Cosa Nostra News

Gregory Scarpa Senior, the longtime Colombo capo/FBI informant who stopped counting his murders at 50 (think about that), was done in not by a bullet, but by a little white pill. Larry Mazza He took too many aspirins.*  That caused stomach problems, which resulted in surgeries, then the blood transfusion from which he contracted the AIDS virus that wore him down to nothing and ended his life. So think about this: If Greg Scarpa had only taken Tylenol, then lots more people probably would've been robbed and murdered in New York City. "He was vicious and he corrupted people," Larry Mazza , Scarpa's protege, recently recalled. "He was cunning and wily -- he had all the street smarts." For Larry, life is less deadly today and much  better. He's written a memoir of mob life in New York,  The Life,  and was in the two-part A&E John Gotti documentary,  Godfather and Son . He scored a high-profile role in what will be the hottest Mafia m...

Former Colombo mobster Carmine Sessa ultimately admitted to participating in 13 murders during the Colombo mob war. Carmine Sessa while on the street running with the Colombos. He also confessed to personally killing several people, one of whom, Vincent Angelino, was Colombo consiglieri. Sessa claimed he'd whacked Angelino at the behest of Victor (Little Vic) Orena, who had been elevated to the acting boss slot.  The 1988 murder of Angelino was  later considered a precursor to the Colombo war,  which formally commenced three years later. 

It is well known that Greg Scarpa Senior had been a turncoat since 1960 and that he provided law enforcement with all the dope he could muster on his enemies, rivals and even friends -- basically anyone but himself. Greg Scarpa did deep and lasting damage to most of the Five Families, as well as other crime families. We've written here, more than once, about his missions for the FBI, one of which involved him sallying south to help extinguish the Mississippi Burning problem . He went on other missions, too. Such complex duplicity requires a sharp mind and probably an intelligence level well above average.