Cosa Nostra News

Sherman tanks refueling at Normandy, 1944. Yes, mobsters are criminals, but some of them are heroes, too, or at least damn good Americans. Before you shake your head in befuddlement, understand we refer here to gangsters who fought in American wars and were decorated for their valiant efforts. John "Johnny Green" Faraci, a Bonanno crime family member, was described as "a large-scale loanshark with numerous loanshark victims," who, by one law enforcement estimate, had half a million dollars in loans out on the street. He died in January 2011 at age 88. Ten years before his death, the aging Bonanno soldier and three underlings faced federal loansharking charges after a would-be victim went to the FBI and agreed to wear a wire. "I got a nice baseball bat in my trunk; bust your legs up," one of Faraci's crew members said to the cooperator, according to the arrest complaint. In another taped conversation, the same guy bragged about ...

With little fanfare -- and no media coverage that we could find -- Genovese acting boss Daniel Leo is back on the streets, having been released from prison on Jan. 25, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons . The Genovese crime family is deemed to be the most powerful criminal group in America -- and now, according to sources, free on the streets are its acting boss, street boss, underboss, consigliere -- and supposedly the capos who run a trio of the family's most powerful crews. Daniel Leo, Genovese acting boss  "The Genovese crime family is still the best organized, and has the deepest bench," the chief of investigations for the Manhattan district attorney has said. "They continue to take part in traditional organized crime activities of gambling, loansharking and labor racketeering in New York and New Jersey." "The Genovese family is the most secretive, criminally diverse, and powerful family in the country," an FBI agent added, ...

The Smoking Gun has compiled a lengthy report based on documents and interviews to tell the story of how Rev. Al Sharpton, beginning in the 1980s, worked as a mob informant for an organized crime task force of FBI agents and NYPD detectives (some of whom reportedly gave Sharpton up to the Smoking Gun). We've put together a list of 10 things we believe the mob would love to know about Rev. Al.