Cosa Nostra News

George Anastasia writes a column for  JerseyMan Magazine  called appropriately enough  Mob Scene . Anthony Nicodemo could have an everlasting impact on the Cosa Nostra crews in Philadelphia. On Dec. 18, the Philadelphia crime journalist offered a kind of overview of key happenings using a sort of sports story format, only the game was the ongoing battle between the Philly mob and the feds.

Anthony Nicodemo's retrial slated for next year. Anthony Nicodemo's retrial  for his alleged participation as the wheelman in the 2012 slaying of Gino DiPietro in South Philadelphia has been pushed to next year. At a status conference hearing late last week, Philadelphia Common Pleas Court Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart scheduled a new pretrial conference for Dec. 1, but no specific date was determined for the retrial resulting from the first trial's termination on May 20. Assistant District Attorney Brian Zarallo said there is an ongoing investigation into possible jury tampering . No one has yet been charged, however. DiPietro, 50, was gunned down shortly before 3 p.m. Dec. 12, 2012, as he stood by his pickup truck in the 2800 block of South Iseminger Street.

Anthony Nicodemo's Philadelphia murder trial ended in a mistrial last month. John Alite offered testimony on the hit on Johnny "Gongs" Casasanto. In addition to the murder for which he currently faces charges, Nicodemo has been identified as a suspect in the 2003 murder of John "Johnny Gongs" Casasanto. Law enforcement sources have said that the young mob soldier could work out a deal using his supposed information regarding the Casasanto murder and other acts of violence, including two additional murders said to be linked to  Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi  and his top associates. The other murder victims are Ronnie Turchi, who was hit in 1999, and Raymond “Long John” Martorano, who reached the end of the road in 2002. In this article we take a look at the three hits that law enforcement would love to pin on Uncle Joe, one of the more successful modern bosses. He is credited with cooling down the Philly underworld following deca...

"During opening remarks, (the defendant's attorney) was wearing a suit that was very, very expensive...and a watch that cost more than my 2011 car... Therefore, I deduced that he was not a public defender. "The defendant had the access to cash necessary to employ" an expensive attorney... "Where did this money come from? I had my suspicions." The woman also said that she deduced the alleged mobster on trial for murder was being held without bail because even though he wore a dress shirt and slacks each day in court, he also wore "a pair of pristine white sneakers." "I couldn't imagine Mr. Nicodemo would come to court in sneakers unless he was being kept in jail. Why wouldn't he be out on bail? I knew he had access to money, so he either was a flight risk or a very dangerous person (or both)."

Anthony Nicodemo Predicting the future is a fool's game, especially for blogs and newspapers. Usually, no matter what certain indicators and talking heads say, the forecast ends up wrong -- and the result is a crack in credibility, probably the most valuable intangible in the world (it's up there with loyalty and honor). Just ask the Chicago Tribune , which despite its November 3, 1948 whopper, is still around to answer. So I'm not making any predictions here. Just doing a little speculating. Followed by some pondering. A recent mob trial came to an abrupt end after the prosecution made its case. Allegations were tossed about that one or more jurors may have been approached for nefarious purposes and that detectives were "investigating" the matter.

Nicodemo According to  Big Trial | Philadelphia Trial Blog  "Assistant District Attorney Brian Zarallo could wrap up his case tomorrow. Court does not meet on Friday. That would set the stage for what might be the biggest decision in [Anthony] Nicodemo's life. Does he take the stand in his own defense? "A gag ordered imposed by Judge Jeffrey Minehart bars Zarallo and defense attorney Brian McMonagle from commenting about the proceedings. Several sources, however, say that McMonagle has not decided if he will put his client on the stand when the defense portion of the trial begins sometime next week. "The case against Nicodemo is entirely circumstantial but the evidence linking him to the crime is difficult to ignore or explain away...."