Cosa Nostra News

During a closed hearing in Brooklyn Federal Court on March 9, a Federal judge approved the release (on $1.6 million bond) of ailing reputed Colombo underboss Benjamin (The Claw) Castellazzo, 84, who has been accused of helping lead the Colombo crime family’s efforts to loot a Queens-based labor union. Alleged underboss Castellazzo, 84, was released from MDC. Castellazzo, who  joins other Colombo crime family wiseguys so far released on bail, got a bargain rate compared to reputed Colombo boss Andrew (Mush) Russo,  87, who has been free on  a $10 million bond since October. Castellazzo and the rest of the administration of the Colombo crime family—the youngest and most violent Cosa Nostra clan in the country— were arrested last September for allegedly masterminding a 20-year effort to loot the union, which Gang Land News identified as Local 621 of the United Construction Trades and Industrial Employees Union in Flushing. The 19-count indictment unsealed in Brooklyn Feder...

Reputed Colombo boss Andrew (Mush) Russo, who was among the indicted in the recent case related to the longtime pilfering of a labor union, was to be released from jail last week on $10 million bond, while Vic Orena, the Colombo acting boss who opposed Russo and other Persico loyalists in the bloody 1991-92 Colombo war—and who is so deranged these days, he believes he is the president of the United States (that derangement seems to be getting around)—will remain locked up at Federal Medical Center Devers in Massachusetts. Colombo acting boss Vic Orena in his heyday. Russo's release and the denial of Orena's compassionate release were set forth in separate Brooklyn Federal Court rulings, both of which were highlighted in a Daily News report last week by Noah Goldberg and Larry McShane . Helping spring Russo, 87, from the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center was about $7 million in property that was put up as collateral. He was allowed to bond out after Chief Magistrate Judge C...

Mismanagement, dingbat recruits, and poorly conceived succession plans are among the challenges facing the American mob in late 2021. Reputed Colombo boss Andrew (Mush) Russo.   That's according to a recent WSJ report  (the site requires a subscription, however, which is why we give a shoutout [and owe a beer to] this guy ).  The following is our take on the gist of that story.... The report uses last month’s widely reported Colombo busts to offer a largely superficial glimpse into the New York mob. Informing the article is input from sources including former FBI agents, an anonymous former Colombo wiseguy, former government researchers (lots of formers, which is part of the problem with this story) as well as—this being the WSJ—a crisis management consultant (who also was a former FBI agent) and a professor emeritus. The WSJ references the (supremely disappointing) Many Saints of Newark, though the connection to the Sopranos prequal was enough of a stretch that we comfor...

The grand jury indictment unsealed Tuesday charged 14 defendants — including “the entire leadership structure of the Colombo crime family” — with multiple crimes around a scheme that involved the Colombo family's monthly siphoning of around $10,000 from a labor union’s health plan. Bonanno wiseguy John Ragano during previous roundup Charged in the case ( see story here detailing specifics of Tuesday's indictment ) were Colombo street boss Andrew (Mush) Russo, underboss Benjamin (Benji) Castellazzo, consigliere Ralph DiMatteo; captains Theodore Persico, Jr., Richard Ferrara, and Vincent Ricciardo; soldier Michael Uvino and associates Thomas Costa and Domenick Ricciardo. Bonanno family soldier John Ragano also is charged in the case. As for the arraignments Tuesday afternoon ( via Law & Crime ): Costa and Uvino appeared in Federal court with their attorneys and pleaded not guilty. Russo appeared via videoconference from a hospital while under Federal guard. (What was wrong wi...