Cosa Nostra News

An acting boss commands a crime family's captains, while a street boss generally is a capo in direct contact with the boss who passes on the boss's orders to the other captains, as our usually reliable sources tell us. What me worry? Ralph Francis DeLeo, former street boss. A boss would designate an acting or street boss when he is in prison or otherwise unable to command the family on the street. Why a boss would choose one man over another to be acting or street boss would depend on multiple considerations, including the political and the personal. One big consideration for the Colombo family circa 2008 was finding someone who wouldn't try to take over the entire organization, which is why they chose a Boston-based bank robber and convicted murderer. Alphonse (Little Allie Boy) Persico—the son of Carmine Persico, the onetime reputed head of the Colombo crime family who died in 2019 while serving a 100-plus-years prison sentence—was seeking to avoid his father's histo...

EXPANDED Louis and Vincent Iacono, twin brothers, were charged this week with the murder of a Luchese mobster found floating in an inlet tied to a cinder block. The Iacono twin brothers. They were actually arrested months back, on Sept. 6 while driving through Indiana and leading local police on a high-speed chase. Local police discovered prescription pills and heroin in the car, as well as the potential murder weapon. The brothers, 36, were extradited to New York this week. Carini Jr., 35, the son of a Gambino crime family associate by the same name, was found on Sept. 2 floating in the Mill Basin Inlet off E. 58th St. and Avenue U, a few blocks from his apartment. The body showed signs of massive head trauma, with both the skull and jaw broken. Police now say that on or around Aug. 30, Louie Iacono allegedly beat Carini’s head in with a hammer in an attempt to rob him inside an apartment on East 64th St. Brother Vincent is alleged to have helped dispose of the bo...

Last month, police went to exhume the remains of a victim of a gangland hit from January 1969 near Route 17 in the village of Tuxedo, New York, about 40 miles north of Manhattan. The grave was empty. We wrote about the victim of another gangland hit that took place around the same time; that victim was located slightly to the northeast in the town of Saugerties. He was also never even identified despite the fact his pockets were stuffed with personal items, though no identification. You can read all about it here . The 1969 victim was buried in a cemetery in the 1970s. He was a white man, between 45 and 55 years old, who had been shot in the head in 1968, as per state police. Found with the remains were clothing, a St. Christopher medal and a Longine watch. "We're like bulldogs," Senior Investigator Yan Salomon told Fox News in an Oct. 27 report . The remains had been buried in the Highland Mills cemetery in the mid-1970s in a section for unidentified or unclaim...

Carmine Carini Junior's body had been wrapped in a blue tarp and chained to a cinder block. Then, it was dropped into an inlet off Avenue U and East 58th Street in South Brooklyn. A 5-pound bag of drywall compound had also been tied to the body, though the effort to conceal it was unsuccessful: Carini's body was found Saturday floating near a dock. His father, who has the same name, is a known Gambino mobster who served decades for a murder he didn't commit. With their testimony, storied mob turncoats Frank Smith and Sal Mangiavillano freed the elder Carini from prison for the murder.

A man of Spanish descent was among the Luchese crime family mobsters arrested in New York in late May. Carmelo Garcia Babarro , a 65-year-old Basque from Bilbao was among the arrested Luchese mobsters. A total of 15  Luchese members and associates were arrested, one of whom was  Carmelo Garcia Babarro, 65, a Basque from Bilbao, who has US citizenship ; the four others were already in prison for other crimes during the raid. The Luchese crime family's street boss, underboss and consiglieri were among the arrested. The defendants face racketeering, murder, narcotics and firearms offenses. As noted previousl y, the indictment's centerpiece is the murder of former Purple Gang boss Michael Meldish.

"I'm not afraid of anyone. Only God."    --Israeli crime boss Ze'ev Rosenstein yesterday. Amid heavy security, the bosses of two of the most powerful crime families in Israel met in Tel Aviv District Court yesterday in what was slated to be witness testimony. Rosenstein Incarcerated Israeli crime boss Ze'ev Rosenstein, who is serving a 12-year prison sentence for ecstasy distribution, was there to testify against Yitzhak Abergil, who allegedly attempted to murder Rosenstein "multiple times." Abergil is on trial for murder and global drug smuggling. Rosenstein took the stand Sunday morning and, in what's been termed a stunning twist, he abruptly refused to answer the prosecutor.

The following is excerpted from Michael Blutrich's memoir,  Scores: How I Opened the Hottest Strip Club in New York City, Was Extorted out of Millions by the Gambino Family, and Became One of the Most Successful Mafia Informants in FBI History . EARLY 1991  Mike Sergio invited me to dinner at his restaurant. I was tickled when I arrived because “Grampa” Al Lewis was dining with us that night, and he’d invited Fred Gwynne, the famous Herman Munster himself, for the meal. Just pleased to be a fly on the wall, I listened with interest to these veteran actors discussing their memories from and their roles in the 50s television hit Car 54 Where Are You?—along with Lewis’s plans for a Munster-esque Halloween reunion bash that would include Butch Patrick (Eddie Munster), but not Yvonne De Carlo (Lily Munster) because her ballooning weight was causing her to avoid public appearances.

A Mafia informant who "flipped" against the FBI and tried to sue them got the judge's thumb's down this week. Ex-Bonanno crime family soldier Joseph Barone Jr., who previously exposed a Mafia plot to murder a Brooklyn federal court judge, has been alleging that the FBI deliberately leaked his informant status and arrested him as "punishment." Joseph Barone. This past Monday, Judge Andrew J. Peck ruled that allegations in a lawsuit filed by Barone Jr., who informed on his criminal cohorts for 18 years, were unfounded.

In December 2006, a jury found Anthony (Tony Muscles) Guardino, boss of New York City’s Brooklyn-based Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers Local 8, guilty of enterprise corruption crimes. Tony Muscles, loverboy.... Guardino, connected to the Genovese family, was part of the union's corrupt leadership, which shook down contractors all over New York City to the tune of more than $2 million. Prosecutors used Guardino's Mafia links as a lynchpin of the case against him. Brooklyn-based Local 8 represents about 700 roofing and waterproofing workers in New York City. The 2004 indictment that named Guardino was the second time ever that a union itself was charged with racketeering under New York's Organized Crime Control Act of 1986. It was the first labor union in US history to plead guilty to racketeering and corruption charges -- though let's be perfectly clear here; the crimes were committed by the leadership, not the union's rank and file, who wer...

Carlo Gambino's takeover of the crime family rechristened in his name was contested primarily by Aniello Dellacroce and Armand Rava, staunch Anastasia supporters. They had potential allies in men like Anthony “Tough Tony” Anastasio, the dead boss’s brother, a powerful mobster running Brooklyn’s docks, and Vincent James Squillante, a waste management kingpin, drug trafficker and experienced gunsel. Carlo, when he rose to power at the top of what was once called the Mangano crime family. If an attempt were made on Carlo’s life, the order would've originated from, and perhaps also carried out, by those very men. Yet no attempt was ever made. Gambino ascended to the top of the crime family not without firing a shot, but by firing far fewer shots than "Mafia logic" would seem to precipitate. Carlo Gambino was one of the most effective Mafia bosses in the American Cosa Nostra. The FBI routinely referred to Gambino in various documents as the ...

Bada Bing bada boop The New York Daily News doesn't know a good lede when it sees one... ( With apologies to "Chin" author Larry McShane , who had nothing to do with this Confidential article published today .) The newspaper, in a piece that highlights newly released book  Big Blue Wrecking Crew , notes how the championship-winning 1986 New York Giants played hard but partied even harder. "Drugs, sex and all-night partying were key parts of the game plan for some of the players, according to a new book about Big Blue's run-up to its Super Bowl win," as the New writes.

The  Friends  of Ours blogger  is offering for  99 cents a Kindle ebook that is such a worthy addition  to your library of books about the Mafia, I feel dutified to promote it. ( Did I just invent a word? ) John Gotti, in a surveillance video. Source The author raises questions some mobsters most likely are uncomfortable discussing publicly. Which is putting it mildly. It should come as no surprise that mobsters were killed over mere allegations of homosexuality. According to what one Mafia capo said in testimony, the mob has a law that goes something like:  If you're found to be gay, you die. Interestingly, the capo said that during his induction ceremony, he'd been instructed about many rules, though that specific one was never mentioned.

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...

FDR had to beat the mob at its own game to carry 1932. After a dramatic Republican National Convention in Cleveland which saw Donald Trump finally become the party’s official nominee, Hillary Clinton will this week accept the formal nomination of the Democratic Party. U.S. national conventions have always been big business opportunities. As one long-time ally of the Bush family reportedly said , “For people who operate in and around government, you can’t not be here.” Although some of the usual donors to the Republican National Convention, like Ford and UPS, stayed home this year , the host committee was able to raise nearly US$60 million from American businesses. Yet historically the “people who operate in and around government” are not only legitimate businesses but also, sometimes, less-than-legitimate ones. Take the 1932 Democratic National Convention. As I explain in my book about the hidden power of organized crime, from which this article is adapted, the nom...

Salvatore Delligatti  Members and associates of the Genovese crime family have been arrested and face an eight-count racketeering indictment that includes murder conspiracy, attempted murder, extortion conspiracy, illegal gambling and firearm charges, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said. The FBI, Nassau County Police and NYPD conducted a multi-year probe (with some alleged crimes dating back to 2008) that resulted in the case against 18 people, 17 of whom are currently in jail following the “coordinated take-down,” according to officials. Those charged include alleged Genovese soldiers Robert DeBello (aka “Old Man,” “Bobby” and “Grandpa”), 74, of Whitestone, and Steven Pastore, 56, of Staten Island, and associates Ryan Ellis (“Joseph Princi,” “Baldy,” “Lazy Eye” and “Zeus”) , 34, of Bayside, and Salvatore Delligatti (“Jay” and “Fat Sal”) , 40, of Oakland Gardens.

A body wearing cement shoes washed up onto the Manhattan Beach shoreline in Brooklyn on Monday morning. The victim, with the arms tied behind the back, had been wrapped in black plastic bags and then  his feet were buried in concrete. The body was found on Monday morning along a Brooklyn beach, according to news reports . This is not the picture of the man found. The body's description comes straight from the mouth of the Brooklyn Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce. DNA News reported that the victim has been "tentatively" identified via fingerprints and tattoos, law enforcement sources said. His identity is being withheld pending family notification, the report added. Also the victim was killed recently as he survived a shooting earlier this year, sources said. Also, the man had a criminal history for fraud and narcotics, sources said. It was reported that the victim has a "substantial" tattoo of the Virgin Mary holding a rose, Boyce said ...