Cosa Nostra News

Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano, the underboss who helped John Gotti run the Gambino family, before he helped the FBI take it apart, was sitting in a brown leather chair in his dimly lit social club-type podcast studio preparing to launch into his latest—only this podcast, something very different was about to come out of his mouth. Worked up (about something): Michael Franzese, Patrick Bet-David,  Sammy Gravano. Instead of another riff about this or that gangland hit, Sammy the Bull was pitching a mental-health services platform that connects people with psychotherapists. "Is there something bothering you and giving you anxiety, preventing you from achieving your goal?" the Bull intones in unhurried gruff Brooklynese. (The same voice Gravano used to describe how, one night at Sparks, “shots rang out in the night air" with "people running, screaming, falling, scrambling all over to get away.") "When I got out of prison," the Bull's pitch contin...

A recent Appellate Court ruling granting a requested delay has cleared the path for a new trial for alleged Luchese underboss Steven L. Crea, acting boss Matthew (Matty) Madonna, soldier Christopher Londonio, and associate Terrence Caldwell, who were convicted and sentenced to life in prison for a gangland hit in the Bronx in 2013. Reputed mob associate Meldish was shot dead in the Bronx in 2013. Lawyers for Crea, Madonna, Londonio, and Caldwell filed the joint motion last month to request a delay because, the lawyers say, they found new evidence containing Brady, Giglio, or Rule 16 material—which has to do with the disclosure of exculpatory and impeachment evidence—which they will use in a motion seeking a new trial. The Rule 33 motion was to be filed in U.S. District Court in White Plains, the same courthouse where Crea, Madonna, Londonio, and Caldwell stood trial in 2019 for the murder of alleged Luchese associate Michael Meldish . Crea and his three co-defendants were convicted on ...

If certain words are music to a street guy's ears ("Yes, I got your money"—"Do you know why you're here?"), then others are most definitely not. "I gotta throw you under the bus ." You don't even have to be in the mob to hear that one and not like it. Former Luchese wiseguy John Pennisi on one of many podcasts you can see him in. Anthony (Little Anthony) Caponigro, a Bonanno associate at the time, told John Pennisi, a former Luchese wiseguy, that he had to throw him under the bus after Caponigro talked out of school and backed himself into a corner. Or that is how John tells it in one of his SitdownNews podcasts.  That's right, star wiseguy witness John Pennisi, who testified at three major trials and about whom we've written a multi-part series , has launched a podcast that leverages his SitdownNews blog, where he offers a steady stream of peeks behind the curtain at goings-on in the Luchese family—as well as other crime families. Penn...

Does the old saying "All's fair in love and war" still apply when the romance in question involves a wiseguy? Birthday boy: Joey Amato, Colombo capo. Picture courtesy of Sitdown News blog... While we can’t definitively answer that question, we can tell you about one particular wiseguy who turned the game of love into a war that he sought to win using decidedly unfair means—and in the process got himself, his crew, and others indicted. It  all began (ended, technically, but for our purposes, we'll stick with began) in October 2019 when three indictments were unsealed in Federal court in Brooklyn  charging 20 defendants  (of which 11 were members and associates of the Colombo family) with racketeering, extortion, loansharking, stalking, attempted sports bribery, and related offenses.  Among those charged were Joseph Amato, an alleged captain; Daniel Capaldo and Thomas Scorcia, alleged soldiers; and Joseph Amato, Jr. and Anthony Silvestro, alleged associates. This case...

This is  the third round of Q&As. Please email any additional questions or  post them in the comment section of this story. Also, former Luchese wiseguy John Pennisi has started a blog, Sitdown News so be sure and visit.  Former Bonanno wiseguy Dominick (Sonny Black) Napolitano, who was killed probably over the Donnie Brasco investigation, comes up in one of today's questions. Question : I'm Paul from Italy. Do you know something about the active families outside New York (not only the Decavalcante family and Philly)??? John Pennisi: Paul, piacere, I had some dealing with and met a few Ndrangheta I believe they were from Canada. What impressed me with them was we were once in a restaurant and I was brought over to a table where about 12 of their people were sitting. I sat and talked for a while and then went back to my table. When they left in a line from young to old, with their boss being last, they came over to say goodbye. Very disciplined and full of respect. Q:...

The first Q&A with former Luchese wiseguy John Pennisi ...These are the first few questions, followed by John's answers. QUESTION : The prevailing thought on mafia hits is that they no longer happen. The 2013 Meldish rubout was seen as brazen and uncommon and of course Caldwell, Londonio and the entire administration paid dearly for it. However, in John's story there are at least two instances which suggest hits are still a viable option. 1) When Big John tells John two family members are wearing wires John immediately suggests whacking them without hesitation. 2) John eventually walks into the Federal Building when he becomes convinced the Lucchese family was planning to kill him. Michael Meldish's boots were still outside his apartment days after he was killed in 2013. So, my question is - how prevalent are mafia hits? Was the Meldish rubout in 2013 really the only one in modern mafia history (or at least since the mid-2000s)? Or does the mafia still carry out hits bu...

COSA NOSTRA NEWS EXCLUSIVE In April 2013, in a house on Staten Island, acting Luchese boss Matty Madonna inducted John Pennisi and two other Italian American men into the Luchese crime family. Pennisi -- a member of Big John Castellucci's "Brooklyn" crew, which is now based on Staten Island -- was a loyal wiseguy and a hardcore believer in The Life. Luchese bust: Madonna, left, DeNapoli But after a few years as a wiseguy, Pennisi realized that being a member of Big John's crew wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. By 2017, Big John and others started to wrongly suspect him of being a rat. After Pennisi spotted two men sitting in a car suspiciously parked outside his home on Long Island, he knew that the rift between him and his crime family had become insurmountable. Pennisi armed himself and after a couple of close encounters grew increasingly concerned about innocents getting caught in the cross fire. He tried to resolve the "problem" in less letha...