Cosa Nostra News

" There’s nothing new under the sun .”  -- Ecclesiastes 1:9 Agent Harris and Tony sit down at Satriale's. The late-blooming alliance (dare we say friendship ?) between FBI Special Agent Dwight Harris and New Jersey gangster Tony Soprano was one of our favorite parts of The Sopranos. In that now-extinct parallel world, Harris (Matt Servitto) was a member of the FBI's Newark Organized Crime Division Task Force who probed DiMeo crime family boss Tony Soprano. A minor character in the first five seasons, Harris played a pivotal role in the final season as, wonder of wonders, a full ally to Tony in his half-ass war with New York boss Phil Leotardo. What were they fighting over, even? Our favorite character, Paulie Gaultieri, once cautioned, "there's not a bigger c--ks--ker than Phil Leotardo," which was enough of an explanation for us.  Those wanting to rehash the details can  check out  The Chase Lounge , where folks left weighty discussions of su...

Every once in a while we come across a Lillo Brancato story that updates us on his latest doings. Tony and Pussy shooting the gunman who shot Chris... Last we heard he was trying to relaunch his film career, a long-term, ongoing effort that draws a heated, angry reaction from time to time. In fact, it's somewhat similar to the reaction the Union City Board of Education is currently getting for inviting the former actor/convict to speak at an anti-drug event at one of its high schools. District Superintendent Silvia Abbato issued an apology last Wednesday night, hours after students at Union City High School got to hear Brancato talk about drug addiction. (Anyone out there attend that event? We'd like to hear from you.) Brancato got his big break as a teenager alongside Robert De Niro in the 1993 film A Bronx Tale, later landing roles in films like Crimson Tide and Enemy of the State before playing the role of Matt Bevilaqua in six episodes of The Sopranos. Then...

Michael Imperioli appeared on ABC's "Popcorn with Peter Travers" to promote his new book. Tony's crew: The Sopranos cast. On the show to hype  The Perfume Burned His Eyes , Imperioli discussed his "unofficial Mafia induction ceremony," during his first major acting job, playing Spider in Martin Scorsese's  Goodfellas . "It's a very funny story when I get killed in that movie," he said. "In the second scene I had a glass in my hand because I'm a waiter. And I did my own stunt of falling backwards, falling into the bar and hitting the ground. And the glass was real. They didn't have a breakaway for some reason. So two of my fingers got cut really badly." Imperioli sought medical treatment for his injury right away, appearing in the hospital still made up from the scene, bullet-ridden and bloody. "I went to the hospital but I had bullet holes in my chest and blood everywhere. So at the hospital in...

"He made it look easy in all respects. He was genuine," Martin Scorsese wrote in a tribute to his friend Frank Vincent. "Frank Vincent was someone I could count on. He was a natural who was at ease in front of the camera — on a set or on a stage." Vincent died Wednesday of complications from heart surgery. He was 80.  Scorsese directed him in three films, all classics:  Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), and Casino (1995). Vincent's screen debut, The Death Collector , is also a must-see for fans. (Mikie Scars highly recommends it too.) Vincent's career probably reached its pinnacle with his turn as Phil Leotardo, boss of a New York crime family on The Sopranos.

John (Cha Cha) Ciarcia, who played a brief but pivotal role on The Sopranos as the consiglieri of the New York-based Lupertazzi crime family, was a Genovese crime family associate in real life. He allegedly "was involved in everything" regarding the San Gennaro feast, a Genovese capo reputedly told an undercover FBI agent. Whether he was a former or active associate is open to interpretation, but it's suggested that he was active up until his death at age 75 of natural causes. James Gandolfini, RIP...... This story, simple as it is, is unbelievable -- and maybe a decade or two ago, it would have been inconceivable, incomprehensible -- but it's true... That makes two, so far. Tony Sirico, who played Peter Paul (Paulie Walnuts) Gualtieri, was once a Colombo crime family associate . Some mention Tony Darrow. The one and only... He was allegedly a Gambino associate, but he apparently got hooked up with a mob family after his Sopranos stint (or during) as ...

If you ever watched a single episode of the series The Sopranos, you would know that it centered on the life and times of a fictional Italian American family out of New Jersey who had close ties to the mob. While it is easy to be drawn into the sordid tales detailing how underground operations can control the drug trade, politicians and even the waste management industry, one might easily overlook how substance abuse was also an underlying theme. Various characters in the show checked themselves into substance abuse programs and fought to keep their plights with drug use a secret from their friends and family. Although completely based on fictional characters, The Sopranos did manage to address many of the preconceived notions that people have about what substance abusers truly look like and how some are able to hide their addictions from those closest to them.

Scene from the television show. Key character, Ciro, on left. Robert Saviano's Gomorrah correctly depicts the Camorra — Italy's Neapolitan Mafia — as having a horizontal structure. This simple fact plays a key role in the plot machinations of the television show. The Camorra, established in Campania and Naples, may be older and even larger than Italy's other Mafias, with its roots possibly dating back to the 16th century. The vertical Cosa Nostra (the Sicilian Mafia and the proper name of America's Mafia ) is run by bosses with a hierarchy in place. There's a "commission" to help, literally, organize crime, specifically, inter-family criminal activity so wars don't break out. It was quite effective, in America, anyway.

"90 percent of [The Sopranos] is made up (and the rest is) patterned after this [crime family]..." -- David Chase If you’ve ever wondered w here David Chase got all those fantastical ideas  for “ The Sopranos ,” maybe he, like the feds, had his own mob informants. Or maybe the feds were his informants. Tonight’s special episode of “ American Greed ,” titled “ Mob Money ,” is the story of the rise and fall of  New Jersey’s DeCavalcante crime family , New Jersey gangsters who bear more than a passing resemblance to “The Sops.”  The DeCavalcantes were always, by mob standards anyway, minor players in the estimated $50 to 90-billion-a-year, ah (what the hell do you call it?), industry. In fact, the five families of New York called them “the farmers” and thought of them as country bumpkins..... The Sopranos is based on New Jersey's DeCavalcante crime family  has been written so many times, most viewers would probably agree. We've written things like: "Many crime fa...

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.

"One thing about us wiseguys, the hustle never ends...." In "College," Tony brutally murders a rat, Fabian Petrulio.  Tony Soprano whispers those words to Fabian Petrulio (aka Frederick Peters, a former member of the fictional New Jersey mob family, who flipped.) The two -- Tony and Fred -- had been effectively hunting each other for the past day. Fabian blew his chance to kill Tony the night before at the motel where the New Jersey mob boss was staying with his tiny young daughter. Too many witnesses. The next morning however he was still trying. Petrulio (or Peters) tries to hire a junkie to kill both Tony and his daughter. "Gray Lincoln town car. New model." But not even a junkie and his girlfriend will cross that line. They are not going to commit murder. Fred Peters then begins to work the phone (our rat hasn't changed much since Witness Protection. He deals drugs and participated in an arson...) It is precisely this ambiguity which Da...