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When Boss, Pete Gotti Never Showed Much Compassion, Some Say (Part 6)

By Ed Scarpo
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Pete Gotti is at death’s door, lawyers for the man who is or was official boss of the Gambino family continue to say.


“We are truly afraid he is dying now, he feels he is,” James Craven wrote in court papers. “As his lawyer, I am afraid this will all become moot soon if nothing is done.”

Pete  also "is increasingly difficult to understand on the phone. His voice is weak, labored, and very faint.”

Gotti is locked up at Butner Federal Medical Center in North Carolina. His lawyers initially filed for compassionate release in June (the filing is reproduced in its entirety at the bottom of this story), and when they did, they posed several arguments for his release: He suffers from more than a dozen medical ailments, including cardiovascular disease and a likely cancerous growth in at least one lung; he's rehabilitated and sorry; and his continued incarceration is financially irresponsible.



The release also explains that “Peter Gotti has a loving home to go to, too, with his daug…
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Gambinos Investigated Underboss Frank Cali's Murder

By Ed Scarpo
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Andrew Campos, 50, an alleged captain in the Gambino family, and Vincent Fiore, 57, an alleged Gambino soldier, met with multiple other high-level crime family members to discuss the then-unclear circumstances surrounding underboss Frank Cali’s death, the U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of New York, wrote in a detention memo that was unsealed on Thursday afternoon.


Both men were arrested last week with other members and associates of the Gambino family.

As per the detention memo, four days after Gambino boss Francesco (Franky Boy) Cali was shot to death outside his Hilltop Terrace home, Gambino family members held a “clandestine meeting” on Staten Island to launch their own probe into the murder.

Andrew Campos, 50, a reputed captain in the Gambino family, and Vincent Fiore, 57, an alleged Gambino soldier, met with multiple other high-level crime family members to discuss the then-unclear circumstances surrounding Cali’s death, the U.S. Attorney, Eastern District of New York, wrote in …
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About That Rivalry Between John Gotti and Nicky Corozzo: Ruggiano Interview, Part 5

By Ed Scarpo
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UPDATED: The Interboro Parkway opened in June 1935 -- and was renamed the Jackie Robinson Expressway in 1997.




It cut through cemeteries and residential real estate, requiring the relocation of burial sites and the razing of homes. The parkway's tricky route is why it reportedly took much longer to build than other New York City parkways. It also has many curves -- because the planners and builders had sought to minimize the number of burial plots that had to be relocated.

Like many places in New York, that parkway has secrets....

The Interboro was the favorite parkway of savvier New Yorkers who, once upon a time, knew it was the city's least-trafficked major artery, and that even at rush hour, traffic rarely clogged it. (Cab drivers generally didn't know it existed.)

The parkway runs through Brooklyn and one of the entrances is near Fulton Street (the Fulton Street in Brooklyn, of course, not the one in Manhattan), which brings us to another secret.

One night in the 1960s, …
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Latin King Boss Nabbed In "Largest Latin King Takedown In History" Has Ties To Genovese Family

By Ed Scarpo
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Feds: Latin Kings boss has family ties to La Cosa Nostra


The East Coast and Massachusetts leadership of the Almighty Latin Kings and Queen Nation (Latin Kings), including more than 60 members and associates, face federal charges.

Among those arrested is Michael Cecchetelli, a 40-year-old Springfield, Massachusetts, resident with ties to the Genovese crime family who oversaw the gang’s operations from Massachusetts down to Florida, according to Joseph Bonavolonta, head of the FBI's Boston office.

Cecchetelli and other leaders ran the gang with a Mafia-style hierarchy, including a council of leaders and as many as 11 chapters across Massachusetts alone, authorities said. The leadership approach has become a model for other Latin Kings regions in the country, they said.

This morning, over 500 federal, state and local law enforcement officers arrested dozens of Latin Kings members and associates and executed 31 search warrants at 24 locations.

According to court documents, the Easter…
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10 Bronx, Westchester Based Members, Associates of Gambino Family Indicted

By Ed Scarpo
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Two indictments and one complaint were unsealed today in federal court in Brooklyn variously charging 12 defendants with racketeering conspiracy, bribery, loansharking, fraud, obstruction of justice, and related offenses.

Those charged with racketeering conspiracy were Andrew Campos, an alleged captain in the Gambino organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra; James Ciaccia, George Campos, Vincent Fiore and Richard Martino, alleged Gambino family soldiers; and Renato Barca, Jr., Benito DiZenzo, Mark Kocaj, Frank Tarul and Michael Tarul, alleged Gambino family associates.

 The charges relate to the defendants’ criminal activities throughout the New York metropolitan area since February 2013.

Transcribed conversation from Lopez Complaint:
LOPEZ: You’re a risk.

CW: A risk how, though? I’m not a flight risk. You know what I mean?

LOPEZ: [UI] a death risk. I hate to think that way.

CW: What do you mean, a death risk?

LOPEZ: They’re going to clip [i.e., murder] you. [UI] realistically.

CW: Yeah…
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Jury Convicts Last Genovese Wiseguy Standing For Union Shakedown

By Ed Scarpo
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Frank (Frankie G) Giovinco, the last man standing in what Gang Land News dubbed the "Three Vincents Trial," was convicted by a jury this week and now faces 20 years in prison.



GIOVINCO, 52, of Syosset, New York, was convicted of one count of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, which also carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison.

 Sentencing before U.S. District Judge Jed S. Rakoff is scheduled for March 11, 2020.

Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that Giovinco was convicted of conspiring to commit extortion and racketeering offenses with members and associates of the Genovese Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra following a six-day jury trial before Judge Rakoff.
The jury found the defendant responsible for acts involving extortion, honest services fraud, and unlawful kickback payments related to the…
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RIP Joe Dogs Iannuzzi: A Better-Late-Than-Never Sendoff For The Former South Florida Gambino (Ex-)Wiseguy

By Ed Scarpo
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Joe Dogs.... The garrulous Joe Dogs Iannuzzi (born June 14, 1931, in Portchester, New York), the little guy with the big New York accent...
....The longtime Gambino associate who apparently fooled a slew of journalists into identifying him as a made member, a soldier, in his life after Cosa Nostra .... who wore a wire right beside his "how do you do"...who called Gambino soldier Tommy Agro TA..  … who was first called Joe Diners because he liked to meet friends in diners.... Who received two Purple Hearts and a Silver Star, the third-highest military combat decoration that can be awarded to a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, for fighting in the Korean war....Who dropped a dime on the Gambino family after his shortsighted best friend--who was notorious for going around with scissors -- and two others tried to beat him to death with baseball balls and their shoes...

Joe Dogs passed away on September 20, 2015, at the Kerrville Veterans Administration Medical Center.

Anthony R…
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Who Fat Andy Loved; John Gotti's Other Side: Anthony Ruggiano Junior, Part FOUR

By Ed Scarpo
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In the 1960s and 1970s, Anthony (Fat Andy) Ruggiano had one of the biggest crews in the Gambino family, and he wanted to keep it that way.


He had had around 70-75 guys in his crew, and out of all of them, Andy wanted to straighten out only one, Nicky Corozzo.

Fat Andy "didn’t want to make anybody his equal at one point," said Anthony Junior. "He had a big crew with him and he liked it that way. He wound up being right."

Andy and Anthony (Tony Lee) Guerrieri even got into an argument over Fat Andy's reluctance to make any of his guys.

Tony Lee had wanted to put Anthony (Tony Pep) Trentacosta up to be straightened out with Nicky. Fat Andy prevailed, however, and they both decided that only Nicky would get made.

Once Andy proposed Nicky, Nicky went out of his way to express his gratitude to Ruggiano.

"After my father proposed Nicky, Nicky went to my father's house to see him every day."






So Fat Andy wasn't pleased to learn that Gene Gotti had been…
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