Cosa Nostra News

Among other things, Ravenite social club denizens John Gotti, Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano, and Frank Locascio discuss the terror they feel whenever compelled to listen to recordings of themselves; the irony of course is that they were recorded while talking about being recorded⸺which is very meta... Sammy Gravano and John Gotti in discussion outside the Ravenite social club. "I tell you what a fckin’ heartbreak," Gotti laments. "You know you feel like you’re being raped with these fuckin’ tapes." "I know. I hate it," Gravano replied. "I, I listened to a couple a tapes of mine. I was sick." Tapes, these tapes, made Sammy the Bull  flip, as he recalled during an interview posted on YouTube last year . " John (Gotti) told me to my face , he said, ‘Sammy, the [wiretap] tapes are horrible. They make you sound like a monster. What are we gonna do? So I’m controlling all the lawyers. You’re gonna take the weight, the lawyer...

Gambino boss John Gotti, not knowing he’s already living his last year of freedom ever, discusses potential candidates for membership in the Gambino crime family, and laments how difficult it was to find worthy contenders.  John Gotti, 1987. He queries Salvatore (Sammy the Bull) Gravano about whether he would feel more comfortable with a different title: “So, I’m asking you how you feel. You wanna stay as consigliere? Or you want me to make you official “underboss”? “Acting boss”? How do you feel? What makes you feel better?” The future is so uncertain. You never know what fresh hell is waiting just around the corner. (At least these guys didn’t have to bother about wearing a goddamn facemask.) We include surveillance video of John Gotti farther down in this story...also: I keep ads to the barest minimum; please disable any ad blocking solutions... JANUARY 4, 1990 FILE NUMBER: 183A-3507 PLACE: Apartment above the Ravenite Social Club, located at 247 Mulberry Street...

Was Russell Bufalino ever the boss of the Genovese family in a temporary fashion, we were recently asked via email. The following is our answer ... Russell Bufalino By 1975, Russell Bufalino —the soft-spoken, eight-fingered Sicilian with the lazy eye who was called “McGee” by his closest associates —was at the height of his power in the American Cosa Nostra. According to law enforcement and journalist sources, at around this time he was at the helm of no less than three crime families: In addition to his own crime family in Pittston, Pennsylvania, he had assumed control of (as well as absorbed) the Buffalo crime family after the July 1974 death of longtime boss Stefano Magaddino . Bufalino also reportedly had assumed temporary control of New York’s Genovese family, sometime after the July 1972 murder of front boss Thomas (Tommy Ryan Eboli) and before Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno took over. Bufalino may have been arguably one of the most powerful mobsters in the nation in t...

To have been a fly on the wall at the downtown Brooklyn halfway house where the leading contenders for the slot of Colombo family boss, Theodore (Skinny Teddy) Persico Jr. and Joel (Joe Waverly) Cacace, both cooled their heels for months.... Theodore (Skinny Teddy) Persico is heir apparent. Unless the COVID-19 pandemic changed anything , Joe Waverly departed the Brooklyn Residential Reentry facility last Friday, May 22. Skinny Teddy still has a few more days to go before his slated May 29 release. For now, Andrew (Mush) Russo is once again acting Colombo family boss. Skinny Teddy Persico, 56, has been the presumed heir apparent since cousin Alphonse (Allie Boy) Persico, went away for life after his 2008 conviction for the 1999 murder of William (Wild Bill) Cutolo. Skinny Teddy's father, who died in 2017, was a brother of Carmine (Junior) Persico, the legendary and unpredictable boss of the Colombo crime family who died last year at the age of 85 while serving a 139-ye...