Cosa Nostra News

All of Italy's Mafias ( several primary ones, plus at least two minor offshoots, including a Sicilian-based Mafia that rivals Cosa Nostra ) are brutal secret criminal societies, but none surpasses the Ndrangheta for wanton acts of barbarity. Maria Concetta Cacciola died in August 2011 after drinking muriatic acid. And it's the Calabrian Mafia's violence and historical culture of misogyny that seem to be its Achilles heel. About five years ago, 22-year-old Francesco Barone , a member of an ‘Ndrangheta family in Rosarno, Calabria, was arrested. His charge? Murdering his own mother. As reported, Barone caught his mother, Francesca Bellocco , “in flagrante” in the family summer home in Calabria with Domenico Cacciola , member of a rival ‘Ndrangheta crime family. Barone’s father, Salvatore, was serving time in prison near Brescia, northern Italy . Investigators claim that Barone junior decided to defend the family honour by killing his mother because of he...

"John (Travolta) was great, but it wasn’t perfect because nobody could have gotten it perfect. John did a better job than Armand Assante [in the 1996 film “Gotti”], and Armand did a good job." ---John Junior Gotti, who is not one to mince words...nor hedge bets... John Travolta dons the white suit and does the Saturday Night Fever thing..... "I’d rather wake up next to a severed horse head than ever watch “Gotti” again," began a recent memorable  New York Post review of the long-gestating gangster revisionist biopic, Gotti. The reviewer added: "The finished product belongs in a cement bucket at the bottom of the river." And he called it the "worst movie of the year so far." In the years -- eight, in total -- it took to make this film, four directors passed on the project, which had a grand total of 44 producers. Kevin Connolly, the fifth and final, helmed the film, which premiered Friday night. So we can blame him. Co...

To the good guys and bad guys... From me to all my readers...With great thanks to a  friend who sent me this tonight...  The archangel St. Michael. In the New Testament Michael leads God's armies against Satan's forces in the Book of Revelation, where during the war in heaven he defeats Satan. To our Fathers, Grandfathers, and Great Grandfathers. May we remember all their unselfish sacrifices, acts of unconditional love and all the quiet prayers they sent to heaven beseeching our holiness, happiness, health and success. May we remember them in the glory of heaven and be half the graceful people they were. Happy Father’s’ Day to all my readers..... And many, many, many more!!!!

Cosa Nostra News blogger Nick Christophers wrote his take on the two-part A&E program on John Gotti Senior and Junior.  I am still working on my version, which includes input from important figures in the actual Gotti-Gambino crime family saga, most prominently former Gambino capo Michael (Mikie Scars) DiLeonardo . .... Like many of you, I was curious to view the sanitized version of Junior’s life. Now understand, I have always respected John Sr., especially following the two times I met him. He  was a gentleman whose very presence emanated power. Yet as we all know he let the spotlight blind his logic. I only met Junior once, at the old Island Park club Channel 80 when he docked his boat there. I’m 53; he and I are not far apart in age.  The documentary was well done but full of bullet holes. A lot of mis-information and half-truths. His father did not kill Jimmy McBratney it was Ralph Galione who was later ordered killed by Gotti Sr. My informat...

John Carneglia, who on December 16, 1985, allegedly fired the fatal shots that ended Paul Castellano's reign and paved the way for John Gotti's rise to the top of the Gambino crime family, will be released from a Residential Reentry management Field Office at 100 20th Street tomorrow. John Carneglia back in his heyday. That's according to the BOP locator site.  He'd served 28 years in federal prison for heroin trafficking. And despite his role in the hit in front of Sparks Steakhouse, Carneglia was never charged in the midtown Manhattan assassination, despite the fact that Gambino turncoat (and former underboss) Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano fingered Carnigs in 1991 for shooting Big Paul. Sammy also fingered Gotti's brother, Gene, who also is due to depart prison, on September 5 of this year. Carneglia and Gene Gotti were found guilty of drug dealing in 1989. Prosecutors opted not to indict either of them for Castellano's murder, after both we...

UPDATED Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli was once an acting boss in the Colombo crime family. For many years he supervised a violent crew of killers. These days, well, you probably couldn't imagine.... Tommy Shots during his arrest for a whole lotta heavy gangland crimes..... During the 1991-93 Colombo war , Gioeli, a staunch ally of of Carmine Persico, alleged imprisoned boss, t hough Junior denies this , and his shooters played a key role in the street battles against the larger Vittorio "Little Vic" Orena faction . After the war, Gioeli rose steadily in the ranks, in large measure due to his ability to serve as a steady link between the Colombo family's two once-warring factions. He was trusted by mobsters who belonged to both the Perisco loyalists and the Orena rebels. His acting capo was Paul “Paulie Guns” Bevacqua , onetime Orena loyalist. Another former member of the rebel faction was  Joel “Joe Waverly” Cacace , who paid Gioeli an historical ...

Clarification: At 74, a 20-year sentence would amount to a life sentence.... John (Johnny Boy) Ambrosio , 74, a Gambino soldier (and acting capo), who 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, faces life in prison for running a gambling and loan-sharking operation, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York reported . John “Johnny Boy” Ambrosio. On Thursday, May 31,in Federal court in Central Islip, New York, John Ambrosio, aka “Johnny Boy,” a member of the Gambino crime family, pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, admitting his involvement in loansharking and illegal gambling. Ambrosio, an acting captain in the Gambino family, is the last defendant to plead guilty in a superseding indictment that charged him and six members and associates of the Gambino family and a member of the ...