see that happen. An old guy with cash and assets after a lifetime in the Mafia that might be like a white Buffalo, very rare.

Let's say you beat the odds and you live to be an old man.  You did a few years and had the law watching you for years.  What kind of life is that?  What about your kids and family.  A lot of the kids not in the life have substance abuse problems.  They have issues and that is brought on by the father.  

What about those that bring their kids into the life?  I guess the father did not love their child very much.  How could any reasonable thinking man think anything good would come out of having your son be a thief and murderer?

So here is my last example.  Nicodemo Scarfo Jr., or Nicky Jr, is the son of the man who became the boss of the Philadelphia family.  After his father Nicky Scarfo Sr. went away for life, Nicky Jr. was targeted for assassination.  He was shot up, but he lived, so Nicky Sr. asked his friend Vic Amuso, the boss of the Lucchese family, to take him into his family.  Vic agreed and Nicky Jr. was made into the Lucchese Family.  Nicky Jr was smarter than most street guys and he started ahead because his father was boss.  He used computers and other sophisticated means to make cash.

He and a few other guys took over a Texas based mortgage company and stole millions without using weapons.  Firstplus Financial Group was ripe for them to take over and they did by using a few well placed threats.  They also created some dummy corporations and they started bleeding the company dry.  They stole over 12 million dollars from the company while the scam was going on.

All that money and Nicky Scarfo Jr was just sentenced to 30 years behind bars at age 50.  He could make it because his father is 86 now and still locked up.  Nicky Scarfo Sr. has a release date in 2033 which I doubt he will make.

The guys who worked with Nicky Jr. to loot the mortgage company were given 20 and 10 year sentences.  Oh yeah and the Government seized all their assets.  It may have seemed that age 50 he was a success in terms of money, but the story ended otherwise.  As all that I know of do.

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.

Mikey Y

Last week I wrote about Frank Guerra and how he beat two murders but still was hit with a long sentence.  This is story about another man who thought he got away with murder.  That man is Michael Yannotti or Mikey Y.  The judge felt that he was guilty of shooting Guardian Angels’ founder Curtis Sliwa and other crimes he had been accused of, so Mikey got a 20 year vacation from the streets.

Mikey Y showed just what kind of guy he was one night at Player’s in Brooklyn. He got into an altercation with a Colombo Associate named Robert T and they had words.  Robert T made a threat, something to the effect of  “I’ll kill your whole family” or “I’ll kill your Mother.”

 

Mikey Y blasted Robert T.  Right before he pulled the trigger, he turned his head.  Not because he was afraid.  No, he just did didn't want to get sprayed in the face with Robert’s blood.  Robert T was found that night at Caesar’s Bay parking lot.  But, he was not dead, he had survived the blast.  Robert was big into weed and he was close to Big Frank and Teddy. Nicky Corozzo met with Teddy Persico Sr to squash the beef, but the Colombos decided to play the, “Well, we reached out to the kid but we can’t get a hold of him” game.  Nicky told them that if anything happened to Mikey Y, they would go all out on the Colombos.  Robert T not only lived through getting shot but when he was up for getting badged into the family, Wild Bill Cutolo said no way because he never did anything about Mikey Y.  To be fair, Robert was close to Frank Smith, but on the same night he was shot the Carini brothers were found murdered.  Frank Smith had his own problems which is too bad because Mikey Y could have disappeared and saved us all some money.

Mikey Y even messed up the Curtis Sliwa deal.  He went to a sit down at the Carousel Diner on Cross bay Boulevard with Mikey Scars, Junior Gotti, Joey D'Angelo and Nicky Corozzo.  Junior Gotti told Mikey Y and Joey D'Angelo that they had to do some work and the target was once again Curtis Sliwa who had been bad mouthing the Gottis.  Gotti said he wanted Curtis to get a severe hospital beating.  I guess Mikey Y did not understand what that meant because he and Joey stole a Taxi and rigged it so they could wait in front of Curtis Sliwa’s building for a pick up.  Mikey hid under the passenger dash and as soon as Curtis was inside he popped up and started blasting away. Curtis lived but what a mess and for what?  The guy is a radio show host!  Stupid Junior Baby Huey stuff.

Well, for now, Mikey Y, a man who liked to fish, is far away from the ocean.  He is in Victorville FCI which is funny because Sammy Gravano is in the same place!  I am sure they are far apart but it is a fitting place for Mikey Y.

He shot Robert Arena and Tommy Maranga and managed to lose his pager at the scene.  The cops, the FBI and the judge knew he did it.  So RICO Strikes again!

This is what Robert Blakey had in mind when he came up with the RICO Statute to fight the Mafia.  Too many times in the past those on top or those who killed off everyone else, had gotten away with their crimes.

Colombo Family Mafia Take Down Day (Part II)

Official Complaint & Indictment

Why do the Feds use guys like me to infiltrate groups like the Colombo Family? They do it because guys like me can go places they cannot and we have a long record doing various crimes over the years. If they put an Agent into the situation they cannot fake guys knowing him since Juvenile hall days.  In the past before the RICO ACT and the use of Infiltrators, they would only take down those low on the totem pole.  If they got a boss like Vito Genovese or Al Capone it was groundbreaking.  The use of RICO, Infiltrators and electronic surveillance put an end to the Boss being untouchable.

Eddie Garafolo

I would record Eddie and Teddy every time we met.  This paid off and continues to pay off today. I would meet at places like the Fuel Oil Truck lot in downtown Brooklyn that Eddie was using for his trucks.  My wire would record everything and I would make mental notes of the locations of where we spoke, where Eddie met guys, etc.  This way the FBI could go back and plant bugs or use other surveillance techniques.  I drew a diagram of the Fuel Oil Truck lot on a pad of paper right after I left it for the first time.  I did the same when I went to Big R Trucking on Staten Island the first time.  I would identify each person I caught on tape for the FBI and that is how Steve Marcus started to be watched.  I also went into Teddy’s home and his mother’s home with my wire and later drew diagrams.

As a result of my recording Steve Marcus, the FBI also turned Steve, and he started wearing a wire.  He then had Eddie ask Teddy to get him transferred from the Gambino Family to the Colombos.  Steve was on record with the Gambino Crew as an Associate.  Eddie was caught on tape speaking to Teddy about it and telling Teddy that Steve had better come up with cash for him.

Teddy Persico

Using my recordings and Steve Marcus’s recordings, the FBI started putting together a massive RICO Case that would be the center of Mafia Take down day.  One big fish that was caught on Steve’s recordings was Michael Persico. Michael is not a made guy in the Colombo family, but he is the son of Carmine, the boss.  Michael was always the smart business man who held the purse strings for the Colombo family.  He was never made, but he was a very important conduit between Allie Boy, Carmine the Snake, and the rest of the family.  He was still a very high level gangster who they felt they were protecting by not officially inducting into the family.

Thanks to Steve Marcus, the FBI was able to use the full complement of electronic surveillance on Michael, phone taps, video cameras, car taps, etc.  These bugs caught him conducting Colombo family business and collecting on six figure shylock loans.  The FBI was able to snare Michael in shylocking and in trying to rig trucking bids for large contracts.  Once again, Teddy was brought into these charges because he was a major participant in the trucking business.  In the indictment the FBI charged Teddy and Eddie with conspiracy to commit murder May 25, 2004.  That was a tape I recorded in a car heading to a Bay Ridge restaurant.  Another count of the RICO charges was the participation of many Colombos, minus Eddie, in the murder of Joseph Scopo.  The fact that Teddy was already well into his prison sentence when the murder took place did not prevent him from being involved.  He had been furloughed from prison to attend his grandmother’s funeral.  At the same time, the murder took place.  

That was not the only murder conspiracy charges that Teddy was facing.  The man who had put Teddy away for the murder charges in the first place, another informant, was shot in front of his house in Brooklyn while Teddy was locked up.  Teddy and one of his friends who was incarcerated at another prison enjoyed writing letters to each other.  In a number of the letters Teddy wrote, he mentioned the murder.  The FBI was unaware of the ongoing penpal relationship, until decades later, when Andrew DiDonato informed the FBI that the letters existed.  They went to the former pen pal (now a free man) and surprised him with a raid of his house, where they found every letter from Teddy perfectly preserved.  

Carmine Persico

Meanwhile, Teddy’s cousin Michael was also charged with participation in one more murder.  The victim was unfortunate enough to be dating Allie Boy Persico’s ex wife.  The Colombos warned the victim to back off, but he did not head the warning, so they shot him in his garage.  Michael took a global plea deal along with Teddy and Eddie.  Michael ended up getting less than 5 years.  Teddy got another twelve years to add to his previous two decades behind bars.  Eddie Garafolo pleaded guilty in order to spare his wife (who participated in the trucking business) a long sentence, and when he is sentenced he will likely receive a decade.  Crime does not pay.  What good are the millions hidden away when you are in prison?  The FBI still has a number of infiltrators working in the Colombo family.  As long as the crimes continue, so will the recordings, charges and prison sentences.  

RICO and The Mafia

The 1970's was a bad decade for La Cosa Nostra and they had no idea what was yet to come. One word: RICO, an acronym for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. It was introduced into the US Code in 1970 after having been written by G. Robert Blakey.

RICO is the single most powerful weapon the Government had to use against the Mafia.  They used two other weapons in conjunction with the RICO Act, asset forfeiture and The Witness Security Program.

RICO enabled the FBI to finally make cases against the Bosses that controlled the Mafia.  J. Edger Hoover never let his Agents work undercover because he felt they would get dirty.  So they were stuck making cases against low level hoods.  RICO enabled the Government to put together cases against the organization as a whole based on two predicated acts committed in a 10 year period for the group or with it.  These acts or crimes are (1) “racketeering activity,” which means any act of murder, kidnapping, gambling, arson, robbery, bribery, extortion, dealing in a controlled substance or a listed chemical, dealing in obscene material (Porn etc) -- and this definition really gives the Government a second bite at the apple.  They can use crimes you already did time for to hit you with RICO.

There are more acts but this is not a law blog and I just want to give you an idea of what it is about:

- It shall be unlawful for any person who has received any income derived, directly or indirectly, from a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of an unlawful debt in which such person has participated as a principal

- It shall be unlawful for any person through a pattern of racketeering activity or through collection of an unlawful debt to acquire or maintain, directly or indirectly, any interest in or control of any enterprise which is engaged in, or the activities of which affect, interstate or foreign commerce.

Like I said above, this is just a little bit of the RICO ACT. The best part?  You get 20 years to life and lose everything as does your family.

So the FBI used this as a big hammer against the Mafia.  By the late 70's they really knew how to use it best.  They then started assaults on the Families all over the country.  They started an operation against the oldest Mafia family in the US headed by its iron fisted leader Carlos Marcello who had ruled the New Orleans underworld for decades.

The FBI called this Operation Brilab.

The FBI got the whole operation moving when a Washington DC Lobbyist Isaac Irving Davidson started doing business with a convicted conman from Los Angeles named Joseph Hauser. Davidson was really in the mix in DC politics and he also happened to be very close to Carlos Marcello.  Davidson introduced Hauser to Carlos and soon, thanks to a quarter million dollars, Carlos had him working with all the Unions.  Hauser even bought a New Orleans insurance company, but things did not go well.  He was soon in deep troubles with the SEC and the Feds.  Hauser was looking at some huge fines and prison time for his failed insurance business.  That is when the FBI approached him to work as an informant in Operation Brilab against Carlos Marcello.  Hauser soon introduced two undercover FBI Agents to Carlos.  The two undercover agents had set up a fake insurance company in Los Angeles and they were soon looking for Carlos to get them contracts through his contacts.  Carlos fell for this right away because all he could see was the huge cut he would get from the commissions.  It was during this time that Hauser, wearing a wire, picked up Carlos talking about the LA Family.  

The Los Angeles Family leadership, Boss Dominic Brooklier, Underboss Sam Scorentino, Capo Mike Rizzi and others were facing a RICO case thanks to Jimmy Frattiano who had flipped after the family had turned against him.  He became the second made member of the Cosa Nostra to flip and tell the FBI everything.  One of the things he told the FBI about was how the LA Family had set up and killed Frank Bompensiero in San Diego.

Carlos was close to the LA Family because a high ranking member was related to Sam Scorintino, the LA Underboss.  This is what Carlos told Hauser, "I'm doin' this for friends of mine in California. They Maf like me, you know, personal friends." The FBI came up with a plan right away because now they had proof from Carlos that he was in the Mafia.  They had Hauser tell Carlos that he could bribe a Federal Judge and help out the LA Family.  Carlos played right into the FBI's trap, he was eager to help his friends. Carlos agreed to pay the judge $125,000 for the bribe to help out the family.  The FBI took Carlos down.  First on the Brilab and then on attempting to bribe a Federal judge in Los Angeles.  Carlos lost his RICO case in New Orleans and he knew right away that he would lose the LA Case.  Carlos had beaten the Government for years on his home turf, but in LA it was a different story.  He was convicted on all counts and soon faced almost 20 years in prison.  The LA Family had gotten of easy because Tommy Riccardi, the shooter of Frank Bompensiero, had died during the trial.  Los Angeles Family Boss Dominic Brooklier, largely resulting from the testimony of government informant Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno, is convicted of racketeering charges and sentenced to 4 years imprisonment. Other members of his organization include Capo Michael "Big Mike Rizzi" Rizzitello with 5 years, Underboss Samuel Scoirtino with 4 years, and 2 years each for Capo Louis Dragna and Consigliere Jack LoCicero, who are also convicted of racketeering, included the gangland slaying of former Capo/Consigliere Frank Bompensiero.

This case shows a lot about how the Cosa Nostra works, how they cross state lines and how relations exist among all the families. It also proves how effective RICO can be against Organized Crime.