Judge hands aging Bonanno captain a potential death sentence

Judge hands aging Bonanno captain a potential death sentence

  December 28, 2017    Dapper_Don

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A legendary airport robbery recounted in the movie "Goodfellas" came back to haunt an 82-year-old mobster on Thursday, when a judge cited evidence of his role in it while sentencing him to eight years in prison for an unrelated road rage arson.
Vincent Asaro, balding and bespectacled, reacted to the sentence with disgust.
"I don't care what happens to me at this point," he grumbled.
He looked at U.S. District Judge Allyne R. Ross, saying: "What you sentenced me to is a death sentence anyway."
The sentence was more than double what federal guidelines set out as punishment for the 2012 car torching, which prosecutors said resulted when Asaro directed Bonanno crime family associates to track down and set afire the car of a motorist he believed had cut him off.
Asaro, speaking before the announcement of the sentence, said he was "terribly sorry."
"I was on my way home," he said. "It happened. It just got out of hand."
The judge said she had "no illusion" that prison will result in Asaro's rehabilitation or bring an end to his "lifelong career as a member of the Mafia." She said she was mindful of Asaro's 2015 acquittal in the infamous 1978 heist at the Lufthansa cargo terminal at John F. Kennedy International Airport, a robbery retold in the 1990 hit film "Goodfellas," starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci.
The judge said she reviewed evidence from the trial she had presided over and cited proof Asaro had participated in a 1969 murder and had admitted his role and obtained jewelry from the armed robbery of more than $6 million in cash and jewelry from the Lufthansa terminal.
"He remains dangerous to the public," she said.
The prison term resulted from a road rage encounter between Asaro and a motorist who became "embroiled in a high-speed chase at the hands of an enraged Asaro," the FBI said.
Asaro contacted an associate with access to a local law enforcement database, identified the license plate information of the car and triggered a plan to burn the car in front of the motorist's home, said the head of New York's FBI office, William F. Sweeney Jr.
"The anger that propelled Asaro to action is reminiscent of so many scripted Hollywood dramas, but unlike the fame and fortune of the big screen, Asaro's story ends on a different note," Sweeney said in a release. "Today's sentence proves that living life in the fast lane is sure to be short lived."
Acting U.S. Attorney Bridget M. Rohde said Asaro's sentence was "for a lifetime of violent criminal activity."
Before the announcement of the sentence, defense attorney Elizabeth Macedonio blamed the government for the long prison term, saying prosecutors were "asking you to sentence him for crimes he was acquitted of that occurred 50 or 60 years ago."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Argentieri called Asaro a "one-man crime wave" and said he was a hero in his Queens neighborhood after he was acquitted at trial.
"It's time to send a message, to break the cycle," she said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/newswires/entertainment/mobster-acquitted-goodfellas-heist-prison-arson-article-1.3724375

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Bonanno captain asks to leave jail to see doctor

Bonanno captain asks to leave jail to see doctor

  December 27, 2017    Dapper_Don

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A geezer Bonanno capo who avoided prison for his suspected role in the 1978 JFK Airport-Lufthansa heist​ now wants a Brooklyn judge to let him out of jail for medical treatment as he awaits sentencing for ordering a hit — on a car.
Reputed wiseguy Vincent Asaro’s attorney Elizabeth Macedonio wrote letters to a judge last week asking for emergency bail after visiting the 82-year-old “Goodfellas” gangster at the Metropolitan Detention Center and seeing him “incoherent and unable to leave the visiting room on his own power,” according to the Dec. 20 letter.
Prosecutors want Asaro locked up for 15 years for having his cronies, including the namesake grandson of the late Gambino boss of bosses John Gotti, torch the car of a driver who mistakenly cut him off in traffic in 2012.
Macedonio said Asaro had been taken to the hospital five times while in jail including once for heart surgery in October and she claims that Asaro received, “sub-par care” while at the federal lockup including receiving incorrect dosages of his medicines.
“Mr. Asaro’s health has clearly taken a dramatic turn for the worse and the MDC is incapable of caring for him. His cardiac situation is so severe it is remarkable that he has survived this long given the care he has received,” Macedonio wrote in the letter.
Asaro notoriously avoided prison for his involvement in the nearly $6 million robbery of the Lufthansa cargo terminal on Dec. 11, 1978, which was famously recreated in Martin Scorsese’s “Goodfellas.”

https://nypost.com/2017/12/26/reputed-goodfellas-mobster-wants-to-leave-jail-to-see-doctor/

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Deadline for $10 million reward for stolen artwork fast approaches

Deadline for $10 million reward for stolen artwork fast approaches

  December 26, 2017    Dapper_Don

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A hot tip could still earn you a cool $10 million from a Boston museum desperate to recover a trove of missing masterpieces. But you'd better hurry.

Midnight Dec. 31 is the deadline to collect a doubled reward being offered for information leading to the recovery of 13 works worth an estimated $500 million — including paintings by Degas, Manet, Rembrandt and Vermeer — stolen in 1990 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

So far, no takers.

That's a big disappointment to the museum and the FBI, which still hasn't managed to solve the largest art heist in U.S. history. Both had hoped the enhanced reward would spur a flurry of fresh leads. Instead, it's been like watching paint dry.

"Right now we're laser-focused on this deadline," said museum spokeswoman Kathy Sharpless. "Clearly there's a sense of urgency on our part. We want our paintings back."

FBI sketches of the two suspects being sought in the art heist.

A look at the case and what's likely to happen next:
THE HEIST

On March 18, 1990, two men masquerading as Boston police officers gained entrance to the museum by telling the security guard at the watch desk that they were responding to a report of a disturbance, according to authorities.

The guard didn't follow museum policy and allowed the men inside. He and another guard were handcuffed and locked in the basement while the thieves made off with the art.

The missing pieces include Rembrandt's only known seascape, "Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee," and Vermeer's "The Concert," one of fewer than 40 known paintings by the 17th-century Dutch painter.

Empty frames are still on display 27 years after the heist.

Twenty-seven years later, there are still empty frames on the walls of the gilded museum where the great works once were displayed.
THE INVESTIGATION

The FBI told The Associated Press in 2015 that two suspects — both Boston criminals with ties to organized crime — were deceased.

The agency has said investigators believe the paintings moved through mob circles to Connecticut and Philadelphia, where the trail went cold.

Federal prosecutors say Robert Gentile, an 81-year-old reputed Connecticut mobster, is the last surviving person of interest. Federal agents have searched Gentile's Manchester home several times.

FBI posters displaying the stolen artworks.

Prosecutors have said another gangster's widow claimed her husband gave Gentile two of the paintings. Authorities also have said Gentile talked about the stolen paintings with fellow prisoners, and once told an undercover FBI agent he had access to two of the paintings and could negotiate the sale of each for $500,000. Gentile denies knowing anything about the theft.

Meanwhile, the five-year statute of limitations on crimes associated with the actual theft expired more than 20 years ago, so the thieves — even if captured — no longer could be prosecuted.

Although authorities haven't offered blanket immunity for whoever has the paintings now, they say they're willing to consider immunity for anyone who can help them recover the stolen works.
THE REWARD

For years, the museum has offered a $5 million reward. Last May, trustees upped it to $10 million — but only through the end of 2017.

Robert Gentile, 81, the last surviving person of interest, is brought into the federal courthouse in a wheelchair on April 20, 2015 for a continuation of a hearing in Hartford, Conn.

Dutch art sleuth Arthur Brand, who has helped European authorities recover other stolen works, says he has spoken to former police officers, ex-members of the Irish Republican Army and others, and remains convinced he is inching closer to solving the mystery.

"I said from the beginning if it's not solved by the first of January it will become ... less likely that it will ever be solved," Brand told the AP. "We are getting closer. There are so many people working on it that in the end the truth will come out — I'm absolutely certain about that. The only question is, do the paintings still exist?"

Sharpless, the museum spokeswoman, says the gallery will happily write that check for the right tip.

"We're really not interested in theories as much as in good credible information and facts," she said. "It only takes one good piece of information to help solve this puzzle."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/museum-offering-10m-reward-desperate-bid-find-stolen-art-article-1.3720631

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Feared mobster and convicted killer dies in prison

Feared mobster and convicted killer dies in prison

  December 22, 2017    Dapper_Don

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Feared mobster Frank “Bobo” Marrapese, a convicted killer and former member of the Patriarca crime family in Providence, died Friday morning while serving time in Rhode Island for his role in an illegal gambling ring.

State Police Lieutenant Colonel Joseph Philbin confirmed the passing of the 74-year-old gangster in a brief phone interview. Marrapese died at Rhode Island Hospital, according to Susan Perez, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.

A cause of death wasn’t immediately available, though authorities said he dealt with heart problems. His death was first reported by WPRI-TV in Providence.

Marrapese was released in 2008 from the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston, R.I., after serving 25 years for the 1975 slaying of Richard “Dickie” Callei.

Callei had visited the Acorn Social Club, then a mob hangout in the Federal Hill section of Providence, the night he was fatally shot. His body was later discovered buried near a golf course. Marrapese was convicted of the killing in 1987.

He was acquitted of two other murders, including the brutal 1982 bludgeoning death of 20-year-old Ronald McElroy, an East Providence man whose skull was crushed with a baseball bat after a traffic incident.

A 1984 Boston Globe article mentioned Marrapese as a potential successor to Raymond L.S. Patriarca, the head of organized crime in New England who died the day before the story appeared.

The article noted that Marrapese was at the time “out of action and . . . unable to campaign for the top job” because he was serving a 10-year bid for buying a truckload of stolen chairs and also facing murder indictments.

“He faces another charge of stealing 888 cases of whiskey in Providence,” the article stated.

More recently, Marrapese found trouble in 2011, when he was charged as part of a sprawling illegal betting ring that also ensnared longtime Patriarca associates Edward Lato and Alfred ‘‘Chippy’’ Scivola.

Marrapese pleaded guilty in 2013 to criminal charges in connection with the ring and was sentenced to nine years in prison, landing him back at the ACI.

“He was the real deal,” Philbin said Friday, adding that many mobsters from the heyday of organized crime are on the decline. “They’re all getting older now. I’m sure there’s somebody young ready to take his place. There’s always somebody behind him.”

https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2017/12/22/mobster-and-convicted-kiler-frank-bobo-marrapese-dies-rhode-island-prison/BGqlsQGGSWRlRkSIAo809M/story.html

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Genovese associate convicted of associate

Genovese associate convicted of associate

  December 20, 2017    Dapper_Don

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Jurors in a federal organized crime trial Monday found East Longmeadow resident Richard Valentini guilty of conspiracy and extortion in connection with an attempted shake down of a city tow company operator.
Valentini was one of four alleged members of the "Springfield Crew" -- a local organized crime faction affiliated with the New York-based Genovese crime family -- arrested on Aug. 4, 2016.
The men were accused of trying to squeeze $20,000 out of Craig J. Morel, owner of CJ's Towing Unlimited.
Prosecutors leaned on a series of secret video and audio recordings of Morel's meetings with the defendants at his property in Hampden in the fall of 2013.
But defense attorney Jared Olanoff, citing his client's presence during only one of the meetings, argued that Valentini was only a peripheral character in the case. 
Valentini was the sole suspect to take his case to trial. Three co-defendants -- Ralph Santaniello and Giovanni "Johnny Cal" Calabrese, both of Longmeadow, and Francesco "Frank" Depergola, of Springfield -- pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
Jurors began their deliberations around noon Monday after instructions on the law by U.S. District Judge Timothy Hillman.
Extortion carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/12/verdict_in_richard_valentini_e.html

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Strip club from The Sopranos is officially shut down

Strip club from The Sopranos is officially shut down

  December 18, 2017    Dapper_Don

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The New Jersey strip club featured as the seedy hangout on HBO’s “The Sopranos” went bust in real-life over the weekend.
Satin Dolls in Lodi was forced to sideline its naked ladies — and cease all other live “entertainment” — under a court order that shutters the jiggle joint for allegedly hiding money from the state, sources said Monday.
The strip club on Route 17 — which appeared as the “Bada Bing” in the hit mobster series — must either sell or transfer its liquor licenses by Jan. 3, according to a court order filed by state Attorney General Christopher Porrino and the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Owners of the nightspot allegedly hid cash from the state and allowed reputed mob associate Anthony “Tony Lodi” Cardinalle to run the place, according to the court order.
“The Cardinalles may have wanted to keep the business in the family, but that’s not how it works. Their continued flouting of Alcoholic Beverage Control laws cannot and will not be tolerated,” said Porrino said in a statement earlier this month.
Cardinalle was barred from running the strip club amid racketeering charges linked to the Genovese crime family illegal waste disposal operation, officials said.
The club legally serve can still serve drinks until Jan. 3. A.J.’s Gentleman Club, which is under the same ownership, will also be forced to shut down by Jan. 3.
On Monday, a rep from Satin Dolls said, “No comment — but, yeah, we’re open.”
The club and its owners were the subject of an investigation by the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control for more than six years, according to officials.

https://nypost.com/2017/12/18/famed-sopranos-strip-club-shut-down/

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Witness says payoffs were meant for city officials

Witness says payoffs were meant for city officials

  December 16, 2017    Dapper_Don

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Testifying in an ongoing federal extortion trial, Craig J. Morel told jurors he was first approached for kickbacks by a local mobster when he bought a towing company in 2000.
With the company, he inherited an exclusive towing and storage pact with the city of Springfield, the flagship contract for his then-young business, C.J.'s Towing Unlimited.
Morel testified that Frank Depergola, a family friend and longtime fixture in the Springfield rackets, quickly approached him and told him he was obligated to pay kickbacks to city officials to retain the contract.
"Were you surprised?" lead prosecutor Marianne Shelvey asked Morel.
"Yes and no," Morel told jurors, adding that he believed prior municipal towing contractors were required to "kick back" to city officials.
Depergola's assertion seemed all the more legitimate since he was often accompanied by former Police Commission Chairman Gerald Phillips during several meetings and dinners.
Phillips served nearly two years in federal prison for various other fraudulent schemes while director of the city-run Massachusetts Career Development Institute, now defunct. None of his convictions had anything to do with kickbacks, but rather no-show job schemes and other fraud.
Phillips could not immediately be reached for comment.
Morel said that after months of delivering $3,000 to $5,000 in cash in envelopes to Depergola, he eventually learned they weren't lining the pockets of city officials at all. They were being funneled back to mob capo Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno.
During his first conversation with Bruno, Morel said, the Mafia boss asked for a pickup truck to drive on his land and remarked, "We got a good thing going here, kid."
Morel is the government's star witness in the trial of Richard Valentini, one of four men the prosecution claims conspired to shake Morel down for $20,000 in 2013 -- a decade after Bruno was murdered.
Valentini was arrested in 2016 along with Ralph Santaniello, Giovanni "Johnny" Calabrese and Depergola. All but Valentini cut plea deals with prosecutors and await sentencing.
Morel agreed to record 16 meetings with the defendants at the behest of Massachusetts State Police. A lawyer for Valentini has argued his client appeared at just one meeting and was friendly to Morel, trying to quell the tow company owner's fears after Santaniello and Calabrese threatened to kill him during their first encounter.
Morel began testifying just before 10 a.m. on Friday.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/12/tow_company_operator_testifyin.html

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Current status of two jailed gangsters and upcoming trial of Philadelphia mob boss

Current status of two jailed gangsters and upcoming trial of Philadelphia mob boss

  December 16, 2017    Dapper_Don

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More recordings are played during Day 2 of mob trial

More recordings are played during Day 2 of mob trial

  December 14, 2017    Dapper_Don

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The 2013 version of the "Springfield Crew" was not fond of pushback from its extortion targets.
According to testimony in an ongoing trial in U.S. District Court, tow company operator Craig J. Morel wavered between compliance and resistance under the direction of Massachusetts State Police in the autumn of that year, while also squirming under the thumb of a "new crew" of mobsters.
Standing trial for conspiracy and extortion is Richard Valentini, one of four men charged in an alleged shakedown of Morel, owner of CJ's Towing Unlimited. Three co-defendants in the case -- Ralph Santaniello, the onetime leader of the local faction of the New York-based Genovese crime family; Giovanni "Johnny Cal" Calabrese; and Francesco "Frank" Depergola -- have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
Valentini is featured in one video Morel made for police on Oct. 4, 2014 at his land in Hampden -- a remote plot where he was rebuilding a home that burned down months earlier.
Jurors on Wednesday heard four more in a series of recordings Morel made for state police on Oct. 9, 2013, when Santaniello arrived at Morel's land in a rage.
"I told you I'm not going to be alone up here no more, obviously. Told (Calabrese) I wasn't going to be up here alone," Morell said to a visibly agitated Santaniello, as Calabrese stood by.
"I don't care if you're here with ninety f---ing people, it ain't gonna make a difference for me pal. Come on let's take a walk. You got your phone on ya?" Santaniello responded.
"Yeah. What you want me to leave it here?" Morel asked.
"Yeah. Leave your phone here," Santaniello ordered, before marching Morel toward the woods until Morel balked.
Santaniello and Calabrese were unaware there were undercover troopers perched in a construction camper and shed on the property -- or that they were surrounded by cameras and microphones.
The source of Santaniello's ire was that Morel failed to come through with a promised $5,000 payment, offering $500 instead -- and questioning the crew's true stature.
"I'm asking around and everybody seems to say there's nobody inside, there's nothing going on anymore," Morel said, in an effort to compare the new guard to old mob regimes.
"I'm not even Italian. You know what I mean? I'm going to deal with the Italians on this? I'm not an Italian shop owner you know," Morel added.
Testifying on Tuesday and Wednesday, Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Brendan O'Toole told jurors he orchestrated several meetings among Morel and the defendants, often advising him to bring less money than Morel had promised at the last meeting.
"For investigative reasons I wanted to prolong this interaction," O'Toole testified, later adding that he instructed Morel at times to duck incessant phone calls from members of the Springfield Crew or their proxies.
Valentini and his co-defendants were collectively accused of strong-arming Morel for $20,000 for what the defendants argued were "arrears" of a "street tax."
According to testimony, Morel stopped paying mob tribute after Springfield capo Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno was murdered in 2003.
But, a lawyer for Valentini told jurors during opening arguments his client was not involved in the squeeze and appeared at just one of 16 meetings between Morel and the defendants police recorded on video and audio in the fall of 2013.
Calabrese and Valentini were shown on that recording apparently trying to soothe Morel's frazzled nerves after the $20,000 demand.
"You'll get Cristal," Valentini joked, referring to the pricey champagne.
"You're gonna love us," Calabrese added.
The trial is expected to last about a week. Morel likely will take the witness stand on Friday.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/12/day_2_of_testimony_in_mob_exto.html

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Secret recordings played during first day of Springfield mob trial

Secret recordings played during first day of Springfield mob trial

  December 13, 2017    Dapper_Don

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More than a year after the arrests of five men charged with extortion and other crimes, one defendant has taken his case to trial, exposing rarely seen dealings of the reputed local arm of the Genovese crime family.
What is expected to be a week-long trial kicked off Tuesday in U.S. District Court with Richard Valentini, 52, of East Longmeadow, as the last man standing.
Co-defendants Ralph Santaniello, Giovanni "Johnny Cal" Calabrese, Francesco "Frank" Depergola and Gerald Daniele have cut plea deals in the case and await sentencing.
The first day of opening statements and testimony featured dueling arguments. Federal prosecutors have portrayed Valentini as a large, looming presence brought along to intimidate alleged victim Craig J. Morel, while defense attorney Jared Olanoff contends his client attended just one of many meetings and amounted to a benevolent foil.
Morel is the owner of towing and scrap metal business C.J.'s Towing Unlimited. He went to Massachusetts State Police troopers in 2013 after Santaniello and Calabrese ambushed him at his land in Hampden, demanded $50,000 plus ongoing monthly "tribute" to their new "crew" and threatened to kill him if he didn't comply.
Santaniello smacked Morel across the face to drive home the message.
Appearing at a meeting with troopers with a fat lip, Morel — a former city police officer who was fired for misconduct in 1990 — agreed to cooperate with an investigation and record 16 subsequent meetings in October and November of 2013.
Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Brendan O'Toole testified for the prosecution on Tuesday and is expected to continue on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, jurors saw and heard an Oct. 4, 2013 meeting among Morel, Calabrese and Valentini. Below are excerpts from the Oct. 4 recording made at Morel's remote plot of land, where he was planning to rebuild a home that had burned down eight months earlier (participants are identified by their initials):

Ralph A. Santaniello, 49, of Longmeadow, is led to a cruiser at the Massachusetts State Police barracks in Springfield early Thursday morning, Aug. 4, 2016.

'He was a lot skinnier when I seen him before'

Santaniello apparently bulked up at the gym since Morel had seen him years earlier, causing Morel not to recognize him at the earlier meeting and prompting the smack in the face, Calabrese said.
JC: How you doing today?
CM: Ok. Um. I need to talk to you guys a little bit. I uh I mean you guys caught me off — off guard. You got me here all alone
JC: Yea.
CM: You know, think about it. It's a pretty scary thing. You know what I mean?
RV: Oh yea, no no no no. Relax. No no no we're not here ... I even brought you a f***in thing. (coffee)
JC: Yea.
CM: Thanks. Um, that's why you know I mean, I - I - I recognized Ralphie after, you know?
JC: Yea. That's why I think ... he thought you shoulda known who he was.
CM: Well he was skinnier. He was a lot skinnier when I seen him before, you know what I mean" I haven't seen him in - in like 10 years ... And when you guys just rolled up, you kinda caught me by - by surprise so I was just like ... you know what I mean?
(Later in the recording:)
JC: And the better part of the story is though, that (Morel) didn't recognize you because you bulked up.

Bruno was a more gracious extortionist

CM: I dealt with Al for - for about ... let me think ... three years ... And he always treated me like a gentleman. He would bring, you know, he brought me and my mother to (Italian tenor Andrea) Bocelli ... he, you know, he treated me like a celebrity every time I saw him.
JC: Right.
CM: You know what I mean? And it's like I meet this new guy and I get a smack. You know?
JC: I think ... see he - he thought you knew him. And he thought you knew exactly what was going on and when you made that remark, you insulted him.
CM: When - when I said I didn't know who he was?
JC: Well that and - there was another thing you said.
CM: Well he wanted me to give him a number. You know what I mean? And I was just like I - I didn't feel comfortable saying something because I don't - I know I gotta live with it if it comes out of my mouth.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/12/highlights_from_tow_company_op.html

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Feds bust Gambino and Bonanno mobsters on Long Island

Feds bust Gambino and Bonanno mobsters on Long Island

  December 12, 2017    Dapper_Don

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A bunch of Long Island mobsters were busted Tuesday on a host of criminal charges including loan sharking, drug dealing and running illegal casinos, authorities said.
Federal prosecutors unveiled a 13-count indictment charging six members and associates of the Gambino organized crime family, and a member of the Bonanno organized crime family with racketeering conspiracy, illegal gambling and obstruction of justice.
The charges against the seven men include alleged criminal activity on Long Island and in Brooklyn that took place between January 2014 and December 2017, officials said.
The gambling offenses included illegal poker games, electronic gaming machines and internet sports betting.
In one intercepted call, one of the suspects, John "Johnny Boy" Ambrosio, an acting captain in the Gambino family, was caught on tape telling someone there was no need to travel to a casino — "you can play right here" and "save gas money."
Arrested along with Ambrosio were Frank "Frankie Boy" Salerno, a soldier in the Bonanno family, Thomas Anzaone, Alessandro "Sandro" Damelio, Joseph Durso, Anthony Rodolico and Anthony Saladino, associates of the Gambino family, who were busted Tuesday.
They were scheduled to be arraigned before United States Magistrate Judge Gary Brown in federal court in Central Islip.
"The arrests in this case prove organized crime families haven't gone away, and continue to plague our communities with their general disregard for anything other than their own greed," said FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge William Sweeney.
Officials said several of the suspects distributed a variety of narcotics including cocaine, marijuana and Xanax. Authorities said Saladino and Salerno engaged in the distribution of wholesale quantities of cocaine, including 12 separate sales to an undercover cop totaling more than half a kilogram.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/long-island-mobsters-hit-host-charges-article-1.3693717

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Gotti Jr thinks new movie about his father is too violent

Gotti Jr thinks new movie about his father is too violent

  December 10, 2017    Dapper_Don

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Junior Gotti has a reel beef with the upcoming movie about his murderous mob boss dad: “Way too much violence.”
“When Hollywood sees a mob movie it has to be a bucket of blood, not family,” the godfather’s son told The Post. “If Hollywood gets the movie 70 percent correct, I’ll be thrilled.”
Still, the Mafia scion said John Travolta, who stars in “Gotti” as the infamous Gambino crime family boss, “acted the sh-t out of the film.” While John Gotti Jr. hasn’t seen the final cut of the beleaguered biopic, whose Dec. 15 release was indefinitely postponed last week, he was on the set for nine of the 27 days of shooting.
“The days I was there, John hit the ball out of the park,” Junior said.
He says the film did not stick to the narrative of his 585-page book, “Shadow of My Father,” from which it was adapted.
Gotti said the original screenplay was a “monster” 189 pages about his father’s “blood family,” which would have meant a four- or five-hour movie to get it right. “The violence would have been appropriately staggered,” he said.
Now the blood gushes in a condensed 1-hour, 50-minute flick.
The movie has had four directors, including Barry Levinson, Joe Johnston and Nick Cassavetes and now, “Entourage” alum Kevin Connolly, who Gotti calls a “Long Island guy who grew up not far from the Gotti stronghold.”).
Junior said the Cassavetes version was “killings by the bucket,” including one fictitious scene with the Teflon Don “pulling up to a construction site with a dead guy in the backseat with a ‘Colombian necktie,’” a reference to the brutal throat-slashing M.O. of the drug cartels.
Junior said Cassavetes was an “OK guy,” but he “failed miserably” at re-writing the screenplay.
“To me it was ‘Jason meets Goodfellas.’ It just wasn’t the story that we had written,” he said.
Gotti said Levinson toned down some of the violence and the final result is a combination of the first and last screenplays, bloodier than Junior hoped for, but “less than what Hollywood wants it to be.” He said Travolta addressed his concerns about violence and that he was the “one constant” during filming.
He says Travolta “was so sure of his performance” that he negotiated a buy-back clause with the studio, Lionsgate, and is now activating it to give the movie its “proper respect.”
Gotti said that contrary to reports last week, the biopic wasn’t whacked by Lionsgate, but that the film’s producers, led by Travolta, sought wider distribution and bought the film back with the help of financier Edward Walson, whose resume includes five Broadway plays and eight films, including Woody Allen’s “Wonder Wheel.”
Gotti said Travolta invited Walson and his group for a private screening and Walson was “blown away.”
The new investors are looking to roll out the movie in May at the Cannes Film Festival.
Junior said now “Gotti” will no longer have to stare down the barrel of the “Star Wars” blockbuster during the holiday movie season.
Asked to sum up his dealings with Tinseltown, Gotti said, “There was a hell of a lot more honor in the street.
“When you shake somebody’s hand and give your word — you have to honor it — or else. In Hollywood, there is no ‘or else.’”
Meanwhile Junior says he is hard at work on a new project, a book and documentary called WITSEC Mafia, which profiles former mob turncoats who commit crimes following life in the Witness Protection Program.

https://nypost.com/2017/12/09/gotti-jr-thinks-upcoming-biopic-on-dad-is-too-violent/

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Prosecutors want mafia information kept from jury at upcoming trial

Prosecutors want mafia information kept from jury at upcoming trial

  December 09, 2017    Dapper_Don

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Manhattan federal prosecutors are trying to block jurors in an upcoming mob case from hearing dirty laundry dredged up about several witnesses who are expected to testify at trial.
Philly mob boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino and Genovese capo Eugene "Rooster" Onofrio are among some 46 wise-guys charged last year in a massive racketeering scheme. Most of those charged have already pleaded guilty.
But Merlino, 55, and Onofrio, 75, have not admitted wrongdoing, and their trial is set to start Jan. 16, 2018, records show.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office, in a motion filed Friday, asked that certain witness background information be kept out of the courtroom.
Two of the G-men who are expected to testify were previously scrutinized by the FBI's Office of Professional Responsibility over their handling of the mob case, records show. The probe included a look at the agents’ “supervision of a cooperating witness and documentation of their work," according to a court filing.

One agent was cleared during the inquiry.
But the internal review found that the other agent dropped the ball by failing "to timely generate and upload several investigative reports during the course of the investigation," and was slapped with a five-day suspension, the motion states.
Prosecutors are asking Manhattan Federal Judge Richard Sullivan to prohibit Merlino and Onofrio's lawyers from asking about the internal FBI investigation.
Bringing up this investigation, prosecutors argue, wouldn't provide meaningful insight into the agents' credibility — and could confuse and distract the jury.
Thomas Nooter, who represents Onofrio, told the Daily News he will "be opposing the prosecutor’s attempt to limit cross-examination on the FBI internal investigation."
Prosecutors also want to keep defense lawyers from asking two cooperating witnesses about past incidents of domestic violence.
These two witnesses told the feds they had "been involved in several physical altercations with domestic partners." They don't appear to have been prosecuted in relation to these incidents, the feds said.

"These incidents have no bearing on the truthfulness of the cooperators] and their discussion at trial would be inflammatory and without probative value," prosecutors claim.
Prosecutors won’t try to prevent Merlino and Onofrio's lawyers from asking about "their direct involvement in other violent assaults, which led to bodily injury."
According to court papers, one witness "participated in a violent assault in or around 2011 in which the victim was injured, and has also been involved in other assaults," while the other cooperator "has committed assaults using a glass and a bottle."
Neither the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office nor FBI commented on the filing.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/manhattan-prosecutors-internal-mob-info-jurors-article-1.3681407

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Genovese captain rejects plea deal and prepares for trial in 2018

Genovese captain rejects plea deal and prepares for trial in 2018

  December 09, 2017    Dapper_Don

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Accused Genovese mob boss Eugene “Rooster” O’Nofrio has given up on plea talks and is headed to trial for racketeering, his lawyer confirmed on Thursday.
“We want to make the government prove anything they’re alleging against my client,” lawyer Thomas Nooter said following a Manhattan federal court hearing.
Just last month, O’Nofrio, who allegedly ran crews on Manhattan’s Mulberry St. for Conrad Ianniello while he was in prison, was set to plead guilty to the charges against him, including allegations of loansharking and cigarette trafficking.
Instead, he pleaded “not guilty” Thursday to a superseding indictment.
O’Nofrio and reputed Philadelphia mob boss Joey “Skinny Joey” Merlino have been accused of being leaders of what the government has dubbed the East Coast La Cosa Nostra Enterprise, a conglomerate of different mob families working together across multiple states.
They are going on trial Jan. 16.

https://nypost.com/2017/12/07/accused-mob-boss-headed-to-trial-for-racketeering/

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NJ Transit writes huge check to family of Genovese mobster

NJ Transit writes huge check to family of Genovese mobster

  December 09, 2017    Dapper_Don

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Expenses from a tunnel project that was canceled seven years ago continue to haunt NJ Transit, which this year wrote a $6.13 million check to the family of a reputed mobster for land the agency wanted for the doomed project.
The settlement ended a seven year battle with the family of longtime North Jersey garbage magnate and Township of Washington resident Carmine "Papa Smurf" Franco over the value of a triangular piece of land that NJ Transit condemned for the ARC tunnel project canceled by Gov. Chris Christie in October 2010.
NJ Transit's board approved the settlement with M & C Franco & Co. in August, but officials declined to reveal the price tag until asked about it last week.
The 1.89-acre tract on the border of Hoboken and Weehawken could still be used for Amtrak's proposed Gateway Tunnel project as an access point for tunnel boring equipment, officials said.
That's because a draft Environmental Impact Statement for the proposal to build two new Hudson River rail tunnels recommends using the old ARC tunnel route.
NJ Transit and the Franco family fought in court over the value of the property since 2010. In 2012, a Hudson County jury valued the land at $8.15 million. However, a state appellate court gave NJ Transit a victory in 2016 after the agency appealed the verdict.
The three-judge-panel ruled that the higher value wasn't appropriate because it depended on the landowner winning approvals from two municipalities to change zoning to allow residential development on the property.
Carmine Franco was sentenced to a year in prison on racketeering charges in 2014 for a scheme to control waste hauling businesses. He was released on June 11, 2015, according to federal Bureau of Prison records.

http://www.nj.com/traffic/index.ssf/2017/12/nj_transit_quietly_writes_big_check_to_family_of_reputed_mobster.html#incart_river_mobileshort_home

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Lawyer tells judge his gangster client too incompetent and shouldnt go to jail

Lawyer tells judge his gangster client too incompetent and shouldnt go to jail

  December 09, 2017    Dapper_Don

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Please cut him a break, judge — he couldn’t even sell cheap cigarettes!
A suspected mobster, who once claimed he had “borderline mental retardation” to avoid jail for violating bail, should not get any time behind bars for selling untaxed cigarettes because he was lousy at it, his lawyer argued in court filings.
Bradford Wedra, who copped on May 16 to trafficking untaxed cigarettes, is to be sentenced Friday. He is one of 46 accused gangsters busted in August 2016 in an alleged racketeering conspiracy that spanned the East Coast.
But Wedra’s attorney, Michael Sporn, wrote in papers last week that his client had a role in the scheme just because of a capo’s pity.
Others involved in the alleged scheme “complained … they did not want to work with him. He was not reliable. He was not doing a good job. He was not good at selling,” Sporn wrote in a heavily edited filing.
The mobsters were right, the lawyer said — Wedra was a horrible hustler.
“Bradford did have trouble finding storefronts that would buy his cigarettes,” Sporn wrote, asking Judge Richard Sullivan for leniency. “He also did not receive cases alone … He returned some of the cartons. He kept some cartons for his personal use. Mr. Wedra did not excel as a trafficker in untaxed cigarettes.”
Prosecutors have recommended Wedra be sentenced to eight to 14 months.
Several months after his arrest, Wedra was almost thrown in jail because he failed six drug tests while out on bail.
Sporn convinced Sullivan to give him a second chance, claiming he had “developmental disabilities.”
“Mr. Wedra has some developmental disabilities. He has some learning deficits. This has plagued him his entire life,” Sporn claimed. “It has been documented by psychiatrists that he has borderline mental retardation. The fact of the matter is, he cannot read and is very limited in his ability to write.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/mobster-thinks-avoid-jail-incompetent-article-1.3684797

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Defense lawyer fights against potential testimony of mafia expert at trial

Defense lawyer fights against potential testimony of mafia expert at trial

  December 09, 2017    Dapper_Don

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Extortion defendant Richard Valentini is shown here in 2016 after his arrest along with four reputed Genovese crime family associates in 2016.

After accepting guilty pleas from two reputed mobsters accused in an extortion case, a federal judge on Wednesday heard pretrial arguments from another defendant, Richard Valentini.

Valentini is headed for trial next week. Four co-defendants have already pleaded guilty to shaking down a Springfield tow company operator for $20,000 and loan-sharking to gambling debtors and others.
Topics for argument included moving the trial from Springfield to Worcester, and whether the dirty laundry of Valentini -- and the tow operator, the government's star witness -- would be fair game at trial.
Also on the table was whether a state police captain would be permitted to act as an expert witness on local organized crime figures and their historic ties to the New York-based Genovese crime family.
Valentini, of East Longmeadow, was among five men arrested Aug. 4, 2016, for allegedly strong-arming the owner of C.J.'s Towing Unlimited in 2013.
Co-defendants Ralph Santaniello, 50, Gerald Daniele, 53, Giovanni "Johnny Cal" Calabrese, 54, all of Longmeadow, and Francesco "Frank" Depergola, 61 of Springfield, have pleaded guilty in the case. Santaniello and Depergola also pleaded guilty to loan-sharking charges out of federal court in New York.
Valentini's lawyer, Jared Olanoff, has argued to U.S. District Judge Timothy Hillman that his client was marginal at best to the C.J.'s Towing extortion.
Valentini showed up once for 20 minutes during a single meeting on Oct. 4, 2013, and never leveled a threat, Olanoff said. In fact, Olanoff said, Valentini may not even deny at trial that C.J.'s owner Craig J. Morel was extorted.
"(Morel) did hand over money to these men," Olanoff said.
"What is the defense?" Hillman asked.
"Do I have to tell you right now?" Olanoff answered.
"You don't," Hillman said.
Olanoff didn't.
Morel recorded 16 meetings on video and audio between October and November 2013.
Jury selection is set to begin Monday in Springfield. The following is a summary of motion arguments in court on Wednesday and how Hillman ruled.

Massachusetts State Police Capt. Thomas Murphy talks on a cellphone outside the Springfield barracks in 2016 following the arrests of Richard Valentini and his co-defendants.

Mafia expert

The government has moved to present as its first witness state police Capt. Thomas Murphy as an expert in organized crime. Prosecutors said he will bring jurors up to  speed on the Greater Springfield Mafia landscape. His proposed testimony will look back more than a decade, including the interplay between Springfield and New York gangsters living and dead.
Morel has conceded he paid a "street tax" to late mob boss Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno until Bruno was murdered in 2003. Santaniello and his co-defendants sought to "pick up where Bruno left off" when they ambushed Morel at his home in Hampden in 2013, threatening to behead and bury him in his own yard if he didn't comply.
Significant to the historical portrait, according to the prosecution, is that Genovese associate Gary D. Westerman was murdered and buried in a backyard in Agawam weeks before Bruno was shot dead outside a Springfield social club. The killings were part of a mob power play that stretched all the way to Manhattan.
None of the current defendants were implicated in those cases. Depergola was the sole eyewitness to Bruno's murder as his onetime loyalist, however.
Westerman's body was turned up by law enforcement with the help of informant Anthony Arillotta in 2010, and two trials over Westerman and Bruno's murders ensued in federal court in the subsequent years.
Olanoff argued that Valentini had nothing to do with any of those happenings and that Murphy's Mafia primer may unfairly sway a jury.
"So the curtain goes up, and Capt. Murphy gets on the stand? They may as well just put 'The Godfather' on for the jury to watch," Olanoff argued on Wednesday.
"All they're going to hear is New York, Genovese, this is what 'soldiers' do. This isn't a (racketeering case)," he said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Katharine Wagner said the jury may be lost without Murphy as an initial narrator to set the stage.
How Hillman ruled: For the government, with limitations.

What it means: Murphy will be allowed to offer jurors a tutorial on Western Massachusetts gangsters' history with New York Mafia figures. How much depth the tutorial will have remains to be seen.

Richard Valentini is escorted by a trooper outside the Massachusetts State Police barracks in Springfield following his 2016 arrest.

Previous convictions

Olanoff made a motion to exclude Valentini's 2005 conviction on illegal gaming and loan-sharking charges, arguing the facts were too old. Specifically, Valentini pleaded guilty to illegal gaming and collecting extortionate debts. Santaniello was among his co-defendants.
Marianne Shelvey, a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, said those reasons are precisely why jurors should hear about the 2005 case.
"It's the same group of guys doing the same types of things," she told Hillman.
Whether defendants' previous convictions are revealed to a jury is a hotly contested issue in many cases and is considered a pivotal point in criminal trials.
Olanoff also took shots at Morel's past, which includes insurance fraud and motor vehicle convictions, plus being fired as a Springfield police officer in 1990.
Air dirty laundry on either side didn't look hopeful Wednesday based on a brief remark from the judge.
"Neither of you is going to be able to do it," Hillman said, though reserved his formal rulings until Thursday.
How Hillman ruled: For the defense.

What it means: A big win for Valentini. Jurors will only consider the 2013 evidence.

Rex W. Cunningham Jr., left, is arraigned in Northampton District Court in 2016 in a separate loan-sharking and gambling case. Also pictured is attorney Daniel D. Kelly.

A warning

Olanoff made a motion to stop the government from presenting evidence that Morel was forewarned that members of the "Springfield Crew," including Valentini, were angling to extort him and "pick up where Bruno left off."
Prosecutors also said in court that Bruno's successor, Arillotta, attempted to extort Morel. But they didn't go into further detail.
Shelvey said Depergola and twice-convicted Springfield loan shark Rex W. Cunningham Jr. warned Morel that Valentini and others were "coming to collect" hours before Santaniello and Calabrese first showed up on his land Sept. 30, 2013.
"Who is Rex Cunningham?" Hillman interjected.
"I'll leave that to the government. ... He's a Springfield person, is the best way I can put it," Olanoff said.
Shelvey described Cunningham -- who recently pleaded guilty in an entirely separate loan-sharking case in Hampden Superior Court -- as "a rackets, bookmaking individual."
A third person who allegedly warned Morel was not identified in court.
Hillman mused aloud that the warning may go to Morel's "state of mind" when the co-defendants approached him.
Shelvey said Morel told Calabrese and Santaniello during a recorded conversation: "I knew you guys were coming."
They responded: "Who told you that?"
"I'd rather not give that up," Morel said.
Olanoff argued that the foreshadowing amounted to "hearsay on top of hearsay" and should not be allowed.
How Hillman ruled: For the government.

What it means: Morel and investigators may testify that Morel received hints that he was about to be pursued as an extortion target.

The owner of C.J.'s Towing Unlimited, the region's largest tow company and scrap yard, was targeted by mobsters for "street taxes" in 2013. Defendant Richard Valentini argues he did not profit from that.

Surveillance photos

Olanoff made a motion to bar the jury from hearing about his client's subsequent interactions with his co-defendants. Prosecutors said they plan to chronicle Valentini's ongoing relationships with still images gleaned from surveillance of him, his co-defendants and other alleged Springfield Crew members over more than a year following the Morel extortion.
"So what if he's meeting with people a year later? The extortion's over," Olanoff said.
"The surveillance photos show that the defendant did not just drop off the face of the Earth," Shelvey responded, referring to the defense's contention that Valentini was present for only one 20-minute meeting with Morel.
How Hillman ruled: For the defense.

What it means: Jurors will only hear of Valentini's interactions with the Springfield Crew during the period of the alleged extortion in 2013.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/12/through_last-minute_pretrial_r.html

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NJ orders closure of real life Bada Bing from The Sopranos

NJ orders closure of real life Bada Bing from The Sopranos

  December 09, 2017    Dapper_Don

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New Jersey has whacked The Bing.
Satin Dolls, the Lodi strip club that proudly served as the fictional "Bada Bing" in the landmark mob drama "The Sopranos," is one of two North Jersey go-go bars  ordered to cease operations, Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino announced Thursday.
The Route 17 club and A.J.'s Gentleman's Club in Secaucus have until Dec. 17 to cease live entertainment due to alleged violations of state laws, Porrino said in a statement.
Their liquor licenses must be sold or transferred to a third party no later than Jan 3, 2018, according to Porrino and the N.J. Division of Alcohol Beverage Control.
The clubs and owners -- identified as members of the Cardinalle family -- have been under state investigation for more than six years, Porrino said.
"The division has alleged that Anthony Cardinalle, who was criminally disqualified from maintaining involvement with the clubs' operations, nonetheless continued to run the businesses," Porrino said. "The division also alleges that the owners failed to account for large amounts of cash flowing in and out of the businesses."

Satin Dolls was used a shooting location for The Sopranos from 1999 to 2007. Getty Images 

Cardinalle was indicted by the federal government in January 2013 for participating in a conspiracy by the Genovese crime family related to the waste-disposal industry in New Jersey and New York, Porrino said.
He pleaded guilty in December 2013 to racketeering conspiracy and conspiracy to commit extortion and was ordered to spend 30 days in jail, and pay a fine and restitution.
The division said it has evidence Anthony Cardinalle continued to run the clubs, including after a 2015 robbery at Satin Dolls when Cardinalle spoke with Lodi police and identified himself as the owner.
On Nov. 20, N.J. division Director David P. Rible signed an order stating the Cardinalle family's involvement with the club must end.
"The Cardinalles may have wanted to keep the business in the family, but that's not how it works. Their continued flouting of alcoholic beverage control laws cannot and will not be tolerated," Porrino said.
"Illegal activity was glorified at the 'Bada Bing' in the fictional world of Tony Soprano, but it has no place in modern-day New Jersey," he said. "It's time to shut it down."
No one answered the phone at Satin Dolls or at A.J.'s on Thursday afternoon.
Porrino said a 2011 consent order mandated that Luceen Cardinalle, the wife of Anthony who was listed as the sole shareholder of both corporations, turn over the licenses to her daughter, Loren Cardinalle.
The Cardinalles were ordered to pay $1.25 million in penalties as a compromise in lieu of revocation of both licenses, and Loren Cardinalle was ordered to transfer both licenses to a bona fide third party by Dec. 31, 2015.
"The holding of licenses to sell and serve alcohol is contingent upon the owners' behaving in a reputable manner," Rible said. "The Cardinalles, quite simply, have not played by the rules despite many opportunities to correct their behavior, and it's time to get them out of the alcohol business once and for all."
Anthony Cardinalle pleaded guilty in 1995 to federal income tax evasion for not reporting cash payments from gentleman's clubs in which he held undisclosed interests, Porrino said.
During an investigation, the state discovered Anthony Cardinalle was still involved with running the clubs, Porrino said.
Porrino said as the 2015 consent order deadline approached, Loren Cardinalle asked the Division for permission to continue to hold the licenses. A series of extensions were granted, with the latest deadline set for Sept. 28, 2017.
In May 2017, the division issued a notice of charges for criminal solicitation for prostitution and lewd activity on the premises. Those charges are pending, Porrino said.
Bada Bing! Was a fictional strip club in "The Sopranos," which aired on HBO from 1999 to 2007.
A number of the series' most memorable scenes were filmed at the club, including when Christopher Moltisanti (Michael Imperioli) threatens Tony Soprano with a gun for allegedly having an affair with his fiancee and the beating death of a preganant dancer at the hands of Ralph Cifaretto (Joe Pantoliano).
Though Satin Dolls was a go-go or a bikini bar, Bada Bing! featured nude dancers, a practice outlawed in New Jersey establishments that sell alcohol.
When Tony Soprano actor James Gandolfini died at age 51 in June 2013, the staff at Satin Dolls set up a tribute to the actor near the bar that included a framed photo, shirts promoting the Bada Bing! and a hat with "The Sopranos" logo.
A large sign outside the club on Route 17 read "Thank You, Jimmy, Farewell Boss."
The sign at Satin Dolls after the death of James Gandolfini, who played Tony Soprano in the HBO series.

http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2017/12/last_dance_at_bada_bing_as_state_orders_closure_of_real-life_sopranos_haunt.html

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John Travolta says new Gotti movie coming in May 2018

John Travolta says new Gotti movie coming in May 2018

  December 09, 2017    Dapper_Don

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John Travolta wants to make it clear why Lionsgate pulled his upcoming biopic Gotti just before it was to be released.

The Tracking Board reported that Lionsgate sold the film starring Travolta as the Teflon Don back to its producers less than two weeks before it was to bow. Of course, considering the subject matter, that fueled widespread speculation as to the cause.

But Travolta told Deadline he actually decided to change the plan because Lionsgate was planning a small release through Lionsgate Premiere, which is primarily devoted to genre films. Since Travolta believes Gotti deserves better, he sought out a financier to secure a new distribution deal for wide release. He found one in Edward Walson, producer of five Broadway plays and films incuding Woody Allen's Café Society.

"Unfortunately, the reports were speculation bordering on fake news," Travolta said. "Lionsgate was planning on a minimal release and I did an investigation into people who might have the interest and financial wherewithal to better release it. Ed is a fan of mine and of the Gotti story, and really wanted to see the movie. I invited his group, they saw it and bought it. That is the simple explanation for this. It wasn't dropped. It wasn't easy to get Lionsgate to give it up. They said no, twice, and I literally begged them to reconsider and they finally and generously let it go. We signed this deal about three weeks ago, to purchase back the film from Lionsgate. Our mistake was we should have said something right then, and discussed our plan for the film. We didn't anticipate this speculation that is so grossly wrong."

Travolta and Walson said they are close to a deal with a significant distributor and they'll submit the film to Cannes.

http://www.looper.com/39397/untold-truth-godfather-trilogy/

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Feds drop plans to charge Bonanno captain with trying to kill prosecutor

Feds drop plans to charge Bonanno captain with trying to kill prosecutor

  December 09, 2017    Dapper_Don

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Brooklyn prosecutors say they're no longer trying to prove an aging gangster was planning a hit on a federal agent — but they still want the judge to throw the book at the wiseguy.
Lawyers acknowledged they're having doubts about the reliability of a jailhouse snitch, and that's made them ditch efforts to show Vincent Asaro was plotting to rub out a federal prosecutor.
They didn't elaborate Monday on what they've learned about the confidential source, but noted the tipster's information "was corroborated in significant part."
Still, prosecutors continued to insist Asaro, an 82-year capo in the Bonanno crime family, deserved to be sentenced to at least 15 years in prison.
In May, prosecutors accused Asaro of the chilling execution scheme. They pointed to his alleged comments, which were relayed by a Metropolitan Detention Center confidential source with prior convictions for lying.
Asaro denied the plot and was never charged for it.
Asaro is awaiting sentencing by Judge Allyne Ross for ordering the successful 2012 arson of a car that cut him off. He pleaded guilty in June.
In 2015, jurors acquitted Asaro for his role in the notorious $6 million 1978 Lufthansa heist as well as other crimes, including a 1969 slaying.
While federal sentencing guidelines suggest Asaro should receive a roughly five- to six-year sentence for having the car torched, prosecutors said Ross could weigh other bad behavior — including crimes he was acquitted of.
They also initially argued the judge could consider the alleged threats on the prosecutor’s life, but conceded in a letter Monday that the judge should not rely on information from the jailhouse informant.
Still, prosecutors said Asaro deserves a long sentence given his "lifelong allegiance to a dangerous criminal organization and his participation in a litany of crimes."
His lawyer couldn't be immediately reached for comment.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/prosecutors-ditch-effort-prove-vincent-asaro-murder-plot-article-1.3678969

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Two more mobsters plead guilty in extortion case

Two more mobsters plead guilty in extortion case

  December 09, 2017    Dapper_Don

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Two more alleged associates of the New York-based Genovese crime family have pleaded guilty to extortion charges in western Massachusetts.

Acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts William Weinreb's office says 61-year-old Francesco Depergola and 53-year-old Gerald Daniele entered the pleas Wednesday in federal court in Worcester.

They join 54-year-old Giovanni Calabrese and 50-year-old Ralph Santaniello, who pleaded guilty last month. A fifth man, Richard Valentini, is headed for trial on Dec. 11.

The men were accused of loansharking and extortion in Springfield involving both legitimate and illegal businesses. Prosecutors say they used violence, exploited their affiliation with La Cosa Nostra and made implied threats of murder to instill fear in their victims.

Sentencing for Depergola and Daniele is set for March 9. Santaniello and Calabrese will be sentenced Jan. 29 and 30, respectively.

http://www.njherald.com/article/20171207/AP/312079743#

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Reboot of Mob Wives is in the works

Reboot of Mob Wives is in the works

  December 09, 2017    Dapper_Don

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“Mob Wives” is returning to the small screen.
“I get incessant emails and DMs on social media and requests for more,” the show’s creator Jennifer Graziano told Page Six on Friday. “A lot of the fans love the original cast members and love ‘Mob Wives’ as a whole, and I think enough time has passed [since the death of show fixture Angela ‘Big Ang’ Raiola] and the demand is there [for a reboot].”
“It’s still gonna be focused on the East Coast,” the show’s star Renee Graziano‘s sister confirmed. “It’ll be in New York and the surrounding areas, not necessarily Staten Island. I’m always open to expanding to any city that makes sense with a good cast.”
Jennifer could not confirm if the show would return to its home on VH1 or who from the old cast would be returning.
The show premiered in 2011 and ended in 2016 after Big Ang’s death. Castmates Brittany Fogarty and Karen Gravano were banned from her funeral while Drita D’Avanzo and Carla Facciolo paid their respects.
Ramona Rizzo, Alicia DiMichele, Natalie Guercio and Marissa Jade also made appearances on the show.
A rep for VH1 did not immediately return our request for comment.

https://pagesix.com/2017/12/08/mob-wives-reboot-in-works/

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New head of FBI in Chicago says they will be refocusing on the Chicago Outfit

New head of FBI in Chicago says they will be refocusing on the Chicago Outfit

  December 03, 2017    Dapper_Don

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The FBI declared war on Chicago mobsters 58 years ago this week, when then-director J. Edgar Hoover started the nation's "Top Hoodlum Program."

That secret federal investigation marshaled dozens of agents and cunning surveillance as Chicago mob bosses and rackets were targeted. Top Hoodlum forged the way for future mob investigations here, culminating in the 2005 Family Secrets mob murder case that dismantled some of the Outfit's upper echelon.

After a decade-long lull in major mob cases here, the newly installed head of the FBI in Chicago is pledging to refocus on organize crime.

"The Chicago Outfit? We haven't forgotten about you," said Chicago Special-Agent-in-Charge Jeffrey Sallet in an interview with the I-Team.

Sallet began this month as the leader of the FBI's Chicago field office, after stints in New Orleans, New York and Boston-where he was considered an expert in mob investigations.

While Sallet concedes the FBI/circa 2017 is being pulled in many directions-from terrorism and corruption to street gangs-he says the mob is still a criminal force in Chicago that cannot be overlooked.

"A group of people who wake up every single day with the idea of stealing and taking money from other people through intimidation and power is a group that we need to look at," said Sallet. "The Chicago Outfit is 100 years old, so when you look at an organization that is 100 years old and say we're not going to work those guys because they're done, would be a huge mistake."

In November 1959, the FBI began an aggressive effort against the Chicago Outfit, planting listening devices in a Michigan Avenue tailor shop and in a Forest Park tavern, both frequented by mob bosses.

During the Top Hoodlum investigation, law enforcement technology was in its infancy. A microphone hidden in the Celano tailor shop on Chicago's Gold Coast was hardly miniature-sized. State-of-the art listening devices then were as big as 16-inch softballs. Federal agents broke into the tailor shop and put the mic behind a baseboard according to FBI records obtained by the I-Team-the device believed to have been masked by a radiator. The federal paperwork is part of the recently-released JFK assassination files-some of which tracks suspected Chicago mob involvement in the presidential murder plots.

The implanted microphone was nicknamed "Little Al" by law enforcement agents-in memory of Al Capone. Six decades ago such a hidden device required no court order-only the approval of FBI director Hoover. A specially-assigned squad of nine FBI agents monitored the bugs and used the information they overheard to learn the hierarchy of the Outfit and pick investigative targets. Conversations gleaned from the tailor shop eventually led authorities to Anthony "Joe Batters" Accardo and Sam "Mooney" Giancana along with several dozen other top hoodlums.

Sallet cut his teeth on mob cases in the Northeast. His investigation of the Bonanno crime family in New York City led to a conviction of its mafioso and more than 100 other La Cosa Nostra figures. He also worked on the capture of Boston's notorious crime boss and long-time fugitive James "Whitey" Bulger in 2011. Sallet was assigned to FBI headquarters in Washington when top brass approved the Chicago Family Secrets investigation, that eventually took down 14 top gangsters and solved 18 mob hits.

"Mob guys or Outfit guys whatever you want to call them are resilient," said Sallet. "Where there is an opportunity to make money, they will engage. The reason they don't kill people the same way they did 25 years ago is because it's bad for business."

http://abc7chicago.com/reenergizing-chicagos-fight-against-the-outfit/2714190/

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Surprise arrests arent foreseen as new rat in Philly mob surfaces during the holiday season

Surprise arrests arent foreseen as new rat in Philly mob surfaces during the holiday season

  December 02, 2017    Dapper_Don

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Twin brothers busted in murder of Gambino associate found in waters off Brooklyn

Twin brothers busted in murder of Gambino associate found in waters off Brooklyn

  December 02, 2017    Dapper_Don

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These Brooklyn twins were deadly double trouble.

Bloodthirsty brothers Louie and Vincent Iacono were busted in the mob-style rubout of a pal whose body was found in the waters off Brooklyn — with a cinder block tied to his ankles, police said Thursday.

The 36-year-old Iacono brothers were charged in the murder of mob scion Carmine Carini Jr. after their extradition from Indiana to New York, police said.

The duo were nabbed Sept. 6 after a 12-mile, high-speed chase ended with the Iaconos in handcuffs

The dead man was identified as Carmine Carini Jr., 35, the son of a Gambino crime family associate by the same name. Cops said he was beaten to death with a hammer, and the Iaconos were arrested with the possible murder weapon in their car.

Carini was found floating in the Mill Basin Inlet off E. 58th St. and Avenue U on Sept. 2, just a few blocks from the home he shared with the alleged killers.

His body was wrapped in a tarp bound with duct tape, cops said, and he was weighed down with an orange cord tied from his ankles to the block.

The body was also tied to a bucket filled with construction materials in an effort to keep the remains submerged.

Law enforcement sources said Louie Iacono repeatedly struck Carini in the head with a hammer as he tried to rob his roomie inside their E. 64th St. apartment around Aug. 30.

He then recruited his brother to help dispose of the corpse, with the siblings subsequently heading west to dodge investigators.

Carmine Carini, 35, was found dead wrapped in a tarp and chained to a cinder block in the waters of Mill Basin near Avenue U and East 58th Street just blocks from his house in Marine Park.

Carini’s body surfaced a few days later, with investigators determining the victim suffered massive head trauma, a broken skull and a broken jaw.

Cops quickly identified the Iacono brothers as suspects when their names surfaced in interviews with the victim’s family and neighborhood friends, police said.

The brothers were zipping along Interstate 70 in Henry County, Ind., when a cop stopped their Chevrolet Avalanche for tailgating and a license plate violation.

When the cop asked for identification, driver Louie Iacono sped off, according to county officials and the Courier Times newspaper.

Cops pursued the brothers off the highway into a nearby Walmart parking lot where Louie drove onto a patch of grass in a bid to escape.

He ultimately pulled up to the store entrance, jumping from the car and running inside the superstore.

He was grabbed by police near the cash registers, cops said. Vincent remained in the car, where cops arrested him and found a stash of prescription pills and heroin, officials said.

Cops also found three hammers in the vehicle — including one covered in blood, prosecutors said.

Investigators now believe the duo were driving cross country when they were busted.

The body was found on September 2nd in Brooklyn.

Henry County police charged Louie Iacono with criminal recklessness, resisting law enforcement and drug possession. His brother was also hit with resisting law enforcement and drug possession.

Both pleaded guilty to the charges on Nov. 17 and were sentenced to time served. By then, they were linked to the Brooklyn murder and held for extradition.

After the brothers waived an extradition hearing, NYPD investigators traveled Monday to the Midwest and delivered the duo back to New York, a department spokesman said.

Police charged Louie Iacono with murder for allegedly killing Carini and tampering with evidence. He was ordered held without bail Thursday at his arraignment.

His brother, charged with hindering prosecution and tampering with evidence, was held on $250,000 bail.

“(Vincent Iacano) is charged for his role in the wrapping of the body,” Assistant District Attorney Timothy Gough said Thursday. “They weighed it down with cinder-blocks and dumped it in Jamaica Bay, then fled.”

Louie Iacono has five prior arrests, according to court records, including for criminal mischief and driving without a license.

His brother Vincent has been arrested 23 times, mostly for drug possession and trespass, cops said.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/twin-brothers-busted-mob-style-murder-gambino-associate-article-1.3667389

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Gambino associate sentenced to two years in prison

Gambino associate sentenced to two years in prison

  November 28, 2017    Dapper_Don

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A reputed Gambino crime family associate was sentenced ​Monday ​to ​two years behind bars for his role in a $15 million, bi-coastal marijuana trafficking ring.
“I regret my actions,” Stephen Gallo, 66, mumbled before Judge Neil Ross scolded the alleged mobster and told him it was time to give up a life of crime.
“You are going to drive yourself into a situation where you will truly never be able to recover,” the judge told the aging mobster, who also battles an opioid addiction. “Mr. Gallo, put an end to it now.”
“I will your honor, I will,” he responded softly before he was whisked into a holding cell by court officers.
Defense attorney Robert Gallo–no relation–told the court before his client was sentenced that substance abuse had contributed to the purported associate’s role in the drug scheme.
The 66-year-old was part of a crew accused of shipping some 350 pounds of pot from California to New York from Feb. 2014 to Nov. 2014, using the U.S. Postal service or rented trucks.
Gallo has admitted to being the primary weed distributor and seller in New York, saying he used another defendant’s plumbing business to store and process the marijuana.

https://nypost.com/2017/11/27/purported-mobster-sentenced-for-role-in-drug-trafficking-ring/

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Feds seek 15 year sentence for aging Bonanno mobster

Feds seek 15 year sentence for aging Bonanno mobster

  November 27, 2017    Dapper_Don

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An aging “Goodfellas” gangster, acquitted for his alleged role in the infamous $6 million 1978 Lufthansa heist, could still spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Brooklyn federal prosecutors want a judge to sentence Vincent Asaro, 82, to 15 years in jail for ordering a hit on the car that cut him off.
Federal guidelines say the auto arson charge merits five or six years in prison.
Two years ago, the Bonanno capo scored a stunning acquittal on racketeering charges, and walked out of Brooklyn Federal Court a free man.
Part of the case against Asaro involved his alleged role in the Lufthansa caper, immortalized in the movie “Goodfellas.”
But the case could still haunt him.
The feds insist Judge Allyne Ross can weigh the acquitted conduct in her sentence. And they say she can also consider his more recent behavior — such as his alleged talk of killing a prosecutor, and jailhouse boasts about the decades-old heist like “We did it and got away with it.”
Asaro “has lived a literal life of crime and, for most of his life, evaded punishment,” prosecutors said in court papers filed last week.
Prosecutors said that although Asaro has “participated in racketeering, murder, robbery, extortion, loansharking, gambling and other illegal conduct, he has served less than eight years in jail.”
In June, Asaro pleaded guilty to directing the 2012 Queens arson.
The defense says Asaro should get time served.
Asaro’s lawyer, Elizabeth Macedonio, declined to comment.
Whatever prison sentence Asaro gets will have about two years immediately deducted to account for his jail time while awaiting trial on the Lufthansa case.
Prosecution papers revealed new details about the traffic fiasco.
The latest case started with the unidentified motorist’s mistake of pulling in front of Asaro, then a soldier in the Bonanno crime family, on April 1, 2012. Asaro chased the driver through Howard Beach, Queens. The frantic motorist drove to where he knew there were red light cameras and circled the block, trying to trigger the cameras and alert police to his location.
The driver said another car showed up in an apparent attempt to box him in. But by the time police arrived, he said the two cars giving chase were gone. The next day, Asaro allegedly contacted a Gambino associate with access to “local law enforcement databases.” The database linked the plate to an address.
Asaro enlisted a Bonanno associate to do the automotive hit. The associate brought in John J. Gotti and another man to help out.
Gotti, the grandson of the late Gambino boss, pleaded guilty to being the getaway driver. He’s awaiting sentence.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/prosecutors-seek-15-years-aging-gangster-road-rage-hit-article-1.3659804

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Grandmother writes letter to judge asking for leniency for John Gotti's grandson

Grandmother writes letter to judge asking for leniency for John Gotti's grandson

  November 26, 2017    Dapper_Don

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John J. Gotti may be a criminal to the feds — but to his 75-year-old grandmother he is a “beautiful young man, sensitive loving and kind.’’
In a letter to the Allyne Ross, the Brooklyn federal judge who will sentence him on arson charges, Victoria Gotti Sr. writes “he is my baby.
“I adore him and pray that he will have the opportunity to be a productive member of society again.’’
She expressed the “fervent hope that I live long enough to see him come home again before I die.’’
Hers’ were among some two dozen letters from family and friends pleading for mercy when Ross sentences the 24-year-old.
One of his grandfathers, John Radice, admitted, “through no fault of his own my grandson had two grandfathers who were probably not the best role models. . . . When I came home from prison in 2001, I tried to lead all my grandkids on a straight path.’’
Radice put a large part of the blame on “cunning and powerful’’ drugs.
Gotti’s dad, Peter, wrote that at age 17, “Johnny started messing around with opioids and steroids. . . I allowed the struggles of my own life to prevent me from saving his. . . I was blessed enough to rise away from the streets, and I am 100 percent certain that given the chance to, my son John will.’’
John was found guilty of following orders to set ablaze a car belonging to a man involved in a road rage incident with another mobster.
The sentencing date has not been set.

https://nypost.com/2017/11/25/john-j-gottis-grandmother-still-loves-him/

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New John Gotti movie starring John Travolta set for debut in 2018

New John Gotti movie starring John Travolta set for debut in 2018

  November 26, 2017    Dapper_Don

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“Gotti” — the John Travolta movie that had four titles, four directors, and a staggering 37 producers — has hit another snag, or two.
The long-delayed drama about the Dapper Don, John Gotti, most recently slated for a December release, has now been pushed to next year.
Meanwhile, Shirley Jones, the widow of Marty Ingels, is demanding payment of the $35,000 her husband was promised for finally getting the troubled movie on track.
Ingels’ longtime publicist Ed Lozzi told me it was Ingels who set up the 2011 meeting between Travolta and John Gotti Jr., and made sure the paparazzi were outside Amici in Beverly Hills as the duo exited.
“Marty was a guy who doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer,” Lozzi said. “He got Travolta to fly in from Florida. He joked, ‘You may never see me again. I have a meeting with the Gottis.’”
Travolta stayed on as Gotti, but by the time the much-delayed filming began in 2016, purported cast members Al Pacino, Joe Pesci and Lindsay Lohan had dropped out.
Kevin Connolly, of “Entourage” fame, ended up as the director, following the departures of Nick Cassavetes, Joe Johnston and Barry Levinson.
Ingels, who died of a stroke two years ago, was supposed to be paid $35,000 before filming began. Lozzi, on behalf of Ingels’ estate and his widow, recently sent lead producer Marc Fiore an invoice demanding immediate payment.
“I have a file an inch thick on all the work that Marty did,” Lozzi said.
Fiore wasn’t inclined to talk and angrily told me, “Don’t ever call me again.”

https://pagesix.com/2017/11/26/john-travoltas-gotti-movie-gets-bumped-to-2018/?_ga=2.879345.1104421316.1511730657-1303963444.1504743710

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The unsolved case of $500 million in stolen art linked to the Philadelphia crime family

The unsolved case of $500 million in stolen art linked to the Philadelphia crime family

  November 19, 2017    Dapper_Don

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Bonanno associate pleads guilty in $26 million loansharking case

Bonanno associate pleads guilty in $26 million loansharking case

  November 18, 2017    Dapper_Don

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A Queens deli owner tangled in a mob loansharking case pleaded guilty Friday.
Robert Pisani, 44, was part of a decades-long wiseguy outfit that raked in $26 million, federal prosecutors said.
The reputed Bonanno crime family associate copped to collection of unlawful gambling debts in Brooklyn federal court.
The plea closes one case for Pisani, but he's got another to go.

 

Robert Pisani (c.) being taken into custody on a new assault case outside the Brooklyn federal courthouse on May 4, 2017.

Police arrested him in May for allegedly groping a worker at his Broad Channel deli and putting her hand down his pants.
Pisani plans to fight that case.
His lawyer, Seth Ginsberg, told the Daily News his client was “satisfied with the equitable result” on the federal case and Pisani “looks forward to putting this behind him.”
As for the forcible touching charge, Ginsberg said Pisani's an innocent man, adding, “we're going to trial.”
Pisani and 11 other men were charged in the loansharking case. He and three other men have pleaded out, so far.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/queens-deli-owner-pleads-guilty-mob-loansharking-case-article-1.3641173

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Italian Mafia's Boss of Bosses dies at 87

Italian Mafia's Boss of Bosses dies at 87

  November 18, 2017    Dapper_Don

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Salvatore Riina, the Mafia’s murderous “boss of bosses,” who earned multiple life sentences and the nickname the Beast for his cruelty and for unleashing a war against law enforcement that claimed the lives of Italian prosecutors and police officers, died early Friday in a hospital in the northern Italian city of Parma. He was 87.

The Ministry of Justice announced his death. He had recently undergone surgery and been placed in a medically induced coma.

As the head of Sicily’s infamous Cosa Nostra crime syndicate since the 1970s, Mr. Riina, known as Totò, had a long criminal reach that spilled blood across Italy and extended a black hand of extortion and trafficking across the globe.

He retaliated against the Italian government’s campaign to crush the Mafia by striking back hard, ordering in 1992 the bombing assassinations of two leading anti-Mafia magistrates, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino. He also orchestrated the kidnapping, strangling and dissolving in acid of the young son of a mob informer.

 

A car bombing ordered by Mr. Riina killed Paolo Borsellino, Sicily’s top anti-Mafia investigator, and his bodyguards in 1992.

 

In 1993, the Italian authorities captured Mr. Riina in Sicily’s capital, Palermo, and judges ultimately gave him 26 life sentences. He spent a good deal of the next quarter-century in isolation, with little time outside his cell in Milan.

The Italian justice minister, Andrea Orlando, allowed family members to visit Mr. Riina in the hospital on Thursday, his birthday. He had four children, one of whom, Salvo, wrote on Facebook, “You’re not Totò Riina to me, you’re just my dad.” Another of Mr. Riina’s sons is in prison for committing four murders.

Mr. Riina, who was rife with nicknames — he was also called U Curtu, or Shorty, because of his 5-foot-2 height — came from Corleone, a town in the Sicilian hinterland made famous as the birthplace of the fictional character Vito Corleone in the “Godfather” movies.

But Mr. Riina’s butchery was all too real. After serving time in his youth for killing a man in an argument, he became a soldier under the Mafia boss Luciano Leggio. He rose through the ranks, eliminating competitors and at times running his gang in hiding, though apparently always from Sicily. By the early 1980s, Mr. Riina had solidified his dominance over the island and its global criminal activities.

 

Salvatore Riina was placed behind bars in the courtroom during a trial in Rome in April 1993.

 

His organization’s tentacles reached deep into all facets of Italian life, from small businesses forced to pay for protection, to large sectors of commerce, where they skimmed millions of dollars. In Sicily, the mob had a reputation for delivering votes in exchange for favors. And nationally, Italy’s leading politicians were often accused of entanglements with the sticky, and often invisible, Mafia web.

Mr. Riina’s onetime driver, who became a state informant, alleged that Giulio Andreotti, a former prime minister who dominated postwar Italian politics, once exchanged an embrace and kiss with Mr. Riina. Mr. Andreotti denied it.

The codes of omertà, or silence, that governed the Mafia and protected its bosses began to erode in the 1980s as rival families and informants turned state’s evidence. Enormous trials in the early 1990s resulted in the arrest and jailing of more than 300 gangsters.

Tommaso Buscetta, a crucial Mafia turncoat living in the United States under witness protection after losing out to Mr. Riina in Sicily, began to testify in such trials in 1984. He eventually mapped out a criminal organization presided over by Mr. Riina. In response, Mr. Riina is said to have ordered the murder of Mr. Buscetta’s two sons, his brother and 33 of his other relatives. 

A mock public funeral poster announces the death of Mr. Riina in Ercolano, near Naples, on Friday. It lists the names of Mafia victims, including the magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.

 

But it was the bombing murders in Sicily of the two anti-Mafia magistrates, Mr. Borsellino (and five of his bodyguards) and Mr. Falcone (along with his wife and two bodyguards) that shook Italians the most and doomed Mr. Riina. Subsequent bombings in Rome, Milan and Florence in 1993 led to the crackdown on the Mafia and also contributed to the collapse of an old political guard corroded by corruption.

Upon Mr. Riina’s arrest in 1993, the mayor of Corleone at the time proclaimed it “a moment of liberation for us.” Children were let out of school to celebrate.

Bernardo Provenzano, who died last year, succeeded Mr. Riina in 1993 as the operational “boss of all bosses.” But even from prison, Mr. Riina found a way to continue his brutality, ordering the kidnapping and strangling of the 14-year-old son of an informant. The boy’s body was then dissolved in acid.

With Mr. Riina in prison, other mobs around Italy grew in brutality and influence, including the Camorra in Naples and the ‘Ndràngheta from Calabria, which operates a worldwide drug trade.

But the specter of Mr. Riina, who rarely spoke in public, hung over the country. In one of his 1993 trials, he refused to address the allegations of one of his accusers.

“He does not have my moral stature,” Mr. Riina said.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/17/obituaries/salvatore-toto-riina-dies.html

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