Colombo Family-Linked Bank Robber Died Mysteriously In Florida Custody
Gerard (Skeevy) Bellafiore, 49, a former Colombo associate known for illicitly withdrawing -- robbing -- millions from banks, died this past July under "somewhat" mysterious circumstances, as per Gang Land News.
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| Skeevy does his thing. |
"Cardiopulmonary arrest" was the recorded cause of death, as per a court filing by Miami Federal Detention Center warden Gio Ramirez.
Bellafiore died July 5 at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he'd been transferred several months prior to his death, for undisclosed ailments.
But, as Gang Land reports, eight weeks later, the Miami Medical Examiner's Office still has yet to release an official explanation regarding what specifically caused Bellafiore's death.
In July 016, Bellafiore was wearing a mask and hefting a customized gaff hook--a large handled hook used to gut fish-- while attempting to rob a night-deposit box at Chase Bank on U-S 1 in Jensen Beach.
A Martin County sheriff’s deputy arrived in response to reports of a robbery in progress.
The deputy fired several shots at Bellafiore, who managed to scramble into his vehicle and start to drive away. The officer kept firing at Bellafiore as he tried speeding away.
Bellafiore "crashed his car into a tree before he got out of the parking lot, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said," according to the Palm Beach Post.
Bellafiore was known to rob banks since around the early 1980s. Bellafiore, as per Cosa Nostra News sources, at one time had ties to the Colombo family. "He was associated (by) default to (Vincent) Chikie DeMartino," said a source. DeMartino, he added, "was one of the leading shooters on the (Vittorio "Little Vic") Orena side," as well as "one of the most dangerous guys on the street during the Colombo war, a lifelong criminal."
Bellafiore flipped, testified against a lot of people -- only to turn down WitSec. He was arrested again and again for bank burglary.
Bellafiore appeared to be following his decades-old MO: with his gaff hook, he'd sliced the cover off the deposit box. Then he was lowering the device, which included a flashlight, down inside to try to reel in what would've been a major haul due to the holiday weekend.
Authorities believe Bellafiore knew what he was doing, and they couldn't be more correct.
According to court documents, Bellafiore and 12 others were charged with racketeering in 2000 in New York and he was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
Then in 2009, Bellafiore and four others were sentenced to prison for six-and-a-half years for multiple bank burglaries in South Florida.
In the 1980s, Bellafiore worked alongside Chris Ludwigsen (Paciello), Tommy Dono, Beck Fiseku, Afrim Kupa and others
Jerry Capeci wrote of him in a 2011 report: "Arrested in June 2000 as a prolific bank robber and facing 15 years in prison, Bellafiore flipped and fingered dozens of cohorts linked to several mob families. In 2003, after 40 months behind bars, he promised to change... and was released on bail.
"But there were more scrapes to come. One was a 5AM police chase along Biscayne Boulevard in North Miami Beach. His brand new Corvette hit a curb, went airborne and landed atop two sports utility vehicles, causing chain-reaction serious damage to other cars at a Chevrolet dealership."
In each bank job, Bellafiore used his handheld fish hook device to open the night depository box, while his accomplices served as lookouts.
In 2009, Bellafiore and four other men pleaded guilty to a string of bank burglaries in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to the FBI. The burglaries resulted in at least nine banks losing around $450,000.
He was only released from prison three months prior to his shooting/arrest.
A former cellmate told Gang Land he suspected suicide because Bellafiore was depressed about his circumstances.
Bellafiore's attorney, Roy Kahn, strongly disagreed with the suicide assertion, alleging that Bellafiore was in extreme pain. Kahn stated that he believed it was the poor medical treatment for his gunshot wounds in 2016 that killed Skeevy.
Kahn said, "I believe he was having complications from those gunshot wounds, maybe infections, organ failure, and a stroke that led to the heart attack that the warden told the court about."
Bellafiore was serving two years for violating supervised release on a Florida case; he was also awaiting sentencing on a separate Brooklyn case. He also was due to stand trial for that Florida bank heist.
Bellafiore had been moved to a federal lockup in Miami earlier this year.
Bellafiore died July 5 at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he'd been transferred several months prior to his death, for undisclosed ailments.
But, as Gang Land reports, eight weeks later, the Miami Medical Examiner's Office still has yet to release an official explanation regarding what specifically caused Bellafiore's death.
In July 016, Bellafiore was wearing a mask and hefting a customized gaff hook--a large handled hook used to gut fish-- while attempting to rob a night-deposit box at Chase Bank on U-S 1 in Jensen Beach.
A Martin County sheriff’s deputy arrived in response to reports of a robbery in progress.
The deputy fired several shots at Bellafiore, who managed to scramble into his vehicle and start to drive away. The officer kept firing at Bellafiore as he tried speeding away.
Bellafiore "crashed his car into a tree before he got out of the parking lot, Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said," according to the Palm Beach Post.
Bellafiore was known to rob banks since around the early 1980s. Bellafiore, as per Cosa Nostra News sources, at one time had ties to the Colombo family. "He was associated (by) default to (Vincent) Chikie DeMartino," said a source. DeMartino, he added, "was one of the leading shooters on the (Vittorio "Little Vic") Orena side," as well as "one of the most dangerous guys on the street during the Colombo war, a lifelong criminal."
Bellafiore flipped, testified against a lot of people -- only to turn down WitSec. He was arrested again and again for bank burglary.
Bellafiore appeared to be following his decades-old MO: with his gaff hook, he'd sliced the cover off the deposit box. Then he was lowering the device, which included a flashlight, down inside to try to reel in what would've been a major haul due to the holiday weekend.
Authorities believe Bellafiore knew what he was doing, and they couldn't be more correct.
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| From Gerard's Facebook page. |
According to court documents, Bellafiore and 12 others were charged with racketeering in 2000 in New York and he was sentenced to 5 years in prison.
Then in 2009, Bellafiore and four others were sentenced to prison for six-and-a-half years for multiple bank burglaries in South Florida.
In the 1980s, Bellafiore worked alongside Chris Ludwigsen (Paciello), Tommy Dono, Beck Fiseku, Afrim Kupa and others
Jerry Capeci wrote of him in a 2011 report: "Arrested in June 2000 as a prolific bank robber and facing 15 years in prison, Bellafiore flipped and fingered dozens of cohorts linked to several mob families. In 2003, after 40 months behind bars, he promised to change... and was released on bail.
"But there were more scrapes to come. One was a 5AM police chase along Biscayne Boulevard in North Miami Beach. His brand new Corvette hit a curb, went airborne and landed atop two sports utility vehicles, causing chain-reaction serious damage to other cars at a Chevrolet dealership."
In each bank job, Bellafiore used his handheld fish hook device to open the night depository box, while his accomplices served as lookouts.
In 2009, Bellafiore and four other men pleaded guilty to a string of bank burglaries in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, according to the FBI. The burglaries resulted in at least nine banks losing around $450,000.
He was only released from prison three months prior to his shooting/arrest.
A former cellmate told Gang Land he suspected suicide because Bellafiore was depressed about his circumstances.
Bellafiore's attorney, Roy Kahn, strongly disagreed with the suicide assertion, alleging that Bellafiore was in extreme pain. Kahn stated that he believed it was the poor medical treatment for his gunshot wounds in 2016 that killed Skeevy.
Kahn said, "I believe he was having complications from those gunshot wounds, maybe infections, organ failure, and a stroke that led to the heart attack that the warden told the court about."
Bellafiore was serving two years for violating supervised release on a Florida case; he was also awaiting sentencing on a separate Brooklyn case. He also was due to stand trial for that Florida bank heist.
Bellafiore had been moved to a federal lockup in Miami earlier this year.
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