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?

A Tale of Two Capos

Life in a mafia family is never dull, and many times when you feel like you are finished with that life you end up getting pulled back into it.

Two capos - Anthony Pipitone & Bobby DeLuca Sr. - have vastly different stories.  They both end up in the same place.

Anthony Pipitone, a capo in the Bonanno family, was taken down down in October of 2009 in a 33 count indictment along with 14 others.  The FBI had taken down the Bonanno ruling panel in the case.  They caught Pipitone discussing his part in a stabbing of two men he thought broke windows in a Queens restaurant.  The problem was that Pipitone and the others stabbed two teenagers who did not break the windows.  Pipitone received 46 months in a plea deal for that indictment.  

Pipitone promised the judge he was finished with the Mafia life.  I am surprised the judge was lenient.  Pepitone, who was out on supervised release, had a “do not associate” list.  You are to have no police contact and no contact with felons. The Bonanno family held their annual Christmas party at a restaurant on Staten Island last year.  There were no paparazzi, but the FBI was present to capture it all on video.

They also caught him having a capo meeting at a house in Queens and at a barbershop.

This time the judge had enough, and he gave him two more years behind bars a few weeks ago.

The good news is he will be off the street.  The bad news?  He will go back to his position when he returns.

Bobby DeLuca Sr. was a longtime New England Patriarca family capo until 2011 when he agreed to cooperate with the FBI.  

He signed the deal and agreed to be complete and truthful when being debriefed by the FBI.

The FBI must have been satisfied with his cooperation because in 2014 a judge sentenced him to one day in jail.

He had the chance to come clean and he did not. DeLuca was arrested at his Fort Lauderdale home on June 30 for lying to the FBI.

DeLuca told the FBI he did not know where nightclub manager Steven A DiSarro was buried.  

DiSarro had run a club for Frank Salemme and his son Frank Jr., and he was murdered because he was called before a grand jury.  

The FBI just unearthed DiSarro’s remains behind a Providence Mill.  Billy Ricci, who is part owner of the property and used to be a member of DeLuca’s crew, gave up the location.

Ricci was arrested on charges of cultivating marijuana.

Deluca did not come clean when he had the chance.

The old saying proves true - three people can keep a secret, if two are dead.

The Bonanno Family Saga

The Bonanno family keeps getting hammered by law enforcement from every direction. The media likes to portray the Cosa Nostra as dead.  They make fun of the guys who get taken down, but the truth is, all the other crime groups wish they were like them.

The Cartels.  What happened to the Medellin Cartel?   The Cali Cartel?  The organizations before and since are gone.  Most of the drug Cartels are just that: drugs networks.  They are usually run by one person and when they get arrested or killed it's over.  They do not diversify into other areas like Unions, political corruption, waste, carting and the list goes on.  Cosa Nostra does that, and everything they can make money doing.

In July of 2013 the Manhattan District Attorney’s office came down on the Nicky Santoro crew of the Bonanno family.  They arrested 9 men including their Capo Nicky Santoro.

The media has made a big deal that they were selling Viagra and Cialis pills. What they failed to tell you is that they were trying to move 300,000 of them plus tens of thousand of Oxycodone pills.

They also ran a bookmaking operation that pulled in 7 million in bets.  It was a typical sportsbook feature, a special website and an 800 number that you could place bets.  Then they would settle up on Tuesdays if it was a grand or more either way.

One of the guys indicted, Nicholas Bernhard, was president of International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 917 which had about 1900 members. He is charged with using his position with the Union to enrich himself and the Bonanno family.

He had one of his guys loaning money to Union members and taking action for the sports book.

ERNEST AIELLO and VITO BADAMO were both acting Capo’s at various times during the investigation.  

Anthony Santoro known as Skinny was a soldier beneath them.  

They are on trial now and it is expected to go on until April.  The way the trials have been going I would not be surprised to see them all walk.  

If anyone has watched Donnie Brasco they may recall when Donnie walks into a Social club and some guys are busting open a parking meter.  That was in the late 1970’s early 1980’s.  That is what street guys do.  They hustle however they can to make cash.  Some guys make more than others.  I knew guys who made fake subway tokens and they made money doing it.  Others sold phone cards for long distance calls.  Some guys are in karting and they make money that way.

Nicky Santoro was part of the Sonny Black crew portrayed in Donnie Brasco. They claim the Bruno Kirby character was loosely based on him.  

I know that he was selling knock off NFL team jerseys in the mid 2000’s because he gave me a box in the Bamonte’s parking lot.  Today the FBI is looking for terrorists and Mexican drug cartel members moving tons of heroin.  They have let up on the five New York families of the Cosa Nostra. The last time they did that, the Bonanno family regrouped and rebuilt itself up into a good sized family.  You cannot count them out just yet.

As the Mob Turns

Colombo underboss Benjamin Castellazzo, also known as Benji, or “the Claw,” did what any father who happened to be a mafia underboss would do for his son.  He used his power and position to get his son a job at the Union controlled Hudson News.  He had his cronies falsify work histories to get him a job.  This is a job that should have gone to a real hard working Union member.

The guy who Benji used to set up the job took a plea deal and was given no jail time, only probation.  Benji took a plea deal for some other crimes in 2013 and was given 63 month in prison. He claimed at the time time that he was living on $868 dollars a month in Social Security and food stamps.  He had a beautiful house before he was arrested and now he lives in a trailer park.  Benji was released from prison August 14th, so he will have at least a three year parole term.  He is 77 now, so that means he will be 80 before he can make any real moves on the street.  My question is how many moves can an 80 year old make on the streets?  This is what I've talked about in my past blogs.  What kind of life is that?

I've written about the case of Konstantinos "Gus" Boulis, the man who founded the Miami Subs food franchise. A real rags-to-riches success story, where he started working for a submarine sandwich shop and worked his way to partner.  When he helped build it into over 200 shops, he retired to Florida.  He started Miami Subs and again that took off and that made even more money.  He started SunCruz Casinos, a fleet of gambling boats that left Florida for international waters where the passengers could gamble.  He had some trouble because he may have bought some of the boats while he was not a citizen.  He sold SunCruz to Jack Abramoff and Adam Kidan for $147.5 million. The whole deal was shady from the beginning because Gus kept a 10% silent partnership in the deal and accepted a 20 million dollar promissory note as a down payment.  

Jack Abramoff, a Washington insider, was behind the deal. He had two former college buddies front it for him.  Adam Kidan and Ben Waldman took over SunCruz and soon things went sour with Gus.  He claimed they committed fraud and worked with organized crime.  Kidan hired Anthony Moscatiello, aka Big Anthony, a reputed Gambino crime family member, to act as a consultant and supply beverages.  Big Anthony sold wine through a company so they paid them $145,000.  They also hired Anthony Ferrari, another associate to handle security for $95,000.

Gus was threatening to take this all away from them so they decided to murder him.

Gus was leaving his office in Fort Lauderdale when he was boxed in right off Federal Highway by two cars.  Another car pulled up and another man alleged to be John Gurino opened fire on Gus.  He died a few minutes later on Federal Highway.

It took until yesterday for them to convict Big Anthony of ordering the murder.  He now faces the death penalty.  He really does not have much to fear of being put to death by the state because he is 77 years old.  It takes decades to execute anyone today with the appeals process.

Anthony Ferrari was convicted, but spared the death penalty even though he was at the scene of the murder.

Another man, James Fiorillo, aka “Pudgy” will get 6 years for staking out Gus before the murder.  The shooter, John Gurino, had already tasted justice in 2003 when he was gunned down in a Deli Boca Raton Florida.  Who says that the life does not have consequences?

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.

The Colombo Family Grind

The Colombo Family is still out there grinding away.  Cosa Nostra is not like any other criminal group that operates in the US.  Every few years there is a crime group that dominates the headlines.  Jamaican Posse, Colombian Cartel and today it is the Mexican Cartel.  Once law enforcement takes down their leadership they will wither away and die.   Most of them are one trick ponies, dealing only with drugs.  They lack the diverse portfolio of crime that the Cosa Nostra utilizes.

By the time the public reads about a Cosa Nostra guy in the paper being taken down, his replacement has already started working.  The FBI has cut down the Cosa Nostra Squads in New York and combined them.  That means there are less agents in the field.  The NYPD has also cut way back on Cosa Nostra units.  Everyone is worried about Islamic Terrorism.  

The Cosa Nostra has gone back to their roots, into the shadows and with different leadership.  A couple families around the country are run by Sicilians who are from the old country.  

The Colombos are still run by the Carmine Persico. There are still Persicos left on the street and when they go away there are some others that will be coming home.  The only question is: when Carmine dies, will the Colombo Family still want to listen to all of his brain dead relatives?

It should come as no surprise that last week the Appeals Court ruled on Tommy Geoli’s appeal.  Sorry to report that he will have to do the whole 18 years that he was sentenced to by the judge.  This is a guy who killed a nun during a hit, took part in the killing of at least one police officer and a few others.  When he was acting boss of the family and pulling down cash, he was Mr. Big, and now he sits and cries on his blog about how unfair life is and how he’s been mistreated, set up, and hasn’t received any justice.

The FBI took down acting Capo Luca DiMatteo and two others last week.  He and his nephew, Lukey DiMatteo, shook down a Brooklyn business for the last 10 years for an average of $400 a month.  So about $48k tax free over the time period. I am sure the business owner asked for a favor or owed it from a shylock loan.  When it became too much he ran to the FBI and let them know what was happening.  

Luca was still partaking in the staple of the mafia’s business model by operating gambling spots around Brooklyn.  These bring in a lot of cash with a low risk.  The only time guys get any big time is when the Feds roll it into a RICO charge.  Otherwise gambling is not something they get a lot of time for, unlike drug charges which carry harsher punishments.

Luca, who lived on Long Island is suffering from bladder cancer in prison, along with the other regular mafia ailments: busted heart disease and The Sugar aka diabetes.

Luca, before he was arrested, had been undergoing chemotherapy for his cancer. On the days he did not have chemo treatments he would go pick up the extortion money and on those that he had treatment, he sent Lukey to pick it up.

Luca’s lawyer tried to tell the judge that his client was too sick to be incarcerated while awaiting trial.  The judge pointed out that he was well enough to direct others or participate in crimes while he was free.  I guess he won't be free on the $1.5 million bail package his lawyer offered up.

So the Colombo Family continues to grind away. The problem is now with the FBI busy on other fronts, they will grow just like the Bonannos did. I expect a lot of the families to grow stronger in the shadows.

Check out this new web series! The Good Life WATCH THE GOOD LIFE

The New Pizza Connection

The quiet, hardworking Queen's pizza maker Gregorio Gigliotti who owned Cucino A Modo Mio (I Cook My Way) was really a member of the blood thirsty Ndrangheta.

The Ndrangheta hail from Calabria and control a huge amount of the drugs in Europe.  They only allow those with blood or marriage ties into their organization.  This cuts down on turncoats.  They have intermarried with many other Mafia families so they have a lot of power.

Gregorio ran the US part of a large Ndrangheta smuggling ring that imported cocaine from Costa Rica in shipments of cassava and yucca. They would pack the drugs in the roots in Costa Rica and they would be sent to Philadelphia or Delaware.

They would repackage them and hide them in the walls of cardboard boxes and they would be shipped to the Netherlands, Spain and Italy.  

Law Enforcement intercepted  shipments totaling 125 lbs of cocaine over the last year headed to both Philly and Delaware.  The FBI working with Italian authorities started watching the Queen's Pizzeria.  They soon had wires on all their phones and inside the restaurant.  They had them in their cars and homes and they started paying off.

The FBI soon came up with a name, Operation Columbus, and it went on for 10 months.  They picked up a lot of Gregorio and his violent temper. He wanted to dissolve  two Mafia debtors in acid or use baseball bats on them.  He was mad at Franco and Pino Fazio for them not paying on a consignment of drugs. They were two brothers who worked with as couriers between Costa Rica, United States and Italy.   The FBI watched as Franco, known as the Ambassador, dropped off 170k in payment to South American drug traffickers.

Even as the FBI was closing on them Gregorio sent his wife to Costa Rica with 400k to give to the suppliers. They intercepted some of the cocaine shipments to another New York business that Gregorio owned.  Fresh Farms Export Corp was started to handle the shipments from Costa Rica and to Europe.  

The FBI took down a shipment of 40 kilos of cocaine secreted inside boxes of cassava bound for Fresh Farms in October of 2014.

That didn't slow down Gregorio because the Ambassador, Franco Fazio, made two more money trips to Costa Rica before they seized another shipment of 15 kilos of cocaine.  It was again headed to Fresh Farms but this time it was hidden in produce.

This shows how these Mafia connected groups have sprung up again.  They are all similar to the Pizza Connection back in the 1980s.  Keep in mind that most of the guys from the Pizza Connection are now free men. The FBI is busy working terrorism now, so it gives them a lot of time to grow.  Since they do not take part in a lot of the family business in the US like bookmaking and shylocking, they do not get the same attention the Cosa Nostra gets.  

The central hub for this group was the Pizzeria in Queens.  The family worked there and the place served a great pie.  The FBI raided it last month and they got over 100k in cash, 7 guns and a pair of brass knuckles. They found more cash in their homes and they are now moving to seize up to 12 million in assets.

This is where the Cosa Nostra is headed.

New Jersey Crews

New Jersey has its own family who do a lot of work in New York.  They also have crews from the five New York Families operating in the state of New Jersey.  The Gambino Crew NJ circa 2010 was headed by Andrew Merola Aka Andrew Knapik, who was a Capo. They ran a large sports book that brought in a lot of money.  They also had their hands in the Laborer's Union Local 1153 and Local 825 Operating Engineers.

The sports book was run in the same way that most are run today.  They had agents or local bookies who had their own customers who they assigned numbers to and gave access to the websites.  The agents would collect and pay on Tuesdays and then they would get a cut from the enterprise.   Ralph Cicalese was Merola’s right hand man and took care of the book.  He met the agents and took payments.  Ralph was not made but he was very close to Merola.

The sports book paved the way for the crew’s shylock business and they would loan out cash to everyone.   The operation was a success and they pulled in more than 2k a day for years with the sports book.  The shylock business brought in around 4k-7k a week in vig, so it was a great business.  

The reason the Cosa Nostra is still at the top of the criminal food chain is due to their ability to infiltrate and control unions and big business. The Mexican cartels and the street gangs, while powerful in their own spheres, have never been able to make that jump to legitimate business.  

They also all tend to fall apart when their leader goes down.  Long after Merola goes away somebody else from the Gambino Family will be running the crew doing the same thing.

They had a lot of power and control over Local 1153 thanks to Michael Urgola who was the business manager for the Local.  Urgola had a lot of power in the Local because he controlled who was a business agent and who the Job Stewards were on projects.  He also approved all Union memberships.   They also had the Local Recording Secretary in their pocket.  

Merola and Crew were able to bypass the Union Collective bargaining agreements with companies that used Local 1153. They were able to get kickbacks from these companies for their help.  

Another scheme that brought in a fair amount of cash was the extortion of food trucks that wanted to feed the workers on sites.  They would only allow trucks who paid them for the right to park on sites and feed the workers.

Ralph Cicalese was appointed Job Steward on the demolition of the Prudential building in Newark, New Jersey so the Crew had control of that job site.

Local 825 represented over 7,000 operators of heavy equipment, mechanics and surveyors in New Jersey.  They were on job sites all over the State.  Merola and Crew were given no-show and low-show jobs from the Union.   Merola had a no-show job on the Goethals Bridge project.

John Cataldo was their man in Local 825 and he was a Business Agent and Organizer.

The Merola Crew was running things in New Jersey like a well-oiled machine for years, but the FBI was watching, and after 5 years of watching they took down 23 members of the crew.  

Andrew Merola ended up pleading out and received 11 years for his trouble.

The Gambinos continue on in New Jersey and I am sure when Andrew Merola gets out he will be right back to work.

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.

Big Joey Massino (Part I)

Joey Massino went on record with Rusty Rastelli, the boss of the Bonanno family in 1973, and Rusty put him in for induction when he opened the books in 1975 after 19 years of remaining closed.  Joey passed because he felt he didn't need it at the time.  Joey had been involved in killing a Family associate named Tommy Zummo.  The killing had not been authorized, Joey had done what is known as “Cop A Sneak” a killing not okayed by the family.  Rusty would have killed him if he found out that Joey had done the hit.  Instead, Rusty thought highly of him. So, on June 14, 1977 he was inducted into the Bonanno Family in a bar along with some others.  Carmine Galante, the acting boss, Stevie Beef the Consigliere, Nicky Glasses, Capo and Al Walker ran the ceremony.  Those along with Joey to be made that day were Joe Chili, Joe Indelicato, Anthony Spero and Manny from the Bronx.    

Joey was soon back to work after the Boss of the Gambino Family, Paul Castellano, asked the Bonanno boss for a favor.  Paul’s daughter had been dating a man named Vito Borelli and Vito had been going around talk bad about Paul.  The Gambinos were having trouble setting him up for a hit so Paul reached out for Rusty for help.  Joey ended up helping the shooter, John Gotti, take him out.  This helped him become even closer to the Gottis during their reign.  He was also highjacking cargo out of JFK and he did well at that.  

One of his arrests came after he and his crew had taken a truck and they were driving it down the street.  Joey was following behind it when he saw an FBI Agent following the truck.  Joey pulled up next to up to the truck and told them the FBI was behind them.  Joey was recognized by the FBI and he was arrested.  Joey’s defense in the trial was simple: the truck had cut him off and he was yelling at the men.  The jury bought his story and he was found not guilty.

One of the most storied hits in the Mafia is the shooting of Carmine Galante in the rear of Joe and Mary’s Italian restaurant.  The picture of Carmine dead with a cigar clenched in his teeth is a classic.  Carmine was made acting boss while Rusty was away but it went to his head.  He stopped listening to Rusty’s directions and started making his own moves.  He angered the other families and the Commission with his actions.  Carmine felt safe because he had imported a bunch of Sicilians or “Zips” but he thought wrong.  The Zips sided with Rusty.  Cesare Bonventre, one of his bodyguards, turned on him during the hit.   Cesare was made a Capo after the hit but he would not last long.  

Joey had gone into hiding in Pennsylvania because the FBI had built a case on him.  While he was there, Rusty sent word that he was going to kill Cesare and Baldo Amato.  Joey went to bat for Baldo because he was listening to his Capo and doing what he was told.  Cesare was another story, he had been shaking down drug dealers but he forgot to kick up the cash.  Cesare had taken 10-15 kilos of heroin from Anthony Aiello Sr (roughly 600k) and he had not kicked up a cent.  Anthony was friends with Rusty and told him what went down, so Rusty sent for Cesare.  Cesare came to the meeting at Marty Rastelli’s home with John Ligamatti, another Capo.  Rusty questioned Cesare and Cesare denied it.  He turned to John and said, “Come on, lets go.” That is the type of attitude you cannot use when dealing with the Boss of the family.  And that is why Cesare was found in two 55 gallon drums in a warehouse.  

Joey turned himself in rather than staying low, and he got a short sentence. But, in 1986 while he was away, Rusty died.  He was voted in as boss while he was still away.   He made Sal Vitale, his brother-in-law, his underboss but he ran the family most of the time by panel.  Joey started closing the social clubs.  He also made it a rule that you had to be a full Italian to be made, and he also required that a guy be around them for 8 years before he could be proposed to be made.  Everyone was forbidden to mention his name, you instead had to tug your ear.  He told guys they no longer had to go to weddings and wakes, it was up to them.  He built the family back up and he had 17 Capos that reported to Sal Vitale, Tony Green and TG  Graziano.

 

He got about 4k a month from his Capos.  They had a book that he and Sal Vitale split.  Joey and Sal also 500k in Shylock cash on the street that they made a couple grand a week from.  He got 30k a year from the Feast Of San Gennaro because a Bonanno was the president of the Feast.  If anyone wanted a good booth or lights they had to pay.  The family had a Baccarat game they split with the Gambinos for the last 60 years that was held in coffee shops from November through mid-January.  Everyday at noon all the coffee shops would close and the one that was open hosted the game.  For a while he was getting 10k a month from a trucking company at JFK until changing times caught up and it dropped to 800 a month.  Every year at Christmas he got about 160k from his Capos, so Joey Massino was doing pretty well.  He used to meet Capos in the “weeds” in Queens, a street that had weeds on it. The FBI was playing catch up until it all came down.   Next week more on Joey Massino.

Bonanno Family

The best inside secrets come from the guys who turn.  Nobody was a bigger coup for the government than Joey Massino.  Joey was Boss of the Bonanno family and not just any boss but the man who built it back up.  The Bonanno family had been decimated by internal strife and embarrassed by Donnie Brasco aka Joseph Pistone infiltrating the family.

Joey shut the social clubs and made a secret gesture where they tugged on their ear lobe to signify the Bonanno family.  He was able to get the family back on the Commission and he brought new blood into the family.  

Joey Massino wanted to flip even before his conviction.  He had attended a couple of proffer sessions in prison and the Government was still on the fence about a deal or no deal.  

Vincent Basciano, aka Vinny, had been in charge on the street as acting boss of the Bonanno family while Joey was behind bars.  He was able to make Captains or break them if necessary, and was the last word on the street for the Bonanno family.  Then Vinny was also arrested and housed at Brooklyn MDC. In November of 2004 Joey called a family meeting by using lawyers to set up co-defendant meeting so they could go over family business.

It was at one of these prison meetings that Joey Massino wore a wire for the FBI.  He got Vinny to talk about Randy Pizzolo, a guy who was an associate of his crew who was found murdered in Brooklyn.   Vinny spoke freely to Joey because, after all, he had been boss for over 13 years.  

Vinny had sent Joey’s wife 50k in a bottle of Dom while he was locked up.

Vinny told Joey that he had given the order to kill Randy Pizzolo because the kid was a rat and scumbag that he had brought a pistol to a meeting at Villa Sonoma with a made Bonanno family guy.  He had then gotten drunk and started running his mouth.  Vinny had chased him and he was told to go to Florida.  Randy would not leave New York and this bothered Vinny a lot.

Randy was lured to Greenpoint Brooklyn early one day and he was shot seven times by Anthony “Ace” Aiello, a made Bonanno man.  Vinny had told Joey on tape in MDC that Ace was his Luca Brasi, a fictional character from the The Godfather.  

Joey Massino also gave up how the Bonanno family inducted new members.  A Capo would place a guy who had been around them for a number of years on a piece of paper and give it to Joey.  Joey would then at his leisure look into the guy to see if he was “stand up.”  If he passed, Joey would put his name next to the name of a soldier who had died or gone away and that would be passed among the other five families.  If they had no objections he would induct them into the family.  He told the FBI that he personally attended 60-70 induction ceremonies over the years.

The Bonannos would bring a guy or two or even three into the room and say something along the lines of, “This is the life you chose. If not, there is the door, you can leave now.  If you choose this life, you are here until you die.” Once they say yes they start the ceremony.  They then go over the rules: you dont mess with a Wiseguy’s wife or daughter, you don’t sell drugs (which is a joke because they all make money this way), never bring a gun to a meeting, and you put everything on record with your Capo.

Then he said they would tell them if your wife is dying, your kids, your mother and you are called you must come. The Family, the Mafia comes first. They tell you to murder, your brother is dying, your kid, you have to murder, the Bonanno family always comes first.   They then told them that if they were told to kill their brother or best friend they had to right away.  After that they swear allegiance to the family and Omerta.  Then they are put with a Capo.  If it was a Capo who proposed them, then they are put with him.  If it was a soldier that proposed them, they are instead put with a Capo who needs another guy.

Colombo Family: Inside Secrets Revealed

The “administration” or “panel” that rules the Colombo Family is ever changing depending on who is locked up and who gets taken down.  The one constant is the boss, Carmine “The Snake” Pesico, who now lives in Butner FCI in North Carolina with 737 other inmates including Bernie Madoff.  Carmine is now 81 years old and it is doubtful he will make his release date in 2050 but he keeps the family in check with a never ending supply of acting bosses.  Many of these are relatives both by blood and by marriage. I have already written about Tommy Geoli and Joe Waverly running the family on a day-to-day basis.  

Andrew Russo was the acting boss in 2011, and he was another Persico relative. Benjamin “The Claw” Castellazzo was the underboss during that time who dealt with a lot of the capos around Brooklyn. Richard Fusco was the Consigliere and with him were senior capos Joseph Carna, Dennis Delucia, Ren Maragni and Anthony Russo.

They were quick to beef up the ranks of the family and replace those that were lost to death or incarceration.  They held a secret initiation ceremony in January of 2009 where they made 5 new soldiers.  They were preparing to have another ceremony on December 7, 2010 at Emanuele Favuzza’s home.  Andrew Russo and Benji Castellazzo would run the ceremony and Anthony Russo was bringing the pistol and the knife to the location, but they found out the FBI was watching so they cancelled it. They had planned on making 4 more soldiers at this ceremony.

They never seem to miss a step when it comes to crime.  They were once again inside the Union LIUNA Local 6a and this time they were extorting the “Coffee Boy”.  The Coffee Boy is where any Union Member on any job site must buy their food and beverages from.  The Coffee Boy was required to kick back at least $250.00 a week.  This adds up quick considering how many job sites there are around the city.  They still held high positions in the Union and could hand out jobs to their relatives.  

The Colombo family is not above being in the drug business unlike what movies try to portray.

They contacted some well known mafia-connected drug traffickers in Canada and arranged for a 250 pound load of marijuana to be delivered in Massachusetts.  The FBI was waiting for them when they were picking up the load.

They were all heavily involved in the mafia staples of shylocking and gambling.  They continued to loan out and collect large sums of cash.  They had bookies all over New York and Florida that brought in more than 2k a day each.  

Ren Maragni was not only a senior capo he was Cooperating Individual (CI) for the FBI and he wore a wire.  He was able to capture 90 conversations during his time wearing the wire.

When Thomas Farese was upped to the Consigliere position, he recorded him speaking about his promotion.   He told the FBI about a January 20, 2011 induction ceremony that Benji Castellazzo presided over where they again inducted soldiers.

One of the guys he gave up to the FBI is my old pal Teddy Persico Jr. He let the FBI know about his position as capo in the family.  He also told the FBI about Teddy’s participation in the murder of Joe Scopo while he was on a prison furlough.  

He gave up a lot of information on the role of Michael Persico, the unmade son of Carmine who for years was the clean Persico.  Michael was able to see his father and bring back messages to the rest of the family because of his lack of record.  

He also brought to light the pizza sauce beef, one of the funniest Mafia stories.  Big Frank Guerra, or BF, has been very close to the Persicos since his motorcycle accident many years ago.  He married into the family who owns the L&B Pizza place, where they make world famous pizza.  A former worker had left L&B and opened his own place on Staten Island which he called the Square.  BF was livid and there was a series of Mafia sit downs over the stealing of the sauce recipe.  Ren Maragni wore his trusty wire and captured for all time this laughable episode inside the Colombo Family.  BF ended up getting 4k from the Square and a lot of time in prison.

Ren Maragni gave up his whole life in the Colombo family from his start when he was with Jerry Langella to his meeting Allie Boy Persico when they were young. Their cousins had a beef and Allie fixed it.  Years later while he was still an associate Allie Boy had him keep tabs on the South Florida Colombo crew.  He would meet Allie once a month and pass messages.

Ren also told the FBI about his own induction ceremony in the Bronx at a social club in the basement.  Benji Castellazzo as the underboss was in charge that night and he along with Richard Fusco recited the words while Ren had his hand on the pistol as the saint burned in his hand.

Ren double crossed the FBI when he was wearing a wire by using a secret cell phone to call people.  He also collected his shylock debts and diverted money from secret businesses he owned.  The FBI still went to bat for him when he was sentenced!

The FBI keeps taking the Colombos down, but the next day others replace them. This is why the Cosa Nostra is still alive, the structure assures that it will continue.  Other crime groups are usually ruled by one guy and when he goes down that is it.