Cosa Nostra News

"You don’t know how mean this guy is, Donnie. Lilo is a mean son of a bitch. A tyrant. ... Lot of people hate him. They feel he’s only out for himself. He’s the only one making any money. There’s only a few people that he’s close to. And mainly that’s the Zips... There’s a lot of people out there who would like to see him get whacked." —Benjamin (Lefty Two-Guns) Ruggiero to undercover FBI agent Joe Pistone, aka Donnie Brasco Carmine Galante Read Part One: Carmine Galante, Godfather Of Heroin Trafficking The Montreal pipeline pumped vast quantities of heroin into the US for years, but was only one of New York City’s countless sources of narcotics. Not even Carmine Galante relied solely on the Montreal crew. About a year after the notorious Apalachin summit in 1957 (Galante attended but successfully evaded law enforcement by concealing himself somewhere on Joe Barbara’s estate), he was nailed. The indictment alleged a narcotics conspiracy that involved the smuggling of 160 kilo...

As noted in a previous story, as per recently released records, Felix Sater, a former associate of President Donald Trump, played a key role in helping the Feds pressure Frank Coppa, the first member of the Bonanno family to flip. Not Before and After: Frank Coppa, left, Joe Massino when still Bonannos. Others, including Richard Cantarella and Sal Vitale, brother-in-law to then-Bonanno boss Joseph Massino, quickly followed. Massino, ever since getting out of prison in 1992, had taken measures to buffer the Bonanno family and himself from law enforcement. He closed social clubs, organized crews into separate cells, and focused on anti-surveillance efforts (including taking vacations outside the US with top aids and their wives to have discussions), among other things. Despite Massino's extensive efforts to fortify the Massino family the Bonanno family, the defection of Coppa, a longtime member of Massino's inner circle, was as serious as heart failure: Coppa was ...

UPDATED Nicholas (Nicky Cigars) Santora spent decades of his life in the Mob and had the criminal record to show for it, having been arrested roughly two-dozen times, with a rap sheet dating back to 1966. A prosecutor once noted how Santora had an "extensive, serious, substantial criminal record.” He was a mobster to his core, a second-generation wiseguy. (His father, Modesto, was allegedly a Colombo soldier.) Made in the 1970s, he gained unwanted recognition in the early 1980s when he was caught up in the Donnie Brasco fiasco. For a time he was a force to be reckoned with, rising to underboss under Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano. Still, Santora had mixed luck. Joseph Massino wasn't a fan. After the Last Don flipped, he recorded himself calling Santora a brokester while in a rigged conversation with Basciano. He "ain't got any money," Massino griped. Santora would "borrow from people" but he "forgets to pay." That argumen...

So how do you crack open the Mafia and penetrate it in a deep-undercover investigation? In the words of an ace undercover operator (and former FBI agent), "You need to know your source.” Joseph D. Pistone, formerly Donnie Brasco of the Bonanno crime family, gave the keynote address before a gathering of senior case management and investigation professionals at Polonious World 2017, some kind of trade show held recently in Australia.  Johnny Depp with Al Pacino in the Donnie Brasco film.  "You have to know the organization that you’re trying to infiltrate. You have to know your enemy. Because if you don’t know your enemy, you aren’t going to defeat them. By knowing your enemy, it will help you infiltrate and help you stay alive,” Pistone said.

In 1986, at the age of 71, Santo Trafficante faced the most formidable indictment of his life. The reason was Dominick (Sonny Black) Napolitano , a onetime Bonanno capo Sonny Black leads Santo Trafficante out of a motel room. The Feds wanted Santo Trafficante on a platter. Operation Coldwater ran from 1979 to 1981 and was the FBI's attempt to infiltrate the Mafia then infesting Florida's Gulf Coast. However, from its inception, the op's true goal was much more targeted in nature. Santo Trafficante was considered nothing less than The Godfather of most of Florida, who'd deemed it "open territory" for the Northern-based Mafia families, with provisos, of course. He first had to give his approval, then, of course, he got a piece of their action. Or at least so said the Feds. (Mafia cases are generally easy to "build" -- as there's never a lack of motive with which prosecutors can enchant the jury...) After all attempts to flip some of h...

The video above will look familiar to some of you. When I first posted it, this is the story I meant to write, as opposed to what I did write, Undercover Feds and the Mob: Do Rivalries Arise? The content of the above video, recently posted by FedScoop , concerns the Mafia and white-collar cybercrime, and ways law enforcement can better marshal its forces to combat these new-wave crimes. The video includes insight from two former undercover FBI agents, Joe Pistone and David Drab. (Pistone once again calls Lefty Ruggiero a 24 hour a day wiseguy, to which I add: Pistone is a 24 hour a day  Donnie Brasco .) Pistone worked undercover for six years infiltrating the Bonanno crime family, while Drab did some work in Cleveland. Today, both consult and advise law enforcement on conducting undercover operations. Some interesting points were raised in the video that will be of interest to readers of this blog.

REVISED 6/9: I was fully intending to continue working on my stories about Canada and the Combination (no connection) when something else grabbed my attention enough to warrant a change in plan. I started to write that -- and something else got in the way! This is why I'm always behind! The website  FedScoop  posted the above video, which includes Joe Pistone and another former undercover FBI agent who worked in Cleveland (David Drab). Joseph Dominick Pistone, alias Donnie Brasco , (born September 17, 1939), is the former FBI agent who worked undercover for six years infiltrating the Bonanno crime family. He was an FBI agent for 27 years and seems to hold to the adage "never turn down an opportunity to be on television." The evidence collected by Pistone led to over 200 indictments and over 100 convictions of Mafia members and nearly destroyed the Bonanno family. (I am not sure what those numbers include -- whether they specifically resulted from Operation Br...

Frank Lino now calls the Mafia a sick world. Funny how he didn't realize it until after he was arrested for six mob hits. Frank Lino is off the hook. The former Bonanno capo, 76, was sentenced to time served for participating in six mob murders, along with racketeering crimes. He had already served eight years in prison after his 2003 arrest and was out on a million-dollar bail when he appeared today for sentencing. "Looking tanned, and wearing black-framed eyeglasses and a double-breasted suit, Lino sheepishly raised his hand when Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis glanced around the courtroom looking for him," The New York Daily News reported. “Oh, in the business suit,” Garaufis observed. Lino’s cooperation was described as being “extraordinary” in that he'd helped to bring down around two dozen Bonannos, including former family boss Joseph Massino who also has since joined Team America. Lino also revealed the burial locations of three slain gangsters, as pr...

Former Bonanno underboss from days of Donnie Brasco was arrested not too long ago. We don't get it... Is it really just a coincidence that the mob -- specifically, a Bonanno associate -- robbed and whacked a guy with the same name as a well-known undercover agent for the FBI who infiltrated the same crime family using the famous alias of Donnie Brasco in the late 1970s ? Bonanno mobster gets 18 years in prison for 1992 murder of Brooklyn man and dog - NY Daily News : "A reputed Bonanno crime associate was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the home-invasion murder of a Brooklyn man and his beloved dog — nearly twice the term he thought he’d get under a plea deal with the government. "Neil Messina, 52, found out Friday that Federal Judge Kiyo Matsumoto may have gone easy on some Mafia oldfellas, but is more than ready to severely punish violent mobsters.

A brief history of Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero soldier in the Bonanno Crime Family and his relationship with Donnie Brasco (FBI Agent Joe Pistone ), and Capo Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano . This video was released on March 28 by Bloodletters and Madman , which produces biographies of organized crime and Mafia figures. Based on Jay Robert Nash's book Bloodletters and Badmen - A Narrative Encyclopedia of the American Criminal, the segments cover "the Italian mobs, both the Mafia and the Camorra, Irish and Jewish Gangsters, and prohibition gangs." Researched, written and Narrated by G. Marshall Johnson.

Are those stitches in Nicky Mouth Santora's head? The big Bonanno trial is expected to begin, eventually, but it continues to get ensnared by delays. The defendants were rounded up last July; they are alleged members of a crew headed by longtime Bonanno heavyweight brokester Nicholas "Nicky Mouth" Santora , who also is on trial. Santora became a power on the street back in the late 1970s, when FBI agent Joe Pistone used his Donnie Brasco cover to infiltrate the same crew Santora belonged to, under Dominic "Sonny Black" Napolitano.

Last year, the  Miami New Times  obtained from a confidential source hundreds of pages of sealed court documents that reveal information provided to the FBI by former infamous South Beach nightclub king Chris Paciello -- and it seems Paciello dished up a lot more details on goodfellas and their crimes than was originally thought. Lee D'Avanzo "Between December 2000 and May 2001, the FBI met with the fallen club king eight times and conducted 15 hours of interviews. During those meetings, Paciello detailed not only his own criminal history but those of dozens of his Mob colleagues," a New Times article notes. Additionally, many secrets in the documents center on Lee D'Avanzo, one of Paciello's early criminal cohorts. In fact, Paciello is a large part of the reason why Lee went away to prison. [We are not sure if this is the sentence Lee is still serving or if it was an earlier conviction.] It adds: "Most significant, Paciello fingered two mad...