Cosa Nostra News

A mobbed-up lone gunman shot up the front of a mob-linked Brooklyn restaurant early Sunday in what law enforcement sources said was a “message” to the owners. Bullet holes on front door weren't on the menu. Carroll Gardens’ Marco Polo Ristorante was targeted before 8 a.m., when an employee noticed the eatery's front windows and doors were pocked with bullet holes. The trattoria, which opened in 1983, is considered a Court Street institution, one with deep mob ties. Co-owner Marco Chricio told The New York Post that the restaurant "was caught in the crossfire between battling gangs from neighboring Gowanus and Red Hook housing projects." Not so fast... The cops disputed that assessment, noting that the restaurant itself was targeted. There's surveillance footage from a neighboring business that seems to bolster that claim. Ten shell casings were discovered across the street in front of the Body Elite gym, which captured via its surve...

UPDATED Gangland legend/longtime Colombo wiseguy John (Sonny) Franzese — who set the record for being the oldest inmate in the federal prison system — was released Friday from a Massachusetts lockup. He's shockingly frail looking but then he turned 100 this past February (we wonder if President Trump sent him the birthday card) and just finished an eight-year bid. Guys facing less time than that have flipped -- nevermind emptying your pockets at 93 years of age. Sonny went to his daughter's house (where else) after jail. He served his sentence at the Federal Medical Center in Devens, Mass. for shaking down the Hustler and Penthouse strip clubs in Manhattan.

On Wednesday, more than 100 people attended the funeral of Louis Barbati, 61, co-owner of L&B Spumoni Gardens Pizzeria, a popular New York City eatery, who was shot to death at 7 p.m. on June 30 right outside his home in Brooklyn's Dyker Heights section, on 12th Ave. near 76th St. Mourners paid their respects at St. Ephrem’s Church in Dyker Heights. "Disgraced" former Rep. Michael Grimm ( aka "Mikey Suits" ), described in news reports as a family friend, was among the attendees. Among those Barbati leaves behind are his wife of 25 years, Joanne, and two sons, Louis, 24, and Joseph, 18.

Watch this and other films for free... Well, today's my birthday -- and I'm giving you all a gift.  Join Amazon Prime now and get a 30-Day free trial -- then you can view over 40,000 movies and TV episodes via the program, borrow Kindle ebooks, and enjoy unlimited FREE two-day shipping on purchases, with no minimum order size. But this deal includes a deadline -- you must join by Friday, January 10, to take advantage. (On jump page I present a list of Mafia- related films you can watch for FREE....but it's not only crime films -- films and tv shows in every genre are included. See list here . I'm a horror fan and you'll have access to an especially larger number of horror flix via Prime, including a recently made Giallo-style film from Italy, Sonno Profondo (Deep Sleep) Limited Edition . Once the  Amazon Prime Video 30-Day Free Trial  is over, you can decide whether or not to sign on as a member for $9.99 a month or for one annual $99 payment (for me, this...

Galati murder-for-hire trial under way.... This is taken from several press reports, particularly BigTrial , as noted in the story. The murder-for-hire trial of Ronald Galati, owner of a South Philadelphia-based auto body shop known for having ties to Philadelphia organized crime ( none of which are to be mentioned during the trial ) commenced last week. Galati, 63, is charged with hiring three men last year to whack Andrew Tuono, who was dating Galati's daughter, Tiffany. Tuono survived gunshots to the stomach, back and hand. He and Tiffany may testify during the expected two-week trial. Tiffany's behaviour during the shooting, as noted in testimony, is odd, we have to say....Rather than call 911, she got into a BMW parked at the crime scene and drove away.

Recruitment the best racket. Obviously, I am not going to name the man I interviewed for this story, or anyone connected to him, because to do so "would be committin' suicide," as he told me. "I'm a journalist. I speak all the time--" "I know, I know. Protected sources, Freedom of the Press. You fuckin' name anyone, you're dead. And it won't be me who does it. You can send the cops after me, I don't give two shits, they'll arrest me eventually for something, what's another murder to me?" "Uhhh.... " "Look you know who I am. Write the story like I tell you. It's about a guy I worked for who is dead for years so none of my people will know what the fuck you're talking about and everything will be fine. Just don't get cute and put any names in or you'll be fucking dead by the next day. If you fuck me tomorrow [meaning today], call your mother right after and w...

We consider ourselves part of the media, but we still enjoyed this 1982 video clip posted on YouTube in which Cleveland gangsters John Calandra and James Licavoli attack newspaper photographers as the two emerge from the courthouse following their conviction on racketeering charges. (They were allowed out on bond.) I believe Calandra (a member of boss Licavoli's inner circle) is the one in yellow strangling the woman with her own camera cord. I know that because Licavoli is the one swinging the cane at them. Here is some background from a Cleveland ABC affiliate: [It's] just after the 3:45 p.m. announcement of [Licavoli's and Calandra's] verdicts. A throng of media await the men outside the front doors of the courthouse, including WEWS reporter Paul Orlousky and WEWS videographer Bob Wilkinson. Licavoli and Calandra try to avoid the waiting media by exiting through the rear parking lot of the courthouse on Rockwell Avenue.

National Geographic aired a documentar y that purported to take viewers inside the world of underground gambling. Just guys gambling for money.... The hourlong episode focused on Mikey Tatts, who claims to run his own game -- and while trying to eke out a living from his entrepreneurship, constantly sought to upgrade his players' venues, as well as add to his regular roster more and better players. The drag in Mikey's sails: "Cops wanna bust me and gangsters wanna rob me..." He adds, "It's not like the old days," meaning back when cops took payoffs or just looked the other way, considering gambling a harmless vice. But as we see, it's not so harmless when you are a gambling addict and can't win, so you keep borrowing more cash from a loan shark, who usually is a mobster or related to some other crime ring. It's historically been held that the "small" traditional street crimes -- underground gambling, escort se...