Cosa Nostra News

UPDATE TWO
The shooter was arrested, pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with federal investigators.



Bushawn Shelton, 34, an alleged high-ranking member of the Bloods allegedly paid another man to try to kill Sylvester and Salvatore Zottola.

He also furnished the contract killer with wheelmen and pistols to carry the murder out.



Shelton was a middleman however, according to reports. The motive and true force behind the murder remains a mystery.

Sworn testimony indicates the case was investigated by the F.B.I.’s Balkan and Middle Eastern organized crime squad, bolstering theories that the Zottolas may have somehow crossed an Albanian organized crime group.

For years, the Zottolas fostered close ties to the Luchese and Bonanno crime families, providing and maintaining electronic gambling machines for mob-controlled hubs in New Jersey. 
Shelton, participated in a plot to kill Sylvester and Salvatore Zottola, a father and son who were reputed to be associates of the Bonanno crime family…

John Gotti "blasted his way into the mob -- he came the tough guy way in," as former Gambino capo Michael (Mikie Scars) DiLeonardo once told us.



John Gotti orchestrated the December 1985 murder of Paul Castellano. When and why did he make the determination to embark on that path? The primary reason of course was the  threat posed by Gambino boss Paul Castellano after Angelo Ruggiero, Gene Gotti, and John Carneglia, among others, were indicted for drug trafficking.

But the timeline runs even farther back.

In fact, the development that set John Gotti on his path to power also led to Gene Gotti and John Carneglia going to prison for 29 years. It was a mysterious plane crash off the Georgia coast. That triggered a series of events that culminated with Gotti's reign as boss of the Gambino crime family.






May 6, 1982, was a clear and sunny day, with little turbulence. At about 10 am that morning, a Learjet departed New Jersey’s Teterboro airport for Florida’s Orlando Internation…

UPDATED SATURDAY MORNING 
A reputed associate of the Bonanno crime family — whose son was shot multiple times in an attempted hit this past July — was shot and killed today (October 4) at around 4:45 p.m. at a McDonald’s drive thru in the Bronx.



Sylvester Zottola, 71, a Bonanno crime family associate, was shot in the head, chest, and shoulder while waiting in his SUV for a cup of coffee at the drive-through window.

In what one law enforcement official described as a "Mafia-style assassination," Zottola was shot once in the head and four times in the torso.

He was pronounced dead at the scene.

A “massive” police investigation has commenced. The McDonald’s parking lot has crime scene tape across it, and dozens of law enforcement investigators and other personnel were seen there.

The still-at-large suspect reportedly walked up on the victim while he was ordering food. The suspect fired multiple shots into the driver while positioned at the passenger window, then fled the scene. …

The most amazing thing about FBI Special Agent Michael R. McGowan (retired) is not that he is the first -- and so far only -- undercover FBI agent to infiltrate three crime families.


Nor that he has infiltrated Russian crime groups, Mexican drug cartels, and outlaw motorcycle clubs, nor gone undercover to nab criminals of a multitude of stripes, from contract murderers to corrupt politicians.

It's not even that he won recognition from the highest levels of the FBI and the Department of Justice for completing some of the most daring and deadly assignments in recent memory.
What bedazzles us most of all about Mike McGowan is that he did all those things while sporting the same gigantic walrus mustache he sports even now (see it, up above?).
"That was a little flipoff to the bad guys," he told us recently in a telephone interview.



Both the mustache and its owner have been prominently mentioned in recordings of discussions among some of  Mike's old pals, all of whom occu…

Former New England mob boss Francis (Cadillac Frank) Salemme, 85, has appealed his conviction and life sentence for the 1993 murder of Steven DiSarro, a South Boston nightclub owner.



Salemme's attorney filed the appeal Wednesday

He and co-defendant Paul Weadick, 63, were both convicted in Boston federal court in June. Weadick also is appealing.
DiSarro, a 43-year-old father of five, was killed to prevent him from cooperating with federal authorities. His remains were unearthed behind a Providence mill building in 2016.
The US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit in Boston will hear the appeal.
Salemme was in the Federal Witness Protection Program when DiSarro’s remains were discovered, leading to Salemme's arrest.
At the sentencing hearing, DiSarro’s son, Michael, told Salemme about irony. “(Y)ou killed our father for thinking he was going to rat and become a snitch. When actually, Mr. Salemme, you ended up being the snitch...

“You are a coward and a murderer... "

Judge…

This was written by Nick Christophers...



For producers Denise and Rocco Iacovone working on The Mulberry Street Musical has been a labor of love, to say the least.

The Mulberry Street Musical is a heart-warming, comical slice-of-Italian life back from the 40s and 50s. Italian, Greek, Jewish -- whatever your ethnic background -- you'll love every line. It will have you smiling, laughing and maybe even shedding a tear.

The original creator of The Mulberry Street Musical was Jerry Strivelli, who Denise first met when she was 12 years old. They met at a teenage club in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, at St. Athanasius parish. Strivelli started the club to keep kids off the streets. He taught them poise, public speaking, eloqution, grace, and how to think on their feet and improvise.




The kids performed for orphans or the elderly. For Denise it was an enlightening time. She had even fibbed to get into the program, telling Jerry she was 13. They would organize fun shows with songs from the 1920s …

Judgement Day is coming -- and such an inconsequential one, reputed sitting Cosa Nostra boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino probably never saw it coming. Still you never know what's waiting round the corner...



He will be sentenced on October 17 for his role in the East Coast LCN Enterprise case.

The guidelines call for a one- to two-year stretch in the can -- a skidbid for Merlino. ("You don't even take your socks off " for them, as Gambino capo Michael DiLeonardo once told Intelligent Talk radio show host Ralph W. McElvenny on City World Radio). The alleged sitting boss of the Philadelphia Mafia has faced life sentences.



Last Friday, Merlino’s defense attorney asked US District Court Judge Richard J. Sullivan to seal two letters from Merlino's Boca Raton, Florida, cardiologist. Defense attorney Edwin J. Jacobs Jr. of Atlantic City noted that the letter from the cardiologist contains “protected, sensitive and confidential medical information of the defendant.”

Merl…