Cosa Nostra News

"( The Five Families) are pretty smart now , they went away from violence. In my time, in the heydays, in the '70s and '80s, there was bodies all over the place... By not killing, they don't have the pressure," said Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano, former Gambino underboss in the recently posted  interview, below. Sammy Gravano, left, John Gotti. Does the mob work without violence , without the leverage to impose fear? "There can be fear in a whole bunch of ways. Say you're a friend of ours, and you're not going to abide by the rules. You're not too worried because I can't kill you. But I can chase you. I can go to all five families and tell them, he's no longer a friend of ours, don't treat him like that, and you're thrown out. That's a big hit. You lose your power. Nobody respects you, they won't sit with you, nobody recognizes you. In certain cases, it might even be better to be dead. It's a good p

John Gotti met and apparently argued with boxing promoter Don King prior to the crime kingpin's rise to the top of the Gambinos, which suggests that a past relationship may have colored Gotti's alleged decision to order the boxing impresario's murder. Sammy taking the oath. Or not , we readily admit. Gravano talked about this, his testimony for the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations that was examining corruption in boxing, and other things in his first interview since Diane Sawyer in 1997. (Full interview posted below.) This story is a continuation of a story published yesterday ; it's not about the Sammy Gravano interview posted below. According to an informant's report dated Sept. 20, 1982, King met with Gotti, then a capo in the Gambino crime family, at Patrissy's, a restaurant in Manhattan's Little Italy. "Gotti and King dined together," the informant said. Weeks later, on Oct. 2, 1982, the same informant reporte

"Take the gun out and shoot him right in the heard" if he says no... That’s what former Gambino underboss Sammy The Bull Gravano (in first of two trailers posted below in this story) says he told a "street guy" intermediary representing him and Gambino boss John Gotti during negotiations with fight impresario Don King. Don King. (The names Renaldo Snipes and Francesco Damiani ring a bell, Sammy?) Don King was once best buds with President Donald Trump back when Trump was a mere real estate developer-mortal with casino interests seeking to dip a toe in the boxing world. Trump has even credited King for his trademark coiffure, saying that King once told him that outlandish hair is the secret to great PR.  In the late 80s, Trump hosted boxing invitationals in Atlantic City when Don King promoted Mike Tyson and Butch Lewis promoted Michael Spinks. “They’re very good businessmen,” Trump said of Don King and his then-rival Lewis in 1988. “I’ve found t

On Tuesday Federal prosecutors asked a judge to dismiss a perjury case against a Rhode Island mob associate/bookie. Gaythorne (Poochie) Angell Jr., 84, was indicted in 2016 for lying to a grand jury about shakedown money paid to the mob by the Foxy Lady strip club. He is the Angell family’s patriarch — whose friends range from Smith Hill politicians to Federal Hill wiseguys. Poochie has long denied he was anything but a consultant. But a 2009 court document signed by a Foxy Lady lawyer showed that Angell had a previously undisclosed financial interest in the club, raising questions about the city’s oversight of its liquor-licensing laws. He since successfully completed a pretrial diversion program, as prosecutors noted in a filing in U.S. District Court, Providence. If a judge agrees to the dismissal, Angell, of East Greenwich, will not face the perjury charge in federal court. Jim Martin, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney’s office, said that prosecutors and Angell agreed

Robin London, New York City native, tour guide, and history buff, runs NYC Gangster Mob Tours , which offers a range of walking and driving tours of destinations in New York City where mobsters once lived and played (and killed and died). Robin London A third-generation Brooklynite, Robin knows wiseguys and can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about them while showing you the places where it all actually happened. Her tours showcase a wide range of organized crime figures, from historical times to the present. She will show you and tell you all about Arnold (The Brain) Rothstein, Lucky Luciano, and Meyer Lansky. She also can show you where on Staten Island former Gambino underboss Francesco (Franky Boy) Cali was gunned down earlier this year. "If you are a real mob fan, you have to let me show you New York City. We go into Sparks Steakhouse (where Gambino boss Paul Castellano was slain in December 1985 by John Gotti and his "fist" of conspirator

 “He deserved it. He had it coming. He was slamming our family all over the place. Especially John the boss, (who) didn’t deserve that.” -- Gambino capo Mikie Scars In October 2018, Curtis Sliwa, as leader of New York’s Reform Party, spent a Saturday on Long Island campaigning with his wife, an animal-rights activist then running for New York state attorney general. Sliwa and Junior Gotti. The couple were at the Oyster Bay Oyster Festival when John Junior Gotti, former Gambino acting boss and son of the former official boss, approached the Guardian Angels founder and, between puffs on a cigar, told him, “You know, I’m a supporter of animal rights.” “He wasn’t being a wiseguy. He was serious,” Sliwa later told the New York Post, which reported on how Gotti and Sliwa had spent a cordial five minutes chatting and then shaking hands. What a sight that must have been to onlookers. It wasn’t real. “I had to put (the bad blood) aside that day for the good of our Reform Party

I have an unconrollable urge to eat capocollo (that’s gobagool to you non-Italians), kill my uncle, and then visit a psychiatrist... Don't mind us. We’re just reacting to news about HBO adding mental health disclaimers to the beginnings of some of its shows. That’s right. HBO has announced that it will add mental health awareness “bumpers” ahead of The Sopranos, Barry, Euphoria, and Girls among other shows in order to identify specific mental illnesses that appear in episodes and provide a call to action for anyone seeking help. In addition, a short form content series titled “Doctor Commentaries” will include conversations on relevant scenes from HBO shows that focus on mental health illnesses. These moves are part of HBO's “It’s OK" initiative, which aims to de-stigmatize mental illness and encourage conversation around mental health issues. Earlier this year, the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative reported that it found that less than 2% of all fil

In a pending  now-published post we analyzed the Curtis Sliwa shooting itself...see it here .... Why did Angel Gotti mention John Alite on Page Six of the New York Post , John Alite recently asked. Angel was expressing her feelings about Curtis Sliwa, who her brother allegedly ordered Gambino mobsters to beat up in 1992 for insulting John Gotti Senior, only the two Gambino soldiers brought a gun -- and Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels, was shot at point-blank range in the back of a New York taxicab, but escaped out the moving cab's window before they could finish him off. John Junior wound up spending a fortune defending himself against attempted murder and racketeering charges. Anyway, while replying to Page Six, Angel suddenly pivoted -- and threw shade at Alite. She told Page Six: “[Sliwa would] sell his kids for attention and publicity. I don’t know who is worse, he or [Gambino family turncoat] John Alite. Two [people] who can’t seem to get attention unl

Providence, Rhode Island was once Raymond Loreda Salvatore Patriarca's fiefdom, and now it's where violent confrontations between outlaw motorcycle clubs are on the up. Santo Trafficante Jr., once among the most powerful Mafia bosses in the United States. controlled organized criminal operations in Florida, where the Outlaws, or the American Outlaw Association, is the dominant outlaw motorcycle club. Last year in Newark, New Jersey, a Hells Angels associate was brutally beaten with baseball bats in what law enforcement believed was part of a broader attempt by the Pagans Motorcycle Club to expand its territory into northern New Jersey. Outlaw MC violence was spotlighted this summer in Las Vegas, when an undercover agent who infiltrated a Las Vegas chapter of the Vagos Motorcycle Club for two years offered a glimpse into the underworld of outlaw bikers as he testified during a federal racketeering trial. “If the leadership decides to declare war,” Agostino Bra