Cosa Nostra News

The FBI  arrested three South-Jersey-based wiseguys - - Joseph “Joey Electric” Servidio, Carl Chianese, and Michael Gallichio -- last week for “conspiring to possess” drugs with intent to sell them. Uncle Joe isn't a target of the investigation.... The complaint details what could potentially be part of a larger investigation of  the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra family. In addition to the three who are being detained, several unidentified mobsters (INDIVIDUAL 1, 2, and 3) and the Philadelphia hierarchy are mentioned in the complaint, which further notes that two turncoats facilitated the operation, one of them for years. The overall probe was tightly wound around a made member of the Philadelphia crime family, though it's easy to speculate that there's more to this. It's also difficult to believe that the FBI would not nab the three other mobsters mentioned in the complaint as INDIVIDUALS 1, 2, and 3. They permitted and supported criminal activity, including...

Hierarchy of Philadelphia Cosa Nostra identified in complaint See below Following a two-year probe, the FBI last week arrested a soldier and two associates of the Philadelphia mob in South Jersey on drug-related charges. Garden State Parkway was drug pipeline. The FBI describes the  case as a dismantling of a drug pipeline running nearly the length of the Garden State Parkway. The men, all of whom have drug convictions, were indicted and arrested on March 14 for selling drugs across the state. The case also involved confidential sources-- one, CS-1 in the indictment, is "a made member of the Philadelphia LCN" who's been giving the FBI information since 2015; he's also "personally familiar with numerous associates and members " of the Philadelphia mob -- and undercover agents. Joseph Servidio, 58, of Upper Township, New Jersey, was identified as a soldier in the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra by FBI Special Agent Mark R. Hindle. Also arrested ...

Despite indications that they have a fighting chance at winning, prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office seem to want to throw in the towel and end a long-running case against alleged Philadelphia boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino, who was rounded up with dozens of other wiseguys in August 2016 as per  the East Coast LCN Enterprise case . Joseph Merlino Merlino, though he had no idea til afterward, barely escaped the handcuffs last month, when the judge finally ordered a mistrial. He narrowly avoided getting convicted on fraud and gambling charges, with the jury "deadlocked 10-2 for conviction on the health care scam and 9-3 for conviction on the illegal gambling charges."as Gang Land News (GLN) reported. Merlino won support on the racketeering charge, with jurors evenly split. It could be jurors didn't believe the turncoat testimony, though the case had additional problems. Then, the Fed's showed their hand. They gave Skinny Joey...

He's the lawman who locks up corrupt lawmen, and he's investigated everyone from wiseguys to CIA and FBI agents. John Durham. Connecticut U.S. Attorney John Durham, at the University of St. Joseph in West Hartford on Monday, March 5, 2018, gave a rare, candid speech about his role as a special prosecutor in the Whitey Bulger case. Durham is among this country's most respected prosecutors and he's known for maintaining an extremely low profile. He's prosecuted mobsters, corrupt federal agents, and even a former Connecticut governor. He was empowered by United States attorneys general to investigate some of this nation's dirtiest laundry, including  CIA operations that allegedly involved torture and coverups . He was nominated by President Donald Trump, and was endorsed by Republicans and Democrats alike, to be Connecticut's top federal prosecutor. "Perhaps realizing that his new role calls for higher visibility, (he) delivered a lec...

On Wednesday, March 14, in Brooklyn Federal District Court, John J. Gotti, the grandson and namesake of the Gambino crime family boss , was sentenced to five years in prison. Gotti Howard Beach home. Last June, Gotti pleaded guilty to torching the car of someone who'd had the audacity to cut off aging Bonnano capo Vincent Asaro on Cross Bay Boulevard in Howard Beach, Queens . Gotti also admitted that two weeks after the road-rage episode, he and two others — after presenting a note that said they had a bomb — robbed $6,000 from a Maspeth, Queens, bank. Gotti was arrested in August 2016 -- on the exact same day that the Fed's rounded up dozens of wiseguys in the East Coast LCN Enterprise case.  The only trial that resulted from that case so far was the recent Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino mistrial. Gotti's attorney, Charles Carnesi, who also defended his uncle, told the judge in his client's defense that just before the arson and bank robbery charges...

Genovese crime family associate Gerald Daniele, 53, of Longmeadow, Mass., was sentenced Monday (March 12) in federal court in Worcester for loansharking. Genovese crime family associate Gerald Daniele, 53. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman sent him to prison for two years, followed by three years of supervised release. Daniele was arrested with four other men in the Genovese crime family's Springfield crew in 2016 for extorting legitimate and illegitimate businesses in western Massachusetts. He admitted that he gave loans and threatened an individual with physical violence while demanding repayment. The extortions took place during a six-month period in 2015.  In December 2017, Daniele pleaded guilty to one count of using extortion. Daniele is ordered by U.S. District Judge Timothy Hilllman to report to jail by May 7. Advertising Continuing story of John Alite... Last December, Daniele pleaded guilty to one count of using extor...

UPDATED, REVISED Anthony L. DiNunzio, 58, of East Boston, Massachusetts, "the alleged leader of the New England organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra,"  was sentenced to six years in prison in 2012 on racketeering and extortion charges. Reputed acting boss Anthony DiNunzio, left, with Anthony Gambale in 2002. DiNunzio  was released a few weeks ago, on February 22, 2018, as pe r the BOP inmate locator website. In a colorful indictment, federal prosecutors alleged that DiNunzio had become the acting boss of New England’s Cosa Nostra crime family in late 2009 and oversaw the organization’s extortion of Rhode Island strip clubs and other such businesses, demanding payments of $2,000 to $6,000 per month. DiNunzio was arrested in 2012 at the Gemini Social Club in Boston's North End. He was sentenced to 78 months in federal prison for racketeering. He's the brother of Carmen “The Big Cheese” DiNunzio, who served a state sentence for briber y and was r...

Nick "Nicky Vegas" Christophers Nick Christophers,  Cosa Nostra News  contributing blogger,  has published a work of fiction called  Destinies , which is available on Amazon.com now. The story centers on mob boss Santo Furri and a looming mob war. I spoke with Nick about the book recently. What inspired you to write -- and what inspired Destinies? "My knowledge and fascination with the mob world. I loved writing since I was a kid and it all started after reading The Outsiders by SE Hinton ( an excellent book, folks! Was life-changing for me too--ed note .) that got me to write as well. I used some of my own experiences in the book." So far Destinies is getting positive reviews and has a five-star ranking. (Nick also recently was filmed for a  mob documentary shot by a UK production company.) click image to purchase Nick, who I go way back with -- many years, actually (he lives blocks away from me) -- also is working on two other...

EXCLUSIVE Longtime Genovese crime family capo Peter (Petey Red) DiChiara, who reputedly was the street boss, or front boss, for Liborio Bellomo, died Friday (March 2), two separate sources confirmed. Petey Red. DiChiara, who allegedly also was the Genovese crime family's consiglieri, had diabetes and other medical problems associated with the disease. DiChiara, 75, ran a social club in Lower Manhattan at 73 Market Street, which has been around since the 1990s. Except for the five-year period when DiChiara was serving time for a federal racketeering beef thanks to the associate with the funny Rolex, the club was known to have been a busy place, though the patrons reportedly had grown to ecompass more than members of Petey Red's crew, supposedly a sign of DiChiara's rise in the hierarchy to draw fire away from Bellomo, the official boss. (Bellomo was named to the acting slot in the 1980s by Vincent "Chin" Gigante himself.) In January 2016, DiChi...

The Philadelphia Cosa Nostra, at its zenith under Angelo Bruno, was a massive criminal empire in every sense of the word . Skinny Joey awaits word about possible retrial in Manhattan federal court. The crime family stretched far beyond the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's largest city, the sixth-most populous in the United States. Philadelphia, the economic (and cultural) heart of the Delaware Valley, is located along the lower Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, within both the Mid-Atlantic region and the Northeast megalopolis. The "Bruno family" dominated the underworld throughout and beyond, for a time spilling into New Jersey and Boston, and as far away as Las Vegas to the west, Florida to the south, and overseas, in England. The crime family wielded immense influence over (at least) four labor unions in the Delaware Valley alone. It ran the city’s largest illegal gambling operations and was a de-facto "bank" that lent money to smaller gambling s...