Cosa Nostra News

Vincent (Vinny) Asaro, reputed Bonanno mobster, 82, was found last week in Brooklyn MDC “incoherent and unable to leave the visiting room on his own power” -- and he needs emergency bail, according to his lawyer. UPDATE : Vincent Asaro was sentenced to eight years in prison for ordering an arson (though really it's for committing one of the most profitable heists in American history, the Lufthansa Heist at JFK airport ). Asaro was sentenced yesterday in Brooklyn federal court. Asaro as a young hoodlum, left, and as an old hoodlum, right. Asaro's attorney, Elizabeth Macedonio, in a heroic effort,urged Judge Allyne Ross to consider the arson charge to which Asaro pleaded guilty in June, on its own. Federal prosecutors however worked to ensure that wasn't the case.They submitted detailed accounts of Asaro’s life of crime, highlighting the murder of Paul Katz and the $6 million Kennedy Airport heist as per their efforts to get Asaro a 15-year sentence. “Mr.

John (Johnny Boy) Ambrosio, 74, a Gambino soldier (and acting capo), won criminal justice immortality of sorts by paying regular homage to then-Gambino boss John Gotti outside the much-surveilled Ravenite social club in Manhattan’s Little Italy from around 1988 to 1990. Surveillance outside Ravenite social club. Though never a Gotti crony himself, Ambrosio was once closely affiliated with a member of Gotti's original Bergen crew in Ozone Park, Queens. Ambrosio, who gets arrested every 10 years or so, was arrested again just two weeks back. (He was about due for it.) He was nabbed along with a Bonanno soldier and five Gambino associates. They all face a 13-count superseding indictment unsealed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York that charges them with racketeering conspiracy, including loansharking, illegal gambling, narcotics distribution conspiracy and obstruction of justice conspiracy. Their alleged crimes took place f

Story contains link to PDF of Apalachin dossier  "Christmas is a special time for most people, happy for those who have and sad for those who have not," Louis DiVita told me in a recent conversation. A house near this intersection in New Jersey has an interesting history... He lost a beloved relative only a few days before Christmas Eve, and all these years later, the holiday still holds a blending of different emotions for him. "As a child our celebrations always recognized the previously deceased, including my great Uncle Benedetto Angelo “Buffalo Bill” Palmeri who died on December 21, 1932," he said. "Buffalo Bill tried to ensure the less fortunate had Christmas Dinner," Louis said of his grandfather's brother. Benedetto Angelo Palmeri died of natural causes at the relatively young age of 54. In a story on the Writers of Wrongs blog by Thomas Hunt, Palmeri is described as a "longtime leader in the Mafia of Western New York

It is indeed the most wonderful time of the year. And Louis DiVita, author of A Wiser Guy , includes in his book an excellent fish recipe that can be enjoyed any time of the year. Italians do it right. They celebrate Christmas for the entire month. Italians don't live to work -- they live to live..... Christmas Eve is the time for the "Feast of The Seven Fishes," though it is not called that by Italians; it's a term used by we Americans who think we know about what they do in Italy. The tradition of eating seafood on Christmas Eve dates from the Roman Catholic tradition of abstaining from eating meat during certain times of the year. Observant Catholics would eat fish. It is unclear when the term "Feast of the Seven Fishes" was popularized. The meal may include more or fewer fishes. "Seven" fishes as a fixed concept or name is unknown in Italy itself. Many of the oldest Italian-American families don't count the number of fis

Intelligent Talk is a radio show hosted by Ralph W. McElvenny and broadcast on City World Radio  on Thursdays at 5 pm EST. His latest interview was Michael DiLeonardo, former Gambino capo. Michael DiLeonardo Ralph, a longtime resident of Manhattan, worked in the New York City-based real estate market as an investor and for a large global company based in New York City and Japan. He interviewed Michael DiLeonardo, a man who needs no introduction to regular readers of this site. To new readers, he's a former capo in the Gambino crime family who testified in multiple trials and has an encyclopedic knowledge of the New York Mafia, before, during, and after its heyday during the John Gotti administration following a violent coup that left two dead in front of Sparks  Steakhouse around this time of year in 1985. Michael's roots in the Gambino crime family are quite deep, to the extent that, as he tells Ralph during the interview, "My goal when I was 10-1

John Travolta Has ‘Gotti’ Movie Rubbed Out By The Mob. Film suspiciously shelved just 10 days ahead of premiere ! That's the headline and blurb on a National Enquirer story that was so unintentionally hilarious, your loyal correspondent nearly tumbled out of his seat and spilled hot coffee all over himself. Here's a JPG of the actual first page of the story -- which isn't really a story.  It's a sort of "interactive experience." You can see the outline of a kind of story . It says, between the lines, that there are some really bad (wise)guys out there who don't want you to watch this film (because it gives away sacred Mafia secrets).  It's a slideshow, with each slide including a single paragraph. The story is relayed to us from paragraph to paragraph....  Let's get through this as quickly and painlessly as possible. The story posits that the New York Mafia -- the entire New York Mafia " whacked" the Gotti

Carlo Gambino, the Gambino crime family boss whom the FBI identified as the "boss of bosses" of the entire American Mafia , was cuffed and hauled to court in March 1970. Gambino was arrested in 1970 by the FBI. He'd been driving with his wife, Catherine, when the couple was pulled over at 14th Ave. and 48th Street in Brooklyn. Gambino was "bagged by federal agents... on charges of masterminding a daring plot to pull off a multimillion-dollar armored car robbery," the Daily News reported in a story  originally published on Tuesday, March 24, 1970, written by Edward Kirkman and Harry Schlegel. The agents first brought Gambino to FBI headquarters at 201 E. 69th St. for questioning. Next, he was taken to Federal Court in Foley Square for the arraignment. Gambino's specific charge was conspiracy to violate a federal statute against the interstate transportation of stolen goods. We next learn that Gambino allegedly was already sitting on $3 m

Richard Valentini, 52, of East Longmeadow, Mass., the one member of the Genovese crime family's notorious Springfield crew who flatly refused a plea agreement, wanted very much to go to trial and prove his innocence, as noted earlier this month . Each of the charges Valentini was convicted of carries up to 20 years in prison.  Well, he got part of his wish. He went to trial. However, the jury this past Monday didn't go for his version of events. Instead, they found him guilty of one count of conspiracy to interfere with commerce and one count of interference with commerce by threat or violence . Valentini was one of five reputed members of the Genovese crime family's " Springfield Crew " who were arrested in August as part of the " East Coast LCN Enterprise"  case that alleges wide-ranging Mafia-related activity in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Florida ( and New Jersey, supposedly ). U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Hillman sche

“Carl wants to swallow up everybody." -- Unnamed Mafia boss via surveillance recording At the end of 1972, Carlo Gambino, boss of the Gambino crime family, was working on a "dramatic reorganization" of New York's Five Families, the likes of which had not been seen since 1931. As radical as this sounds, it is not unbelievable considering some events leading up to it. Gambino Gambino wanted to rid New York of hundreds of Mafia members, then rebuild by inducting only select men who'd proved their loyalty. (He was preparing to open the books in 1973.) Gambino, 70 at the time, believed the "Mafia must retreat to the past in order to survive," law enforcement officials said. The first two crime families on the block were to be the Luchese and Colombo crime families. Then the Bonanno crime family. "Twenty percent of known Mafia members in New York are currently under indictment in cases developed by the Federal Bureau of In