Cosa Nostra News

COVID-19 doesn't discriminate... Whether in jail awaiting trial or serving a bid based on a conviction, imprisoned wiseguys are leveraging the threat of COVID-19 to argue for “compassionate release" and get out of prison. Alleged Luchese wiseguy Boopsie Castelle was released on April 3. Those lucky enough to not be in prison during the onset of the deadly virus have been struggling to earn, as various reports have highlighted. With novel coronavirus shutting down most of the economy, more wiseguys are considering a leap into the illegal drug business to compensate for the cash they haven't been earning from other things, like gambling (In fact the cancellation of major sports has wiped out tens of millions of dollars in illegal gambling income, a “historic” blow to the Mafia, law enforcement sources told The Post. ) The drug business, however, ain't what it used to be either, these days.  Dealers can't hawk their wares the usual ways right now because, lik...

The Mafia still makes 'em like it always did... We're referring to the initiation ceremony -- the one that uses the gun, the knife, the picture of the saint, the pin... John Pennisi, 49, a Luchese member who flipped last year, detailed on the witness stand his life in the New York Mafia, touching on his initiation ceremony and how members of the Brooklyn crew began moving to Staten Island, raising the existential question of whether Luchese wiseguys who live on Staten Island can still credibly call themselves the Brooklyn crew.... Pennisi was made in a 2013 secret initiation ceremony in the dark basement of a house on Staten Island. (In a refreshing twist, he was made on his wife’s birthday rather than his own birthday.) Then-acting boss Matty Madonna, who was from the Bronx, presided. “There was a gun, a knife, there was a picture of a saint, an ashtray, a lighter, and like a diabetic pin, needle to check your blood,” said Pennisi. Madonna asked Pennisi wh...

Luchese soldier Eugene (Boopsie) Castelle was found guilty of conspiracy to commit racketeering and operating an illegal gambling ring after a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein. Eugene (Boopsie) Castelle  Castelle, 59, of Staten Island, New York, was arrested in May 2016 with five others for running a $13 million illegal gambling operation. (When they arrested him, he reportedly told law enforcement: "I don't shake hands with cops.") Castelle also was among 10 wiseguys rounded up in January 2018. Those arrests were focused on alleged Bonanno acting boss Joseph Cammarano Jr. and John (Porky) Zancocchio, reputed consigliere, who were later acquitted by a jury after using a novel ethnic profiling defense. He was found guilty yesterday of one count of conspiracy to commit racketeering, which carries a maximum potential sentence of 20 years in prison, and one count of operation of an illegal gambling business, which carries a maximum ...

UPDATED : A Staten Island man who died at Rikers Island last November under what his family considers questionable circumstances is the son of a powerful chief of the Luchese crime family's Brooklyn faction. John Castelle aka John Castellucci. "He uses two different names. That's his son on the right, Eugene Sonny Castelle." Rikers, New York City's main jail complex, sits on a 413.17-acre island on the East River (between Queens and the Bronx). The jailhouse is one of the world's largest institutions in both the correctional and mental health sectors. Originally only one-fourth its present size, it was artificially expanded via the use of (perhaps fittingly, in this case) ash for landfill. Inmates made up the labor force.

Six members and associates of the Luchese crime family were arrested this past May 26 for running an illegal online gambling operation that allegedly generated $13 million from September 2015 to March 2016. "Boopsie" allegedly ran Luchese gambling operation. The six, who hail from Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, face various charges in a 37-count indictment for running the racket, which enabled bettors to place wages on various professional and collegiate sporting events. All payments were wired to an off-shore location. "These defendants are charged with running a lucrative gambling ring that took in millions of dollars in bets and stretched all the way to Costa Rica," Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson said. "We’ve now shut down this illegal enterprise that was controlled by organized crime and will fully prosecute those who have been indicted.”