Cosa Nostra News

COSA NOSTRA NEWS EXCLUSIVE  In May 2017, the Feds nabbed a slew of Luchese members and associates, most of whom were out on bail when John Pennisi started getting chilly vibes from his amico nostra later that same year.




The bust was part of the government’s ongoing and endless effort to crack the mob, charging 19 individuals with ties to the Luchese family with an array of crimes (from 2000 to 2017), including murder, attempted murder, racketeering, gambling, witness tampering and narcotics trafficking. The indictment charged four captains, plus the Feds hit the trifecta in that they had nabbed the triumvirate of Luchese street bosses—underboss Steven Crea, acting boss Matthew Madonna, and consiglieri Joseph DiNapoli. (Of the three, Crea had been the longtime street representative for imprisoned for life boss Vittorio (Vic) Amuso.)

We left off with John Pennisi being asked by Anthony (Spanky) Castelle outside the Cigar Vault on Staten Island to take a ride to the home of longtime wiseguy…

COSA NOSTRA NEWS EXCLUSIVE The Feds know lots of wiseguys out there on the street—some of them very well. But there also are wiseguys the Feds don't know at all. Guys who are not on the "radar" at the present moment. John Pennisi was one of those guys....
Recent pic of John Pennisi.

The Feds weren't building a single case against John Pennisi when he first went to them to talk in 2017, and it took a while for them to fully comprehend what had happened, that a guy who knew a hell of a lot about current goings-on inside the Luchese family had just fallen into their lap.

Pennisi -- who flipped and testified in detail about certain events related to the Luchese family (plus the other families that comprise the New York Mafia) (and if you are wondering, yes, wiseguys are still out there hustling) -- was following in the footsteps of another former member of the Luchese family: Onetime acting boss Alphonse (Little Al) D'Arco, who flipped and testified in the early 1990s a…

The current relationship between the American Mafia and the Pagan's is not the only thing about the 1%ers that has evolved since the 1980s, when the outlaw motorcycle club balked at paying the street tax imposed by then Philadelphia boss Nicodemo (Little Nicky) Scarfo.

As of September 2020, the Pagan's, one of the "big four" largest outlaw motorcycle clubs in the US, are undergoing a violent "resurgence," according to a recently published report by the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation (SCI). 
The MC, which uses drones and encrypted communications to avoid detection, has seen an unprecedented surge in membership, nearly doubling in size over the past few years. The Pagan's also are significantly more violent, with experts noting that there have been more violent incidents committed by the Pagan's during a recent 18-month period than during the prior 10 years combined. (Because many incidents go unreported, the tally of brutality is likely m…

Talk about asking for trouble... Stevie Westside from Staten Island (who you most probably never heard of) is in an unenviable position: He was the topic of a not-at-all flattering Daily News story this holiday weekend....  About the only solace we might extend (were he to ask) would be to highlight that it could always be worse: the News could've plastered a big photo of his mug alongside this pic of his house....


Stephen (Stevie Westside) Blanco from Staten Island  brought his girlfriend along with him to collect debts for a Costa Rica-based gambling operation while he allegedly boasted about being a made member of the Mafia. When she wasn't sufficiently impressed, he upped his game by claiming to be a boss with the Genovese crime family. And while she may have bought some of his bullshit, it was when he drugged her and tried to steal $20 grand that she decided to visit an NYPD precinct on Staten Island's south shore and blow the whistle on him. 
While that's an accura…