Cosa Nostra News

Englishtown, New Jersey, entered the pages of history in the 18th century when General George Washington briefly made it his headquarters following the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. The town got another dramatic, albeit much more recent, kick last month when the mayor appointed former Gambino associate John Alite to serve on the town council. By now, many of you have already heard about—or read  the big New York Post story  on—John Alite’s latest gig serving as a councilman for Englishtown, a small town of around 2,300 residents in New Jersey's Monmouth County. (Fun fact:  Vito Genovese purchased property  there in 1935 and had the grounds redesigned to resemble Naples, Italy. The gardens of the estate—which include a fake volcano—can still be perused today.) Alite’s move into politics doesn’t really surprise us—pretty much nothing does these days. This nation last November elected a twice-impeached convicted felon to the office of President of the United States. In fa...

Italy's most powerful mafia group The 'Ndrangheta allegedly entered Canada's financial system. They allegedly laundered millions through relationships with bankers. This is the tale of how organized crime met corporate banking, and how it all played out. The 'Ndrangheta, the shadowy Italian mafia, has long been a major player in international organized crime. But its purported infiltration of Canadian banks shows new sophistication. Accused of using relationships with employees at major Canadian banks to launder money and fund crime, one Toronto-based faction is led by Angelo Figliomeni. It was never tried despite a massive police investigation. So how do we combat organized crime in Canada? So how did a panini-selling man become a key figure in this international web of connections? Lessons from Online Casinos on Trust Any financial system, whether it is a bank, business, or online casino, relies on trust. As an example, players are attracted to casinos that let you pl...

At the federal courthouse in Central Islip yesterday, Carmine G. Agnello pleaded guilty to wire fraud in connection with his receipt of approximately $1.1 million in small business loans under the United States Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program (EIDLP). The proceeding was held before United States District Judge Nusrat J. Choudhury. When sentenced, Agnello faces up to 30 years in prison, as well as restitution totaling more than $940,000 and a fine of up to $2.2 million. Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, and Daniel Brubaker, Inspector in Charge, United States Postal Inspection Service, New York Division (USPIS), announced the guilty plea. “The defendant shamefully used the public health and economic crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to line his pockets with stolen funds,” stated United States Attorney Peace. “The reality is, those who engaged in blatant theft of taxpayer dollars intended to as...

The ex-husband of one of the stars of the Bravo television show “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” was convicted Tuesday on charges of planning an assault of his ex-wife’s current husband in exchange for a lavish wedding reception, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger announced. Thomas Manzo faces up to 20 years in prison. Thomas Manzo, 59, of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey, was convicted after a two and a half week trial before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark federal court on one count of committing a violent crime in aid of racketeering activity, one count of conspiracy to commit a violent crime in aid of racketeering resulting in serious bodily injury, and one count of falsifying and concealing documents related to a federal investigation. Feds indicted Manzo in 2020 after he hired Luchese soldier John Perna to beat up David Cantin, Dina Manzo’s then-boyfriend, in return for a discounted wedding rate at the Manzo family’s catering hall, The  Brownstone in Paterson, NJ ...

“What is 'rolling your bones'?” “I don’t know.”—Metod (Matt) Zanoskar, former Hells Angels President, Cleveland Chapter. By the mid-1970s, the Hells Angels had become a full-fledged, bona-fide criminal organization thanks in large part to the Cleveland Chapter, which was a true outlier from the other HA chapters. The Polish Women’s Hall incident, which involved the brutal stabbing murders of five Breed members described in our prior story —at least two of the killings were committed by Chapter Vice President Butch Crouch—put Cleveland on the map. After that, they had a reputation: Fck  with the Hells Angels and they will fcking stomp you … A new member had six months to kill or was himself killed, said Butch Crouch, above. As former Minnesota Chapter president Pat Matter says in Secrets of the Hells Angels, “The guys in Cleveland were serious individuals. They were well known for taking care of business.”  This story and our previous one are primarily based on the  Motorc...

In the 1960s, it was all fun and games. In the 1970s, the HA became gangsters. People started getting murdered or disappearing; bombs started going off everywhere, especially in Cleveland... First, by way of explaining my nearly nine-month absence: I'd been biding my time, keeping my powder dry, enjoying my unannounced semiretirement from this blog, when one evening, I suddenly found myself scribbling on the backs of cocktail napkins. Next thing I knew, goddammit, I seemed to be getting back into the swing without even realizing it.  Butch Crouch smiles for the camera. Operating this blog the right way is like having a poorly paying full-time job on top of the full-time job that pays the bills—and buys the vino. An admittedly lazy man, I find having two full-time jobs rough because you basically work all the time. And that ain't no kind of fun after a while. Looking back, the most remarkable thing is probably that my stint here lasted as long as it did.   But then,  ...