Cosa Nostra News

Carmine (Papa Smurf) Franco, a longtime Genovese family associate who admitted to being a mobbed-up trash-hauling kingpin (and forfeited $2.5 million), died last Monday at age 85 from complications from COVID-19. Carmine (Papa Smurf) Franco, longtime Genovese associate. Franco, who died at NYU Langone Medical Center in Manhattan, is survived by his wife of 61 years Mary, their four children, 11 grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter. A Bergen County garbage magnate who for decades was involved in the trash hauling industry in North Jersey and beyond—both before and after he had been barred by the State of New Jersey from participating in the industry—Franco had been linked to the Genovese crime family since the 1980s, as per the New Jersey State Commission and the defunct Pennsylvania Crime Commission, which filed documents detailing Franco's ties and involvement in organized crime. In November 2013, Franco copped to a plea deal before U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel that ...

 "Down here it’s called franchising. Where I come from, it’s called racketeering." -- Louis DiVita, author of A Wiser Guy It's a book that reads like a whos-who of the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia crime families . Louis and his family crossed paths with a lot of figures you've read about, including Willie Moretti, Albert Anastasia, Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Vito Genovese. Benedetto Angelo, who was partnered with Joseph DiCarlo. His forebears wound up in New Jersey's Mafia landscape but first played a decades-long role in upstate New York where they were closely allied with mobsters such as Stefano Magaddino and Joseph DiCarlo. The Palmeri brothers both backed their countryman Salvatore Maranzano when the New York Mafia split into factions and used murder to finally end an ongoing feud as to who was going to be who. Afterward, the modern-day Mafia was created. Louis's grandfather, Paolo Palmeri, was a high-ranking mobster ...

Alleged Gambino associate Scott Fappiano. Todt Hill mobster  Scott Fappiano, 53, who spent 21 years behind bars until DNA evidence cleared him, lost his "malicious prosecution" case this past week. On Wednesday, Jan. 7, a Brooklyn judge issued a summary ruling against him. See Scott Fappiano decision --  click here for PDF .

Gangland News : "The office of U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara quietly announced this week that it is dismissing charges against the last three defendants in the snake-bitten labor racketeering case that the FBI made against Genovese gangster Carmine (Papa) Smurf Franco and 28 others. All told, prosecutors have dropped charges against 10 of the 29 defendants in the indictment. Throwing in the towel before trial against more than a third of the defendants wasn't the way things were supposed to turn out: When the indictment was announced, the case was hailed by Bharara and New York FBI boss George Venizelos as a major blow against the Mafia's control over the waste hauling industry in New York and New Jersey. Instead, this foray against the mob rivals the losing ways of the luckless Mets.

Carmine Franco when arrested. One year and one day in prison. That's the fate of Carmine "Papa Smurf" Franco for his role in a scheme to control commercial waste-hauling in the greater New York area. Franco, 78, pleaded guilty in November to participation in conspiracy for racketeering, to commit mail and wire fraud, and to transport stolen cardboard -- across state lines yet! Franco, an associate of the Genovese family, had worked with other Genovese mobsters, as well as guys with the Gambino and Luchese families to operate waste disposal businesses in New York City and in several New Jersey counties, engaging in extortion, loansharking, mail and wire fraud and stolen property offenses.

The recent flood of articles associating an unknown real-life mobster with a well-known fictional one is due to the enterprising work of journalist Jerry Capeci and his GangLand News website. Good ol' Tone, parking the SUV in front of the Bing, HQ for the mob boss and his key associates. Anthony Cardinalle was indicted about a year ago , one of 32 defendants nailed following a multi-year FBI probe into the mob's control of the private sanitation industry in New York and New Jersey. Cardinalle, a longtime Genovese associate known as "Tony Lodi," began cooperating with the FBI and Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office a week before Christmas, although GangLand News is also reporting that, according to sources, Cardinalle has been talking to the Feds months longer than that. In December, presumably after he committed to the other side, he plead guilty to the two counts charged against him, racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit extortion; he als...