Cosa Nostra News

Scott Bernstein of Gangster Report did the podcast, something i didn't realize....

In the mid-1990s, mob associate Anthony (Bingy) Arillotta had a drug problem and didn't even know it...

Adolfo (Big Al) Bruno, the Genovese family capo who oversaw the crew in Springfield, Mass., had proposed Arillotta for membership.
Big Al Bruno was the Genovese family's seasoned hand in western Massachusetts. He had worked for the Scibelli brothers, including Frankie Skyball, making them fortunes, before he himself rose to become “capo” of the Springfield crew. Bruno was the consummate professional, who started his day early in the morning and ended it late in the evening.

Bingy had been Big Al’s protégé, and one can imagine Bruno’s high hopes for the young wiseguy.

But then Bingy got caught doing one of the worst things a mob associate can do: he was found to be dealing drugs on the street.

"Big Al proposed me three or four different times,” Arillotta says in Original Gangsters, a…

After entering his plea on Tuesday before White Plains Federal Judge Cathy Seibel, reputed Luchese capo Steven Crea Jr. , 46, of New Rochelle, didn't get to return home (as he undoubtedly had hoped) to enjoy his last few months of freedom with his family before sentencing.

He was instead handcuffed and put in a prison cell.

Prosecutors had sought his immediate arrest after citing for the judge statutes mandating incarceration once a defendant is convicted of a violent crime.

Crea Jr. pleaded guilty to murder conspiracy and assault charges related to an unconsummated revenge scheme he and his father, Luchese underboss Steven (Stevie Wonder) Crea, cooked up to whack a Bonanno associate stemming from a bizarre 2012 clash between the Luchese and Bonanno families at a Bronx social club.

As per the indictment, Crea Senior ordered the murder of Carl Ulzheimer, a Bonanno crime family associate who lived in the Bronx in 2012, according to the Feds. Specifically, the Feds alleged that in 2…

UPDATED Luchese captain Steven Crea Jr. admitted to plotting with his father, underboss Steven Crea, to kill Bonanno associate Carl Ulzheimer in 2012 following a Bronx social club encounter that Crea Senior deemed a personal affront.




He faces a maximum of 13 years behind bars for his part in an attempt to have another mobster whacked.

A federal indictment accused the younger Crea of participating in the slaying of Michael Meldish, 62, the one-time co-leader of a homicidal crew called the Purple Gang, but he did not admit to the killing as part of his guilty plea Tuesday, his lawyers said.

“Our client did not enter a plea of guilty to the murder of Michael Meldish because he is not guilty of that conduct. In fact, he took more time rather than enter a plea to something that is not true,” said his lawyers, Joseph DiBenedetto and Seth Ginsburg in a statement Tuesday night.

Crea Jr., 46, passed a polygraph exam last November administered by retired FBI veteran Jeremiah Hanafin, "bes…

FINAL
A Springfield, Mass., man with a last name that harkens back to local mob royalty has been nailed for assaulting a wire-wearing informant described in court papers as a debtor.




Anthony J. Scibelli, 51, of Springfield, was arrested on July 2 and was held at the Wyatt Detention Facility in Rhode Island until his release to home confinement on Monday by a federal judge.

He is a “ruthless mobster,” federal prosecutors say, who used violence to collect debts for a loan shark. Scibelli faces one charge for extortionate loan collection from an incident during which he allegedly assaulted a debtor while he wore a wire for the Massachusetts State Police and FBI. (The debtor had been wearing the wire since May.)

Scibelli also allegedly used mace and a taser to collect debts, and spat on another man who reportedly died shortly after the incident, whatever that means (court documents don’t specify).
He faces a maximum sentence of 20 years, and his next scheduled court date is Sept. 16.

…

UPDATE: He also copped to plotting to kill a Bonanno associate, as reported since this story was written. We're positive we made the error and no one else...
In a standalone deal that extricates him from the long-running gangland murder case of Bronx -based mob associate Michael Meldish, reputed Luchese capo Steven (Stevie Junior) Crea has agreed to cop to racketeering and other charges, Gang Land News reported today.


Prosecutors will seek a prison term of 13 years.

The elder Crea and three other alleged Luchese wiseguys charged with the murder are still scheduled to go to trial on October 2.

"The younger Crea is slated to plead guilty in White Plains Federal Court to three separate charges next week that do not include the November 15, 2013 murder of Meldish," Gang Land reported.

"The mob scion could return home in 2028 at the age of 56. Crea Jr., who was granted bail a year ago, would get credit for the 14 months he spent behind bars before his release. Judge Seib…

On the evening of May 2, 1957, Frank Costello dined at Chandler’s Restaurant at 49 West 49th Street.



His companion may have been Philip Kennedy, a former semi-pro baseball player who was a sometime actor who managed a modeling agency.
Costello likely enjoyed Kennedy’s company because Kennedy moved nimbly and freely among Manhattan’s wealthiest denizens.

Costello, the insecure Don, was supposedly fixated on being accepted by those folks. The blue bloods made him self-conscious about his voice and is inability to lose the “deeze, doze, dem” East Harlem diction. (Bizarre stuff for the mob boss who filled Lucky Luciano’s shoes, but it is the insecurities that keep us interested in the guy, anyway.) Costello’s gravelly voice (which wasn’t as gravelly as you might think, as per the video below, which includes more of Frank talking than any other clip we’ve seen) was the stuff of legend, thanks to the Kefauver Committee and some decidedly crappy advice from attorney George Wolfe.

Costello…

Thomas Hunt is among America's most preeminent mob historians, and anyone interested in anything Cosa Nostra-related should be familiar with his work, and that assortment would include Tom’s blog, his Informer journal, and his books (links to all follow below). We are popping this up belatedly (a mild health issue knocked us out of the game last week, but we’re poised to make up for lost time). Tom also is one of several who blog at The Writers Of Wrongs.com site; Christian Cipollini, about whom we've written, and Patrick Downey, who's written great books, including on Legs Diamond, also blog there.




Researchers have long been bothered by the lack of a photograph of Prohibition Era Mafia "boss of bosses" Salvatore Maranzano. But an image of the underworld chief, lost for nearly 88 years, was recently rediscovered. The remarkable find will be featured in an August special issue of Informer: The History of American Crime and Law Enforcement.

The most powerful Americ…