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Showing posts from March, 2014

Brief Bio of Lefty Ruggiero

A brief history of Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero soldier in the Bonanno Crime Family and his relationship with Donnie Brasco (FBI Agent Joe Pistone ), and Capo Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano . This video was released on March 28 by Bloodletters and Madman , which produces biographies of organized crime and Mafia figures. Based on Jay Robert Nash's book Bloodletters and Badmen - A Narrative Encyclopedia of the American Criminal, the segments cover "the Italian mobs, both the Mafia and the Camorra, Irish and Jewish Gangsters, and prohibition gangs." Researched, written and Narrated by G. Marshall Johnson.

Mafia Pomp and Circumstance Has Its Uses

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As the "new" Mafia seeks to find its place in the post-9/11 world, families are more selective about who will have the honor of being straightened out, noted Joaquín "Jack Falcone" García . Falcone--who wrote a book that is essential reading for all who are interested in the goings-on of Cosa Nostra--had been an FBI agent for over 20 years when he infiltrated the Westchester-based crew of Gambino family capo Gregory DePalma. He spoke with Cosa Nostra News this week.  Gambino family capo Gregory DePalma.  As part of its overall strategy to better isolate itself while it has the perceived breathing room -- the FBI has magnified its focus on terrorism and other crimes, downsizing its efforts against organize crime in New York -- the mob has put the word out to members: be careful who you sponsor, Falcone said.

Italian Trade Group: The Mafia Is No Laughing Matter

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First Italy's government calls the  UK a haven for the mob ; now an Italian trade group has a problem with Joe "Dogs" Iannuzzi's  Mafia Cookbook ... gimme a break! I mean, are they kidding? They turned a blind eye to three  separate Mafias for 150 years and now they criticize others. What's that old expression? Clean up your own backyard before you criticize your neighbor for not taking care of his?... or something like that. Someone should wake up and smell the espresso. Italian Trade Group to World: The Mafia Is No Laughing Matter: Associations Now : "Though Italian organized crime is a gimmick commonly used to sell food around the world, an agricultural trade group in Italy says such representations trivialize a very real—and very dangerous—issue. Now the association wants the rest of the world to change its ways.

The Great Thing About Full Moderation

,,,is that I can delete all the vitriol left by trolls who visit this blog. I support free and open debate but comments meant to incite me and/or others simply get deleted. That is my policy. From now on. Forever and ever. Here's the rules:

NY Southern District Court Broke the Mob, Celebrates 225th

The Court That Broke the Mob Celebrates a Birthday | The Nation : "It is the court that convicted mafia figures of racketeering and conspiracy. It is the court where a defendant in a drug conspiracy case, while being cross-examined, threw his fifteen-pound wooden chair at the prosecutor, and spent the rest of the trial gagged and manacled. It is the court where, in an overcrowded courtroom, Judge Pierre Leval presided over the longest trial in American history, the marathon “Pizza Connection” case, involving New York mafia kingpin Salvatore Catalano. The trial was a mammoth $1.6 billion narcotics conspiracy case lasting seventeen months. It was a daunting challenge to trial management, and the jury convicted eighteen men of over 100 acts of racketeering."

Andrew DiDonato on Life in Gambino Capo Nicky Corozzo's Crew

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Andrew DiDonato 's downfall was already under way before he even realized it. Andrew Didonato, former Gambino associate The onetime former Gambino associate knew his boss and cohorts were sizing him for a body bag. Andrew's book (written with true-crime writer Dennis N. Griffin , Surviving the Mob: A Street Soldier's Life in the Gambino Crime Family ) is dense with details of his many years on the street as a Gambino associate in the crew run by capo Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo. DiDonato made enemies out of major leaders in two crime families (in the end, three, including his own) during his years on the street. He once shot another man point blank in the head. The man stumbled onto the ground, surviving the first shot. He would not have survived the next shot, which DiDonato crouched down to administer. He pressed the gun's muzzle to the wounded man's head and was set to squeeze the trigger -- when he noticed a witness staring

How Did Lucky Luciano Get that Scar?

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A Scar Is Born: Mysterious Tales of a Gangland Legend | Cigar City Magazine : This chapter addresses the numerous myths and folklore tales that circulated after Luciano was found in a bloody state in 1929. From the scars to the nickname to the possible culprits in the attack–all are discussed, but the following section truly adds yet another convoluted piece to the puzzle.

England Provides a "Mafia Haven": Italian Prosecutors

'Britain helping the mafia' claim Italian prosecutors - Telegraph : "Britain has been accused of creating a “haven for the mafia” by refusing to extradite a convicted member of the crime organisation because of poor prison conditions he would face in Italy. Franco Roberti, Italy’s top anti-mafia prosecutor, described the decision as “devastating”, saying it would enable members of the mafia to take advantage of what he described as Britain’s apparently lax approach to fighting organised crime." Talk about living in denial!

Undercover Agent Jack "Falcone" Garcia on Why the Mafia Still Stands Strong

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Pope: Mafioso Risk Going To Hell With "Blood-Stained Power"

Toto Riina never sleeps in his prison bed without pictures of the saints pasted on the wall around his head... Bernardo Provenzano's knowledge of the Bible is legendary. When he was finally arrested police found four bibles on his bedside table complete with annotations and underlining... Value systems that propose to offer the absolute -- such as communism, democracy and religious faith -- have to give devotees an entire system to explain the world, as well as rules and codes for what constitutes "good behavior." Most importantly, there must be an ideological foundation from which everything else springs. The Catholic Church, of which I am a member, offers believers salvation, eternal life, the rite of reconciliation. But as the Mafia can give its members no metaphysical or ideological foundation, it has turned to religion, using components of the Catholic Church to reconstruct a false version of the Catholic God to justify itself. (This belief is

Pagan "Flipped" in 2005, Once Shot at Wife's Lover (Seek Tipster)

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"Junior" Hector Pagan, ex-husband of Renee Graziano, yesterday testified in Brooklyn Federal Court that he had become a government informant in 2006 — a full five years before he agreed to wear a wire against father-in-law Anthony Graziano and other Bonanno ranking mobsters. Pagan also fired a gun at a presumed beau of Renee's while Pagan was married to her after he happened to view her getting out of the man's car. No details are available regarding whether the man was wounded or not, and we are not aware of his name. (If anyone is, we'd appreciate a tip!) And Pagan had been a Luchese associate, as was victim James Donovan at the time of the murder, before moving to the Bonanno family after his engagement to Renee Graziano. These are among the revelations to emerge from the trial of Luigi Grasso and Richard Riccardi for the killing of James Donovan. Grasso and Riccardi face life in prison if convicted.

What the Hell Is the Sacra Corona Unita?

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As reported , the Sacra Corona Unita is believed to be behind the triple killings this week of a mobster on parole, along with his girlfriend and her 2-year-old son. The Local  reported that 2-year-old Domenico was shot dead along with his mother and her partner when gunmen ran them off the road and shot them to death in Taranto, Italy, in March 2014. Where the "4th Mafia" was established. Two more children in the car lived through the ordeal by playing dead. "Investigators said the woman - the widow of a murdered mafioso - had provided information which led to the arrest of several criminals while her partner, himself a convicted murderer, had been taking advantage of day releases from prison to try to regain control of the local drug market."

GUILTY! Mobsters Grasso and Riccardi Convicted of Murder

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Surveillance photo of Luigi Grasso. Luigi Grasso and Richard Riccardi have been found guilty for the killing of James Donovan . Grasso, 46, of Staten Island, and Riccardi, 41, of Manalapan, N.J., each face a minimum of 10 years and maximum of life in prison when sentenced on Aug. 1. They were both convicted on conspiracy, robbery, firearms use and murder charges. "The defendants plotted this brazen robbery and took the life of James Donovan because of their unrelenting greed," said Loretta Lynch, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. "After lying in wait for Donovan, the defendants coldly robbed him, shot him and left him to die in the street."

"Tommy Shots" Gioeli Hit With 18 Years for Conspiracy Raps

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Tommy Shots went down fighting Former Colombo acting boss Thomas “Tommy Shots” Gioeli was sentenced in Brooklyn federal court yesterday to 18 years in prison for racketeering and murder conspiracy raps. It's tantamount to life in prison, as Gioeli is 62 (though he looks more like 82) and apparently of ill health. In a split verdict that stunned many trial watchers, Gioeli was acquitted in 2012 of several murders that could have sent them away for life -- among them the 1997 hit on NYPD cop Ralph Dols , who married the ex-wife of Joel “Joe Waverly” Cacace , a former Colombo consigliere. The two also cleared of the 1999 slaying of Colombo underboss William “Wild Bill” Cutolo , and the 1995 execution of Colombo associate Richard Greaves. But Gioeli was convicted of plotting the murders of Frank Marasa and John Minerva and was also found guilty of crimes committed on his quest to win power . His attorney, Adam Perlmutter, noting the gangster's age and health condition,

Where Sacra Corona Unita Lives, Mafia Kills Another Child

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Mobster on parole slain with girlfriend and her son. In the "heel" of Italy's boot, hitmen shot and killed a mobster on parole for a double homicide he'd been convicted of in 1998. Also killed were the mobster's girlfriend and her two-year-old son. The shooters engaged Cosimo Orlando, 43, in a high speed chase before driving his car off the road. Travelling with Cosimo at the time were Carla Maria Fornari, 30 and her son Domenico. "The trio were killed instantly after hitmen forced their car off the road and then opened fire with machine guns riddling it with bullets - amazingly two other children inside survived," according to UK's the Daily Mail .

Falcone Op Ended First Post-Gotti Gambino Crime Family Administration

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Arnold Squitieri was as security conscious as Joe Massino . As former FBI agent Joaquin "Big Jack" Garcia originally informed us , in 2002, Gambino crime family acting boss Arnold "Zeke" Squitieri, who was on parole for a drug conviction, had appointed a ruling panel of three mobsters with whom he was especially tight: Alphonse " Funzi" Sisca, Louis Filippelli, and Chris Sucarato  were Zeke's official eyes and ears on the street. Acting underboss Anthony Megale was involved with overseeing rackets in the Stamford, Conn. area. ( Megale  died  in the summer of 2015). Squitieri, in his own fashion, allowed personal feelings -- nepotism, basically -- to informally preempt the Gambino crime family's official hierarchy. Louis Filippelli had the most juice out of the three, as he was Squitieri's nephew. However, Filippelli was only a soldier in Gambino capo Alphonse "Funzi" Sisca's crew. Since Sisca was Squietieri's brothe

Mexican Drug Cartel Earns More Dealing Iron Ore

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What if the drug cartels decided selling narcotics wasn't worth all the legal headaches.... Imagine what would happen if Mexican drug cartels started getting out of the drug business ... sounds crazy, but a precedent for this scenario has been set. According to the Arizona Daily Star website, the Knights Templar drug cartel in western Mexico has diversified to the point that drug trafficking is not among its more profitable businesses anymore. "The cartel counts illegal mining, logging and extortion as its biggest moneymakers, said Alfredo Castillo, the Mexican government’s special envoy sent to restore the rule of law in Michoacan, the state controlled by the Knights Templar the last several years," the article noted. Iron ore “is their principle source of income,” Castillo told the Associated Press. “They’re charging $15 (a metric ton) for the process, from extraction to transport, processing, storage, permits and finally export.” The ore itself doesn’t g

Bonanno, Genovese Families Still Stripping Inductees?

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Inductees were stripped. Friday, March 25, 2011: Cosa Nostra News: Mafia Associates Strip During Induction Ceremony : They prick your trigger finger. Make you cup your hands around a blood-smeared mass card with a picture of a saint on it, and set it afire. You take the burn like a man -- a made man -- slowly grinding your palms together, putting the flames out, the ashes blackening your singed skin. You speak the oath. But hold it -- there was a new step added, according to new information... Since then, at some point, probably before you are asked the obligatory question "Do you know why you are here?" (And God help you if you answer, "Yeah."), you are now required to strip down almost to your bare ass so the organization can make certain you are not wired for sound and/or video. ... Yep, it would seem that both the Genovese and Bonanno families added this step to the induction process... The question is: They still doing it?

Alicia DiMichele BLASTS Renee Graziano via Twitter

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 The Eye : Fashion & Style : "Renee Graziano may be feeling a certain kind of way towards her "Mob Wives: New Blood" costars, but apparently the unsettling feelings between the cast is mutual. "After Renee recently criticized her co-star, Alicia DiMichele, for her decisions to join the show when she was facing jail time, Alicia took to her Twitter to retaliate, Examiner reported. "They Claim to live by the 'Code' but still #alwaystalkings**t," Alicia tweeted on March 4." I didn't write the following; a reader emailed the ALICIA BLASTS link to me and included the following stream of conscious story, which I liked and asked his permission to publish... "Luchey" refers to "Luchese" family, I should point out as some can't seem to decipher...Also, I did edit it to fit the blog's voice but realize I probably shouldn't have; I can't claim credit for another's work... Who cares, right??? Se

The Legend of Bugsy Siegel and Las Vegas

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The  Las Vegas Review-Journal  recently wrote about the mob's role in the evolution of Las Vegas, describing Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel once again as the gangster with the vision to create America's greatest gambling mecca. They ought to have known better. Benjamin (Bugsy) Siegel According to the myth, Siegel drove his car across the open Nevada desert under a pale-blue sky with nothing but sun-scorched sand on either side. He stopped the car to relieve himself -- and a vision flooded his brain of a fantastic hotel-casino sprouting up out of the barren wasteland like a flashy mirage, where people could gather to enjoy in upscale splendor the best food and entertainment as well as first-rate service and, of course, gambling, all kinds of gambling, from felt-covered card-gaming tables to ever-hungry slot machines into which anxious patrons thumbed their coins, gleefully awaiting the ringing bells and flashing lights of the jackpot while sipping a martini.

Bugsy Siegel DID NOT Invent Las Vegas

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Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel The  Las Vegas Review-Journal  recently wrote about the mob's role in the evolution of Las Vegas, describing Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel once again as the gangster with the vision to create America's greatest gambling mecca. They ought to know better. According to the myth, Siegel drove his car across the open Nevada desert under a pale-blue sky with nothing but sun-scorched sand on either side. He stopped the car to relieve himself -- and a vision flooded his brain of a fantastic hotel-casino sprouting up out of the barren wasteland like a flashy mirage, where people could gather to enjoy in upscale splendor the best food and entertainment as well as first-rate service and, of course, gambling, all kinds of gambling, from felt-covered card-gaming tables to ever-hungry slot machines into which anxious patrons thumbed their coins, gleefully awaiting the ringing bells and flashing lights of the jackpot while sipping a martini.