Cosa Nostra News

Michael DiLeonardo, aka Mikie Scars, rose to capo in the Gambino family during the reign of John Gotti. He was close to the Gottis, and if John Gotti had not crashed and burned in the early 1990s courtesy of the FBI, Mikie Scars' rise likely would have continued, and daily life for him might be very different today.  Paulie Zac, DiLeonardo's mob mentor. But as fate had it, John Gotti was arrested, tried, convicted, and in 1992 was sent to a Federal prison for life. He was around 10 years into his sentence when he died on June 10, 2002 , at the Federal prison hospital at Springfield, Mo. He was 61. (The cause was cancer.) As  we detailed in 2015 , the Feds filmed Mikie Scars ("I was born on record") attending the Dapper Don's wake. Days later, Michael and others were arrested based on Craig DePalma's sealed Grand Jury testimony. While sitting in jail, DiLeonardo learned that Joseph (Jo Jo) Corozzo, consiglieri, speaking for Peter Gotti and Nicholas (Little Ni...

COSA NOSTRA NEWS EXCLUSIVE John Gammarano died on July 22, 2017,  after suffering a long bout with a cancer-related illness, a source told Cosa Nostra News .  The source is in a solid position to have knowledge of Johnny G. Johnny G The Gambino mobster was buried on July 26. Gammarano's death was noted on ObitTree by Brooklyn's Scarpaci Funeral Home, as per the  website .

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...

Gambino crime family capo Mikie Scars and former associate Salvatore Romano, part two... See part one here ; part three here ... When Gambino mobster John Gammarano went to prison, Salvatore Romano, an associate on record with him, had concerns. Romano realized he needed to speak to Michael (Mikie Scars) DiLeonardo. Michael DiLeonardo and Sal Romano today. Ironically, the person who ultimately brought Romano and DiLeonardo together was Genovese mobster Louie Black. "Louie was with Genovese guys," DiLeonardo told us. "He started hanging around Johnny G. They were good friends." Nevertheless, Louie Black was around Michael first, for around 16 years. (Yes, a Genovese associate hung around with a Gambino member. The mob is not as formally organized as some believe. They don't wear ID badges with their name, rank and serial number, for instance.) There's lots of "lateral" relationships, and activities that can result. Johnn...

COSA NOSTRA NEWS EXCLUSIVE Salvatore Romano was an associate of the Gambino crime family who set up shop on Wall Street and became  one of the wealthiest mobsters  in organized crime's history. Music legend Paul Anka, who wrote  My Way  for Frank Sinatra; he rewrote the song as  Sal's Way  using the same melody but new lyrics. Anka sang Sal's Way at a premiere party for one of Romano's business ventures .  He was the consummate "mob earner" in his day; and this is the first of a series of stories I am writing involving him and Michael DiLeonardo. Picture The Wolf of Wall Street, only with the Mafia. In fact, Romano and Jordan Belfort did cross paths early in their careers, or rather their respective paths to infamy. There's more to Romano's story, however, than the show highlighted. The story includes a large list of notorious mobsters from the Gambino crime family -- as well as an infamous DeCavalcante capo known as the...

For Bucky Cosa Nostra News Exclusive The most infamous gangland hit of the 20th century was the December 1985 execution of Gambino boss Paul Castellano, who was shot six times, and his driver/underboss Thomas Bilotti, shot four times, outside Sparks Steak House in midtown Manhattan. Paul Castellano, formerly Gambino boss, died December 1985. Castellano was the precursor to John Gotti, the man who Gotti had to kill to rise to the top. The story of why Paul Castellano was killed has been the topic of books, films, magazine articles, newspaper stories and television documentaries, the details of the hit have been recounted again and again Owing to heavy mainstream interest in his high-profile successor, Castellano has been given short shrift; he's been mocked, derided and trivialized, cast as a deliberate foil to John Gotti, the polished, well-groomed "gangster from central casting." Castellano wasn't a tough guy; he thought he was a Fortune 500 CEO. He deliber...