Cosa Nostra News

An assault and battery charge filed last July in Springfield District Court against Anthony (Bingy) Arillotta, the former boss of the Genovese family's outpost in Springfield, Mass., was dismissed. Arillotta's assault case was dismissed. Arillotta (who appears in this week's Johnnie & Gene podcast, see below) was released from prison in 2017 after serving an eight-year stretch for various acts of mob mayhem, including murder and racketeering. Last summer, he was arrested and charged with assault and battery for allegedly hurling a carton of lemonade at a female family member during an argument over the presence of a pet dog (Arillotta is allergic and wanted the dog removed). The woman did not suffer any visible injuries and refused medical treatment. At the time of the arrest, Arillotta was still on federal probation,though reportedly the allegations never rose to the level of posing a violation threat. “It’s over now,” Bingy said after the court hearing e...

The family of James Whitley Bulger, the notorious gangster/snitch murdered almost one year ago allegedly by two men with organized crime ties, will file a $200 million wrongful death claim against the government over the brutal prison house murder in West Virginia last October. Questions remain about Bulger's death. The family said the legal filing was to learn the reasons why the 89-year-old was beaten to death within 24 hours after his arrival in general population at U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton. One of the suspected killers allegedly confessed to murdering Bulger. Bulger was killed in his cell at the notorious Hazelton lockup on Oct. 30, 2018. He died minutes after he suffered “blunt force injuries of the head," according to his death certificate. He was buried in St. Joseph Cemetery in West Roxbury. Hank Brennan, an attorney for Bulger, this week sent a statement to the Wall Street Journal, noting: “We believe that James Bulger was deliberately placed in harm’s ...

FINAL FINISHED VERSION Anthony Arillotta, who’d rise to replace his mentor as boss of the Springfield crew, was well regarded and considered a " capable and promising mobster " by then-Genovese acting boss Arthur Nigro, whom Arillotta began meeting regularly in the Bronx, as per court filings related to Nigro’s appeal. Frankie Roche, left, was gunman who shot Genovese boss Big Al Bruno, right. Loyalty to Nigro "gave me a lot of clout,” Arillotta declared in testimony during one of two trials about his standing in the Genovese crime family’s Springfield crew. “I didn't have to worry ... listen to anyone back in Massachusetts, Springfield. Gave me a lot of power, being direct with Artie. He was the boss. I could go anywhere in the country and I would have a boss that was the actual boss. I would belong to him, direct." Arillotta—who would boss a crew of murderers, drug dealers, loan sharks, and robbers—was inducted into the Genovese family by Nigro...

 FINAL One of the most notorious gangster/snitches of the 20th century, James (Whitey) Bulger, who was found beaten to death inside a West Virginia prison last October, no longer wanted to live -- and that is what led to his doomed transfer from a Florida "safe haven." And that's basically all there is to it, says Charles Lockett, the Florida penitentiary’s former warden, who retired in December. That's according to a recent  interview with NBC News. We can add tidbits from that interview to the vast repository of knowledge about Whitey Bulger's murder that's been accumulating since the October 30 event. We also can add Bulger's death certificate, which was recently made public -- and which disagrees with what the medical examiner reported. What else did we recently learn? At least one of the three key suspects remains in solitary confinement. But six months into the murder, and much remains unknown. Federal officials still haven't charged ...

Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger’s attorney, Hank Brennan, told the WSJ that he intends to sue the government for wrongful death and negligence. The lawsuit is part of his effort to uncover why the authorities sent the notorious gangster to the U.S. Penitentiary Hazelton in West Virginia and placed him in with the general population. Brennan will file the lawsuit on behalf of Bulger’s estate. “It’s important for the family and the public to know why the prisons decided to wheel an 89-year-old man with a history of heart attacks into one of the most dangerous prisons in the country,” Brennan told the WSJ. Brennan has represented Bulger since 2011, when he was captured after 16 years on the lam. He defended the longtime FBI informant at the 2013 trial that found the Irish mob boss guilty of committing a range of crimes, including multiple murders, extortion, money-laundering and drug-dealing from the 1970s to the mid-1990s. A BOP spokesperson said that Bul...

A second suspect has emerged in the killing of James (Whitey) Bulger -- Paul J. DeCologero, a member of a violent Patriarca crime family crew in Boston that robbed and kidnapped rivals, and murdered and dismembered a teenage girl. Paul J. DeCologero. More details in the Whitey Bulger murder Tuesday morning at Hazelton federal penitentiary in West Virginia also have come to light -- and Fotios “Freddy” Geas confessed to committing the brutal murder by himself. Law enforcement sources say suspect Paul J. DeCologero also participated in the vicious murder of Whitey Bulger, according to the Boston Globe . DeCologero is serving a 25-year sentence for racketeering and conspiracy. (Some Boston officials believe prison guards allowed the inmates to attack Bulger.) Law enforcement officials “with knowledge of the matter” said that DeCologero and Geas attacked Bulger less than 12 hours after he arrived at the prison. The two men allegedly beat Bulger to dea...

UPDATED If they weren't trying to gouge out his eyes, they definitely tried to cut out his tongue. That's the latest news from a federal source speaking on condition of anonymity. Freddy Geas at 2003 trial. The attackers who killed notorious mob boss/FBI informant James "Whitey" Bulger at a West Virginia federal prison tried to cut his tongue off, a federal law enforcement official said. Bulger, 89, was beaten beyond recognition in the fatal attack Tuesday, one day after he was transferred there from another facility. Officials have said that federal investigators are eyeing several potential suspects in the murder, including Fotios “Freddy” Geas who is currently in solitary The New York Times reported that "At least two inmates were quickly sent to solitary confinement after Mr. Bulger was found, according to three employees of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, who requested anonymity because the investigation was not public. Mr. Geas wa...

Fotios “Freddy” Geas may have "played an integral role" in the killing of James (Whitey Bulger) one of America’s most notorious gangsters, the Boston Globe is reporting. Freddy Geas suspect in Bulger slay. Geas, who is serving a life sentence in USP Hazelton, reportedly did not dispute his role in Bulger’s slaying, the Globe reports. Anthony (Bingy) Arillotta flipped on Freddy  Geas, his brother, and a former Genovese boss  for the 2003 hit on Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno, who had been the boss of the Genovese crime family's Springfield crew . “Freddy hated rats,” private investigator Ted McDonough told the Globe. “Freddy hated guys who abused women. Whitey was a rat who killed women. It’s probably that simple.” Geas, Genovese boss Arthur “Artie” Nigro, and Fotios's brother Ty Geas were tried and convicted for the murder. Bulger -- who is wheelchair bound -- was in general population Tuesday morning when he was reportedly approached by thr...