Joe Legs, Colombo Soldier Who Followed Omerta to the Grave

Former Colombo mobster Carmine Sessa ultimately admitted to participating in 13 murders during the Colombo mob war.

Carmine Sessa while on the street running with the Colombos.

He also confessed to personally killing several people, one of whom, Vincent Angelino, was Colombo consiglieri.

Sessa claimed he'd whacked Angelino at the behest of Victor (Little Vic) Orena, who had been elevated to the acting boss slot. 

The 1988 murder of Angelino was later considered a precursor to the Colombo war, which formally commenced three years later. 




Colombo soldiers Joseph (Joe Legs) Legrano and Dennis (Fat Dennie) DeLucia also were part of the hit team, DeLucia wheelman and Legrano wrapped the body. Both were convicted of the 1988 murder of Angelino.  Sessa is living somewhere in the US under an assumed name.

Joe Legs died on October 3 at age 75, according to the BOP (and sources; we left them out, but sources alert us to a lot of stories, and they have my everlasting gratitude for their vital assistance.)

A source -- a Colombo mobster who knew Legs (we aren't using his name as he didn't give us permission) told us that Legrano was "around (John) Jackie (DeRoss), then (Wild Bill Cutolo)."

John (Jackie) DeRoss




Legrano, who had one eye, as our source said, was "a gangster’s gangster. He was a "player's manager" -- a manager who pulls for the players and not management." 

Pointedly warning -- telling us to not disrespect Legrano in our story, we defer to our source, quoting him:

"I always liked Legs. He was a smart guy. He had a nice shy(lock) book and he had a nice bookmaking/numbers business. He was cool, funny, and I used to kick his ass in Gin and Continental....we’d play sometimes until 3-4 a.m. Sometimes 5 a.m. I would leave and guys were still playing into the next morning."

He noted that even for "inside" crews like the Bath Avenue Crew, in their early days, it wasn't all peaches and cream sucking up to made guys.

"God Bless the kids that worked for us over at the club. They put up with a lot of abuse. Guys who were losing big would yell if there wasn’t a drink next to them, or they if they sent them out for cigarettes and they came back with the wrong ones...

One guy who was highly abusive -- but also hysterically funny to listen to -- was VR -- Vinnie Russo.

"I Loved him too," said our source. "He was JoJo Russo’s father. You have no idea the stories I could tell you," he laughed.

We told him we'd very much like to hear those stories.




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