Cosa Nostra News

By Nick Christophers It was an odd warm evening in October as a crowd gathered in the outdoor yard of Bacaro Restaurant in Massapequa, Long Island. Why did such a crowd begin to fill the outdoor yard? It was for another smoking event hosted by San Giuseppe Cigars. On the heels of their last party at Patrizia’s this was on a smaller scale but was a rocking evening, nonetheless. Owner Joe Bonnano, left, Nick Christophers, far right, and John Michael The cigar company has been in business for over two years and has made a mark in the cigar industry.  The owner, Joe Bonanno, has made it his business to create and offer a unique cigar for any palette. Being a cigar smoker himself he knows what his clientele is looking for. He has established a factory in the Dominican Republic where the blends are made a distribution company in Deerfield, Florida and their corporate office is in Melville, New York. “All the cigars are made in the DR at my factory. We blend them there and import differen...

With apologies to Andrew Machin for taking way too long to post this first-rate story (probably the longest story in this blog's history). By Andrew Machin The 'Ndrangheta is a secret society. Its organizational and operational rules and rites are based on this inherent characteristic. Therefore, it is no coincidence that there are various similarities with Freemasonry, which has a particularly large membership in the Italian region of Calabria, where the 'Ndrangheta is rooted. A valuable source in this regard proved to be Giuliano De Bernardo, former Grand Master of the Grande Oriente d’Italia (GOI). The GOI was and is the principal Masonic obedience in Italy. In his testimony at a trial in Reggio Calabria in 2019, De Bernardo explained the fundamental trait that unites the two organizations as follows:   “I tried to figure out what the specific [nature] of the 'Ndrangheta-Freemasonry relationship was... I believe the joint point is in the ritual. Even though they us...