Cosa Nostra News

James (Jimmy) LaForte—a strong arm for the Gambino crime family—plead guilty to racketeering conspiracy, Hobbs Act extortion/extortion conspiracy, witness retaliation, and being a felon in possession of a firearm. He made the plea in Brooklyn Federal court last Wednesday before US Magistrate Judge Joseph A. Marutollo. James LaForte. The US Attorney for the Eastern District accused LaForte, who holds the rank of soldier, and nine other Gambino wiseguys and associates of using violent extortion, fraud, theft and embezzlement to infiltrate New York's carting and demolition industries. “These ten Gambino members and associates orchestrated a campaign of violent assaults and property destruction to collect debts and intimidate those employed by competing companies,” said FBI Assistant Director James C. Barnacle, Jr . “Their collective actions terrorized New York residents and businesses to generate an illegal revenue stream.” LaForte, 49, who is currently serving time on another case i...

EXPANDED The relationship between Gambino wiseguys in New York and members of the Sicilian Cosa Nostra is healthier than ever, Italian investigators announced earlier this week following a series of raids in the Sicilian hinterland that netted 11 Mafia members, who allegedly had been working very closely with the New York-based Gambino family. A joint Italian-FBI operation in 2019 focused on the Inzerillos and the Gambinos. “The connection is very much alive — the New York Mafia still takes pride in its cultural roots in Sicily while ties to the US are a strong point for the Sicilians,” General Arturo Guarino, the Palermo Carabinieri commander, said. Members of the Gambino family and members of the Sicilian Inzerillo clan, which was nearly exterminated in the 1980s during a bloody Mafia war , have had longtime historical ties. This week's arrests centered on Mafia members based in the town of Torretta, which is outside Palermo . Italian police have not released much by way of detai...

The man accused of gunning down Francesco (Frankie Boy) Cali — a powerful ranking member of one of the New York Mafia’s Five Families — was indicted for the murder and ordered held without bail at his 10-minute-long arraignment yesterday. Anthony Comello, 24, faces second-degree murder charges and two counts of second-degree criminal weapon possession in the March 13 Hilltop Terrace rub out. Comello, who is being housed in protective custody, pleaded not guilty in state Supreme Court, St. George, on Staten Island and the case is due back in court on May 9. As per law enforcement sources: Comello blasted the alleged Gambino acting boss on Staten Island last month with a 9mm pistol after crashing into the gangster’s Cadillac Escalade SUV (and knocking off Cali’s license plate) to lure him outside. Once Cali was outside, video surveillance reportedly showed the two men talking and then shaking hands. Comello handed Cali his license plate. Cali, apparently sens...

" It is absolutely out of the question that a Sicilian man of honor could become a made member of the American Cosa Nostra  ..."  --Tommaso Buscetta, aka the "boss of two worlds" Tall Pete Inzerillo and Frank Cali Frank Cali, the reputed leader of the Gambino crime family who was shot to death outside his house in Staten Island, allegedly was made acting boss in 2015. Strong factors leading to his ascension were his strong ties to both the Sicilian Mafia and the Calabrian Ndrangheta. His rise also was part of an attempt by the Gambinos to lower the crime family’s profile after John Gotti shot his way to the top in December 1985, according to law enforcement officials. The Brooklyn-born Cali was related by blood to, and married into, Palermo's Inzerillo family and had cultivated close ties with members of the Ndrangheta's Siderno Group, a global drug trafficking network based in the southern Italian town of Siderno in Calabria. In the 1950s, ...

"When I was in New York for a mission, I got to know, personally, John and Joseph Gambino, both of them as initiates of the American Cosa Nostra. So, I came to know their secret joints, their way of thinking and the slang communication of the Sicilian Mafia. Usually, they communicate with just a look, something that is the norm for us in Palermo who grew up with the warning of “muto devi stare”–you need to shut up. In fact, using this system of communication we could hold a meeting even in silence–using just a look and body language passed down by our ancestors. This preferred way of communication by mafiosi, made it possible for me to figure out their messages ahead of time on occasion, some even intercepted from New York." -- Pippo Giordano, A Policeman’s Reflections on Mafia Organizations That Rule in Southern Italy John Gambino flew to Sicily and met Toto Riina face to face in 1983. After John Gotti became the boss of the Gambino crime family in 1986 after the m...

Anthony Comello, the 24-year-old man suspected of gunning down reputed Gambino boss Francesco (Frankie Boy) Cali, is a right-wing conspiracy theorist who was influenced by online hate speech. So claimed his attorney today at a court hearing in New York City. QAnon on the palm.... Attorney Robert Gottlieb also pointed his finger at politicians, including President Donald Trump, and blamed the shooting on Comello being radicalized by the QAnon conspiracy theory "and other rightwing conspiracy websites, hate words that have been spewed by citizens, including politicians, including right at the White House." "Words matter," he said. "Hate words matter." When Comello appeared in court in New Jersey last Monday, he held up the palm of his hands to showcase handwritten pro-Trump slogans including "MAGA Forever,” “United We Stand MAGA," and "Patriots In Charge." In the center of his palm, he had drawn a large Q for the QAnon c...

Francesco (Frank) Cali was the kind of mobster who wasn't  supposed to exist anymore: Old school, shunning even the telephone; not prone to violence, meaning he wasn't buffered by the fear factor created by bosses like John Gotti. Francesco (Frank) Cali In fact, Cali reached capo at such a relatively young age (in his 30s) that it rankled some Gambino wiseguys, and caused at least one to refer to him derisively during a wiretapped phone call. On another wiretapped call, however, a gangster speaking in Italian seemed to pay Cali the ultimate complement by referring to him as " tutto quanto"  or "everything." The New York mobster with Sicilian blood had been arrested and convicted only once. Amazingly, he wasn't brought down after mistakenly allowing a confidential informant into his inner circle. Cali, a reputed leader of the Gambino crime family, was shot to death outside his house in Staten Island in a killing that echoed Mafia murders o...

UPDATED: The Daily News asked Anthony Comello, 24, the man suspected of gunning down alleged Gambino boss Frank Cali last week, some questions in a very brief jailhouse interview yesterday conducted via video system. What Comello said pretty much seems to confirm what we were initially told about him: that he is batsh*t crazy. Comello—who once tried to make a citizen’s arrest of Mayor de Blasio (prompting a discussion we had with Mikie Scars about whether Comello would’ve shot de Blasio had he not erupted first against Cali)—told Daily News reporters Liz Keogh and John Annese that “You shouldn’t believe in stories. Don’t believe in fairy tales.” When asked if that meant he didn’t do the shooting, Comello responded, “I don’t need to clear my name. Have a good night. Be careful going home.” Before shutting off the video, Comello also had told the News: "I can’t talk to no press. I can’t.” We'll enjoy writing this mthfcker's obituary. That's stunningly non-objective....