Cosa Nostra News

Thomas Hunt is among America's most preeminent mob historians, and anyone interested in anything Cosa Nostra-related should be familiar with his work, and that assortment would include Tom’s blog, his Informer journal, and his books (links to all follow below). We are popping this up belatedly (a mild health issue knocked us out of the game last week, but we’re poised to make up for lost time). Tom also is one of several who blog at The Writers Of Wrongs.com site; Christian Cipollini, about whom we've written , and Patrick Downey, who's written great books, including on Legs Diamond , also blog there. Cover of Informer, with historical story on one of the American mob's founding fathers.... Researchers have long been bothered by the lack of a photograph of Prohibition Era Mafia "boss of bosses" Salvatore Maranzano. But an image of the underworld chief, lost for nearly 88 years, was recently rediscovered. The remarkable find will be featured in an Au...

Genovese wiseguy John Tortora, aka Johnny T -- who was arrested this past August for hiring others to commit   a 21-year-old stabbing murder outside a Yonkers tavern  -- will face new charges in a few days from a superseding indictment. Richard Ortiz was murdered in November 1997 supposedly for stealing from Johnny T's Joker Poker slot machines.... The new charges are for destroying evidence, falsifying records, and obstruction of justice. Geoffrey S. Berman, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the filing of the new indictment on November 14. Tortora will be arraigned on the new charges this Monday, November 19, before the Honorable Sidney H. Stein at the United States Courthouse in Manhattan. Tortora, 61, was previously indicted on charges related to the brutal stabbing death of Richard Ortiz in November 1997. He was arrested on August 2, 2018, and has remained in custody since that time. Berman said:...

John Tortora (Johnny T), an alleged Genovese crime family mobster, was arrested today (August 2) for the 20-year-old cold case murder of a man stabbed multiple times as part of an alleged plot to increase the Genovese crime family's power, said federal authorities . FBI Assistant Director William F. Sweeney Jr. Richard Ortiz, 29, was murdered in Yonkers on November 11, 1997. Tortora was arrested this morning in Yonkers by FBI agents and Yonkers PD detectives. He was to appear later today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel W. Gorenstein at the United States Courthouse in Manhattan. The case has been assigned to United States District Judge Sidney H. Stein. An initial pretrial conference is scheduled for August 14, 2018, at 3:00 p.m., before Judge Stein. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said: “As alleged in the indictment, the defendant was responsible for the stabbing death of Richard Ortiz over 20 years ago. Today, thanks to the remarkable dedication and pers...

COSA NOSTRA NEWS EXCLUSIVE FINAL Michael Persico, son of the infamous reputed mob boss imprisoned for life , was sentenced to five years in prison last week in a proceeding during which he was essentially convicted of a crime for which he was never tried and that he never copped to in a plea agreement. Based on available evidence and this blog's interview with Michael (Mikie Scars) DiLeonardo, a onetime capo from the regime of former Gambino boss John Gotti, Michael Persico, a widower in his sixties who lives with his two daughters, is nothing like the man the judge sought to depict last week . Michael Persico is a mob prince? Desiree Persico, daughter of Alphonse (Allie Boy) Persico (Michael's brother) spoke with us as well. (We will incorporate new information from her remarks later today.) The alleged Colombo associate copped to a loansharking charge back in 2012, but last week a judge in Brooklyn federal court said he was guilty of murder, which had been prov...

UPDATED Alas, how terrible is wisdom when it brings no profit to the man that's wise!  ― Sophocles, Oedipus Rex Michael Persico, who the Feds say is a powerful associate in the Colombo crime family, was sentenced to five years in prison, two more years than prosecutors recommended, last Friday. The judge factored in an uncharged murder when she sentenced him. He was concerned about this happening all along; it is what dragged out his plea agreement for six years.  Michael Persico Persico was sentenced in Brooklyn federal court by Judge Dora Irizarry, who spelled out the reason for the extra time, noting that prosecutors had proved Persico’s role in the 1993 gangland hit by "more than a preponderance of the evidence." The Daily News reported that: "An acting Colombo capo-turned-informant said Persico helped with weapons for the hit and told him someone knew where to find (Orena faction underboss Joseph) Scopo." Prosecutors for years belie...

NOTE: The attorney for  Michael Guidici  contacted me in comments yesterday, as some of you probably noticed, and sent me the minutes of the court proceeding. After reviewing them, I don't find the case compelling enough to cover here. Although Guidici was indicted with Bonanno mobster Vincent Asaro , his case is not mob-related, obviously .... One co-defendant in the so-called East Coast LCN Enterprise case, alleged Genovese capo Eugene (Rooster) Onofrio, wants to be tried separately from Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino. The reputed Genovese capo runs crews in Manhattan's Little Italy and in Springfield, Mass. One of the alleged mobsters arrested last August . Apparently, he has deep concerns that Merlino’s "alleged misconduct could prejudice the jury against him at trial," the Daily News reported , citing court records. Onofrio and Merlino were arrested last August as per United States v. Pasquale Parrello, et al.

REVISED WITH NEW PHOTOS In May, the Sunday New York Times ran a special section profile about a largely unknown Boston gangster with ties to a legendary Cosa Nostra boss. For those of us interested in the mob, this is a good thing.... A young tough guy.... Reporter Dan Barry's lengthy piece detailed the story of Ralph DeMasi, an aging New England mobster who specialized in robbing armored trucks. DeMasi was known as a dedicated family man for whom crime was a 9-to-5 job, with the odd late night occasionally thrown in. Like Gambino capo Joe Piney Armone, in his later years... Both DeMasi and Armone reportedly  NEVER stepped out on their wives. ....  "The police routinely watched him drive off in the morning to lay the groundwork for a planned robbery, then return home in the evening, leaving the carousing to others." “That was not like the other wiseguys I knew,” a former Rhode Island law enforcement official told Barry. “Ralph was all about work....

Last year, the Fed's invited Skinny Joey Merlino to what they said was gonna be one helluva party.   Only now they wanna cancel.   Well, too bad for them, Joey says. Now, he's gonna force them to throw it.  Rather than swallow two years inside Merlino is ready for trial. Bradley Sirkin, one of the East Coast LCN Enterprise case's wild cards, was a former driver for Philadelphia Mafia boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino. He had extensive ties to the Mafia -- was associated with several crime families. He seems to have been one of the key threads running from New York to Florida. This mean anything? He's agreed to a guilty plea in the EasIt Coast-whatever case in Manhattan Federal Court. He also copped in Federal court in Tampa. Sirkin said he committed conspiracy to commit health care fraud in what is viewed as a strong case against him and seven co-defendants (unlike the case in New York). Merlino refused to cop and is seeking to push the Fed...

REVISED Our first version of this story was posted in 2014 to some outrage. I was asked to delete it, etc. I understand the unusual animosity but have stuck to my guns. I wish I could tell you my source for this, but I promised him I wouldn't.  I will add here and now that the Commission boss my source references in the story was none other than John Riggi, boss of the DeCavalcante crime family.  Here's a story about Riggi you should read: John Riggi, Mafia's "Last Legitimate Boss ." Roger Moore in his prime. So the first story was about an excerpt from Roger Moore's memoir that mentioned Frank Sinatra and blasted the notion that he had mob ties. I  posted it and made a new friend... So ironically, thanks to "James Bond," I  got one of my hottest scoops ever. (As for my source, he can contact me anytime he wants. Hope all is well -- thank you so much for the information.) I'm updating and reposting due to Moore's  re...

I could write a story using his information -- I have been doing it that way forever.  Thing is, you can't hear him. I mean him, not the guy being interviewed on television, but the guy himself.... This is a podcast I filmed. It's a voicemail from John Alite, one of three he left me, consecutively while I was attending a birthday party. You can hear the beep cutting him off. In part two, he picks up right where he left off. You will hear parts two and three, as well.John was reacting to a story I'd written. Since I hadn't written anything about John in some time, I wasn't certain what he was reacting to. In time, I realized it was a story I'd promoted on Facebook -- somehow, someone alerted John to the story -- and he was angry after he read it.

Roberto Saviano wrote an acclaimed best seller -- and has lived under severe restrictions ever since.  REVISED In October 2006, precisely 10 years ago yesterday, Roberto Saviano, the award-winning Italian writer who lives under police protection, received the phone call that changed his life. Saviano's widely lauded  Gomorrah  was issued earlier that year in his homeland by Mondadori, one of Italy's top publishing houses. (It wouldn't be available in the U.S. until 2008.) It was the source material for an acclaimed film, an award-winning play and a television series in production today . The Camorra, the Mafia in Naples -- the inner working of which Saviano's book had laid bare --initially chose to ignore the writer, reportedly under the belief that simply shooting him dead in the street wasn't worth the heat from both law enforcement and the media, which are feared equally in Italy, unlike in the U.S. But Saviano's influence continued to grow, whic...

In a previous story, we incorrectly noted that Victoria Gotti's ex-husband,  Carmine Agnello, was is in jail pending a racketeering case . That's not the case, as a Gotti spokesperson icily remarked in a Facebook message. Agnello is out on a $100,000 personal bond, which a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge set. Agnello also was to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet. Agnello is charged with running a $3 million scrap metal scam out of his Cleveland auto body and salvage yard. One report raised the question of whether Agnello was following a common practice in the scrap recycling business. In the story, Cleveland 19 noted that it had submitted to Cuyahoga County video of what may be evidence of another scrap yard doing something similar to what Agnello is accused of doing.

Merlino faces up to 20 years but the Philly guys may have been spared -- from this case. George Anastasia, writing this week's Gangland News column, reports that "in a strange twist ... federal authorities in New York who hit Skinny Joey last month with racketeering charges that carry up to 20 years in prison seem to have done a much bigger favor for Merlino's Philadelphia mob crew." Last month's"East Coast LCN Enterprise" indictment named members and associates of four of New York's five crime families (the Colombo crime family was absent) plus the Philadelphia-North Jersey crime family -- even though Merlino was the only one from Philly to be arrested. And he wasn't even in Philadelphia at the time of the bust; he was in Florida. According to the indictment, Merlino and Genovese crime family capos Pasquale “Patsy” Parrello and Eugene "Rooster" O'Nofrio had "supervised and controlled members of the Enterprise engag...

The Brooklyn-based bank burglary crew busted this week and facing charges related to the alleged theft of about $5 million in cash, jewelry and diamonds is about as mobbed up as it gets. The trio, who range in age from the mid-30s to mid-40s, were arrested last Tuesday and reputedly robbed at least two banks: Maspeth Federal in May and a Brooklyn-based HSBC branch in April. Mazzara was shot in the face in 2009. Alleged mastermind Michael Mazzara is "a longtime Colombo associate who robbed banks with violent members of the Bath Avenue Crew. .. in the 1990s," as Gangland News's Jerry Capeci recently reported (the site requires paid subscription). He also was shot in the face once.

A Brooklyn-based bank burglary crew that included a murdered Gambino crime family mobster's son was arrested yesterday  morning and charged in Manhattan's Southern District. Reputedly, Michael Mazzara, 44, Charles Kerrigan, 40, and Anthony Mascuzzio, 36, (the Gambino member's son, who  previously was identified as a Gambino associate himself ) evaded federal agents for months after committing their first heist this past April. Their MO was to cut holes in the roofs of Brooklyn and Queens-based banks. John Gotti at 1988 funeral of "Shorty" Mascuzzio whose son was arrested. The trio has been indicted for robbing a total of around $5 million in cash and valuables,  authorities said Tuesday.  (Though they are being looked at for as many as 10 additional robberies, as noted below.) They were able to fund lavish lifestyles for months, officials said, until it all came crashing down yesterday when FBI agents raided Mazzara’s Gravesend, Brooklyn, home, w...

"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.

One of several YouTube videos posted by Anthony Colombo, son of deceased mob boss Joe Colombo. Colombo: The Unsolved Murde r by Don Capria and Anthony Colombo is available now, priced at $4.99 for the Kindle version and $16.95 for the paperback. The book essentially "reopens" the investigation into Joe Colombo's death , offering what the authors describe as "compelling evidence that contradicts the popular belief behind Colombo’s death." Co-authored by Joe Colombo’s eldest son, Anthony, the book tells the story of how young Joe Colombo rose from Brooklyn's streets to become one of New York Magazine’s “Top Ten Most Powerful Men” in 1971, alongside Nelson Rockefeller and Mayor John Lindsay.

Blood, from Friday early morning shooting, all over car's interior console.... REVISED The NYPD was probing the Bulls Head shooting of a 30-year-old man that occurred early last Friday morning. A confidential source said this was mob-related, although there's no confirmation. The victim is not cooperating with law enforcement. And considering what else has happened on Staten Island the past few days -- the fatal stabbings and supposed suicides -- the would-be mob-hit victim appears to be the lucky one. The man (his name hasn't been disclosed) had been shot in the shoulder but reportedly is in stable condition. He privately made his way to Staten Island University Hospital around 1 a.m. Friday, said an NYPD spokesman.

Linda Scarpa's memoir about life with the mob hitter known as the Grim Reaper aka Greg Scarpa. Click on the cover to purchase.... By Nick Christophers, guest contributor, editor of Mob Candy (see his website ): We have been inundated with books, films and TV shows on the subject of the Mafia over the years. Wives, girlfriends and daughters have taken to the pen to expose their experiences. Yet many of them have either “sugar-coated” their stories or they really had no knowledge of “the life.” One of the earliest books that delved deep into the life was “ Mafia Marriage ” by Rosalie Bonanno, who was married to Salvatore Vincent “ Bill” Bonanno , the son of Cosa Nostra boss Joseph Bonanno . Since then there have been many attempts to expose the true meaning of living in that world, e.g., “ This Family of Mine ” by Victoria Gotti, daughter of John Gotti, former boss of the Gambino crime family; “ The Godfather’s Daughter ” by Rita Gigante, daughter of Vincent Louis G...

Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano won his freedom... from Colorado's Supermax prison, that is. He's not moving far. His new digs are located within a high-security facility on the same compound as the Administrative Maximum Security or ADX, according to an exclusive New York Post report. "Better than the hellhole Supermax prison in Colorado... where ex-Bonanno crime boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano had been rotting since 2011 after he was convicted of racketeering and murder. Basciano, 55, was recently sprung from the most infamous jail in the nation to a high-security facility located on the same 31-acre compound in Florence, Colo., the Daily News has learned. The exact date of the transfer is unclear," the Post noted.