Cosa Nostra News

A virus claims the life of a murderous ex-wiseguy After spending a month on a ventilator, Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso died of complications from COVID-19 on Tuesday, December 15, at age 78. The former Luchese underboss was first diagnosed with coronavirus on November 5 at the United States Penitentiary in Tucson. Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso Casso was one of two inmates at Tuscon USP who died of COVID-19 yesterday. (The other was a 73-year-old convict serving a 25-year sentence for sex trafficking and weapons charges.) On Thursday, November 5, Casso tested positive for COVID-19 and was placed in medical isolation at the United States Penitentiary Tucson. Institution medical staff provided treatment and monitored his condition. On Monday, November 9, he was transported to a local hospital due to respiratory distress. On Tuesday, November 17, his condition declined and he was placed on a ventilator. On Tuesday, December 15, Casso, who officials say had long-term, pre-existing medical conditions, ...

One of the many myths of the Mafia is that it doesn't kill civilians, meaning "regular people" with no mob ties. In fact, there are occasions when the mob has killed, or tried to kill innocent people. Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso ordered the murder of a civilian in a case of mistaken identity. Gaspipe also ordered the murder of another citizen in an attempt to convince Peter "Fat Pete Chiodo not to testify; Luchese gunmen, who first tried and failed to kill Fat Pete himself, next tried to kill his sister -- and failed as well. (Ironically, the attempt on his sister's life only emboldened the fence-sitting mobster to testify against his former criminal cohorts.) Jerry Catena And to those who think, "Gaspipe was nuts," there are numerous other examples, such as the murder of an NYPD cop who married the ex-wife of  "Joe Waverly" Cacace, a former acting Colombo crime family boss . All these hits were isolated an...

Angel Gotti, John Gotti's daughter, sent me a response to a recent story about her father . (Basically, I wrote a short preamble focused on Costabile Gus Farace , then posted the New York Times obituary.) John Gotti in his prime. She offered an interesting anecdote that I am publishing here. Embedded within it is a a criticism of factual information that made me dig a little further into some transcripts regarding the allegedly planned assassination of John Gotti (and his brother Gene) by the Genovese crime family . According to mob lore, "The Chin" and Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso both tried to take Gotti out, supposedly over the "unsanctioned" hit on former Gambino boss Paul Castellano. First, Angel's response: The story is not 100% accurate... I don't care what anyone on this planet says, John Gotti was not afraid of anyone, not Gigante, not anyone. He lost his son and I will tell you this: he never feared death. I lived down the bl...

In 1974, mob shooters accidentally killed an innocent bystander while in the process of gunning down a father and son suspected of stealing some of the Colombo family's proceeds from the ticket sales related to the classic porn flick Deep Throat. In time this incident would be dubbed one of the New York underworld's more depraved acts. Peraino Sr. survived the hit,  but was paralyzed. Former jailhouse snitch Salvatore "Big Sal" Miciotta, who was so discredited in the courtroom, he could never testify again, talked about the infamous hit for a documentary. William "Wild Bill" Cutolo, a powerful, charismatic Colombo capo later named underboss (only to be murdered in 1999) and five Colombo gangsters were freed because of Miciotta's false testimony, which also destroyed an honest man's career in the NYPD, among other things. Colombo shooters lured a father and son into a trap to kill them. Their crime was skimming from the proceeds g...

Crime families opportunistically form and break alliances. Shortly before the third shooting war began, Colombo leaders including Carmine Sessa met at the Persico family estate in Saugerties, New York, to plot the murder of Vittorio "Little Vic" Orena. Chin Gigante When the other crime families learned of the pending war, leaders of the Luchese, Genovese and Gambino families tried to resolve the problem before the shooting began by meeting with Colombo leaders. (Notice one family is missing?) Alfonso "Little Al" D'Arco, former acting boss of the Luchese family, discussed this series of meetings meant to stop the third Colombo war at Orena's trial. The talks only postponed the shooting, which formally broke out in late 1991. D'Arco said the four-family meetings had been held in apartments and hotel rooms around New York City.

The week before Christmas 2014, three North New Jersey-based Genovese crime family mobsters pleaded guilty to waterfront racketeering in a case going on for years -- since January 2011's Mafia Takedown Day . The guy who owned the “Godfather’s Garden.” But the Genovese family's control of the New Jersey waterfront goes back decades and includes many storied mobsters of the past who killed and were killed for control of the lucrative waterfront rackets of the Garden State. The Genovese family even ran its own hit squad, which focused on murdering FBI informants, among others. The bloodless indictment by comparison likely will end with three men serving three-year prison sentences. The key count in the indictment is conspiracy to extort members of the International Longshoremen’s Association for Christmastime tribute payments, according to New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman and Eastern District of New York U.S. Attorney Loretta E. Lynch . Genovese s...