Cosa Nostra News

And another masterpiece graciously shared with us via the proprietor of  The Colombo Crime Family Blog ... “ I was busy even before and after I got (inducted into the Colombo family), sit-downs, everything, and nobody ever questioned. ‘Cos he’s a big deal now, he’s got his hands in everything. ”— John Cerbone, in mid-2014, referring to Amato's status in the Colombo family. Joey Amato (Source: Gang Land News). For the past decade now, Colombo family captain Joey Amato has been on thin ice in more ways than one. After fifteen years in the can, Amato, now 60, was released in 2009 and forced to rejoin a Mafia clan that had once marked him for death. Since then, he has delicately climbed the ranks of the Colombo family, becoming the captain of a crew and facilitating the inductions of his top men. Labeled by Jerry Capeci as the Colombo family's Staten Island boss, Amato has also been namedropped more than a few times by the feds, and it appears to be only a matter of tim...

Joseph (Joe Legs) Legrano, a Colombo soldier serving life for murder -- and a "(l)oving family man " -- died on October 3 at age 75, according to the BOP. Joe Legs participated in the murder that put Orena on top. Legrano and Dennis (Fat Dennie) DeLucia, also a soldier as per federal prosecutors, were convicted for the 1988 murder of former Colombo crime family consigliere Vincent (Jimmy) Angelino, a slaying later considered to be a precursor to the Colombo war, which formally commenced three years later.

It is well known that Greg Scarpa Senior had been a turncoat since 1960 and that he provided law enforcement with all the dope he could muster on his enemies, rivals and even friends -- basically anyone but himself. Greg Scarpa did deep and lasting damage to most of the Five Families, as well as other crime families. We've written here, more than once, about his missions for the FBI, one of which involved him sallying south to help extinguish the Mississippi Burning problem . He went on other missions, too. Such complex duplicity requires a sharp mind and probably an intelligence level well above average.

Scarpa in his strong days as arch enforcer and "special agent" for the Feds. Deadline Hollywood is reporting that a film about Colombo capo/lifelong informant Gregory "The Grim Reaper" Scarpa is slated to start filming early next year. Brad Furman will direct and Sylvester Stallone will play the lead role; it will be a Millennium Films production. Stallone could probably play a decent street guy. But can he play a decent Greg Scarpa? The script was written by Nicholas Pileggi, who wrote the book and screenplay for the acclaimed mobster film Goodfellas , which was nominated for an Oscar. Pileggi also was the wordsmith for Casino , which won many kudos from critics but not much else. (I agree with many others: Pileggi was robbed -- he also should have been nominated for Casino, which he adapted from his own book.) Both those films further benefitted from the immortal direction of Martin Scorsese, who is not involved with the Scarpa film, howev...

Gaspipe reportedly wanted Little Al whacked, so Al turned. Sonny Girard is a former street guy -- retired now, he's written several fictional novels and is involved in other creative endeavors... If I could wish for one person to read "Mob Boss" and give me their take on the book about Al D'Arco's life and crimes, it would be Sonny Girard. He lived the life, and actually knew Al back in the days...he offers a unique perspective invaluable to all interested in the Honored Society. Sonny did years in prison without a mumble and whenever I do a story that has something to do with informants, I always say silently to myself: Sonny, forgive me... Sonny didn't rat; he did years of his life in prison, like so many mobsters have done, are doing, and will continue to do. Then, later he was asked to write a tell-all about the mob, naming names... He was offered a fortune to do it. He said no. How many in his shoes would've done the same? How many g...

Angela Clemente was nearly beaten to  death  and  is in  dire  need of a liver transplant. Angela Clemente, who is both an inspiration and a friend, very much deserves this New York Times profile; she has done tons of work and has accomplished much with little recognition or compensation. As the New York Times writes below, "for nearly 15 years, [Angela] Clemente, 48 and a self-professed 'forensic analyst,' has waged an independent and improbable campaign to prove that the government turned a blind eye to as many as 39 murders committed in New York by turncoat gangsters it paid to work as informants." It was Angela who sued the Feds and used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain "more than 1,000 pages of previously classified material concerning Mr. Scarpa." (The same material was used by Peter Lance, the author of the true-crime book, Deal with the Devil , who also wrote the forward to John "Junior" Gotti's ebook .)

William "Wild Bill" Cutolo (June 6, 1949 – May 26, 1999), a Brooklyn-born mafioso in the Colombo crime family, chose the wrong side in the third Colombo war. Wild Bill was knocked off after being named Colombo Underboss. The war, the last time a crime family split into two major factions and engaged in a years-long street way, began when acting boss Vic Orena decided he wanted to take over the family from jailed-for-life boss Carmine "The Snake" Persico. It's been said that none other than the Dapper Don, John Gotti himself, had whispered into Vic's ear to take it, take control of it; in addition to flattering Orena as was the Gotti style, the Gambino boss also was seeking to strengthen his hand at Commission meetings. As for the Colombo family, today in complete disarray, boss Carmine Persico apparently had visions of setting up a Mafia dynasty by making his son, Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico, the boss. The war, which shot ...

Mobsters, even once the game is over and they are sentenced to life, are not ones to give up so quickly. In  The Good Rat , Jimmy Breslin's book of musings about the mob, Burt Kaplan and the murderous NYPD detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, he related how Vic Orena thought he had a legal way over the wall. Orena had waged war for ownership of the Colombo family but lost when he got two life sentences plus 80 years courtesy of U.S. District Court Judge Jack Weinstein, age 84, a judge who, Breslin writes, "knows that numbers, as in years in prison, not speeches, are the way to end the Mafia." Three of the five families tried to stop the third Colombo war. Orena, sent to cool his heels -- forever -- in Atlanta was soon on a bus back to Weinstein's courtroom after his lawyers entered a motion to throw everything against Orena out the window. The trip took weeks, and Orena "spent the nights with bugs and rodents in county jails" on his way...