Battista “Benny” Geritano

Battista “Benny” Geritano is a long time Gambino Family Associate and a real tough guy who comes from a long line of wiseguys.  He once had a problem with a young made guy from the Lucchese Family.  The guy came to see him and the guy started telling him he had better watch the way he spoke.  Benny looked at him and said, “Why? Who are you? You got guns?  I got guns. Get lost.” This is how Benny felt towards guys who for one reason or another got inducted into a family and then thought they could throw their weight around.  He would respect you if you were a tough guy and laugh in your face if you were not, regardless of your status.

Alphonse "Allie Shades" Malangone was a Capo for the Genovese Family and a huge money maker.  He ran the Fulton Fish market and controlled a lot of the private carting industry. He also had restaurants and nightclubs in Brooklyn. His status as a money maker never stopped Benny from messing with Allie Shades’ girlfriend, Margo. He was told to stop and he kept it up.  Allie Shades banned him from the Brooklyn night spots Pastels and Turquoise. Benny didn't care and he would show up at the clubs anyway with the rest of his friends until the guys running the clubs would beg his friends to leave so they wouldn’t have trouble.  Margo and Benny eventually had a falling out and she ran to Allie Shades, who went to the Gambinos for a sit down over it.  Nothing happened to Benny though.

Benny’s stepfather Anthony "Shorty" Mascuzzio was once one of John Gotti’s inner circle.  That is, until he went to shakedown Bedrox  (a Mid-town disco) where he began pistol whipping the owner who then took his gun away from him and shot him dead. Benny’s stepbrother, Anthony Mascuzzio Junior is a Gambino who went away until this year for being part of a marijuana trafficking group. He also used a baseball bat on some black thugs that tried to steal his Rolex once.  

Preston J. Geritano was Benny’s uncle and a Genovese associate.  He was stabbed to death by his brother-in-law, Genovese mobster Andy Gargiulo, aka Andy Wilson, in front of Amici’s in Brooklyn.

Preston J. Geritano Junior was arrested for money laundering.  

Benny was part of what would be called the Night Drop Crew by the Feds.  The crew robbed banks by prying open the night deposit boxes and taking the deposits.  They developed remote controlled drills and used fishing gaffs to retrieve the cash.  

They all had walkie talkies and police scanners.  They got away with it from 1993 to 2003.

Benny ended up with a 71 month sentence for his part in the 10 year crime spree.

He went away and did his time.  He was busted for smoking weed when his urine test came back dirty.

An FBI Agent testified at his parole hearing that he was a suspect in four separate murders.  

Then Benny got into a fight in April of 2011 on Court Street in Brooklyn with Mark Iacono, owner of Lucali pizzeria. He was soon stabbing him on the sidewalk until both men were bloody.  Benny took off from the scene and was later found at a hospital with stab wounds including some in his back.  Benny and Mark both declined to press charges or testify in front of a grand jury.  Benny however did tell the court during his parole hearing some strange stuff.  He told the court he had been a Gambino associate and that members of a crime family wanted him dead.  He then told the court that he was trying to go straight.

The same FBI agent who claimed he was the suspect in four murders told the court that Benny was also a suspect in a bank burglary in Bensonhurst Brooklyn that took place over a holiday weekend.

The FBI had him under surveillance but failed to keep track of him.

Benny managed to get away with that stabbing but he was soon in trouble again.  This time on the night of December 23, 2012 he went to Nouveau bar in Brooklyn. He must have been in a foul mood because when a guy named Nunzio Fusco bumped into him Benny went crazy. Nunzio apologized to him and went to the bar for some drinks.  Benny followed him and Nunzio told him again he was sorry and did not want any trouble.  Benny shoved Nunzio’s girlfriend and Nunzio jumped to her defense.  Benny and Nunzio were soon trading punches until bouncers broke it up.  Benny took off and Nunzio noticed he was bleeding.   He had been stabbed three times.  Twice in the gut and once in the shoulder.  Detectives went to the bar owner who turned over a video of the incident.  The video showed Benny with the knife.  A few days after turning over the video to the police the bar owner was shot on Staten Island. He lived but he claims to not have seen the shooter.

Benny went to trial on the stabbing charges and was found guilty.  The judge gave him 12 years in prison.  He will be be 50 when he gets out and he will still be plenty tough.

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.

Lucchese Family and Sports Betting

Last week 6 Lucchese crime family members pleaded guilty to running a massive sports betting operation.  The size and scope of the operation and the amount of time the men will do demonstrates why the Mafia wants to stay in the gambling business.

They took in $2.2 billion in bets in 15 months on sporting events.  Here’s a little gambling math for you:  they got the Vig right off the top.  That is 10 dollars for every 100 dollars wagered.  That means IF that were all they made, they took $200 million off the top in 15 months time.  Then add in all the cash from parlays and teasers, and it's a much bigger profit.

They did this all using Costa Rican wire rooms and password protected websites that were based on servers in Costa Rica.  Gambling is all legal in Costa Rica.   In the US it is only okay in Las Vegas and Atlantic City, because there the huge corporations handle it.

There would be few large sporting events without gaming and all the shows and news that go with them.

The Lucchese guys had the wire rooms aka phone banks based in Costa Rica.  They give a customer a code name and an 800 number to call in their action.  They use local books to recruit customers, collect and pay off.  The money never actually makes it to Costa Rica because it is all done in cash in person in local bars.  Customers have a password for the website and a username.  They will have credit and collect from the bookie during the week.

One of the principals in the operation was Matthew Madonna, a name that many Mafia readers will know.  Matty was part of the Pleasant Avenue Connection of heroin selling fame.  Matty used to have cars full  of heroin dropped off to black heroin kingpin Leroy Nicky Barnes.  Nicky would get the keys to the car and later he would drop it back off filled with cash.  It was a sweet operation for them, that was later derailed because of Nicky's flashy ways.  

Matty went away and was given 30 years for selling heroin. He was summoned before a grand jury but never said a word and was given another year and a half for not cooperating.

Once he was released, he was inducted into the Lucchese family and quickly rose to Capo and soon he was on the ruling panel that ran the family.

Ralph V. Perna was the Capo who ran the New Jersey faction of the Lucchese family which included two of his sons Joseph and John.  He follows a long line of guys who ran the family in new Jersey.   For awhile Nicky Scarfo’s son was said to be running the faction, but he is down for a long time now.  Tumac was the longtime boss until the crazy crack smoker Gaspipe went on his murderous rampage.  

Joseph DiNapoli is another Lucchese Capo who went down for the sports betting operation.  DiNapoli was also on the ruling panel with Matty.  He made big money from labor racketeering and stock fraud. He has two brothers who are made in the Genovese family.

Back to the gambling bust.  Marty Taccetta, who is already serving life in prison, will get an extra 8 years tagged on his sentence.  All in all it is not that bad.  Ralph Perna will get 8 years while his sons will get 10 years.  Matty will get 5 years while rest will get 8 years.  The time is not a lot for the amount of cash they pulled down.  Did the Feds stop sports betting?  Not a chance.  That is why the lines are posted all over for every event.

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.