Cosa Nostra News

"Nino Brown" -- the victim -- survived several attempts since 2013. UPDATED : Montreal police are currently investigating what seems likely to be the latest attack on the Montreal Mafia crime family formerly run by Vito Rizzuto. The victim has been the target of several previous unsuccessful hits and one report seems to indicate the shootings may be over debts. This past Monday the wounded man, allegedly an MC member associated with the Rizzutos, was shot inside his Riviere des Prairies home. His name is Nino De Bartolomeis, 44, (he is also known as Nino Brown). Officially, his identity remains unconfirmed. The report seems to indicate he may have had something to do with the launching last year of Projects Magot and Mastiff , which led to the arrests of several members of a drug-trafficking triumvirurate that involved the Montreal Mafia, Hells Angels MC and street gangs. Among those arrested and held without bail are Leonardo Rizzuto, Vito Rizzuto’s son and a pr

Click image to purchase It was surprising enough that Gangland News hawked a nonfiction book about the mob's doings written under a pen name, but now the New York Daily News went and interviewed this fella too. "Frank Palmeri" is the pseudonymous author of Bugs, Bull, & Rats , which the Daily News describes as "an anecdotal recounting of some of the mob’s most notorious hits and hit men." (Note to Daily News: you misspelled the guy's name -- it's Palmeri not Palmieri. I am seeking work if you need a proofreader ...) As for the inducted mobster who  wrote the book : Palmeri is not my real name because even though I make my living now by legitimate means, I'm still a member of the Mafia. I always will be. As I said, I swore the oath. The Mafia is more than a crime organization; it's the life you live. I served time because of a wire-wearing rat. Now I'm writing this book and sharing information about a secret organization that

Vince Cassel may have thought he was joking.  The Italian voice-over industry acts like the Mafia, French actor Vincent Cassel said. Now, he's probably using hyperbole to draw attention to an issue that annoys him. I am not for one minute suggesting what he said is true! Not at all..... But if one considers what he says in light of what we know about the mob's infiltration of labor, then the Italian film dubbing industry is actually the perfect example of how the Mafia takes over entire industries by controlling the labor force via unions. Still, I am not saying this is the case. Not at all. Consider this an educational exercise -- and that only. I mean nothing more or less.... 

Today is a day of miracles.....We Christians believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead. (Which reminds me, to all my readers (and supporters): Happy Easter! Enjoy this or whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year.) I'm absolutely flabbergasted by something I read this morning. I  John A. Gotti, aka "Junior" Gotti, the former mob boss said something of interest -- finally. He discussed associates, sitdowns and Mafia protocol.

The so-called mental dullard Carmine Galante swiftly perceived Montreal's strategic importance for large-scale narcotics trafficking. First off is the Quebec province's proximity to New York, the world's premier market for anything of value, including illegal products, such as narcotics. Port of Montreal  Then there's Montreal's extensive array of port facilities, which made it the perfect platform from which to smuggle European-synthesized drugs into North America. (It was a lot easier to smuggle drugs into Montreal than into New York.) And from the Empire State, the drugs easily could be brought to cities across the continental United States. The drugs didn't necessarily have to cross the border in New York. In fact, the Mafia likely used many of the same smuggling routes used during Prohibition, which also is likely when elements of organized crime in America and Canada began forming alliances. After the January 16, 1920 passage of the Volste

Law enforcement investigates presumed gangland hit. A shooting this week in Terrebonne, a Montreal suburb in western Quebec, Canada, has "all the markings of an organized crime hit" and is not far from the location of the Lorenzo Giordano shooting in southwestern Quebec, north of Montreal, three weeks ago. The victim, Yannick LaRose, is "believed to have links to the Hells Angels," The Journal de Montreal and La Presse reported . (This likely means it was a move by 'Ndrangheta factions against what is left of the Rizzuto organization in Montreal.) Unlike typical gangland shootings, however, this one had a twist. The target survived the initial barrage and sought to escape the shooters inside a pool equipment storefront. The two masked gunmen, however, found him and shot him up some more.

Seem to be a couple of Godfather games going around.... Eric Lang, game designer and "self- styled  'disciple of fun,'" recently posted an image of his Bloodborne card game box, about which he commenced tweeting last November. He'd dubbed it "Project Dream," which he said is the code name for the Bloodborne game, which is "based on the Chalice dungeon runs, where players compete to kill monsters and take their blood. But don't die," Lang  tweeted Lang also revealed what another codename he's been tweeting means:  Project Suitcase is a board game based on "The Godfather."

Mario Cuomo was one of the greatest orators in modern political history. He was formally a democrat, but his goals and accomplishments made him too complex a politician to be so easily defined by such a label. He's been back in the news recently due to reports that the Sicilian Mafia marked him for death to send a message to Americans calling for nothing less than the destruction of the witness protection program . (They also wanted to whack New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. The brutish Salvatore ‘Toto’ Riina, allegedly planned the hit when Giuliani was a state prosecutor in the 1980s. The American mob told him not to even try such a caper; Giuliani would wipe them out.) Cuomo's  July 16, 1984 Keynote Address to the Democratic National Convention tops many lists as one of the 20th Century's most inspirational speeches. I'd delete the qualifier and say it's one of the most inspirational and powerful in American history. Listening to it again, it sounds even m

In 1987 a former Mafia killer emerged from the safety of the Federal witness protection program to recant his testimony . Luigi Ronsisvalle, left, and Fisher at motel where an agreement was signed. Said testimony had helped put away one of New York's most ruthless mobsters, a Bonanno member who'd been elevated to "street boss" of the Zips. A burly man with enigmatic links to the Sicilian Cosa Nostra  he was a convicted for playing a major role in a global drug trafficking venture called The Pizza Connection Case. His name was Salvatore "Toto" Catalano, and he'd been sentenced to 45 years in prison for his role in the '' Pizza Connection " case. This witness, Luigi Ronsisvalle, said he had quit the Federal Witness Protection Program and had voluntarily sought out Catalano's lawyer so he could provide a sworn statement that declared as false his Pizza Connection trial testimony against Catalano. Today the name Ronsi

Luigi Grasso, Big Ang's cousin. It was about about six months ago when newspapers were reporting that Luigi Grasso, c ousin of ‘Mob Wives’ star Big Ang, had saved a suicidal inmate's lif e in a courthouse holding cell before Grasso’s appearance on a weapons rap.  Grasso's actions were lauded  by no less than a Manhattan judge.  The distressed suicidal inmate, who was never identified by officials, had fashioned a noose from a T-shirt and was hanging from the top bar in the pens of Manhattan Criminal Court at 111 Centre St. on Oct. 7 when the brawny mobster literally leaped into the air to save him, according to witnesses.

Click image to purchase.... Gangland News recently recommended a book, a rarity for the website renowned for being the repository for the nation's no. 1 mob scribe, Jerry Capeci . "There are no spectacular revelations in it. There's no hint of the excitement that Man of Honor created when legendary Mafia boss Joseph Bonanno wrote his autobiography in 1984. And some of the author's facts are clearly wrong. ...," Capeci writes. But Bugs, Bull, & Rats: An Insider's account of how the Mob Self-destructed  (the full title) "is an intriguing new book about 'the last 40 years of the Mafia' by a New York wiseguy who's bummed out by 'the life' he found when he hit the streets after a long prison stretch that was caused by a 'wire-wearing rat.'"

One of several YouTube videos posted by Anthony Colombo, son of deceased mob boss Joe Colombo. Colombo: The Unsolved Murde r by Don Capria and Anthony Colombo is available now, priced at $4.99 for the Kindle version and $16.95 for the paperback. The book essentially "reopens" the investigation into Joe Colombo's death , offering what the authors describe as "compelling evidence that contradicts the popular belief behind Colombo’s death." Co-authored by Joe Colombo’s eldest son, Anthony, the book tells the story of how young Joe Colombo rose from Brooklyn's streets to become one of New York Magazine’s “Top Ten Most Powerful Men” in 1971, alongside Nelson Rockefeller and Mayor John Lindsay.

NYPD reorganized under a "unified investigations model." First it was the FBI -- and now it seems it's the NYPD that is reducing its focus on organized crime As recently reported , the NYPD unit responsible for investigating the Mafia, the Organized Crime Control Bureau, has been officially gone since March 1.  It disappeared as part of the department’s reorganization, officials told the New York Post. In its place, the NYPD has implemented "a unified investigations model,” the NYPD's Chief of Department, James O’Neill, said in remarks during a briefing at NYPD headquarters at One Police Plaza in lower Manhattan.

"Uncle Joe" in cross-hairs? Cosa Nostra News Exclusive The FBI has tripled the size of its squad in Philadelphia and has brought in a well-seasoned supervisory agent from New York to oversee what appears to be the formation of a new Organized Crime Strike Force , reliable sources have told Cosa Nostra News . One of the operation's key goals is reportedly to nail Philadelphia Cosa Nostra boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and his top associates for  three unsolved gangland hits  in the city. Those murders were committed while Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino , reputed official boss, and former consiglieri/Ligambi nephew George Borgesi were in prison. The Fed's also are aggressively investigating a mobster considered Ligambi's chief shooter from back when "Uncle Joe" was tasked with holding together a badly battered and fractured Cosa Nostra family. That was the backdrop against which the three murders, now intensely being s

Brittany Fogarty In the past year, I've talked to a few mob wives -- by that I mean woman married to made guys. The general consensus about VH1's Mob Wives is that the women are a disgrace and an embarrassment to all Italian-Americans. Some are even "frauds," "rats" and "whores." One source said something that resonated: