Cosa Nostra News

The nephew of the alleged boss of the (possibly resurging) Buffalo Cosa Nostra family was arrested this week and indicted for bribing a former DEA agent to help stymie law enforcement. The indictment also references “sex trafficking” and efforts to distribute 1,000 kilograms of marijuana and cocaine on the streets of Western New York.  Katrina Nigro with then-husband Peter G. Gerace Jr., owner of Pharaoh's Gentlemen's Club. Photo  provided to Buffalo News by Ms. Nigro . Peter G. Gerace Jr., 53, owner of the Buffalo-based Pharaoh’s Gentleman’s Club, was arrested in Broward County , Florida, late Sunday night and charged with conspiracy to distribute drugs and commit sex trafficking and for bribing a public official. In U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale at a hearing on Monday, he pleaded not guilty. The indictment, which was unsealed Monday, is the latest in an investigation into organized crime in Buffalo. Several individuals have already been arrested in the probe, includ...

We post here the first part of a story, which we dedicate to a great man who we can't name but will refer to as a personal benefactor (because he is)....  How Joe Bonanno survived his alleged Machiavellian plotting is a mystery. In March 1983, the Feds hid an electronic eavesdropping device in Gambino boss Paul Castellano's kitchen alcove, kicking into high gear a massive probe that resulted in 600 hours of recordings that fueled eight Mafia-related trials. Castellano didn't live to see one of those trials, of course, but he was in the process of facing another jury (for the massive car-theft operation formerly overseen by Murder Machine Roy DeMeo) when he and underboss Thomas Bilotti were gunned down in December 1985 in front of Sparks Steakhouse on East 46th Street near Third Avenue shortly before 5:30 pm.  Because of the FBI's penetration of Big Paul's Todt Hill White House on Staten Island, we have transcripts of some of  his private dis...

So what happened to Jake Russo , then? Stefano Magaddino never met a dollar he didn't covet. Did he become part of the Veterans Memorial Bridge, as one of many rumors making the rounds after his 1964 disappearance alleged? Not according to new claims that Russo was done in because he dared to threaten a boss who made unreasonable demands of him. Stefano Magaddino, the ruthless, Buffalo-based mob boss whose influence extended from parts of New York (including Rochester) and Pennsylvania to Toronto for more than 30 years, was legendary for his stinginess and cruelty. Threatening Magaddino to his face about how you planned to undermine him was tantamount to signing your own death warrant. Magaddino was "the Undertaker" because of his Niagara Falls funeral home, but also because of his knack for ordering murders. A Sicilian immigrant, Magaddino, cousin to Joseph Bonanno, smuggled liquor across Lake Ontario from Canada during Prohibition. In ...

This was supposed to be a straightforward story about Jake Russo, but of course I can never not plunge headfirst down whatever rabbit hole catches my eye.... Can't ignore what intrigues me.... Rochester acting boss Jake Russo disappeared in September 1964, and nearly 55 years later, his body has never been found. Jake Russo may have disappeared because of Stefano Magaddino's greed. Recently surfaced videotaped interviews with a former Russo cohort may finally reveal what really happened all those years ago. In interviews conducted and videotaped several years prior to his 2014 death, Rene Piccarreto Sr., the former consigliere of the Rochester crime family, said that Russo was strangled in the basement of a downtown Rochester restaurant that later became a popular area pizzeria called the Pizza Stop. But back in 1964, the restaurant was owned by Frank Valenti, the man who succeeded Russo atop the Mafia family there. Actually, Russo had only been put in charge w...

I prefer  Defectors , while the unwashed mass media, which tends to view everything in black and white, uses  Rats . Stefano Magaddino posed the threat prompting Witsec. Defector, based on its historical definition, is more accurate, I believe: A defector is a person who gives up allegiance to one state in exchange for allegiance to another, in a way which is considered illegitimate by the first state. More broadly, it involves abandoning a person, cause, or doctrine to which one is bound by some tie, as of allegiance or duty. ... This list of names of guys who flipped is a work in progress, ongoing for a couple of years now. The original focus was on New York's Five Families, but I've expanded it to include others. Two things to consider while we're on this topic: Firstly, the Witness Protection Program began with Pascal "Paddy" Calabrese and was a direct response to Buffalo mob boss Stefano Magaddino. While serving a five-year stre...

 "Down here it’s called franchising. Where I come from, it’s called racketeering." -- Louis DiVita, author of A Wiser Guy It's a book that reads like a whos-who of the New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia crime families . Louis and his family crossed paths with a lot of figures you've read about, including Willie Moretti, Albert Anastasia, Charles "Lucky" Luciano and Vito Genovese. Benedetto Angelo, who was partnered with Joseph DiCarlo. His forebears wound up in New Jersey's Mafia landscape but first played a decades-long role in upstate New York where they were closely allied with mobsters such as Stefano Magaddino and Joseph DiCarlo. The Palmeri brothers both backed their countryman Salvatore Maranzano when the New York Mafia split into factions and used murder to finally end an ongoing feud as to who was going to be who. Afterward, the modern-day Mafia was created. Louis's grandfather, Paolo Palmeri, was a high-ranking mobster ...

Today marks the Kindle debut of Louis P. DiVita's A Wiser Guy -- so readers can purchase it in whatever format they prefer: ebook , hardcover or paperback . (Be sure to check out Louis's website , where the above trailer is posted, along with additional information.) In A Wiser Guy , DiVita -- whose grandfather was Paul Palmeri and great uncle Benedetto Angelo, aka "Buffalo Bill," Joseph DiCarlo 's partner -- shares personal and colorful anecdotes about life among high-profile members of the American Mafia from around the 1920s to the present. DiVita's forebears, originally from Sicily's Castellammare Del Golfo , first played a decades-long role in upstate New York where they were closely allied with mob bosses Stefano Magaddino and Joseph DiCarlo. The Palmeri brothers initially planted their flags in Buffalo and Niagara Falls; they had associations with major Canadian mobsters of the day, such as Rocco Perri. These relationships had ramificatio...

See part one of this story, Path to WITSEC Built on Omerta's Dead, here . In December 1964, Pascal "Paddy" Calabrese robbed Buffalo's City Hall during daylight. While serving a five-year stretch for his daring but unsuccessful feat, he started nursing a deep hatred for his boss, Stefano Magaddino, who had cut him loose the moment he was cuffed by law enforcement. Buffalo wiseguy Paddy Calabrese helped create the Witness Protection Program. Magaddino had done the same to the drug-dealing Agueci brothers, forgetting about them as soon as they were arrested. Magaddino had been well aware of the brothers' narcotics business and was glad to pocket their generous tributes in return for extending them police protection.  But Magaddino couldn't have cared less when the cops busted the two. While out on bail,  Albert Agueci  threatened the 75-year-old Cosa Nostra boss, saying if Magaddino didn't use his connections to help him and his brother, he'd talk to the ...