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2024-03-28T12:55:02Z
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Genovese Mob Boss Fat Tony’s Crazy Christmas Card
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/genovese-mob-boss-fat-tony-s-crazy-christmas-card
2020-12-21T16:00:00.000Z
2020-12-21T16:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-mob-boss-fat-tony-s-crazy-christmas-card"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237025287,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237025287?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>Ah Christmas! ‘Tis the season to be jolly. Genovese mob boss “Fat Tony” Salerno knew that all too well and pulled off a Christmas prank both edgy and extremely funny.</p>
<p>As a leading member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family">Genovese Crime Family</a> Anthony Salerno had enormous power. Not just in the criminal underworld, his corrupting influence extended into the legitimate world of construction, waste management, and various unions that gave him control over a wide array of businesses.</p>
<p>Yet, despite all that power, he still had to answer to a man above him. <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-vincent-chin">Vincent Gigante</a> was the true boss of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Genovese" target="_blank">Genovese Family</a> and was using Salerno as his front, his man on the streets, and the one who would take the hit when the FBI came knocking.</p>
<p>This wasn’t a sign of disrespect, though. Everyone knew the reasons behind it and for Salerno it came with the job. He was loyal, had sworn an oath and was never going to break it. He respected “Chin” Gigante and his boss respected him back. He could trust him.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LCN" target="_blank">La Cosa Nostra</a> there are not many people you can trust.</p>
<p><a href="http://t.co/8oQrLl0a6f" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237026056,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237026056?profile=original" width="300" /></a>Besides Salerno, Gigante had another layer of protection against the Feds: His crazy act. For several decades, he managed to trick shrinks, doctors, judges, cops, and the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> into thinking he was a nutcase and unable to keep a job, let alone run a criminal brotherhood consisting of hundreds of members.</p>
<p>Gigante would wander the streets in a dirty bathrobe. Talking to parking meters, sometimes even urinating in public, he was quite the sight. In no way, shape, or form did he even remotely resemble a Mafia boss.</p>
<p>While the outside world discussed whether Gigante was crazy or not, whether he led a criminal empire or just the empire of dwarfs and unicorns in his head, the mob knew the truth. And in the 1980s, Tony Salerno was going to have some fun with Chin’s act.</p>
<p>The old man put on his pajamas, a robe, a baseball cap which he turned backwards, and put a cigar in his mouth. He then took a photo which you can see on the right. He sent this photo as a Christmas card to several fellow mobsters who no doubt recognized the man Salerno was impersonating and had to laugh at the scene.</p>
<p>Chin undoubtedly saw the card as well. And though he was a secretive man who hated outlandish behavior, there was no backlash at Salerno. Gigante could appreciate a good joke once in a while. Especially from his dear colleague Fat Tony.</p>
<p>In 1986, Salerno was convicted in the Commission Case and sentenced to 100 years in prison. He died there in 1992 at the age of 80.</p>
<p>Vincent Gigante’s crazy act officially ended in 2003 when he admitted lying about his mental health. He died two years later at age 77.</p>
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Former Philadelphia mob boss Ralph Natale’s Last Don Standing reveals a gangster desperately in search of respect
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/former-philadelphia-mob-boss-ralph-natale-s-last-don-standing-rev
2017-03-29T08:04:22.000Z
2017-03-29T08:04:22.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/former-philadelphia-mob-boss-ralph-natale-s-last-don-standing-rev" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237089653,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237089653?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Ralph Natale was the first official boss in the American Mafia to become a turncoat and testify against his former underlings. During a short spell in the 1990s, he led what was left of the Philadelphia crime family after nearly two decades of violence. In his biography <em>Last Don Standing: The Secret Life of Mob Boss Ralph Natale</em>, he looks to share his side of the story, portraying himself as a stone cold killer and – in general – a standup guy who was betrayed by a long list of wiseguys and hoodlums.</p>
<p>A lot has already been written about the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bruno-crime-family" target="_blank">Philadelphia mob</a>, in news articles and books, much with the help of former Mafia members. In many of these accounts, Ralph Natale is named as an out of touch boss who was used as a lightning rod by Joseph Merlino and his crew to take the heat from law enforcement off them. Written by <em>New York Daily News</em> reporter Larry McShane and <em>I Married a Mobster</em> executive producer Dan Pearson, this book is Natale’s chance to separate fact from fiction and shed some light on the post-Stanfa period in the Philly mob during which he was the man in charge. </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong>A KILLER’S KILLER</strong></span></p>
<p>“Killer.” The word hits you right off the bat when you begin reading Natale’s book. Though he hasn’t even begun telling his story yet, the word ogles at you as it is one used to describe Ralph Natale. Even for the most seasoned mob buffs this comes across as something of a rare occurrence. Sure, mobsters often share their murder stories, but they seldom describe themselves in such a way.</p>
<p>Especially not when they have gone as high up the food chain as Ralph Natale, who became boss of a family. Though that position is mentioned in his character description as well, right after “union leader and organizer.” But apparently, “killer” needs to be emphasized. It stands out for him. He sees it as an important piece – a strong side - of his character. </p>
<p>It becomes weird when the book gives the character description of former <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/nicodemo-little-nicky-scarfo-boss-of-the-philadelphia-crime-famil" target="_blank">Philadelphia mob boss Nicky Scarfo</a>, known specifically for his bloodlust, as an “Atlantic City-based Mafioso who took over the family following Testa.”</p>
<p>Quite an understatement compared to the “killer” description Natale received.</p>
<p>It’s these kinds of statements that, early on, make the reader wonder where this true story about the life and crimes of former Mafia Don Ralph Natale is headed. Is he pumping himself up as a big bad crime boss to combat allegations he was just a figurehead? Is he overcompensating? It’s a thought that remained with this reader throughout <em>Last Don Standing</em>.</p>
<p>As expected, Natale kicks off his book with a mob hit. As he went out on Christmas Day in 1973, he “felt like the only human being on earth.” He packed his guns and, before leaving his home, checked them several times because, “It was an old habit. And old habits die hard,” as Natale’s co-authors add with a whiff of Hollywood noir.</p>
<p>Natale then meets his friend and intended target for the usual small talk before they and another man get in a car. Natale takes a seat behind his victim as they take one last ride. When the men arrive at their destination, his buddy begins to worry, asking “What’s up, Ralph?” Ralph replies with a line straight out of any random action movie ever made: “Here’s what’s up, my friend.” He then pulls out his .38 snub nosed revolver and shoots him in the head.</p>
<p>The moral of Natale’s story? Don’t fuck with Ralph Natale, self-proclaimed natural born mob killer. At least, that’s the idea one gets before he hits us with how neighborhood gossip would link him to any murder that occurred, even if he could never have been involved. “I used to laugh,” he writes. “But it was good for the reputation.”</p>
<p>Is he giving it to us straight right here? Is he dispelling the reputation he just spent several pages establishing? Only for a minute. Throughout his book, he embellishes his killer reputation by referring to all the “work” he did for mob bosses across the country – from <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-boss-angelo-bruno" target="_blank">Angelo Bruno</a> in Philadelphia to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Carlo Gambino</a> in New York and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chicago-boss-antonino-accardo" target="_blank">Tony Accardo</a> in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview" target="_blank">Chicago</a>, even <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-disappearance-of-jimmy" target="_blank">Jimmy Hoffa</a> was a good friend in need of his expertise.</p>
<p>Though he remains vague about his “work,” which can also mean union business or beatings, Natale still makes himself out to be a killer of many more men than just the two he testified to having personally murdered and the others he ordered whacked when he became boss.</p>
<p>All the bravado aside, Natale would never have kept any bodies hidden from the feds when he began cooperating with them as it would have ruined his agreement and kept him locked up for the rest of his life. With that in mind, Natale’s continued emphasis on his deadly capabilities creates a sense of distrust with the reader. What else is he exaggerating?</p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong>BECOMING A MADE (UP) MAN</strong></span></p>
<p>A big chink in Natale’s Mafia armor is the story about how he became an initiated, made, member of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LCN" target="_blank">La Cosa Nostra</a>. Until recently, the general story, according to the words of Natale and other turncoats, is that he was made by Joseph Merlino, then just a mere soldier in the family, after he got out of prison in 1994.</p>
<p>The fact that a soldier would, by himself, make a member, and that the two of them would subsequently name themselves boss and underboss was seen by many as another example of how dysfunctional the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bruno-crime-family" target="_blank">Philadelphia crime family</a> had become. But this was how Natale officially came into “the life” and how he ascended to the throne. It’s obviously not the most glamorous way and it seems to have eaten away at Natale’s Mafia ego.</p>
<p>Because Natale now writes in <em>Last Don Standing</em>, that his mob induction went totally different. He claims he was made decades earlier, in the late 1960s during <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/organized-crime-in" target="_blank">La Cosa Nostra</a>’s heyday, and that he only accepted Merlino’s offer to become a member to keep peace among various factions of the family.</p>
<p>Just like his ceremony with Merlino, his first initiation ceremony was a bit unusual as well. This time, however, it did have that tinsel town glamour, this time he was accompanied by two men, not lowly soldiers like Merlino, but two bosses. There, in the late 1960s, at the induction ceremony of Ralph Natale of South Philly, stood mob bosses <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-boss-angelo-bruno" target="_blank">Angelo Bruno</a> of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bruno-crime-family" target="_blank">Philadelphia</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview" target="_blank">Carlo Gambino</a> of New York.</p>
<p>“Ang and Carlo got together, and they told me, ‘Don’t tell anybody about this,’” he writes. “We pricked our fingers and put out blood together. Carlo Gambino told me, ‘You belong to me now, and you belong to Ang.’ Of course, I was honored.”</p>
<p>Well, of course. This despite the fact that he had earlier told his mob mentor John “Skinny Razor” DiTullio he had no interest in becoming a made member. DiTullio, by the way, did not attend the initiation ceremony of his own pupil. Which is weird. DiTullio was one of Bruno’s trusted lieutenants and the one who brought Natale into “the life.”</p>
<p>Something doesn’t add up.</p>
<p>Anyhow, regardless of that, let’s go along. After Bruno and Gambino had made Natale an official member, he was not to tell anyone. We can presume that would go both ways and both Bruno and Gambino would remain silent about Natale’s new status as well, otherwise why bother? This secrecy would create some awkward moments when Mafia etiquette was at stake. Natale was neither a friend of ours nor theirs. One could slap him around with impunity, maybe even try to seduce his wife. How was another mobster to know he was breaking cardinal mob rules?</p>
<p>It’s one of the stories that Natale recounts in his book that seems far-fetched at best. For a man who claims to have been so close to both Bruno and Gambino he offers little to no personal stories about them. Though the reader is confronted with countless of personal conversations – placed in quotation marks - between Bruno and Gambino and other higher ups where neither Natale nor the book’s authors were present, Natale himself is lost for material on rackets and mob anecdotes to entertain us with.</p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong>LOCKED UP FAR AWAY FROM THE GRAPEVINE</strong></span></p>
<p>It is understandable, of course, that Natale did not have that many stories to offer. He spent 16 years behind bars. He was locked up when <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-boss-angelo-bruno" target="_blank">Angelo Bruno</a> was murdered. He was in his cell when Bruno’s successor, Phil Testa, was killed by an explosive and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/nicodemo-little-nicky-scarfo-boss-of-the-philadelphia-crime-famil" target="_blank">Nicky Scarfo</a> began his vicious reign. He was running the prison yard when Scarfo went away to prison for life and the Sicilian-born <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-boss-john-stanfa" target="_blank">John Stanfa</a> took over a crumbling family. He was still eating prison food when tensions between Stanfa and a crew of young gangsters led by <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Merlino" target="_blank">Joseph Merlino</a> began turning violent.</p>
<p>He was out of the loop during all those years, looking in from the outside, collecting tidbits of information where he could. And biding his time, as he writes in his book, waiting for the perfect moment to make a comeback.</p>
<p>His opportunity arrived when <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Merlino" target="_blank">Joseph Merlino</a> entered his cell block. With the crime family severely weakened, Natale seized the opportunity to use his reputation as a standup guy to join Merlino’s faction and place himself at the top of the family. Still, it didn’t give him much more mob stories to share with readers that weren’t already known. </p>
<p><span class="font-size-4"><strong>“NO TRUE KING”</strong></span></p>
<p>Instead, Ralph Natale seems to use this book as a way to cement his mob legacy. At 82 years old, that’s all he has left. After becoming a turncoat, his reputation was shot to shambles. When stories began popping up describing him as a figurehead, his place in crime history became tarnished as well. It looks like he wanted to put a stop to that. </p>
<p><em><a href="http://amzn.to/2ntSC1b" target="_blank">Last Don Standing</a></em> thus offers readers some interesting insight into a man who is trying very hard to come across as a Mafia boss straight from <em>The Godfather</em>. But the more he hypes himself as a capable killer, the more he comes across as the latest wannabe tough guy auditioning for <em><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Sopranos" target="_blank">The Sopranos</a></em>.</p>
<p>It’s like in <em>Game of Thrones</em> when Tywin Lannister tells his son, “Any man who must say, ‘I am the king’ is no true king.” Ralph Natale is the man who is very loudly proclaiming to be a killer, to be the boss, to be a standup guy. And with every sentence, every action, he weakens his claims.</p>
<p>At the beginning of the book he portrays himself as an obedient smart young up and coming wiseguy. He only speaks when spoken to. Skip forward a few pages and he is giving his boss Angelo Bruno a piece of his profanity-laced mind – and Bruno likes him for it, or so he claims.</p>
<p>He portrays himself as a family man, one who only became a turncoat because Joseph Merlino and his crew refused to support his family while he was locked up. Yet, as a free man, Natale spent all his time playing mob boss and sleeping around with his mistress.</p>
<p>He abhors modern-day bosses like <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gotti" target="_blank">John Gotti</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Scarfo" target="_blank">Nicky Scarfo</a> for organizing large gettogethers with underlings – even saying that Bruno hated such public displays - yet does the exact same thing himself, inviting associates, soldiers, and captains to his racetrack restaurant, where he gives long speeches about how they should run their criminal business – much of it picked up on wiretaps and bugs by authorities.</p>
<p>Philadelphia mobster-turned-informant Ron Previte summed up the kind of mob boss Natale was pretty nicely, “Ralph was the type of guy you petted. You call him Godfather and you pet him very lightly.”</p>
<p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237089893,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237089893?profile=original" width="498" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><em>Ron Previte & Ralph Natale</em></p>
<p><strong><em><a href="http://amzn.to/2ntSC1b" target="_blank">Last Don Standing</a>: The Secret Life of Mob Boss Ralph Natale</em></strong> <strong>by Larry McShane and Dan Pearson is available online at <a href="http://amzn.to/2ntSC1b" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a> and at bookstores near you.</strong></p>
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Bonanno capo sent back to prison for 2 more years
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/bonanno-capo-sent-back-to-prison-for-2-more-years
2016-06-24T15:00:00.000Z
2016-06-24T15:00:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bonanno-capo-sent-back-to-prison-for-2-more-years"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237068300,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237068300?profile=original" width="350" /></a>By Gangsters Inc. Editors</p>
<p>Mobsters are known to lie, cheat, steal, and generally break the rules. But when <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family">Bonanno crime family</a> capo <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-bonanno-family-capo-anthony-pipitone">Anthony Pipitone</a> told the court he was done with the gangster lifestyle, its judge believed him.</p>
<p>You can imagine the anger then, when Pipitone was caught violating his probation by attending a Christmas party attended by the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Mob">mob</a> family’s leadership and dozens of its members as well as two other Mafia meetings.</p>
<p><strong>Read Gangsters Inc.’s profile of Bonanno family capo <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-bonanno-family-capo-anthony-pipitone">Anthony Pipitone</a></strong></p>
<p>“The defendant has not given any indication to me that he is willing to extricate himself from the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Bonanno">Bonanno</a> family,” Brooklyn federal court Judge Nicholas Garaufis said Tuesday.</p>
<p>Thanks to his sneaky actions, Pipitone was sentenced to two more years behind bars.</p>
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Profile: Bonanno crime family capo Anthony Pipitone
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-bonanno-family-capo-anthony-pipitone
2016-04-01T15:33:46.000Z
2016-04-01T15:33:46.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-bonanno-family-capo-anthony-pipitone"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237060473,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237060473?profile=original" width="350" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Alleged <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family">Bonanno crime family</a> captain Anthony Pipitone is a relatively fresh face. Inducted into the Mafia in 2004, he became an acting capo of the crew once headed by Louis DeCicco and Anthony Urso just three years later.</p>
<p>As far as mob careers go, there are better families to be involved with than the Bonannos. Ever since the departure of Joseph Bonanno, the family’s namesake, the group has hit one rough patch after the other. From the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bonanno-soldier-benjamin">Donnie Brasco</a> fiasco in the 1980s to boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bonanno-boss-joseph-massino">Joseph Massino</a> becoming a government witness in 2004 and a bunch of rats in between, the mob family unraveled into chaos.</p>
<p>An incident involving Pipitone captures this perfectly. In 2004 a restaurant owner in Queens complained to his connection in the Bonanno family about how someone had busted his windows. The Bonannos treated this as an insult and five wiseguys, including Anthony Pipitone and his younger brother Vito, went looking for the culprits.</p>
<p>They spotted a car with two men inside who they thought were responsible and went in for some good ol’ retribution. The five gangsters beat and stabbed the two men straight into the hospital. As far as the Bonannos were concerned, they had defended their mob honor and earned their protection money.</p>
<p>Except that they attacked the wrong men. And the men were actually teenagers.</p>
<p>In 2009, authorities had enough dirt on Pipitone and fourteen other Bonanno mobster and hit them with a 33-count indictment charging them with racketeering and other crimes. Pipitone was charged with the stabbing of the two teenagers to which he - and the four other <em>masterminds</em> - pleaded guilty in the summer of 2010. He was released from prison after serving 46 months.</p>
<p>Once out, it was business as usual. So when December came around it was only normal that Pipitone attended the Bonanno family’s annual <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/a-gangster-christmas-we-got-this">Christmas party</a>. Agents of the FBI and NYPD were watching as Pipitone and a bunch of other Bonanno mobsters got together at Bocelli's restaurant on Staten Island to hand their bosses envelopes filled with cash.</p>
<p>Though it didn’t seem like much of a crime to get together with friends, Pipitone violated his supervised release by attending the Christmas party – and two other Bonanno meetings as well.</p>
<p>A New York judge was not amused with Pipitone’s behavior and hit him with a two year prison sentence on March 30, 2016. The sentence amazed 43-year-old Pipitone whose lawyer told the judge two other Bonanno wiseguys received just one-year sentences for the same offense. The judge then agreed to reschedule Pipitone’s sentencing for April 18.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>UPDATE - August 16, 2022</strong></span>: Anthony Pipitone was among a bunch of mobsters of the Bonanno and Genovese families busted on racketeering and illegal gambling charges today. For more read: <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/i-m-going-to-put-him-under-the-fucking-bridge-nine-mobsters-of-ge">“I’m going to put him under the fucking bridge” – Nine mobsters of Genovese and Bonanno families busted</a></p>
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Santa Claus Joins Fight Against Cosa Nostra
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/santa-claus-joins-fight
2010-12-24T11:30:00.000Z
2010-12-24T11:30:00.000Z
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<p>By David Amoruso<br /> Posted on December 24, 2010<br /> <br /> Merry Christmas everybody! And may Santa bring you all the gifts you wished for. <br /> <br /> It seems Santa is already hard at work. Yesterday, an Italian police officer dressed up as Santa arrested a member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/sicilian-cosa-nostra-overview">Sicilian Mafia</a>. The arrest took place outside a shopping mall in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/puparo-presents-cosa-nostra-in">Catania</a>, Sicily and the whole sting operation was caught on videotape. <br /> <br /> The arrested man is Salvatore Politini (37), who is an alleged member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-benedetto">Santapaola</a> Mafia Clan. He was collecting “pizzo”, or extortion payments from one of the shopkeepers. It is also called “protection money”, though the only people the money offers protection from is the mobsters. According to authorities, the Clan had been extorting the owner for the past ten years. Every month a Mafioso would stop by the shop and pick up 260 euro. <br /> <br /> Police had the shop under surveillance for several days. One officer was dressed as Santa Claus so as not to draw any suspicion from the paranoid gangsters. While Politini went inside to collect the pizzo, cameras recorded his every move. As he got ready to get back in his car, Santa and his fellow policemen flocked to the surprised mobster and put him under arrest. Surely this was not the kind of present he expected to receive underneath the Christmas tree.</p>
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