Cosa Nostra News

Defense lawyers using the "musical consiglieris" defense in the courtroom apparently wasn't the only reason why Michael (Mikey Nose) Mancuso, boss of the Bonanno family, took the drastic step of expelling (aka shelving) his own acting boss and three others from the crime family back in 2019. Mikey Nose Mancuso.  Credit:  Noah Goldberg/Daily News . It also had something to do with betrayal: ex-acting boss Joseph (Joe C) Cammarano tried to take control of the crime family while Mikey Nose was still in prison, according to today's Gang Land News , which reports that details of Joe C's maneuvering against Mancuso came to light via testimony at the Bonanno racketeering trial .  Gang Land also reported today that tensions between Mikey Nose and Joe C. ramped up significantly last week, to the extent that there was a big brawl at a Long Island funeral parlor during a wake for Cammarano's father-in-law, Vito Grimaldi.  "Mikey Nose is a torpedo—a killer." I...

With thanks to our pal "Vincent" for pointing out the denial of the appeal... EXPANDED Salvatore Delligatti, an associate with the powerful Genovese crime family who was sentenced to 25 years in prison, will remain behind bars until February 7, 2037, after a federal appeals court rejected his appeal last month. Salvatore Delligatti, alleged Genovese associate, is slated for release in 2037.  Delligatti , who was convicted in 2018 following a three-week trial in Manhattan federal court for committing a range of alleged crimes, including for being the "main organizer and leader" of a failed plot to whack a rival gangster, raised various challenges, including that the evidence was not sufficient to sustain his conviction and that his 25-year prison sentence was "substantively unreasonable." The United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit, in an opinion published June 8, concluded that his  arguments "lacked merit" and affirmed the sentence. Dell...

The Philadelphia crime family formally earned a slot on the humiliating list of Cosa Nostra borgatas to have one of their "secret" initiation ceremonies electronically recorded by law enforcement. Anthony Persiano recorded his 2015 initiation. (Photo s ource : The Gangster Report) Law enforcement has recorded four "secret" Cosa Nostra initiation ceremonies over the decades, to our knowledge. The Feds recorded a Patriarca crime family ceremony in Medford, Massachusetts, in 1989. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police recorded a ceremony involving the Bonanno crime family, which has long-standing historical ties to Italian organized crime in Canada. The ceremony occurred in 2015. The Philly crime family has had induction ceremonies recorded twice. Most recently, Northeast knockaround guy Anthony Persiano became a Federal informant and recorded his October 2015 ceremony. ( Persiano is the CI we wondered about in 2018, when news broke about the FBI bust involving members an...

Reputed South Philadelphia Cosa Nostra underboss Steven (Stevie) Mazzone, 58, last month pleaded guilty to racketeering, illegal gambling, loan-sharking, and conspiracy to commit extortion. Reputed underboss Steve Mazzone, left. Mazzone and his brother Salvatore were among 15 members and associates of the Philly crime family rounded up in November 2020.   As per Mazzone's agreement, the judge in the case is to consider a prison term of no more than five years for the Philly mob's reputed number two. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick can follow the deal or ignore it. Mazzone's sentencing has been slated for Oct. 26.  The  Philadelphia Inquirer  report also noted that, of the 15 defendants, 11, including the Mazzone brothers, have pleaded guilty or agreed to do so. Three others are awaiting trial. One has died. The superseding indictment was unsealed November 23, 2020. The charges—announced by William M. McSwain, the U...

Rudolph Giuliani, when he was US Attorney for the Southern District of New York*, personally devised the strategy behind the Commission Case, the first effort by law enforcement to attack the Mafia by way of its ''board of directors.” Or, as put forth in the 22-count indictment, the defendants were charged with conducting the affairs of ''the commission of La Cosa Nostra'' in a racketeering pattern that included murders, loan-sharking, labor payoffs, and extortion of the concrete industry in New York City. Mathew Mari's VIEW FROM MULBERRY STREET podcast is a labor of love. Giuliani said his vision began taking shape (yes, to simplify we’ll take Rudy at his word for now) after he read Joseph Bonanno Sr.'s 1983 autobiography, A Man of Honor, which, he said, described the inner workings of the Commission from an earlier historical era. The other vital component of his vision arrived via an August 1983 meeting between Rudy and Ronald Goldstock, head of the N...