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Showing posts from March, 2013

Mob Rat Departs Jail Early for 'Courageous' Move

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Jimmy the General NY Daily News : "Former Bonanno capo Generoso (Jimmy the General) Barbieri, pictured, learned of Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano's plan to assassinate Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Andres and went to the feds. As a reward, he got out of jail more than two decades early. A Mafia rat who faced 30 years in prison for racketeering and murder conspiracy was sentenced to time served and praised by a federal judge for his “courageous” decision to come forward with information about a plot to kill a federal prosecutor. Former Bonanno capo Generoso (Jimmy the General) Barbieri was in jail when he learned then-boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano was planning to assassinate Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Andres." Read rest

Did Murder Machine Roy DeMeo Record Some Wiseguys? Or Are We Whistling In The Wind

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Roy DeMeo was a ruthless killer—allegedly—and not a man worthy of admiration—but in the context of Cosa Nostra, he offers an example of a fascinating mobster with great business acumen.   DeMeo mugshot  Gambino boss Paul Castellano at least at first rejected the idea of straightening Roy out, but in the end was too greedy not to. Roy was bringing in too much cash to simply dismiss. Roy combined his skills with a blood lust that drove him to commit torture murders not common even among mobsters. (Or so we have been lead to believe.) Roy had a crew of young wannabes, some of whom would eventually be given buttons, such as Gemini Twins Anthony Senter and Joey Testa, who hooked up with the Lucheses after leaving Roy. Others wound up dead. (Like Roy when the Gemini Twins left him.) An FBI bug installed in the home of Gambino soldier Angelo Ruggiero picked up an intriguing conversation between Angelo and Gene Gotti, a brother of John Gotti. When Castellano finally decided he wanted

Some Mobsters Are All Talk....

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William  Cutolo dances  with daughter BJ.  ( CNNews ; Cutolos) Cosa Nostra News Exclusive Thanks to the American public's ongoing obsession with La Cosa Nostra – duly noted by the constant airing of shows like Mob Wives, I Married a Mobster, Mobsters, Bill Kurtis, Biography and even National Geographic (as well as the increasingly competitive blog landscape) – those formerly connected to “the life” but now out can still find ways to earn off the mob, lending their insight and perspective to the aforementioned television shows, as well as consulting with filmmakers (lot of money there). The types of people who make money off mob involvement, and their reasons for doing so, are as varied as the people doing it. As the great French filmmaker Jean Renoir famously said: "Everybody has their reasons" -- and those in the audience can react however they like, spanning the full range of emotion, from incredulity to apathy.

Porn Star Harry Reems RIP; Was Jailed as a Goodfella

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Reems was just one of the boys back then. The NYTimes.com , among hundreds of other newspapers, ran an obit on Harry Reems, who supposedly was America’s first male porn star following his taking part in the 1972 porn classic “Deep Throat.” In true porn star fashion, he died last Tuesday in Salt Lake City, Utah, at age 65 -- with the cause of undetermined. "Mr. Reems had been in declining health for some years, his wife, Jeanne, said," in the Times article. Interestingly, the release this July of “Lovelace,” a biographical film about the female lead of the hit skin flick, will star Adam Brody as Reems. What I never knew was that Reems had been arrested for organized crime activity related to the film, which many know today was financed by the Colombo crime family. He was convicted "on federal conspiracy charges," the article relates. Reems’s was originally hired to be the lighting director of the film -- but then the original male lead -- his name seems lost to h

New Judge Will Preside Over Bulger Trial

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"Whitey" Bulger, age 82. Boston.com reports that a new judge has been named to preside over the trial of gangster/federal informant James J. “Whitey” Bulger. Denise J. Casper, a federal judge in Boston since December 2010, is "a relatively young judge in her mid-40s [and] is the first black woman to sit as a federal judge in Massachusetts," the article reported. Her inexperience is an asset in this case, due to the history Bulger has with the Justice Department, including the judge who had initially been chosen for the trial. A  federal appeals court ordered Judge Richard G. Stearns to step aside because of his ties to the US Justice Department, which go back to the days when Bulger was robbing, killing and tattling. "Stearns was a top prosecutor in the US attorney’s office in the 1980s, when, Bulger claims, another prosecutor promised the crime boss immunity for his alleged crimes, including murder." Bulger defense attorney J.W. Carney Jr.

Bookie for 'Rossetti Organization' Gets 2-4 Years

From the Malden Observer : A North Andover man who worked as a top loan shark and bookkeeper for an eastern Massachusetts crime ring is now behind bars. Joseph Giallanella, 64, also know as Jason Peters, was sentenced on March 11 to two to four years in state prison followed by two years of probation by Judge Maynard Kirpalani in Salem Superior Court. Giallanella had pled guilty on Jan. 18 to managing a gaming enterprise, use of a telephone for gaming, criminal usury, two counts of conspiracy, and two counts to accessory after the fact of larceny. ... According to previous statements by the Essex district attorney, a cross-department investigation was launched into the suspected illegal activities of Giallanella in late 2009. The investigation ultimately expanded into an entire organized crime ring. Giallanella employed an “enforcer” who collected money from gamblers that fell behind on their debts. ... Investigators eventually discovered Giallanella was part of a crime ring prev

'Nervous Wreck' Pia Denies Leaking Nude Photos

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From the The Daily Sizzle : Racy photos of "Mob Wives Chicago" cast member Pia Rizza surfaced on the celebrity gossip website TMZ early Monday with the headline "I'm leaking my own NAKED PICS!" Rizza, reached by phone Monday morning, insists she didn't leak the two photos and she has no idea who did. "I'm a nervous wreck," Rizza said. "I just want my side of the story out there: I did not send them these photos. I don't know who did." Rizza, a former dancer at Vip's "gentlemen's club," does know who took the photos: She did. She snapped them last year and texted them to a Chicago ex-boyfriend to get his opinion on whether she was fit to run in the pages of Playboy magazine -- an idea she toyed with while shooting the VH1 show. She says she dropped the idea of trying to get into Playboy because of all the flak she got from her fellow "Mob Wives" about being an exotic dancer. "The gi

A Peek Inside Montreal Mob Boss Rizzuto's Home

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A picture of reputed Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto's five-bedroom home, which is for sale on Antoine Berthelet St., which has been dubbed "Mafia row." It's been valued at $1 million. From the Montreal Gazette : After nearly two years on the market, the sumptuous Montreal residence belonging to Vito Rizzuto and his wife may be changing hands. A buyer has made a conditional promise to purchase the five-bedroom, Tudor-style home of the reputed Montreal crime boss, which was first put up for sale in  2011 with a $2 million price tag. The accepted offer on the home in Ahuntsic-Cartierville, now listed at $1.5 million, hinges on the buyer being able to obtain financing, and the results of a home inspection – both of which must be done by March 23, according to a copy of the listing. “So far so good,” listing broker Leon Derestepanian tells me. “When they built it (during the 1980s) they used all high quality materials.” Derestepanian couldn’t disclose the pric

In Italy, 'the Life' Is Much Different Than in America

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Charles DeLucca is a reader of this blog who kept emailing me interesting stories about the Camorra, as well as his take on the American Mafia. I noticed a quality to the writing and asked him how about he write these "emails" as stories for me to post on my blog? I generally give his stories a light edit -- every writer born of this earth needs at least one editor, if not two or three; I leave in the Italian phrases and terms he uses -- we both agree not to offer a translation; everyone should know how to find translate.google.com . Sometimes I "Americanize" his prose a little more than I prefer; this is for reasons of clarity. You may notice how the "voice" of the writing may sometimes change: this is a U.S. editor editing stories written by an Italian writer using the English language. Here in his latest piece, DeLucca describes the differences among the various crime rings in Italy. I have written about this , too; my story is much more basic than Mr

Bodies Found in Murder Inc. Graveyard

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The swath of marshland beside the Belt Parkway along Jamaica Bay's northern edge is a wasteland, a place I have driven through my whole life. I remember staring at those drab-colored reeds as a child, sitting in the backseat on the way to or from my grandparents' house for Sunday dinner. I refer here to the moldering woods stretching for miles along Jamaica Bay’s northern edges, near where Brooklyn dissolves into Queens. It is a place well out of sight for most New Yorkers, and therefore out of mind. A law enforcement officer walks throug h  an old mob dumping ground. Having the imagination that I have, that desolate expanse sparked all kinds of dark fantasies in my brain, most of which centered on monsters rising up out of the tall reeds while dead bodies decomposed beneath them. I was right about the bodies being there (not to mention a mere letter "b" away from actually hitting the nail on the head). Mobsters, for decades, left the victims of count

UK Show Compares Sopranos With DeCavalcantes

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I have never seen this UK-made documentary which compares the Sopranos with the crime family upon which many believe the fictional family was based -- the DeCavalcantes, an organized crime family that operates in Elizabeth, N.J., and surrounding areas. Fictional mob boss Tony Soprano. It includes actual wiretaps of the mobsters speaking and offers some pretty good insight -- it is actually more savvy than a lot of the mob shows made available in the U.S. And it includes some interesting commentators as well. So sit back and enjoy the show... for those more interested in the background, read on: Like the Sopranos, the family founded by Sam "The Plumber" did suffer many of the same indignities from New York. Real former mob boss Vinny Palermo. As Jerry Capeci wrote in 2003 on his PPV website, Gandlandnews.com:  "New Jersey crime family mobsters talk a good game. They claim to be the models for The Sopranos. They once pulled off a hit for John

Man Who Whacked Genovese Family's Springfield Boss Gets 14 Years

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Frankie A. Roche was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison for the 2003 murder of Genovese family boss Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno. Big Al, slain in 2003 by Nigro and Geas brothers .  The almost decade-long investigation into the hit involved four made members of the Genovese family, as well as several associates, and finally met its conclusion at Roche's sentencing hearing on Friday in U.S. District Court. Roche was the first to be arrested, in 2004; he pleaded guilty in federal court in 2008 and was a star witness at two racketeering and murder trials conducted in federal court in New York City. At the hearing last week, Roche spoke without emotion of the Bruno hit, but cried as he addressed Judge Michael A. Ponsor about his sentencing. "My involvement with and the carrying out of Mr. Bruno's murder came at a time in my life when I had no regard for my life or anyone else's," Roche said. In September 2011, former acting boss of the Gen

In Italy, It’s Divided We Stand, United We War

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A Camorra woman. Charles DeLucca, our “foreign correspondent,” has offered a diverse post that addresses a variety of issues, including how much easier it is for the American Mafia to partner with other crime rings in Italy than it is for the crime rings in Italy to partner among one another. He shows the great value the Italian clans place on their local heritage and independence, and notes how very accurate the fictional show The Sopranos was in certain respects. According to Italian police wiretaps made public about a decade ago, and the testimony of pentiti, the conversation pretty much went like this: On a phone call from America to Naples: “Security is tight, we lost the merchandise.” From the other side, the voice of Antonio Bardellino, the first boss of the Neapolitan Casalesi Clan, answered: “Adesso ne mandiamo il doppio con altri mezzi.” The story is interesting because the American speaking was, in fact, the former boss of the Gambino Family, John Gotti Sr.