Great Friends in the Mafia

Gennaro Bruno aka Gerry was a Gambino associate who pled guilty this week to the murder of his one-time friend. That is how they murder you when you are in the life.  The movies all show these guns walking in places and blasting away, but in reality it is a friend that shoots you.

Gerry had started out in a farm team gang that was affiliated with the Gambino family. They were called the Liberty Posse or Young Guns, and they were violent.  Gerry soon graduated to the big time by becoming part of Joseph (JoJo) Corozzo’s crew when he was a capo.

Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo, JoJo’s brother, was the one time boss of the Gambino family until he was locked up.  The family was run by a panel until recently, when it was taken over by Sicilian members.

The Corozzo crew was big into gambling and shylock.  They were not above taking cash from drug dealers.  

Gerry and his crew distributed thousands of pounds of marijuana from Canada. Martin Bosshart wanted to exclude a Gambino from the business.  The Gambino family set word that he was not to do it.  Martin Bosshart cut him out so the order was handed down.  Gerry and Todd LaBarca lured him to a deserted part of Queens where they shot him in the head while he was taking a piss.

Those were friends of Martin Bosshart, could you imagine what they would do if they were enemies?

Gerry started working for a carting company and he was soon picked up for extortion.  

They were shaking down companies to haul away their waste.

Gerry had moved to Las Vegas and gotten married, but the FBI picked him up on October 28, 2014.  

He will now have to serve 21 years for the murder of Martin Bosshart.

What kind of life glorifies killing your friends for a few dollars.  A human life is worth so much more.  

The life has a way of shifting the way you think.  Good is what you believe is good and bad is what you are told is bad.  

Most people believe they are doing good at whatever they do, but their logic is twisted.

There were people I got to know in the life who I liked, and who I felt were “good.”  Los Angeles Capo Jimmy Caci was a good guy and the same with Teddy Persico.  My idea of “good” was twisted too.

Today I feel sorry for both of them.  They spent most of their lives in prison, but never learned a new way of life.

Maybe Gerry will have learned a new way by the time he gets out.  

John “Specs” Baudanza is out and I wonder if he learned?  Did Eddie Garofalo learn a thing?

Time will tell!

Jerry Bruno & the Young Guns

The Young Guns were a sort of farm team for the Gambino Family in the 1990’s and they were with Gambino Capo Ronald Trucchio who ran Ozone Park Queens.  It was during this time that Genaro “Jerry” Bruno was part of the Young Guns crew.  They were dedicated to making money any way they could, and that meant extortion, bank robbery, narcotics and murder. They moved thousands of Valiums in Queens for many years, bringing in millions of dollars to themselves and the Gambino Family.

Martin Bosshard was another member of the Young Guns crew.  The crew was importing thousands of pounds of marijuana from Canada.  Martin decided that he wanted to cut out from the marijuana business Gambino soldier Michael Rocca Forte.  The higher ups in the Gambino Family were not about to let this happen.  The order was given and passed down to the Young Guns Crew.  Just a few weeks after Martin Bosshart was released from prison, Todd LaBarca and Jerry Bruno lured him to 155th Street and Lahan in Queens.  He was taking a piss against a fence on the North side of the street around 9:30 pm, when Jerry allegedly fired one shot into the back of his head.  Martin would be found face up dead a short time later.

This did not slow down Jerry and Todd because they were soon hooked up with the Tony Piccolo Carting Company based in Rockaway, Queens and Deer Park.  They were working as enforcers for the company, scaring away competitors.  Tony Piccolo then bought  J.B. & Sons Carting Corporation and the Rags Contracting Corp and Jerry and Todd were soon shaking down other carting companies for the right to pick up from their customers.

The Tony Piccolo company and the two new companies would bring in 2.3 million in a year.  Their biggest customers were Brooklyn, Brookdale and Kings County Hospitals and they would bribe employees up to 1,000 a month to sign off on phony invoices.  

Everyone involved in the shakedown was arrested.  Both Jerry and Todd plead guilty in October of 2002 and they would serve their time.  Jerry Bruno would be in a new crew under JoJo Corozzo which the FBI calls the Corozzo Faction and Todd Labarca would be in a crew under Louis Mastrangelo. In 2011 Todd LaBarca was purposed for membership in the Gambino Family, his name was passed around to the other families and his induction was set. The FBI threw a wrench into his plans when they swooped in and arrested everyone.  Todd would end up pleading guilty to racketeering and murder including Martin Bosshart and be sentenced to 23 years.  

Jerry Bruno fared a little better until just a few days ago. Jerry had gotten married and moved out to Las Vegas to get some things started out there when the FBI came and picked him up for Racketeering including moving more than a 1000 kilos of Marijuana, Thousands of Valiums, Carting Extortion and the murder of Martin Bosshart.

The Mafia is alive and well.