Cosa Nostra News

This isn’t breaking news, we know, but we haven’t exactly been covering any of this stuff for some time—though we are planning to return. As for John Alite, though it looks bad for him based on some of the facts, we’re reserving our verdict until the end, which is how this process is supposed to work in the USA: " Innocent until proven guilty" is the foundational legal doctrine known as the presumption of innocence. It mandates that the government bears the burden of proving an accused person's guilt. To convict, the prosecution must present evidence establishing every element of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. Former Gambino associate/ Englishtown councilman John Alite , whom we’ve known and been writing about for over 10 years (do a search, you will see ), lent more than $200,000 to two individuals at exorbitant—and illegal—interest rates, then threatened them with violence when they missed payments. So said a New Jersey state prosecutor. John Alite. (Source: Asb...

All five New York Mafia bosses are out of prison—or at least, were out of prison—until, in an absolutely shocking twist—we're being facetious—a judge in Brooklyn Federal Court earlier this week sentenced Colombo boss Theodore (Skinny Teddy) Persico to nine months in prison for violating the terms of his supervised release (for the third time, according to the Feds) by meeting with other Colombo wiseguys last December. Skinny Teddy Persico. Skinny Teddy, 62, had been surveilled by the FBI attending the crime family's Christmas party at Ponte Vecchio in Brooklyn's Bay Ridge section. In prior months, Persico had also visited a Colombo wiseguy outside a Manhattan hospital and greeted a Gambino gangster at a Staten Island body shop, though the Feds apparently gave him a pass for those “illegal” encounters. As for the Christmas party meeting, Persico's attorney argued that his client had only been in the restaurant briefly and didn't even try to hide it (apparently, if yo...

James (Jimmy) LaForte—a strong arm for the Gambino crime family—plead guilty to racketeering conspiracy, Hobbs Act extortion/extortion conspiracy, witness retaliation, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He made the plea in Brooklyn Federal court last Wednesday before US Magistrate Judge Joseph A. Marutollo. James LaForte. The US Attorney for the Eastern District accused LaForte, who holds the rank of soldier, and nine other Gambino wiseguys and associates of using violent extortion, fraud, theft and embezzlement to infiltrate New York's carting and demolition industries. “These ten Gambino members and associates orchestrated a campaign of violent assaults and property destruction to collect debts and intimidate those employed by competing companies,” said FBI Assistant Director James C. Barnacle, Jr . “Their collective actions terrorized New York residents and businesses to generate an illegal revenue stream.” LaForte, 49, who is currently serving time on another case i...

Joseph Testa—one of the "Gemini Twins," who was released from prison on April 30, 2024, and retired to Nevada—died on January 26. He was 71. The Gemini Twins Anthony Senter, left, and Joey Testa. Testa had been dealing with medical problems for years. His longtime partner (the other Gemini Twin), Anthony Senter, 70, was released on June 21, 2024. (See video below for a peek at the Gemini Twins and other DeMeo crew members enjoying a barbecue at their boss's Long Island home.) Both Testa and Senter had served about 35 years in prison, a fraction of the well-earned, life-plus-20-year sentences they were slammed with in 1989 after they were convicted of participating in nearly a dozen murders. The once-fearsome Gemini Twins—they got the nickname from the Gemini Lounge, a bar once located on Flatlands Avenue in Canarsie, Brooklyn—were first associated with the Gambino family, where they were part of the Roy DeMeo crew , made famous by the book Murder Machine: A True Story ...