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2024-03-29T00:57:17Z
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Profile: Colombo family underboss John
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/colombo-underboss-john-sonny
2023-01-31T16:00:00.000Z
2023-01-31T16:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p style="text-align:center;"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236972898,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236972898?profile=original" /></p>
<p>By David Amoruso</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/colombo-mafia-family-legend-sonny-franzese-dead-at-103-a-man-must" target="_blank"><strong>Read Franzese's obituary here.</strong></a><br /> <strong>Also read: </strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/in-the-company-of-saints-the-life-and-times-of-america-s-oldest-m"><strong>In the Company of Saints. The life and times of America’s oldest Mobster</strong></a><br /> <br /> John “Sonny” Franzese is an old school gangster walking around in a world that has changed significantly since when he first started committing crimes. Born in Naples, Italy on February 6, 1917, he started his criminal career during a time when Charles “Lucky” Luciano, Joseph Profaci, Vincent Mangano, Gaetano Gagliano, and Joseph Bonanno had just become bosses of the five mob families in New York.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:left;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236975295,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />Those five men are all gone now. Many of the men who became boss after them have died as well. But Sonny Franzese is still here, breathing and walking the streets, demanding his cut from mob rackets. The road to the year 2010, however, hasn’t been paved in gold. Franzese has spent over 25 years in prison.<br /> <br /> His arrest record dates back to 1938 and includes arrests for felonious assault, rape, gambling, disorderly conduct, and vagrancy. In 1967 he was hit with a 50 year sentence after being convicted of planning several bank robberies. He was paroled several times since then but was always sent back to his cell after picking up his old life of crime and violating the conditions of his parole. Leaving the criminal life behind just was not possible anymore. Franzese had become a made member of the Colombo Crime Family and had made an oath to its boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-original-new-york-mafia-family-boss-giuseppe-profaci" target="_blank">Joseph Profaci</a>. He could only leave the Mafia if he died. And Franzese did not plan on dying anytime soon.<br /> <br /> Sonny began his criminal career as a member of the crew run by Colombo capo Sebastian “Buster” Aloi. He quickly rose through the ranks because of his toughness and willingness to engage in violence. In the book Quitting the Mob, written by Sonny’s son Michael, one such violent story is recounted.<br /> <br /> Franzese was in the back corner of a bar talking to a slim young man. It was around 2 a.m. and the bar was filled with patrons enjoying a night out. Everyone had a decent view of the back corner, but all were surprised when a shot rang out and the slim man slumped to the floor holding a gun. Standing next to the dead man was Sonny holding his own gun. The corpse was dragged out of the bar and Sonny continued his night out without a care in the world.<br /> <br /> This incident allegedly happened in the late 1940s and is one of the reasons why Sonny Franzese is so feared on the streets of New York. He is rumored to have killed over thirty people. He once told an associate: "I killed a lot of guys. ... You're not talking about four, five, six, ten." He was a favored hit man within the Colombo Family and was highly respected for his ability to switch between vicious killer and intelligent businessman with an amazing ability to earn money. He financed the classic porn movie "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0068468/">Deep Throat</a>." The movie was made in 1972 for a “cheap” $22,000 and would go on to gross over $600 million dollars. Franzese was also involved in more traditional rackets such as extortion, gambling, and narcotics.<br /> <br /> With a keen eye for money-making scams and an impressive list of kills Franzese went on to become underboss of the Colombo Family. He would remain an important member even while inside prison. And when he was released on parole he would always go back to “the life”. By the 1970s both of his sons, Michael (photo left) and John Jr., had gotten involved with the mob. Michael became a captain and earned the Colombos hundreds of millions through a gasoline tax scam he had set up with Russian criminals.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236975474,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />The media right away labeled Michael Franzese a “<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyLHKQoZlRw">Prince of the Mafia</a>”. His father had schooled him in the ways of the mob and apparently had done an excellent job. But it turned out there was one big difference between father and son. When authorities arrested Michael on racketeering charges, he decided to make a deal with them. He would give information about certain people and in return he would get a second chance at life. After that Sonny has been rumored to have shunned his son. In the years that followed, Michael wrote several books and became a born-again-Christian.<br /> <br /> Sonny Franzese's life continued down a different path. In the past years, he has been hit with two separate indictments.<br /> <br /> The first came in June of 2008. Franzese and eleven other <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family" target="_blank">Colombo Family</a> mobsters, including Acting Boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/colombo-boss-thomas-tommy" target="_blank">Thomas “Tommy Shots” Gioeli</a>, were charged with crimes ranging from murder to the theft of fur coats. At the age of 89, it would be impossible for Franzese to ever see freedom again if he was to be convicted.<br /> <br /> To be absolutely sure the old gangster would never see freedom again authorities brought a new indictment in May of 2010. At the age of 93, Franzese was charged with shaking down the Penthouse and Hustler strip clubs in New York City. The double hit by prosecutors would have caused enough shock but the worst was yet to come: Franzese’s son John Junior would testify against his own father during the upcoming trial.<br /> <br /> The trial began in June and showed the American public a 93-year-old in a wheelchair who frequently fell asleep during the trial. Not exactly the notorious hit man and underboss of the Colombo Crime Family people expected to see. But when his son took the stand Franzese was wide awake. John Junior explained that he became an informant because he wanted to change his life. He had a heavy drug habit and was stealing money from his mother and other family members to buy dope.<br /> <br /> His mother, 75-year-old Cristina Capobianco-Franzese, was also in attendance. After seeing her son on the stand she started a heated argument with Sonny in the men’s room. When she exited she screamed at reporters and jurors that Franzese “should plead guilty and let my son live his life. Give his kid a break and plead guilty. I want my son to have a break. It's the last child I have."<br /> <br /> Sonny Franzese was having none of it. The trial ran its full course and after three weeks, on July 7, the jury returned a guilty verdict. Franzese faces a maximum of twenty years in prison and will most likely die in a cell. When asked by reporters about this prospect Franzese remained indifferent. “I die outside, I die in jail. It don't matter to me. I gotta die someplace."</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>UPDATE JUNE 24, 2017:</strong></span> On Friday, June 23, 2017, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/colombo-family-underboss-john-sonny-franzese-at-100-years-america" target="_blank">Franzese walked out of prison alive</a>, a free man. At 100 years, he plans to spend his remaing time with his family. He has been welcomed home by his son Michael laying to rest any rumors about Sonny shunning his son.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>UPDATE FEBRUARY 24, 2020:</strong></span> John Franzese passed away at 103. <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/colombo-mafia-family-legend-sonny-franzese-dead-at-103-a-man-must" target="_blank">Read the entire story here.</a></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family">Colombo crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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Gambino Mafia family associate pleads guilty to arson in Queens over $400 measly bucks in extortion scheme
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/gambino-mafia-family-associates-plead-guilty-to-arson-in-queens-o
2021-01-15T11:30:00.000Z
2021-01-15T11:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-mafia-family-associates-plead-guilty-to-arson-in-queens-o" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237156687,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237156687?profile=original" /></a>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>Alleged <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Gambino Mafia family</a> associate Peter Tuccio (photo above, right, sitting next to Philadelphia Mafia boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Merlino" target="_blank">Joseph Merlino</a>) pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn on Wednesday to using fire to commit the felony crime of extortion. The 27-year-old wiseguy faces a mandatory sentence of 10 years behind bars when he is sentenced.</p>
<p>The charged crimes occurred in 2015, when a businessman who was being extorted by a capo in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Gambino crime family</a> began avoiding him in order to stop paying him his annual payment of $400 dollars. Not the largest <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a> payment ever demanded by the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a>. If you get two premium Netflix subscriptions you will pay that company more than this Gambino mobster. But it’s about the principle.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Sending a message</strong></span></p>
<p>That is why the Gambino family captain ordered Tuccio and two other hoods - Jonathan Gurino and Gino Gabrielli – to make him understand the way things work. On December 3, 2015, the three men observed the businessman leave a smoke shop in Howard Beach, New York and drive away in his 2014 Mercedes Benz.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Kill to be on top of the hill - Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/kill-to-be-on-top-of-the-hill-profile-of-genovese-mafia-family-so" target="_blank"><strong>Genovese Mafia family soldier Louis Auricchio</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>They then followed the businessman at high speed through the streets of Queens and confronted him outside a pizzeria, where Tuccio mentioned the Gambino family capo and commented on the businessman’s car.</p>
<p>The three men then decided to set the businessman’s car on fire, sending a message that he had to continue making the extortion payments to the Gambino capo. Later that night, the businessman heard a loud noise and saw that his car was on fire outside of his residence.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Pants on fire</strong></span></p>
<p>His security video system recorded Gabrielli pouring a substance on the car, the car erupting in flames, and Gabrielli running away with his pant leg on fire. Shortly thereafter, Gabrielli and Tuccio were caught on surveillance video entering Jamaica Hospital. After the arson, the businessman paid more than $5,000 to the Gambino family capo. He had received the message.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ & WATCH: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/philly-underboss-crazy-phil-leonetti-talks-about-hanging-out-with" target="_blank">Philly underboss “Crazy Phil” Leonetti talks</a> about hanging out with Meyer Lansky, calls Merlino a “lowlife”</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>The bungling wiseguys did too. In August 2016, Gabrielli pleaded guilty to the arson and in June 2020, Gurino pleaded guilty to extortionate collection of credit and extortion. Tuccio now joins his partners in crime as the three wiseguys await their sentencing.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview">Gambino crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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Kill to be on top of the hill - Profile of Genovese Mafia family soldier Louis Auricchio
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/kill-to-be-on-top-of-the-hill-profile-of-genovese-mafia-family-so
2021-01-10T08:44:05.000Z
2021-01-10T08:44:05.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/kill-to-be-on-top-of-the-hill-profile-of-genovese-mafia-family-so" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237154266,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237154266?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>In the Mafia, you don’t get to the top without leaving a trail of dead bodies in your wake. You have to kill to be on top of the hill. Whether you’re John Gotti, Carlo Gambino or Vito Genovese. Their soldiers know this all too well. Genovese crime family soldier Louis Auricchio was among them.</p>
<p>Auricchio was born on May 27, 1958 in Somerset, New Jersey. He came up in the crew of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family" target="_blank">Genovese Mafia family</a> capo John Joseph DiGilio Sr. Known by the nickname “Johnny Dee,” DiGilio was a former professional <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Boxing" target="_blank">boxer</a>, who was made by mob boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/get-the-right-man-how-the-fbn" target="_blank">Vito Genovese</a> in the 1950s, and went on to oversee the Genovese family rackets in New Jersey.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>The rise and fall of “Johnny Dee”</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237154300,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237154300?profile=original" /></a>By the 1970s, he was a powerhouse in the unions, becoming secretary-treasurer of International Longshoremen's Association Local 1588 in Bayonne, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=NJ" target="_blank">New Jersey</a>. For the right price, DiGilio (right) offered labor peace. It was one of the mob’s bread-and-butter rackets, ensuring the families of a steady flow of income – both legit and illegitimate.</p>
<p>Authorities were cracking down on La Cosa Nostra’s strong grip on <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Union" target="_blank">unions</a>, though. Mobsters and union officials were being subpoenaed and indicted left and right. In 1988 it was DiGilio’s turn. It was part of doing business in the life. It was what was expected even. What wasn’t was representing yourself during a racketeering trial. Yet that was exactly what DiGilio did.</p>
<p>His mob superiors did not appreciate his efforts. They were especially pissed off when the jury acquitted DiGilio but found his fellow Genovese family-connected defendants guilty. DiGilio’s success would be short-lived. Literally.</p>
<p>His dead body was found floating in the Hackensack River on May 26, 1988. He was shot in the head five times. The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family" target="_blank">Genovese family</a> has its own way of meting out justice – and it is final.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: A friend of Vito’s - Profile of Genovese crime family mobster</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/a-friend-of-vito-s-profile-of-genovese-crime-family-mobster-salva" target="_blank"><strong>Salvatore “Sally Burns” Granello</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>His murder remained unsolved for years to come. The code of silence was taken seriously within the Genovese family, an organization so disciplined that its members never uttered the name of their boss, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-vincent-chin" target="_blank">Vincent “Chin” Gigante</a>, aloud. Instead, they pointed to their chin when they referred to him.</p>
<p>While authorities were investigating the gangland killing of DiGilio, Auricchio was fighting his own legal battle with them. He was found guilty of evading over $300,000 in taxes from 1981 to 1983. The jury was deadlocked on a cocaine conspiracy charge. While Auricchio was in federal prison, authorities were getting closer to solving the murder of his boss. And their intel pointed to him as being the triggerman.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“I shot John”</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237155265,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237155265?profile=original" /></a>In 1993, an investigation by the New Jersey State Police and the Division of Criminal Justice uncovered detailed information that led to a state indictment of Auricchio on charges that included the 1988 murder of DiGilio. Auricchio (right) didn’t put up much of a fight. He pleaded guilty to first-degree state charges of aggravated manslaughter and racketeering in March of 1994.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: “I’m in waste management!” - <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/i-m-in-waste-management-genovese-mafia-family-soldier-frank-giovi" target="_blank">Genovese Mafia family soldier Frank Giovinco</a> guilty of racketeering</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>“I shot and killed him,” Auricchio said in court. “I shot John.” He admitted that he conspired with other Genovese family mobsters to murder DiGilio. He said he shot DiGilio several times in the back of the head with a .38 caliber handgun from the back seat of his own black Lincoln Continental, driven by George Weingartner, a former Bayonne police officer.</p>
<p>Later in 1994, Weingartner, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family" target="_blank">Genovese family</a> capo Angelo Prisco and 11 other Genovese mobsters were indicted on racketeering and other charges related to the murder of DiGilio. Again, a death caused for an unexpected turn of events.</p>
<p>During the trial in 1998, Weingartner was found dead in an idling car in the garage of his Brick home, asphyxiated by carbon monoxide. It was ruled a suicide but when the mob is involved things are never as clear cut as they seem.</p>
<p>Prisco pleaded guilty in 1997 to state charges of conspiracy to commit racketeering and arson for hire and was sentenced to 12 years in prison. The other co-defendants were also convicted.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong><a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237155090,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237155090?profile=original" width="216" height="370" /></a>Doing time, moving on up</strong></span></p>
<p>By then, Auricchio (right) was already doing time for his role in the killing of DiGilio. On June 10, 1994, he had been sentenced to 30 years in New Jersey state prison on the murder charge, with a minimum of 15 years without parole. He was sentenced to 20 years, 10 without possibility of parole, on the racketeering charge, with the sentences to run concurrently with each other and with a federal sentence for racketeering that was imposed one month earlier.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-genovese-crime-family-boss-liborio-bellomo" target="_blank"><strong>Genovese crime family boss Liborio Bellomo</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Auricchio did his time and kept his mouth shut. He got out of prison in December of 2010 after his sentence was up. There were rumors that he had taken over DiGilio’s old crew and was appointed as capo within the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family" target="_blank">Genovese family</a>.</p>
<p>Things remained quiet until news of his passing was announced. He died on January 5, 2021, at age 62.</p>
<p><em>Photo at top of page and one to the right are courtesy of <a href="http://www.pinterest.com/domwoods74/" target="_blank">Dom Woods</a>.</em></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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WATCH | Chicago mobster Frank Calabrese Jr.’s dad “would strangle you, cut your throat from ear to ear”
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/watch-chicago-mobster-frank-calabrese-jr-s-dad-would-strangle-you
2020-08-17T10:30:00.000Z
2020-08-17T10:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/watch-chicago-mobster-frank-calabrese-jr-s-dad-would-strangle-you" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237151253,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237151253?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>The decision to testify against his father was a life-changing one, former <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview" target="_blank">Chicago Outfit</a> mobster Frank Calabrese Jr. (photo above) tells The Mob Museum. “It was not about doing the right thing. It was about survival. I have two young kids and mouths to feed. This man is either gonna kill me or I’m gonna kill him.”</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Calabrese" target="_blank">Calabrese</a>’s father, Frank Senior, was indeed the kind of man who could kill on a whim. As a capo in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview" target="_blank">Chicago Outfit</a>, he also held a lot of power over a crew of experienced and very capable Mafia hitmen. If he wanted you dead, you were dead. No exceptions. Even if you were his own blood, his own son. But it wasn’t always like that, Calabrese Jr. explains to <a href="https://themobmuseum.org/" target="_blank">The Mob Museum</a>. <em>(Scroll down and watch the video below.)</em></p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Keeping your kids out of the Mafia</strong></span></p>
<p>In Chicago you had the attitude that you didn't bring your kids into this life, Calabrese says. “You make a better life for your kids. I grew up in an Italian neighborhood. In my neighborhood a lot of my friend’s fathers were in the life just like my father, like my uncle. Because they didn't need to bring us in, we didn't know a lot about the life. We weren't hanging on corners or in front of social clubs. <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Chicago" target="_blank">Chicago</a> was more underground.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-hook-life-and-bloody-crimes-of-feared-chicago-mafia-enforcer" target="_blank">The Hook</a>: Life and bloody crimes of feared Chicago Mafia enforcer Harry Aleman</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>“As a kid growing up my dad never brought to life into the home. He kept it out of it. I knew my father was different from other fathers, but I didn't care. I played sports, my friends were going to college and I was gonna become a lawyer. So growing up I idolized my father, loved my father.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Multiple personalities: Loving father, thief, stone-cold killer</strong></span></p>
<p>But after a while he saw how his father’s job in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> impacted his personality. “I see this life starting to change my father, it changed him for the worse. He started to develop multiple personalities.”</p>
<p>One side was liked by all who knew it, a side that loved Christmas more than any other day, and was loving and kind. “And then there was the street side,” Calabrese explains. “I call him a master criminal. He was very good at what he did. A master manipulator too. A great thief, tough.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-beginnings-of-tony-spilotro-s-infamous-hole-in-the-wall-gang" target="_blank"><strong>The beginnings of Tony Spilotro's infamous Hole in the Wall gang</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>The third side was the darkest. One that Calabrese got to know much later in life. “His preferred method of killing you was with a rope and a knife. He would strangle you and once you were dead, he would cut your throat from ear to ear. My dad like to be hands on. He said: ‘Anyone can pull a trigger. I like it up close.’ Like he enjoyed what he did.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Father to his son: “I’d rather have you dead”</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237150899,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237150899?profile=original" /></a>In the years to come, these different personalities started to blend together and, Calabrese says, his father would become more violent with family members as well. At this point Calabrese decided he’s had enough of the life. His father started to realize his son wants out, which resulted in his mock execution. Calabrese Senior (right) then told his son: “If I can’t control you, I’d rather have you dead. Don’t worry I’ll come visit your grave to pay may respect.”</p>
<p>“From that day on, I didn’t trust my father ever again,” Calabrese tells <a href="https://themobmuseum.org/" target="_blank">The Mob Museum</a>.</p>
<p>Calabrese Junior went on to steal $600,000 from his father but was found out. His dad seemed almost happy about that, telling his son that now that he caught him red-handed, he owns him. When the entire Calabrese crew was indicted in 1997, Calabrese Senior, his two sons, and his brother Nick were all sentenced to prison.</p>
<p>There, inside the grey walls, Calabrese decided to get out. He contacted the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> and began to wear a wire behind bars. A very dangerous move. How did he get his father to talk on the wire? Watch the entire interview Frank Calabrese Junior had with <a href="https://themobmuseum.org/" target="_blank">The Mob Museum</a> below in which he talks about testifying against his father in court and the relationship with his uncle Nick after they both decided to flip and become a government witness.</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/biEtvzZ2eaQ?wmode=opaque" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe></p>
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<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview">Chicago Outfit section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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Lucchese Mafia family boss and hitmen get life in prison for 2013 gangland murder
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mafia-family-boss-and-hitmen-get-life-in-prison-for-2013
2020-07-29T11:00:00.000Z
2020-07-29T11:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mafia-family-boss-and-hitmen-get-life-in-prison-for-2013" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237144280,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237144280?profile=original" /></a>By <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a> Editors</p>
<p>The career of 84-year-old Lucchese Mafia family acting boss Matthew Madonna (photo above, middle) has officially come to an end. On Monday, he was sentenced to life in prison following his conviction for the 2013 murder of Purple Gang hitman Michael Meldish and various racketeering charges.</p>
<p>45-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese family</a> soldier Christopher Londonio (photo above, left) and 61-year-old Lucchese associate Terrence Caldwell (photo above, right) were sentenced to life behind bars for the same gangland slaying. Lucchese family underboss Steven Crea was also found guilty and will receive the same sentence at a later date.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Madonna ordered it, Londonio set it up, and Caldwell pulled the trigger”</strong></span></p>
<p>“Matty Madonna, Christopher Londonio, and Terrence Caldwell – respectively, the Acting Boss, a soldier, and an associate of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Luchese Family</a> – were responsible for the execution-style murder of Michael Meldish seven years ago,” Acting U.S. Attorney Audrey Strauss said. “Madonna ordered it, Londonio set it up, and Caldwell pulled the trigger. Now all three have been sentenced to serve the rest of their lives in federal prison. Thanks to the outstanding investigative work of the FBI and NYPD, we continue our commitment to render La Cosa Nostra a thing of the past.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Mafia murder</strong></span></p>
<p>In 2013, Madonna became displeased with Michael Meldish, a longtime organized crime associate who had refused to pay debts he owed to the Lucchese mob boss. Madonna subsequently ordered Meldish killed. Acting under the orders of Madonna and Crea, Londonio helped set up Meldish, who was a personal friend of his – to be killed, and acted as the getaway driver for the murder.</p>
<p>Caldwell acted as triggerman. He met Meldish and drove with him to a Bronx neighborhood to meet Londonio. As Meldish got out of his car, Caldwell shot him once in the head, killing him instantly. He and Londonio then drove off.</p>
<p>The Lucchese family used Caldwell as well in the ambush of a rival Bonanno family mobster in Manhattan on May 29, 2013.</p>
<p><em>For more on this recent episode in the Lucchese family’s violent history check out the articles below:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/one-mafia-murder-and-everyone-ends-up-in-prison-lucchese-crime-fa" target="_blank">One Mafia murder and everyone ends up in prison</a> – Lucchese crime family bosses and hitmen found guilty</li>
<li>“Fuck you! Pay me!” – <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fuck-you-pay-me-lucchese-mafia-family-boss-ordered-hit-on-gangste" target="_blank">Lucchese boss ordered hit on gangster who refused to pay his $100K debt</a></li>
<li><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</li>
<li><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-family-mobster-planned-to-escape-from-metropolitan-deten" target="_blank">Lucchese family mobster planned to escape</a> from Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, prosecutors say</li>
<li><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>, prosecutors say after indicting bosses and underlings</li>
</ul>
<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>
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</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p>
<p> </p></div>
One Mafia murder and everyone ends up in prison – Lucchese crime family bosses and hitmen found guilty
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/one-mafia-murder-and-everyone-ends-up-in-prison-lucchese-crime-fa
2019-11-17T10:30:00.000Z
2019-11-17T10:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/one-mafia-murder-and-everyone-ends-up-in-prison-lucchese-crime-fa" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237139891,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237139891?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>For a few years, the New York Mafia seemed to have quieted down. Increased scrutiny from law enforcement coupled with RICO made mobsters rethink their violent deeds, opting for less conspicuous ways of getting things done. But in the underworld a dog without bite is seen as food. No wonder then that every once in a while, New York’s five La Cosa Nostra families have to flex their muscles and pull the trigger on someone.</p>
<p>That’s what happened when longtime gangster <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Meldish" target="_blank">Michael Meldish</a> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fuck-you-pay-me-lucchese-mafia-family-boss-ordered-hit-on-gangste" target="_blank">refused to pay a debt</a> he owed <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese crime family</a> <a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237140270,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237140270?profile=original" /></a>leader <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Madonna" target="_blank">Matthew Madonna</a> (right). This was unacceptable for any self-respecting mob boss. So, Madonna sat down with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-acting-boss-steven" target="_blank">Steven Crea</a>, his acting underboss, to discuss the next steps.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Murder contract</strong></span></p>
<p>The murder contract was handed to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese family</a> soldier <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Londonio" target="_blank">Christopher Londonio</a>. He was close to Meldish and would be able to lure him out of his house for a meeting. Londonio recruited Lucchese family associate <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Caldwell" target="_blank">Terrence Caldwell</a> as the shooter.</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>, prosecutors say after indicting bosses and underlings</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>On November 15, 2013, Meldish’s time was up. Caldwell met Meldish and drove with him to a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bronx" target="_blank">Bronx</a> neighborhood to meet Londonio. As Meldish got out of his car, Caldwell shot him once in the head, killing him instantly. He then got in the car with Londonio as they made a hasty getaway from the murder scene.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Guilty</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237140454,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237140454?profile=original" /></a>After a six-week trial, on Friday November 15, a jury found all four men guilty of murder, conspiracy to commit racketeering, and other felonies. The verdict means that they will most certainly die behind bars. For 84-year-old Madonna an acceptable outcome. 72-year-old Crea (right) might also have accepted spending his senior years in a cell. For 45-year-old Londonio and 61-year-old Caldwell the realization of spending their remaining years locked up might come as a bigger shock.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Baseball bat assault and shooting</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237140500,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237140500?profile=original" /></a>Londonio (left) was also found guilty of conspiracy to distribute <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">narcotics</a>, which carries a maximum sentence of twenty years in prison. He also carried firearms and other weapons, beat an associate of a rival crime family with a baseball bat, and personally participated in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a>, operating illegal <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">gambling</a> businesses, among other crimes. He was acquitted of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-family-mobster-planned-to-escape-from-metropolitan-deten" target="_blank">attempting to escape</a> from the Metropolitan Detention Center using a stack of bedsheets he had been collecting.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fuck-you-pay-me-lucchese-mafia-family-boss-ordered-hit-on-gangste" 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>Being the all too willing triggerman, Caldwell was also found guilty of ambushing a member of the rival <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno crime family</a> in Manhattan on May 29, 2013. He fired several shots into the victim’s car at close range and struck him once in the chest, but the victim survived. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison for his actions.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Good run</strong></span></p>
<p>For several years, the Lucchese family had a good run. After the years being led by the bloodthirsty bosses <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-lucchese-crime-family-boss-vittorio-vic-amuso" target="_blank">Vic Amuso</a> and Anthony Casso, they toned it down and flourished. Then, in the winter of 2013, they commit one murder and the entire house falls on top of them. It ain’t easy running a Mafia family nowadays.</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>
“Fuck you! Pay me!” – Lucchese Mafia family boss ordered hit on gangster who refused to pay his $100K debt
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/fuck-you-pay-me-lucchese-mafia-family-boss-ordered-hit-on-gangste
2019-10-08T05:30:00.000Z
2019-10-08T05:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fuck-you-pay-me-lucchese-mafia-family-boss-ordered-hit-on-gangste" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237128079,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237128079?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>Who said the New York Mafia lost its teeth? The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese crime family</a>, one of the city’s five La Cosa Nostra families, begs to differ. At the opening of a trial in which two of its bosses and two underlings face racketeering and murder charges, prosecutors allege that they have no problem executing a murder contract.</p>
<p>Alleged mob leaders <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Madonna" target="_blank">Matthew Madonna</a> (photo above, middle) and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-acting-boss-steven" target="_blank">Steven Crea</a> (photo, right) were <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-york-s-lucchese-mafia-family-deadly-as-ever-in-2017-prosecuto" target="_blank">arrested in June of 2017</a> along with seventeen other Lucchese family wiseguys, including <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Londonio" target="_blank">Christopher Londonio</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Caldwell" target="_blank">Terrence Caldwell</a>, and charged with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Murder" target="_blank">murder</a>, attempted murder, assault, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug distribution</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Loansharking" target="_blank">loansharking</a>, illegal <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">gambling</a>, mail and wire fraud, and selling untaxed cigarettes.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Gunshot to the head</strong></span></p>
<p>One of the murder charges the men face, relates to the gangland killing of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Meldish" target="_blank">Michael Meldish</a> (photo above, left), at one time a feared hitman and part of New York’s Purple Gang, a group comprised of drug traffickers and murderers, many of whom later went on to join one of New York’s Mafia families. He was found shot to death in his car in November of 2013 in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bronx" target="_blank">Bronx</a>. He was bleeding from both his ears, the deadly result of a gunshot to the head.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-family-mobster-planned-to-escape-from-metropolitan-deten" target="_blank">Lucchese family mobster planned to escape</a> from Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, prosecutors say</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>“Michael Meldish is dead because of these four men,” prosecutor Celia Cohen <a href="https://nypost.com/2019/10/07/lucchese-mob-boss-ordered-2013-hit-over-unpaid-100k-loan-prosecutors/" target="_blank">told the court</a> during her opening statement on Monday. She alleges that Madonna and Crea ordered the murder and Londonio and Caldwell were sent to ‘take care’ of the contract.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Hanging with hitmen and Eddie Murphy: Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-lucchese-family-capo-fat-pete-chiodo" target="_blank"><strong>Lucchese capo "Fat Pete" Chiodo</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Why? Because Meldish told Madonna to “fuck off” when he asked about $100,000 of his money that he had loaned his former associate, Cohen claims. “Not repaying a boss is a dangerous game,” she added.</p>
<p>Indeed, it is.</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>
The Stalking Capo: How a mobster’s jealousy of his girlfriend caused the indictment of 20 Colombo family gangsters
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-stalking-capo-how-a-mobster-s-jealousy-of-his-girlfriend-caus
2019-10-05T16:00:00.000Z
2019-10-05T16:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-stalking-capo-how-a-mobster-s-jealousy-of-his-girlfriend-caus" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237127500,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237127500?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>All is fair in love and war, the saying goes. But break the law and reality will come knocking and slap some handcuffs on you. Alleged <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family" target="_blank">Colombo crime family</a> capo Joseph Amato Sr. (photo above) felt he was entitled to know where his girlfriend was at all times, so he placed a GPS tracker under her car. Little did he know that this move would kickoff an FBI investigation that would bring down his Mafia crew.</p>
<p>For a while the tracker did its job, sending back details of the woman’s routes to the suspicious mob captain. Until one day she found out about it. Instead of smashing the device, she placed it under an MTA bus on its way to the next bus stop. There it remained until the bus stopped at the depot in Staten Island for a routine maintenance inspection in November 2016.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Alarms go off, FBI comes running</strong></span></p>
<p>There was nothing routine about the GPS tracker mechanics found. Alarmed, the depot was evacuated and explosive experts were called in to ensure the device wasn’t some type of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bomb" target="_blank">bomb</a>. Once they knew what it was, everyone calmed down, but by then the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> was involved and eager to find out why a bus was equipped with such a tracker – and, more importantly, who the tracker belonged to.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-a-rat-brought-down-the-colombo-mafia-family-crew-of-fat-jerry" target="_blank">How a rat brought down the Colombo Mafia family crew</a> of “Fat Jerry,” “The Mask,” and “Mumbles”</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>To make matters easy, 60-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Amato" target="_blank">Joseph Amato Sr.</a> had reported the tracker as lost. When your business is extortion and racketeering, following your girlfriend around with a hidden GPS tracker apparently doesn’t register as something criminal and better kept on the down low, without any written reports.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Threats and kisses</strong></span></p>
<p>Once the feds realized Amato was the man behind the GPS device, they zoomed in on their target to see what they could find. Amato Sr. was a rising <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family" target="_blank">Colombo family</a> mobster who had fought alongside acting boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Orena" target="_blank">Vic Orena</a>’s faction against imprisoned official boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/legendary-new-york-mafia-boss-carmine-persico-was-the-ultimate-su" target="_blank">Carmine Persico</a>’s faction during the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=War" target="_blank">Colombo war</a> in the 1990s. He spent a long time behind bars, but had since become a capo. Wiretaps were put in place and agents listened in on calls and read messages sent and received by dozens of alleged mobsters.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-fbi-s-secret-thirty-year-relationship-with-a-mafia-killer" target="_blank"><strong>The FBI's Secret Thirty-Year Relationship with a Mafia Killer</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>In one email to his then-girlfriend, Amato wrote: “This is my island (Staten Island). Not yours. I have eyes all over.” The feds say he was not exaggerating. He was the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family" target="_blank">Colombo family</a>’s most powerful figure operating in Staten Island. In another email, he stated: “I’m a MANS MAN!!!”</p>
<p>Amato has quite a way with words and the ladies, no?</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Do you know who my father is?”</strong></span></p>
<p>As the feds kept listening, they uncovered more and more shady dealings of various associates, including Amato Sr.’s 26-year-old son Joseph Jr., who took after his father when it came to communicating. On one occasion, someone confronted Amato Jr. for insulting a woman in a bar. Amato Jr. told the individual to back off, and threatened: “Do you know who my father is?”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/legendary-new-york-mafia-boss-carmine-persico-was-the-ultimate-su" target="_blank">Legendary New York Mafia boss Carmine Persico</a> was the ultimate survivor, up until his death behind bars</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>The following day, the man was lured to a location where Amato Sr., Amato Jr. and other members of Amato’s crew brutally beat the victim, leaving him bloodied and in need of staples in his scalp.</p>
<p>The men took pride in their act of violence. 52-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family" target="_blank">Colombo family</a> soldier Thomas Scorcia boasted: “I told the guy sit in the car, and the kid had the tears.” 28-year-old Colombo family associate Anthony Silvestro added: “You send him a smack. If he raises his hand back to you, we beat the bricks off him, that’s it.”</p>
<p>Amato Jr. was ecstatic: “We abused him so bad. Yo, I had, bro, me and Pap (Silvestro), bro, had him shaking, bro. He was in tears, he was crying.”</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Indictments</strong></span></p>
<p>Were the roles reversed this past Thursday? That day twenty alleged members and associates of New York’s Colombo Mafia family were indicted and charged with racketeering, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Loansharking" target="_blank">loansharking</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Stalking" target="_blank">stalking</a>, attempted sports bribery and related offenses. Two firearms, two stun <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Guns" target="_blank">guns</a>, a canister of purported tear gas and thousands of dollars in U.S. currency were recovered during court-authorized searches of residences of Amato and Scorcia.</p>
<p>Among those charged with racketeering were Joseph Amato Sr.; 54-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Capaldo" target="_blank">Daniel Capaldo</a>, 58-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Scura" target="_blank">Vincent Scura</a>, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Scorcia" target="_blank">Thomas Scorcia</a>, alleged made members in the Colombo family; and Joseph Amato Jr. and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Silvestro" target="_blank">Anthony Silvestro</a>, alleged <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family" target="_blank">Colombo family</a> associates.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Fixing NCAA college basketball games</strong></span></p>
<p>FBI agents also overheard an attempt by some members of the gang to fix an NCAA college basketball game. To further the scheme, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bifalco" target="_blank">Benjamin Bifalco</a> offered members of a college basketball team thousands of dollars to intentionally lose the game. Things didn’t really go according to plan, though, and the fix was not in.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>“Playground bullies”</strong></span></p>
<p>“One of the stunning things revealed in this investigation, it seems members of the mafia families that were once almost romanticized by Hollywood and pop culture, have resorted to acting like playground bullies. As alleged, they are still up to their old extortion and bribery schemes, and terrorizing their victims, but they are also still getting caught,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>UPDATE MARCH 23, 2021:</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/colombo-mafia-family-capo-who-stalked-his-girlfriend-pleads-guilt" target="_blank"><strong>Colombo Mafia family capo who stalked his girlfriend pleads guilty to racketeering</strong></a></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family">Colombo crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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Cocaine and Gelato: Profile of Bonanno Mafia family mobster Salvatore Russo
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/cocaine-and-gelato-profile-of-bonanno-mafia-family-mobster-salvat
2019-09-19T08:30:00.000Z
2019-09-19T08:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cocaine-and-gelato-profile-of-bonanno-mafia-family-mobster-salvat" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237131655,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237131655?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno crime family</a> associate Salvatore Russo is considered trustworthy by his peers in the organization. He went on to prove himself after being caught up in a wide-ranging law enforcement operation aimed at <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> groups in New York and Canada.</p>
<p>Born in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Sicily" target="_blank">Sicily</a>, Russo became a naturalized United States citizen. Instead of making a life for himself as a legitimate businessman and contribute to society, he decided to hook up with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">New York’s Bonanno family</a>. He is close to Bonanno capo <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Zummo" target="_blank">Damiano Zummo</a>, who introduces Russo as his cousin.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Selling coke from a Manhattan ice cream parlor</strong></span></p>
<p>He made one such introduction during a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a> deal. Zummo wanted to emphasize that Russo had his full backing, before putting him in charge of future <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug sales</a>. “I'll just bring the kid Sal, that's it,” Zummo said during a recorded conversation. “He's the one that brings it.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/how-the-sicilian-mafia-flooded" target="_blank"><strong>How the Sicilian Mafia flooded the US with heroin</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>And bring it, they did. The two mobsters planned to sell over five kilograms of cocaine between July and October 2017. Their distribution center was a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Manhattan" target="_blank">Manhattan</a> store that sold gelato, Italian-style ice cream. On September 14, 2017, one kilo of cocaine was sold there for nearly $40,000.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Bust</strong></span></p>
<p>Unbeknownst to Russo and Zummo, the feds were listening and watching after having placed a confidential informant in their midst. On November 9, 2017, members and associates of the Bonanno and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Gambino</a> crime families were arrested by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> agents. Across the border in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Canada" target="_blank">Canada</a>, officers made arrests in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ontario" target="_blank">Ontario</a>, where mobsters of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Todaro" target="_blank">Todaro family</a> in Hamilton were charged with large-scale drug trafficking.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/operation-otremens-how-mafia-families-in-new-york-and-canada-cont" target="_blank">Operation OTremens</a>: How Mafia families in New York and Canada continue cooperating in global drug trade</strong></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Guilty</strong></span></p>
<p>Russo was charged with the coke deal in the ice cream store. He pleaded guilty to the crime on September 5, 2019. The 46-year-old Sicilian-American Mafioso agreed to serve the mandatory minimum sentence of five years and faces a fine of up to $5 million.</p>
<p>He is currently out on $500,000 bail as he awaits his sentencing, which, as of this writing, has not been scheduled yet.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family">Bonanno crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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New York Mafia associate Paul Ragusa sentenced to 6 years in prison on gun charges
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/new-york-mafia-associate-paul-ragusa-sentenced-to-6-years-in-pris
2019-07-11T08:00:00.000Z
2019-07-11T08:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-york-mafia-associate-paul-ragusa-sentenced-to-6-years-in-pris" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237124687,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237124687?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Alleged New York Mafia associate Paul Ragusa was sentenced to 6 years in prison on Tuesday for possessing nine firearms, including three automatic assault rifles and a silencer. 48-year-old Ragusa was busted in Operation OTremens, a joint investigation which unearthed a partnership between Mafia families in New York City and Hamilton, Canada.</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/operation-otremens-how-mafia-families-in-new-york-and-canada-cont" target="_blank">Operation OTremens</a> lasted more than two years and targeted a mob crew in Hamilton, Ontario, which was especially active in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Drugs" target="_blank">drug trafficking</a>, dealing in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Fentanyl" target="_blank">fentanyl</a>, carfentanil, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Heroin" target="_blank">heroin</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Meth" target="_blank">methamphetamine</a>, MDMA, MDA, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LSD" target="_blank">LSD</a>.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Profile of</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-mafia-defines-who-he-is-profile-of-toronto-ndrangheta-boss-gi" target="_blank"><strong>Toronto ‘Ndrangheta boss Giuseppe “Pino” Ursino</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>The crew was led by brothers Domenico Paolo Violi and Giuseppe Violi, grandsons of the late Giacomo Luppino, who was known to be a founding member of the crimine, a governing body for members of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ndrangheta" target="_blank">’Ndrangheta</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>FBI joins the party</strong></span></p>
<p>At the same time as authorities in Canada began <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/operation-otremens-how-mafia-families-in-new-york-and-canada-cont" target="_blank">their investigation</a> into Mafia activities, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> in New York conducted a parallel, but separate investigation into members of the city’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Gambino</a> crime families. Chief among them Damiano Zummo, an acting captain in the Bonanno family, and Paul Semplice, a member of the Gambino family. Paul Ragusa also popped up on the radar as a man working for both the Bonanno and the Gambino crime families.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/operation-otremens-how-mafia-families-in-new-york-and-canada-cont" target="_blank">Operation OTremens</a>: How Mafia families in New York and Canada continue cooperating in global drug trade</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>The two investigations were linked when one of the defendants sponsored a man secretly working confidential informant to become a full-fledged member of the Bonanno crime family and as part of the investigation, law enforcement secretly video- and audio-recorded the induction ceremony, which occurred in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Canada" target="_blank">Canada</a>.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Stick an ice pick through his head</strong></span></p>
<p>Surrounded by snitches it is impossible to get away with anything without law enforcement knowing about it. So authorities not only knew about Ragusa’s meetings with a cooperating witness between July and October of 2017, but were listening in as well.</p>
<p>During one such conversation, Ragusa agreed to commit a murder-for-hire, stating that he did not need a gun, because he would stick an “ice pick” through the victim’s head. On October 25, 2017, the witness asked Ragusa if he knew anyone who could transport firearms. Ragusa responded, “Yeah, me! I’ll do it!” </p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>$2,000 for a job well done</strong></span></p>
<p>When the eager Ragusa showed up for the job on November 2, 2017, he was met by an undercover FBI agent who drove him to a warehouse in Nassau County, where Ragusa packed nine firearms, including two AK-47 assault rifles and one M16 rifle, into a large bag. Ragusa and the agent drove to a parking lot in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Queens" target="_blank">Queens</a>, where Ragusa loaded the firearms into a waiting undercover <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> vehicle.</p>
<p>For his hard work Ragusa was paid $2,000 in cash. Unbeknownst to him, the firearms were the property of the FBI and had been rendered inoperable.</p>
<p>Faced with overwhelming evidence, Ragusa pleaded guilty to the firearms charge in October 2018, and will have plenty of time to reevaluate his career decisions.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview">Gambino crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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</ul>
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<p> </p></div>
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>
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</ul>
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<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.
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<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>
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Genovese Mafia family made man and underlings plead guilty to role in sophisticated multi-million-dollar scheme
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/genovese-mafia-family-made-man-and-underlings-plead-guilty-to-rol
2019-05-04T15:56:27.000Z
2019-05-04T15:56:27.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-mafia-family-made-man-and-underlings-plead-guilty-to-rol" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237123076,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237123076?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>It took a few years, but several Genovese crime family mobsters busted back in 2014 during Operation Fistful finally decided to plead guilty to their role in a multi-million-dollar criminal enterprise on Wednesday. The group includes made man Vito Alberti, who collected “tribute” payments that were kicked up the Mafia ladder.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="https://st2.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2234866091?profile=RESIZE_710x" alt="2234866091?profile=RESIZE_710x" /></a>60-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Alberti" target="_blank">Alberti</a> allegedly worked under supervision of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family" target="_blank">Genovese family</a> capo <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Tuzzo" target="_blank">Charles Tuzzo</a>. In turn, Alberti ran a crew comprised of several enterprising criminals, including 61-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Pucillo" target="_blank">Domenick Pucillo</a>, who ran licensed and unlicensed check-cashing businesses in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Newark" target="_blank">Newark</a>. Pucillo used these to launder illicit revenue from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Loansharking" target="_blank">loansharking</a> operations. A very <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-crew-charged-with-multi-million-dollar-scheme" target="_blank">sophisticated scheme</a> that proved very profitable.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Making millions a year</strong></span></p>
<p>Over a two-year period, Pucillo had approximately $3 million in usurious loans on the street and collected around $1.3 million in interest per year. It is alleged that 71-year-old Genovese associate <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spagnola" target="_blank">Robert “Bobby Spags” Spagnola</a> partnered with Pucillo in the loansharking business and received a commission of one point on each loan he secured for Pucillo.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Pay me</strong></span></p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237123272,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237123272?profile=original" /></a>Debtors were required to pay interest on a weekly basis. The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-crew-charged-with-multi-million-dollar-scheme" target="_blank">scheme</a> was designed so that, when the they made loan payments by check, it appeared that they were cashing checks in the ordinary course of Pucillo’s check-cashing business. When they took out loans, victims were required to sign partially completed checks, which Pucillo and his crew could complete and cash through the check-cashing business to collect weekly interest or payments of principal. Debtors could also pay in cash.</p>
<p>After pleading guilty to first-degree conspiracy to commit money laundering, Pucillo faces a decade behind bars. Alberti and Spagnola pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal usury and face a 5-year prison sentence.</p>
<p><em>For more on this criminal scheme and how it worked,</em> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-crew-charged-with-multi-million-dollar-scheme" target="_blank"><em>read Genovese crew charged with multi-million-dollar scheme</em></a></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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Former New England Mafia family capo gets 66 months in prison for obstructing murder investigation
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/former-new-england-mafia-family-capo-gets-66-months-in-prison-for
2018-08-30T10:00:00.000Z
2018-08-30T10:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/former-new-england-mafia-family-capo-gets-66-months-in-prison-for" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237110273,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237110273?profile=original" width="420" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Former <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-new-england-crime-family" target="_blank">New England Mafia family</a> capo Robert DeLuca was sentenced to 66 months in prison in Boston federal court on Tuesday for obstructing a federal investigation into the murder of a Boston nightclub owner in the 1990s.</p>
<p>72-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=DeLuca" target="_blank">DeLuca</a> pleaded guilty to one count of obstruction of justice and two counts of making false statements in November of 2016. He was charged with lying to federal prosecutors and agents regarding the investigation into the 1993 disappearance of Stephen DiSarro, who operated The Channel, a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Boston" target="_blank">South Boston</a> nightclub. DiSarro remained missing until March 2016, when authorities discovered his remains behind a mill in Providence, R.I. </p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-italian-mafia-irish-gangs-chinese-tongs-bootleggers-gamblers" target="_blank">The Italian Mafia, Irish gangs, Chinese Tongs</a>: Welcome to Gangland Boston</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>In 2011, DeLuca had agreed to cooperate with federal authorities after his arrest on racketeering charges. But he lied about his knowledge of DiSarro’s disappearance and other mob connected murders. As a result, DiSarro’s remains were not recovered until federal authorities received information from another source in March of 2016 regarding DiSarro’s burial site.</p>
<p>In June 2018, 84-year-old former <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-new-england-crime-family" target="_blank">New England mob</a> boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Salemme" target="_blank">Francis P. Salemme</a> and 63-year-old Paul M. Weadick were convicted of murdering DiSarro, who, at the time of his death, was a witness to crimes committed by Salemme and Weadick.</p>
<p>DiSarro had been approached by a federal agent and asked to cooperate with federal authorities. At the time, there were several ongoing federal investigations into Salemme and into his connection to The Channel. The crime boss had expressed his concerns to others that DiSarro might cooperate against him.</p>
<p>Salemme and Weadick are scheduled to be sentenced on September 13, 2018.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-new-england-crime-family">New England Patriarca crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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Longtime Chicago mob boss John “No Nose” DiFronzo dead at 89
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/longtime-chicago-mob-boss-john-no-nose-difronzo-dead-at-89
2018-05-29T18:11:36.000Z
2018-05-29T18:11:36.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/longtime-chicago-mob-boss-john-no-nose-difronzo-dead-at-89" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237108893,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237108893?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>You know a mobster is respected when his colleagues refuse to utter his name out loud, preferring to point to their nose to signify they mean the man known on the streets of Chicago as “No Nose.” Chicago Outfit boss John DiFronzo was that kind of gangster. He passed away on Sunday, at age 89.</p>
<p>DiFronzo had paid his dues in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> and worked his way up, starting out as a burglar and enforcer before becoming a captain of the Elmwood Park crew involved in juice loans, waste hauling, extortion, and gambling. By the 1990s, he was one of the leading figures in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview" target="_blank">Chicago Outfit</a>. In 1993, he was convicted of racketeering in the same case that snared Outfit boss Sam Carlisi.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: Untouchable Little Jimmy -</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/untouchable-little-jimmy-profile-of-chicago-mafia-boss-james-marc" target="_blank"><strong>Profile of Chicago boss James Marcello</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>Once back on the streets, he continued climbing the ranks and by the late 1990s, he had become the official boss. He would head the organization for over a decade before his health issues – he suffered from Alzheimer’s – made his job impossible.</p>
<p>Despite his stature in the mob, DiFronzo managed to dodge the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chicagos-family-secrets" target="_blank">Family Secrets case</a> that crippled the Chicago mob and sent many of its <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chicago-boss-joseph-lombardo" target="_blank">bosses</a> to prison for life. It’s a remarkable feat since Chicago mob turncoat Nicholas Calabrese testified that DiFronzo was present during the infamous killing of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spilotro" target="_blank">Spilotro brothers</a> in 1986. Calabrese claimed DiFronzo had taken a .22-caliber pistol from Michael Spilotro during the hit leaving the up-and-coming mobster unable to fend off his killers.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview">Chicago Outfit section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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Mafioso gets over 10 years in prison for cocaine & fentanyl trafficking
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/mafioso-gets-over-10-years-in-prison-for-cocaine-fentanyl-traffic
2018-03-17T01:30:00.000Z
2018-03-17T01:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafioso-gets-over-10-years-in-prison-for-cocaine-fentanyl-traffic" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237100658,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237100658?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By Gangsters Inc. Editors</p>
<p>Mobster Massimigliano Carfagna was sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison on Thursday. He had pleaded guilty to trafficking in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a> and the opioid drug <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Fentanyl" target="_blank">fentanyl</a>, a gun charge and a drug importation conspiracy charge, newspaper <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/03/15/burlington-man-sentenced-in-drug-trafficking-case.html" target="_blank">The Star reports</a>.</p>
<p>He was arrested as a result of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/operation-otremens-how-mafia-families-in-new-york-and-canada-cont" target="_blank">Operation OTremens</a>, an international law enforcement investigation targeting the Todaro crime family based in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Hamilton" target="_blank">Hamilton</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ontario" target="_blank">Ontario</a>, and New York’s Bonanno and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Gambino</a> crime families. Authorities were able to crack the mob crews thanks to one of their own, a made member of the New York <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno crime family</a>, becoming an informant.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/operation-otremens-how-mafia-families-in-new-york-and-canada-cont" target="_blank">How Mafia families in NY and Canada</a> continue cooperting in global drug trade</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Carfagna was part of the Hamilton group which was led by 51-year-old Domenico Paolo Violi and his brother Giuseppe Violi. Both men are considered <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> royalty with both their father and grandfather having been leading mob figures. They are scheduled to take their case to trial.</p>
<p>With his guilty plea, Carfagna just made proving their innocence that bit more difficult. As part of his plea deal, Carfagna stated that “between March 1 and October 28, 2016, he and Giuseppe “Joey” Violi of Hamilton agreed to import 200 to 300 kilograms of cocaine into Canada,” <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/03/15/burlington-man-sentenced-in-drug-trafficking-case.html" target="_blank">The Star reports</a>.</p>
<p>“As part of their plan to organize the cocaine shipment, Carfagna and Violi advised the agent that they had sent […] a male associate of Carfagna’s [...] identified as ‘Porkchop,’ to make arrangements to get the cocaine on consignment in Colombia,” the statement reads. </p>
<p><em><strong>For the entire story check out <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2018/03/15/burlington-man-sentenced-in-drug-trafficking-case.html" target="_blank">Peter Edwards' article in The Star newspaper</a>.</strong></em></p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in-canada-from-the-mafia-to-outlaw-bikers-and-dru">Organized Crime in Canada section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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Operation OTremens: How Mafia families in New York and Canada continue cooperating in global drug trade
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/operation-otremens-how-mafia-families-in-new-york-and-canada-cont
2017-11-10T11:37:40.000Z
2017-11-10T11:37:40.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/operation-otremens-how-mafia-families-in-new-york-and-canada-cont" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237102100,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237102100?profile=original" width="650" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p><em>“Always the dollars. Always the fuckin' dollars.” – Nicky Santoro, movie Casino</em></p>
<p>Authorities in the United States and Canada arrested a total of thirteen alleged members of the Mafia yesterday for their involvement in a largescale drug trafficking pipeline spanning both countries. Among those arrested are mobsters of New York’s Bonanno and Gambino crime families and the Todaro crime family based in Hamilton, Ontario.</p>
<p>“[This investigation] unearthed and dug up the roots of a partnership extending from New York City to Buffalo and Toronto to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Montreal" target="_blank">Montreal</a>, proving once again that Italian organized crime groups have evolved far beyond the neighborhood cliques of days gone by,” Michael McGarrity of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> told the media.</p>
<p>The takedown is the latest example of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia" target="_blank">Mafia</a> groups in the United States and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Canada" target="_blank">Canada</a> working together in the lucrative narcotics trade. When dealing with huge sums of cash and tons of drugs it helps to be part of <em>our thing</em>, mobsters can trust one another – or at least, trust that since they are part of the same type of organization that everyone is playing by the same rulebook.</p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong>THE ‘NDRANGHETA IN HAMILTON</strong></span></p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237101896,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237101896?profile=original" width="600" /></a></strong></span>The coordinated investigation called Operation OTremens lasted more than two years and revealed criminal activity spanning the United States and Canada. The mob crew in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Hamilton" target="_blank">Hamilton</a>, Ontario, was especially active in drug trafficking. Nine indivuduals are charged with 75 offences including trafficking in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Fentanyl" target="_blank">fentanyl</a>, carfentanil, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Heroin" target="_blank">heroin</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Meth" target="_blank">methamphetamine</a>, MDMA, MDA, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LSD" target="_blank">LSD</a>.</p>
<p>Undercover operations during this project saw police purchase 6 kilograms of fentanyl and carfentanil over six transactions. These drugs could have been diluted several times, meaning three times the seized drug volume would have been distributed to the streets of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ontario" target="_blank">Ontario</a> today, authorities said.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-canadian-connection-flooding-the-u-s-with-dope" target="_blank">The Canadian Connection: Flooding the U.S. with dope</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>If the dope wasn’t enough, they were also involved in bookmaking and the trafficking of weapons and contraband tobacco. The Contraband Tobacco Enforcement Team in Ontario seized over 3,000,000 cigarettes, which represents a loss tax revenue in excess of $550,000.</p>
<p>Two integral members of the Hamilton group are 51-year-old Domenico Paolo Violi (above, left) and his brother Giuseppe Violi (above, right). They are grandsons of the late Giacomo Luppino, who was known to be a founding member of the <em>crimine</em>, a governing body for members of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Ndrangheta" target="_blank">’Ndrangheta</a> and a longstanding associate of the Buffalo crime family. According to Canadian police the Violis have “an international reach.”</p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong>A SNITCH IN THEIR MIDST</strong></span></p>
<p>The takedown was set off when one mobster flipped and began working with the cops. “We had an opportunity to infiltrate some higher level traditional organized crime members,” RCMP Supt. Chris Leather told the media, adding that they had a source “who was respected by traditional organized crime in both Canada and the United States.”</p>
<p>At the same time as authorities in Canada began their investigation into mob activities, the FBI in New York conducted a parallel, but separate investigation into members of the city’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Gambino</a> crime families.</p>
<p>The two were linked when, in 2015, one of the defendants sponsored a confidential informant to become a full-fledged member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno crime family</a> and as part of the investigation, law enforcement secretly video- and audio-recorded the induction ceremony, which occurred in Canada.</p>
<p>With such an insider, authorities had unprecedented access to ongoing criminal activities. Or, as stated by Acting United States Attorney Rohde: “The recording of a secret induction ceremony is an extraordinary achievement for law enforcement and deals a significant blow to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LCN" target="_blank">La Cosa Nostra</a>.”</p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong>BUSTING THE NEW YORK BONANNOS & GAMBINOS</strong></span></p>
<p>The results of that blow came yesterday, when 44-year-old Damiano Zummo, an acting captain in the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno family</a>; 45-year-old Salvatore Russo, an associate of the Bonanno family; 54-year-old Paul Semplice, a member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Gambino family</a>; and 46-year-old Paul Ragusa, an associate of the Bonanno and Gambino families were arrested and charged with cocaine trafficking, loansharking, extortion, and money laundering.</p>
<p>According to the indictment and other court filings, Zummo was involved in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy with Bonanno associate Salvatore Russo and others introduced by the confidential informant. In one deal, on September 14, 2017, Zummo and Russo sold over a kilogram of cocaine inside a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Manhattan" target="_blank">Manhattan</a> gelato store.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-map-shows-mob-social-clubs-in-new-york" target="_blank">Map shows Mafia social clubs in New York City</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Zummo is also charged with laundering over $250,000 in cash by providing business checks issued to a fictitious consulting company that purported to bill the company for consulting services. The Bonanno capo took a fee of approximately 10 percent for each money laundering transaction.</p>
<p>Gambino soldier Semplice is charged with conducting a loansharking scheme in which he and others extended extortionate loans with interest rates of up to 54% per year. The alleged scheme generated thousands of dollars per week for Semplice and his associates. </p>
<p>Paul Ragusa is charged with being a felon in possession of nine firearms, including three automatic assault rifles and one silencer. He allegedly transported the firearms in exchange for $2,000 in cash.</p>
<p>If convicted, Zummo and Russo each face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment; Semplice faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment on each of three loansharking charges; and Ragusa faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment under the Armed Career Criminal Act. </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong>“A GIANT STEP”</strong></span></p>
<p>“Criminal enterprises, both national and international, contribute to the breakdown of a lawful society,” stated FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney. “And yet, the allure of this gangland culture is often embraced and glamorized in movies and on television, where the threats posed to our economic and national security are seldom displayed. Dismantling and disrupting major international and national organized criminal enterprises is a longstanding area of FBI expertise, which is significantly enhanced through collaboration with our law enforcement partners and our Canadian partners. While we have more work to do, this operation is a giant step in the right direction.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/ndrangheta-and-gambino-crime-family-in-global-drug-bust" target="_blank">'Ndrangheta and New York Gambino family in global drug bust</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>“Those who traffic in illicit drugs and participate in other organized crime activities destroy lives and impact the safety and security of our communities, and we will continue to work to eradicate those dangers.” said Michael LeSage, Criminal Operations Officer for the “O” Division RCMP. “Project OTremens demonstrates how the combined efforts and cooperation of law enforcement agencies and other government departments, here and internationally, can work effectively to combat organized crime.”</p>
<ul>
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Genovese family capo Eugene Onofrio doesn’t want to stand trial alongside Philadelphia Mafia boss Joseph Merlino
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/genovese-family-capo-eugene-onofrio-doesn-t-want-to-stand-trial-a
2017-07-21T10:30:00.000Z
2017-07-21T10:30:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-family-capo-eugene-onofrio-doesn-t-want-to-stand-trial-a" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237094899,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237094899?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>They may both be standup guys, but if it’s up to Genovese family capo Eugene “Rooster” Onofrio, he won’t stand trial alongside codefendant and Philadelphia mob boss Joseph Merlino. Apparently, Onofrio's legal team is making moves this week, claiming the 75-year-old capo wants to be tried separately from Merlino in the “<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/philly-mafia-boss-joseph-merlino-and-mobsters-of-5-different-crim" target="_blank">East Coast La Cosa Nostra Enterprise</a>” case.</p>
<p>This request has everything to do with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Merlino" target="_blank">Merlino</a>’s reputation as a stone-cold mob killer – despite never having been convicted of murder. Onofrio is worried jurors might see him sitting next to 55-year-old Merlino (above, left corner) in the courtroom and lean toward judging the entire group of defendants based on one man’s violent street rep.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-mob-boss-joey-merlino-stands-up-and-goes-to-trial" target="_blank">Philly Mafia boss Joey Merlino stands up and goes to trial</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Onofrio (above, right corner) is no stranger to the practice of violence, of course, as a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family" target="_blank">Genovese family</a> captain he runs crews that operate in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Manhattan" target="_blank">Manhattan</a>’s Little Italy and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bruno-hit-how-the-genovese" target="_blank">Springfield, Massachusetts</a>. Crews filled with men willing and able to hand out brutal mayhem whenever the order comes down from up the chain of command.</p>
<p>Prosecutors, however, are having none of it. They read out recorded conversations between Merlino, Onofrio, and a government witness in which the capo and mob boss casually discussed murder. “It’s easy to kill somebody,” Merlino is alleged to have said at one point, prosecutors said. Onofrio allegedly agreed, replying, “It’s simple.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-mob-family-turncoat-returns-to-old-stomping-grounds-in-s" target="_blank">Genovese mob turncoat returns to Springfield</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Not yet satisfied that they agree on the practice of murder, Merlino figured he’d paint the scene. “You’re my friend, you trust me, I tell you, ‘Listen drive me home right now,’ get you in the car, I shoot you in the fuckin’ head, and it’s over with,” prosecutors said Merlino said.</p>
<p>A true case of he said he said. But prosecutors will not make these statements if they can’t back them up. And with tapes like these, Merlino and Onofrio face an uphill battle.</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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New York’s Lucchese Mafia family deadly as ever in 2017, prosecutors say after indicting bosses and underlings
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/new-york-s-lucchese-mafia-family-deadly-as-ever-in-2017-prosecuto
2017-06-01T12:30:00.000Z
2017-06-01T12:30:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-york-s-lucchese-mafia-family-deadly-as-ever-in-2017-prosecuto" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237087488,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237087488?profile=original" width="600" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>The year is 2017 and it is business as usual for the Lucchese crime family, one of New York’s infamous five Mafia families. While many thought the American mob had lost its teeth – gangland murders had become a rarity – prosecutors say that the Lucchese family proved them wrong in 2013 with one cold-blooded slaying reminiscent of the mob’s glory days and plenty of other violent deeds, including two shootings of Bonanno family gangsters, one because he had insulted Lucchese boss Steven Crea.</p>
<p>Yesterday, agents of the FBI and officers of the NYPD arrested 19 members and associates of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese crime family</a> and charged them with murder, attempted murder, assault, drug distribution, loansharking, illegal gambling, mail and wire fraud, and selling untaxed cigarettes.</p>
<p>Headlining the indictment is the family’s hierarchy consisting of alleged acting boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Madonna" target="_blank">Matthew Madonna</a>, underboss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-acting-boss-steven" target="_blank">Steven Crea</a>, and consigliere <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-lucchese-crime-family-capo-joseph-dinapoli" target="_blank">Joseph DiNapoli</a>. Madonna is considered “acting” or “street boss” because the Mafia (and authorities) still views <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-lucchese-crime-family-boss-vittorio-vic-amuso" target="_blank">Vittorio Amuso</a>, serving a life prison sentence, as the titular head of the Luccheses.</p>
<p>Under the leadership of these men, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese crime family</a> operated not like it was 2017, but as if it was still 1967 and La Cosa Nostra was the biggest player in town.</p>
<p>In those years long since passed, boss Matthew Madonna was one of the city’s biggest dope peddlers. Back then, he provided notorious <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-boss-leroy-nicky-barnes" target="_blank">Harlem drug kingpin Leroy “Nicky” Barnes</a> with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Heroin" target="_blank">heroin</a>. The two had met in prison and became good friends and business partners. They also became very rich.</p>
<p>But the fast life came to a screeching halt when the whole drug ring was busted and Madonna received a 30-year sentence for drug trafficking in the mid-seventies. Upon his release from prison in the 1990s, Madonna began his rise in the Lucchese family, becoming part of a ruling panel overseeing the organization’s operations by the mid- to late-2000s.</p>
<p>Led by a man with a history in the drug business, it is no surprise to see the indictment that was revealed yesterday contain serious drug charges. Prosecutors allege the Luccheses trafficked in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine" target="_blank">cocaine</a>, heroin, prescription drugs such as oxycodone, and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Marijuana" target="_blank">marijuana</a>. Lucchese family soldier Joseph Datello (66) and associate Carmine Garcia (65) also conspired to import cocaine from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/drug-cartels" target="_blank">South America</a>, the indictment reads.</p>
<p>The two men, together with Lucchese family captains John Castelucci (57) and Tindaro Corso (56), and associate Richard O’Connor (63), also dealt in contraband cigarettes – a scheme where they profited from the purchase of “cigarettes that did not bear the stamp evincing payment of applicable cigarette taxes.”</p>
<p>Though 81-year-old Madonna is now labeled as the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family" target="_blank">Lucchese family</a>’s supreme leader, for a long time, authorities pointed their finger at 69-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-acting-boss-steven" target="_blank">Steven Crea</a>. When Lucchese bosses Vittorio Amuso and Anthony Casso went on the lam in the early 1990s, Crea was one of several men tasked with running the family. After doing time in prison on a labor racketeering conviction, he was back on the streets in 2006 and considered the family’s acting boss.</p>
<p>Now, however, prosecutors say he is the family’s underboss. His son, 45-year-old Steven Junior, allegedly followed in his father’s footsteps and is labeled as a captain in the crime family.</p>
<p>The father and son worked together, prosecutors allege, while planning the demise of feared Purple Gang hitman Michael Meldish. The Purple Gang was a New York street gang filled with killers and drug traffickers, many of whom would go on to become high-ranking Mafiosi.</p>
<p>With such old connections, Meldish had a lot of dirt on several dangerous individuals. According to the indictment, in November of 2013, Madonna, Crea Sr. and Jr. gave orders to 43-year-old Christopher Londonio and 59-year-old Terrence Caldwell to “whack” the 62-year-old Purple Gang inductee.</p>
<p>On November 15, a woman, driving with her daughter, on Ellsworth Avenue in the Bronx saw a Lincoln parked with its driver’s door open and a man’s leg hanging out. When they went to investigate what they thought would be a possible stroke or heart attack, the two women discovered the gruesome scene of a gangland execution. Meldish was bleeding from both his ears, as he lay dead from a gunshot to the head.</p>
<p>It felt like 1967 alright.</p>
<p>Only it wasn’t. It was 2013 and the mob had not committed such brazen acts of murder in the streets for several years. Murders connected to the American Mafia can be counted on one hand – If they can be counted at all.</p>
<p>The hit on Meldish, however, was different. It was also part of an escalating pattern of violence handed out by the Lucchese family. Several months earlier, then-47-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family" target="_blank">Bonanno family</a> mobster Enzo “The Baker” Stango was shot and wounded by Caldwell as he sat in his SUV making a phone call.</p>
<p>Stango wasn't the only Bonanno mobster targeted by the Luccheses. In late 2012, 38-year-old Paul Cassano and 33-year-old Vincent Bruno, acting at the direction of father and son Crea, attempted to murder a Bonanno family associate who had shown disrespect toward Crea Senior.</p>
<p>It seems that Crea had quite a taste for blood, not <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-new-jersey" target="_blank">unlike his predecessors</a>. According to the indictment, in October of 2016, he also ordered Joseph Datello to go to New Hampshire and murder a man who cooperated with law enforcement.</p>
<p>Whacking a rat? Now that’s old school! That is going back in time, back to the sixties. Only, again, the sixties are long gone. So is J. Edgar Hoover. Today, we live in 2017. Today, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> is run by competent agents intent on taking down the Mafia and anyone deemed a threat to society. Agents that have a wide variety of tools at their disposal, including the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, better known as RICO.</p>
<p>Madonna, Crea, and 81-year-old <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-lucchese-crime-family-capo-joseph-dinapoli" target="_blank">DiNapoli</a>, another old-timer, know this. Yet, for some reason they decided to ignore it and run their organization as if it was 1967 and La Cosa Nostra ruled the underworld and parts of the world above, leaving a trail of blood in their path.</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>
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New Jersey Mafia capo gets 10 years for plans to whack crime family rival
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/new-jersey-mafia-capo-gets-10-years-for-plans-to-whack-crime-fami
2017-03-29T14:35:58.000Z
2017-03-29T14:35:58.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-jersey-mafia-capo-gets-10-years-for-plans-to-whack-crime-fami" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237078468,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237078468?profile=original" width="400" /></a>By Gangsters Inc. Editors</p>
<p>DeCavalcante crime family capo <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-of-decavalcante-crime-family-capo-charles-stango" target="_blank">Charles Stango</a> was sentenced to 10 years behind bars yesterday for using a telephone to plan the murder of a rival mobster. In addition to the prison term, the judge sentenced 73-year-old Stango to three years of supervised release.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-of-decavalcante-crime-family-capo-charles-stango" target="_blank">Profile of DeCavalcante family capo Charles Stango</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>The New Jersey Mafia captain had previously pleaded guilty to one count of knowingly using an interstate facility – the telephone – with the intent to murder a rival. He also pleaded guilty to violating the terms of his supervised release, which he was serving following his imprisonment on racketeering charges in New York.</p>
<p>Stango was arrested on April 14, 2015, as part of a sweep of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-decavalcante-crime-family" target="_blank">DeCavalcante crime family</a> wiseguys that operated in New Jersey and elsewhere. Based on tape-recorded evidence uncovered during the investigation, Stango believed that his mob rival had falsely held himself out to be a “made man” within the DeCavalcante family. Stango refused to recognize the man’s alleged new status.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-jersey-mob-boss-francesco-guarraci-dies-at-age-61" target="_blank">Profile of DeCavalcante family boss Francesco Guarraci</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>Adding insult to injury, Stango then believed his mob rival to have intentionally insulted a high-ranking family member, which he felt deserved the ultimate punishment: Death. He offered up to $50,000 to two assassins to carry out the order. The two assassins were, in fact, undercover FBI agents. Law enforcement officials closed down the investigation to ensure Stango’s intended victim’s safety, and he was never harmed. </p>
<p>Six of Stango’s co-defendants, including his son, Anthony Stango, have pleaded guilty to various crimes – including distribution of significant amounts of cocaine and attempting to set up a prostitution business – to enrich crew members and the crime family.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-decavalcante-crime-family">DeCavalcante Crime Family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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New England Mafia capo Bobby DeLuca admits conspiracy in 1992 murder of mob enforcer Kevin Hanrahan
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/new-england-mafia-capo-bobby-deluca-admits-conspiracy-in-1992-mur
2017-01-19T12:16:47.000Z
2017-01-19T12:16:47.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/new-england-mafia-capo-bobby-deluca-admits-conspiracy-in-1992-mur"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237083892,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237083892?profile=original" width="420" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>New England mobster Robert “Bobby” DeLuca (photo above, left and right) has admitted shooting down an infamous Providence mob enforcer in 1992. The former Mafia capo pleaded no contest on Wednesday to a murder conspiracy charge and faces up to ten years in prison.</p>
<p>For a guy who seemed to have gotten away with it all, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-new-england-crime-family">New England Mafia</a> capo Bobby DeLuca sure messed things up. Already in jail on charges that he lied to authorities about the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/former-new-england-mob-boss-turned-snitch-francis-cadillac-salemm">1993 murder of Steven DiSarro</a>, a Boston nightclub owner, he once made a deal to cooperate with authorities after they arrested him in 2011 in connection with a racketeering conspiracy. In return, they were very lenient, sentencing him to just one day in prison in the summer of 2014, giving him a second chance at life.</p>
<p>But then they found out he <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/patriarca-mob-family-capo-turned-snitch-charged-with-lying-about">had lied to them</a>. He lied about having any knowledge of DiSarro's disappearance or any other murders linked to the Boston Mafia, including the killing of enforcer Kevin Hanrahan outside The Arch Restaurant on Federal Hill on September 18, 1992.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/fbi-releases-audio-of-boston-mafia-induction-ceremony">FBI releases audio of Boston Mafia induction ceremony</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237084866,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237084866?profile=original" width="148" /></a>Hanrahan (right) was a beast, a man feared on the streets of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Boston">Boston</a> – which in itself says it all. The Italian Mafia frequently used him as muscle. If a deadbeat refused to pay, Hanrahan was sent in to collect what was owned. If that person still didn’t pay, he dished out a hell of a beating.</p>
<p>Until the tough guy started intimidating the wrong guy, someone who "knew a guy." A guy who made a phone call and got in touch with mob boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/boston-mob-boss-frank-salemme-faces-hopeless-day-in-court">Francis Salemme</a>. Upon hearing about Hanrahan's behavior, he ordered DeLuca and Rocco Argenti – who has since passed away – to get rid of him. They did. On the night of September 18, 1992, Hanrahan walked out of The Arch and was shot to death by two assassins. He was 39.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/joe-barboza-boston-barbarian">Joe Barboza: Boston Barbarian</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>His killers made sure he was dead. They shot him in the head three times. They knew his reputation and the stories. In 1975, Hanrahan had been shot as well. When police arrived on the scene, they found him with a bullet in his chest, fully aware of what happened, looking back at the cops and refusing to say who shot him.</p>
<p>Still in his early twenties, this incident cemented his reputation as a tough son of a bitch who kept his mouth shut. Little did people know, keeping one’s mouth shut would became such a rare occurrence among Boston gangsters.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-new-england-crime-family">New England Patriarca crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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DeCavalcante crime family capo admits planning mob rival’s murder
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/decavalcante-crime-family-capo-admits-planning-mob-rival-s-murder
2016-12-08T11:00:00.000Z
2016-12-08T11:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/decavalcante-crime-family-capo-admits-planning-mob-rival-s-murder"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237078468,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237078468?profile=original" width="400" /></a>By Gangsters Inc. Editors</p>
<p>DeCavalcante crime family captain <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Stango">Charles Stango</a> admitted on Wednesday using a telephone to plan the murder of a Mafia rival. He also pleaded guilty to violating the terms of his supervised release, which he was serving following his imprisonment on racketeering charges in New York. Stango faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000 when he is sentenced on March 28, 2017.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-of-decavalcante-crime-family-capo-charles-stango">Profile of DeCavalcante family capo Charles Stango</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p>The 72-year-old Mafia capo was busted on April 14, 2015, as part of a sweep of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-decavalcante-crime-family">DeCavalcante family</a> members that operated in New Jersey and elsewhere - Stango himself resides in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Nevada">Nevada</a>. Despite the distance between him and the DeCavalcante family’s base of operations in New Jersey, Stango remained a serious threat to his enemies back home.</p>
<p>A beef with a rival wiseguy named <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Oliveri">Luigi Oliveri</a> got so heated that Stango offered up to $50,000 to two assassins to carry out his murder. The two hitmen were, in fact, undercover FBI agents. Upon catching Stango in a sting operation, agents closed the investigation and pulled the mob capo off the streets to ensure Oliveri’s safety – he is still alive today. </p>
<p>Stango’s son Anthony was also arrested and has since pleaded guilty to a variety of charges including distribution of significant amounts of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Cocaine">cocaine</a> and attempting to set up a prostitution business. Five other mobsters have also pleaded guilty to various charges.</p>
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Profile: Patriarca crime family capo Anthony St. Laurent Sr. - Died two weeks after release from prison
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-patriarca-crime-family-capo-anthony-st-laurent-sr
2016-11-07T18:48:40.000Z
2016-11-07T18:48:40.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-patriarca-crime-family-capo-anthony-st-laurent-sr"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237075453,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237075453?profile=original" width="466" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Longtime New England mobster Anthony “The Saint” St. Laurent Sr. made quite the reputation for himself. Known for violence, a listing in Las Vegas' infamous Black Book, you could say he'd done well. On October 26, 2016, he was released from federal prison after serving seven years on a murder-for-hire beef. The 75-year-old mob capo died two weeks later.</p>
<p>“The Saint” has been a prominent player in the Rhode Island and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Boston">Boston</a> underworld for several decades. His arrest record goes back to 1959 and includes a staple of typical mob crimes related to illegal <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling">gambling</a> and bookmaking.</p>
<p>St. Laurent’s criminal record combined with his reputation as a made member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-new-england-crime-family">Patriarca crime family</a> and an indictment charging him with illegal bookmaking in the summer of 1993 resulted in the Nevada Gaming Control Board placing him on its <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Casino">casino</a> exclusion list – also known as the Las Vegas <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/high-profile-philadelphia-mafia-boss-joseph-merlino-latest-gangst">Black Book</a> - in September of 1993.</p>
<p>He proved the Board correct in its judgement, when, in 1999, he was convicted in Rhode Island of extortion, loansharking, and operating an illegal sports book.</p>
<p>When it came to the Mafia and its criminal business, St. Laurent was tenacious and in for life. He even continued running his gambling operation from behind bars.</p>
<p>As he grew older, times changed. Gone were the days of “running the streets” and living above the law. The mob’s power had dwindled and the times of bold, brazen shakedowns were a thing of the past. Something “The Saint” was confronted with in 2006, when he pleaded guilty to conspiring to extort $100,000 each from two Massachusetts men.</p>
<p><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/boston-mafia-bosses-hit-the-streets-war-looming">Boston Mafia bosses hit the streets - War looming?</a></strong></p>
<p>This wasn’t the way things used to go down for an old-school gangster like St. Laurent. And make no doubt about it, Anthony “The Saint” is definitely part of the old school.</p>
<p>Case in point: When his former associate and fellow mobster <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/patriarca-mob-family-capo-turned-snitch-charged-with-lying-about">Robert “Bobby” DeLuca</a> was talking behind his back and called him a rat, St. Laurent immediately sprang into action and began plotting to have DeLuca killed.</p>
<p>In April 2006, St. Laurent met a would-be hitman in a Johnston parking lot and drove into downtown <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Providence">Providence</a> to the Sidebar restaurant on Dorrance Street where DeLuca was working as a kitchen helper as part of his probation. He pointed out the restaurant to the man and offered cash if all went according to plan.</p>
<p>It didn’t, however, as St. Laurent was busted on extortion charges shortly thereafter. Still, bars could not hold back “The Saint” and he began recruiting a hitman from inside prison walls with the help of a fellow inmate.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237075495,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237075495?profile=original" width="300" /></a>This second plot fell through as well when authorities got in on the action and taped conversations between the elderly mob capo and the inmate. Prosecutors were able to charge St. Laurent with the murder-for-hire plot in 2011, while his intended target, DeLuca, became exactly that what he had publicly accused his former partner of: A government informant – better known in “the life” as a rat.</p>
<p>Seated in a wheelchair and using oxygen, a frail looking St. Laurent (right) admitted to the murder plot, but told the judge his “intention was just to scare Mr. DeLuca.” He conceded that he “made a grave mistake.”</p>
<p>After his release from prison, St. Laurent disappeared from view. He was welcomed home by his wife Dorothy and their son Anthony M. St. Laurent Junior, who both pleaded guilty in 2010 to shaking down several bookmakers in the Taunton, Massachusetts area for more than twenty years on behalf of “The Saint.”</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>Update:</strong></span></p>
<p>Well, it wasn’t the Sicilian flu. When Boston mobster Anthony “The Saint” St. Laurent was wheeled into court in a wheelchair with oxygen tanks by his side, it was a necessity. Without them he’d die.</p>
<p>We know this, because two weeks after his release from prison, the notorious Mafia captain died of natural causes. Breathing his last breath of fresh air in freedom. When it comes to the mob, that’s a pretty good way to go.</p>
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<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-new-england-crime-family">New England Patriarca crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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Boston mob boss Frank Salemme faces hopeless day in court
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/boston-mob-boss-frank-salemme-faces-hopeless-day-in-court
2016-10-02T15:18:30.000Z
2016-10-02T15:18:30.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/boston-mob-boss-frank-salemme-faces-hopeless-day-in-court"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237070298,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237070298?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Things are not looking good for Boston Mafia boss Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme. The mob leader-turned-rat faces federal murder charges and is currently behind bars awaiting his day in court. That day looks very hopeless, though, as four Rhode Island men were granted immunity on Friday by federal prosecutors and look set to testify against Salemme.</p>
<p>Salemme was indicted in August and charged with the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/former-new-england-mob-boss-turned-snitch-francis-cadillac-salemm">murder of federal witness Steven A. DiSarro</a>, the owner of South Boston nightclub The Channel, who disappeared in 1993. Witnesses claim Salemme and his son murdered DiSarro because they thought he either might become a government informant or because he was stealing money.</p>
<p>In March 2016, DiSarro’s body was recovered by federal authorities behind a mill in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Providence">Providence</a>, Rhode Island. On Friday, it became known that Joseph DeLuca, brother to imprisoned capo Robert “Bobby” DeLuca, mob associates Charles “Harpo” Garabedian, Richard Cinquegrana, and William Ricci, were all granted immunity so they can testify what exactly happened at the mill.</p>
<p><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-new-england-crime-family">The New England Patriarca Crime Family</a></strong></p>
<p>Earlier witness accounts made clear that the DeLuca brothers met Salemme in North Providence in 1993 to pick up DiSarro’s body, which they then buried at the mill in Providence which was owned by William Ricci.</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/patriarca-mob-family-capo-turned-snitch-charged-with-lying-about">Bobby DeLuca</a> was arrested in June at his home in Florida after being indicted in connection with allegations that he obstructed a federal investigation into the murder of DiSarro. According to the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s Office, DeLuca has said he will plead guilty to these charges at a hearing on October 25 in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Boston">Boston</a>.</p>
<p>With four men involved in helping Salemme dispose of DiSarro’s body willing and able to stand up in court to point their finger at the aging former mob boss, things are looking pretty damn hopeless for “Cadillac Frank.”</p>
<p>Not that he isn’t familiar with this scene. Hell, he was a mob boss in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Boston">Boston</a>, these kinds of treacherous setups are par for the course. Not just that, he himself stood in court pointing fingers and giving testimony about criminal acts committed by others. He just decided to leave out some parts when confessing his crimes to the FBI handlers who debriefed him.</p>
<p>He knew he had fucked up too. When authorities came for him at his new home courtesy of the Witness Protection Program, he was nowhere to be found. Again, typical Boston underworld, always one step ahead of the FBI. They eventually found him holed up in an Atlanta hotel room with plenty of cash.</p>
<p>“A search of defendant Salemme’s hotel room incident to his arrest revealed that he was in possession of a large sum of United States currency as well as numerous personal effects indicating that he was fleeing prosecution,” court documents stated.</p>
<p>Yeah, a pretty hopeless day in court for Salemme.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-new-england-crime-family">New England Patriarca crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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Profile: Colombo family capo Luca DiMatteo
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-colombo-family-capo-luca-dimatteo
2016-09-17T11:00:00.000Z
2016-09-17T11:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-colombo-family-capo-luca-dimatteo"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237063890,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237063890?profile=original" width="400" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Luca DiMatteo (71) is a longtime member of New York’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family">Colombo crime family</a>. According to authorities, he currently holds the rank of (acting) capo. In July of 2015, DiMatteo and his nephew, Lukey DiMatteo, were charged with racketeering conspiracy, extortion, loansharking, and operating an illegal gambling business.</p>
<p>FBI agents had been tapping DiMatteo’s phone for months and had found that the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family">Colombo capo</a> had a steady drip of illegal income by allegedly extorting a local business owner for more than ten years. Now, when we say “drip” we really mean it. The business owner paid DiMatteo and his nephew a measly $100 to $200 every two weeks.</p>
<p>Though it may seem like peanuts, DiMatteo really valued the hundred bucks. According to federal prosecutors, he even picked up extortion payments in between his chemotherapy sessions – DiMatteo was diagnosed with bladder cancer. In fairness, the business was on his route when he was also picking up loansharking payments, prosecutors allege.</p>
<p>While he was receiving chemo treatments, and unable to go out, DiMatteo allegedly sent his brother or nephew Lukey to handle his illegal business for him.</p>
<p>On September 9, 2016, a Brooklyn judge sentenced DiMatteo to 33 months in prison for his criminal deeds. Upon reading his verdict, Judge Leo Glasser said, "I’m not doing it to you, Mr. DiMatteo. You’re doing it to yourself. You knew what that life is... you couldn’t rid yourself of it, you couldn’t cut yourself loose."</p>
<p>For those of you who thought a life of crime would bring you untold riches, think again. Stay in school and out of trouble. </p>
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Profile: Lucchese crime family capo Carmine Avellino
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-lucchese-crime-family-capo-carmine-avellino
2016-08-20T13:42:13.000Z
2016-08-20T13:42:13.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-lucchese-crime-family-capo-carmine-avellino"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237077880,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237077880?profile=original" width="400" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>The life ain’t what it used to. Just ask Lucchese crime family mobster Carmine Avellino. The aging capo will go to prison because a mob associate refused to pay back the $100,000 he had loaned from Avellino. What the hell has happened to La Cosa Nostra?!</p>
<p>Avellino doesn’t know. When he started out as a gangster, times were very different. The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mafia">Mafia</a> was firmly entrenched in everyday life, it controlled entire industries, not a brick was moved and no garbage was collected without the say so of a mob boss.</p>
<p>A boss like Anthony “Tony Ducks” Corallo, who led the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family">Lucchese crime family</a>, one of five mob families operating in New York. Corallo was deadly, tough, and smart, running his family like any of the various businesses the Mafia controlled or manipulated. He often shared his knowledge and insights with his chauffeur, Salvatore Avellino, Carmine’s older brother.</p>
<p>Besides being Corallo’s driver and an alleged mob captain, Salvatore was also the president of Private Sanitation and ran a multi-million-dollar garbage business called Salem Sanitary Carting Company – He sold his companies in the 1990s for $22 million dollars. In general, you could say, he was responsible for the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Lucchese">Lucchese family</a>’s interests in the waste removal industry.</p>
<p>While taking care of mob business, Salvatore took his younger brother Carmine under his wings and schooled him in the ways of the underworld, one in which his brother and the Mafia were prominent players in. With various industries under their firm control they were able to reap huge profits.</p>
<p>But they didn’t do so without breaking some eggs. The Mafia didn’t come to power bearing gifts and flowers, they became top dog by biting to death all the other dogs they deemed a threat, until they were regarded as the true power.</p>
<p>Carmine Avellino was well aware of the violent reputation of the Mafia. He knew he too could be called upon to “<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-s-mafia-speak">go to work</a>” and “<a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-s-mafia-speak">make his bones</a>,” or in plain English: Participate in a contract murder. </p>
<p>When <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-evil-that-men-do-the">Robert Kubecka and Donald Barstow</a>, two men who ran a private carting firm, refused to bow down to the mob and its garbage hauling cartel, the family sent out a hit team to take care of things.</p>
<p>The Lucchese family was worried about heat from law enforcement interfering with its lucrative garbage business, though, since it was obvious to everyone that the Avellinos had serious problems with Kubecka and Barstow. Because of that it was decided to hand the contract to the crew headed by Anthony Baratta.</p>
<p>Salvatore and Carmine shared all their intelligence on Kubecka and Barstow with Baratta, even driving him around Long Island, showing him where the targets lived and worked. The two honest, hardworking men didn’t stand a chance. On August 10, 1989, both were killed two mob hitmen. The assassins were picked up by Carmine Avellino who was waiting in a getaway car to take them to a safe house.</p>
<p><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-evil-that-men-do-the">The Evil That Men Do: The killing of Robert Kubecka & Donald Barstow</a></strong></p>
<p>The murder was eventually solved by law enforcement, though, and all those involved were sent to prison for various crimes. Among them Carmine Avellino, who was locked up until 2004.</p>
<p>When he got out, the underworld was a different place. Where mobsters used to compare themselves to characters from The Godfather movies, now they were yapping about - and actually trying to get bit parts in - HBO’s The Sopranos. But more important than the changes in popular culture were the changes on the streets.</p>
<p>Gone were the days when the mob controlled entire industries. They were lucky if they were able to simply exert some influence within the unions and get a no show job somewhere. And with all the rats informing the FBI of every crime ever committed by any of their former partners-in-crime mobsters were lucky if they were able to stay out on the streets ten years’ tops.</p>
<p>No, the good years were gone.</p>
<p>Carmine Avellino found this out when he loaned a Lucchese family associate $100,000. In the old days, Avellino could expect his money back and then some. A steady income generated from one big loan is how many mobsters made a killer profit.</p>
<p>But that was back in the day. Nowadays guys will pay late or not at all. When Avellino found this out he sent <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mobster-admits-extortion-but-stays-loyal-to-capo">three underlings to threaten</a> the deadbeat associate. Instead of getting his money back, Avellino and his three cronies ended up in handcuffs, charged with extortion.</p>
<p>Many people found the charge a bit weird. If you ask for your own money back, how is that extortion? Avellino probably thought the same thing. What kind of world was he living in? He hadn’t loaned this huge sum to a citizen but to someone involved in <em>the life</em>, someone who knew about the rules they lived by.</p>
<p>Perhaps that is why it took him so long to plead guilty. He did not feel guilty of anything so why plead out? Even after two of the mobsters he ordered to threaten the debtor pleaded guilty, Avellino remained steadfast in his decision to take his case to trial. Until a couple of weeks before it was all scheduled to start.</p>
<p>Sensing the tide had changed and that in this day and age you had to be one very lucky gangster to get a not guilty verdict, the 72-year-old capo pleaded guilty on August 12. He admitted conspiring with his fellow Lucchese mobsters to use “an implied threat of violence based on reputation” to scare the victim into paying.</p>
<p>Avellino faces up to 33 months in prison.</p>
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Former New England mob boss-turned snitch Francis “Cadillac” Salemme charged with murder of federal witness
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/former-new-england-mob-boss-turned-snitch-francis-cadillac-salemm
2016-08-11T05:31:45.000Z
2016-08-11T05:31:45.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/former-new-england-mob-boss-turned-snitch-francis-cadillac-salemm"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237070298,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237070298?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By Gangsters Inc. Editors</p>
<p>Frank “Cadillac” Salemme, the former boss of New England’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-new-england-crime-family">Patriarca crime family</a>, is charged with the murder of federal witness Steven A. DiSarro. The 82-year-old former wiseguy was arrested in Connecticut yesterday morning and faces a sentence of death or life in prison, five years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000. </p>
<p>In the early 1990s, Salemme was the boss of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-new-england-crime-family">Patriarca family</a> until he was indicted on racketeering charges in 1995 and convicted in 1999. He flipped and cooperated with the government, giving information on his former cronies.</p>
<p>However, he held back on certain crimes he and others committed and was subsequently convicted of obstruction of justice in 2008 for lying to federal authorities about the murder of Stephen A. DiSarro.</p>
<p>DiSarro was the owner of The Channel, a South Boston nightclub, who disappeared in 1993. In March 2016, DiSarro’s body was recovered by federal authorities behind a mill in Providence, R.I. The indictment alleges that DiSarro disappeared after the involvement of Patriarca family boss “Cadillac Frank” Salemme and his son Frank Salemme, Jr. when The Channel became the focus of a federal grand jury investigation and the Salemmes feared DiSarro might cooperate with law enforcement. According to one informant, Salemme Jr. strangled DiSarro while his father watched.</p>
<p><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/boston-mafia-bosses-hit-the-streets-war-looming">Boston Mafia bosses hit the streets - War looming?</a></strong></p>
<p>On June 27, authorities arrested <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/patriarca-mob-family-capo-turned-snitch-charged-with-lying-about">Robert DeLuca</a>, a former capo in the Patriarca crime family at his home in Florida after being indicted in connection with allegations that he obstructed a federal investigation into the murder of DiSarro.</p>
<p>Like Salemme, DeLuca had become a federal witness as well and chose to remain silent about the DiSarro murder.</p>
<p>After DeLuca’s arrest many speculated why Salemme had not been hit with more severe charges. Apparently, we were a bit impatient. As is usual for the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Boston">Boston underworld</a>, justice moves slow. Crime boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-making-of-mob-boss-whitey-bulger">James “Whitey” Bulger</a> was also already in his 80s when he finally faced the music after playing the FBI for several decades.</p>
<p>Better late than never.</p>
<p>In a weird familiar twist to the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bulger">Bulger</a> situation, prosecutors allege that Salemme had gone on the run from these charges, leaving the Witness Protection Program and his home in Atlanta, Georgia, and fleeing to Connecticut, <a href="http://www.bostonherald.com/news/local_coverage/2016/08/feds_ex_mob_boss_salemme_nabbed_for_murder_was_on_the_run" target="_blank">The Boston Herald reported</a>.</p>
<p>Salemme's lawyer denies the accusations and told reporters his client was already on his way back home.</p>
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Lucchese mob family capo gambles on trial
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mob-family-capo-gambles-on-trial
2016-08-04T06:07:04.000Z
2016-08-04T06:07:04.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mob-family-capo-gambles-on-trial"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237072697,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237072697?profile=original" width="400" /></a>By Gangsters Inc. Editors</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family">Lucchese crime family</a> capo Carmine Avellino has turned down a government plea deal and will take his chances in court, the <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/mobster-threatened-associate-100g-loan-face-jury-article-1.2737485" target="_blank">New York Daily News</a> reported yesterday. Avellino is alleged to have loaned one debtor $100,000 and then ordered his mob associates to threaten him when he didn’t make his payments.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Lucchese">Lucchese family</a> associates in question have already pleaded guilty. Brothers Daniel and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mobster-admits-extortion-but-stays-loyal-to-capo">Michael Capra</a> took their since deceased cousin along for the job. They are now looking at 24 to 30 months in prison.</p>
<p><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mobster-admits-extortion-but-stays-loyal-to-capo">Lucchese mobster admits extortion but stays loyal to capo</a></strong></p>
<p>Despite taking the plea deal, the Capra brothers refused to give up any information on Avellino. Michael Capra was asked by prosecutors to give up some information, but claimed he didn’t know anything about a loan being extended by the 72-year-old Mafia captain.</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-evil-that-men-do-the">Avellino</a>’s trial is scheduled for August 22 in Brooklyn Federal Court.</p>
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Lucchese mobster admits extortion but stays loyal to capo
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mobster-admits-extortion-but-stays-loyal-to-capo
2016-07-30T09:30:00.000Z
2016-07-30T09:30:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mobster-admits-extortion-but-stays-loyal-to-capo"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237068655,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237068655?profile=original" width="427" /></a>By Gangsters Inc. Editors</p>
<p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family">Lucchese crime family</a> associate Michael Capra (photo above, left) pleaded guilty to extortion. In court, yesterday, the wiseguy admitted that he - along with his brother Daniel and a cousin who has since passed away - threatened to beat up two men who owed the mob money. Capra faces 24 to 30 months behind bars.</p>
<p>The admission must’ve been hard for the 52-year-old mobster as he has been anything but cooperative. Though the crimes occurred in 2010, police did not come looking for Capra until late September of 2013. When they did, it still took “a nearly one-hour standoff with G-men, cops and a police dog outside his Smithtown, Long Island, home” until he surrendered, the <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/mob-wife-face-time-husband-lied-fbi-article-1.1466607" target="_blank">New York Daily News</a> reported at the time.</p>
<p>But in the end, he pleaded guilty and thus avoided going to trial along with his codefendant and alleged <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family">Lucchese family</a> capo Carmine Avellino (photo above, right), who is the younger brother of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-evil-that-men-do-the">Salvatore Avellino</a>, known best for his role on an <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI">FBI</a> bug as <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Lucchese">Lucchese Mafia</a> boss “Tony Ducks” Corallo’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-evil-that-men-do-the">inquisitive</a> chauffeur.</p>
<p>Prosecutors claim it was 71-year-old Carmine Avellino who ordered Capra and crew to collect the loans. They even tried to get Capra to admit just that when he pleaded guilty on Friday, asking him if “Avellino extended the loans?”</p>
<p>The question caught the tightlipped mobster off guard, <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/luchese-mobster-cops-extortion-charge-article-1.2731385" target="_blank">New York Daily News reporter John Marzulli wrote</a>. “To be perfectly honest, I don't have any idea,” Capra answered.</p>
<p>Michael Capra is playing his guilty plea by the book of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LCN">La Cosa Nostra</a>. He remains silent, adhering to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-s-mafia-speak">omerta</a>, and will do his time. As an associate he still has the option to go legit after his release from prison. But perhaps he is looking forward to enjoying the fruits of his “labor.” The mob loves its <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gangsters-inc-s-mafia-speak">standup guys</a>, you know.</p>
<p><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/lucchese-mob-family-capo-gambles-on-trial">Lucchese mob family capo gambles on trial</a></strong></p>
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$15 million drug ring led by New York Mafia families busted
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/15-million-drug-ring-led-by-gambino-crime-family-busted
2016-07-20T13:30:00.000Z
2016-07-20T13:30:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/15-million-drug-ring-led-by-gambino-crime-family-busted"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237072462,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237072462?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>A $15 million drug ring led by members and associates of New York's Gambino, Bonanno, Genovese, and Colombo crime families was busted yesterday. Twenty-two people were charged as being part of a lucrative marijuana smuggling network that shipped the stuff from California to New York. Chief among them are 76-year-old Gambino capo Michael Paradiso, 60-year-old distributor Frank Parisi, and 51-year-old smuggler Richard Sinde.</p>
<p>The group brought in $350,000 worth’ of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Marijuana">marijuana</a> from California to New York every month for almost two years, prosecutors allege. The total amount of money made during this period was put at $15 million dollars. They also pulled in profits by selling <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Oxycodone">oxycodone pills</a> and running a <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling">gambling</a> operation, according to the indictment.</p>
<p>“Whether the alleged offer was marijuana, pills, or a return on bets placed through an unlawful gambling operation, the defendants developed a comprehensive system of monetizing illicit activities and trade,” said District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance. “In this case, the alleged schemes generated millions of dollars in illegal revenue for the defendants, virtually none of which was reported, and likely all of which went straight into the defendants’ pockets. Profiting on unlawful conduct will not be tolerated in New York, and I thank our partners for their shared commitment to rooting out those who seek to make money through illegal practices.”</p>
<p>The marijuana shipments were coordinated by 52-year-old John Kelly and 51-year-old Richard Sinde, a reputed <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family">Bonanno crime family</a> associate, who smuggled the product using either postal mail for individual packages weighing between 5-to-15 lbs., or packed into boxes and loaded into vans and other vehicles for transport, each holding between 100-to-150 lbs.</p>
<p>After Sinde was arrested on criminal charges, he was replaced by 33-year-old Lawrence Dentico, the grandson of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family">Genovese crime family</a> capo Lawrence Dentico, who lives in California and had no problems overseeing that side of the operation.</p>
<p>They got the weed from medical-grade marijuana farms in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=California">California</a>, purchasing it from other local growers for export to New York. “They were overgrowing during their natural harvest season,” Inspector John Denesopolis of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=NYPD">NYPD</a>'s Criminal Enterprise Investigation Unit told the <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/mob-family-members-face-arrest-15m-pot-ring-article-1.2718049" target="_blank">New York Daily News</a>. “They also used hydroponics inside, and also they grew this marijuana inside of greenhouses. They were doing it in excess of the amount they were allowed.”</p>
<p>Frank Parisi, prosecutors claim, then distributed the drug via the same building that houses his family-owned Parisi Bakery on Mott Street in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Manhattan">Manhattan</a>’s Little Italy. When authorities raided the bakery to arrest Parisi, they discovered 20 pounds of marijuana. Besides the drug trafficking and tax charges, Parisi (photo above, middle) was also charged with running an illegal gambling website, which made the family over $1 million dollars.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237072867,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237072867?profile=original" width="185" /></a>Other crew members were also involved in selling hundreds of prescription pills including oxycodone for at least $18,000, the indictment states. On two occasions they were caught selling pills to undercover detectives.</p>
<p>Longtime <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview">Gambino family</a> captain Michael “Mickey Boy” Paradiso (right) was hit with just a conspiracy charge. The old timer was made a capo by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-boss-john-gotti-sr">John Gotti Sr.</a> after he became the new boss. Paradiso earned a reputation as a prolific narcotics trafficker during his days – even butting heads with <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gaspipe">Anthony “Gaspipe” Casso</a>, the notorious <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-lucchese-crime-family">Lucchese family</a> underboss, over splitting the proceeds of a drug deal both men were involved in.</p>
<p>He was released from prison in 2011 and is now looking at, perhaps, spending the final years of his life in a cell.</p>
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