Cosa Nostra News

UPDATED The latest installment of the Johnny & Gene Show —the podcast with John Alite and Gene Borrello —features former Gambino associate Anthony Russo, aka Hootie, who was among the dozens of wiseguys and associates arrested on Mafia Takedown Day in 2011 . From left, Hootie, Gene Borrello, John Alite, Felix Levine.  After sitting in a cell for months, Russo— a drug dealing associate aligned with a powerful Gambino capo, Alphonse Trucchio —was facing a mandatory minimum of 20 years behind bars if convicted of drug trafficking charges. Russo, who was first charged with being a member of Trucchio’s crew in 2002, threw in the towel and began cooperating. (As for Alphonse Trucchio, he was released from prison on February 21 of this year. Trucchio also was one of more than 100 mobsters busted in four states in January 2011 in the FBI's biggest Mafia takedown. He was once viewed as a rising star in the Gambino family. He pleaded guilty to racketeering, drug trafficki...

The murder rate in the U.S. has fallen dramatically in the past 25 years -- the FBI pegged the decline from 1993 to 2015 at 50% while the Bureau of Justice Statistics reported a 77% drop. Still, the glut of daily television fare seems to suggest that there's nothing like murder. Raymond Patriarca As a New York Times story recently noted of true-crime television: "it seems as if this genre has no saturation point." And the trend shows no signs of abating, considering the recent launch of  Beyond Reasonable Doubt  last Friday, which focused on the story of the Green River Killer, the most prolific serial killer in American history. Debuting this week are  Sin City Justice  and #Murder .

Louis DiVita , author of A Wiser Guy and good friend, is slated to appear on Crime Beat , a web show hosted by award-winning crime writer Ron Chepesiuk and journalist Will Hryb. Louis P DiVita, the grandson and great nephew of two of the American Mafia's founders, was also close to and or related to New Jersey-based Genovese crime family members, released his memoir last year, A Wiser Guy, which is among the top titles we've been promoting on Amazon.com. On the air since Jan.  28, 2011, Crime Beat is a weekly hour-long radio program that airs every Thursday at 8 p.m. EST. It averages 180,000 listeners in 130-plus countries. (Shows are archived at  www.artistfirst.com/crimebeat.htm  for 24-7 listening.)