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2024-03-29T05:28:06Z
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Meet the New Boss: Profile of Lucchese Mafia family leader Michael “Big Mike” DeSantis
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-of-lucchese-mafia-family-boss-michael-big-mike-desantis
2019-06-17T09:52:43.000Z
2019-06-17T09:52:43.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><strong><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-of-lucchese-mafia-family-boss-michael-big-mike-desantis" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237125868,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237125868?profile=original" /></a></strong>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Lucchese crime family boss Michael “Big Mike” DeSantis got to the top of the hill in an unusual way: A letter from his imprisoned-for-life predecessor Vic Amuso. Still, he put in the work and did the time to get the title. Now law enforcement is watching him closely to see what he does with it.</p>
<p>DeSantis made his money from an auto body shop in Brooklyn that he owned and his interests in waste carting firms. He came up in the crew run by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-lucchese-family-capo-fat-pete-chiodo" target="_blank">“Fat Pete” Chiodo</a>, a likeable but deadly capo who was big as a whale. In the late 1980s, Chiodo received the contract to murder John Morrissey, a business agent for Local 580 of the ornamental ironworkers union. Morrissey had participated in a window replacement scheme in which the New York Mafia stole millions of dollars from the New York City Housing Authority.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Making his bones</strong></span></p>
<p>Afraid that Morrissey would cooperate with authorities, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese family</a> boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-lucchese-crime-family-boss-vittorio-vic-amuso" target="_blank">Vittorio Amuso</a> and his underboss Anthony Casso ordered Chiodo and his crew to kill him. They did as they were told and as they dragged out the union boss’ dead corpse, DeSantis was digging a hole with a backhoe. The men threw in the body and covered it up with dirt.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-york-s-lucchese-mafia-family-deadly-as-ever-in-2017-prosecuto" target="_blank"><strong>New York’s Lucchese Mafia family deadly as ever in 2017</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>This small piece of work earned DeSantis membership in the Mafia. In November of 1989, the family’s leaders gathered in the basement of Peter Vario’s nephew’s home in Canarsie for the induction of five new soldiers, including <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-lucchese-family-capo-richard-the-toupee-pagliarulo" target="_blank">Richard Pagliarulo</a>, who had fired the shots that killed Morrissey, and DeSantis.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="https://st4.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2234849496?profile=RESIZE_710x" alt="2234849496?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>Though there is little information about which hits DeSantis was involved in, he is alleged to have been a favored hitman for Amuso and Casso. They also tasked him with the murder of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-acting-boss-alphonse" target="_blank">acting boss Alphonse D’Arco</a>, who they suspected would become an informant.</p>
<p>D’Arco (right) was lured to a meeting at the Kimberly hotel in Midtown Manhattan on September 19, 1991. As he talked to his fellow mobsters, he quickly realized something was off. The topics of discussion were hardly the material for such a meeting.</p>
<p>When DeSantis joined him and the others, he knew for certain this wasn’t a meeting, but a hit. The pistol bulging from DeSantis back was a big tip-off as well and D’Arco sped out of the hotel room. The next day, he joined Team America and began cooperating with the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>A stand-up guy</strong></span></p>
<p>As D’Arco spilled the beans, DeSantis was one of many <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese family</a> gangsters that went down. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison. Unlike his intended target, he kept his mouth shut and did his time. He was released from prison on June 28, 2010.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-family-mobster-planned-to-escape-from-metropolitan-deten"><strong>Lucchese mobster planned to escape from Detention Center in Brooklyn</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Back on the streets, he now was not only known as a capable killer, but as a stand-up guy, which is the biggest compliment a mobster can receive in this day and age of rats and snitches. It is no wonder then that he was viewed by his colleagues as the right person to lead the family.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>A coded letter from the boss</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="https://st5.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2234851391?profile=RESIZE_710x" alt="2234851391?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>By this time, his former boss, Vittorio Amuso, was serving life behind bars and Matthew Madonna and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-acting-boss-steven" target="_blank">Steven Crea</a> (right) were running the Luccheses from their headquarters in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bronx" target="_blank">Bronx</a>. Several capos based in Brooklyn had enough of the Bronx leadership however and began complaining about Madonna and Crea to the imprisoned-for-life 85-year-old Amuso.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Back to Brooklyn”</strong></span></p>
<p>Lucchese family soldier-turned-government witness John Pennisi recounted how the men sent a coded letter to Amuso. “The administration of the family had shifted to The Bronx,” Pennisi testified in court. “There was a crew of guys very loyal to him out here, all Brooklyn guys, [who] wanted to take the family back to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brooklyn" target="_blank">Brooklyn</a>. That’s really what this was about.”</p>
<p>From behind bars, Amuso sent a letter back approving the leadership change. He also provided them a hit list in case the current administration refused to step down. “In the event that they balked or they wanted to hold their positions, we would deal with the guys from The Bronx,” Pennisi said.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mafia-boss-vic-amuso-may-be-imprisoned-for-life-but-his" target="_blank">Vic Amuso may be imprisoned for life</a>, but his word is still law on the streets of New York</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>The letter was enough. Despite being locked up for life, Amuso’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mafia-boss-vic-amuso-may-be-imprisoned-for-life-but-his" target="_blank">word still was law</a> on the streets of New York. Madonna and Crea gave up their positions and stepped down, clearing the way for Michael DeSantis to become the new boss. He will rule a total of seven crews spread out over the Bronx, Long Island, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Manhattan" target="_blank">Manhattan</a>, New Jersey, and, of course, Brooklyn.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family">Lucchese crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Lucchese Mafia boss Vic Amuso may be imprisoned for life, but his word is still law on the streets of New York
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mafia-boss-vic-amuso-may-be-imprisoned-for-life-but-his
2019-05-31T18:42:28.000Z
2019-05-31T18:42:28.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mafia-boss-vic-amuso-may-be-imprisoned-for-life-but-his" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237125673,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237125673?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Many question how much power an 85-year-old imprisoned-for-life Mafia boss actually has over his crime family. Mob leader Vic Amuso (above) answered with a letter that said: Total power. From behind bars, he orchestrated the complete rearrangement of the Lucchese family’s leadership.</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-lucchese-crime-family-boss-vittorio-vic-amuso" target="_blank">Vittorio Amuso</a> has been locked up since his arrest in 1991. His reign atop the New York <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese crime family</a> was one drenched in blood as he and his underboss, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Casso" target="_blank">Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso</a>, ordered countless mob murders of underlings they deemed disloyal or a possible snitch.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The boss is the boss</strong></span></p>
<p>Despite his erratic years as a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> boss and a life sentence, his crime family remained firmly under his thumb. This much became clear this week, when <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese family</a> mobster-turned-government witness John Pennisi testified that Amuso sent a coded letter from prison ordering the current acting boss Matthew Madonna to step down and be replaced by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-of-lucchese-mafia-family-boss-michael-big-mike-desantis" target="_blank">Michael “Big Mike” DeSantis</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-york-s-lucchese-mafia-family-deadly-as-ever-in-2017-prosecuto" target="_blank">New York’s Lucchese Mafia family deadly as ever in 2017</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>If Madonna refused, Pennisi testified according to Jerry Capeci in <a href="https://ganglandnews.com/" target="_blank">Gangland News</a>, [he] had a hit list that included a captain and several members of the family. “We would have killed members of The Bronx crew,” Pennisi told the court.</p>
<p>It didn’t come to that. Madonna, a highly respected figure in the New York Mafia, agreed to step aside. At 83 years old he is no spring chicken himself. <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-acting-boss-steven" target="_blank">Steven Crea</a>, his underboss, agreed to do the same.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Respect the title</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-lucchese-crime-family-boss-vittorio-vic-amuso" target="_blank">Amuso</a>’s letter didn’t come out of nowhere. Several captains were unhappy with the family leadership being centered in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bronx" target="_blank">Bronx</a>. Pennisi: “There was a crew of guys very loyal to him out here, all <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brooklyn" target="_blank">Brooklyn</a> guys, [who] wanted to take the family back to Brooklyn. That’s really what this was about.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Hanging with Eddie Murphy and Mafia hitmen:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-lucchese-family-capo-fat-pete-chiodo" target="_blank"><strong>Profile of Lucchese family capo “Fat Pete” Chiodo</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>But rather than going ahead and settling matters themselves, these powerful capos needed the approval and order of an imprisoned-for-life 85-year-old. Power is something intangible, but those who have it wield it without effort. And everyone knows and respects it.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family">Lucchese crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Sex Money Murder: The violent rise and fall of deadly Bronx gang ingrained in New York underworld’s history
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/sex-money-murder-the-violent-rise-and-fall-of-deadly-bronx-gang-i
2018-11-07T09:00:00.000Z
2018-11-07T09:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sex-money-murder-the-violent-rise-and-fall-of-deadly-bronx-gang-i" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237111261,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237111261?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Twin, Suge, Pipe, and Pistol Pete. The names still haunt the Soundview projects in the Bronx, New York. Their drugs kept the hood from starving, but their violence caused nothing but pain and horror. Their gang Sex Money Murder ruled supreme and has become part of gangland history. “If they hadn’t been taken down they’d probably have become as powerful as a drug cartel.”</p>
<p>Their entire story has now been documented by journalist Jonathan Green in his book <a href="https://amzn.to/2DlgmPI" target="_blank">Sex Money Murder</a> – <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=SMM" target="_blank">SMM</a>: A searing portrait of the crack epidemic and violent drug wars that once ravaged the Bronx.</p>
<p>“I didn’t just want to write a true crime book,” Green tells Gangsters Inc. “I felt this story was a lot more important than that. It goes beyond that. The social civic history of the 1980s and 1990s, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Crack" target="_blank">crack</a> epidemic and how that birthed these <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gangs" target="_blank">gangs</a>, and the formation of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bloods" target="_blank">New York Bloods</a>. But I also really wanted to show the background that these guys came from and why they ended up in the gang. You sort of hear about it in rap songs and I wanted to tell all that in a narrative. Which I think had never been done.”</p>
<p><a href="https://amzn.to/2DlgmPI" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237111090,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237111090?profile=original" width="200" /></a>Green (right) is originally from England and first came to the United States in the 1980s when he visited family in New York. He began writing for magazines with most of his work focused on crime. He spent time with a SWAT team and Bounty hunter in Los Angeles. After he had enough of flying back and forth between London and New York, he moved to the Big Apple permanently in the early 2000s.</p>
<p>He wasn’t done traveling, though. He covered crime stories around the globe. He reported on the favelas in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Brazil" target="_blank">Brazil</a>, the gangs in Kingston, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Jamaica" target="_blank">Jamaica</a>, the intersection between crime and terrorism in Sudan, and the coca fields in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Colombia" target="_blank">Colombia</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Sex Money Murder</strong></span></p>
<p>Green’s work on transnational organized crime eventually brought him in contact with former <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=NYPD" target="_blank">NYPD</a> detective John O’Malley, who had been part of an expansive investigation into Sex Money Murder, a gang that hailed from the Soundview projects and held sway across the Bronx and into other states beyond New York.</p>
<p>The former detective introduced Green to one of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=SMM" target="_blank">Sex Money Murder</a>’s leaders, Emilio Romero. Better known on the streets by his nickname “Pipe”, Romero had flipped and become a cooperating witness against his fellow gang members. He was hesitant, but also willing to share his story with Green.</p>
<p>“In the beginning, I couldn’t ask him about his mom or growing up,” Green says. “Pipe told me: ‘Man, this is difficult! I didn’t think it would be that hard.’ We built up a relationship and ended up talking all the time, every day.”</p>
<p>Pipe made his motivations crystal clear to Green. “I really want people to understand that, yes, I was in a gang and I sold crack and we used violence,” the gangster began. “But, I loved my mom, my family, and I want people to understand what made us do the things we did.”</p>
<p>In his <a href="https://amzn.to/2DlgmPI" target="_blank">book</a>, Green goes to great lengths in telling the story of not just Sex Money Murder and its members, but of the community where they grew up, the cops who chased them, and the relatives who were worried sick about their sons, brothers, and fathers or were stricken with sorrow after losing a loved one to the deadly streets.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>BUY:</strong> <a href="https://amzn.to/2DlgmPI" target="_blank"><strong>Sex Money Murder: A story of crack, blood, and betrayal</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Violence at the drop of a hat”</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/AU_HlrDtczI?wmode=opaque" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe> </strong></span></p>
<p>“During the 1990s the violence was so out of control,” Green explains. “And police had difficulty getting a handle on this. They couldn’t find any witnesses. Sex Money Murder just got stronger and stronger. These days, guys like that would be in handcuffs within a year or two. But back then they could grow unchecked and Sex Money Murder went from a street gang to a syndicate. They were getting increasingly sophisticated. Laundering drug money and investing it in legitimate businesses, paying out members with clean paychecks, and leasing all the cars so they couldn’t be traced back. If they hadn’t been taken down they’d probably have become as powerful as a drug cartel.”</p>
<p>What fueled Sex Money Murder’s rise was not just the gang’s brain thrust, but also its willingness to engage in violence. Green: “These guys were very violent and very deadly. More dangerous than your average <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> crew because they were so willing to use violence at the drop of a hat.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“New York streets where killers'll walk like Pistol Pete” - Nas</strong></span></p>
<p>Much of that violence was ordered by the group’s leader Peter Rollock, who was nicknamed Pistol Pete. “’Pistol’ was so flamboyant,” Green explains. “He got the attention of rap stars like Lord Tariq and Peter Gunz who rhymed about his life and crimes. He went clubbing with supermodel Tyra Banks and music mogul Sean Combs (better known as Puffy or P. Diddy). He had this swagger and flamboyance a lot of the other guys didn’t have. But he was also prepared to commit the violence, the murders, himself. Which, normally they delegate that stuff to others, but Pete was quite happy to carry out the murders himself and was proud of them. He advertised the fact he did murders. Boasted about it.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: “Corey Hamlet is as smart as any CEO we’ve prosecuted” - Profile:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/corey-hamlet-is-as-smart-as-any-ceo-we-ve-prosecuted-profile-of-g" target="_blank"><strong>Grape Street Crips leader Corey Hamlet</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>In doing so, he created a street legend while still walking those streets. He was always very aware of gangster history and an avid reader of books about the Italian-American Mafia. “Pete absolutely idolized the Mafia,” Green says. “As a kid he had posters of these guys on his wall like others had posters of music stars. He would have [mob boss] <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Anastasia" target="_blank">Albert Anastasia</a> on his wall and people like that.”</p>
<p>It wasn’t just fanboy stuff either. Pete actually studied these Mafia bosses and their activities and actions. Green: “Pipe told me that Pete read a lot about the early Mafia guys and anytime they’d get whacked he’d try to learn a lesson, so he wouldn’t make the same mistake.”</p>
<p>Pistol Pete was not planning on ending up like Anastasia, shot dead in the chair of a barbershop. “After reading about that, whenever he went to have a haircut he’d have a posse with him,” Green explains. “When he went to the barber he made sure the door was locked, that security was posted there. He learned from everything he read. Later on in his career, he was never alone. He always had armed guys with him.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237112078,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237112078?profile=original" width="600" /></a><em>Photo: "Pistol Pete" Rollock posing for pictures behind bars.</em></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The fall</strong></span></p>
<p>This wasn’t paranoia, mind you. People were frequently getting shot at or killed in those days. But despite the murders, for a long time authorities didn’t do much about it. Green: “Everyone is focused on the Mafia groups because that’s where the glory is. And there was this attitude that because it happened in Soundview, a poor neighborhood, let them kill each other. A classic racist slant which pervaded everything.”</p>
<p>Still, the killings did catch the police’s attention. Especially after Sex Money Murder organized a massacre in broad daylight on Thanksgiving Day in 1997 when it executed two of its own members in front of women and children enjoying the annual game of football. “Even the community rose up after those murders,” Green explains. “Everyone had had enough. The killings and shootings had been going on for so long but this one, at a football game with families and stuff, it was the straw that broke the camel’s back.”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237111694,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237111694?profile=original" width="550" /></a><em>Photo: Soundview Homes, the Bronx, New York (courtesy of Jonathan Green)</em></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Joining the United Blood Nation</strong></span></p>
<p>To top it all off, Sex Money Murder had joined the nationwide <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=UBN" target="_blank">United Blood Nation</a> gang, the first New York crew to do so. The decision to join the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bloods" target="_blank">Bloods</a> was made by Pistol Pete, who saw it as an expansion of the group’s influence and power and thought it would give them a more fearsome reputation.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/united-blood-nation-godfather-says-he-is-part-of-the-last-ones-th" target="_blank">United Blood Nation Godfather says</a> he is part of “the last ones that God put in power”</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>“Pipe and the others in Sex Money Murder thought that was a huge mistake,” Green explains. “Pipe felt that they didn’t need that. Their reputation was hard. Certainly, Pete had much more of a vicious rep than United Blood Nation founder Omar “OG Mack” Portee. They were tight and loyal and didn’t need to be a part of this big, national organization. People close to Pete also thought it was a mistake because this move puts you on the radar of federal law enforcement. Whereas when you’re a tight, small clique you can do you own thing and not be caught up as much in a federal case. A lot of people at the time were shocked.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Local and federal agencies cooperate</strong></span></p>
<p>Where federal authorities had no interest in Sex Money Murder before, now they finally saw why the group had to be stopped. But wanting something done and actually being able to do it are two different things, Liz Glazer, the lead prosecutor in the investigation, quickly found out. Working with federal agents she realized they would never be able to break this Bronx-based organization. So, she pioneered a hugely effective cooperation between federal and local agencies.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/high-ranking-bloods-gangster-arrested-for-organizing-murder-of-bo" target="_blank">High-ranking Bloods gangster arrested</a> for organizing murder of Bonanno family mobster</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Green: “Liz Glazer realized the local cops knew who all the players were, who the shooters were and who the top guys were. The FBI was different. When they’d come in they didn’t know who everybody was, who the people in the neighborhood were. The violence and killings are carried out by a very small group of people and once you identify them you have an enormous advantage. She realized that by partnering up local detectives with the feds they’d have the power of the federal system with the mandatory minimum sentences of RICO with the expertise of the street cops on the ground. It was a winning strategy in eradicating these gangs.”</p>
<p>With help from detectives like O’Malley and Pete Forcelli, prosecutors were able to bring the gang leaders and members in on RICO charges. Facing serious time in a federal prison, many of them began to weigh their options. Most of them decided to cooperate and testify against their former brothers.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Sex Money Murder bangin’ for their rats”</strong></span></p>
<p>Among those to turn their back on Sex Money Murder were “Pipe” and “Suge”, two of the group’s high-ranking and founding members. Both men also sat down with Green for his book. Using their inside knowledge of Sex Money Murder, he was able to paint a vivid picture of the gang’s rise to power and its rapid downfall.</p>
<p>Getting them to trust him, however, was not easy. Green: “Remember, these guys are not used to trusting anyone. Much of their life they’ve been lied to. Gang life is based on deception and lies. Pipe told me once the only guys who know everything are at the top. Guys on the bottom are kept in the quiet about what’s happening. It’s a lifestyle where lies become commonplace so trusting is difficult. When we started it took a lot to establish that trust particularly when talking about cooperating and murders.”</p>
<p>Where cooperators are usually branded rats and snitches “get stitches”, a weird thing happened within the Sex Money Murder crew as a visible split occurred between those who remained loyal and those who cooperated: Both sides continued to show each other love and respect, to some degree.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-kingpin-freeway-rick-ross-moving-tons-of-cocaine-with-a-nod" target="_blank">Drug kingpin “Freeway” Rick Ross</a>: Moving tons of cocaine with approval from the Reagan White House</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>When members of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LatinKings" target="_blank">Latin Kings</a> approached Pistol Pete in prison with an offer to murder Sex Money Murder turncoats, he flat out refused, saying: “We stand on our own, man. We grew up from the sandbox together. Ain’t nobody touch no Sex Money Murder rats.”</p>
<p>“These bonds are tight,” Green explains. “They killed for each other. It’s like a type of army unit. It’s not, of course. The military has a different motivation, but at the same time they also had this very deep sense of camaraderie. After Pete’s stance became clear, they got a reputation in prison for loyalty. Guys locked up would chant: ‘Sex Money bangin’ for their rats!’”</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237113053,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237113053?profile=original" width="550" /></a><em>Photo: Soundview Homes, The Bronx, New York (courtesy of Jonathan Green)</em></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The infection that is violence<br /> </strong></span></p>
<p>Pistol Pete went down with his ship, sentenced to life plus 105 years in prison. He was held in solitary confinement out of fear he would use his influence within the United Blood Nation to order violence or murders. At the time of his sentencing he was just 26 years old.</p>
<p>Pipe and Suge were released from prison after cooperating with authorities. Both men struggled with their new lives away from Soundview, but Pipe, especially, has been able to turn his life around and hold down a legitimate job and raise a family.</p>
<p>The justice system tends to punish African-American criminals more severely than whites. Young black males also tend to be arrested for petty things, creating a criminal record early on which makes getting a regular job later on in life that much harder and the gang life that much more attractive, a necessity even. Thus, the vicious cycle of growing up without a father, poverty, crime, and prison perpetuates on and on.</p>
<p><a href="https://amzn.to/2DlgmPI" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237113468,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237113468?profile=original" /></a>Pipe’s reason for telling his story was showing youngsters the reality of it. “These young guys don’t realize that the very people they think are their brothers are the same guys that will murder them,” he told Green. “Every time the set turns on itself and they eat their own. It happened with Sex Money Murder too. They brought on their own destruction because they turned on each other.”</p>
<p>Getting this perspective out was important for Green too. “I wanted to give people caught up in this life some idea of other people who went through it. If Pipe can explain ‘Here’s what happened to me. I started out poor, sold crack for money, then the violence started and once it starts you cannot turn it off. It will go on and on. It will claim your life or someone else’s.’ I wanted to tell that in a personal way, like they knew Pipe and Suge and were invested in their life story and understand it. Because there’s a myth and aura about the lifestyle, which is tragic.”</p>
<p>He continues: “It’s so tragic for the mothers of these guys. It causes a lot of devastation. It’s a selfish motivation: Getting rich no matter what. That kind of hunger eats you out and they always turn and kill each other. It’s like an infection. The violence spreads. And you have to use it or you get murdered yourself. It’s like a security, it keeps you safe. But eventually you become infected yourself.”</p>
<p><em><strong><a href="https://amzn.to/2DlgmPI" target="_blank">Sex Money Murder</a>: A story of crack, blood, and betrayal is available at stores <a href="https://amzn.to/2DlgmPI" target="_blank">online</a> or near you. You can find Jonathan Green at his <a href="http://www.jonathangreenonline.com/" target="_blank">website</a> and <a href="http://twitter.com/jonathanjagreen" target="_blank">Twitter</a>.</strong></em></p>
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Murder at the Drive-Thru: Bonanno family mobster shot in the head while getting coffee at McDonald’s
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/murder-at-the-drive-thru-bonanno-family-mobster-shot-in-the-head
2018-10-05T09:30:00.000Z
2018-10-05T09:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/murder-at-the-drive-thru-bonanno-family-mobster-shot-in-the-head" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237105477,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237105477?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Sylvester Zottola had problems. The Bonanno family mobster was beefing with someone and that person was intent on murdering him over it. After surviving several attempts on his life, Zottola’s number was finally up on yesterday evening when an assassin shot him dead while he waited for his coffee at a McDonald’s drive-thru in the Bronx.</p>
<p>One medium coffee at a McDonald’s on Webster Avenue in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bronx" target="_blank">the Bronx</a> was the last order 71-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Zottola" target="_blank">Sylvester Zottola</a> got to place in his life. He didn’t even get to enjoy it. While he waited in his SUV around 5 p.m., another car pulled up and blocked his escape. A man got out and fired five closely placed shots through the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bonanno" target="_blank">Bonanno</a> gangster’s car window.</p>
<p>Zottola was hit in the head, chest and shoulder and was pronounced dead on the scene. The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Hitman" target="_blank">hitman</a> escaped and police have not made any arrest thus far.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237106088,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237106088?profile=original" width="600" /></a><em>Closely placed bullet holes show gunman's precision</em></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Like Father Like Son</strong></span></p>
<p>In July, Sylvester’s son was the target and victim of a gangland hit when a gunman fired several shots at him from close range in front of his family home. The whole murder attempt was <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bonanno-family-mobster-shot-in-front-of-his-bronx-mansion-salvato" target="_blank">caught on video</a>. 41-year-old Salvatore Zottola was hit by multiple bullets but miraculously survived the assassination attempt.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>WATCH & READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bonanno-family-mobster-shot-in-front-of-his-bronx-mansion-salvato" target="_blank"><strong>Video shows how Bonanno family gangster is shot in front of his Bronx mansion</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>As is custom for those involved with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LCN" target="_blank">La Cosa Nostra</a>, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in" target="_blank">American Mafia</a>, Salvatore refused to talk to police after the incident.</p>
<p>The attempt on Salvatore’s life was seen by investigators as a message to Sylvester, who himself survived three attacks in the past year. He was beaten over the head with a club outside his Bronx residence in September of 2017, threatened by a gunman who tried to get in his car a few months later, and stabbed in the neck by a burglar who had invaded his home.</p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237106289,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237106289?profile=original" width="600" /></a><em>Sylvester Zottola (left) with Bonanno crime family leader Vincent Basciano (right)</em></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Murder Motive</strong></span></p>
<p>Though it remains unclear why someone wanted Sylvester Zottola dead, it is believed there is a link between these gangland-style attacks and his position as an associate of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">New York’s Bonanno crime family</a>. He had close ties to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Basciano" target="_blank">Vincent Basciano</a>, who was the family’s boss in the 2000s and is currently imprisoned for life for murder and racketeering.</p>
<p>Court documents show father and son Zottola supplied and serviced <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">Joker Poker machines</a> to businesses controlled by the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> during the 1990s and 2000s with their company D.A.Z. Amusements. Sylvester Zottola’s nickname was “Sally Daz”.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/high-ranking-bloods-gangster-arrested-for-organizing-murder-of-bo"><strong>Bloods gangster arrested for organizing murder of Bonanno mobster</strong></a></p>
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New York Lucchese Mafia family hitman pleads guilty to attempted murder of Bonanno family mobster
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/new-york-lucchese-mafia-family-hitman-pleads-guilty-to-attempted
2018-09-16T16:32:51.000Z
2018-09-16T16:32:51.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-york-lucchese-mafia-family-hitman-pleads-guilty-to-attempted" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237109257,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237109257?profile=original" width="499" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>It’s the sort of vendetta violence the American Mafia is known for. After a Bonanno family mobster insulted a leader of the Lucchese family, the boss ordered his death. On Friday, the hitman who was handed the murder contract admitted his guilt in the plot.</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese crime family</a> associate Vincent Bruno pleaded guilty to attempting to kill, and conspiring to kill, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bronx" target="_blank">Bronx</a> man in 2012. The counts carry a maximum sentence of 15 years for the 34-year-old mobster, who will do his time.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-york-s-lucchese-mafia-family-deadly-as-ever-in-2017-prosecuto" target="_blank"><strong>Lucchese Mafia family deadly as ever in 2017</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Disrespecting a Mafia boss</strong></span></p>
<p>The murder plot occurred in 2012, when armed mobsters of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno crime family</a> forced their way into a Bronx social club controlled by the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Lucchese" target="_blank">Lucchese family</a>. During the ensuing confrontation, one of the Bonanno family associates acted in a manner that <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-acting-boss-steven" target="_blank">Steven Crea</a> (photo above), a leader of the Lucchese family, perceived as a personal affront.</p>
<p>To restore his honor and avenge this act of disrespect, Crea ordered his son, Steven D. Crea Junior, to have the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bonanno" target="_blank">Bonanno</a> gangster whacked. Crea Jr. passed the order to Paul “Paulie Roast Beef” Cassano Jr. and Bruno.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-family-mobster-planned-to-escape-from-metropolitan-deten" target="_blank"><strong>Lucchese mobster planned to escape from Detention Center in Manhattan</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>One night, both men travelled to the Bonanno associate’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bronx" target="_blank">Bronx</a> residence. There Bruno, armed with a gun, tried to find and kill him, but failed. The dispute between the rival families was then resolved before the murder was carried out.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Indicted</strong></span></p>
<p>Lucchese family boss Steven Crea Sr., his son, Bruno, Cassano, and fifteen other leaders, captains, members, and associates of the Lucchese family were <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-york-s-lucchese-mafia-family-deadly-as-ever-in-2017-prosecuto" target="_blank">arrested and charged</a> in a nine-count indictment in May of 2017, for their involvement in offenses including racketeering, murder, attempted murder, narcotics trafficking, and gun crimes. </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Hanging with hitmen and Eddie Murphy:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-lucchese-family-capo-fat-pete-chiodo" target="_blank"><strong>Profile of Lucchese capo "Fat Pete" Chiodo</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Since the unsealing of the Indictment, Bruno, Cassano and eight other defendants have pled guilty, and have been or will be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Cathy Seibel. Father and son Crea are also charged with attempting to have the Bonanno mobster killed along with various other crimes and are scheduled to begin trial in 2019.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Stand-up</strong></span></p>
<p>The Creas won’t find Bruno standing across from them in the courtroom, however. He pleaded guilty and will do his time. Something worth noting in this day and age. It’s sobering to know some Mafiosi will still accept punishment for their crimes.</p>
<p>He now serves as a warning to others who refuse to cooperate. “Bruno’s attempt to murder a man at the behest of his mob superiors has ended where it should: With Bruno behind bars,” U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said. “We will continue to work with the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> and our other partners in law enforcement to stamp out the remnants of La Cosa Nostra.”</p>
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Loyal Genovese family mobster guilty of crime and will do his time, all 25 years
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/loyal-genovese-family-mobster-guilty-of-crime-and-will-do-his-tim
2018-08-17T03:30:00.000Z
2018-08-17T03:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/loyal-genovese-family-mobster-guilty-of-crime-and-will-do-his-tim" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237107098,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237107098?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>He was convicted of a crime and he’s doing the time. Genovese crime family mobster Salvatore Delligatti (photo above) had previously been found guilty of racketeering and murder conspiracy charges and today was sentenced to 25 years in prison.</p>
<p>When facing such a harsh sentence, guys usually decide to flip to talk their way out of prison. 42-year-old Delligatti, however, is different. As an associate of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family" target="_blank">New York’s Genovese Mafia family</a>, Delligatti had spent several years immersed in the world of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LCN" target="_blank">La Cosa Nostra</a>. At least five years at the moment of his arrest in 2015, prosecutors allege.</p>
<p>During this period, he conspired with fellow mobsters to “participate in and conduct the affairs of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Genovese" target="_blank">Genovese family</a> through a pattern of racketeering activity that included a murder conspiracy, an <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a> conspiracy, and the operation of an illegal sports betting business.” The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">gambling business</a> Delligatti was involved in was big and took bets from gamblers in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Manhattan" target="_blank">Manhattan</a> and Queens, while using an offshore wire room.</p>
<p>He was even down to commit <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Murder" target="_blank">murder</a>. In May and June of 2014, Delligatti hired several individuals from the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bronx" target="_blank">Bronx</a> to ambush an intended victim outside his home in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Queens" target="_blank">Queens</a>. Delligatti offered to pay the would-be assassins several thousand dollars for the murder, and provided them with, among other things, a loaded .38 caliber revolver and a getaway vehicle. </p>
<p>Unbeknownst to Delligatti, he was wiretapped by the Nassau County Police Department and the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, and the hired hitmen were apprehended just a few blocks from the intended victim’s residence on June 8, 2014.</p>
<p>Caught red handed, Delligatti will now stay loyal to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a>. Doing the time he earned with his crime. It’s part of that life. He knows it and continues to live it.</p>
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VIDEO: Bonanno family mobster shot in front of his Bronx mansion – Salvatore Zottola in critical condition
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/bonanno-family-mobster-shot-in-front-of-his-bronx-mansion-salvato
2018-07-14T07:30:00.000Z
2018-07-14T07:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bonanno-family-mobster-shot-in-front-of-his-bronx-mansion-salvato" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237109082,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237109082?profile=original" width="539" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>An alleged associate of New York’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno crime family</a> was shot by an unknown hitman in front of his mansion in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bronx" target="_blank">Bronx</a>. Bullets hit 41-year-old Salvatore Zottola in his torso and left hand. He also suffered graze wounds to his head.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Murder at the Drive-Thru:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/murder-at-the-drive-thru-bonanno-family-mobster-shot-in-the-head" target="_blank"><strong>Sylvester Zottola shot in the head while getting coffee at McDonald's</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>The hit attempt occurred on Wednesday morning and was caught on camera. The video below shows how Zottola is about to get into his minivan when a dark-colored Nissan Sedan drives by. Inside, a man in the passenger seat fires several shots at the mob associate.</p>
<p>Trying to evade the gunfire, Zottola can be seen rolling away from the gunshots until he is behind his van. The car with his assailants then stops and the gunman - described as a black man wearing a light-colored cap, black hooded sweatshirt and white sneakers - gets out, running to where Zottola is crouched, firing several more shots from close range as Zottola makes another attempt at dodging bullets by rolling away.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9ugSjF7geMs?wmode=opaque" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""> </iframe></p>
<p>Though it may have seemed futile, Zottola’s desperate maneuvers helped him survive the professional, cold-blooded assassination. He was taken to Jacobi Medical Center where he currently is in critical but stable condition.</p>
<p>Zottola’s family is said to own three luxurious houses in the upper-class Bronx neighborhood, near a yacht club and a marina. The large mansion sports a large Z-logo atop of its façade. A sign with the quote: “Our walls are built thick our love for each is thicker” can be seen as well. Another home has a sign with the saying: “Our foundation is built from love our strength keeps us together.”</p>
<p>Zottola’s 71-year old father, Sylvester, is alleged to have ties to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno family</a> boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Basciano" target="_blank">Vincent Basciano</a>, who is serving a life sentence for racketeering and murder. Sylvester is no stranger to violence either. He reportedly survived a stabbing by burglars last December and was arrested last month for shooting at a man who pulled a gun on him outside his own Bronx home.</p>
<p>Staying true to his <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> affiliation, Salvatore Zottola refuses to cooperate with authorities and will not give them any information about his attackers.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/high-ranking-bloods-gangster-arrested-for-organizing-murder-of-bo"><strong>Bloods gangster arrested for organizing murder of Bonanno mobster</strong></a></p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/w9LJ0XfnnM8?wmode=opaque" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
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<p> </p></div>
New York drug boss Jimmy Rosemond guilty of murder – Gangster-turned-businessman never changed ways
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/new-york-drug-boss-jimmy-rosemond-guilty-of-murder-gangster-turne
2017-12-03T14:23:58.000Z
2017-12-03T14:23:58.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-york-drug-boss-jimmy-rosemond-guilty-of-murder-gangster-turne" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237099061,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237099061?profile=original" width="589" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Rappers want to be gangsters and gangsters want to be rappers. Still, you are what you are as the case of James “Jimmy the Henchman” Rosemond illustrates perfectly. As the founder of rap music management company Czar Entertainment, he mingled with New York’s top hip-hop talent. But as the head of a violent drug trafficking organization, he mingled with wolves and coyotes, hitters and sicarios. It didn’t take much for both worlds to collide.</p>
<p>Made famous by rapper <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=50Cent" target="_blank">50 Cent</a>, rap group G-Unit scored a bunch of hits with their brand of New York gangster rap. They believed their own hype and in March 2007, several of its members, including Marvin Bernard, known to rap fans as “Tony Yayo,” and Lowell Fletcher, known as “Lodi Mack,” assaulted James Rosemond’s son.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237098892,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237098892?profile=original" width="320" /></a>Though he was not seriously injured in the assault, and Fletcher ended up serving prison time for his involvement in the assault, “Jimmy the Henchman” (right) could not let such disrespect fly. You had the rules of society and then you had the rules of the underworld. He may have strut around the legitimate world of music and industry, at his core Rosemond remained a hardcore gangster. One that commanded an army of killers.</p>
<p>Rosemond recruited a crew of men to murder Fletcher upon his release from prison by promising at least $30,000 in payment for his murder. At Rosemond’s direction, members of the murder crew selected a dark and secluded location for the murder in the vicinity of Mount Eden and Jerome Avenues in the Bronx, and lured Fletcher to that spot.</p>
<p>When Fletcher arrived there in the evening on September 27, 2009, a member of the murder crew stepped out of the shadows and fired five bullets into Fletcher’s back and arms using Rosemond’s .22 caliber handgun with a silencer. Fletcher died later that night. On October 2, 2009, the crime boss had a trusted employee of his drug organization provide a kilogram of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a> – worth about $30,000 in street value – to a member of his murder crew as payment for the murder.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/i-shook-up-the-world-how-muhammad-ali-took-the-heavyweight-boxing" target="_blank">How Muhammad Ali took the heavyweight belt from the Mafia</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>All of this came out in the open when prosecutors hit Rosemond with a murder indictment and he stood trial. In February and March 2014, a mistrial was declared after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict on the counts against Rosemond relating to the murder-for-hire of Fletcher. </p>
<p>A second trial was set for December 2014 in which Rosemond was convicted on all counts. On appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Rosemond argued in part that his conviction in this murder-for-hire case should be overturned because certain rulings by the trial court effectively barred him from advancing a line of defense that Rosemond wanted to pursue – namely, Rosemond’s claim that although he ordered hitmen to shoot Fletcher, he did not intend for the shooting to result in Fletcher’s death. </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/michael-harris-a-convicted" target="_blank">Michael Harris</a>: The convicted kingpin who gave Denzel Washington his start</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>In November 2016, the Second Circuit vacated Rosemond’s conviction and remanded the case for a new trial. The case was reassigned to Judge Kaplan for retrial. Rosemond presented that defense at this third trial, which began on November 6, 2017, and ended on November 28, 2017, when a unanimous jury found Rosemond guilty of all the charges against him.</p>
<p>For his role in ordering, planning, and paying for the murder of Lowell Fletcher, Rosemond was convicted of one count of substantive murder-for-hire, one count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, and two firearms counts.</p>
<p>Rosemond faces a mandatory minimum sentence of life in prison and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 13, 2018. Not that it will matter, he is already serving a life sentence after he was convicted of drug trafficking, obstruction of justice, firearms violations, and financial crimes in the summer of 2012. </p>
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<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/street-gangs" target="_blank">Street Gangs section</a> or <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/black-organized-crime" target="_blank">Black organized crime</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
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Bronx gangster who killed rival as he held his baby daughter in his arms gets 42 years in prison
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/bronx-gangster-who-killed-rival-as-he-held-his-baby-daughter-in-h
2017-06-07T07:12:25.000Z
2017-06-07T07:12:25.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bronx-gangster-who-killed-rival-as-he-held-his-baby-daughter-in-h" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237082501,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237082501?profile=original" width="550" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Even among hardcore gangsters the heinous crime committed by James Capers (photo above, left) is considered crossing a line. Dealing drugs? Of course! Some robberies? Fine! Murder? Part of business. Shooting a rival while he is holding his 1-year-old daughter in his arms? Fuck no.</p>
<p>Yet, that’s exactly what Capers did, according to a federal jury that found him guilty of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Murder" target="_blank">murder</a>, racketeering, and narcotics conspiracies in December of 2016. As a member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/street-gangs" target="_blank">Leland Avenue Crew</a>, which controlled the distribution of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Crack" target="_blank">crack cocaine</a> in and around Leland Avenue in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bronx" target="_blank">Bronx</a>, New York, Capers sold drugs, carried weapons, and committed robberies of unsuspecting people on the street. </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/brooklyn-bloods-gang-enforcer-remains-loyal-to-his-boss-and-gets">Brooklyn Bloods gang enforcer stays loyal to boss</a> and gets 30 years for drug trafficking</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>He also did his part in the Leland Avenue Crew’s long-running war with a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gang" target="_blank">gang</a> on Taylor Avenue in the Bronx. As the two groups battled over drug territories, there were several shootings, some of which resulted in death.</p>
<p>One of them involved Capers, who went by the nickname “Mitch.” On July 7, 2015, he went looking for Allen McQueen, a rival gang member on Taylor Avenue. He spotted McQueen (photo above, right) walking down the street holding his 1-year-old daughter. Rather than deciding to wait for another shot, Capers ran up behind McQueen and fired several shots, striking his rival once and killing him on the spot.</p>
<p>On June 2, Capers was sentenced to 42 years in prison for his vicious crimes.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/street-gangs" target="_blank">Street Gangs section</a> or <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/black-organized-crime" target="_blank">Black organized crime</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
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<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
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Profile: Genovese crime family capo Pasquale Parrello
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-genovese-crime-family-capo-pasquale-parrello
2016-08-29T13:30:00.000Z
2016-08-29T13:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-genovese-crime-family-capo-pasquale-parrello"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237068465,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237068465?profile=original" width="453" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>It’s been a bumpy road for Genovese crime family captain Pasquale “Patsy” Parrello (photo above). In his decade-long criminal career he has spent several stints in prison and saw his son murdered by men seeking to avenge a slap in the face. Regardless, it’s the path he chose and the one he sticks to. Live by the gun, die by it.</p>
<p>As a capo in New York’s most powerful Mafia family, Parrello has been able to reap the benefits that come with his position in such a family. His – since deceased - boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-vincent-chin">Vincent “Chin” Gigante</a> led the family into the new millennium and guided it into a relatively stable condition. Whereas the other four mob families crumbled under pressure from law enforcement, internecine warfare, and rats, the Genovese crew managed to dodge most of the big blows.</p>
<p>Then again, the biggest blows never come from where you expect them to.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237068852,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237068852?profile=original" width="520" /></a>Parrello (above) found this out in the early 1990s when he was at his Pasquale’s Rigoletto restaurant on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. Inside, one of the patrons was being loud and obnoxious. Not a smart thing to do in the restaurant of a Mafia capo.</p>
<p>But this wasn’t just some average patron, it was Salvatore “Tore” Locascio, the son of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview">Gambino family</a> consigliere Frank Locascio who was convicted alongside <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gotti">John Gotti Sr,</a> and himself a high-ranking “made” member of the crime family.</p>
<p>Not one to proceed with caution, Parrello told Locascio to tone it down and when the up-and-coming mobster didn’t listen, Parrello slapped him in the face. That settled things, for that night at least. In the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia">Mafia</a>, however, such violent acts of disrespect are met with an even more violent response to set the matter straight once and for all.</p>
<p>On April 23, 1993, Parrello’s 24-year-old son Pasquale Jr. was shot to death.</p>
<p>An Albanian gangster named Victor Mirdita was apprehended near the crime scene and charged with the murder. He was part of an <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Albania">Albanian crew</a> which allegedly was close to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview">Gambino family</a> and the Locascios.</p>
<p>While he was awaiting trial, Mirdita was placed in a special protective unit in the Brooklyn House of Detention after his family received an anonymous phone call in which a tipster claimed Parrello Sr. had put out a contract on him. Prison staff took extra safety precautions to protect Mirdita, but an inmate still managed to assault him as he prepared for his trial. No connection between Parrello Sr. and the inmate was ever proven, though.</p>
<p>To the surprise of members of both law enforcement and the underworld, Mirdita was acquitted of Parrello Jr.’s murder in a 1995 trial. He was, however, found guilty of a related weapons possession charge and received a 5-to-15-year prison sentence.</p>
<p>With Mirdita out of reach, Parrello went about his regular business, which just happened to be very lucrative and, also, very illegal. The Genovese family had its fingers in so many pies that its members could make money however they chose. But by the late 1990s, law enforcement was on top of its game and it saw the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family">Genovese family</a> as the big prize.</p>
<p>After the success of undercover <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI">FBI</a> agent Joseph Pistone, who infiltrated the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family">Bonanno family</a> from the 1970s until the early 1980s, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=NYPD">NYPD</a> felt it could do the same to the Genoveses. It placed its own “fence” and chop shop specialist in the bustling underworld where everyone is looking for an easy buck.</p>
<p><strong>Read: Gangsters Inc. sits down with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-sits-down-with-fbi-agent-jack-garcia">undercover FBI agent Joaquin Garcia</a></strong></p>
<p>With his promises of fast riches and unlimited resources and connections, undercover NYPD agent “Big Frankie” became very close with Parrello and members of his crew. They would have daily meetings at Pasquale’s Rigoletto restaurant where they discussed criminal activities. And as they talked, “Big Frankie” taped, recording every conversation he had with the mobsters.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237068671,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237068671?profile=original" width="165" /></a>The infiltration by “Big Frankie” resulted in the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/06/nyregion/indictments-name-73-linked-to-the-genovese-crime-family.html" target="_blank">indictment</a> of over 70 members and associates of the Genovese crime family, including Parrello (left) and fellow captains <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-genovese-family-capo-joseph-denti-jr">Joseph Dente Jr.</a> and Rosario Gangi, who were charged with extortion, gambling, robbery conspiracy, gun trafficking, loan sharking, labor racketeering and embezzlement, credit card fraud, trafficking in untaxed liquor and cigarettes, and counterfeiting, which all brought in $14 million dollars in 2001 alone.</p>
<p>He did the crime and would do the time. Parrello admitted that he had embezzled more than $1 million in union benefit funds of Local 11 and Local 964 of the United Bhd. of Carpenters through S&F Carpentry, a Tuckahoe-based contractor. If union members complained, they were threatened by the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mob">mob</a>.</p>
<p>After a few years behind bars, he was back on the streets doing what he always did. Still running his restaurant, still running his Genovese mob crew, and still trying to avenge the murder of his son.</p>
<p>Victor Mirdita had been released from prison in 2003 and Ronald “Ronny The Beast” Mastrovincenzo, one of the members of Parrello’s crew who has since died from natural causes, spotted the alleged hitman in a car nearby one of his restaurants. When he told Parrello, they began plotting Mirdita’s demise together with 66-year-old Israel “Buddy” Torres, 73-year-old Anthony Zinzi, and 61-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-family-mobster-busted-for-using-cocaine-and-marijuana-wh">Bradford Wedra</a>, who are all longtime members of Parrello’s crew.</p>
<p>Unbeknownst to Parrello and co, though, the FBI was aware of the plot and warned Mirdita that his life was in danger. During those meetings, FBI agents never divulge where the threat comes from, but Mirdita knew and made sure he got out of harm’s way.</p>
<p>The reason the feds knew about Parrello’s murderous plans was because they had an insider working for them. 40-year-old Genovese family associate John Rubeo wore a wire and recorded various conversations he had with Parrello and other mobsters. On insistence of the FBI, he also tried to dissuade Parrello from pushing through on the murder plot. As a result, the crew focused on making money and shelved its plans for murder.</p>
<p>As they went about their business, however, the FBI had a front row seat. Thanks to Rubeo they were aware of a wide range of criminal activities involving an ever growing group of mobsters from several different families. Parrello was at the center of the entire conspiracy as Rubeo was a member of his crew.</p>
<p>On August 4, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/philly-mafia-boss-joseph-merlino-and-mobsters-of-5-different-crim">federal agents raided houses and properties</a> throughout the United States, arresting over 40 members and associates of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family">Genovese</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview">Gambino</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family">Lucchese</a>, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family">Bonanno</a> crime families in New York and the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bruno-crime-family">Bruno crime family</a> in Philadelphia, among them 72-year-old Pasquale Parrello.</p>
<p>Prosecutors allege Parrello was involved in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Loansharking">loansharking</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling">illegal gambling</a>, health care and credit card fraud, involvement in the sale of $3 million worth of contraband cigarettes, and the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/philly-mafia-boss-joseph-merlino-and-mobsters-of-5-different-crim">vicious assault</a> of a panhandler who was bothering customers of his Arthur Avenue restaurant. The victim was beaten “with glass jars, sharp objects and steel-tipped boots, causing bodily harm,” the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/philly-mafia-boss-joseph-merlino-and-mobsters-of-5-different-crim">indictment states</a>.</p>
<p>Parrello is currently behind bars preparing his next step. At his age, a plea deal might not be as tempting as it once was. Taking his case to court, however, is a risky bet. Especially if he loses and is found guilty. Of course, taking big risks that could cost you your life, well, isn’t that what “the life” is all about?</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;">UPDATE</span>: On May 15, 2017, Parrello pleaded guilty to extortion charges. He faces 5 to 7 years in prison when he is sentenced on September 7.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family">Genovese crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
Bloods gang boss gets 55 years in prison for murder, shootings, and drug trafficking
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/bloods-gang-boss-gets-55-years-in-prison-for-murder-shootings-and
2016-08-25T11:55:54.000Z
2016-08-25T11:55:54.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bloods-gang-boss-gets-55-years-in-prison-for-murder-shootings-and"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237055852,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237055852?profile=original" width="500" /></a>By Gangsters Inc. Editors</p>
<p>Bloods gang boss Jamal Smalls was sentenced Tuesday to 55 years in prison for running a narcotics trafficking conspiracy that distributed coke, crack cocaine, and heroin in New York, Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina as well as his involvement in several shootings and one murder related to his drug operation.</p>
<p>As a high-ranking member of the notorious Bloods gang, Smalls led a drug trafficking crew that operated in and around the John Adams Houses in the Bronx, New York. His crew sold large quantities of powder cocaine, crack cocaine, and heroin in and around the housing project, as well as in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.</p>
<p>Not too bad for someone who only got out of prison in 2012 after serving over twelve years for first degree manslaughter. Then again, it was behind bars where Smalls – with help from his brother and people working on behalf of the crew – perfected his trade as he sold drugs inside the state prison system. Once he got out, Smalls began to lead the crew with his brother, participating in large-quantity narcotics deals in the Bronx and out-of-state.</p>
<p>Smalls was the kind of leader who took the hands-on approach. Like when he had a beef with rival drug dealer Doneil White. Within seven days, Smalls had tried to shoot him twice. On both occasions White managed to get away unharmed. One bystander wasn’t so lucky though, and was hit in the back.</p>
<p>Realizing he needed to delegate this piece of work, he sent a member of his crew out hunting the very next day, paying him $10,000 if he succeeded in murdering White. Whether it was the money or simply his aim, the crew member hit his mark and shot White in a stairwell at the John Adams Houses. White died several days later in the hospital as a result of his severe injuries.</p>
<p>His brazen and violent behavior quickly led authorities to crack down on Smalls’ operation and by August of 2012 he was under arrest. Still, he continued to lead his operation, by, among other things, giving directives to members of the crew through telephone calls and in-person visits.</p>
<p>Seeing how persistent Smalls has been, it’s up for debate whether his sentence of 55 years will do anything to stop his enterprising criminal mind. </p>
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<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/street-gangs" target="_blank">Street Gangs section</a> or <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/black-organized-crime" target="_blank">Black organized crime</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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Profile: Genovese family capo Joseph Denti Jr.
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-genovese-family-capo-joseph-denti-jr
2016-03-25T17:08:58.000Z
2016-03-25T17:08:58.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-genovese-family-capo-joseph-denti-jr"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237058669,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237058669?profile=original" width="240" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Joseph Denti Jr. is an alleged captain in the Genovese crime family’s New Jersey branch. His father – who was also a Genovese mobster - worked the Bronx streets as a loan shark. In the 1970s he forged friendships with several actors, chief among them <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/joe-pesci-actor-rapper-wiseguy">Joe Pesci</a>. Denti Sr. moved to Beverly Hills where he is alleged to have made millions from various business deals. When he passed away in 1996, Pesci, singer Cher, actor Robert De Niro, and Cathy Moriarty came to pay their respects.</p>
<p>As far as we know, Denti Jr. has no such <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-s-showbiz">Hollywood connections</a>. But just like his father, he has a knack for making huge sums of illicit money.</p>
<p>In March of 2016, the 56-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family">Genovese family</a> wiseguy was arrested and charged with stealing $350,000 from people who believed they were investing in medical ventures. Instead of putting the money where they promised, prosecutors allege Denti Jr. and three co-defendants pocketed the cash for themselves.</p>
<p>He faces charges of conspiracy, theft by deception, and money laundering.</p>
<p>In the first scheme charged in the case, in 2011, Denti Jr. and two co-defendants allegedly stole $250,000 from a doctor by convincing him to advance that amount for a bogus investment involving a surgical center. They allegedly diverted his funds for their personal benefit.</p>
<p>In the second scheme, in 2014, Denti Jr. and a co-defendant allegedly convinced a married couple to invest $100,000 in a blood-testing laboratory by falsely claiming to be joint owners of the lab. The couple’s money allegedly was diverted to Denti and two co-defendants. It is further alleged that Denti laundered money using the bank account of another blood laboratory, which formerly was owned by one of the defendants but which he sold. Several shell companies were also allegedly used by the defendants to launder money.</p>
<p>“These defendants convinced their victims that they had the inside track on great investments in the health care industry, but we allege that they’re really nothing but hustlers and con artists,” said Acting Attorney General Lougy. “Behind the slick sales pitch, there was never any real investment, and we charge that the defendants quickly diverted the investor funds for their personal use.”</p>
<p>“Beginning with a lead from our prior case against Francavilla, we followed the trail of stolen money and broken promises that these defendants allegedly left in their wake,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “This case is another strong example of how we are aggressively targeting financial fraud.”</p>
<p>Denti Jr. now faces 5 to 10 years in state prison and fines ranging from $150,000 to $500,000. This week, he was released on a $50,000 bond.</p>
<ul>
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The man who runs New York: Profile of Genovese crime family boss Liborio Bellomo
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-genovese-crime-family-boss-liborio-bellomo
2016-02-13T15:00:00.000Z
2016-02-13T15:00:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-genovese-crime-family-boss-liborio-bellomo"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237059087,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237059087?profile=original" width="494" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>New York’s Genovese crime family has a new official boss. Liborio “Barney” Bellomo has ascended the ranks and, according to authorities, is now firmly in control of America’s largest and most powerful Mafia family.</p>
<p>You have to hand it to them, while other mob families have been decimated by law enforcement and turncoats, becoming not much more than a dysfunctional pile of rubble, the Genoveses continue to run a sophisticated, well-oiled criminal enterprise with over 200 made members and capable, intelligent bosses.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237059474,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237059474?profile=original" width="180" /></a>Bellomo’s (left) ascension to the top of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family">Genovese family</a> is the latest proof of that. Born on January 8, 1957, Bellomo had already been handpicked to become acting boss of the family in 1990 by then-boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-vincent-chin">Vincent “Chin” Gigante</a>, while he dealt with heat from the feds.</p>
<p>Though Bellomo, no doubt, viewed it as an honor, but his new rank also became an immediate burden as the FBI came crashing down on the rising mobster in 1996.</p>
<p>Authorities tried – and failed – to link him to the 1991 gangland murder of drug dealer Ralph DeSimone, who was found shot to death in the trunk of his car at a LaGuardia Airport parking lot in the summer of that year. The mob believed DeSimone was an informer and thus killed him, prosecutors said.</p>
<p>Acting on information provided by turncoat and former <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family">Lucchese family</a> acting boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-acting-boss-alphonse">Alphonse D’Arco</a>, who claimed Bellomo had authorized the DeSimone hit, the FBI put Bellomo through the wringer. He underwent, and passed, several separate lie detector tests where he denied knowing anything about the murder.</p>
<p>He was then subjected to a prison visit by federal agents who shaved his head and helped themselves to hair samples from his legs and arms. They were looking for lithium, a psychoactive drug that, an informant told them, Bellomo had taken to help him pass the lie detector tests. </p>
<p>The drug tests came back negative, however, and authorities had no choice but to back down on the murder charges.</p>
<p>As one of the defense lawyers noted, “Given the current state of expertise in polygraphy and the credentials and expertise of the polygraphers used here, there can be little doubt that Bellomo and [acting Genovese family underboss] Generoso are legally and factually innocent of the homicide charges.”</p>
<p>Bellomo then reached a plea deal in the case that snatched him and dozens of other Genovese gangsters on charges including labor racketeering, bookmaking, and the long-time extortion of vendors at the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-mobsters-extorting-feast-of-san-gennaro">San Gennaro Festival</a>. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison and had to forfeit about $250,000 of his ill-gotten gains.</p>
<p>Sitting in prison, Bellomo found out that the FBI was not finished with him yet. In July of 2001, they hit him with money laundering charges, claiming that he took part in a conspiracy in which money was embezzled from pension funds of dock workers in the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA).</p>
<p>He allegedly laundered the stolen union funds with mob associate Thomas Cafaro, son of Vincent “Fish” Cafaro, a Genovese soldier who flipped in 1986 after facing serious charges himself. In the weird ways of the Mafia, Thomas sided with his mob family against his father. Though his father’s cooperation ensured Thomas would get a pass on various racketeering charges, he insisted on pleading guilty and going to prison to assure his Mafia brothers that he was nothing like his ‘rat’ father.</p>
<p>Now, Cafaro stood beside Bellomo. If authorities hoped Thomas would show them he had his father’s blood and inform on his mob superiors they were sadly mistaken. Cafaro took a seven-year sentence and refused to cooperate.</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-soldier-george-barone">George Barone</a>, another Genovese mobster-turned-informant, later gave authorities some background on the relationship between father and son Cafaro and Barney Bellomo and the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family">Genovese family mob</a>. Barone said that Bellomo told him that “Fish Cafaro did not fully cooperate with the FBI” and withheld much information about the Genovese family “because of an agreement he made with Bellomo.” In return, Barone said, “Bellomo protected his son Tommy from retaliation” for his father’s sins.</p>
<p>Talk about a maze of loyalties.</p>
<p>As a result of the ILA indictment, in 2003, Bellomo pleaded guilty to labor racketeering charges on the New York and New Jersey docks and added four more years to his sentence.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237059872,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237059872?profile=original" width="158" /></a>By the end of 2008, Bellomo was officially a free man again. He returned to a new underworld. One in which snitches were everywhere, bosses flipped on their underlings, and the FBI and NYPD were actually downsizing their teams that focused on organized crime, turning their eyes on terrorists and violent gangs instead.</p>
<p>Back on the streets he was the most likely candidate for the top position. He was groomed by the man himself, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-vincent-chin">Vincent Gigante</a>, the last old school boss of the family. He had the credentials, the know-how, the reputation, and had done the time.</p>
<p>Now, anonymous sources in law enforcement tell Jerry Capeci’s Gangland News, Liborio Bellomo is the new official boss of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family">Genovese crime family</a>.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237060264,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237060264?profile=original" width="153" /></a>They allege he uses capo Peter “Petey Red” DiChiara as a middleman – a street boss - between himself and family captains to pass orders and information back and forth. Much in the same way “Chin” Gigante did with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-mob-boss-fat-tony-s-crazy-christmas-card">“Fat Tony” Salerno</a> (right).</p>
<p>These sources also tell Gangland News that “Bellomo earns substantial rental income every month from numerous apartment buildings worth millions of dollars that he owns in the Bronx and northern suburbs — where he still resides when he is not in his Miami Beach condo on Collins Avenue. Bellomo also has financial interests in construction companies that he uses to repair and refurbish rundown apartment buildings he buys.”</p>
<p>Despite all these allegations, however, there is no evidence yet of any wrongdoing. Or, as one anonymous law enforcement source told Gangland News, “I'm not saying we can prove he's committed a crime, but there's no doubt that he's the boss of the crime family.”</p>
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The Gangster Alpo From Spanish Harlem
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-gangster-alpo-from-spanish-harlem
2015-07-02T06:00:00.000Z
2015-07-02T06:00:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-gangster-alpo-from-spanish-harlem"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237036867,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237036867?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By Seth Ferranti</p>
<p>“<em>On the back of the bike with Alpo/doin’ a back down one-two-three/hopin’ to stay alive/favorite spot, Rooftop</em>”- <strong>LL Cool J</strong></p>
<p>Alberto “Alpo” Martinez (photo above) was from East Rivers projects in Spanish Harlem, better known as the Eastside. “Alpo’s building was on 105th and First Avenue,” the Spanish Harlem hustler says. “Alpo was Puerto Rican, not Dominican. Very few people knew that because of his complexion and his swagger. Those who grew up with him in the area knew. He used to hang out in Wilson projects which were across the street. His childhood was good.”</p>
<p>It’s said Alpo never met his father and that he spent summers away from Harlem as a child at Fresh Air Fund camps. “Po always stood out. He went to camp. His mom was always taking him out. He was a dark skinned Puerto Rican. I called him negro. He spoke Spanish real well.” The Spanish Harlem hustler says.</p>
<p>“I can’t picture anyone not liking Alpo.” He continues. The nigga’s smile embraced everyone. Going to the Boys Club, he wanted to be a Marine, a cadet.” A nice white family involved in the Fresh Air Fun camps took a liking to Alpo and after the summer program was over they would send for him. This family grew to love him. They wanted to adopt him, but it wasn’t meant to be. Life had another fate for Alpo.</p>
<p>Alpo grew up in a single parent household, along with his three siblings. He had an older sister, a younger sister Monica, an older brother, who he had no real relations with because he was literally crazy, and his mom whom he loved dearly. “I have a wonderful mother, very strong Hispanic mother,” Alpo said.</p>
<p>The neighborhood was mostly black and Puerto Rican, with a few white families still living in East Rivers and the surrounding projects- Wilson, New Metro North and Old Metro North. New Metro ran from 100th Street and 1st Avenue to 102nd Street and F.D.R. East River ran from 102nd and 105th Street to 1st Avenue and F.D.R. Old Metro North ran from 101st Street and 102nd Street to 1st and 2nd Avenues. Then Wilson completed the square, running from 105th and 106th Street to 1st Avenue and F.D.R. That equated to four projects in the middle of Spanish Harlem, running the span of six New York City blocks. A lot was happening in that small area and Alpo was usually in the middle of it.</p>
<p>East River was the biggest of the four projects with a total of 29 buildings. Twenty-three of those buildings were six story buildings with five apartments on each floor. There were six bigger buildings that were 15 stories high, with eight apartments on each floor. It was said that East River projects was a world of its own.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gZlWIiShV7s?wmode=opaque" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>“From as far as I can remember Alpo lived in East River projects, because his sister Monica used to be a cheerleader on our Pee Wee and little league baseball team.” The East River boriqua says. “His older brother Flaco was a straight nut case. Completely crazy, mental hospital type crazy. He used to freak out and go wild. They accused Flaco of trying to kill or rape some chick when he was young.</p>
<p>“There was always something going on in the hood, like block parties or whatever. The big park in the back of East Rivers, as well as the basketball court were the official jam spots, where DJ Dollar Bill from Wilson projects would set up shop with his equipment- two turn tables, big ass speakers and 100 extension cords hanging out of someone’s apartment window giving them juice to jam. The neighborhood was a melting pot, because we had black, white and Spanish and everyone else that had to come live there, because you weren’t there because you wanted to be there.”</p>
<p>Alpo went to PS5382 in the Bronx, from elementary school up to the sixth grade on the Eastside, then he attended St. Lucy’s Catholic school and went to Automotive Mechanical High School in Brooklyn for a minute. Jay-Z went there too. Alpo also attended Julia Richmond High School. But school wasn’t where he would make his name at. He had a serious jones for the streets.</p>
<p>“I have no idea about how he got the name Alpo,” the East River boriqua says. “I just know they called him that as far back as I can remember. That nigga went to one of those schools for troublemakers or kids who caught cases. He was a dusty kid, you know, nothing special, but not many from the hood were above the dusty level.” In New York’s Spanish Harlem it was a hard life and Alpo did whatever he could to stand out.</p>
<p>“He was like 140, a little scrappy dude, liked to pay attention. As he got older, he started filling out.” The Spanish Harlem hustler says. “He took sparring and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/i-shook-up-the-world-how-muhammad-ali-took-the-heavyweight-boxing">boxing</a> lessons with Wilfredo Benitiz, but the pull of the streets was too much. Like any other kid, Alpo didn’t want to depend on his mother. He had the eye of the tiger. Po had it, like Lebron and MJ.” Alpo had street dreams and unlike others he had the heart to make them come true.</p>
<p>“There was definitely the Latin vibe big time in the neighborhood,” the East River boriqua says. “It was Spanish Harlem when you hit the street, you knew that the name went perfect with the place. It was the type of neighborhood where everyone knew each other. Where the local grocery store, Julios, let people take credit until the welfare check came or you got paid on Fridays.</p>
<p>“Some families were dirt poor and others just a notch above them, so when you’re living that kind of life day in and day out in the Mecca of the World, Manhattan, everybody wants to shine, everybody wants to rise to the ghetto superstar status. But wanting is one thing and actually going out there and making it happen is a whole other story.</p>
<p>“This motherfucker Alpo used to ride around the neighborhood on a ten speed doing wheelies with a mouth full of beans and a big ass straw from McDonald’s shooting everyone as he rode by with beans. Dudes wanted to be friends with him because he was always into something and kids in the neighborhood knew that people respected and somewhat feared him because he would go at it with anyone.”</p>
<p>As a child he robbed people and snatched pocket books. Alpo was in the life early, already in the mix by the time he was 13 or 14 years old. He was born in 1966, so by 1980 he was getting his. He had a knack for getting people to like him and he was always scheming on ways to make money. Alpo had no fear and that was attractive to older criminals.</p>
<p>“I had a friend on 105th that took me under his wing.” Alpo said. Alpo started as a runner. A certain O.G. had him on the corner. Alpo was the first one out on the block; it’d be early in the morning and cold as hell. Alpo was maybe 13, he was young, but he was on the street grinding. He was really street smart for such a young dude. He used to hang out on Amsterdam selling heroin packets.</p>
<p>“The hustle was big in Harlem and back then dope was king. Coke was second, because crack hadn’t hit the streets yet. Weed was everyone’s bread drug.” The East River boriqua says. “The local drug dealer respected everyone that lived in the buildings they hustled in front of and everyone respected him all the same. There were enemies like everywhere else, but there were some unwritten rules in the projects back then, that I’m sure don’t exist now.</p>
<p>“Like if you were a straight arrow dude, that didn’t agree with what was going on in front of your building, you didn’t call the cops to address the issue, you simply addressed the issue. That’s one thing about the projects, you could never underestimate the next man, because the projects were tough and there was always someone tougher than you wanting to make a name for himself.</p>
<p>“But even with all that, it was a beautiful place to grow up. When fights broke out between kids their whole family got it on- sisters with sisters, younger brothers with younger brothers, fathers with fathers- that was the unity that you saw in the hood.” Life wasn’t easy in Spanish Harlem, families stuck together.</p>
<p>“We knew Alpo personally, before anyone who isn’t from East River did. We are from the same projects as he is and witnessed firsthand what others from New York didn’t know. Before there was a Wayne Perry, there was a Randy Love who terrified the shit out of a lot of dudes in Harlem and New York period,” the Spanish Harlem hustler says. Randy Love was the friend and O.G. that took Alpo on and put him under his wing.</p>
<p>“Randy Love was from across the street on 105th Street and 1st Ave, Wilson projects. Randy terrorized the shit out of all of Harlem. He was a gangster that was vicious before anybody ever heard of a Wayne Perry. His reputation was that he was not to be fucked with. He was a killer and niggas knew what time it was.” The Spanish Harlem hustler says.</p>
<p>“Randy Love used to steal Greyhound buses from the Port Authority for fun and bring them back around the way. He used to put Alpo up to running into spots and staking out the joint, then they’d come back and rob the shit out of the Dominicans. Randy Love took Alpo under his wing, but he was mostly gone a lot, because he stayed on Rikers Island.</p>
<p>“I think Randy was the one who probably made him even tougher, because we all knew he was tough, but when he was starting to run with Randy, everybody knew that he was taking it to the next level. There were rumors that they were sticking up drug dealers and they robbed and killed a cash carrier that used to pick up the cash on a 112th Street dope spot. That cash belonged to the dudes from the lower Eastside and this led to a body being dropped damn near every day in the hood.” Randy Love taught Alpo a lot about the streets, but Alpo was gaining other skills that would help him also.</p>
<p>“I was learning to drive. I was a good driver too. I was wild, things of that nature.” Alpo said. “I was known for my driving. The first car I bought with my own money was a four door 77 Chevy Malibu. I put some music in it, turned the headers around and that was my joint. The car that really put me on the map was a Toyota Corolla. I used to drive crazy in it. I really thought it was a racecar.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237037284,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237037284?profile=original" /></a>“It was a blue five speed with fat wheels and a system in it. I’m talking 1981-82. I was still in Julia Richmond high school at the time. I thought I was the man. I crashed it. I didn’t hit anybody so I jumped out the joint and just left the car. I jumped in a cab and got out of there. I loved that car. I used to be at the Rooftop with that joint on the sidewalk, like it was a BMW.</p>
<p>“I remember I got my first BMW out of 115th. That’s when the 318 was out. I got it from a crackhead who smoked so much in my spot he had to give it to me to pay off his crack debt. It was a blue joint, with a sunroof and light gray seats. His family didn’t know he was getting high and he smoked like 10 grand in my spot. His family ended up paying me some of the money and I let it go.” The young Alpo was a gangster in training, a young reckless dude who didn’t give a fuck.</p>
<p>“Our everyday environment is what set the ground work for him to want to shine.” The East River boriqua says. “We all seen what the dope boys and coke stars had and how they made life in the projects look like they were living in a penthouse on 63rd Street and Central Park West overlooking the park. Everybody wanted that, Alpo just pushed toward it more. If I’m right, he came from a single parent home, just his mom. In that home he had one crazy ass brother and a younger sister. I’m sure the thoughts were for him to get some cash and get out of there so he could have his own place.</p>
<p>“The way that welfare apartments work is that the boys room together, so he probably had crazy ass Flaco sleeping in the room with him. Monica probably had her own room and the mom her own room. So here you are living tight as a motherfucker in the hood on 105th Street, one block from a good dope spot on 105th and 1st and 2nd Avenue.</p>
<p>“You damn near taste the money that is being made up the block, not to mention that we weren’t far from the upper middle class whites that lived good in Manhattan. Ninety-sixth Street was like the unofficial border of the dirt poor to middle and upper class America so we were just nine blocks away from what felt like a world away in lifestyles.” Alpo’s involvement with Randy Love led him into the stick up game and he was a natural gun thug.</p>
<p><a href="http://amzn.to/1C129l7" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237037496,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237037496?profile=original" width="290" /></a>“We started robbing the Dominicans together.” Alpo said. “We did stick ups. I remember when the Dominicans used to have weight up in their apartments on scales. We would rob them just for that. Because I looked so young they would just open the door. I would go in first, survey the area, and since I spoke Spanish, I would understand what they were talking about. After that, I’d tell my man the layout, where the guns were. Then we would go back.</p>
<p>“We were robbing them. The takes were good back then; we’d get $10 to 15 grand and half a kilo in cocaine. After the stick ups stopped we started selling dope for some big names. Then we branched off. My partner was always in and out of jail.” With Randy Love at his side, Alpo had the whole Eastside on lockdown. Dudes were shook. “He had a posse. He blew up at 15. Wore the big gold chains at age 15. From Randy Love, he learned how ruthless he had to be. He had the stick up kids in check. He worked older men. They listened and respected him.” The Spanish Harlem hustler says. “They bodied whoever the fuck got in their way. Randy Love is serving life in the state now, but back then he scared the shit out of these niggas and he and Alpo caught mad bodies together for years before Alpo met Rich Porter.”</p>
<p><em><strong><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-contributor-seth-ferranti">Seth Ferranti</a> is author of numerous true crime books,</strong> <strong><a href="http://amzn.to/1C129l7" target="_blank">Crack, Rap and Murder: The Cocaine Dreams of Alpo and Rich Porter</a>.</strong></em> <em><strong>is one of his latest releases. You can order it online at all bookstores or visit Ferranti’s website <a href="http://www.gorillaconvict.com/" target="_blank">Gorilla Convict</a> to get your copy there. You can also follow Ferranti on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/SethFerranti" target="_blank">@SethFerranti</a></strong></em></p>
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