Cosa Nostra News

This entry begins with a Gambino family meeting to plan the hit on boss Paul Castellano. In attendance were Gambino players Sammy the Bull, Frankie DeCicco, Joe Watts, John Gotti, Angelo [Ruggiero], Eddie Lino, Fat Sally, Vinnie Artuso, Johnny Carneglia, “Tony Roach,” and Iggy.  John Gotti, left, Frank DeCicco. See previous installments in this series: 1992 Testimony of Gambino Underboss Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano, Part 1 1992 Testimony of Salvatore (Sammy The Bull) Gravano Part 2: Gambino Ceremony, Meeting John Gotti 1992 Testimony of Gambino Underboss Salvatore (Sammy The Bull) Gravano Part 3: Murders 1992 Testimony of Salvatore (Sammy The Bull) Gravano Part 4: Plotting To Kill A Boss The following continues with Sammy the Bull still under direct questioning by John Gleeson, the then Assistant United States Attorney. GLEESON: Was there a meeting to plan the murder?  GRAVANO: Yes, that was the night before we had a serious meeting.  GLEESON: Where was the meeting...

When asked why Gambino wiseguys were unhappy with Paul Castellano , Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano said, "There was a number of reasons that Paul was eventually having a lot of problems with a lot of different people."  THE TARGETS: Tommy Bilotti, left, and Paul Castellano. One of the lesser-known reasons had to do with Castellano's decision to allow the Genovese family to murder Connecticut-based Gambino capo Frank (The Attorney) Piccolo (aka Frankie Lanza), who was once considered one of the top wiseguys in Connecticut. Specifically, in the 1950s, as per state and local law enforcement, Piccolo was one of the two reigning mob powers in the state. The other was Genovese wiseguy Ralph (Whitey) Tropiano. Then, in September 1981, when Piccolo was 58 and awaiting trial for plotting to extort high-profile Las Vegas entertainers Wayne Newton and Lola Falana, his reign reached an abrupt end after  he was gunned down outside a Bridgeport telephone booth.  Piccolo had...

And we continue with the next part of our transcript series on the 1992 testimony of Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano at John Gotti's last racketeering and murder trial, the one in 1992. Salvatore Gravano image from Valuetainment podcast. In December 1990, Gravano was arrested with the Gambino boss, acting consiglieri Frank (Franky Loc) Locascio, and capo Thomas Gambino.   As the trial was about to begin in 1992, Gravano never showed up in court to take his seat alongside his former cohorts at the defense table. They formally learned he had flipped. The centerpiece of the government’s 1992 Gotti-Locascio indictment was the assassination of Gambino boss Paul Castellano, who was slain with his driver/underboss/loyal pitbull Thomas Bilotti on Dec. 16, 1985, in front of the midtown Manhattan steakhouse Sparks. As per his agreement, Gravano agreed to testify and plead guilty to a single count of racketeering, and debrief the Feds about every crime he ever committed. The federal g...

FORMER GAMBINO UNDERBOSS SALVATORE (SAMMY THE BULL) GRAVANO: (We were told) that we weren’t allowed to deal junk, we weren’t allowed to kill with bombs , we weren’t allowed to violate one another’s wives or kids, we weren’t allowed to raise our hands to one another, and they skipped by a few other rules. They told us that you would be placed with a captain, and you’ll eventually be told all the rules .  Was Paul Castellano feeling lazy that day? Montage of John and Sammy pics... Gravano testified for nine days during Gambino boss John Gotti's trial in 1992. Only a year or two prior, in December 1990, Gravano-- along with Gotti and acting consiglieri Frank (Frankie Loc) Locascio-- were arrested at the Ravenite on murder and racketeering charges; Gravano flipped about 10 weeks before the trio was slated to go before the jury. In part two, Sammy the Bull is still under direct questioning by John Gleeson , the then assistant United States attorney ( who would go on to bigger and b...

" Joe Piney was the consigliere, Frankie (Loc) was acting consigliere. " — Sammy the Bull testimony  The 1992 murder and racketeering trial of top Gambino wiseguys John Gotti and Frank Locascio in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York resulted in Gotti's and Locascio's convictions and subsequent lifetime prison sentences. Sammy the Bull testified against John Gotti in 1992. In 2002, Gotti died of head and neck cancer at the federal prison hospital in Springfield, Missouri, at 61, nearly 10 years after he was flown (on an airplane, not his preferred mode of travel) to Marion Federal Penitentiary in Marion, Illinois. In 2020,  Frankie Loc continues trying to wiggle out of this sentence (ironically, with Gravano's assistance), though the effort stalled last month when Brooklyn Federal Judge I. Leo Glasser squashed the compassionate release motion in a 12-page decision that targeted any notion that Frankie Loc was innocent of the murder of Gambin...