Cosa Nostra News

The Italian Cosa Nostra and Russian Mafia together allegedly smuggled Eastern European women into New York to work in high-end strip clubs — and even arranged sham marriages to keep some of them here. The women were recruited via Facebook and newspaper ads. Twenty suspects, including seven reputed Gambino and Bonanno mobsters, were arraigned in Manhattan Federal Court on charges ranging from racketeering to visa fraud. The schemers allegedly recruited women in Russia and neighboring countries through Facebook and newspaper ads to work as strippers.

The Little Guy... T.G., The Little Guy or whatever you want to call him was one foot out of the clink before he was thrown back in. That suuucks!! Renee, second from the right, is the daughter on the show dad T.G. won't watch. This comes from   THE RANT Forum :   Anthony Graziano may not approve of his daughter's "Mob Wives" reality show, but it looks as though he has given its producers fodder for another season of Mafia melodrama. Graziano, 71, of Huguenot, a reputed one-time consigliere of the Bonanno crime family, has been tossed back in federal prison on extortion charges, just a few months after he was released from a halfway house and placed under house arrest. He was busted earlier today for attempting to collect a years-old loansharking debt, federal prosecutors allege. The Staten Island gangster, who has gone by the nicknames "TG" and "the Little Guy," is the father of Renee Graziano, one of the four stars of VH1's "

Sal 'The Ironworker' Montagna From the  NYPOST.com , we learn that Sal Montagna, the former acting boss of the Bonanno family who was deported to Canada a few years ago, may have been murdered by bikers for trying to wrest control of the Montreal Mafia from the dying Rizzuto family. Bikers may have done the hit, but it seems more than likely they would only be hired guns. Salvatore “Sal the Ironworker” Montagna was shot on Ile Vaudry, a working-class neighborhood on a small island about 30 miles north of Montreal, and dumped into a river, Canadian police said in the  NYPOST.com  report. Montagna was only 35 when he took over one of the five crime families in 2006, earning him the nickname the “Bambino Boss." "Given Montagna’s longtime involvement with organized crime and the fact that he had lived at various points of his life in Italy, the U.S. and Canada, investigators planned to cast a wide net in their murder probe, said Sgt. Benoit Richard of Surete du Qu

Ramona Rizzo, the new addition to 'Mob Wives,' is the granddaughter to Benjamin "Lefty Two-Guns" Ruggiero, ex-mentor of one Donnie Brasco. "Mob Wives" will include a new member when it makes its season two debut, according to a New York Post article that came to our attention via Gangster BB (bulletin board). Ramona Rizzo — the granddaughter of Benjamin “Lefty Guns” Ruggiero, the Bonnano crime family soldier who mentored “Donnie Brasco” — is joining the cast this season. The Post reports that Rizzo joins the show, set to begin a new season Jan. 1, because she is a childhood friend of “Mob Wives” spitfire Karen Gravano, daughter of mob turncoat Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, according to  Gangster BB . A divorced mother of four, Rizzo lives in New Jersey, but was raised on Staten Island, where most of the action in “Mob Wives” takes place. The Post got one part wrong, reporting, "Inexplicably, the mob never ordered a hit on Ruggiero as punishment

Joe Bruno, journalist and mob blogger. A Vietnam veteran in the United States Navy, Joseph J. Bruno started out in the newspaper business in the mid 1970's as a sports columnist for the New York Tribune. During the 70's and 80's, Bruno was an associate editor for Boxing Illustrated and monthly contributor to Ring Magazine. In 1986-1987, Bruno wrote a sports column for the Times Herald Record in Middletown, New York. His articles have also appeared in Penthouse Magazine, Razor Magazine, Boxing Today, Boxing World, International Boxing Digest, Referee Magazine and Inside Boxing.  In 2000, Bruno's first novel Angel of Death was published by iUniverse.com . Joe Bruno also has a blog, Joe Bruno On the Mob . Below are a couple of recent posts he has written about some timely mob subjects that we found interesting. Joe Bruno on the Mob — Sal The Iron Worker  : It seems like Canada is not such a safe place for reputed Mafiosos anymore. The body of Salvatore Montagna, th

Sal The Iron Work, slain in Canada, had once been the acting Bonanno family boss. Fished out of a river outside Montreal was the body of Sal "The Iron Worker" Montagna, reports  CBC News . Cause of death has not yet been determined, but it was likely natural causes -- natural to the line of work he was in, that is. His name may sound familiar. Sal had his 15 minutes of fame when his move to Long Island in 2009 was widely covered by the New York tabloids -- perhaps because it dovetailed with word that he had assumed the post of acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, or so U.S. authorities had said at the time. He had moved with his wife and three children to Elmont. I was born and raised in Elmont; my parents still live there. I suppose this is why I have always had an interest in Sal, who was deported to Canada not long after he moved his family into Nassau County, probably to put them farther away from any dangers his "promotion" may have put them in. He wa

From  Showbiz411 : “Gotti” producer Marc Fiore has apparently decided to take a new secondary role in the film’s financing. He’s turning over his lead position to film/record producer Ted Field, heir to the Marshall Field department stores and the man who gave us the original Interscope Records. Field was running Radar Pictures. Field is said to be worth about $1 billion, which means he’s been able to take losses on such flops as “All About Steve,” “Twelve,” “The Invention of Lying” and other films that fell short of awards buzz like the dreadful but profitable “Bad Teacher.” Field is a nice guy, though, and could possibly raise the money to resurrect “Gotti” from its current state of rigid morbidity. As I reported exclusively here, Fiore – an ex-con – has not had much luck getting “Gotti” together. And Fiore has other problems. He’s still being sued by actor Joe Pesci over a promised role. But even worse: he ran afoul of the man he named exec producer, one Salvatore Carpanzano, whom

Capone was probably the most famous mobster the world ever will see. We are more familiar with New York's Five Families, but we've been working on broadening our scope a bit. Here, we take a look at Mafia goings-on in the Windy City. Historically, only one family runs Chicago. Al Capone , perhaps the most famous mobster of all time, ran the city in the 1920s to early 1930s, during very tumultuous times; he in fact was the cause of tumult. (Scareface was originally from New York) and supposedly the Capone name still carries weight in the Chicago mob. The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate, dates back to around 1910. It is, of course, part of the American Mafia but distinct from the Five Families of New York City, and families in other regions of the U.S. But New York and Chicago together were the chief powers on the Commission. The Outfit is more strict, more loyal to tradition, than the New York families. When "Mob Wives" producers cam

No one would argue that New York City is simply not the same city it was back during the 1970s to 1980s, and the results are good, crime wise, although there is something a bit boring and antiseptic about the city today. In a  Salon.com  book review there is a theory put forth explaining how this change happened -- and the book will surprise you. The New York of the film "Death Wish" is today a city out of Disneyland, if you ask me. "In the 1970s, ’80s and early ’90s, New York was viewed as one of the world’s most dangerous metropolises — a cesspool of violence and danger depicted in gritty films like 'The Warriors' and 'Escape From New York.' Friends who lived here during that time talk of being terrified to use the subway, of being mugged outside their apartments, and an overwhelming tide of junkies. Thirty-one one of every 100,000 New Yorkers were murdered each year, and 3,668 were victims of larceny," the story says. "Today, in an asto

From  Ted Field Joins 'Gotti' Film as Producer (Exclusive) | The Wrap Movies : There won’t be any cement shoes for a certain troubled mob project. After running into financial difficulties, “ Gotti: In the Shadow of My Father ” has picked up a key addition: Ted Field . The billionaire media entrepreneur has joined the Fiore Films picture as a producer, TheWrap has learned. Field -- who has produced more than 50 films, including “The Last Samurai,” “Runaway Bride” and “Mr. Holland’s Opus” -- will play an “active role” in the production, according to an individual with knowledge of the talks. Field runs Radar Pictures . Director Barry Levinson made the introduction between Marc Fiore and Ted Field. It was Levinson who urged Fiore to sit down with Field, according to the individual. The cast of the film, which includes such heavy hitters as John Travolta, Ben Foster and Al Pacino, was notified this week of Field's involvement. The project had been dogged by repo

Carla Facciolo appeared on the Joy Behar show and identified her father for the audience, stating that he was not a mobster. Louis "Bagels" Daidone murdered the uncle of Mob Wife Carla Facciolo, then stuffed a canary in his mouth. The family thought Facciolo was a rat -- but he wasn't. Carla identified her uncle as Bruno Facciolo and her father is Louis Facciolo. To wit, according to the Behar transcript, which another blogger found, we read the following:

“The supranational sovereignty of an intellectual elite and world bankers is surely preferable to the national auto-determination practiced in past centuries.” -David Rockefeller, Memoirs And with the quote above, political commentator, radio talk-show host and confirmed conspiracy theorist Dave Hodges begins his story  The Goldman Sachs Goodfellas  on the  NewsWithViews.com  website. Rockefeller's Memoirs quote likely sums up the deeply held views of many of the so-called 1% of Americans who own something like 90% of its wealth. But among that 1% there is a sector of Goldman Sachs execs, many of which have taken up the "sacrifice" of going into public service. Nevertheless, the firm is probably among the most reviled Wall Street companies, rightly or not -- the poster child for what is wrong with America's finances today. Probably the worst "crime" of which they have been accused: capitalizing on the mortgage-backed securities that were a primary driver

Drita, our favorite Mob Wife (in New York, that is). "Eighty years after the feds nailed Al Capone for tax evasion, Chicago’s ugliest legacy is about to return to the national spotlight. Ready or not, here comes Mob Wives: Chicago," reports   Time Out Chicago . So who are the Chicago Mob Wives? It seems that that is pretty well protected info, for now. NBC Chicago has noted, "The network is refusing to give up the names of the women starring in the Windy City show..." In Chicago omerta seems to be very much alive, and enforced along a quite broad front that also includes the wives of made guys. There is a chance, we at CNNews believe, that the identities of the Midwest Mob Wives may be kept anonymous. But then again, we have not learned a single thing about any inside Mafia news or gossip from Season One of the New York series. These wives talk more about themselves and how much they either love or hate one another--depending on the day of the week or th

From the Almanac of Absurdities : Today in 1957 was a career making day for New York State Trooper Edgar D. Crosswell. Croswell worked near Apalachin New York in the late 50s, and in 1956 he pulled over someone leaving a 58 acre estate near Apalachin and found Mob Figure Carmine “The Cigar” Galante behind the wheel. Some wise guys showed up and attempted to bribe Galante out of the local slam, but it just got the local authorities attention. Trooper Croswell started keeping close tabs on the house that was owned by Joseph Barbara, the owner of the local Canada Dry distribution company and, they learned, was mobbed up with major Mafia figures in New York. In mid November in 1957, Trooper Croswell found out that Joseph Barbara’s son was making arrangements for hotel rooms for a group of visitors due at the Barbara estate on the 14th…and the state cops quietly began watching the roads in and out of the area. Barbara was having a gathering all right…the heads ofThe Luciano Family, the Bu

Noted Former Colorado Bureau of Investigation dies at 85 - The Denver Post : A colorful former federal drug cop who went on to become the head of the Colorado Bureau of Investigation died over the weekend in his Western Slope home. John "Ray" Enright, 85, of Silt died overnight Saturday, said former colleagues and friends. Enright was described as a hard-nosed crime fighter who was also adept at political haymaking. "He was involved, connected; he was constantly working," said Curtis Bridges, a longtime friend who worked with Enright. "He was directly involved with multiple agencies — that's what the CBI is, a coordinator. He served that function well; he got everyone moving in the same direction." Enright served as the CBI's director from 1977 to 1984. Prior to taking the reins at the CBI, Enright was a federal narcotics agent in New York, where his photo landed on the front page of the New York Daily News in 1958 when he and other age

Anthony Lapaglia is set to produce the scripted show. From Deadline.com : Desperate Mob Wives? ABC is eying a drama series for next summer produced by Bob Cooper and Anthony Lapaglia. Titled Beautiful Gangsters, the project, now in development, has FremantleMedia Enterprises on board to handle worldwide distribution outside of North America through Cooper’s first-look deal with the company. And in a rare occasion for a network-level project, the script is written by a young newcomer, recent UCLA Film School graduate Ryan Tavlin. “It’s great to be supporting such a talented young writer as Ryan,” LaPaglia said. “Beautiful Gangsters is a stellar piece of writing, as sophisticated as it is juicy.” Beautiful Gangsters revolves around three mafia wives who cut a deal with the FBI to enter Witness Protection together in exchange for their testimony, in the hopes of giving their families a second chance at life. The FBI relocates them to a suburban border town in Canada, where they stru

From cleveland.com : Death caught up with a man who brought to Cleveland an era so violent it is now almost unimaginable. Before Harley-Davidson motorcycles and riding leathers became accoutrements of affluent suburbanites in mid-life crisis, they were symbols of terror because of men like Nelson Blackburn. He was a Hells Angel. The Scottish-immigrant -- known as "Scotty" or "The Scotsman" -- was a man to be respected and feared. He shed his accent, grew a moustache that wrapped around the corners of his mouth and carried himself larger than his five-foot-ten, 165-pound frame." R ead full article:  Nelson Blackburn, a founding member of the Cleveland Hells Angels chapter, dies

Boston.com : A Rhode Island grand jury has indicted 25 people in connection with an alleged illegal sports betting ring, including several people authorities say are mobsters. The state attorney general's office announced the indictments Thursday. The defendants are to be arraigned Dec. 7. Prosecutors say the indictments are tied to the May arrests of the ring's members, including 51-year-old Vincent Tallo, who is accused of being its leader. Tallo's lawyer said then his client denied the allegations. Investigators say cell phone wire taps revealed bookmaking activities of nearly $400,000. Prosecutors say Tallo's alleged accomplices include reputed mafia figures, Edward "Eddy" Lato (LAY'-toh), Alfred "Chippy" Scivola (skee-VOH'-lah) and Frank "Bobo" Marrapese, Jr. Lato and Scivola have pleaded not guilty in a separate federal case accusing them of shaking down Providence-area strip clubs.

"Selling drugs and killing thugs must be in style this week. Mafia Wars 2 isn't just the fastest growing game on Facebook this week, but the fastest growing app, meaning its 3.8 million new players beat all general apps on the platform, All Facebook reports . The sequel to one of Zynga's most popular game can likely chalk its success up to its recent deluge of cross-game promotions,"  reports GamesBlog . "Well, that and the fact that the game's team of developers won't stop updating the dang thing. A new update was pushed to the game yesterday, which is rather minor. However, a number of new items have been added: New weapons are in the Boneyard Shop, some fresh ground, water, and air vehicles hit the Global Marketplace along with a few more Halloween items." Read rest of story:  Mafia Wars 2, Facebook's fastest growing app

From  WSJ.com : NEW YORK (Dow Jones)--Thirteen people, including an alleged member and an alleged associate of the Lucchese organized crime family and several attorneys, have been indicted on charges of racketeering and related offenses for the alleged "extortionate takeover" of FirstPlus Financial Group Inc. (FPFX). At a press conference Tuesday in Camden, U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey Paul J. Fishman said that, according to the indictment, those indicted "gave new meaning to 'corporate takeover' by looting a publicly traded company to benefit their criminal enterprise."