Cosa Nostra News

Frank Cali had ascended to the role of street boss of the Gambino crime family, though now it appears that, yet again , there's uncertainty. Who's the boss? Frank Cali, maybe. Whether he's street boss or not, one thing seems clear: Francesco Paolo Augusto Calì would bring the New York-based crime family, one of the fabled five, back where it belongs: in the grip of a shrewd Sicilian who likely will strengthen its ranks and magnify its fortunes. Domenico (Italian Dom) Cefalu is Sicilian, but in terms of boss material, there are more suitable candidates, according to Michael "Mikie Scars" DiLeonardo , with whom we spoke for this story. His rise would also have an historical significance. It brings the Gambinos, once the largest and most powerful Mafia family in the country, full circle. If Cali is street boss, "the Gambino family is where it's supposed to be," DiLeonardo told me, "back in the hands of Sicilians. I

Greg Scarpa Jr., left, Senior, right.... A long-time friend of Cosa Nostra News telephoned the facility today and recorded the discussion, emailing the MPEG to yours truly. Apparently, her feminine voice worked its magic on him and within seconds he gave her what we needed and couldn't get -- recorded confirmation. Greg Scarpa Junior is "transitioning, yeah," the man on the phone finally admits after she asks what an RRM is. Specifically, she'd said "I thought it was a place for people getting out soon, who were...." And he said it (and you will soon hear it) -- "Transitioning, yeah."

Gregory Scarpa Junior, sentenced to 40 years to life for assorted mob mayhem (a law enforcement source told us he's been linked to 24 homicides alone), has been transferred from the same Supermax that Vinny Basciano was in. Scarpa Junior at Colorado's ADX. Only Scarpa Junior has been moved -- we're not sure when -- to something called a Residential Reentry Management Field Office based in Kansas City, Kansas. "He's never getting out," the source told us. "They might have moved him to make him more comfortable now that everything has settled down." But still -- a a Residential Reentry Management Field Office?

Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano won his freedom... from Colorado's Supermax prison, that is. He's not moving far. His new digs are located within a high-security facility on the same compound as the Administrative Maximum Security or ADX, according to an exclusive New York Post report. "Better than the hellhole Supermax prison in Colorado... where ex-Bonanno crime boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano had been rotting since 2011 after he was convicted of racketeering and murder. Basciano, 55, was recently sprung from the most infamous jail in the nation to a high-security facility located on the same 31-acre compound in Florence, Colo., the Daily News has learned. The exact date of the transfer is unclear," the Post noted.

John Gotti 2.0 John "Junior" Gotti did have something in common with his father after all.  It took us a while to find it -- but it's there, and to our surprise, nobody has commented on it before. The list of what he didn't have in common is quite long. Junior didn't position himself to be a modern-day capo de tutti capi . He didn't take out a boss and take over a crime family. He didn't kill guys for refusing to come when he called (and no other reason). In fact, he didn't come close to meeting his father's body count, and as we noted previously , he implemented a ban on killing that lasted for a pretty good time (though he didn't reach that decision to ban murder alone, as we also previously noted ). John Junior wasn't as popular within his family (or has hated without); he didn't dress like a million bucks and didn't have his father's innate charm and natural ease among anyone, whether a female newscaster at the

Revised, updated : The Gambino crime family is reportedly now under the auspices of  Staten Island-based Frank Cali, 49, who'd been serving on a ruling panel for several years, according to Ganglandnews.com's Jerry Capeci. Domenico Cefalu stepped down as acting boss, allowing Cali's advance. Cali, Sicilian-born, is related by marriage to Gambino members as well as members of a Sicilian Cosa Nostra family. Cali's wife's uncle is Gambino capo John Gambino, and his brother Joseph and brother-in-law Peter Inzerillo are both allegedly soldiers in the Gambino crime family.

Michael Persico This arrives directly from Kenji Gallo's Breakshot Blog : This Tuesday another man who has lived the mafia life will face a judge and be sentenced for his crimes: Michael Persico. This so called “mafia prince” never had to get in the trenches to get his hands dirty. He was born into power and ordered others (who were not born into the ruling class) to do his work for him. He lived the life of privilege, wealth and power that comes with being mafia royalty. A position he never earned. He was able to live the way he did because of the murderous reign of his father Carmine.

When I add a link to the "link section," (unique title!) I usually first ask permission from the new addition. Sometimes, I forget to ask. (This is a one hell of a story so far, isn't it?) Which reminds me, I didn't really ask Scott Deitche if I could link to his personal website and the Tampa Mafia site that all along I thought he owned but doesn't. (A quite l ovely  woman named Lisa Figueredo owns it.)

Whimsical story to go with this bizarre pic.... I have never ever seen this image before, of Joseph Goebbels looking like he's ready to do something comical for the photographer, something for which Hitler probably would've ordered his execution.... I was going to delete this story but revised and expanded it instead. This blog's Alexa ranking shot up to 136,000, 107,761 103,627 (it's  79,965  today, but has been hovering around 80k for a while) in the U.S.. The lower the number, the better the ranking. What the hell is Alexa ? Well, it offers insights into a website's popularity. You visit Alexa.com, paste an http address in the included search box -- and then view estimates of that site's ranking in both the site's native country and the world.

Giovanni Riggi (February 1, 1925 – August 3, 2015), aka John the Eagle, died on Monday of natural causes. He was 90 and outlived what law enforcement officials no doubt considered a life sentence. A member of the New Jersey-based crime family since the 1940s (before it was given its historic name, the DeCavalcante crime family), Riggi served as the Elizabeth crew's captain and was named acting boss in the 1970s. John Riggi, at the height of power. Riggi's rise was slow and deliberate. Simone "Sam the Plumber" DeCavalcante  named Riggi as his successor in 1980. Riggi in fact held the official boss title up until his death a week ago.  He's been described as well-spoken, extremely polite and extremely ruthless. Toward the end of his life he'd been incarcerated at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) in Devens, Massachusetts. He was released on November 27, 2012. The funeral at the Corsentino Home for Funerals in Elizabeth, N.J., held on Friday, Aug. 7

Now available for purchase on Amazon! Cosa Nostra News: The Cicale Files, Volume 1: Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire . Both print and ebook versions are available, priced at $6.99 and $4.99. This is a short-format ebook (equal to around 62 pages, the length of the print edition.) It reached no. 2 on Amazon Kindle's best-seller list.... It also generated specious negative feedback --  It's a pamphlet! Too many names and dates! Hollywood garbage! --  by idiots who obviously never read the book.

Detective LeVien was part of a 1972 sting centered on a junkyard in Canarsie, Brooklyn.  New York’s five families would meet here. Credit Barton Silverman/The New York Times New York Detective Who Infiltrated the Mafia, Dies at 68 - The New York Times : Douglas A. LeVien Jr., a former undercover police detective who in 1972 infiltrated the meeting ground used by New York’s five Mafia families, a landmark operation that produced scores of convictions, died on July 30 while vacationing in Saratoga, N.Y. He was 68. The cause was a heart attack, his son Vincent Douglas LeVien said. Except for several months in the late 1970s when, under apparent threat of death from a high-ranking mobster, he was placed in the federal witness protection program, Detective LeVien lived in Brooklyn all his life.

Jimmy Calandra, far right, John Alite, third from right, Perry Hovater, second from left, and Minister Glenn Hovater of Goodfellas for God, third from left, at epilepsy fundraiser held recently. Former mob associates Jimmy Calandra and John Alite both stood at the podium and electrified the audience at a fundraiser for the Epilepsy Foundation  held on July 24. The event was organized by Perry Hovater, in honor of his son Austin, who suffers from epilepsy, as does Alite. The fundraiser took place in Cleveland at the LaVera Party Center in Willoughby Hills.

Carmine Agnello. His legendary former father-in-law, John Gotti, may have been unfair when he said those famous words about him ("Does he get in the backseat of the car and think someone has stolen the steering wheel?") but one thing is perfectly clear. Carmine Agnello likes to steal (at least according to Cleveland's Cuyahoga County Prosecutor). A source formerly active in the Gambino crime family told us that Agnello is actually a pretty intelligent businessman, only he's beset with certain flaws, the chief one being he has the mindset of a dime-store thug. By this we refer to his predilection for sparking street fights with uniformed police officers over parking tickets.... "The [NYPD] set up shop across the street from him with a rival business" as part of an investigation. "So what does he do? He threatens them, sets fires and breaks their windows." Agnello was indicted and sentenced to years in prison for his scrap meta