Cosa Nostra News

UPDATE 2 NEW PHOTO BELOW WE HAVE NEW INFO TK TOO Just a few stray thoughts here... First off, if you threaten a guy and set his car on fire, don't do it in front of his security camera, or you might get arrested. And when you're actually lighting that fire, try to avoid setting yourself on fire in the process. Also, don't frequent high-profile mob trials -- but if you do anyway, at least try to avoid getting your photograph taken with the alleged boss of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra... Joseph Merlino and alleged wiseguy Peter Tuccio walk together. That's this week's lesson, as learned by two alleged mobsters with ties to the Gambino crime family -- one of whom, above, doesn't appear old enough to grow facial hair. (Three wiseguys were involved actually; one of them copped out in 2016.) The New York City Fire Department’s Bureau of Fire Investigation also played a role in this case, which makes sense, considering... . A small business o...

The most amazing thing about FBI Special Agent Michael R. McGowan (retired) is not that he is the first -- and so far only -- undercover FBI agent to infiltrate three crime families. Mike McGowan Nor that he has infiltrated Russian crime groups, Mexican drug cartels, and outlaw motorcycle clubs, nor gone undercover to nab criminals of a multitude of stripes, from contract murderers to corrupt politicians. It's not even that he won recognition from the highest levels of the FBI and the Department of Justice for completing some of the most daring and deadly assignments in recent memory. What bedazzles us most of all about  Mike McGowan is that he did all those things while sporting the same gigantic walrus mustache he sports even now (see it, up above?). "That was a little flipoff to the bad guys," he told us recently in a telephone interview. Both the mustache and its owner have been prominently mentioned in recordings of discussions among so...

Judgement Day is coming -- and such an inconsequential one, reputed sitting Cosa Nostra boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino probably never saw it coming. Still you never know what's waiting round the corner... Merlino, husband and wife, at January trial in Manhattan. He will be sentenced on October 17 for his role in the East Coast LCN Enterprise case. The guidelines call for a one- to two-year stretch in the can -- a skidbid for Merlino. (" You don't even take your socks off  "  for them, as Gambino capo Michael DiLeonardo once told Intelligent Talk radio show host Ralph W. McElvenny on City World Radio). The alleged sitting boss of the Philadelphia Mafia has faced life sentences. Last Friday, Merlino’s defense attorney asked US District Court Judge Richard J. Sullivan to seal two letters from Merlino's Boca Raton, Florida, cardiologist. Defense attorney Edwin J. Jacobs Jr. of Atlantic City noted that the letter from the cardiologist contains “p...

On Thursday ( July 19), in Manhattan Federal Court, alleged Genovese capo Eugene (Rooster) Onofrio, 76, was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for loan sharking. The wiseguy, 76, was only trying to relive the glory days, his lawyer had argued.  The loansharking was an attempt--- a not very bright one, at that ---to relive his glory days, his lawyer sought to argue Thursday. Onofrio was arrested in 2016, one of the 46 alleged members of the Genovese, Gambino, Luchese, Bonanno, and Philadelphia crime families indicted for operating a so-called "East Coast LCN Enterprise," as the Fed's named it. Onofrio also pleaded guilty to hustling untaxed cigarettes. Onofrio was caught in a 2014 secretly recorded conversation discussing how to collect an interest payment of $600 on a $30,000 loan. “What do I got to do with him?” Onofrio, of East Haven, Conn., asked. "Do you have to take his eyes out? But hey, those threats were all talk, Onofrio’s attorney,...

Alleged Philadelphia Cosa Nostra boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino , after pleading guilty to an illegal betting charge last Friday, made a prediction about his hometown team's NBA playoffs. On Jan. 31, 2018, Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino enters federal court in New York. (SOURCE) Merlino, a degenerate gambler, as per his own attorney , told reporters outside Manhattan federal court that the Philadelphia 76ers were his pick to win the championship. (Gamblers may want to pay heed to Merlino's sports soundbites.... Before the February mistrial, Merlino had predicted, successfully, that the case would end in a "deadlock win" for him. He also offered what turned out to be a winning tip on the Super Bowl: "Oh, and bet the Eagles .") Merlino also discussed Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill's recent release from prison, saying, "I'm glad he's at home with his family where he belongs." Rolling Stone recently thumbnailed...

Manhattan prosecutors reportedly angered a judge yesterday by allowing Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino to plead to a gambling charge. Skinny Joey Merlino an d wife, Deborah  at Manhattan Federal Court for racketeering trial on Jan. 31, 2018. They essentially abandoned a years-long effort to convict him of racketeering, health care fraud, loan-sharking, and other counts. And the judge isn't happy about it, as he made clear yesterday, April 27, 2018. In February, Merlino beat the raps when a jury deadlocked, leading to a mistrial. Since then, Manhattan federal prosecutors decided against trying the alleged Philadelphia Cosa Nostra boss again . Judge Richard Sullivan showed his animosity by asking prosecutors why they allowed him to plea to a charge that carries a two-year maximum sentence. "In my experience prosecutors will try the case again. What makes this case exceptional?" Sullivan asked Assistant U.S. Attorney Max Nicholas. ...

One of the prosecutors who put Little Nicky Scarfo away for life is running for Congress and highlighting his role in locking up the notorious Cosa Nostra boss as a key part of his electioneering platform. Little Nicky Scarfo in 1982. Nicodemo Domenic (Little Nicky) Scarfo (March 8, 1929 – January 13, 2017) became the boss of the Philadelphia crime family after the murders of Angelo Bruno, then Phil Testa. Scarfo was often described as psychotic, cruel, vicious, and most certainly homicidal, wanting murdered anyone who exhibited even the slightest sign of disrespect toward him. Looking him in the eyes could've been a death sentence. Joe Peters is among three Republicans running to be Congressman for Pennsylvania's Eighth Congressional District, which will have a new representative in 2019 because of the new congressional map ordered by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The seat will be open because its current representative, Tom Marino, is runni...

Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino, the alleged Boca Raton-based boss of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra, has inked a plea deal weeks after his racketeering trial ended with a hung jury. Merlino has made refusing plea deals a badge of honor. In a filing this week, the judge who presided over the case said the government and lawyers for Merlino had reached a plea deal, the Associated Press reported. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Merlino’s hearing on the plea is scheduled for April 27. This case would be the first time Merlino has plead guilty to a crime. Merlino has made going to trial and refusing plea deals a badge of honor. Merlino, 55, moved to Boca Raton when he was released from federal prison in 2011 after serving most of a 14-year sentence for racketeering, extortion and illegal gambling. He's insisted he'd retired from any illegal activity he may have been involved in. He opened a Boca restaurant that bore his name and hung around th...

Despite indications that they have a fighting chance at winning, prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office seem to want to throw in the towel and end a long-running case against alleged Philadelphia boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino, who was rounded up with dozens of other wiseguys in August 2016 as per  the East Coast LCN Enterprise case . Joseph Merlino Merlino, though he had no idea til afterward, barely escaped the handcuffs last month, when the judge finally ordered a mistrial. He narrowly avoided getting convicted on fraud and gambling charges, with the jury "deadlocked 10-2 for conviction on the health care scam and 9-3 for conviction on the illegal gambling charges."as Gang Land News (GLN) reported. Merlino won support on the racketeering charge, with jurors evenly split. It could be jurors didn't believe the turncoat testimony, though the case had additional problems. Then, the Fed's showed their hand. They gave Skinny Joey...

The Philadelphia Cosa Nostra, at its zenith under Angelo Bruno, was a massive criminal empire in every sense of the word . Skinny Joey awaits word about possible retrial in Manhattan federal court. The crime family stretched far beyond the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's largest city, the sixth-most populous in the United States. Philadelphia, the economic (and cultural) heart of the Delaware Valley, is located along the lower Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, within both the Mid-Atlantic region and the Northeast megalopolis. The "Bruno family" dominated the underworld throughout and beyond, for a time spilling into New Jersey and Boston, and as far away as Las Vegas to the west, Florida to the south, and overseas, in England. The crime family wielded immense influence over (at least) four labor unions in the Delaware Valley alone. It ran the city’s largest illegal gambling operations and was a de-facto "bank" that lent money to smaller gambling s...