Stephen "Most Dangerous" of Basciano Sons, Says Ex-Bonanno Capo
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| Vinny Gorgeous |
"Stephen has a nine millimeter handgun with a fitted silencer
that I had given him before my arrest in 2005.
That deadly weapon was mine."
--Dominick Cicale, former capo under Vinny Gorgeous
[And, as if on cue, the judge slammed Basciano today with a three-and- one-half-year sentence in federal prison.]
In a letter obtained by Cosa Nostra News, which was not sent to the judge, Cicale noted:
Stephen is a career criminal who has sold drugs and committed various crimes since 2002. Out of all the Basciano sons, Stephen is the most dangerous due to his impulsiveness. Basically he acts without thinking.
Stephen has been recorded on tape bragging about owning a gun with a silencer. That is true. Steven has a nine millimeter handgun with a fitted silencer that I had given him before my arrest in 2005. That deadly weapon was mine.
This isn't just Cicale trying to step on Basciano's sons. He sincerely considers Stephen to be a menace to society.
It was only last month that Cicale was singing a very different tune for another of Vinny Gorgeous's sons. As CrimeBeat reported: "Cicale mailed a letter on July 3, 2014 to Manhattan Judge Richard Sullivan asking for leniency in the sentencing of Joseph Basciano."
As the New York Post noted in a July story, Ex-Bonanno capo asks judge to show leniency for mobster’s son, based on a letter the Post somehow obtained:
"The same murderous mobster-turned-rat who helped get Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano sent away for life has asked a federal judge to show leniency to the Bonanno boss’ drug-dealing son, claiming the 28-year-old could become “the next John Gotti” if sent to prison.
Ex-Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale, 46, wrote Manhattan federal Judge Richard Sullivan a July 3 letter saying he believes the jurist’s decision days earlier to sentence Joseph Basciano to six months in jail for running a marijuana enterprise with his two brothers would only lead him down the “path” to becoming a lifetime wiseguy.
“Everyone [in jail] will be watching, guiding and grooming him out of respect for Vincent Sr.’s stature and status,” Cicale wrote. “This good young man will walk out of federal prison feeling that he is the next John Gotti.”
Sullivan cut Joseph a break, doling out a six-month sentence. He could have slapped him with up to two years in prison under his plea deal.
Stephen, 30, is scheduled to be sentenced by Sullivan on Friday for running a mini-marijuana enterprise with his brothers. He faces up to 57 months in prison under a plea deal, but his lawyer is seeking a sentence “well below” that.
In a two-page handwritten plea crafted by Stephen in his cell at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center to Manhattan federal Judge Richard Sullivan, he declared: "I love my father with all my heart, and my heart bleeds for him [for] what he is going though, but I do not have plans to chose the life he lived or walk down the same path he did."
“The choice I made by selling marijuana made my mother so upset that she hasn’t spoken to me since my arrest [in September 2013],” Stephen further noted.
He also calls Sullivan a “very popular judge," and adds that his father’s arrest eight years ago “turned my world upside down.” Stephen had to shut down a body shop he co-owned.
In a two-page handwritten plea crafted by Stephen in his cell at Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center to Manhattan federal Judge Richard Sullivan, he declared: "I love my father with all my heart, and my heart bleeds for him [for] what he is going though, but I do not have plans to chose the life he lived or walk down the same path he did."
“The choice I made by selling marijuana made my mother so upset that she hasn’t spoken to me since my arrest [in September 2013],” Stephen further noted.
He also calls Sullivan a “very popular judge," and adds that his father’s arrest eight years ago “turned my world upside down.” Stephen had to shut down a body shop he co-owned.
As far as Cicale is concerned, the judge should lock Stephen up and toss the key, he wrote in his letter that we obtained:
I do not believe that Stephen Basciano merits a downward departure from Judge Sullivan. The letter that he wrote to the court is total bullshit. The sole truth in that letter is the part about Stephen idolizing his father...
...The biggest lie in Stephen's letter to Judge Sullivan -- "My Mommy has not spoken to me...." I know Steven's mother extremely well and there is no way she would disown her son. Judge Sullivan should request from the BOP Stephen's phone records and visitation records to confirm whether Stephen is in contact with his mother.
Stephen, along with brothers Vincent Jr., 32, and Joseph, 28, pleaded guilty earlier this year to running the pot ring, which involved hundreds of pounds of pot for New York distribution between 2009 and 2013.
Cicale had faced two life terms but Brooklyn federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis gave him a break for the “extraordinary assistance” he provided.
Cicale was released in 2013 after spending nearly eight years in prison.