Cosa Nostra News

Corsican mobster Jean-Luc Germani, France's most wanted man , was arrested Thursday by Paris police. Branded the last of the Corsican godfathers by French media, Germani, on the lam for three years, was arrested when a detective in the midst of tailing another man recognized him, despite a drastic change in appearance (he'd put on weight and grown his hair long; he was also wearing a baseball cap and eyeglasses). Last Corsican Godfather  Germani was charged with threatening police officers with a firearm outside his trailer in 2011, according to AFP . The 49-year-old Germani was previously wanted for the 2008 murder of Jean-Claude Colonna, a cousin of former Corsican godfather Jean-Jé Colonna, who died in a mysterious car accident in 2006. Germani was charged and jailed in 2009 but eventually freed.

In May 2013, the charred, bullet-riddled remains of two gangsters from Canada were found in Sicily. Italian police feared a trans-Atlantic Mafia war  was brewing. Actually, the battle was already raging. Vito Rizzuto, the Montreal Godfather who died last December, had taken care of business. Yet again. So far, the death count is pegged at  more than 40, with law enforcement having recovered bodies in Montreal, Toronto, Mexico and Italy . The gangster once known as "Joe Bravo." Wiretap recordings played at the trial of the suspected murderers explain something we've been puzzling over since May 2013: namely, did  Rizzuto induct non-Italians into the Montreal Mafia ?

Mafia graphic novel Mafia Apocalypse is a true-crime graphic novel based on the experiences of Dominick Cicale, a former capo in the Bonanno crime family. Written by Cicale and Robert Sberna – and illustrated by award-winning artist Chris Guiher – this 32-page dramatization is a unique look at the secret society of the Mafia.

In the late 1980s/early 1990s, mobsters and associates were routinely murdered in all of New York's boroughs. George Conte, middle. In places like Bath Avenue, the remains of violent gangland hits were found in car trunks or slumped over steering wheels; they ripened in the backs of trucks and vans. Some were buried, many never to be found. The victims were shot late at night or in the early morning when no witnesses were around. But bullets also flew in broad daylight, sometimes just across the street from a police station. Often, law enforcement--NYPD, DA's detectives, the Feds--knew who the killer was, but knowing and having the evidence to prove it in court are two different things and can be worlds apart. George Conte back then was a capo in the Luchese family. Called "Georgie Goggles," he and Luchese capo George "Georgie Neck" Zappola were later charged for the slaying of painters union official and potential government witness Jame

La Cantina this morning. Early this morning, someone threw a Molotov cocktail into a restaurant once frequented by deceased Montreal Mafia boss Vito Rizzuto. The burglar alarm went off and police and firefighters arrived at around 1am local time. La Cantina restaurant, located on St. Laurent Blvd. at Legendre St., was aflame. Firefighters extinguished the fire, limiting damage. When arson was found to be the cause, police took over and are investigating. No one has been arrested.

Exclusive: Mob Wives Creator Jennifer Graziano Criminal Past + Did Renee Graziano Reject Her Bi Racial Nephew? - Reality TV Scandals : The thrust of the story is that, during a sentencing hearing years ago, Mob Wives creator Jennifer Graziano's lawyer revealed that: "Jennifer’s family did not accept her biracial child who was only two years old because he was not white. Get all of the details and  click to read ...   "The court document is a good read; the prosecutor slams the claim of Jennifer Graziano‘s “psychological problems” by revealing Jenn has a master degree in Psychology."

We still believe in the lone-assassin theory (Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone) since reading Gerald Posner's excellent analysis of the assassination, Case Closed . But we don't claim to have the monopoly on wisdom, especially when guys like G. Robert Blakey believe exactly the opposite. Blakey famously said: "Jack Ruby all by himself is substantial enough reason to believe in the Mafia's involvement [in the assassination of JFK]... The Mafia profited by JFK's death. What's worse is, they got away with it."

Man of Steel... Cosa Nostra News: The Cicale Files, Volume 1: Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire  is not a full-sized book; it is about 70 pages and the ebook is $2.99, the price Amazon suggested. If you signed up for my newsletter you will have already read this excerpt. Here I attempted to drill down into an  infamous piece of Mafia history, specifically Bonanno crime family history.

Jimmy "The Gap" Calandra , a well-known former gangster out of Brooklyn, provided me with an excerpt of a manuscript he is working on about the life and crimes of the  Bath Avenue Crew . I've been waiting for him to email me the thing for three goddamn days but I finally have it, am giving it a read and will post it later today. Calandra made an appearance on National Geographic's documentary about the New York Mafia. He also made news last year when he visited his old stomping grounds and stepped into a Dunkin' Donuts on 18th Avenue. A couple inside recognized him and harassed him. The male, a local convicted hoodlum, shouted "rat" at him while the lady threw a cup of coffee in Calandra's face.

Adrian Humphreys' National Post story is required reading for anyone interested in the Canadian mob war (which included both Cosa Nostra and 'Ndrangheta members) that reached its bloody crescendo under the stewardship of now-deceased Montreal Godfather Vito Rizzuto. The article focuses on new information regarding how Rizzuto swiftly took charge when he returned home from prison, marshaled his forces and with true Sicilian cunningness, set loose the dogs of war by first testing his own men's loyalty. Rizzuto was referred to as the Tall Guy. He seems to have taken a page from John Gotti's playbook by topping his death list with the names of those who blinked when he summoned them.

Kenji Gallo, blogger, asskicker, author of "Breakshot," one of the best books about the Mafia available. From this week's  Breakshot Blog  by friend Kenji Gallo  (a onetime associate of the Colombo family who became a turncoat charged with running a radio show for the feds. Kenji also wrote a great book about life in the mob -- particularly in the crazy madhouse known as the Colombo family. We wrote a little about Kenji and his book  back in this post .) some interesting info on how the mob communicates... "The Colombo’s were aware that the FBI and others were always watching or listening to them so they adopted some new tactics. A thumb across the cheek was how they referred to a made guy and a thumb across the back was their way of indicating a Capo. All the families used methods close to this, in Los Angeles they would point to the chest for a soldier, the shoulder for a Capo and the sky for Pete Milano the Boss.

Johnny No Nose.... This has been quite a year for the Chicago Outfit, which saw an historical transition in July in terms of the guy in the big seat.  Johnny “No Nose” DiFronzo , suffering from health problems, was replaced. Meanwhile, Gangland News noted that The Chicago Outfit has been facing a full-court press from law enforcement involving the  FBI  and the Cook County prosecutor's office. Four members of the Outfit's Cicero crew were recently convicted on federal extortion charges. Frank Orlando and Robert McManus  lost at trial on charges of conspiring to extort money for Mark Dziuban, then vice president of sales for American Litho, a printing company in Carol Stream.

Vince Isoldi When a story cracks my all-time top-10 list, I take notice. One story about Vince Isoldi, the "Godfather of Pittsburgh," is now number 6 on that list (see below). What I find interesting is it is kind of a "nothing" story.... I included info from a couple of restaurant reviews in the piece! Interestingly, it doesn't follow the usual formula.... As you can see on the list below, usually the top posts generate the most comments, I assume a byproduct of interest in the topic. But in the Isoldi story, there is not a single comment. So what do you all think? Why is this show so popular?

A video of one conversation between clan leaders and Italian transcription  can be seen here . Italian anti-mafia police arrested 40 Ndrangheta members in northern Italy this week, and even filmed a "series of initiation rites," according to IBT . The video clip above contains reference to La Santa, a "secret society within a secret society." According to Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style by Letizia Paoli, the santista rank was established at the end of the 1960s by Girolamo Piromalli, leader of the Piromalli family in Gioia Tauro, along with bosses of other families, to create a way around traditional Ndrangheta rules forbidding drug trafficking.

Grainy frame from police video of Nicolo Rizzuto stuffing cash into his socks. The Quebec corruption probe called the Charbonneau Commission, created in late 2011 by then-premier Jean Charest amid widespread public pressure, which worked to illuminate Mafia ties to the province’s construction industry, ends today, Friday, Nov. 14. The Commission led to "startling testimony from bureaucrats, engineering executives and construction bosses about widespread collusion aimed at hiking the price of contracts," according to The Globe and Mail , which noted that the first witness to "drop a bombshell" was an ex-construction boss now facing charges of corruption. Lino Zambito testified for days about his links to a "bid-rigging cartel, a Mafia tax on projects and corrupt city officials who accepted kickbacks."

C. Alex Hortis spoke with us recently about his new book  The Mob and the City: The Hidden History of How the Mafia Captured New York . We'd say that it certainly sets the benchmark for books about the early history of the Mafia in New York. He answers with lucid reasoning based on fact festering questions long victimized by speculation. Why for instance did the transitional handoff of the reins of organized crime stop with the Italians? Organized crime throughout history was dominated by different ethnicities -- the Irish, the Jews -- but once the Italians gained dominance, they formed an American Cosa Nostra and have controlled it ever since. No other ethnic group ever usurped the Mafia. Plenty of candidates were put forth by the media: the Jamaican Posses, the Russians, the Albanians. But the only true "mafia" in America is the Italian Mafia. Why is that?  Hortis's answer is convincing. (Unless you've read his book, the answer you think is correct

We just launched it a couple of days ago and already we cracked Amazon's Organized Crime True Accounts: Paid Best Sellers list. Cosa Nostra News: The Cicale Files, Volume 1: Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire was no. 13 on the list, the last time I checked. We already have three reviews -- which reminds me - please, please, please -- if you read the book and like it the greatest way to help us would be to write an honest review. Here's what people have written so far (and I swear these aren't ringers!).... A solid title. I thoroughly enjoyed this title. The best parts were Mr. Cicale talking about his days in the early 2000s with the Bonanno family, which, at the time, had no rats. Must have been a crazy life. Had no idea the extent of it. I am looking forward to the next installment and learning more of his inner circle.

Now available for purchase on Amazon Kindle!  Cosa Nostra News: The Cicale Files, Volume 1: Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire . "As a capo in the Bonanno crime family, Dominick Cicale was privy to the inner workings of organized crime. Cicale was a rising star in the Bonanno family until Joseph Massino, the family's boss, was arrested on a murder rap and turned on his own people. Massino's betrayal took down Cicale and his mentor Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano, and many others. Faced with the disloyalty of Massino (the only Mafia Godfather to break the code of "omerta,") Cicale began cooperating with federal authorities. Here, Cicale not only reveals an insider’s view of the Mafia’s secret society, but provides readers with shocking details of the reign and fall of Joseph Massino." As noted it is priced at $4.99 (it is not a full-length book, as it is around 20,000 words), and we packed it with as much value as possible. Researchi

Vince Isoldi , star of A&E’s “ Godfather of Pittsburgh ,” says despite the show’s title, he’s no Tony Soprano. “I’m just a businessman,” he said last week. “I’m not mafia.” But isn’t that what Tony always said when asked? No matter, A&E will no doubt be happy for viewers to think whatever they want about the show and its star as long as they tune in. The series debuts tonight (Monday, Nov. 10) at 10 on A&E . Isoldi said he wasn’t wild about the title at first but he’s accepted it.

"Chickie" Ciancaglini Former Philadelphia Mafia capo Joseph "Chickie" Ciancaglini , Sr. is back in Philadelphia for the first time in about 30 years. He's not exactly free yet, but the 80-year-old has to wait about six months. As TheGangsterReport.com noted in a recent story, Chickie was "recently placed in a Philly halfway house to serve out the rest of his murder and federal racketeering conviction (he was given a 45-year sentence in 1988)... Ciancaglini will be set free for good in early 2015." We confirmed this on the BOP site , which reports JOSEPH CIANCAGLINI Register Number: 31458-066 Age: 80 Located at: Philadelphia RRM Release Date: 05/04/2015

Tony and the guys.... The Associated Press's   John Carucci  on Nov. 5, 2014 interviewed David Chase, a guy who I assume all of you are aware of. "The idea of a prequel to "The Sopranos" intrigues series creator David Chase, but if that were to happen, he envisions it as atypical. The 69-year old show runner says he wouldn't mind exploring the era before the show began. "Even if I did it, it wouldn't be 'The Sopranos' that was on the air — obviously at least one person is gone that we would need," he says. "There are a couple of eras that would be interesting for me to talk about, about Newark, New Jersey. One would be (the) late '60s, early '70s, about all the racial animosity, or the beginning, the really true beginning of the flood of drugs."

Former KCPD detective Gary Jenkins It is not too late to sign up for the interactive webinar entitled: Gangland Wire  in which you can meet the man who helped take down the mob:  Kansas City Police Department Detective  Gary Jenkins . The webinar is November 13, 2014 from 7:00 to 8:00 P.M. In 1977, Kansas City Police Department Detective Jenkins joined the FBI organized crime task force to implement Operation Strawman .Formed to investigate Kansas City mob activities, the OCTF gathered information that convicted Mafia leaders in Kansas City, Chicago, Cleveland and Milwaukee. It's the story behind the story of Martin Scorsese's film Casino. Jenkins also runs the blog Gangland Wire , where he posts stories as well as actual wiretap recordings .

The  Friends of Ours  blog includes a story about our  pending ebook  -- and we want to give him a shout out for his kind post. Friends of Ours , "An Eclectic Blog: From Crime & Corruption To Politics & Culture," is an excellent resource for news of all stripes -- the blogger posts relentlessly about crime/corruption in all its guises. Alex Hortis among authors who used the Friends of Ours blog  In addition to insightful commentary on the various Mafias (including a personal encounter with some mobbed-up thugs ), the anonymous blogger, seeking no self-recognition, shines a bright spotlight on topics such as government corruption and drug trafficking . He reports news that the mainstream media does not focus on nearly enough, such as immigration reform . The blogger also files numerous Freedom of Information Act requests and then selflessly posts the files he pries loose from the FBI. .. Among the figures/topics whose FBI files he posts a

Today I had hoped to have the button up, the one you click to purchase the ebook I wrote with former Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale :  The Cicale Files, Vol. 1: Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire . As indicated this is only the first of a series we have planned. But it looks like getting that button up is going to take a couple of more days. We're looking to launch by Monday, hopefully earlier. I hope you all buy a copy, especially since Dom padded his goddamn expenses... You won't believe how many copies we have to sell before yours truly sees a single nickel!   Just kidding...  But I am not kidding about hoping you all buy a copy. It's going to cost less than $5, and we packed the book with as much value as possible. Researching extensively to set the background and context for Dominick's information, I tried to focus on little-known facts that were part of some of the major events described in the book.

Frank Coppa was sentenced today. He earned quite a distinction in the Mafia: Coppa was the first member of the Bonanno family ever, since its formation in the 1930s, to break his oath; the other four families had all had defectors prior (the Bonannos alone for a period of time bragged that they had not produced a single defector -- until Coppa). Fat and Fatter: Massino, left, Coppa But as if to compensate for that, the former Bonanno capo's decision to flip set off a chain reaction that culminated in mass defections that took down the so-called Last Don, Joseph Massino . Coppa was  sentenced to time served . At age 73, he spent only two years in prison, then was out on bail about 10 years ago.

"Charlie Big Ears," boss of the DeCavalcante crime family. The DeCavalcante crime family, historically based in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and surrounding areas has retooled itself, expanded its membership and is even operating in Manhattan and on Staten Island. Today's DeCavalcante family is no longer viewed as a backwater -- or glorified crew -- to New York's Five Families. Carlo "Charlie Big Ears" Majuri  is the official boss; we are not naming other members of the administration. Seven crews make up the family, which has a total of close to 80 members. Fueled by the arrival of several full-blooded Italians and an influx of Brooklynites who moved to New Jersey during the past 15 to 20 years, the DeCavalcantes are a true force to be reckoned with. DEVELOPING...

By now, most have probably read about the FBI releasing a recording of a Mafia induction ceremony from 25 years ago in Medford. The Boston Globe , specifically, has been getting plenty of mileage out of this story for many of those years. The story includes a huge error that's been repeated in many of last week's rewrites. On Oct. 29, 1989, New England Mafia boss Raymond “Junior” Patriarca anointed four new soldiers into his crime family. A full-blown ceremony with a total of 21 wiseguys in attendance, it occurred following a civil war.

Vince Isoldi The Godfather of Pittsburgh will begin its run in the next week or two and the popularity of the little stories I have written about the guy continues to both astonish and baffle me... One of A&E's four new reality series , “Godfather of Pittsburgh,” focuses on Vince Isoldi, an Italian-American who owns nightclubs and restaurants in the Steel City, "where he has made friends and enemies along the way." Eight one-hour episodes are slated to premiere. Some natives of Pittsburgh seem to be taking issue with the show for various reasons. We had a little chat with one in particular, who wants to remain anonymous.

“Vinny had a glass jaw but he’d fight at the drop of a dime. He’d get his ass kicked, but he didn’t give a fuck...    "Vinny was also a stone-cold killer, so  believe you me, whoever did the kicking was not long for this earth.”

Joseph Anthony Colombo Jr. Joseph A. Colombo Junior, affectionately known as "Pop," died on October 29, 2014 at his home in Newburgh, New York. He was 67. He's survived by his wife, Diane, and kids Dina, Denise, and Joe. He died following a long battle with Neurological Lyme Disease, according to one news report . Joe Junior was among Joseph Colombo Senior's five children, which also includes sons Christopher, Anthony and Vincent. Visitation will be held from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. on Monday, November 3rd at Brooks Funeral Home, 481 Gidney Ave., Newburgh. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated by Rev. William Scafidi at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, November 4th at St. Mary's Church, Newburgh. Burial will follow in Calvary Cemetery, New Windsor. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made in Joseph's name to Hospice of Orange and Sullivan Counties, 800 Stony Brook Ct., Newburgh, NY 12550 or to Lyme Research Alliance, 20