Cosa Nostra News

" We whacked Tommy Ocera. We gave him a luparo bianco ." Colombo acting boss Vic Orena in discussion with Luchese acting boss Al D'Arco at a December 1989 dinner meeting of Colombo and Luchese family leaders, as per D'Arco testimony. Greg Scarpa surveillance image. Attorneys for Victor (Little Vic) Orena say they have uncovered never-before-revealed evidence that will blow the lid off the case -- or rather, the door off Orena's prison cell at FMC Devens. As we recently noted , they claim they can't reveal details of this evidence because it could lead to people getting killed. How else are we to interpret the words of Orena attorney David  Schoen about the evidence being  “unbelievably shocking” and possibly dangerous if revealed publicly ? Once again and possibly for the final time, Vic Orena, 86–the former Colombo acting boss who had visions of cementing his position permanently atop the crime family and is today wheelchair-bound and suffering from dementia...

Ailing former Colombo acting boss Victor (Little Vic) Orena, 86, who currently resides at FMC Devens, the Federal prison in Massachusetts, may be in for a taste of freedom before shuffling off this mortal coil. William (Wild Bill) Cutolo, Vic Orena, Benny Aloi, Bobby Ross. . Because a firearms charge in his 1992 case has been tossed, Orena, who is wheelchair-bound and suffering from dementia, will have to be completely resentenced--and his lawyers are hoping to use this opportunity to successfully press for his release, according to a Daily News report by Noah Goldberg . When Orena is resentenced, his lawyers will argue that he has been rehabilitated. They also say that they will present newly discovered evidence that points toward Orena's innocence. “An overriding factor here is Mr. Orena’s age and medical conditions,” said David Schoen, Orena’s lawyer, at a Monday hearing in front of Eastern District Judge Eric Komitee. Schoen told the Daily News that new evidence includes previ...

A virus claims the life of a murderous ex-wiseguy After spending a month on a ventilator, Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso died of complications from COVID-19 on Tuesday, December 15, at age 78. The former Luchese underboss was first diagnosed with coronavirus on November 5 at the United States Penitentiary in Tucson. Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso Casso was one of two inmates at Tuscon USP who died of COVID-19 yesterday. (The other was a 73-year-old convict serving a 25-year sentence for sex trafficking and weapons charges.) On Thursday, November 5, Casso tested positive for COVID-19 and was placed in medical isolation at the United States Penitentiary Tucson. Institution medical staff provided treatment and monitored his condition. On Monday, November 9, he was transported to a local hospital due to respiratory distress. On Tuesday, November 17, his condition declined and he was placed on a ventilator. On Tuesday, December 15, Casso, who officials say had long-term, pre-existing medical conditions, ...

In 1995, when their paths crossed inside Manhattan’s Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC), and after trading insults, Greg Scarpa Junior nearly beat Luchese boss Vittorio (Vic) Amuso to death. The NYPD linked Greg Scarpa Junior to 24 gangland hits. Former Assistant US Attorney John Kroger highlights the violent encounter in his memoir  Convictions: A Prosecutor's Battles Against Mafia Killers, Drug Kingpins, and Enron Thieves . Aside from passing reference to the incident on Gang Land News, it seems the Feds successfully downplayed what happened, with  Jerry Capeci reporting that in September 1998 that, "Scarpa (Jr.) has been kept away from other mobsters ever since he punched out Lucchese boss Vittorio (Vic) Amuso three years ago. Amuso had made some disparaging remarks about his father's FBI informer status." (We’re referring to references found via Google Search regarding the assault. Someone in a comment says the assault was widely covered, presumably in 1995 wh...

COSA NOSTRA NEWS EXCLUSIVE This is the third story in a series based on information provided by former Luchese wiseguy John Pennisi. ... At some point in recent years -- probably when law enforcement started making arrests for the 2013 murder of a Luchese associate in the Bronx—“guys in the (Luchese) family’s Brooklyn crew started to discuss making a move," Pennisi said. Boss Vic Amuso and Gaspipe chat with capo Frank Lastorino Sr. Ever since official boss Vittorio (Vic) Amuso was sentenced to life in prison without parole in 1992 following his conviction on 54 racketeering charges, including nine hits, he relied on wiseguys in acting positions and on a ruling panel to run the family for him. One man who was part of Amuso's ruling panel for years is Matthew (Matty) Madonna, who was made acting boss -- until he was nabbed for ordering the slaying of Micheal Meldish, the Luchese associate murdered in 2013 in the Bronx. (This year Madonna and three others were sentenced to life ...

The Luchese crime family apparently learned from its past mistakes -- and avoided repeating the stretch of murderous mayhem that happened back in the 1980s-1990s when over a dozen members were killed. From left: Amuso, Vic Orena, Michael Taccetta, Nicky Scarfo Consequently, Brooklyn-based Luchese mobster Michael (Big Mike) DeSantis bloodlessly succeeded Bronx-based (former) powerhouse Matthew (Matty) Madonna as acting boss, precisely as imprisoned-for-life boss Vittorio (Vic) Amuso had directed. Amuso -- who alongside his top lieutenant, Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso, was responsible for that 1980s-90s bloodbath -- had sent a message (via coded letter) from his prison cell to underboss Steven (Stevie Wonder) Crea in 2017, as reported by Jerry Capeci on Gang Land News and the New York Post, noting that the news was based on testimony delivered during the racketeering trial of Eugene Boopsie Castelle. (Amuso in turn was responding to a letter that had been ...