Cosa Nostra News

Nick Christophers wrote the following, which is based on his reporting, research, and interviews with several former associates of organized crime, including former Gambino associates John Alite and Andrew DiDonato, former Outfit scion Frank Calabrese Jr., and ex Colombo associate Kenji Gallo. (More on Nick at the end.) By Nick Christophers  There is a saying that if you take one man out there are two in the wings to replace him and if you take out two there are four in the wings. This may be the case for some situations but when it comes to the life-line of the mafia that theory goes out the window. The once awesome and untouchable traditional mafia has lost its “talent pool” that was at once abundant. It is believed since the fall of John Gotti the mob has went underground and has attempted to stay out of the spotlight and the headlines. Frank Calabrese Sr. on right in surveillance image There are many rumors that they have been recruiting men from Sicily to replenish the ranks ...

Former Bonanno street boss Anthony (Tony Green) Urso, 84, now resides at the Residential Reentry Management field office in Brooklyn, according to the BOP inmate locater. His release date is June 27, 2021. Anthony (Tony Green) Urso We looked Urso up after a longtime source told us that Tony Green had recently been spotted in Franklin Square, Long Island. Tony Green went away to serve a 20-year stretch for murder and racketeering while he was street boss, a promotion he got after the family's official boss, Joseph Massino, was indicted in 2003. Massino went on to flip, wear a wire, and testify against acting boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano. Newsday journalist  Anthony DeStefano has written two excellent books about both Massino and Basciano,  Vinny Gorgeous: The Ugly Rise And Fall Of A New York Mobster  and King of the Godfathers . Urso was tape-recorded calling for murdering the children of turncoats, arguing that it was the only way to stanch the seemingly endless...

A former Genovese crime family associate who wore a wire and helped the FBI build a major Mafia racketeering case may wind up in the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Lower Manhattan for the crime of appearing on the Johnny & Gene Show. Gene Borrello, left, John Alite. Ironically, turncoat John (JR) Rubeo predicted that he could "get in trouble" for appearing on  the podcast hosted by former Gambino associate John Alite and former Bonanno associate Gene Borrello . And now it appears he is just that.  The reason,  Gang Land News reported yesterday , is an "irate federal judge" who is planning to send Rubeo  back to the clink  after watching the podcast and seeing how Rubeo allegedly "openly flouted the judge's order barring him from associating with convicted felons." Rubeo was the wire-wearing mob mole who helped the FBI ensnare 46 wiseguys and associates from several crime families in the August 2016 East Coast LCN Enterprise case , which ...

The story of the two decorated NYPD detectives who moonlighted as hitters for the Luchese crime family may soon play out on television screens near you.  Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso Emmy Award-winning Boardwalk Empire creator/Sopranos executive producer Terence Winter has “committed” to writing and developing the series that will tell the story of the Mafia Cops , aka Stephen Caracappa and Louis Eppolito, a recent New York Post report blared. Caracappa and Eppolito were former NYPD detectives who worked for the Mafia in New York City, primarily for the underboss of the Luchese crime family, in the 1980s and early 1990s . The two retired detectives were finally indicted in 2005 and then convicted in 2006 of eight counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder, plus labor racketeering, extortion, narcotics, gambling, and obstruction of justice. In 2009, Caracappa was sentenced to life plus 80 years and Eppolito to life plus 100 years. (Caracappa died on April 8, 2017 at age 75 of can...

UPDATED South Jersey resident Joseph (Joey Electric) Servidio, 60, a reputed soldier in the Philadelphia crime family, was sentenced last Thursday to 15 years in Federal prison for pushing crystal methamphetamine, heroin, and fentanyl-laced pills. Joseph (Joey Electric) Servidio. He was arrested in March 2018 with two South Jersey associates of the Philadelphia mob family: Carl Chianese and Michael Gallicchio.  In June 2019, in Camden, NJ, Federal court, Servidio copped to conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, including more than 200 grams of fentanyl and heroin, and about 300 grams of crystal meth. The FBI described this case as the  dismantling of a drug pipeline running nearly the length of the Garden State Parkway. Initially the FBI indicated that elements of the Boston Mafia also were involved in this case. Among the charges outlined in the indictment: Servidio and Chianese plotted the revenge killing of a drug-dealing associate because the associate, identifie...

This is  the third round of Q&As. Please email any additional questions or  post them in the comment section of this story. Also, former Luchese wiseguy John Pennisi has started a blog, Sitdown News so be sure and visit.  Former Bonanno wiseguy Dominick (Sonny Black) Napolitano, who was killed probably over the Donnie Brasco investigation, comes up in one of today's questions. Question : I'm Paul from Italy. Do you know something about the active families outside New York (not only the Decavalcante family and Philly)??? John Pennisi: Paul, piacere, I had some dealing with and met a few Ndrangheta I believe they were from Canada. What impressed me with them was we were once in a restaurant and I was brought over to a table where about 12 of their people were sitting. I sat and talked for a while and then went back to my table. When they left in a line from young to old, with their boss being last, they came over to say goodbye. Very disciplined and full of respect. Q:...

The way ex-Luchese mobster John Pennisi tells it, he'd still be a true-blue wiseguy today if his capo and others had not wrongly suspected him of being a "rat." .... The following Q&A is part of our continuing coverage of John Pennisi's side of the story about what happened between him and the Luchese crime family. Some questions were lightly edited ... GOODFELLAS: Luchese boss Vic Amuso, Colombo acting boss Vic Orena, Little Nicky Scarfo. Q: To an outsider today (today meaning pre-COVID) the mob seems smaller, better hidden, and less of a factor in daily life. In say 1988, if one night I went to a weekly poker game (and won BIG), then bought some blow and went to a strip club, then stopped by a guy to borrow money, it’d be a safe bet that the mob profited off every one of those activities. If I did that same “circuit” last week say what are the chances that the mob got a piece of all those activities? JOHN PENNISI: The mob has learned from past mistakes, exposur...

UPDATED Bill Cutolo, former Mob Candy editor Nick Christophers, and John DeSalvo have launched a new podcast called Wise Guys Inc . The podcast available now features special guest Ronnie Kerner, "a bad ass mobster who was under mob boss Sonny Franzese of the Colombo family," according to the podcast's webpage on Soundcloud. See the Wise Guys Inc. Facebook page . Nick Christophers was the editor of Mob Candy magazine. He has authored several books, including the novels  Destinies Vol II - No Honor Among Thieves  and  Destinies , and the non-fiction works,  Mafia Ties - The Greek Syndicates , and Prison Rules  (with John Alite). John DeSalvo is a former University Professor and Dean, an author, and a TV and radio personality. Billy Cutolo is the son of former Colombo underboss William (Wild Bill) Cutolo. Wild Bill had been promoted to underboss of the Colombo crime family following the third Colombo war. In 1999, Cutolo was last seen en route to that meeting (ir...