Cosa Nostra News

Investigators mentioned three crime families in filings -- the Gambino, Genovese, and Philadelphia crime families. The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board voted unanimously Wednesday (November 28) to reject a hearing examiner's recommendation that state investigators had failed to prove conclusively that Lombardi's owner Michael Giammarino, above, was unfit to work in a casino. Law enforcement officials alleged that the Mafia was attempting to infiltrate Pennsylvania casinos through Lombardi's, which was founded in New York's Little Italy in 1905 and has credible claims to being America's first pizzeria. Giammarino plans to appeal the decision, though he seems to face an uphill battle. "The bottom line is that the investigative and prosecutorial arm of the board failed to establish a single fact which might indicate that Michael Giammarino has done anything wrong in connection with his efforts to establish a Lombardi's at Parx," Giammarino...

Old timer faces harsh violation. REVISED, CORRECTED: A Bonanno wiseguy pushing 82 who claimed he was retired from Cosa Nostra life was still sentenced to two years in prison for hanging out with his old pals. Joseph "Joe Desi" DeSimone, (not Anthony, as was mistakenly written) is a capo in the Queens faction who formerly worked under Phillip Giaccone. DeSimone was allegedly involved in the 1981 slayings of capos Giaccone, Dominick Trinchera and Alphonse Indelicato. Joseph was known to have been active in loansharking and extortion. DeSimone recently finished 12 years in prison for a mob hit, and his defense attorney had hoped for a wristslap four-month sentence. Brooklyn federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis wasn't having it.

"Little Anthony" Anthony “Little Anthony” Pipitone was initially given a two-year sentence, twice as much time as his two pals got for violating the terms of their parole by attending the Bonanno crime family's holiday shindig last December. The reason his time was doubled apparently was due to his "stupidity," though newspaper reports don't clarify whether the judge meant that Pipitone alone was stupid or if he was simply twice as stupid as the other two. On March 30, news reports noted that a Brooklyn federal judge agreed to re-sentence one of the three Bonanno mobsters violated for attending the holiday bash.