Michael Persico and the Colombo Family

Michael Persico is the son of Carmine Persico and the brother of Allie Boy Persico.  Michael was always known as the straight son.  Michael was never inducted into the Colombo Family but he didn't need to be because he was the son of the boss and the brother of the acting boss.

Michael Persico has lived with all the perks of being a Mafia Boss without the exposure.  He has watched as his father went away for a hundred years, his brother for life and many relatives.  Never has Michael been in trouble until recently and that is mostly because of a man named Steve Marcus.  I met and recorded Steve and his son Jeremy while I was wearing a wire.  Jeremy was the part paper owner of D.M. Equipment Leasing with Eddie Garafolo's wife Alicia and he was a bouncer at a Mob run stripclub in Manhatten.

Michael took a really good plea deal where he would plead out to one count of extortionate extension of credit, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 371.  This was a great deal considering what he was charged with at the time.  Michael gave Anthony Preza $100,000 for a shylock loan and he gave it to Teddy Persico Jr, James Bombino and a Cooperating Witness.  Michael did this to disguise the fact that he was giving the loan.

The Feds claim in the indictment and his sentencing memorandum that he took part in the murder of Joseph Scopo. They claim that he passed on the order for the murder along with his cousin Teddy Persico Jr for the hit.   They also write that Michael assembled the team of shooters to carry out the job.  They were Frank Guerra, Eric Curcio, Johnnie Pappa, Anthony Russo and John Sparacino.  He then provided the guns that would be used for the hit.  

They would murder Joseph Scopo and not long after Eric Curcio and John Sparacino would be murdered.  Johnnie Pappa would murder John Sparacino and then with the help of Anthony Russo they would cut off his penis, place it in his mouth before setting his body on fire.

These are wonderful people and they are what helped Michael Persico live the life of a Mafia Prince.  He ran a number of businesses thanks to his father and brother.  I was told by his cousin Teddy Jr that he would bring word from Carmine who was in Lompoc Federal Penitentiary.

There was a man named Michael Devine who lived on Staten Island and he owned a nightclub.  Michael never had anything to do with the mafia, never wanted to have anything to do with them.

Michael fell in love with a woman named Tori Persico and that would be his bad luck.

Tori Persico was the estranged wife of Allie Boy Persico who was locked up at the time.

Allie Boy was very jealous of the relationship so he had some of his men wait outside Michael’s condo complex on Staten Island.  When he pulled into the garage they were there and they shot him twice in the head and twice in the groin.  The next morning Michael was found in his still running 1991 Pathfinder dead.

The FBI had a tape of Michael Persico speaking with his brother Allie Boy about Michael Devine. Michael Persico was able to get the recording suppressed but that does not mean that he was not part of it.  

The Cosa Nostra or Mafia was never supposed to be about settling personal scores but the Persicos have broken every rule in the Mafia. They had Law Enforcement murdered, sold drugs and committed many other off-limits crimes.  

Carmine Persico was charged a long time ago in a hijacking case but he kept fighting it long after everyone else took their time which was not bad.  The case started in 1960 and it took five trials and 8 years for Carmine to be found guilty.  He ended up getting sentenced  to 8 years in Federal Prison.  Lets hope they grant Michael the right to a new trial and he gets a long time!

Genovese Family - Tony D

Anthony Palumbo known as Tony D is a long time Genovese Family Soldier who at times was an acting Capo in the family.  Tony D was in the crew of Jimmy “Nap” Napoli who as a Genovese Capo ran the largest numbers game in the country.  He also had the biggest sports book, he was a bookie’s bookie.  When Jimmy Nap passed away on December 29, 1992 Tony D was tapped to take over the crew.  Vincent “The Chin” Gigante made Tony D the acting Capo of the Brooklyn crew. Tony D had inherited a very important crew that was deeply involved in the Gas Tax scam with members of Russian Organized crime.  They were extorting millions from the many Russians based in Brooklyn participating in the scam.

This is the way the scam went: everytime you go to a gas station to fill up your tank there is a tax on every gallon of gas. The tax is both state and federal and today in New York it is 63.49 cents.

When the organizations first got involved in the gas tax scam, individual stations would pay the tax for each gallon they sold.  So each station started selling their gasoline and keeping the tax.  They would sell the stations on paper before the taxman started looking for their tax.  This brought in good money but its was small cash transactions.  Then the Government decided that they would change the laws and make the gasoline wholesale distributors responsible for the tax.  This was great news for the Mafia because now they could steal the taxes on a grand scale much easier than from individual stations.  The Mobsters came up with what would be called a, “daisy chain.”  They would open up corporations and Company A would sell the gas to Company B who would sell it to Company C but the gas itself would never move.  It was all on paper.

So this gas tax scam and the bookmaking brought in a ton of cash to the Genovese Family and the man keeping it flowing was Tony D. Tony D was part of a group made up of members of the Gambino, Genovese, Colombo and Lucchese Family.  This group was known as “the association” and they would get their share of the gas tax scam from the Russians and other crime groups. They were an extortion Cartel for the Mafia.   A Russian Gangster named Victor Zilbert who was a big player in the Gas Tax scam went to Tony D to have a hitman that worked for him killed.  The plan was for Tony D to lure the hitman to a Bronx Social club and murder him.  He was never killed because the Feds took everyone down.

A Genovese associate named Angelo Sangiuolo was ripping off the gambling business run by Tony D.  Tony D went to the boss Vincent the Chin Gigante and asked for him to be murdered.

The Chin ordered Angelo’s cousin to set him up.  Angelo Prisco was a powerful Capo in the family so he had two associates carry out the murder.  He told his cousin that the two men were going to settle a beef he was having with someone.  Angelo got into the backseat of a van in the Bronx driven by Paul Gaccione. Seated in the passenger seat was a man named John Leto and when the drove under the elevated train track a train rumbled by on the tracks. John Leto turned around and shot Angelo multiple times.  Paul then drove to a McDonalds at 1515 Williamsbridge Road in the Bronx and left the van and Angelo’s body.

Sometime later at the the Russian Club Rasputin in Brooklyn, John Leto and Paul Gaccione were introduced by Angelo Prisco to Tony D as the guys who took care of the Angelo Sangiuolo problem.

The feds put together a RICO Case and on May 5 2011 Tony D was sentenced to 10 years behind bars along with three years of supervised release.

Joey D'Angelo

Joey D’Angelo Jr. grew up in the world of the Gambino Family.  He was the son of Joseph “Stymie” D’Angelo, the best friend of former Gambino Family Underboss Sammy the Bull.

He started driving Sammy around after his father was killed in a Brooklyn bar.  He became close to Sammy and even after Sammy started cooperating with the Government he remained a loyal Gambino Associate.  He was in Lou Vallario’s crew as an associate when he was sent for by John Gotti Jr.  Mikey Scars, a Gambino Capo, found him and brought him to a diner in Queens where he was paired with Mikey Yannotti to abduct and beat Curtis Sliwa, the outspoken radio host and founder of the Guardian Angels.  Joey was the driver of the stolen taxi cab that was waiting for Curtis to exit his apartment. He picked up Curtis and as soon as he was in the backseat Joey locked the doors. Then without warning an overzealous Mikey Y popped up from the front seat and ended up shooting Curtis  instead of beating him. Curtis was able to jump out of the moving cab despite being wounded.  The blunder must not have mattered much to John Gotti Jr. because in 1994 Joey D’Angelo became a made member of the Gambino Family.  He had taken part in a successful hit in Brooklyn in August of 1990 on a Gambino Associate named Edward “The Chink” Garofalo.  Joey had been one of the shooters on this hit.  The Chink was suspected of being an informant for the FBI but it is more likely Sammy just wanted his business. The Chink is the father of Eddie Garofalo, the Colombo Associate that has his wife Alicia on the show Mob Wives. The Chink was also the brother of Manny Garofalo a guy who was taken down on Mafia take down day but got no time.

Joey had come to learn the construction business but he had never actually worked a day in life. He had a series of no show jobs or job on construction sites where he sat around and read magazines.  He was later in Mikey Scars crew, who sat on the Gambino family Construction panel.  The so called construction panel was made up a few Gambino members who knew the business and knew how to make money from it.  They decided who got what jobs and how much the companies had to pay. They would also deal with the other crime families and their Unions.  This panel would bring in millions of dollars for the Gambinos.  Joey was busy picking up payments, kickbacks, making threats, extorting and if necessary committing assaults if the Gambino family needed it to keep the construction money flowing.  

I found out some new information when I was going through some of Joey’s files (court and FBI records).  Joey agreed to participate in a murder in the late 1980s for John Gotti Sr.  The target was a Colombo Family Capo named Greg Scarpa. Greg Scarpa, who was also known as “The Grim Reaper” was a tough earner who was very loyal to Carmine “The Snake” Persico.  Greg Scarpa had also been a long time FBI informant who used his government contacts to expand his power base. Scarpa was no ordinary informant, it has long been rumored that in 1964 when three civil rights workers disappeared and were murdered that the FBI put Scarpa on plane and he forced the burial information from one of the Ku Klux Klan members.  John Gotti Sr. wanted Greg Scarpa killed because he said he was a rat, which I find funny because look at what his own Underboss would do.  Fast forward and look what his own son John Jr. would do.  Maybe Gotti Sr. just wanted to get rid of Greg so he could control the Colombo Family.  Joey did sit on Greg Scarpa a few times but Gotti Sr. called off the hit.  Gotti Sr. told Gravano to let the Colombo Family handle their own business.

Joey would end up flipping in 2004 and he would help the FBI make cases on over 40 Gambino family members and associates.

Rouse Mansion: Murder, Corruption and a Casino

The crime families and crews I write about all provide a vice, and the public is often willing to look the other way while it goes on.  The cash that these rackets bring into the families is used to corrupt both law enforcement and politicians.  The politicians are easy because most of them have never held a job or built anything in the public sector.  Most are not in office to help the people, only to line their own pockets. Law enforcement is another story.  Most of them are in it to serve the public, but there are a few bad apples.   One of those apples was named Tom Brown and he was the Sheriff of Lake County, Illinois during the late 1970s to the early 80s.  The town of Libertyville is located in Lake County and it is an upscale sleepy town with little crime.

When I say crime I am talking about street crime like drug deals, muggings, rapes and murder.

The morning of June 6th, 1980 changed all that because a self made millionaire named Bruce Rouse and his wife Darlene were found brutally murdered in their mansion. Their three kids had been home when they were murdered but they said they had not heard a thing, due to a thunderstorm.  

The Rouse Mansion after a long investigation and no real leads was sold to an Outfit front man. The Outfit would spend thousands turning it into a casino.  The crew behind it was run at first by Joe Ferriola aka Joe Nagell.  He had his man Louis Marino oversee and provide security for the casino.  William Johoda was the guy that the public saw.  Johoda had been a bookie who split profits with the Outfit and now he divided up the cash from the casino.

All the Blackjack and other games were rigged at the casino to maximize profits to the Outfit.

The crew used some of this cash to take care of guys who were locked up and kept their mouths shut.  Guys like mob killer Harry Aleman were sent cash every month to make their time easy.  

Although there was not much of your average street crime going on in Lake County and Libertyville, thanks to Sheriff Tom Brown, Sargent Willie Smith and Organized Crime Sargent Robert Schroeder there was a lot of organized crime going on with the help of law enforcement.  They took payoffs from the Rouse Mansion Casino in order to turn a blind eye to gambling and prostitution.  There were joker poker machines at other bars prostituion also at two stripbars and an adult video store.  Sheriff Tom Brown was given $1500 a month from Rocky Infelice to provide advanced warning using on a hotline installed in the Rouse Casino in case of a raid.  

There were more murders besides the Rouse murders that went unsolved because of Law Enforcement.  Robert Plummer was a bookie in Libertyville until he crossed Rocky Infelice and Rocky decided he was to become trunk music.   He had Johoda bring him to the Rouse Casino and walk him up the stairs.  Once Robert Plummer reached the top of the stairs two Outfit killers grabbed him and began to bludgeon him.  Plummer’s last words were “Oh my God!  What was that!” and 3 seconds later he was dead.  They loaded him up in his wife’s Lincoln Continental  drove him to Mundelein where he would be found in the trunk.  

Joe Ferriola would move on to become the boss of the Outfit for a few years until his health problems would force him out.  He would die at 61 in 1989.  Rocky Infelice would go away for extortion and two murders. Nick Ferriola, Joe’s son, would start working with Frank Calabrese Sr. and his crew.  He helped with the gambling and shaking down a Pizza Parlor.  He was also the guy who was the go between to Ronnie Jarrett who was running the crew for Frank Sr. Ronnie Jarret would be murdered and Nick would get some more time thanks to Operation Family Secrets.

The Rouse Murders would be solved many years later when Billy Rouse, their son, would confess to their murder in 1995.

This is just one example of how law enforcement works with organized crime to mutually benefit each other.