Cosa Nostra News

"John Gotti (went around in) a suit telling everybody he’s the boss. Our guys (in the Genovese family) had mothball holes in their sweaters, but they had $50 million in cash in their apartment." —Michael Visconti, ex-Genovese family associate "Angelo Prisco's mentor was Mario Gigante. (Prisco) was a very strong guy. He ran the Purple Gang along with Danny Leo in Harlem , and they came up through the ranks together." Michael Visconti enters court in 2006. Credit: RecordOnline . The violent East Harlem-based Purple Gang reportedly boasted more than 100 members in the 1970s and was known for committing crimes ranging from narcotics and firearms trafficking to whacking and dismembering people, many of them informants for law enforcement. Members of the organization, who reportedly spent their youths running errands for local drug dealers, were linked to the Bonanno, Luchese, and Genovese families.  By the 1980s, the Purple Gang started to fade as members were incr

By Nick Christophers The iconic 1993 mob film " A Bronx Tale ," based on Chazz Palminteri's autobiographical one-man show, tells the story of young Calogero (played by a pre-felonious Lillo Brancato ; more on him here ), who rejects the working class values of his loving father (Robert De Niro, who also directed) while falling in with Sonny, the local mob boss (Palminteri) who rules his piece of the New York borough from beneath a lamppost at the corner of Belmont Avenue and 187th Street. Pauly DiSalvo family with Chazz Palminteri and Sophia Milos. A Bronx Tale -- this year marks the film's  30th anniversary -- t ransformed Palminteri into one of Hollywood’s top go-to tough guys. And while the film was generally praised by critics and beloved by audiences, it didn't break any box office records and wound up stalling De Niro's directing career for over a decade. Nevertheless, A Bronx Tale is a  fan favorite that more than earned a place in the hall of fame of

Five members of an alleged robbery crew linked by law enforcement to two of the Five Families were arrested Tuesday morning in connection with the heisting of $2 million in gems from two Manhattan jewelry stores. DiPietro, pointing gun, and Sellick burst into Bayco Jewels on January 3 (without an appointment). The two complaints (which make no mention of Cosa Nostra) charge Frank (Frankie the Fish) DiPietro, 65, of Red Bank, New Jersey; Vincent Cerchio, 69, of Howard Beach, New York; Vincent Spagnuolo, 65, of Monmouth Beach, New Jersey; Michael Sellick, 67, of Franklin Square, New York, and Samuel Sorce, 25, of Florham Park, New Jersey. The heists took place at a midtown store on January 3, 2023, and at a downtown store on May 20, 2023. The five are charged with conspiracy, robbery, and brandishing a firearm in connection with a violent crime. Each faces up to 27 years in prison. NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said the five defendants were associates of the Lucchese and Genove

Turncoat Bonanno associate/former podcaster Gene Borrello has been sent back to jail again for violating the conditions of his supervised release. Gene Borrello in hot water once again. Borrello, 38, was given a six-month sentence by a judge in Brooklyn federal court on Wednesday for participating in podcasts about organized crime and for associating with other criminals while doing so. “You want to know [why] I went out there?” Borrello said of his podcasting antics as per a Daily News repor t. “I’ll be honest with you. Every other cooperator is on there and I’m not allowed to. Sammy Gravano is on there talking about killing people.” “I don’t like being made a fool of,” the judge said. “It bothers you, of course — that’s the essence of trust.” Borrello helped Brooklyn federal prosecutors put away more than 21 mobsters and then spent about five years in prison for committing crimes that otherwise could've earned him a life sentence. A judge sentenced him to time served and probatio

Four members and two associates of the Genovese crime family have now pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy, Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced on Thursday, February 9. Genovese associate Thomas Poli. Genovese Family associate THOMAS POLI pled guilty before United States District Judge John G. Koeltl on September 29, 2022, and is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Koeltl on April 13, 2023. Genovese Family Captain NICHOLAS CALISI, Solider JOHN CAMPANELLA, and associate MICHAEL POLI pled guilty before Judge Koeltl on February 8, 2023, and are scheduled to be sentenced by him on June 27, 2023. Genovese Family Captain RALPH BALSAMO and Soldier MICHAEL MESSINA pled guilty before Judge Koeltl on February 9 and are scheduled to be sentenced by him on June 28, 2023. Each faces up to 20 years in prison,  according to a media release  from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York. (Curiously, the media release

Trailer added below An unassuming Instagram post will lead curious mob watchers to some potential intrigue, assuming they value recent Bonanno crime family history. Dom Cicale's podcast will debut next week. The Instagram post  touts an upcoming podcast by former Bonanno capo Dom Cicale. Cicale briefly mentioned the podcast, Mafia RoundTable, in a recent story we did on some of his legit post-Cosa Nostra doings. Cicale is planning to launch the podcast series with an historical bang: The debut episode, to be posted online next week on Valentine’s Day, will touch on secret codes, schtupping a Luchese soldier’s wife, issues of trust—and plotting against Michael (Mikey Nose) Mancuso (who is the official top Banana on the street today). It is quite the devious, twisted little plot, as Dom tells it—replete, in all its sociopathic splendor, with a manufactured fall guy.  In addition to the podcast, Dom has something else potentially in the works with another podcaster, category killer (

The following guest post is courtesy of The Mob Wife , an online merchant that offers high-quality clothing, home décor, and accessories at affordable prices. For more information, click here . The website offers a vast array of products, and we do mean vast: coffee cups, beach blankets, necklaces, phone cases, t-shirts, slippers, fleece jackets, canvas paintings, clocks, sculptures, shower curtains, rugs, and on and on. The mob figures prominently in the design of many of the items, either as an image of a well-known gangster (or non-Mafia villain) or mob-like quote that maybe wasn't exactly in The Godfather, but hey, it coulda been....The "Carlo Gambino" bomber jack proclaims: " Judges, lawyers, and politicians have a license to steal. We don't need one. "  (Our all-time favorite is the " Carlo Gambino is Calling and I Must Go " waterproof pillow.) The Cosa Nostra, the Sicilian Mafia; the ’Ndrangheta, the Calabrian Mafia; and the Camorra, the Cam

How did former Gambino associate John Alite make it inside Donald J. Trump’s gilded Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, long enough to be photographed alongside the former president?  Just two guys from Queens chatting. He didn’t need a gun. Rather, one of his close friends—Brazilian businessman Pedro (Peter) Alberto Leite, president of Hichens, Harrison & Co., who is a years-long member of Mar-a-Lago—brought him in as a guest. “He’s a good friend of mine,” the Palm Beach-based investment banker said of Alite. Leite grew up in New York and knew Alite “for a long time.” About five years ago, the two renewed their friendship and have grown closer. “People love John,” he said. “John is the poster boy for turning yourself around. He does charity work, gives speeches, and his knowledge is vast.” “John,” he noted, “has paid for his crimes. Now he is going out of his way to give back.” Alite visited Mar-a-Lago —which since September 2019 has been the primary residence of the former pr