Cosa Nostra News

Updated : A superseding indictment charged 19 members and associates of the Luchese crime family with racketeering, murder, narcotics and firearms offenses. As  noted previousl y, the indictment's centerpiece is the murder of former Purple Gang boss Michael Meldish. However, three additional sanctioned hits (all of which were unsuccessful) are detailed in the indictment, which includes the odd (as in weird) shooting of one Bonanno member known as The Baker. Story here . A Bonanno associate also was targeted. From left, Crea Sr., Madonna and Truscello Fifteen Luchese mobsters were arrested yesterday; four others were in prison on other crimes. The Luchese crime family's street boss, underboss and consiglieri were among the arrested. The indictment confirms that the official boss serves a life sentence presently.

What happens when two morons watch too many Sopranos episodes and one of them orders a murder? An innocent man dies an unimaginably brutal death, and one moron gets 30 years in prison and agrees to testify against the other moron at a trial to resume today in New Jersey. Text messages displayed at trial. We don't mean to make light of a murder, we are simply forever dumbfounded by the breathtaking stupidity of some people.

Last year, the Fed's invited Skinny Joey Merlino to what they said was gonna be one helluva party.   Only now they wanna cancel.   Well, too bad for them, Joey says. Now, he's gonna force them to throw it.  Rather than swallow two years inside Merlino is ready for trial. Bradley Sirkin, one of the East Coast LCN Enterprise case's wild cards, was a former driver for Philadelphia Mafia boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino. He had extensive ties to the Mafia -- was associated with several crime families. He seems to have been one of the key threads running from New York to Florida. This mean anything? He's agreed to a guilty plea in the EasIt Coast-whatever case in Manhattan Federal Court. He also copped in Federal court in Tampa. Sirkin said he committed conspiracy to commit health care fraud in what is viewed as a strong case against him and seven co-defendants (unlike the case in New York). Merlino refused to cop and is seeking to push the Fed...

REVISED Our first version of this story was posted in 2014 to some outrage. I was asked to delete it, etc. I understand the unusual animosity but have stuck to my guns. I wish I could tell you my source for this, but I promised him I wouldn't.  I will add here and now that the Commission boss my source references in the story was none other than John Riggi, boss of the DeCavalcante crime family.  Here's a story about Riggi you should read: John Riggi, Mafia's "Last Legitimate Boss ." Roger Moore in his prime. So the first story was about an excerpt from Roger Moore's memoir that mentioned Frank Sinatra and blasted the notion that he had mob ties. I  posted it and made a new friend... So ironically, thanks to "James Bond," I  got one of my hottest scoops ever. (As for my source, he can contact me anytime he wants. Hope all is well -- thank you so much for the information.) I'm updating and reposting due to Moore's  re...

COSA NOSTRA NEWS EXCLUSIVE The next installment of our Michael DiLeonardo-Salvatore Romano saga .... The storefronts at 98-04 101st Avenue in Ozone Park, the former home base of the Gambino crime family. The  Corozzos were a faction of the Gambino crime family from Brooklyn's Canarsie. After John Gotti went down courtesy of Sammy the Bull, Peter Gotti was named boss. (Arnold "Zeke" Squitieri would be named acting boss in time). Jo Jo Corozzo was named consiglieri, and with that move it seemed that, for the first time in Mafia history, the power in the Gambino crime family was going to move to Canarsie. Jo Jo was in position to rise to the top. And if he needed a little firepower to help him up, he certainly had it in brother Nicky, who himself had certain aspirations. Corozzo was released from a halfway house last January after spending more than seven years in prison. Corozzo had been indicted back in 2008 as part of Operation Old Bridge...

FINAL : Stories about Donald Trump and his alleged Mafia ties continue to proliferate. This nation may well be entering a period of historical importance unprecedented in recent decades. There's no time for unwarranted speculation so we will cut to the chase. Trump may have done a lot of things but did he actually knowingly work with the New York Mafia, as many continue to allege? Is there a there there? (To use the parlance of our times.)

I could write a story using his information -- I have been doing it that way forever.  Thing is, you can't hear him. I mean him, not the guy being interviewed on television, but the guy himself.... This is a podcast I filmed. It's a voicemail from John Alite, one of three he left me, consecutively while I was attending a birthday party. You can hear the beep cutting him off. In part two, he picks up right where he left off. You will hear parts two and three, as well.John was reacting to a story I'd written. Since I hadn't written anything about John in some time, I wasn't certain what he was reacting to. In time, I realized it was a story I'd promoted on Facebook -- somehow, someone alerted John to the story -- and he was angry after he read it.

So how do you crack open the Mafia and penetrate it in a deep-undercover investigation? In the words of an ace undercover operator (and former FBI agent), "You need to know your source.” Joseph D. Pistone, formerly Donnie Brasco of the Bonanno crime family, gave the keynote address before a gathering of senior case management and investigation professionals at Polonious World 2017, some kind of trade show held recently in Australia.  Johnny Depp with Al Pacino in the Donnie Brasco film.  "You have to know the organization that you’re trying to infiltrate. You have to know your enemy. Because if you don’t know your enemy, you aren’t going to defeat them. By knowing your enemy, it will help you infiltrate and help you stay alive,” Pistone said.

Many, many wiseguys were born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn -- or resided there or conducted business there (or where murdered there), especially along Bath Avenue, just south of 86th Street’s bustling shopping district, where the social clubs once stood one beside the other. The list includes mobsters such as OG Carlo Gambino (he was Sicilian born, but lived in Bensonhurst in his later New York years); former Luchese underboss Anthony Casso; Gambino boss Paul Castellano, who was Carlo Gambino's brother-in-law); former Gambino capo under John Gotti Michael (Mike Scars) DiLeonardo; notorious Gambino capo/Roy DeMeo mentor Anthony Gaggi; Jimmy Moran, aka Sammy "The Bull" Gravano; capo/snitch Gregory Scarpa; and Colombo turncoat Carmine Sessa. While the Bensonhurst wiseguys are all gone today, dead or in prison or in Witness Protection, once in a great while, something happens that conjures up specters of the past. There was the Cafe Caserta thing (the place sold more...

Lord knows, we have enough political blogs in the world, especially on the Internet, and though my view of the current political situation in this country has evolved (extremely), and I find myself with an awful lot to say, just like many of you, I'm sure, I'm not going to say it. I'm not about to lose readers over political opinions.  I write this story because the FBI, since the 1957 Apalachin meeting, has been the lead law enforcement agency in the land probing the Mafia (though the DEA has ramped up considerably its efforts). The FBI co-opted the job, so to speak, from the longtime defunct FBN.  The FBI is the lens through which the majority of Americans understand crime and criminals, including the Mafia.   President Trump fired FBI Director James B. Comey over his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails, the White House said today. One of the roadblocks set up in 1957 Apalachin. Comey was fired as he lead an investigation into whet...

Jim Cooley (and BIG MF Matt Freeman) together host  The Last Round , a major sports podcast that features interviews with fighters, athletes, wrestlers and more. It garners nearly a half-million monthly listeners. Jim also is a former MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fighter. So Jim can kick serious ass, in other words. In fact , he kicks ass in this interview by being remarkably candid and honest.  He graciously and generously provided heartfelt answers to every question I asked. Thanks, man.... Jim Cooley hosts a sports podcast; he debuted another, called The Life, about the mob. Jim recently started another show, called The Life, about the Mafia. Up to 30,000 folks listen in on each episode. And he counts guys like Carmine Persico and Thomas (Tommy Karate) Pitera as his personal friends. (Jim hooked us up, too. Some may recall my shout out .) In fact, Pitera, as you'll read, told Jim: "I trust you with my life." And what's really interesting about The Li...

Ken Murdock once played a pivotal role in mob politics in Hamilton, a tough town on Ontario's Great Lakes waterfront. Mob hit man Ken Murdock, who was paroled two years ago. He was sentenced to "life" for killing mob boss Johnny "Pops" Papalia and was a suspect in the killings of two close Papalia associates on the orders of his longtime employers, the Musitano crime family , one of three key crime families in the Hamilton region. The other two were the Luppinos and Papalias .

Who killed Angelo Musitano yesterday, shooting him numerous times as he sat in his pickup truck in the driveway of his home? The answer might have something to do with someone shot to death 20 years ago this very month, specifically, a mob boss named Johnny Pops. The Musitanos allied with Vito Rizzuto. Angelo paid the ultimate price. That could mean the shooter worked for the same group responsible for gunning down the remnants of the Sicilian Mafia clan formerly run by Vito Rizzuto.