Cosa Nostra News

Well, Sierra Leone, Pakistan, and Guatemala—to name three places that Dominick Cicale, former Bonanno crime family capo, has visited on business during post-Cosa Nostra life over the past nine years. Dom Cicale at St. Joseph School for Girls. "The country's first lady asked for the water machine to be placed in that school because she went there as a young girl," Dom said. (Yes, this is kind of an unusual story for this blog to publish, we admit....) After being released from prison, Dominick met with a rabbi "who works to better humanity," he said. A source told us that Dom "offered to work to help society at large, and he has made great strides working with Yehuda Kaploun. Currently president of RussKap Water, Dominick has worked in various global locations to provide healthy water around the globe." Kaploun told us that Dominick has been "a model of redemption since his release." Diamond mine in the Eastern Province of Sierra Leone that Do...

Maspeth building formerly known as Casablanca, the restaurant owned by ex-Bonanno boss. Massino, way back when.... A building recently advertised as available for sale was once the Casablanca Restaurant, the Queens-based eatery formerly owned and operated, off-the-books, by Joseph "Big Joey" Massino , the former boss of the Bonanno crime family who flipped and testified. Located at 62-15 60th Lane, the 5,250-square-foot building is built on 1,800 square feet of land, a  DY Realty Services ‘ listing noted, adding that it includes a usable basement, full sprinkler system, overhead drive-in door and great signage visibility. In our $2.99 ebook,  Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire , I included a detailed description of the place, which the so-called Last Godfather used as a sort of social club.

Christ, they didn't have the money to take a season six cast photo? I decided to pull the plug on my previously announced "Mob Wives" endeavor. I'm not to going to inflict my readers with anymore of my Mob Wives hysterics.... I know they don't appreciate it. As you'll see, there's far too much Cosa Nostra news piling up that needs covering. Scars called me with an excellent idea.... I need to jump on that quickly.

Cammarano Junior's "modest" house on Long Island's Glen Cove section. Joseph Cammarano Jr. is "the top banana on the street for the beleaguered Bonanno crime family — or what’s left of it," as the Daily News reported . (A source pointed out the odd timing of the new Bonanno boss story, arriving about a month or so following this blog's own story about New York having only three operational Mafia families, the Bonannos not being one of them. "... It seems that the families able to ... show power on the street ... are helmed by powerful and accessible bosses -- meaning they are out of prison," as we noted.) Cammarano, meanwhile, is around to hold the top slot because of his ability to diplomatically get out of an order from Vinny Basciano to whack a Genovese associate, Cosa Nostra News learned. Cammarano did this by reminding Vinny B of another more-pressing hit the Bonanno boss had wanted done at the time. At an arraignment h...

Now available for purchase on Amazon! Cosa Nostra News: The Cicale Files, Volume 1: Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire . Both print and ebook versions are available, priced at $6.99 and $4.99. This is a short-format ebook (equal to around 62 pages, the length of the print edition.) It reached no. 2 on Amazon Kindle's best-seller list.... It also generated specious negative feedback --  It's a pamphlet! Too many names and dates! Hollywood garbage! --  by idiots who obviously never read the book.

Edited The short-format e-book The Mystery of the Lufthansa Airlines Heist:: A Wiseguy Reveals the Untold Story , available now for $3.99, reached number 2 on an Amazon Kindle paid bestseller list. It's still at number two as I write this... and 3 and 4 on other paid lists. That's a damn fine showing -- and it beats our own Cosa Nostra News: The Cicale Files, Volume 1: Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire . We asked Rob Sberna for his take: "I’m pleased but not surprised that the book is a hit. The Lufthansa robbery grabbed the public’s attention, for both its size and also its boldness. And because the crime—and the whereabouts of the missing loot—have remained unsolved for nearly four decades, it has become even more infamous.

Ebook is now available on Amazon. Where is the $6 million that was stolen during the infamous Lufthansa Airlines heist? Make sure you sign up for our CosaNostraNewsletter; I'm sending an exclusive excerpt from The Mystery of the Lufthansa Heist today!! See sign-in form at the end of this story... For 37 years, the FBI has been unable to find the cash and jewels taken from the Lufthansa cargo vault at JFK airport. Now, for the first time, a Mafia insider reveals what happened to the loot. In this short-format e-book , Dominick Cicale , a former high-ranking member of the Bonanno crime family, discloses never-before-told details about the Lufthansa robbery, which was immortalized in the movie "Goodfellas." The Mystery of the Lufthansa Airlines Heist:: A Wiseguy Reveals the Untold Story  is available now for $3.99.

Vinny Asaro was among the top characters of interest in 2014.... His Tommy D rant makes us really want to hear the tapes.... I deleted a bunch of horseshit with which I initially started this post. Based on a quick Google Analytics filter, we found five days when there was a clear spike in our daily traffic. piked progressively, save for the last two samples, which were nearly equal. 

Click on the cover to purchase We'd like to give a shout out to the  Reading Ghost blogger  for crafting a review of  Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire  that highlights a key aspect of our approach to writing The Cicale Files series . Mob books such as  Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires  tend to provide detailed overviews of organized crime, focusing on a particular crime family, city, or period of time. Often an abundance of names, biographies, storylines, dates and other details swamp the reader.  And we have wondered how much most readers really take away from these books once they finish the last page... As bloggers writing about the subject, we of course love these books and we eagerly consume even the footnotes and details regarding source material. But in this case we refer to  the mainstream reader , not only the Mafia junkie.

TheCrimeBeat.com : On Dec. 11, 1978, a crew led by mob associate Jimmy Burke pulled off a daring stunning heist at JFK Airport that netted $5 million in cash and $1 million in precious stones. The case, which was immortalized in Martin Scorsese’s movie “Goodfellas,” has puzzled authorities for 36 years. Only one robber was ever convicted for the crime and the whereabouts of the loot has remained a secret…until now.

"Mikey Nose" (Commenced 11am, Saturday, Jan. 10)... We can thank Michael "Mikey Nose" Mancuso for our starting point.... I don't think any other blog or news organization on the planet has ever gotten such direct insight from the man widely considered to be the official boss of the Bonanno family . The Nose is from the Bronx, where Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano, either former acting boss or current official boss, hailed from.

Vinny B, left, Dom Cicale. NOTE: See first comment below, with Mancuso's response in his own handwriting.... We'd be remiss not to mention that our friend and coauthor Dominick Cicale called us today and told us to check out Gangland News (immediately!) wherein we read the following: The judge also granted Basciano's motion to add a charge of prosecutorial misconduct to his petition for a new trial. Vinny Gorgeous claims prosecutors elicited false testimony from turncoat capo Dominick Cicale about a Bonanno family plot to murder Michael (Mikey Nose) Mancuso, who succeeded Basciano as acting boss and who is currently viewed as the eventual boss when he is released from prison in 2019.

DOMINICK CICALE, A FORMER CAPO IN THE BONANNO CRIME FAMILY, ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS  Dominick Cicale In 1999, Bronx-based Dominick Cicale finished his second years-long bit and hooked up with Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano, then an up-and-coming member of the Bronx faction of the Bonanno crime family. Initially he'd been closely affiliated with "Big Ernie" in the Genovese family.

Now available at a holiday promotional price as part of the Kindle Countdown Deal: Cosa Nostra News: The Cicale Files, Volume 1: Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire . Life (and death) inside the Mafia... in the words of a former Bonanno capo.... Dominick Cicale was born and raised in the Bronx, New York. From a young age he was closely associated with the Genovese crime family, considered the most powerful Mafia group in America. Fate intervened.  In 1999 Cicale forged a tight alliance with Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano, then an up-and-coming member of the Bronx faction of the Bonanno crime family. Under Basciano’s tutelage, Dominick rode the fast track: he was inducted into the American Cosa Nostra and swiftly rose from soldier to capo, amassing great wealth and power. Cicale befriended and associated with numerous high-ranking figures within all of New York's Five Families as he plotted and schemed in a treacherous world where each day could be his last....

Some of you may have already heard or read this story. I assume many of you have not... From the MailOnline, which published this in April 2011 : It is a Mafia murder mystery that has remained unsolved for years. But investigators finally believe they might have got to the bottom of what happened to family mobster Nicholas Cirillo, who vanished seven years ago and has not been seen since - his death may have been ordered by his own father. Genovese gangster Nicholas disappeared on Mothers' Day 2004, two weeks after an altercation in the Bronx with fellow mob man Vincent Jr. Basciano and Dominick Cicale, part of the infamous Bonanno family.

TG Graziano had five acting capos around him. One of the first things Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano did as acting boss of the Bonanno family was bust down the five acting capos that Anthony "TG" Graziano had around him, according to our colleague and former Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale. "What is this? The Bonanno family or the Graziano family?"  Basciano complained to Dom, referring to the Staten Island-based capo who reportedly has since been shelved by the family because of " Mob Wives ," the reality show that was the brainchild of TG's daughter Jennifer; Renee, one of the show's stars, is another of his daughters.

Mafia graphic novel Mafia Apocalypse is a true-crime graphic novel based on the experiences of Dominick Cicale, a former capo in the Bonanno crime family. Written by Cicale and Robert Sberna – and illustrated by award-winning artist Chris Guiher – this 32-page dramatization is a unique look at the secret society of the Mafia.

Man of Steel... Cosa Nostra News: The Cicale Files, Volume 1: Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire  is not a full-sized book; it is about 70 pages and the ebook is $2.99, the price Amazon suggested. If you signed up for my newsletter you will have already read this excerpt. Here I attempted to drill down into an  infamous piece of Mafia history, specifically Bonanno crime family history.

Now available for purchase on Amazon Kindle!  Cosa Nostra News: The Cicale Files, Volume 1: Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire . "As a capo in the Bonanno crime family, Dominick Cicale was privy to the inner workings of organized crime. Cicale was a rising star in the Bonanno family until Joseph Massino, the family's boss, was arrested on a murder rap and turned on his own people. Massino's betrayal took down Cicale and his mentor Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano, and many others. Faced with the disloyalty of Massino (the only Mafia Godfather to break the code of "omerta,") Cicale began cooperating with federal authorities. Here, Cicale not only reveals an insider’s view of the Mafia’s secret society, but provides readers with shocking details of the reign and fall of Joseph Massino." As noted it is priced at $4.99 (it is not a full-length book, as it is around 20,000 words), and we packed it with as much value as possible. Researchi...

Today I had hoped to have the button up, the one you click to purchase the ebook I wrote with former Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale :  The Cicale Files, Vol. 1: Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire . As indicated this is only the first of a series we have planned. But it looks like getting that button up is going to take a couple of more days. We're looking to launch by Monday, hopefully earlier. I hope you all buy a copy, especially since Dom padded his goddamn expenses... You won't believe how many copies we have to sell before yours truly sees a single nickel!   Just kidding...  But I am not kidding about hoping you all buy a copy. It's going to cost less than $5, and we packed the book with as much value as possible. Researching extensively to set the background and context for Dominick's information, I tried to focus on little-known facts that were part of some of the major events described in the book.