Cosa Nostra News

Here is a little story -- a conversation between two Sicilians circa late-19th century. What these two are discussing, is one question, but the more important one is: why. It is an example of why there is in existence one of the Mafia "rules" by which members live their lives. (Googling any of the names will not help you! Don't Google any of this -- try to use your mind, those of you who think you know Cosa Nostra, that is.) Man A: Man, does my tooth hurt! Man B: Mine too. A: When did the pain start? B. On Our Lady of Ascension day.

From  US News and World Report : Confidential informants give law enforcement and intelligence agencies insight into notoriously impenetrable organizations. But what is the cost of that access? In " Deal with the Devil: The FBI's Secret Thirty-Year Relationship with a Mafia Killer ," investigative reporter and former ABC correspondent Peter Lance exposes the questionable alliance between the bureau and Gregory Scarpa Sr., dubbed the "Grim Reaper." Using thousands of pages of previously secret law enforcement documents [Ed. note: Angela Clemente, forensic investigator, got these documents herself via the FOIA; I don't believe she is fairly credited for this act], Lance exposes the extent of Scarpa's crimes and the FBI's protection of him. Lance recently spoke to U.S. News about Scarpa's career, why the bureau protected both Scarpa and his FBI handler, and the consequences of that relationship. Excerpts:

Check out a small description of the kind of places we used to hung out in during the "good old days." By Sonny Girard. MOB BLOG : No, that’s not poodle skirts, though I did think girls (I was still a boy) looked great in them. The Poodle was what we called the Brooklyn bar we hung out at during my earliest mob years. The bar was like many in Brooklyn at that time, with names like “Wander Inn,” “Black Kitten,” “Flamingo,” “500 Club,” and “1717,” which were semi-hangouts for mobsters at all levels from wannabes to bosses, some neighborhood folks, and always plenty of females.