Cosa Nostra News

Gerard (Skeevy) Bellafiore, 49, a former Colombo associate known for illicitly withdrawing -- robbing -- millions from banks , died this past July under "somewhat" mysterious circumstances, as per Gang Land News. Skeevy does his thing. "Cardiopulmonary arrest" was the recorded cause of death, as per a court filing by Miami Federal Detention Center warden Gio Ramirez. Bellafiore died July 5 at Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he'd been transferred several months prior to his death, for undisclosed ailments. But, as Gang Land reports, eight weeks later, the Miami Medical Examiner's Office still has yet to release an official explanation regarding what specifically caused Bellafiore's death. In July 016, Bellafiore was wearing a mask and hefting a customized gaff hook--a large handled hook used to gut fish-- while attempting to rob a night-deposit box at Chase Bank on U-S 1 in Jensen Beach. A Martin County sheriff’s deputy arrived in re...

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...

Alleged Colombo crime family soldier Angelo Spata (pictured) was among the 100-plus mobsters arrested in the big 2011 bust known as  Mafia Takedown Day .  Angelo Spata does a Carlo Gambino grin for media. (I used Spata's photograph in a story once, without knowing much about him. This led to an interesting conversation with Michael DiLeonardo. If you're interested in the backstory, you can read it  here in the original version  of this story published in early summer 2016. ) Angelo Spata was an up and coming member of the Colombo crime family because, some might say, he married well. Through marriage, he became a somebody, specifically, a Persico... Blatant nepotism may be frowned upon in the workplace, but it's alive and well in Cosa Nostra, and arguably has never been more important to the remaining Mafia presence in the USA (for better or worse). When Angelo started out as a mob associate, he was with the Gambino crime family, along ...

Filming for The Life and Death of John Gotti, starring John Travolta , reportedly started this month, with the first scene shot on Stone Barn Road in Indian Hill, Fox19 reported . Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, plays Gotti's wife in the film. Kevin Connolly, who portrays manager Eric Murphy on Entourage, is directing the film, which has been on and off for years.  John Travolta as John Gotti. As for the surprise filming in Ohio, the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Film Commission has stated that filmmakers are taking advantage of Ohio's revised motion picture tax credit, which reimburses filmmakers for certain expenses.

Steve Bouye recently retired from his post as a decorated corrections officer who worked at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta. The father of Houston Texans cornerback A.J. Bouye served in that role for 25 years. Nicky Scarfo walks out of El Paso, Texas prison in 1984. In a recent interview with The Chronicle , he noted that he'd guarded, as well as transported, two mob bosses : Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo and John A. "Junior" Gotti, among a host of high-profile celebrity criminals, including former Alabama governor Don Siegelman and former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick. "I've seen a lot of things working at the prison, a lot of guys who went down the wrong path," Steve Bouye told the Chronicle. "There wasn't too much room for people like John Gotti to get into more trouble. It was a tough job that I worked hard at and always did my best." Scarfo, 87, who is serving a prison sentence not slated to end until ...

A Martin County Sheriff's Deputy with 13 years of experience shot a bank burglar early last Monday morning in Florida. The robber, Gerard Bellafiore, 47, has more experience at his job -- robbing banks using an improvised fish hook -- than the deputy does enforcing the law. He's been robbing banks since around the early 1980s, working back then with former mobsters such as Chris Paciello and James "Jimmy" Calandra. Surveillance photos of Bellafiore at work before being shot multiple times. A Mafia member told Cosa Nostra News that Bellafiore at one time had ties to a Colombo mobster. "He was associated through default to (Vincent) Chikie DeMartino," said the source, noting that DeMartino spells his nickname that way, not  as others spell it . DeMartino, he added, "was one of the leading shooters on the (Vittorio "Little Vic") Orena side," as well as "one of the most dangerous guys on the street during the Colombo w...

Cosa Nostra News Exclusive First, the following  string of comments is from a previous story ; this is simply to set  this  story's backdrop. Comments are highlighted in yellow to signify their pending significance. ( The comments are no longer following, technically. To make the story easier to read I placed them on another page, but we'll get to that. ) Angelo Spata does a Carlo Gambino grin for media. The comments, edited for clarity and space, offer several revelations: 1.) Former Gambino crime family captain  Michael "Mikie Scars" DiLeonardo wasn't involved in that blog story or the related discussion until "several" commenters blasted him. (The quotes around several are because the various names used were actually one person; this person seemed to have a strong proclivity to defend Angelo "Little Angelo" Spata.) However, since the commenter said nothing substantial to indicate he possessed special knowledge, he may have bee...