Cosa Nostra News

The video above will look familiar to some of you. When I first posted it, this is the story I meant to write, as opposed to what I did write, Undercover Feds and the Mob: Do Rivalries Arise? The content of the above video, recently posted by FedScoop , concerns the Mafia and white-collar cybercrime, and ways law enforcement can better marshal its forces to combat these new-wave crimes. The video includes insight from two former undercover FBI agents, Joe Pistone and David Drab. (Pistone once again calls Lefty Ruggiero a 24 hour a day wiseguy, to which I add: Pistone is a 24 hour a day  Donnie Brasco .) Pistone worked undercover for six years infiltrating the Bonanno crime family, while Drab did some work in Cleveland. Today, both consult and advise law enforcement on conducting undercover operations. Some interesting points were raised in the video that will be of interest to readers of this blog.

Vito Rizzuto: are the powers controlling his family continuing to take the historical step of finally consolidating power in Southern Ontario? Either a  local newspaper in York , a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, doesn't see the big picture regarding the mob war in Canada or many in the media and law enforcement have been getting it wrong... This blog holds the former belief. The article, reporting on a string of murders in the region, speculates on whether two recent killings are part of underworld unrest in the Hamilton/Toronto area that has so far claimed the lives of Carmine Verduci , Sam Calautti and James Tusek . The article then makes a distinction between the killings there and the ongoing Montreal war between the Ndrangheta and the Sicilian Cosa Nostra; in other words, it describes them as separate events. We have long believed, along with many media outlets and law enforcement sources, that there is one larger war that has escalated beyon...

Nick Christophers , a top editor at  Mob Candy , writes about the Greek Mafia for us. And, this is only the first of several articles.  Thanks, Nick! The American Mafia, among its various other roles, is the gatekeeper to the much coveted and very lucrative American underworld. Guest columnist Nick Christophers Other ethnic crime groups have sought to carve out their own piece of the action. Many of these groups often find that it's easier and more profitable in the long term to partner with America’s Cosa Nostra.

"During opening remarks, (the defendant's attorney) was wearing a suit that was very, very expensive...and a watch that cost more than my 2011 car... Therefore, I deduced that he was not a public defender. "The defendant had the access to cash necessary to employ" an expensive attorney... "Where did this money come from? I had my suspicions." The woman also said that she deduced the alleged mobster on trial for murder was being held without bail because even though he wore a dress shirt and slacks each day in court, he also wore "a pair of pristine white sneakers." "I couldn't imagine Mr. Nicodemo would come to court in sneakers unless he was being kept in jail. Why wouldn't he be out on bail? I knew he had access to money, so he either was a flight risk or a very dangerous person (or both)."

The grinning man with nothing to be happy about:  Antonio Iovine, ex-Camorra boss, killed so many he can't even recall how many. According to the  Telegraph , former Camorra boss  Antonio Iovine , known as O'Ninno (The Baby), killed so many people in the past 30 years he can't even offer a figure. Imprisoned since his arrest, Iovine began offering videoconferenced testimony this past Saturday from his prison cell to a court in Caserta . “I have committed so many murders, I don’t remember them all,” the 49-year-old former boss said during four hours of testimony. Iovine had been a wanted fugitive for 14 years before being captured in 2010 while living in a hideout in Casal di Principe outside Naples. His recent decision to turn informer, or “pentito,” as they are called in Italian (repentants), was said to be rocking the very foundation of Italy’s political establishment. O'Ninno has been making claims of widespread collusion between the Mafia and politi...

Mara Salvatrucha (MS, Mara, and MS-13) is a transnational criminal gang that originated in Los Angeles. This post is a reworking of an actual story I found on the Internet with the above headline.  I have to say I honestly think it is the most irresponsible and dangerous act of  "content creation" in the infamous format of a "list" on the Internet. The five steps to "acting like a gangster" can easily get you killed if you're foolish enough to try them. It only depends on how far you are willing to take your "acting."

REVISED 6/9: I was fully intending to continue working on my stories about Canada and the Combination (no connection) when something else grabbed my attention enough to warrant a change in plan. I started to write that -- and something else got in the way! This is why I'm always behind! The website  FedScoop  posted the above video, which includes Joe Pistone and another former undercover FBI agent who worked in Cleveland (David Drab). Joseph Dominick Pistone, alias Donnie Brasco , (born September 17, 1939), is the former FBI agent who worked undercover for six years infiltrating the Bonanno crime family. He was an FBI agent for 27 years and seems to hold to the adage "never turn down an opportunity to be on television." The evidence collected by Pistone led to over 200 indictments and over 100 convictions of Mafia members and nearly destroyed the Bonanno family. (I am not sure what those numbers include -- whether they specifically resulted from Operation Br...

Post by Mob Entertainment Media .

Not under my purview, but while researching something, I came across this: Rare photo suggests Nazis used Italians in Normandy defenses - English - ANSA.it : "Rome, June 6 - A rare photograph of Italian troops evidently surrendering to American soldiers on a Normandy battlefield has fuelled speculation about possible Italian military involvement against Allied forces after D-Day. Also surrendering with the Italians in the picture are German soldiers. The Italians in the photo wore military uniforms but some of them wore typical Sicilian "coppola" flat caps favoured by shepherds.

Blow to the Mafia, 31 arrests in the district of Bagheria | tiscali.notizie : At dawn, 500 policemen of the provincial command of Palermo, following a complicated investigation, arrested 31 leaders and members of Mafia families based in Bagheria, Villabate, and Ficarazzi Altavilla Milicia. They face a variety of Mafia-related charges, including murder, kidnapping, extortion, robbery, illegal possession of firearms and arson. Two pentiti, Sergio Flamia, a former hit man, and Enzo Gennaro, assisted in the investigation. The investigations, in particular, documented the existence of a "Directory," a provincial decision-making body, which was used to establish the existence of a small group of bosses. In charge, according to police, was Giuseppe Di Fiore, who was referred to as the "head of water."