Cosa Nostra News

EXPANDED: Ralph Natale, former Philadelphia mob boss turned government witness, offered to help the Fed's once again, only this time he wants to do more than testify. Natale wants to fight terrorists. At least that is what the 82-year-old said on F ox News Insider . Natale appeared on the show to hawk his book, Last Don Standing, this past weekend. During his appearance, he informed host Eric Shawn that "we're pussycats on terrorism" and that he, Natale,"would kill them all."

Even an outlawed, unnamed secret society must observe certain formalities. It must perpetuate itself, and its members must know one another in order to create an infrastructure to assist them as they embark on their life of crime. "Jack Falcone" aka Joaquin Garcia (Big Jack to his friends.) Mobsters don't operate in a vacuum, and the Mafia, in addition to being a criminal brotherhood, also provides a milieu where members can share one another's company. If you can't break bread with another man who understands the world you live in, you will probably go insane. Mob guys tend to want to operate and prosper.

At least one person is hopping mad at former Philadelphia mob boss Ralph Natale – reputedly the first Cosa Nostra boss to flip and testify against his own crime family, and the first since Joseph Bonanno to write a memoir,   Last Don Standing: The Secret Life of Mob Boss Ralph Natale .  Natale with Ruthann Seccio in 1997. "Sprinkled throughout the book" are anecdotes about Natale’s violent tendencies --"like Locatelli cheese atop a plate of spaghetti,” Philly Mag reviewer David Gambacorta noted.

The following items are independent news briefs dished up in no particular order. But first this brief note: Quite a few stories are in the "hopper" and will come out in due time. This week we expect to publish a dynamite excerpt direct from Michael Blutrich , former owner of Scores who copartnered with the Gambino crime family before flipping.   Michael Blutrich, who once owned Scores. Former Colombo capo -- or boss? If given a long enough timeline, we honestly believe Michael Franzese, former Colombo capo, could do pretty much anything he wanted to do. And that includes not only running for President of the United States but winning, too.

A film based on the pending memoir of onetime Philadelphia Cosa Nostra boss Ralph Natale is due to hit your local multiplex, an exclusive Deadline report  noted . (The story also noted that Leonardo DiCaprio is going to star in an untitled mob film for Showtime; we are working on getting further details.) Natale is working with  New York  Daily News reporter  Larry McShane  (a 35-year newspaperman who also wrote Chin, a Vincent Gigante biography) and Dan Pearson, who produced  I Married a Mobster. The Last Don Standing (the book is slated to debut on March 31; no date for the film's release has been provided) recounts the story of Natale's life, focusing on his rise and fall in the Philadelphia Costra Nostra. He's earned the sobering sobriquet of being the first Mafia boss to flip and testify as a federal witness.

Last Don Standing: The Secret Life of Mafia Boss Ralph Natale by Larry McShane and Dan Pearson will be available in the U.S. next March.  The Amazon Kindle version is available for pre-order now at the discounted price of $12.99, a savings of 50 percent. The book, about the life of a former boss of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra will download to Kindle devices on March 21, 2017. Natale is the first-ever mob boss to turn state’s evidence, as the book's description notes .

Mikie Scars memoir is a book that needs to be written. In the olden days, when mob guys referred to a contract, you could bet your bottom dollar on what the topic of discussion was. These days, however, such a conversation more than likely means the topic is a book or movie deal... Two major mob-related book deals have been announced so far this year. As noted earlier this month, former Philadelphia mob boss Ralph Natale has inked a deal to write his memoir. So far titled Lost Lives and Forgotten Vows, Thomas Dunne Books is slated to publish the book, which is slated to hit bookstores in the fall of 2016. Natale is writing the book with two others, Dan Pearson (of "I Married a Mobster") and New York Daily News reporter Larry McShane.

Former Philadelphia mob boss Ralph Natale is writing his memoir, the Hollywood Reporter revealed. Lost Lives and Forgotten Vows, which Thomas Dunne Books is slated to publish, is due to hit bookstores in the fall of 2016. Natale will work on his tome with producer Dan Pearson (of "I Married a Mobster") and New York Daily News reporter Larry McShane, Former Philly boss who flipped inked deal to write book. Natale "becomes only the second Mafia Godfather to tell his own life story, following New York’s Joe Bonanno," THR reported.

Sir Trevor McDonald's two-part series The Mafia With Trevor McDonald debuts this month. We previously ran a  trailer for the show . The show seeks to provide insight into the Mafia's "brutal, unforgiving hierarchy," as the  Daily Mail  noted. Former Philly mob boss Ralph Natale The program debuts Monday, March 23 at 9 pm -- however, of you're in the U.S. you'll probably have to watch it via your computer.

Anthony Nicodemo's Philadelphia murder trial ended in a mistrial last month. John Alite offered testimony on the hit on Johnny "Gongs" Casasanto. In addition to the murder for which he currently faces charges, Nicodemo has been identified as a suspect in the 2003 murder of John "Johnny Gongs" Casasanto. Law enforcement sources have said that the young mob soldier could work out a deal using his supposed information regarding the Casasanto murder and other acts of violence, including two additional murders said to be linked to  Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi  and his top associates. The other murder victims are Ronnie Turchi, who was hit in 1999, and Raymond “Long John” Martorano, who reached the end of the road in 2002. In this article we take a look at the three hits that law enforcement would love to pin on Uncle Joe, one of the more successful modern bosses. He is credited with cooling down the Philly underworld following deca...