Cosa Nostra News

Who fired a gun at the mobbed-up Marco Polo restaurant in Brooklyn early one February morning? The guy wearing the fedora hat and waist-length coat, below, of course.... Suspect: he allegedly shot at Brooklyn eatery. That's what the NYPD said when they released surveillance footage of the suspect who fired several lead-filled shells into the eatery on Court St. and Union St. in Carroll Gardens at about 6 a.m. on Feb. 25. He's white, about 6-foot-2 tall and thin, and was wearing a dark jacket and light pants. A nearby surveillance camera filmed him that morning as he walked toward the restaurant near the time of the shooting, police sources told the Daily News. Cops weren't alerted to the shooting until three hours after the fact. As noted at the time , co-owner Marco Chricio told The New York Post that the restaurant "was caught in the crossfire between battling gangs from neighboring Gowanus and Red Hook housing projects." Not so fast... T...

A mobbed-up lone gunman shot up the front of a mob-linked Brooklyn restaurant early Sunday in what law enforcement sources said was a “message” to the owners. Bullet holes on front door weren't on the menu. Carroll Gardens’ Marco Polo Ristorante was targeted before 8 a.m., when an employee noticed the eatery's front windows and doors were pocked with bullet holes. The trattoria, which opened in 1983, is considered a Court Street institution, one with deep mob ties. Co-owner Marco Chricio told The New York Post that the restaurant "was caught in the crossfire between battling gangs from neighboring Gowanus and Red Hook housing projects." Not so fast... The cops disputed that assessment, noting that the restaurant itself was targeted. There's surveillance footage from a neighboring business that seems to bolster that claim. Ten shell casings were discovered across the street in front of the Body Elite gym, which captured via its surve...

UPDATED The Salvatore (Sally Daz) Zottola shooting may actually be the second attempted gangland hit caught on tape; the first, in March 1993, was the attempted murder of Joey Chang , then-34, early one morning in the coffee shop he owned, the Warfield Breakfast & Luncheon Express, in Philadelphia. Shooter leaped out of car, ran up to Sally Daz and fired at point blank range. The FBI had mounted a surveillance camera on the telephone pole across from the diner. Chang was shot during the Merlino-Stanfa war. Joey Chang was seriously wounded but he too survived, though partially paralyzed and with nerve damage that caused him to retire from Cosa Nostra. NYPD officials have labeled the July 11 attempted murder of Salvatore (Sally Daz) Zottola as a botched gangland hit. He was shot around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday morning in the Throgs Neck section of the Bronx. In a surveillance clip, below, a red Nissan can be seen driving past Zottola's vehicle and pulling to a h...

Undated photo of Desjardins. The RCMP launched a 16-month surveillance operation against Raynald Desjardins and seven associates one day after the murder of Salvatore Montagna, the former Bonanno crime family street boss. "The Iron Worker" had been shot three times, allegedly by elderly gangster Jack Simpson with whom Montagna was meeting, and died on a snowswept river bank outside Montreal. At the time of the murder, Desjardins was warmly ensconced in his alibi, eating breakfast with his daughter.

UPDATE 2 NEW PHOTO BELOW WE HAVE NEW INFO TK TOO Just a few stray thoughts here... First off, if you threaten a guy and set his car on fire, don't do it in front of his security camera, or you might get arrested. And when you're actually lighting that fire, try to avoid setting yourself on fire in the process. Also, don't frequent high-profile mob trials -- but if you do anyway, at least try to avoid getting your photograph taken with the alleged boss of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra... Joseph Merlino and alleged wiseguy Peter Tuccio walk together. That's this week's lesson, as learned by two alleged mobsters with ties to the Gambino crime family -- one of whom, above, doesn't appear old enough to grow facial hair. (Three wiseguys were involved actually; one of them copped out in 2016.) The New York City Fire Department’s Bureau of Fire Investigation also played a role in this case, which makes sense, considering... . A small business o...

A Martin County Sheriff's Deputy with 13 years of experience shot a bank burglar early last Monday morning in Florida. The robber, Gerard Bellafiore, 47, has more experience at his job -- robbing banks using an improvised fish hook -- than the deputy does enforcing the law. He's been robbing banks since around the early 1980s, working back then with former mobsters such as Chris Paciello and James "Jimmy" Calandra. Surveillance photos of Bellafiore at work before being shot multiple times. A Mafia member told Cosa Nostra News that Bellafiore at one time had ties to a Colombo mobster. "He was associated through default to (Vincent) Chikie DeMartino," said the source, noting that DeMartino spells his nickname that way, not  as others spell it . DeMartino, he added, "was one of the leading shooters on the (Vittorio "Little Vic") Orena side," as well as "one of the most dangerous guys on the street during the Colombo w...

Visiting room surveillance. Calabrese on right. Frank Calabrese Sr was such a good manipulator that he was able to convince a Roman Catholic priest to help him continue his criminal activity. If you know Frank’s background then this will come as no surprise. Frank spent his whole life manipulating others for his own gain. Frank brought his brother Nicholas into his juice loan business. Nicholas had served in the Navy for two years during the Vietnam conflict , and he worked as an Ironworker after he returned home. Nicholas had then worked as a court security officer for 11 years in Maywood, Illinois. Nicholas was not afraid to hold a real job and work hard. In the mid 1970s he also joined his brother Frank in his loan business and worked a double life. He had no idea it was a lifetime commitment. Frank was not above using money and threats to keep his brother in the business. Nicholas would end up taking part in over 14 murders for the Chicago Outfit during his time working w...

In February of this year the Feds  revealed  that a former prison chaplain passed "sensitive information" about a Chicago Outfit turncoat to an imprisoned mobster who had a lot to gain by killing the turncoat. Frank Calabrese Senior The allegations were filed in court after the priest, Eugene Klein, in a surprise move, pleaded guilty just as his trial was to commence. The Catholic priest initially was indicted for planning a theft with feared former Chicago Outfit member Frank Calabrese Sr. The priest's lawyer pointedly remarked: “Once again the government has chosen to go completely over the top because of Frank Calabrese. They recommend no more than six months for Dennis Hastert and 10 times that amount for Father Klein. That is absurd.” The attorney reportedly had previously aimed his vitriol at then-U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald for filing the case against Klein in the first place. In 2011, he commented to journalists that “now that we don’t have a...

The following includes a detailed interview with former Gambino associate Salvatore (Fat Sal) Mangiavillano.... After publication, this story earned the certification of former Gambino capo  Michael (Mikie Scars) DiLeonardo . In one of his latest podcasts, A Hit Team From New York Came To Arizona To Kill Me (posted below), Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano describes what he would like to do to Thomas (Huck) Carbonaro, the Gambino soldier who more than 20 years ago flew to Arizona with associate Salvatore (Fat Sal) Mangiavillano expressly to kill the former Gambino underboss. (Hint: Gravano doesn’t want to share a slice of pizza with Huck.) FBI surveillance: from left: Louis Saccenti, Huck, John Gammarano, Sammy Gravano.  Gravano details a hypothetical scenario that involves two guys bringing Huck into a room to have a brief chat with Sammy the Bull. “I would tell him, bro, we went through a lot. You were in my crew. I broke your cherry – you did your first hit with me.” Sam...