Cosa Nostra News

The FBI didn't exactly hit a home run when it opened a social club in Florida as part of Operation Coldwater, which ran from 1979 to 1981 and was an attempt to infiltrate Santo Trafficante's reach into Florida's Gulf Coast. The Portofino "social club" that opened in Brooklyn in the 1990s. While the book Donnie Brasco portrays it as a success that resulted in the 1986 indictment of Trafficant, the FBI's long-simmering effort ultimately came up short: the longtime Godfather of the Sunshine State was acquitted after Frank Ragano, the Mafioso's crafty lawyer, found a gap in the FBI's case. The Feds had better luck when they pulled a similar sting in New York in the 1990s. Code-named Second Gear, the elaborate four-year operation by the FBI's New York Hijacking Squad included a bona fide social club (secretly owned and operated -- and wired for audio -- by the FBI) and focused on disrupting the Gambino family's Northeast hijacking operat...

Andrew DiDonato 's downfall was already under way before he even realized it. But he knew without a doubt that his boss and cohorts were sizing him for a body bag. Experience taught Andrew how to find the traps. This was a skill quickly cultivated by Mafia associates who planned on living a long life, especially associates who took to the life with DiDonato's vigor. Former Gambino associate Andrew DiDonato. Ultimately, Andrew never killed anyone. To this day he is thankful that he never crossed that line. Andrew's book (written with true-crime writer Dennis N. Griffin , Surviving the Mob: A Street Soldier's Life in the Gambino Crime Family ) is dense with details of his many years on the street as a Gambino associate in the crew run by capo Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo. DiDonato made enemies out of major leaders in two crime families (in the end, three, including his own) during his years on the street. He once shot another man point blank in the head...

Andrew DiDonato Andrew DiDonato 's downfall was well under way when he suddenly realized his boss and cohorts were sizing him up for a body bag. Andrew was a shrewd character and his experience had taught him where the traps where. This was a skill acquired quickly by Mafia associates who plan on living a long life -- or at least associates who took to the life with DiDonato's vigor. He was a cowboy: an earner and a shooter. It is only by the grace of God he hasn't killed anyone. Andrew is very much aware of this and thanks God to this day that he never crossed that line. Andrew's book (written with noted true-crime writer Dennis N. Griffin ),  Surviving the Mob: A Street Soldier's Life in the Gambino Crime Family , is dense with details of Andrew's years on the street as a Gambino associate who was a member of  the crew overseen by capo Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo .