Cosa Nostra News

UPDATED The East Coast LCN Enterprise Case finally reached court this week with the Manhattan premiere of the federal racketeering trial of Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino . Joseph Merlino isn't a crook, he's a degenerate gambler, his lawyer said. Merlino, 55, was among the 46 defendants arrested in the summer of 2016 Mafia crackdown of an alleged confederation of criminals focused on extortion, loan-sharking, gambling, credit card fraud, and health care fraud. Dubbed the East Coast LCN Enterprise, the ring operated in New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Florida, and New Jersey, comprised of mobsters connected to the Genovese, Gambino, Luchese, Bonanno, and Philadelphia crime families, though the Philly family's participation is limited to Merlino, actually a Floridian. Skinny Joey Merlino played a key role overseeing an alleged $157 million health-care scheme that involved bribing doctors to write prescriptions for pain cream, said Assistant U.S. Attor

New York's Five Families can expand their ranks each year and have multi-million-dollar slush finds. (The Genovese family's is below). We're being flippant, of course, taking literally what's been said in a court document. Picture of the cash found in Vincent Esposito's townhouse. That is noted in an appeal letter to US District Judge of New York's Southern District Victor Marrero from the interim-US Attorney. The appeal is regarding the pretrial release of Vincent Esposito, a high-ranking member of the Genovese crime family.  Appeal letters are by nature extreme documents, with the Fed's essentially arguing their case and giving the judge the verdict, which they depict as inevitable. It isn't, of course, until Esposito exercises his constitutional right to a trial by a jury of his peers. Esposito, a son of Vincent (Chin) Gigante, and four other reputed Genovese mobsters were arrested earlier this month and charged with running a longtime r

UPDATED Canadian law enforcement probing two murders in Southern Ontario linked to the country's Ndrangheta are on a roll, announcing several breaking developments this month. The man in black shot a 28-year-old woman. The same man killed Musitano months later. The investigation centers on the murders of Hamilton organized crime figure Angelo Musitano  last spring and a 28-year-old woman in Woodbridge shot to death months prior. A man she was meeting was likely the true target. At a news conference earlier this month, local law enforcement officials revealed for the first time that the two murders, of Mila Barberi in March 2017 and Musitano in May 2017, were linked. This was based on several main factors: from studying surveillance of the lead suspect in each shooting, police determined he is the same person. Also, a black Honda Civic Coupe was connected to both homicides, police said. Mila Barberi was slain by mistake. Police also recently revealed tha

Cosa Nostra News Exclusive The vision of the U.S. Parole Commission is to build an organization that balances justice through fair and equal treatment with dignity and respect for offenders, staff, and the community we serve…. Last updated March 3, 2016 --from Department of Justice  website Carmine Persico served decades. Defense attorneys for alleged Colombo crime family boss Carmine Persico are still working to get the man out of prison, one of the attorneys, Mat Mari, tells Cosa Nostra News. They will file a Writ of Mandamus in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to try to compel the United States Parole Commission to grant Persico the mandatory 30-year parole hearing it quite viciously denied him last year, his attorneys said. (The writ essentially is an order from one court to a lesser court, telling it to perform an act required by law that it has refused or neglected to do.) The hearing was scheduled for August 2, 2017,

Felix (Skinny Razor) DiTullio  played a crucial role in the lives of many young Philadelphia wiseguys. Friendly Lounge was Skinny Razor's joint... DiTullio 's lounge was a veritable mob college, the place where Wiseguy 101 was taught by the consummate professional. (An awful lot of gangland hits allegedly occurred there, too.) The Friendly Lounge's most famous graduate likely was mob boss Nicodemo (Little Nicky) Scarfo, who surprisingly wasn't portrayed in The Irishman, and the second, mob boss Ralph Natale. Skinny Razor also is considered one of the Mafia's foremost assassins. And now, the new Martin Scorsese film The Irishman, which debuted on Netflix nationwide last week, has given Skinny Razor a much higher profile than he ever had (or would've wanted). The film is based on the book  I Heard You Paint Houses , which purports to tell the story of Philadelphia union heavy Frank Sheeran, who claimed to have killed both James R. Hoff

Federico ( Fritzy ) Giovanneli, who was charged with the 1986 murder of an NYPD detective, died Friday. He was 84. The cause of death was an illness, according to the New York Post. Federico (Fitzy) Giovanneli died Friday. Giovanelli faced charges for shooting Detective Anthony Venditti, 34, four times, including twice in the head, in Ridgewood, Queens. Venditti and his partner had been trailing the longtime Genovese crime family mobster when the shooting occurred. Giovanelli went on to face four trials, all of which ended in hung juries, except for one federal trial, which convicted him, but for racketeering only. The verdict was overturned on appeal. Venditti's partner, Detective Kathleen Burke, was wounded in the shooting. Cold Blooded Murder At 8 p.m. on the night of Jan. 21, the two detectives trailed Giovanelli to a destination in the vicinity of Myrtle and St. Nicholas Avenues. The two were part of an organized crime taskforce and were stakin

Five members and associates of the Genovese crime family were arrested last week, including a son of Vincent (Chin) Gigante, the legendary Mafia Don known for the crazy act. Gigante with son Vincent Esposito outside townhouse at 77th St. in 1997. The five were indicted for crimes related to a racketeering scheme that included extortion and other crimes from 2001 up until recently. Esposito--along with capo Steven (Mad Dog) Arena, 60; Frank Giovinco, 50; Frank Cognetta, 42; and Vincent D’Acunto, Jr.--"knowingly combined, conspired, confederated, and agreed together to violate the racketeering laws of the United States." Or so says the federal indictment filed in New York's Southern District Court. (Download indictment as a PDF here ). The heart of the indictment charges that Esposito, Arena, and associate D'Acunto Jr. extorted a union official for more than 15 years. And there's a snitch: a cooperating witness who’s “very close with the defe