Patsy Parrello: Genovese Oldfella

The mafia never stops delivering a story. I often wonder what to write about, but every week I have a few fresh stories to choose from.  This week is no different.  

The FBI really screwed up their big mafia takedown that was all the news last summer. They arrested 46 people from various east coast families, all interconnected.  They snared some big fish, like one time Philly Boss Joey Merlino and Genovese capo Pasquale (Patsy) Parrello.  The FBI had some issues with their informant and at least two special agents working on the case.  The majority of those picked up during the sweep have opted to take generous plea bargains offered by the US Attorney’s office.

Parrello is one of those who decided not to roll the dice and plea out this week. He copped to three counts of conspiracy to commit extortion for sending guys to collect his loanshark debts.  He will face between five and six and a half years in federal prison.  This deal is a far cry from the 60 years Parrello was facing for three racketeering counts he was charged with.

The FBI had a confidential human source who was close to Parrello and Merlino.  He recorded hundreds of hours of tape, but they failed to debrief him properly and some other problems came to light.  So rather than lose the case, they group was offered reduced charges.  

Merlino, who has spent a lot of time in prison, has not bitten on the deal as of yet.  Merlino was still on supervised release and did time for a violation while the FBI was making this case.

Parrello, a Genovese family capo and the owner of Pasquale's Rigoletto Restaurant on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, is no stranger to trouble.  In 2001 Parrello was charged in a 98 count indictment of embezzling funds that totaled more than one million dollars from Local 11 and Local 964 of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters.

He and some other Genovese used S&F Carpentry, a unionized company based in Tuckahoe, N.Y., To pay and use non union workers.  They destroyed payroll records and threatened members of the union if they complained about non union workers on jobs.

He would end up doing a 7 year sentence for that case.  

This case involved having his guys attack a panhandler who was bothering people outside his restaurant. Threatening debtors, running gambling and other assorted scams.

Most people would be happy with just owning Pasquale's Rigoletto Restaurant.  The problem is, Parrello is no normal person, and I suspect if he lives till the end of this sentence it will not be the last we have heard of him.

For any of you who have not been to Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, it is worth the trip.  It is the real Little Italy, unlike the three small blocks called that in Manhattan.  Stop by Pasquale's Rigoletto Restaurant, they put out a great plate.

Bonanno Capo Vincent Asaro, known for his involvement in the famous Lufthansa airlines heist made famous in the movie Goodfellas, is a degenerate gambler who lost what little of the loot he got from the robbery.

Last year he beat the case the government brought against him for the robbery and murder.

He is now locked up on another case.  This week the government claimed he wanted to have the federal prosecutor on his case murdered. The Feds do not want him released on bail because he reportedly told another defendant in this case, ‘we need to take care of this bitch,’ and not  to ‘f**k it up like Vinnie.’  He was referring to Vincent Basciano, the boss of the Bonanno family who was taken down by the former boss of the family who recorded him while they were locked up together.

Like I said, the mafia always delivers!

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.