Armed Robbery, Mafia Style

Armed robbery has always been a staple of Organized Crime.  The five families in New York always had crews that pulled down great scores ranging from Brinks to Lufthansa.  Some guys especially liked robbing armoured cars.  One of the guys I was around in Brooklyn planned to ship a box with a small person inside it to an armoured car depot.  He was then going to open the doors and let the armed robbers inside.  The FBI foiled that plot before it got off the ground because they flipped the small person.

There is a lot in the recent news about the 1978 armed robbery of Lufthansa Airlines at JFK Airport of $6 million in cash and jewels.

The FBI has one 78 year old Bonanno Family capo under arrest after recording tapes of him speaking about it to informants.  Of course, he now has none of the money.  They have tape!  

There is a new book out that claims to have inside information about the heist from Henry Hill.  Henry Hill, although he was around the Lucchese Crew, was never a planner of heists.  He was a drug dealer, a drunk, and a drug addict, who died of heart failure from his years of drug abuse.  Anyone who ever heard him on the Howard Stern show or met him in person knows better.

The book claims that he was a planner of the heist and that he had a sitdown with John Gotti over it. You, the reader, would have a better chance of having a sit down with John Gotti.  

There was another crew that operated in upstate New York. They were under Angele Prisco, a Genovese Capo.  

The crew was made up of Rocky Melicharek, Michael Luni, Shakes Memoli, Angelo Nicosia, Danny Celaj, Neddy Gjelaj and Louis Pipolo (the nephew of Vincent Gigante).  They robbed upstate New York homes in October of 2003.

One of the homes was that of the star of the American Chopper TV series who lived in Montgomery, NY.  The crew busted in and dragged a 60 year old house sitter out of his bed and pistol whipped him.   Paul Teutul Sr. was not home during the robbery because he was traveling.  The crew also hit another home that same month where they got in excess of $250,000 in cash.  They kicked up a portion of the scores to Angelo Prisco.

All the members of the crew were caught and some of them flipped.  Angelo Prisco is now doing life for a murder, so this additional charge was no big deal.

The Gambino Family has had a lot of home invaders.  One of the low points was when Gambino Associate Frank LaCorte hired two men: Antoine Burroughs and Leon Whitfield, to rob a Queens Pizza shop owner.  The man tried to protect his elderly father from a brutal beat down he received from the two men.

Ori Spado, a Colombo Family Associate, while cooperating with the FBI, planned a Los Angeles home invasion with his buddy Christopher Curanovic.  Ori planned it and his son rented the car for the crew to use in the robbery.  They ended up hitting the wrong place and torturing a woman.  The FBI found out and later took them all down for it.

Tommy Gioli’s nephew Thomas McLaughlin recorded Big Anthony Russi, a Colombo Capo who flipped, Joseph Savarese and Associate Scott Fappiano planning an home invasion in which the would use pistols and bullet proof vests.  They were not able to pull it off.  The FBI stopped that one.

Armed robbery of businesses or armoured cars is one thing, but breaking into homes and torturing people or murdering them is quite another.  Both are crimes.  

What about Freddy in Brooklyn?

Sonny Franzese: Still Going Strong

Sometimes you can read transcripts and get a feel for what is going on in a courtroom, and sometimes you can tell from what is going on that somebody is cooperating.  Sonny Franzese was on another level.   At one time, he was seated in the courtroom a wheelchair and and needed a fresh battery for his hearing aid.  An FBI Agent from the C-38 Colombo Squad was about to testify.

The FBI Agent started to speak about John Franzese Jr who is a proactive source for the FBI.  He agreed to wear a wire for the FBI against his father.  Sonny found out that his son John was working for the FBI in October 2006.  The FBI found out from another proactive source, Gaetano Fatato, who was wearing a wire when Sonny found out.  Gaetano wore a wire from 2005-2007 and made 242 recordings over 1000 hours for the FBI.

Sonny was very upset and worried that John might say something about Tommy Gioeli, who was the street boss of the Colombo Family.  He feared that it would make it look like he condoned what his son had done.  Sonny was so upset that he went to Gaetano’s home to speak to him right after he visited his parole officer. Sonny had thought that he would be picked up but now he felt the FBI was leaving him on the street to make it look like he was also cooperating.

Sonny told Gaetano that there may be a time when he would have to call in his son in and then they would... (Sonny then made a pistol with his finger) Gaetano agreed that he would help.

Sonny had asked him a year before if he would be willing to kill if asked and he agreed.

Sonny spent a lot of time with Gaetano and one time he started talking about the old days and he told him he had taken part in possibly 60 murders.  At the time, Sonny was the 92 year old acting Underboss of the Colombo Family.  He had never had real job in his life.  John Franzese Jr. would live to testify against his father and other Colombo figures, and told of flying around in a lear jet with tons of cash when his dad was younger.

In some ways I feel bad for Sonny because his own son John testified against him.  I knew John when he was in California and lived at a drug rehab place.  The guy was always a loser and was always supported by his family.  Sonny’s other son Michael had been a Capo in the Colombo Family, but had successfully walked away from the life.  Michael would later become a Christian speaker.

In other ways, I do not feel bad for Sonny because he lived his whole life dedicated to the Mafia.  He lost two daughters, really his whole family because of the Mafia.  He made a life out of shaking people down.  The saying on the street was “His pockets are sewn shut,” meaning he would never go into his pocket for anyone or anything.  He always used his connections or someone around him to pay for things, every meal, every tank of gas, every little thing.  

The Government blamed him for glamorizing the Mafia in the media because he was spoken about in at least 15 books as a Legendary Mobster.  The glamorization comes from those in Hollywood who have never held a pistol, never struck a person, yet feel the need to make up Hollywood versions of the truth.  The truth is, he’s an old man who has lost his family, who committed many violent crimes against others in the same small crime world, spent over 50 years in prison, retains the respect of some, but the love of few.  I once asked a former Colombo capo friend of mine, “Do you know of any happy endings in the mafia?”  He thought about it for a minute, looked at me, and said, “None.”  You can can glamorize Sonny all you want, but its not a happy ending or a happy life.

Sonny is 98 years old today and has a release date of 2017 when he will be 100 and still owe 3 years of parole.

Blog Updates: Nicodemo Scarfo Jr, Alicia Garofalo, Shrimp Boy Chow

This week is an update to earlier blog posts.

Nicodemo Scarfo Jr. is the son of Philadelphia Mafia Boss Nicky Scarfo Sr. and a made member of the Lucchese Family.  Nicodemo has been a forward thinker in the Mafia world because he was among the first to use computers and encryption to evade the FBI.  He used computers to run his bookmaking and shylocking business and then he went into the corporate take-over business.

Nicodemo and friends used Mafia tactics to take over Irving, Texas based First Plus Financial Group, a mortgage company.  They gained control of the board using threats and other means and then they proceeded to loot the company of 12 million dollars in less than a year.  They used shell companies owned by Nicodemo and friends to bill for work that they did not need or want.  Then, after they were successful, they bought more companies and stole even more.  They were caught on wiretaps speaking to Nicky Scarfo Sr. and Lucchese Family Boss Vic Amuso about the scheme.  In one recording Nicodemo was caught telling his father, "They were a good 6 to 10 months off from helping everyone."  “Everyone” meant other Mafia associates.  I am sure both the elder Scarfo and Boss Amuso got their end first.  Nicodemo used the cash to by homes,  jewelry, weapons and a yacht which they named "Priceless".  This scheme made them 12 million plus and Nicodemo's Bookmaking made them a pile before this arrest. He is a forward thinker and a moneymaker, but the one thing I do not understand is why buy a huge house, cars and that yacht. He had to know that the FBI was going to be busting down their doors and seize all their newly acquired showy wealth.  Why not not bury the cash and then when you get caught claim poverty, take a deal, get out in 10 years and still have some hidden cash to show for it. This time Nicodemo is facing 20 years but he will probably not get the full sentence.

The next up is Alicia Garofalo the wife of Colombo Associate Eddie Garofalo.  Eddie pled out and took a deal so his wife did not have to suffer as much as him.  The problem is that Alicia then became a cast member on the TV show “Mob Wives.”  In her pre-sentencing memorandum she claims that she only took the gig to provide for her children.  The Feds countered this by rightly saying that she was glorifying the life. They are right, why should she get to profit from the life and not have to pay, unlike her husband. Her defense team claims that she was showing how bad the life was and what it does to families.  I could tell from her parties in Las Vegas and other places, running around with the cast members places that she was trying to show how bad the life is for her.  When I was wearing a wire inside the mobile home that served as Big R Trucking's office she was on the phone with Eddie billing for his other company T&E or “Teddy and Eddie,” their heavy equipment company.  She grew up in the area and knew who the Persicos were and what they do. She was not innocent or a victim.

Even before I was no longer in Brooklyn I knew they had gone up on the phones and had caught her speaking about the business.  Steve Marcus, who flipped after me, continued to give them probable cause to investigate Alicia.  

I hope the judge does not buy all the crap in her Memorandum and gives her some time and at least a 100k fine.  Unlike others who deal drugs or even Nicodemo Scarfo who stole from a company, she stole from hardworking Union members health and pension benefits.  I love how her lawyers have to point out what a hard life she has had because her father died when she was young and she is a single mother of three children.  Somehow through all that hardship she was able to enjoy the good life with Eddie: taking vacations, gambling, going out on his speed boat and having an affair.  Poor Alicia.

Now for Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, the Dragon head or “Dai Lo” of the Chee Kung Tong (centuries old Chinese Triad or Mafia). Shrimp Boy had a bail hearing and his lawyer the great Tony Serra put together 10 character witnesses who testified that he was a changed man and sought to help the community.  He was against violence or at least the kind he did not approve.  The FBI countered that it was act and that he was a danger to the community because he was the leader and was in command of a lot of criminals.  They claim to have more than enough evidence to show that he was and is a very dangerous criminal that sought to sell stolen goods, murder and launder money.  The judge agreed with the US Attorney and ordered Shrimp Boy be held without bail.  The one thing I find wrong with this case is Senator Leeland Yee’s involvement.  This is a man that gained the public trust and swore that he would do what is right for the people of the State of California.  He voted for gun control and against violent video games, yet he was at the same time making deals to buy military weapons from Philippine Muslim Terrorists and turning around to sell them for cash.  He is right there in pictures with the criminal Shrimp Boy and yet he gets bail?  He should be the one locked up because he was pretending to be a good guy, and he clearly was not.