Cosa Nostra News

John A. Matassa Jr.—a reputed Chicago mob figure and longtime union boss who earlier this year copped to a federal felony charge of embezzlement in an alleged scheme to fraudulently qualify for early retirement benefits— is going to federal prison. Matassa, aka Pudgy, faced sentencing on July 22, more than two years after a 10-count federal indictment slapped him in the nads. His defense had been that the U.S. Department of Labor had targeted him, a viewpoint that didn't hold much water in the view of the judge. In court recently, the two butted heads when Matassa stood before the judge and said,“ The only reason I’m standing here today is because my name is John Matassa .” The judge retorted with: “ You pled guilty to a felony to avoid going to trial. That’s why you’re here right now. Not because your name is John Matassa .”) The case stemmed from Matassa’s job as the secretary-treasurer of the Independent Union of Amalgamated Workers Local 711. While his plea a...

The former boss of the Genovese crime family's Springfield crew got himself in some hot mildly warm water this week.  Anthony (Bingy) Arillotta served time for two murders. Anthony (Bingy) Arillotta once shot bullets at Mafioso --  but now apparently pelts relatives with juice cartons. Bingy, who became the federal government’s star witness in two separate mob murder trials in New York City in 2011 and 2012 and who began cooperating in 2010, was arrested Sunday for assault and battery after he allegedly tossed a lemonade carton at a female relative, hitting her in the leg. She’s okay however: there were no visible injuries, as per the police report. She also declined medical treatment. As MassLive reported, the dispute was over a sick dog that Arillotta threatened to kill. (Bingy has allergies, and a family member supposedly left the dog at his home. He wanted it gone.) Arillotta, 50, pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Monday in Springfield Distr...

"(Phil Rusty) Rastelli was someone you didn’t cross. The mob was not the romanticized, glorified guys in the movies. They are gangsters, thugs, murderers. There is no poetry about them." --Joe Pistone Philip (Rusty) Rastelli had been Bonanno underboss to Natale (Joe Diamond) Evola; he rose to the top when a group of capos elected him after Evola died in late August 1973. Philip (Rusty) Rastelli  Rastelli, who listed his occupation as a radio dispatcher for a taxi company, spent half his life in prison. During his 18-year reign as boss (from 1973 to 1991) he was a free man for only about three years. Then, thanks to two lengthy prison sentences—10 years for antitrust violations, and 12 years for directing a huge labor racketeering conspiracy—after 1976, he mostly ran the Bonanno family’s operations from behind bars. He was an unpopular boss, and he presided over the disintegration of the family. Described once as a tall, good-looking man, Rastelli was a fitness ...

As noted in a previous story, as per recently released records, Felix Sater, a former associate of President Donald Trump, played a key role in helping the Feds pressure Frank Coppa, the first member of the Bonanno family to flip. Not Before and After: Frank Coppa, left, Joe Massino when still Bonannos. Others, including Richard Cantarella and Sal Vitale, brother-in-law to then-Bonanno boss Joseph Massino, quickly followed. Massino, ever since getting out of prison in 1992, had taken measures to buffer the Bonanno family and himself from law enforcement. He closed social clubs, organized crews into separate cells, and focused on anti-surveillance efforts (including taking vacations outside the US with top aids and their wives to have discussions), among other things. Despite Massino's extensive efforts to fortify the Massino family the Bonanno family, the defection of Coppa, a longtime member of Massino's inner circle, was as serious as heart failure: Coppa was ...