Cosa Nostra News

"90 percent of [The Sopranos] is made up (and the rest is) patterned after this [crime family]..." -- David Chase If you’ve ever wondered w here David Chase got all those fantastical ideas  for “ The Sopranos ,” maybe he, like the feds, had his own mob informants. Or maybe the feds were his informants. Tonight’s special episode of “ American Greed ,” titled “ Mob Money ,” is the story of the rise and fall of  New Jersey’s DeCavalcante crime family , New Jersey gangsters who bear more than a passing resemblance to “The Sops.”  The DeCavalcantes were always, by mob standards anyway, minor players in the estimated $50 to 90-billion-a-year, ah (what the hell do you call it?), industry. In fact, the five families of New York called them “the farmers” and thought of them as country bumpkins..... The Sopranos is based on New Jersey's DeCavalcante crime family  has been written so many times, most viewers would probably agree. We've written things like: "Many crime fa...

The  Friends  of Ours blogger  is offering for  99 cents a Kindle ebook that is such a worthy addition  to your library of books about the Mafia, I feel dutified to promote it. ( Did I just invent a word? ) John Gotti, in a surveillance video. Source The author raises questions some mobsters most likely are uncomfortable discussing publicly. Which is putting it mildly. It should come as no surprise that mobsters were killed over mere allegations of homosexuality. According to what one Mafia capo said in testimony, the mob has a law that goes something like:  If you're found to be gay, you die. Interestingly, the capo said that during his induction ceremony, he'd been instructed about many rules, though that specific one was never mentioned.

Ex-Boss Vinny "Ocean" Palermo in the good ol' days.... Vincent Palermo, former acting boss of New Jersey's only homegrown crime family , was a major Cosa Nostra player. The field was wide open for him at his ascension. He and many  DeCavalcante  members and associates were eventually done in by the Fed's for the murder of a Staten Island businessman. ( What Vinny's been up to  is exactly what I hoped to discover, only this interview never reached fruition.) When last we heard about him, Vinny was set up in Texas rather nicely. He continued in one longtime business of his, running the Penthouse Club. In 2011 newspapers were making hay out of a particular court  case involving Vinny Palermo, a former resident of Island Park in Nassau County, one town over from where I live, in the five-towns enclave. He arrived in Houston while in the Federal Witness Protection Program. Allegedly, the model for the fictional Tony Soprano character...

DeCavalcantes in an undated surveillance photo. It won’t be a very Merry Christmas for John “Johnny Balls” Capozzi and Mario Galli. The two DeCavalcante associates admitted they distributed more than 500 grams of cocaine, the FBI’s Newark office reported . Capozzi, 34, of Union, New Jersey, and Galli, 23, of Toms River, New Jersey, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William H. Walls to one count of distribution of more than 500 grams of cocaine. The count carries a mandatory prison sentence of between five and 40 years.

Giovanni Riggi (February 1, 1925 – August 3, 2015), aka John the Eagle, died on Monday of natural causes. He was 90 and outlived what law enforcement officials no doubt considered a life sentence. A member of the New Jersey-based crime family since the 1940s (before it was given its historic name, the DeCavalcante crime family), Riggi served as the Elizabeth crew's captain and was named acting boss in the 1970s. John Riggi, at the height of power. Riggi's rise was slow and deliberate. Simone "Sam the Plumber" DeCavalcante  named Riggi as his successor in 1980. Riggi in fact held the official boss title up until his death a week ago.  He's been described as well-spoken, extremely polite and extremely ruthless. Toward the end of his life he'd been incarcerated at the Federal Medical Center (FMC) in Devens, Massachusetts. He was released on November 27, 2012. The funeral at the Corsentino Home for Funerals in Elizabeth, N.J., held on Friday, Aug. 7...

Surveillance image of former DeCavalcantes. A total of 10 members and associates of the New Jersey-based DeCavalcante crime family were arrested today for running a prostitution ring, drug trafficking and plotting to kill a rival, according to U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman . The complaints confirm that the New Jersey family is run closely with the Gambinos in New York and that both have Sicilian members in leadership positions today. Frank "Shipe" Nigro, 72, Paul "Knuckles" Colella, 68, Mario Galli, 23, and Anthony "Whitey" Stango, 33, all from New Jersey, were arrested this morning and face the bulk of the criminal charges cited in the complaints unsealed today. Also taken into custody today were Charles "Beeps" Stango, 71, of Henderson, Nevada, and John "Johnny Balls" Capozzi, 34, and Nicholas Degidio, 37, both from New Jersey.

A small-time dice game caused a mob boss's defense attorney to take a huge gamble. He lost. As a result,  on June 10, 1969, 12 volumes (more than 2,000 pages) of conversations between various mobsters and New Jersey crime boss Simone Rizzo DeCavalcante were released to the public. A book was issued as well.  Sam the Plumber: The Real-Life Saga of a Mafia Chieftain  condensed the voluminous disparate recorded discussions and provided context. Sam the Plumber preferred to be called "The Count."

"Charlie Big Ears," boss of the DeCavalcante crime family. The DeCavalcante crime family, historically based in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and surrounding areas has retooled itself, expanded its membership and is even operating in Manhattan and on Staten Island. Today's DeCavalcante family is no longer viewed as a backwater -- or glorified crew -- to New York's Five Families. Carlo "Charlie Big Ears" Majuri  is the official boss; we are not naming other members of the administration. Seven crews make up the family, which has a total of close to 80 members. Fueled by the arrival of several full-blooded Italians and an influx of Brooklynites who moved to New Jersey during the past 15 to 20 years, the DeCavalcantes are a true force to be reckoned with. DEVELOPING...

In 2002, South Philadelphia mob associate  John "Johnny Gongs" Casasanto  wanted to join one of New York's Five Families, the Gambino crime family. He appeared to have  an "in": he'd met the family's acting boss while in prison. But Johnny Gongs never left Philly's mean streets (probably because he liked the ladies too much, especially married ones; in fact, he reputedly banged one mob wife too many). Johnny Gongs 2003 murder remains unsolved. Former Gambino associate John Alite told authorities he had met with Casasanto several times after Casasanto came home from prison in 2002. According to Casasanto, John A. (Junior) Gotti wanted Alite to bring him to New York "to introduce him to a couple of guys . . . to get him straightened out," Alite testified. But Alite said he didn't go along with the program. "I met with him after that and I said, 'Johnny, you'll get killed in New York. Every corner...