Feds Shame Elderly Wiseguy; Stitches for Jailhouse Snitches

Joseph Di Maulo's blood

was among the first spilled

after Vito's return to Canada.

Stories about wiseguys getting their comeuppance are a dime a dozen, but this most recent report struck us as kind of farcical, even cruel and petty.

Oh, the steps law enforcement will take to destroy wiseguys, at any age... Not that I consider myself pro-organized crime. But there are much worse kinds of people along the criminal bandwidth: rapists, child murderers, serial killers, etc.

I am referring to my previous post, the one in which a North Jersey Genovese capo's right hand man pleaded guilty this week to federal racketeering conspiracy charges, as well as to playing a role in a series of typical mob-related crimes, such as online sports betting.

Yep, it is over for Patsy “Uncle Patsy” Pirozzi, 73, of Suffern, N.Y., who -- in addition to copping to a plea deal that will likely get him 20 years in prison -- had to publicly confess to his involvement with the Genovese crime family crew before U.S. District Judge Claire C. Cecchi in Newark.

Isn't taking an elderly man's world away enough, without forcing him to sell his soul, too?

Then there is what is going on up north. I have to wonder: What are Canadian journalists smoking these days?

The story we posted yesterday about Vito Rizzuto was a brief update that confirmed what we had earlier reported: namely, that Vito Rizzuto was not going to turn tail and flee after arriving home following his prison stint in the U.S. Quite the opposite. As the Toronto Sun noted, “A year after Vito Rizzuto returned home from a U.S. prison stint, the crime boss has already re-taken the reins of the Mafia... It's a feat few would have thought possible after Rizzuto's father, son and several top associates were murdered in a three-year bloodbath by mysterious rivals.”

One new thing we learn from this article, assuming it is true, regards Vito’s strategy to regain his kingdom. “He apparently returned to power with a mix of the olive branch and the gun. His son, Nick Jr., was shot and killed in December 2009 and his father Nicolo was gunned down less than a year later, prompting revenge killings that began as soon as Vito came back to Canada.”

So far so good. But then the writer had to ref a NY Post story. One I detest, and completely don’t believe.

Citing a "jailhouse source," the Post reported that Rizzuto, while in prison in the U.S., had told cellmates that "I don't just want to be godfather of Canada. I want to be godfather of the world." WTF? That sounds like the kind of bullshit jailhouse informers dream up for an extra cupcake at day’s end. C’mon, who’d believe that? How could any journalist? If anything, Rizzuto has shown himself to be both tightlipped and determined; he’d never tip off his enemies about anything, I am guessing.

But then the Sun goes even whackier on me.

“Rizzuto also scored a victory of sorts against the establishment when officials at the Charbonneau commission into organized crime decided against ordering him to take the stand.

“It's believed Rizzuto would have invoked omerta, the Mafia code of silence, had prosecutors grilled him about his business dealings with Sicilian-owned construction firms and corrupt bureaucrats.”

So omerta is an acceptable courtroom defense in Canada? Here you plead the fifth, there you plead, omerta! I plead omerta – I can’t tell ya anything! Imagine a wiseguy trying that in the Eastern or Southern district of New York?

I have to more carefully vet stuff before I post it. For Christ’s sake…