Cosa Nostra News

In November 2013, a low-profile Luchese associate was murdered in the Bronx -- and many stories in the media blitz that followed referenced the Purple Gang, an obscure 1970s street gang with reputed Mafia links. Police probe Meldish shooting in the Bronx in 2013. The  Purple Gang roamed the South Bronx and Harlem where members were involved in the large‐scale distribution of heroin. They also whacked people -- and in many cases, dismembered their victims, of which there reportedly were 17 by December 1977. (Many of the 17 had been active informants for law enforcement when slain.) Purple Gang members essentially cut their teeth as glorified coffee boys in decade-long apprenticeships.  They stepped up their game when the competition was wiped out -- meaning, they filled a huge niche after law enforcement cleared away many local narcotics trafficking rings, including the one known as the French Connection. The Purple Gang  entered the contract killing busines...

Sylvester (Sally Daz) Zottola, 71, was fatally shot five times while waiting on a cup of coffee at a McDonald’s drive thru in the Bronx on Thursday, October 4. Sally Daz, photo from his daughter ( source ) He was allegedly killed for a Joker Poker business. Five men have been nabbed to date for the murder, though the Albanian gangsters who are reputedly the true driving force behind the shooting have yet to be identified. The alleged Luchese associate was laid to rest at St. Theresa Catholic Church in  the week after the shooting. Reportedly nearly 300 people attended his funeral. A police source told the Daily News that Zottola was “a real old-fashioned mobster” reputedly  involved in gambling and loansharking. Zottola's daughter, Debbie Zottola, shortly after her father's funeral, gave a heartfelt interview in which she said that she'd like to see her father remembrered in a "good and proper light." In an effort to provide a more balan...

There once was a New York mobster named Vincent Spinelli. He was considered a dangerous man. A truck hijacker and gun-runner, he was tied to two crime families (the Bonannos and Lucheses ) and he operated a swag-filled warehouse. Luchese soldier John Donnadio, left,  Vincent Spinelli on the right. He was known for his nice gold watches and good suits. He also preferred driving around in a Mercedes. In reality, his name was not Vincent Spinelli, and he was far from being a criminal; in fact, he was an NYPD officer working undercover. The operation lasted three years and led to 42 arrests (21 were reputed Bonanno mobsters, the rest presumably were Luchese members, plus assorted associates -- plus there was at least one grandmother who lived in a social club in The Bronx).