Brief Bio of Lefty Ruggiero

By Ed Scarpo



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.




Here is another one I like, on Anniello "Neill" Dellacroce:



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John Sonny Franzese Dead: Longtime Colombo Power Was 103

By Ed Scarpo
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John (Sonny) Franzese, longtime Colombo underboss, died Sunday after a brief illness at the age of 103, Newsday reports.




Franzese, of Roslyn, reigned over the mob family’s rackets on Long Island in the 1960s and had interests in restaurants, several topless clubs, independent record labels and even the porn classic, “Deep Throat.”

He was considered a rising star in the Mafia hierarchy until he was convicted of masterminding a series of bank robberies across the country in 1967.....

One of our last stories about him addressed the question of why Sonny Franzese would give a high profile interview to Newsday, Long Island’s hometown newspaper....we posited a very specific covert reason ....

John Sonny Franzese was the ultimate stand-up wiseguy. He was the embodiment of omerta, a man inherently incapable of breaking the Mafia's codes. He spent decades in prison because he refused to name names. Even at the advanced age of 90, he served the sentence handed down rather than talk, even th…
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Appeals Court Rules In Frankie Loc’s Favor: The Bull’s Statement Admitted As New Evidence

By Ed Scarpo
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Frank (Frankie Loc ) Locascio, the former Gambino consigliere serving life following a 1992 murder racketeering conviction, won a small victory last week when a federal appeals court in Manhattan ordered that a signed declaration from Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano be admitted as new evidence. 


Locascio included the declaration in a filing in Brooklyn federal court that is part of his ongoing effort to overturn his conviction for the 1990 slaying of Gambino wiseguy Louis DiBono,  a successful contractor who failed to show up when summoned. For his infraction, DiBono was shot to death in a World Trade Center parking garage in October of 1990.

Gravano’s signed statement bolsters one of Locascio’s key ongoing claims: for years, Locascio has argued that he tried to talk John Gotti out of killing DiBono and had attempted to broker a peace deal by which DiBono would pay Gotti $50,000 for his absenteeism.

Gravano notes that Locascio did indeed try to save DiBono – and for his ef…
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Hoodwinked: Restaurateur on Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares Was a Mobster

By Ed Scarpo
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Peter (Peter Pasta) Pellegrino, formerly of the Babylon, New York restaurant Peter’s Italian Restaurant, really is -- or was -- a gangster.


The once-promising Bonanno crime family member who appeared in Kitchen Nightmares now calls himself a brokester. And the Bonanno crime family, with which he was once affiliated has disowned him.

So has the rest of New York's Cosa Nostra, according to FBI documents and Peter Pasta himself.

But before all that he appeared on an episode of Kitchen Nightmares in which he acted very much like the mobster he allegedly was trying to become around the time of filming. (See Peter's Italian Restaurant menu here.)






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By Ed Scarpo
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By Ed Scarpo
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In another he offers a tour of his restaurant, which once had a boxing ring in the basement, according to Federici.

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By Ed Scarpo
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By Ed Scarpo
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