Cosa Nostra News

"I’d like find out what he says about John Alite. I just don't know what to think as there's so many contradictory opinions on him; it'd be nice hear his thoughts and input." This story focuses on Anthony Ruggiano Jr., John Alite, and John Junior....The next installment will address multiple comments.... Anthony Junior, back to us in middle, Junior, left, Skinny Dom, right. When John Alite played Little League, his coach was Albert Ruggiano, the younger brother of Anthony Junior, though the Ruggiano-Alite relationship went back another generation, Anthony Junior recently told us. Anthony Junior, 66, didn't pop up out of nowhere, actually. A longtime Gambino associate (he came close, so damn close to being made! ), he defected in 2006 and testified in several trials against mobsters including Gambino capo Dominick (Skinny Dom) Pizzonia and powerful Gambino boss Bartolomeo (Bobby Glasses) Vernace, and Gambino wiseguy Charles Carneglia. He also gave...

"John (Travolta) was great, but it wasn’t perfect because nobody could have gotten it perfect. John did a better job than Armand Assante [in the 1996 film “Gotti”], and Armand did a good job." ---John Junior Gotti, who is not one to mince words...nor hedge bets... John Travolta dons the white suit and does the Saturday Night Fever thing..... "I’d rather wake up next to a severed horse head than ever watch “Gotti” again," began a recent memorable  New York Post review of the long-gestating gangster revisionist biopic, Gotti. The reviewer added: "The finished product belongs in a cement bucket at the bottom of the river." And he called it the "worst movie of the year so far." In the years -- eight, in total -- it took to make this film, four directors passed on the project, which had a grand total of 44 producers. Kevin Connolly, the fifth and final, helmed the film, which premiered Friday night. So we can blame him. Co...

John Gotti, who died in 2002 , lives on. (He obviously lives on in the memories of his loved ones and those who knew him; then there's the friends and loved ones of those no longer here because of Gotti to remember.) The onetime Teflon Don found immortality of a sort in the mass media. Gotti with his lawyer, Bruce Cutler. (Cutler looking at anything in particular?) For decades, his presence has abounded in videos, films, books, magazines, newspapers -- and, yes, blogs. Then there's the work of Jerry Capeci of Gang Land News. Capeci and silent partner Gene Mustain have written the only Gotti books you need to read: Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti and Gotti: Rise and Fall . John Gotti is an especially hot topic as we transition into 2018. Stimulating some recent discourse is the long-gestating topic of  the Gotti biopic starring John Travolta as the Dapper Don. It was close to its theatrical run when it was pulled -- and sold back to the production co...

Today is a day of miracles.....We Christians believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead. (Which reminds me, to all my readers (and supporters): Happy Easter! Enjoy this or whatever holiday you celebrate this time of year.) I'm absolutely flabbergasted by something I read this morning. I  John A. Gotti, aka "Junior" Gotti, the former mob boss said something of interest -- finally. He discussed associates, sitdowns and Mafia protocol.

John Alite recently took to the podium at Las Vegas's Mob Museum , the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement. He offered an Author Talk spotlighted on his collaboration with acclaimed Philadelphia-based journalist George Anastasia , who wrote  Gotti’s Rules: The Story of John Alite, Junior Gotti and the Demise of the American Mafia . In an even, somber tone, he voiced his experiences and perceptions as an associate of the Gambino crime family during John Gotti's reign. John Alite speaks at the Las Vegas Mob Museum. Alite's presentation was provided free of charge with museum admission (and for museum members). A video of the presentation can be viewed on this story's jump page.

In 1995, a member of the Gambino crime family plotted the violent murder of John Alite and anybody in the car with him, according to a former Gambino associate directly involved in the conspiracy who was going to be one of the shooters. Alite was marked for death. Stephen Newell, about whom we've previously written, told us the  hit was to be staged  at a towing company/auto-body shop in Queens at the intersection of Crossbay Boulevard and Redding Street.  Alite would pull up in his car to meet someone -- and two men would open fire from a passing van. One of the gunmen, arrested on an unrelated charge, revealed the plot, prompting the FBI to visit Alite with a warning.   This is only one such plot; there were others.  W e caught up with Stephen Newell a few weeks ago. He'd seen our story  and had some corrections and amendments. Newell is an interesting person. He is mentioned in both Gotti's Rules: The Story of John Alite, Juni...

George Anastasia, author of   Gotti's Rules The Story Behind Gotti’s Rules - Jersey Man : George Anastasia got a telephone call from John Alite nearly two years ago, setting in motion the writing of the book Gotti's Rules: The Story of John Alite, Junior Gotti, and the Demise of the American Mafia . At the time, Anastasia knew some of Alite's background, including that he was a Queens-based associate of the Gambino crime family, first under John J. Gotti and then under John A. “Junior” Gotti. Also, Anastasia knew that "he had a reputation for violence that was off the charts. And he had ultimately cut a deal with the government and became a cooperating witness." In an article on the Jersey Man website , Anastasia tells the story of the writing of the book.

REVISED SLIGHTLY: A preview video, from John A. "Junior" Gotti's website , refers to the 302 "proffer memo" released in George Anastasia's Gotti's Rules: The Story of John Alite, Junior Gotti, and the Demise of the American Mafia (now available in the UK) as well as charges made by Gotti and his attorney previously regarding an FBI agent. Gotti is discussing the 302 in reference to a larger effort to discover who was behind an alleged "Get Gotti" campaign supposedly run by an FBI agent. Peter Lance writes about the campaign in the book's forward . This is the second preview video. In the first video  Junior discussed his reasons for writing his book, Shadow of My Father .

John Alite, left, George Anastasia at Free Library event last night. PhillyVoice : "George Anastasia, nationally renowned crime reporter, author and Philadelphia Inquirer writer, will make an appearance at the Free Library on Tuesday, Feb. 24. He will be reading from his new book, " Gotti's Rules: The Story of John Alite, Junior Gotti, and the Demise of the American Mafia ." "Gotti's Rules," which was released last month by Harper Collins, goes behind the scenes of New York City's Gambino crime family from the point of view of the man who betrayed them, John Alite . Alite was a hit-man who later testified against close friend Junior Gotti. "In his book, Anastasia uses FBI documentation and interviews to construct the story of John A. Gotti's rise to notoriety and how Junior later filled his big shoes.

EXCLUSIVE:   Gotti's Rules : The Story of John Alite, Junior Gotti, and the Demise of the American Mafia  by George Anastasia, available tomorrow, will quote and include a five-page 302 that resulted from John Gotti Junior's "proffer session" with federal authorities. This is according to an emailed excerpt from the book. The book reveals for the first time the existence of a 302 transcript of John Gotti Junior's 2005 proffer session. The meeting occurred at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in lower Manhattan on January 18, 2005. The 302, never before revealed to the public, is solid evidence that, despite all Junior's denials, he and two of his defense attorneys met with federal prosecutors and FBI agents. As noted in the previous story , Jerry Capeci first broke news of Junior’s attempt to cooperate. But the 302s go even further in terms of the extent of information Junior gave up. One of the more shocking revelations to emerge from the memo is t...

Cover of new book by John Gotti Jr. He did live in his father's shadow. So this is what happened to the movie . John Gotti Jr.'s new memoir may beat George Anastasia's Gotti's Rules to market, but we know the respected Philadelphia-based newspaperman will provide a more objective inside account about the legendary Gambino boss than could any son writing about his father....So we take with a grain of salt Lance's charge below that Anastasia's book is "based almost entirely on the word of disgraced federal witness John Alite ." See what Amazon says of the book Gotti's Rules: From the New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Honor and The Last Gangster—“one of the most respected crime reporters in the country” (60 Minutes)—comes the sure to be headline-making inside story of the Gotti and Gambino families, told from the unique viewpoint of notorious mob hit-man John Alite, a close associate of Junior Gotti who later testified aga...