Updated news on the Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno, Lucchese and Colombo Organized Crime Families of New York City.

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Vinny Gorgeous wants the skinny on Joseph Barone


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Vincent Basciano, as part of his defense to the upcoming death penalty trial, is asking for any information on reputed Genovese crime family associate Joseph S. Barone, who last week got a mistrial and acquittal in a Manhattan federal trial.  Seems as though Barone had been a self described informant for the feds for about 18 years, giving info to various branches of the government. As a result, Barone invoked a unique "public authority" defense, which essentially holds that he was acting as an agent of the government and hence couldn't commit crimes. The government said he Barone was acting on his own since 2006 and wasn't a government agent since that time.  In any case, the column "Gangland News" disclosed last week that it was Barone who tipped off the FBI to the alleged hit list Basciano prepared in jail, which contained the names of Judge Nicholas Garaufis and prosecutor Greg Andres.  The true nature of this list is still unclear. Basciano maintains it was made as a part of a Santeria ritual. Garaufis, in an earlier  written opinion, has suggested it was concocted as a red herring to have another judge hear the case. Because Barone knew Basciano's old friend Dominick Cicale--also a goverment witness--Basciano's attorney filed a letter on July 27, 2010 to ask that the government turn over any documents in which Barone discussed Cicale and his crimes.

http://tonydestefano.com/id3.html

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