New Jersey Fun with the DeCavalcantes

The FBI still goes after Cosa Nostra or mafia families, and in the last few years they have hit the New Jersey-based DeCavalcantes pretty hard.

Last week a judge gave Charles “Beeps” Stango, a capo in the DeCavalcante family, ten years in a case that included murder-for-hire.  

The DeCavalcante crime family is the crime family that the show Sopranos was loosely based on.  Law enforcement now claims that they operate under the Gambino crime family. I laugh out loud when I think about the Sicilians, who run the Gambinos, actually wanting to deal with a bunch of American Cosa Nostra.

Beep’s crew engaged in everything from bookmaking, to loansharking, to selling cocaine and untaxed cigarettes.  The FBI was watching them and intercepted some good wire talk about their drug deals.  One of the conversations they were able to record was one of Beeps talking about the structure of the family and who did what.  It is a very damning recording.  He explains that he goes way back with Goombah Frankie, aka Frank Nigro, who was also taken down in the investigation.  Nigro also happens to be the consigliere of the family.  

Beeps explains to the informant who made the recording what place the consigliere holds in the family.  Equal with the underboss, but a representative of all the men.  

He goes on to explain that if you have a beef, you go to your capo, who takes it to the consigliere, who will settle the dispute.

This is where he tells the informant that the family is under the Gambinos now after being independant since the beginning.

Beeps brags about “planting the family flag,” or setting up crews, in New Orleans, Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

Beeps then had a beef with another capo and another made guy in his crew.  He told the informant that they were disrespectful to him and the underboss.  He wanted the guy hurt, acid thrown in his face or put in a wheelchair.  

He wanted the informant to use a crew from outside Elizabeth, New Jersey that would not be recognizable to the locals.  He considered throwing “pineapples” (grenades) to blow up the guy.

The informant found two unknown outlaw bikers who would do the job.   Beeps offered them fifty thousand dollars to handle the guy.  This time he wanted him dead and he told them.  He also told his son on the phone, and Nigro, while it was being recorded.

The recordings go on and on about setting up the murder and why.  They are between Beeps and Nigro, Beeps and his son and many with the informant. The two would-be hitmen would later turn out to be undercover FBI agents.  

They recorded a meeting at a bar with his son Anthony and two females, where they discussed starting a high end escort business.  They went over paperwork the girls would sign stating that they would not commit illegal acts.  Beeps wanted his son to open a bar as a front for the business.

The informant also did a couple of ‘buy walk’ cocaine deals.  A ‘buy walk’ is when law enforcement buys illegal drugs, pays for them, and lets the dealer go about business.  This is different when law enforcement does ‘buy busts’ and takes everyone down at the time of the deal.  They did a couple of deals with Anthony for two hundred grams of cocaine to strengthen the case against him.  Then the FBI upped the amounts to five hundred gram deals.

The informant got some great tapes of them discussing where they got the cocaine from and how it was brought into the country.

The six others arrested with Beeps Stango have all plead guilty and will be sentenced.

In the old days, a capo would be insulated from street dealings - and forget about having to “hire out” a killing.  The guys in any mafia crew would not get paid to murder - they just did what they were told to do.  Old age and repeated government assaults have weakened the family.

I doubt Beeps Stango will ever be a play on the street again.

L&B Spumoni Garden Murder

Michael Persico has once again managed to delay his sentencing until 2017.  He was supposed to be sentenced on November 1 for a case that has been going on since 2012.  Michael was facing a case that included two murders. He was able to negotiate a great deal that would give him a maximum of five years, but the guidelines call for 36-48 months in Federal custody.  

Michael has lived a charmed life, but he should hope that he does not end up like his father Carmine “The Snake” Persico. Carmine had ongoing trials for Federal hijacking starting in 1960 but he did not get sentenced until 1971.  

In other mafia news: Georgia Gigliotti and his son Angelo, who ran a large drug smuggling empire out of their Queens Cucina Modi Mod restaurant, were convicted this past July for transporting more than 50 kilos of cocaine from Costa Rica and possessing seven guns. They face 15-20 years each.  They worked with guys in the New York Families, they were part of the Ndrangheta which is the Calabrian organized crime group.

The wife Elena was not able to participate in the trial because the judge ordered her into a psychiatric hospital because of a mental condition.  Just this week she was ruled sane, so now she also faces trial.

L&B Spumoni Gardens Pizzeria is a world famous place that serves a Sicilian square upside down pizza.  I went there a number of times with friends even though I do not eat pizza.  

It made the news a couple of years ago because Colombo family associate Big Frank Guerra along with Frankie “Notch” Iannaci went to the Square Pizza on Staten Island and slapped around the owner Eugen Lombardo.  They claimed Eugene stole the recipe for the pizza from L&B Spumoni Garden.  It turned into a family beef when Eugene ran to Bonanno family soldier Anthony Calabrese for help.  

Colombo Capo Anthony Russo was called in for a sit down and it was agreed that Eugene would make a payment of 4,000 dollars and the beef would be over.  

This whole incident came to light after Anthony Russo flipped and testified during Big Frank's trial.

L&B was again in the news this year on June 30 when Louis Babarti, one of the owners, was gunned down outside his Brooklyn home.  He was carry a loaf of bread and $15,000 in cash when he was shot.  Law enforcement were unsure if it was a hit or robbery because the cash was not touched.

Big Frank is away for many years so why did the FBI take up this murder case when there are so many murders everyday?  Murder is not a federal crime.

This week the FBI arrested a man named Andres Fernandez, also known as Andy.  He does not seem to have any Mafia connections and he is a known drug addict.  

The affidavit and complaint for his arrest warrant was written by an FBI Special Agent Chance Adams who handles Mafia investigations. It claims that Andy was at L&B Spumoni Gardens early and then was waiting in the Brooklyn neighborhood for Babarti to come home.  They were able to trace him via his cell phone usage.  They also have him on video hiding behind a tree with a glove on and a pistol in his hand. They have him walking towards Babarti and then immediately after the shooting running to a white Acura and driving away.  They brought him in and he asked for a lawyer right away.

I am sure there is more to this story.  If he was going to rob him, then why just blast him and take nothing?

Garbage Men

This past Friday a Lucchese crime family capo plead guilty inside a Brooklyn courtroom. That capo was Carmine Avellino, and this would end a case that started with a $100k loan back in 2010.

The case is troubling on a number of fronts for a few reasons.  I understand that shylocking, also known as loan sharking, is against the law. It’s called usury.   On the other hand is the borrower. They are not forced to get a loan from a shylock.  They gladly take the money to use for whatever they wish.  They agree to the terms and give their word that they will pay it back. It comes down to personal responsibility, but they get off by running to the FBI. Maybe in the future when they charge shylocks with usury, they should also charge the borrowers with tax evasion and make them pay back the principle as a fine.   While loansharking is illegal, the government allows these payday loan places, pawn shops and credit card companies to basically do the same thing.  

The two borrowers in this case made most of the payments on the loan, but towards the end they fell behind. So Avellino asked Michael and Daniel Capra to collect it. He instructed them to use violence or whatever means necessary to get the money.  The FBI was watching and had both video and audio recordings of the three men conspiring together.

The Capra brothers went to court in June and July, where they both plead guilty and now all three of them face up to 20 years.

Carmine Avellino’s problem is much more than the shylock charge, and it goes back to August 10, 1989.

The story begins long before the trade group Private Sanitation Industry Inc. was formed in Long Island, New York.  This is a good place to introduce Salvatore Avellino Jr., who ran the trade group which was a front for the Lucchese and Gambino family.  The families used the group to control prices and routes for carting companies on Long Island.  It brought in massive amounts of cash to both families.  Salvatore Avellino Jr. not only ran the group but also was driver to the man who put it all together, Tony “Ducks” Corallo, who was the boss of the Lucchese family.

The trade group was having a lot of problems with two men who ran a garbage hauling service on Long Island known as Kubecka Inc. Robert Kubecka and his brother in law Donald Barstow had taken over Robert’s father Jerry’s garbage hauling service when he retired.  There were over 200 private garbage hauling companies on Long Island at the time, and 180 of them belonged to the trade group.  The routes and the rates were set by the group, which was really just the Lucchese and Gambino family.

Then Kubecka refused to have anything to do with the group, so they started having problems.  Their trucks were vandalized, they were threatened and trash containers were burned.  

They decided to cooperate with the state and federal task force investigating the trade group.  They wore wires and gave intel to the investigators.  They provided enough information to take down Salvatore Avellino Jr. and 9 others.  They also were able to bug Sal Avellino’s Jaguar, where they caught Tony Ducks discussing mafia business.  Tony Ducks would get 100 years, but Sal Avellino caught a break.  Soon Vic Amuso and Gaspipe Casso were running the family and they did not like people who worked with the Feds. They called a meeting in a Canarsie Brooklyn social club.  Sal Avellino Jr, and a capo from the Bronx Bowatt Baratta showed up to meet with Amuso and Casso.  They wanted to use Bowett because he was removed from Long Island and the carting business.  Bowatt was big into heroin and had done many years for it.

They had law enforcement sources that were on the Lucchese family payroll so they knew that they could murder the two men at the Kubecka office.  The task force had left the two men completely exposed with no protection.

On August 10, 1989, Bowat was there with Carmine Avellino and they dropped off the two killers.  Rocco Vitulli and Frankie Federico made their way into the garbage services office where they encountered Donald Barstow in the hallway.  They blasted him right away and then ran into the main office.  Robert Kubecka, having heard the shots, fought the men with his bare hands.  They tore up the small office and fired a number of missed shots until they finally mortally wounded Kubecka.  The shooters took off but Kubecka was able to call 911 before he died.

Years later they would all be arrested for racketeering and the murders, but they would all plead out to lesser charges except for Federico, who was missing.  The FBI caught up with Federico in the Bronx and his DNA was at the scene, so he was giving 15 years for the murders.  The Kubecka family won a large settlement from the state but what good does that really do the family?

Carmine Avellino will keep paying for his crimes.

Colombo: The Unsolved Murder

Colombo: The Unsolved Murder

On June 28, 1971, just as Joe Colombo was about to speak in front of a large crowd gathered in support of the Italian-American Civil Rights League, he was shot three times. The man who shot him was a black man disguised as a photojournalist. He was issued press credentials by the  Italian-American Civil Rights League and in the weeks before the shooting, Jerome Johnson was trying to find camera operators to help him film Joe Colombo at the rally. There were thousands of people in the crowd at Columbus Circle that day and many saw Jerome walk up and fire two shots into Colombo’s head and one into his neck.  They watched as he was wrestled to the ground by policemen.

There were then two more shots as Jerome was shot twice in the back. He was shot twice after he was already in police custody in front of thousands of people, hundreds of police and dozens of FBI Agents.  There were TV crews there and many people with cameras -  yet not one person saw who shot Jerome.  The police recovered a small revolver at the scene.

I never read up much on the shooting, because I heard about it from a few guys in my past.  Then I saw a newspaper story on it a few weeks ago and I started to read up on it.

I came across a book Colombo: The Unsolved Murder and decided to give it a read.

I was not expecting much, but Anthony, a son of Joe Colombo, did a great job telling his father's story from his side without giving up a lot of his crimes.  I even had a good laugh when he brought up Fat Philly, who I knew and who had been around LA family street boss Jimmy Caci in Palm Springs.  He described Fat Philly perfectly.

In an age when we are aware that the government lies to us and commits criminal acts freely, we need to take a closer look at the Colombo murder.  Could the US Government take part in an assassination of an American citizen?  The time when Joe Colombo was shot was a turbulent time in America.  John F. Kennedy was killed by a lone gunman who somehow traveled to Russia with no money, lived there and then came home with a wife. Lee Harvey Oswald was then killed in custody by another lone gunman Jack Ruby who just happens to be friendly with Cosa Nostra guys and intelligence operatives.

Dr. Martin Luther King was gunned down by another lone gunman who was a petty thief but somehow managed to escape prison, get to Mexico and then California where he had plastic surgery.  Travel all across the country buying cars, guns and fake IDs.  This is a man who never hit any big scores or was a high roller.  He supposedly shoots Dr. King and then flees to Canada, gets another fake ID and ends up in England.

Robert Kennedy was murdered and 13 shots were fired from an 8 shot pistol, again by another lone gunman.

The FBI used Greg Scarpa, a Colombo family killer, to find the bodies of the 3 civil rights workers.  Greg Scarpa then killed other mobsters with information provided by a Rogue FBI Agent.

There were bombings in Arizona at Joe Bonanno’s ranch and others.   The three men arrested for them claimed an FBI Agent told them to carry them out.  The FBI Agent was never prosecuted and he was able to walk away.

Whitey Bulger murdered at will with the help of the FBI.

Did Carlo Gambino set up the hit? Why would he? He didn't need to pull off a hit in public.  All he would have to do is send for Colombo and have some men waiting.  It would be easy he was head of the Commissions.

Joey Gallo and his crew are the ones who get the blame.  Why and how would Joey get Jerome to do it in public? Then get some policemen to kill Jerome to keep him quit?  Too much credit is given to Joey Gallo.

In the years since Colombo was shot and later died, dozens of men in the Colombo family have flipped and yet not one knows a thing about the shooting.  Guys in Joey Gallo’s crew and the Gambino family have flipped and nothing has surfaced about it.

There seems to be more to the Colombo shooting than is known.

Available on Amazon

The Cost of Corrupt Cops

Today there are so many stories in the news about bad guys in law enforcement. Some are true and some are not.  The truth is that there are bad people in every aspect of society.  

Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, formerly of the NYPD, are some of the worst I've ever read about.

They worked for the underboss of the Luchese family, Gaspipe Casso, in New York while they were employed by the NYPD.  These were two sworn officers. Veterans with experience, not rookies. They were both decorated officers with a lot of arrests.

Louis Eppolito came from a family that had deep roots in the mafia. Ralph Eppolito, his father, was a made soldier in the Gambino crime family. Two other family members, an uncle and cousin, were also made men in the Gambino family and were eventually murdered.

Stephan Caracappa joined the NYPD and they were soon working together. They did well in the 1970’s when there was not much oversight. In the 1980’s the NYPD went after Louis Eppolito when he was connected to future Pizza Connection principal Rosario Gambino aka Sal.  He was linked to law enforcement paperwork found in the possession of Rosario Gambino when they raided his home.  The NYPD wanted him to go quietly but he decided to fight and he was found not guilty in court.  He was not only given his job back, he was also promoted.

They did not know that he and partner Caracappa were on the payroll of the Lucchese family to the tune of $4000 a month. They were paid between $375k and $450k by the family for information and murder.  They actually carried out hits for the family, using their badges and police vehicles. They also kidnapped men and gave up the names of informants to the Luchese family.

These two men operated above the law for many years and they lived well.  One look at Eppolito and you can see he ate his extra cash.  When they retired they moved to Las Vegas and lived on the same street.  They were sure that they had gotten away with murder.

The wheels of justice turn slowly, but justice had not forgotten about these two.

Burton Kaplan, a Lucchese-connected drug dealer, turned on them in prison after being locked up for many years, and gave them up. Then, Stephan Corso, a CPA who was caught stealing cash from his clients started wearing a wire and also caught them on tape.

The cost to the people of New York and the family of their victims is enormous.  

Barry Gibbs - not to be confused with one of the Bee Gee’s is the name of a man that served 19 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.  The media fails to mention him when they write about the Mafia Cops. Barry Gibbs was convicted of murdering a prostitute after a witness came forward that claimed to see him dump her body.  The lead law enforcement officer was Louie Eppolito.  The FBI found the murder file in his home when they arrested him in Las Vegas. They reopened the case and it turned out the witness was threatened and paid by Eppolito to lie.  Barry Gibbs was released and he was awarded 9.9 million dollars.

Last week the City of New York settled the last case with the victims of the Mafia Cops families.

The family of Nicholas Guido, who was gunned down in his car because he had the wrong name, settled for 5 million dollars.  The family of Luchese soldier Anthony Dilapi, who left the life and moved to Los Angeles, settled for $1.85 million. The family of John Heidel settled for $1.75 million. The family of Bobby Borriello, a Gambino soldier settled for $1.5 million. The family of James Bishop, an informant, settled for $1.75 million. The family of Gambino Capo Eddie Lino, killed on the Belt Parkway by the two cops settled for $1.5 million.

The last one was diamond dealer Israel Greenwald and his family received $5 million.

The cost is huge and the worst part is these two men still get their pensions.

"Gus" Farace

I had TV on in the background and an old movie starring Tony Danza came on.  It was called “Dead Or Alive: The race for Gus Farace.”  I had watched it many years ago, but it reminded me of the story.  

Constabile "Gus" Farace was a bad seed from an early age. Gus grew up in Tottenville, Staten Island, where his Mob connected father had a small store.  He was a large boy who loved to throw his weight around.  He joined a gang called the Bay Boys that used to brawl and destroy things in Tottenville.  Gus was pulled over by police in January 1977 and they found a pistol.  Not even a month later he was arrested for forgery.

Gus moved on to much worse crimes, and by December of 1979 he pleaded guilty to first degree manslaughter.  Gus, the stellar person that he was, kidnapped two boys from Greenwich Village because he claimed they propositioned him.  So Gus and his three friends beat one to death with driftwood and their hands.  The other was lucky because he was able to dive into the water near where they took them, and he escaped.  He later identified Gus in a lineup, and after the plea deal Gus was given 7 to 21 years.  

It was while locked up that he met and became friendly with long time Bonanno member Jerry Chili.  Jerry liked Gus and they stayed in contact when Gus was released in 1985.  Gus started dealing weed right away and soon moved into cocaine.  He partnered up with Greg Scarpa Jr. in 1988 in a drug business.

On the night of February 28, 1989, Gus did the unthinkable.  He murdered an undercover DEA Agent on Staten Island. The Agent, Everett Hatcher, was the first DEA Agent murdered in New York.  Hatcher had made some small buys from Gus and he had set up a deal with him that night. Gus directed him to a deserted section of Staten Island where he drove up next to him in a van and shot him through his open window as they spoke.  Gus shot him 3 times in the head and got away because Hatcher’s back up had lost him.  

Gus had broken a rule that had gone back to the time of Lucky Luciano by murdering a DEA Agent.  The heat was immediate and the Feds poured into New York.  They began to grab and roust mobsters all over New York. They let them know that they would not be able to breath until Gus was taken off the street.  The Mafia decided Gus had to go.  The Lucchese family had a member Johnny Petrucelli hiding Gus in an upstate cabin.  Petrucelli had met Gus in prison, where Gus saved his life. They soon gave Petrucelli the contract to murder Gus and they told him either kill him or yourself.  They told him to leave the body in the streets so the Feds would know he was dead.  Petrucelli never carried out the hit and a few months later he was shot to death.  

On November 17, 1989, just before midnight on a Brooklyn Street, Gus was gunned down by three men.  James Galione, Mario Gallo and Louis Tuzzio caught him in his car on a Brooklyn street and blasted away.  They also hit his friend, another associate, who lived.  They really did the State of New York a favor because Gus was just a bad seed.

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!

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.

Sports Betting Fuels the Mafia

Sports betting is the lifeblood of the Mafia.  Just last week, the state of NJ arrested a group of Genovese men for gambling.  The Genovese crew brought in 12 million dollars in sports betting revenue and they cashed millions more in checks.   They take down one gambling group and the next day it is business as usual because people love to bet.  This is another example of wasting our tax dollars, stopping people from providing a service the public wants. The families then use this cash to fund their other enterprises.

One Genovese soldier that was well known around Bay Ridge, Brooklyn was Andy Wilson aka Andrew Gargiulo.  Andy was a bookmaker who ran a huge online book but could be found most days at a real estate office in Bay Ridge.  

Andy was close to Fat Gigi Inglese and I had dinner with the two of them when I lived in Brooklyn.

Andy was a nice soft spoken man who dressed well, so I was surprised to see a few years ago that he was arrested for murder.  

The man he killed, Preston Geritano, was his wife’s brother and at one time was a Gambino associate.  Geritano had an ongoing feud with Bartholomew “Bobby” Boriello and Bobby had even taken shots at him on the streets of Brooklyn but had failed to kill him.

Bobby was very close to John Gotti, in fact he was a favorite driver of the boss of the Gambinos. He would later be assigned to Junior Gotti’s crew and eventually the Capo.

This is where we come full circle because Bobby is another victim of the Mafia Cops.  Vic Amuso and Gaspipe Casso wanted to send a message to John Gotti Sr. So they put Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa on his tail.  They supplied information to Gaspipe who gave the contract to Frank Lasterino.  Lasterino ambushed Bobby in front of his Brooklyn home, shooting him two times in the head and five times in his torso.  The Gambino family immediately blamed Geritano who they had wanted dead.  After Bobby took his shot at Geritano, he went to his friends in the Genovese Family.  There was a sit down between the Gambinos and the Genovese family because Geritano was a Gambino associate.  The Genovese went to bat for him and a deal was struck.  The deal was that Geritano would be released to the Genovese Family and that he would drop the feud with Bobby. If Geritano ever took up the feud again, the Genovese were sworn to kill him themselves.   So when Bobby was killed everyone blamed Geritano.  John Gotti sent Junior Gotti to a sitdown with the Genovese Family.  Junior Gotti met with Barney Bellomo, the Genovese street boss, and demanded that they keep their word.

This is where Andy Garguilo comes into the picture.  Andy owned Amici’s restaurant in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn and Geritano came into the restaurant with a stickball bat and hit Andy with it.  The fight spilled out onto the sidewalk where they were rolling around on the sidewalk.  Geritano was stabbed five time with a hunting knife that Andy carried and was killed.  After his death it would come out that he didn't kill Bobby after all.  Andy would get 20 years for the self defense killing, I guess his luck had ran out.  He had forfeited 1.5 million when he was busted for bookmaking but this time he was really going away.  A side note: Amici’s had been owned by Sammy the Bull at one time.

The Mafia and bookmaking will continue to go on no matter how many men are busted and sent away.

Mike Rizzi and Killers in the Mafia

As I’ve touched on before in this blog, contrary to Hollywood Portrayal or popular belief, there were plenty of Workers or Killers in the LA Family.  Just like every mafia family, every man would have to at least participate in a murder to become a Made man.  Nowadays, this is not so true.  Even all Associates were encouraged to kill back then.  You don’t actually have to pull the trigger, stab someone or strangle someone to participate.  You could be the getaway driver, the crash car, a lookout, or the person setting up the kill.  All those roles meet the requirement of participating in a murder prior to being made.  The only reason to kill someone is to protect the family, promote the family, protect the territory, or for some violation of the rules.  There are no unauthorized killings allowed. There is no one cleaning up after an unplanned murder, everything is planned, down to digging the grave or having a disposal site for the body in advance.  Anyone who actually pulls the trigger earns respect by the rank and file but is feared by leadership, because they always fear that they are next or that they will be challenged for leadership positions.  

Those who participate in murders are NEVER paid.  There are no killers for hire in the mafia.  Anything you read or hear in the news about the Mafia putting a 500K contract on someone’s head is bullshit.  People kill because they are told to kill or asked to kill, in order to earn respect.  Anyone who says they were hired to be a hitman by the mob is lying.  There are always eager young men looking to get noticed who are willing to kill.  

One of LA’s more notable workers was Mike Rizzatello, aka Mike Rizzi.  After Dominic Brooklier passed away, Pete Milano took over leadership of the LA family in 1984.  He inherited Capo Mike Rizzi.  Pete really had no idea what to do with Mike, because Mike Rizzi was the exact opposite of Pete.  Pete was a businessman.  Mostly a gambler, a bookmaker, successful in his businesses.  Mike Rizzatello was a strongarm guy, a worker, who had fought in the Columbo war in Brooklyn on Joey Gallo’s side.  He had done many years in prison.  Mike was a hard luck guy who could never make enough money.  So he was a short buck artist.  He would just shake someone down and take a thousand dollars, rather than thinking long term and shaking them down 500 a month for life.  

So Pete in many ways feared Mike Rizzi.  This created a rift in the family.  The young tougher guys looked up to Mike and wanted to make a harder image or a throwback to the old days, which would not work at the time.  What the family needed was to move into legitimate businesses that they could control with a monopoly, with the hammer in the background, but not so overt.  However, a lot of the young guys could not see this and wanted to act like cowboys shaking down criminals and drug dealers for quick money.   So Mike Rizzi and Anthony Fiato went to New York to meet with the Underboss of the Gambino family, Neil Dellacroce and Joe Piney Armone.  Rizzi was well liked by both of them, and other members of the Gambino family.  They authorized him to run his own family or crew in Los Angeles, separate from Pete.  They also saw Pete as weak.  In retrospect, it's clear that Pete’s leadership was the strongest path for the family to take.  

Mike Rizzi started his own family in LA and made Anthony Fiato his underboss.  He had a sizeable contingent of young, hard men who followed him over from Pete’s side.  Mike’s constant need of money, kept him in constant trouble with the law.  After a few prison terms, and finding out the news that Anthony Fiato, his former right hand man, and his brother, had worn a wire for the feds, he found himself in Orange County, California, where he reconnected with an old friend with a new name, Bill Carrol.  Bill and Rizzi had met in Chino State Prison many years before when Bill was known by his real name, which is now erased because of Witness Protection.  I’m not sure what his real name was.  

Anyways, Bill had muscled his way into Orange County’s premier strip club, the Mustang Club, located in Santa Ana, California.  The Mustang Club had been started by another convicted criminal, going by the name Jimmy Casino.  Jimmy Casino made a ton of money from the Mustang Club, but spent it all as quickly as it came in, and didn’t pay his taxes.  This was Bill Carrol’s opening.  He loaned money to Jimmy Casino, and soon it became apparent that Jimmy Casino’s flamboyant ways were going to sink the Mustang Club.  

One night, Jimmy Casino and his girlfriend came home and were ambushed by a couple of men who killed him and raped his girlfriend.  Bill Carrol stepped right up and took over the club.  This left the door open for Mike Rizzi, who was always looking for income, to get his hands in the club through his friendship with Bill.  Joseph Grosso, a limo company owner, controlled the lingerie sales inside of the club.  The club also had a bouncer named Big George Udavitch (big is an understatement for this massive man), who also happened to be relocated through witness protection, for testifying against Joe Piney and the Gambino family.  Soon it became apparent that Bill Carrol was not going to share the wealth with his prison friend Mike Rizzi.  

So one night, Bill Carrol, Joseph Grosso and Mike Rizzi went out to dinner at an Italian restaurant in Santa Ana.  After dinner, they asked Bill Carrol to drop them off at Mike Rizzi’s car in a parking garage near South Coast Plaza.  As soon as they pulled to a stop in the garage, Mike Rizzi reached his large arm around Bill Carrol’s neck and Joseph threw himself around Bill’s legs.  Mike placed a pistol with a silencer on it to the back of Bill’s head.  He snarled, “This is for not letting us eat.”  He fired three times.  Carrol jerked and blood splattered everywhere.  They released Carrol’s now lifeless body and exited the car, their ears ringing.  They got into Joseph’s car, and drove away.  At dawn, a bloody, but somehow still alive, Bill Carrol, stumbled out of the parking garage where he startled security guards who called police and paramedics.  At first, Bill Carrol refused to name the person who shot him.  Big George Utavitch bragged that he had disposed of the bloody clothes and weapon.  A few days later, Big George Utavitch, who was gathering cash to head back to New York, received a call in his hotel room at El Toro California.  He was told that someone would meet him and bring him cash at a nearby Irvine parking lot.  When Big George arrived, someone got into the passenger seat of his car, and fired two bullets into his head.  He was able to get out of the car and walk around toward the trunk, where he got shot again, this time he was killed.  As a side note, this location was close to Fat Bobby Paduano’s mortgage business.  Fat Bobby is a long time LA mafia Associate.  Bill Carrol was hidden away by the Feds where he recovered from being shot but was blind as a result.  When the Feds agreed to drop some federal charges against him, he fingered Mike Rizzi as the shooter and Joe Grosso as his accomplice.  Everyone always wonders why Mike at his age, and his high rank, would take part in a murder, and use an untested associate.  Mike Rizzi, in his 60’s and sick with emphysema, was once again desperate for cash, and could not do hits alone because of medical issues.  Mike was put on trial, and was convicted.  He went away to the highest security prison in the state of California until he became sicker and was moved to a Medical prison.  He was released a few weeks before he passed away in Cathedral City (near Palm Springs).  At his funeral there were no members of the LA Family.

Bill Carrol dissapeared into witness protection once again.

Pete Milano lived a long and prosperous life and died in Westlake California in 2012 a free man.

Read more about the recent guilty conviction in the murder case of Jimmy Casino here:

http://articles.latimes.com/2013/may/01/local/la-me-ln-casino-murder-conviction-20130501

If you want to read more about Mike RIzzi, read Anthony Fiato’s blog:

mafiaslugger.blogspot.com/‎