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

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Closing Arguments Expected in Basciano Trial


After a final flurry of witnesses the previous week, the government and defense are scheduled to begin summations in the capital murder case of Bonanno captain Vincent Basciano on Monday, May 7th, in Brooklyn federal court. The case ended on Friday with the defense putting on some witnesses, notably Carlos Medina.  According to the New York Post and Daily News, Medina testified that Dominick Cicale (pictured above with Basciano) essentially cooked up a false murder plot in which Basciano was supposedly planning to kill Cicale.  Medina and Cicale, who is a key government witness against Basciano, were in the same federal lockup when Cicale is said to have related this fake plot to Medina, according to testimony.  Cicale has previously testified that it was Basciano who ordered the murder of mob wannabe Randolph Pizzolo in late 2004. Anything to discredit Cicale is crucial testimony for the defense.  The News reported that Medina blurted out the Cicale said to him that Basciano had wanted to put out a hit on a judge and prosecutors.  Medina is apparently referring to the famous "Santeria list" of names which the government said was a hit list but which Basciano said was a list prepared for a black magic spell, i.e. Santeria. Separately, the defense filed court papers saying that important log book entries held by federal Bureau of Prison officials were missing.  The log books are deemed important to the defense because they would establish that a message to kill Pizzolo couldn't have been as alleged by the government from Basciano through lawyer Tommy Lee to street boss Michael Mancuso, the court papers stated. 

http://tonydestefano.com/id3.html


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