Cosa Nostra News

The following by Nick Christophers tells the story of the relationship between William (Wild Bill) Cutolo and his son (and a wiseguy-in-progress)--as well as the the larger (and fatally consequential) story of the relationship between the two Cutolos and the Colombo crime family. William (Wild Bill) Cutolo Wild Bill was the underboss of the Colombo crime family. He was also a labor racketeer, among other things--including a father and husband who suddenly and mysteriously disappeared. He was last seen near Shore Road and 92nd Street in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, on May 26, 1999. He was 49. Cutolo's whereabouts remained unknown for nearly a decade, until 2008, when an informant tipped off Federal agents about where he was buried.   We've detailed the story of Wild Bill multiple times -- now, we'll let Nick tell it ..... Nick's story is jampacked with vivid detail that poignantly depicts, among other things, how Bill Jr. slowly came to the realization that something truly ...

COSA NOSTRA NEWS EXCLUSIVE Former Colombo street boss Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli , 67, is seeking to get out of prison about four years early because of the COVID-19 public health emergency, according to an email sent by the Victim-Witness Coordinator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York, a copy of which was forwarded to Cosa Nostra News today. Tommy Shots arrested. Gioeli was sentenced to 18 years for a 2012 conviction for several racketeering and murder conspiracy charges, and is currently housed at Danbury FCI. His BOP-designated release date is May 2, 2024. (Gioeli had faced 20 years at sentencing, but the judge gave him a break that baffled many law enforcement officials.) The following email is from Lisa Foster, the Victim-Witness Coordinator for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of New York. We're publishing the full contents of the letter (because why not?) We deleted the phone number and access code. Anyone who wants t...

Tommy Shots Gioeli, a one-time street boss of the Colombo crime family, recently hit the jackpot, winning a $250,000 settlement for an August 2013 accident that "knee-capped" him while playing ping-pong behind bars. Tommy Shots nabbed in 2008. But the Feds have other ideas -- they want that money to help cover the $360,000 court-ordered restitution Gioeli owes to a bank and a fur store.  So now Tommy Shots -- about five years away from his release date -- is battling it out with Federal prosecutors, as  Larry McShane reports for The Daily News . Gioeli, acting as his own attorney, filed an 83-page court document from his Connecticut prison cell arguing that the money is his. He wants the restitution order amended based on his limited “level of contribution” to the two heists. Gioeli, citing case law, argued it was “both noteworthy and relevant” that a 2012 ruling found the federal courts lacked the “inherent power” to impose payback as part of...

UPDATED Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli was once an acting boss in the Colombo crime family. For many years he supervised a violent crew of killers. These days, well, you probably couldn't imagine.... Tommy Shots during his arrest for a whole lotta heavy gangland crimes..... During the 1991-93 Colombo war , Gioeli, a staunch ally of of Carmine Persico, alleged imprisoned boss, t hough Junior denies this , and his shooters played a key role in the street battles against the larger Vittorio "Little Vic" Orena faction . After the war, Gioeli rose steadily in the ranks, in large measure due to his ability to serve as a steady link between the Colombo family's two once-warring factions. He was trusted by mobsters who belonged to both the Perisco loyalists and the Orena rebels. His acting capo was Paul “Paulie Guns” Bevacqua , onetime Orena loyalist. Another former member of the rebel faction was  Joel “Joe Waverly” Cacace , who paid Gioeli an historical ...

High-ranking mobster Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli lived on Long Island until his 2012 conviction in Brooklyn federal court. He is probably one of the most powerful mobsters to have lived full-time on Long Island. (Powerful meaning his role as the Colombo crime family's muscle.) A young Dino Calabro, left, with Tommy Shots. He and his wife Maureen raised a family in a modest house in Farmingdale. Tommy Shots' one-time right-hand man, Dino Calabro, moved next door with his family as well. The former Colombo capo later testified against Tommy Shots, who taught him how to kill while also dazzling him with the "glamour" of the Mafia lifestyle, as "Big Dino" said on the stand. "I wanted what (Gioeli) had,” Calabro told Assistant U.S. Attorney James Gatta. “He had the power to get me in the family.” “Tommy Shots” Gioeli was a staunch Persico ally during the 1991–93 war. He ran a crew of shooters who played a key role in the str...

William "Wild Bill" Cutolo (June 6, 1949 – May 26, 1999), a Brooklyn-born mafioso in the Colombo crime family, chose the wrong side in the third Colombo war. Wild Bill was knocked off after being named Colombo Underboss. The war, the last time a crime family split into two major factions and engaged in a years-long street way, began when acting boss Vic Orena decided he wanted to take over the family from jailed-for-life boss Carmine "The Snake" Persico. It's been said that none other than the Dapper Don, John Gotti himself, had whispered into Vic's ear to take it, take control of it; in addition to flattering Orena as was the Gotti style, the Gambino boss also was seeking to strengthen his hand at Commission meetings. As for the Colombo family, today in complete disarray, boss Carmine Persico apparently had visions of setting up a Mafia dynasty by making his son, Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico, the boss. The war, which shot ...