Cosa Nostra News

Nick Christophers wrote the following, which is based on his reporting, research, and interviews with several former associates of organized crime, including former Gambino associates John Alite and Andrew DiDonato, former Outfit scion Frank Calabrese Jr., and ex Colombo associate Kenji Gallo. (More on Nick at the end.) By Nick Christophers  There is a saying that if you take one man out there are two in the wings to replace him and if you take out two there are four in the wings. This may be the case for some situations but when it comes to the life-line of the mafia that theory goes out the window. The once awesome and untouchable traditional mafia has lost its “talent pool” that was at once abundant. It is believed since the fall of John Gotti the mob has went underground and has attempted to stay out of the spotlight and the headlines. Frank Calabrese Sr. on right in surveillance image There are many rumors that they have been recruiting men from Sicily to replenish the ranks ...

John A. Matassa Jr.—a reputed Chicago mob figure and longtime union boss who earlier this year copped to a federal felony charge of embezzlement in an alleged scheme to fraudulently qualify for early retirement benefits— is going to federal prison. Matassa, aka Pudgy, faced sentencing on July 22, more than two years after a 10-count federal indictment slapped him in the nads. His defense had been that the U.S. Department of Labor had targeted him, a viewpoint that didn't hold much water in the view of the judge. In court recently, the two butted heads when Matassa stood before the judge and said,“ The only reason I’m standing here today is because my name is John Matassa .” The judge retorted with: “ You pled guilty to a felony to avoid going to trial. That’s why you’re here right now. Not because your name is John Matassa .”) The case stemmed from Matassa’s job as the secretary-treasurer of the Independent Union of Amalgamated Workers Local 711. While his plea a...

"I have to help you keep this sick man locked up forever."  --Frank Calabrese Junior Family Secrets trial (source: NPR ) The investigation that decimated the Chicago Outfit began when a letter dated July 27, 1998, reached the FBI's Chicago headquarters. “I am sending you this letter in total confidentiality," it began. "It is very important that you show or talk to nobody about this letter except who you have to. The less people that know I am contacting you the more I can and will help and be able to help you.” The message had been sent from the federal correctional facility in Milan, Michigan. The writer was Frank Calabrese Junior, a son of Frank (Frankie Breeze) Calabrese Senior, an especially vicious member of the Chicago organized crime family known as the Outfit. The letter spawned a seven-year investigation that went back to the 1970s. The original indictment named 14 defendants and included 18 previously unsolved murders; it  culm...

For some, this is old news; for others, it's very old news. For us, it's timeless .... To be “made” in Chicago meant one was 100 percent Italian and had committed at least one murder. The making ceremony was one of the closest-held events in the “ secret organization hidden in the shadows, ” according to the federal government. Getting made entitled one to a greater share of the proceeds from illicit gambling, loans, and street taxes. A Mafia initiation ceremony described in Mario Puzo’s novel the Godfather is “very close” to the truth, according to Frank Calabrese Sr. while speaking to his son in 1999. Both were in prison at the time, only Frank Calabrese Sr. didn't know what his son was truly seeking from him. Frank Calabrese Junior  was wearing a wire as part of a personal quest to keep his homicidal father in prison for the rest of his life. As per that mission, he was cooperating with the FBI against his own father — hence, the significance of t...