Jailed cousin of Big Ang from Mob Wives saves suicidal inmate

Jailed cousin of Big Ang from Mob Wives saves suicidal inmate

  February 02, 2015    Dapper_Don

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He may be a “killer,” but he’s also a lifesaver.

Luigi Grasso, cousin of “Mob Wives” star Angela "Big Ang" Raiola, was lauded by a Manhattan judge for helping to save a suicidal inmate in a courthouse holding cell before Grasso’s appearance on a weapons rap, the Daily News has learned.

The distressed inmate, who was not identified by officials, had fashioned a noose from an oversized T-shirt and was hanging from the top bar in the pens of the Manhattan Criminal Court at 111 Centre St. on Oct. 7 when sources said the brawny jailbird jumped up to save him.

Big Ang talked about Grasso in a recent episode of "Mob Wives."

“I was sitting down, reading my legal work in the bullpen,” Grasso, who is 5-feet-10 and 280 pounds, told The News from Rikers Island. “I’d seen this guy dangling from the ceiling and he was there for a while. I grabbed him and I untied him.”

Grasso said he was with “two other guys,” waiting to be delivered to the courtroom for a hearing on his 2012 gun charge, when Grasso noticed the dangling man.

For his quick-thinking efforts, Grasso, 47, was praised by Justice Bruce Allen.

“Before appearances are made, we have to acknowledge Mr. Grasso. Apparently he was instrumental in helping downstairs with another inmate who was in some difficulty,” Allen said. “Thank you, Mr. Grasso.”

The good Samaritan act didn’t help his case, however. Seconds later, Allen issued a decision denying his defense team’s bid to suppress statements and evidence, paving the way for a trial.

Grasso’s lawyer Alex Grosshtern said his client rushing to the aid of an ailing fellow inmate was a display of “his true character.”

“On a personal level, that’s the kind of guy he is, because he wouldn’t just sit back and let this happen,” Grosshtern said.

Hector Pagan Jr. got 11 years behind bars for a fatal 2010 stickup.

Grasso — who is also known as Ronnie Petrino — was discussed in a recently aired “Mob Wives” episode by buxom Staten Island bar owner kin Big Ang.

Raiola griped to guest star Victoria Gotti, daughter of the notorious Mafia boss, about Grasso’s legal troubles.

Grasso, a heavily tattooed reputed Gambino associate, was slapped with a 38-year federal prison sentence in August for participating in a robbery gone bad with turncoat Hector Pagan Jr., the ex-husband of Raiola’s co-star Renee Graziano.

Pagan pulled the trigger, killing an innocent bystander, and then flipped on Grasso and their accomplice Richard Riccardi, sparing himself from serious prison time.

“My cousin did do something wrong — trying to do a robbery — but he might be facing more time than Junior, the rat that killed the guy,” Raiola grumbled on the VH1 series.

Pagan later got just 11 years behind bars for the fatal 2010 stickup.

Brooklyn Federal Court Judge John Gleeson had little sympathy for Grasso and Riccardi, saying they were largely to blame for the murder of Brooklyn check casher James Donovan because his death was “a natural consequence of the life you chose for yourself.”

Grasso also has a pending gun case in Staten Island in addition to the case in Manhattan.

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/cousin-mob-wives-big-ang-saves-suicidal-inmate-article-1.2099957

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Former Mob Wives star and Bonanno family rat sentenced to 11 years in prison

Former Mob Wives star and Bonanno family rat sentenced to 11 years in prison

  September 25, 2014    Dapper_Don

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The ex-husband of a "Mob Wives" reality star got a reduced sentence Wednesday in exchange for ratting out a pair of his Bonnano buddies who were with him when he fatally shot a man in the back during a robbery.
Even though Hector Pagan - who was known as "Junior" on the hit reality TV show - was the one who fatally shot check casher James Donovan in the back during a July 2010 robbery, U.S. District Judge John Gleeson today gave him just 11 years in the slammer.
Pagan's testimony against two of his mob associates, Richard Riccardi and Luigi Grasso, put them away for 30-plus-year sentences in August.
Before sentencing, Pagan expressed his remorse to the victim's sobbing family who packed one side of a heavily guarded courthouse. "Out of respect, I wanted you to know that," Pagan said.
Proceedings kicked off after the family played a slideshow, set to the tune of "My Way," filled with pictures of Donovan.
Janine Donovan, the victim's daughter, stood, faced Judge Gleeson and pleaded that he not give Pagan the freedom to "take and ruin the lives of others."
"I can still hear his voice coaching me," she said of her father through sobs. "I am no longer the same. I will never again know happiness without pain."
Donovan said previous deals that Pagan had swung with the federal government in exchange for leniency "is not justice."
"How many deals can one man get?" she asked. "It should stop here."
Her words hit the mark.
"What you said today would rip out any judge's heart," Gleeson said. "I would say the exact same things."
Gleeson added that if it were his daughter, he'd "melt the key to the jailhouse."
Pagan "hasn't changed his spots," Gleeson conceded, and law enforcement is "a pretty callous system," but he said the government needs cooperation of that nature.
Gleeson said he had no choice but to honor Pagan's agreement with the government to put away mobsters.
Pagan made the deal out of "purely selfish interests, of getting himself out of jail," Gleeson said, adding that Janine Donovan's words will "ring in my ears for years."
Nevertheless the judge said he "felt the need to award cooperation."
"He's going to walk out of jail, not be carried out," Gleeson continued.
Pagan sat motionless in a white button-down shirt and yellow-and-gray striped tie as the sob-filled scene played out.
Donovan's daughter rushed out of the heavily guarded courtroom crying, along with most of the crowd, when Gleeson issued the 11-year sentence and Pagan was escorted out of the room, without handcuffs.

http://www.courthousenews.com/2014/09/24/71763.htm

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Family urges judge to throw the book at Mob Wives star turned informant Hector Pagan

Family urges judge to throw the book at Mob Wives star turned informant Hector Pagan

  September 21, 2014    Dapper_Don

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Family members of a Brooklyn man slain during a $200,000 stickup are urging a judge to show no mercy for the “Mob Wives” ex-husband who fired the fatal bullet — even though he helped convict two accomplices in the murder.

The wife, mother and daughter of victim James Donovan have written letters to the judge that understandably contain no gratitude for Hector Pagan’s cooperation.

“Hector Pagan murdered Jamie,” widow Linda Donovan wrote. “He shot him as he was running away and left him on the street to bleed to death. Please draw the line in the sand that says no more second chances.

Pagan’s testimony helped convict mob associates Richard Riccardi and Luigi Grasso for the July 2010 murder during a ripoff of Donovan’s check-cashing business in Gravesend. They were sentenced to over 30 years in prison.

Pagan, the former spouse of “Mob Wives” star Renee Graziano, also secretly recorded tapes against his gangster father-in-law and a gaggle of other Bonannos in a desperate bid to win favor with the feds.

Prosecutors acknowledged that Pagan initially denied participating in Donovan’s murder, and while wearing a hidden wire, he secretly tried to shush anyone who raised the subject. Still, prosecutors say he should get less than life in prison as a reward for his undercover work.

“Please show no mercy for this cold-hearted man that has no regard for human life,” Patricia Donovan, the dead man’s mother, wrote Brooklyn Federal Judge John Gleeson.

http://m.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/murder-victim-family-mercy-mob-wives-article-1.1947842

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Pair of gangsters sentenced to nearly 40 years in prison for murder

Pair of gangsters sentenced to nearly 40 years in prison for murder

  August 03, 2014    Dapper_Don

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A pair of murderous mob hoods were sentenced to 38 and 36 years in prison for their roles in the slaying of a Brooklyn father in front of a packed courtroom in Brooklyn federal court Friday.
Luigi Grasso, 46, and Richard Riccardi, 41, took part in the 2010 murder of James Donovan in Gravesend during a botched robbery attempt in front of a check cashing store.
The pair were sunk at trial by testimony from triggerman Hector Pagan, the ex-husband of “Mob Wives” star Renee Graziano.
Prior to the sentencing, Donovan’s daughter presented a photo montage to the court in tears and spoke of the “empty place in her heart” that exists because of her father’s death.
An irate family member in the gallery shouted “rot in jail!” as they left court after the proceeding and were quickly removed from court.

http://nypost.com/2014/08/01/mob-thugs-sentenced-for-slaying-of-brooklyn-father/

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Mob associate's unceasing pain is all a show

Mob associate's unceasing pain is all a show

  August 01, 2014    Dapper_Don

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The tale of the tape shows a fatso Mafia wannabe isn’t as sickly as he claims.

Heavyweight goon Richard Riccardi hobbles around with a cane due to a tumor on his hip which causes him “unceasing” pain, according to court papers — but a funny thing happened on the way to a jailhouse fight recently.

A video recording of the incident, which was captured by surveillance cameras at the Metropolitan Detention Center, shows Riccardi moving without a cane and fighting aggressively with another man, Assistant Brooklyn U.S. Attorneys Nicole Argentieri and Darren LaVerne stated in a sentencing memorandum.

The prosecutors argued that Riccardi’s alleged health issues are not so severe that they can’t be addressed by prison doctors, therefore he is not entitled to a lesser sentence for that reason.

His “unceasing” pain did not prevent him from violating prison rules by fighting with another inmate, they pointed out.

The prosecutors also sent a copy of the video depicting the fight and his miraculous movements to Judge John Gleeson, who will sentence Riccardi, 41, and co-defendant Luigi Grasso on Friday in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Luigi Grasso (center) will be sentenced along with co-defendant Richard Riccardi. The two got into an altercation in jail while they await sentencing.

Riccardi was put in solitary confinement as punishment for the scrap, but as soon as he returned to general population, he got into another altercation, this time with Grasso.

It’s unclear what their beef was about, but both men are stewing over taking the fall for the 2010 fatal shooting of check casher James Donovan in Brooklyn.

The actual shooter — Bonanno associate Hector Pagan, ex-husband of “Mob Wives” star Renee Graziano — became a government cooperator and testified against them, earning himself a much-reduced sentence.

“There can be no doubt that Mr. Riccardi’s biggest mistake was agreeing to do this crime with a truly unrepentant, cold-blooded killer (Pagan),” defense lawyer Susan Kellman argued in her sentencing memo.

Kellman said her client’s medical maladies are definitely real. “They would never prescribe painkillers for him if they didn’t confirm the seriousness of the condition in his leg, his thigh and his hip,” she said.

Aware that the FBI was watching him, mobster Vincent (Chin) Gigante became known for wandering around Greenwich Village in a bathrobe and slippers, mumbling to himself. The Genovese crime family boss ultimately admitted that this was an elaborate act to avoid prosecution.

The trio had targeted Donovan because they knew he carried a large wad of cash.

Riccardi’s wife Patricia, who is in the process of divorcing him, wrote a letter to the judge that describes him as an animal lover.

“Richard could never just drive by a homeless dog without trying to rescue it and either find their owners or a good home,” she wrote.

The convicted killers will have to face another video in the courtroom on judgement day.

Donovan’s family has prepared a moving tribute to his memory for Gleeson to watch before lowering the boom. They face up to 30 years to life.

Riccardi’s battling could make him a contender for the Vincent Gigante award, in honor of the late Genovese crime boss who nearly perfected his crazy act before admitting it was all fake.

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Two mobsters found guilty of murder after testimony from Hector Pagan Jr of Mob Wives fame

Two mobsters found guilty of murder after testimony from Hector Pagan Jr of Mob Wives fame

  March 21, 2014    Dapper_Don

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The daughter (right) of James Donovan and an unidentified male companion leave Brooklyn Federal Court on Thursday after the conviction of Richard Riccardi and Luigi Grasso in Donovan's 2010 murder.

A pair of fatso Mafia wannabes were convicted Thursday of murder largely on the turncoat testimony of “Mob Wives” star Renee Graziano’s ex-husband.

Richard Riccardi and Luigi Grasso were fingered in the fatal robbery of a Brooklyn check casher by mob rat Hector Pagan, who shot and killed the victim in Gravesend on July 2, 2010.

“Hector Pagan was not lying to make these defendants look more guilty,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Argentieri told the jury in her closing statement. “He told you he was the shooter and there is absolutely no other evidence in this case that Hector Pagan was the shooter, none.”

There was no mention of the reality TV show in which Pagan actually appeared around the same time he was wearing a hidden wire for the feds to nail top Bonanno gangsters, including his father-in-law Anthony "TG" Graziano.

The trio had targeted victim James Donovan, a reputed Luchese associate himself, for a stick-up because Riccardi knew he carried a large amount of cash.

The ex-husband of 'Mob Wives' TV personality Renee Graziano ratted out the pair of gangsters.

Donovan was ambushed outside an automotive repair show and tried to flee after Grasso grabbed him by the hand.

“Who the f--- are you?” were Donovan's last words, according to a witness, before Pagan shot him in the leg. Donovan’s femoral artery was shredded and he bled to death.

“The jury saw through their attempts to shift responsibility for their actions and held them accountable for Mr. Donovan's senseless death,” said Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch.

In addition to Pagan’s cooperation, NYPD Det. Peter McMahon broke the case by recovering cigarette butts from a parking lot where Riccardi was surveilling the victim. Riccardi’s DNA was found on the butts.

Richard Riccardi is one of the Mafia wannabes convicted on Thursday in the murder of James Donovan.

Earlier this week, Grasso did some squealing of his own — to the judge — complaining that the feds weren't feeding him enough lunchtime grub.

Grasso was furious that Federal Judge John Gleeson had cut off his catered lunches from a downtown Brooklyn delicatessen and that he was back on bologna sandwich rations.

“We're starving!” Grasso wailed, although co-defendant Richard Riccardi wisely kept his mouth shut.

Tough luck, Gleeson shot back, reminding Grasso that he had abused the privilege when family members sneaked extra bottles of iced tea in with the order.

The government provides each defendant a sandwich, an apple and a container of milk for lunch while they are in court, but Grasso and Riccardi appear to tip the scales at 300 pounds apiece and complained they were famished before the end of the trial day.

The defendants face life in prison. Pagan testified that he recently told family members that he'll be home soon.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/testimony-mob-wives-star-leads-convictions-article-1.1728796#ixzz2wbUmrJmW

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Courtroom drama as Mob Wives snitch Hector Pagan Jr testifies

Courtroom drama as Mob Wives snitch Hector Pagan Jr testifies

  March 12, 2014    Dapper_Don

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While the murder trial in Brooklyn Federal court possessed a storyline with all the dramatic trappings of a must-watch reality TV program, the most captivating part was that it wouldn't be publicized.

The mob trial in Brooklyn Federal court channel-hopped from ABC's New York Med to VH1's Mob Wives as two figures from two different reality shows took the stand in as many days.
On Monday, there was Dr. Tara Margarella a trauma resident turned plastic surgeon who was once featured on the show New York Med. She testified about her desperate efforts to save the victim in this murder and robbery conspiracy case.
On Tuesday, it was Hector Pagan, ex-husband of Mob Wives star Renee Graziano. He appeared as the government’s star witness against two alleged accomplices in a killing where he himself had been the triggerman.
The fury and shame that the other people he had ratted out in unrelated cases, included his father-in-law—reputed Mafia capo Anthony Graziano—had actually been a major story line on Mob Wives.
As a result, this is the first trial in history where the government sought to keep the jurors anonymous not only to ensure their physical safety, but also to protect the jury from (God forbid) ending up on a reality TV show.
“Members of the press or the producers of Mob Wives may attempt to contact jurors, if their identities are known, to generate additional stories surrounding the trial and [Pagan’s] testimony,” prosecutors said in court papers.
Prosecutors further worried, “The expected media attention may put significant pressure on jurors to reach a verdict based on considerations other than the evidence presented at trial, for example to either avoid the notoriety associated with the show or to seek it out.”
The situation is all the more unique because the judge, John Gleeson, is a former prosecutor who back in 1987 joined fellow Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane Gicalone in being the first to prosecute flamboyant mob boss John Gotti. The two put on a valiant effort in this very same courthouse with Giacalone, in particular, suffering terrific abuse from the defense, only to lose the case after one of the jurors was bribed.
Gleeson now ruled that the jury in the present case against the two accomplices, Richard Riccardi and Luigi “Ronnie” Grasso, would be granted partial anonymity. Their names would be known to the prosecution and to the defense, but not to the media—including reality TV shows.
The jurors were thus dually protected when the government called a former figure from New York Med to the stand on Monday. Dr. Tara Margarella is now a plastic surgeon in Florida, but she was still a trauma resident at Lutheran Medical Center back on July 2, 2010. She had been near the end of her shift when James Donovan was brought in with a gunshot wound he had suffered during a robbery.
“He was bleeding profusely,” Margarella said. “I wasn’t able to bring him back.”
During Margarella’s testimony, and while the bloody crime scene photos were flashed onto the courtroom screen, the reality of the mob was personified by the murdered man’s sobbing daughter. She had a small box of tissues when she returned on Tuesday and she sat in the front row holding it along with a holy card bearing her father’s picture.
In the late morning, 47-year-old Pagan took the stand in tan, prison-issued short-sleeved shirt and pants. More sobs from the victim’s daughter seemed certain as the testimony commenced with the starkest of questions and answers.
“What’s the most serious crime you have committed in your life?” the prosecutor began by asking.
“Murder,” Pagan replied.
“Who did you murder?” the prosecutor asked.
“James Donovan,” Pagan said.
Not a sound came from Donovan’s daughter, as if she had exhausted all her sobs and tears the day before. Pagan proceeded to testify that he had begun committing crimes when he was just 13. He said he had met the defendant Grasso some months before the murder.
“I told him I did scores, sold some pot, gambling stuff like that,” Pagan testified. “He said he had a couple of scores lined up.”
“Can you explain to the members of the jury what a score is?” the prosecutor asked.
“Robbery,” Pagan said.
He reported that he and Grasso subsequently kept in touch via cell phone. Pagan said he had two.
“One for street activity, one for family,” he said. “One was under my name, one was under nobody’s name.”
Pagan said that he subsequently also met the defendant Riccardi, who joined him and Grasso in robbing a pot dealer.
“The plan was to go by the house and wait for the guy and when he goes in, pop his door and rob him,” Pagan testified.
A fortnight later, the three met up at a Brooklyn Dunkin’ Donuts. Pagan climbed into Grasso’s white Toyota and headed for a supermarket parking lot facing an auto body shop. Pagan said Riccardi arrived in his black Mercedes and walked over to the Toyota.
“What did he carry with him?” the prosecutor asked.
“A bag with guns in it,” Pagan said. “We took what we wanted. I had a 9-milimeter. I think the rest were .38s.”
Pagan said he briefly exited the car to buy a bottle at a liquor store.
“Just to cool things off,” he testified.
“Did you drink the liquor?” the prosecutor asked.
“A little bit,” he answered.
Pagan said they soon after saw a luxury car pull up the auto body shop across the street. Grasso was at the wheel.
“Ronnie said, ‘There he is,’” Pagan testified.
Donovan was making one of his regular stops in a business where he cashed checks for a two percent fee. He was just climbing out of his car when Pagan and the others pulled up.
Pagan said that his job was to hold Donovan at gunpoint while Ronnie grabbed the money.
“I put the gun to him and said, ‘Stay right here,’” Pagan told the jury. “He wiggled away from me and started running. I shot him.”
Pagan and the others drove off.
“There really was no getaway plan,” Pagan testified.
He said that one of the others claimed to have shot Donovan.
“I said ‘No, you didn’t, I did,” Pagan recalled.
In a Brooklyn basement, they counted their take and it came to some $200,000.
“Ronnie took the guns,” Pagan testified. “He said he was going to melt mine.”
Pagan reported that Ronnie later told him that Richie had been blabbing about the killing.
“I said, ‘You should kill Richie,”” Pagan said, explaining to the jury, “He’s going around saying things that should not be said.”
The prosecutor then led Pagan through a recounting of his decades-long life of crime. Pagan said he had been an associate of the Lucchese crime family until he became engaged to Renee Graziano. Her father was reputedly a capo in the Bonanno crime family.
“He said, ‘If you’re going to do that we have to transfer you,’” Pagan told the jury.
Pagan was henceforth associated with the Bonanno crime family as he settled into a life of robbery, extortion, beatings, kidnapping and drug dealing.
Pagan said the day then came when, by chance, he saw his wife’s car parked by the side of the road with nobody inside. She then pulled up in a vehicle with another man.
“I started shooting at him,” Pagan testified.
The man survived. Pagan and Renee subsequently separated and reunited several times, once during an episode of Mob Wives, when he told her he had been shaken on hearing she had nearly died while undergoing plastic surgery. She asked if it was because he loved her or because he was in love with her.
“Both,” he told her.
“For years I’ve be in love with you, only you,” she told him.
The final break seems to have come when she learned that he had turned informant, or what he calls “an associate of the government,” rather than face a lengthy prison term for the armed robbery of a card game. He had even worn a wire when speaking with her father, who had subsequently been indicted for extortion.
At one point, Pagan’s handlers instructed him to put on his wire and pump a hoodlum of his acquaintance for information about the Donovan murder. Pagan employed the opposite of a typical reality TV strategy by steering the conversation away from any dramatic revelations. But Pagan figured it was just a question of time before the feds heard his name in connection with the killing.
“There was already an investigation going around,” Pagan testified on Monday. “I figured if I’m in this already, I might as well go all the way.”
Pagan said that he confessed to the shooting and cut a deal. He now testified that there had been one primary requirement on his part.
“Just to, uh…” Pagan began.
Pagan choked up and paused. His voice caught as he continued.
“…just to give information.”
He had shown no emotion at all earlier, when describing how he killed Donovan.
The reality of the mob in the person of the murdered man’s daughter sat there still holding the holy card bearing her father’s picture.
At least the jury was safe from Mob Wives.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/03/12/mob-wives-courtroom-drama-exposes-rat-but-protects-jury.html

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Mob Wives rat Hector Pagan Jr details three decades of crime during court testimony

Mob Wives rat Hector Pagan Jr details three decades of crime during court testimony

  March 12, 2014    Dapper_Don

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The Mafia turncoat ex-hubby of “Mob Wives” star Renee Graziano laid out his life of mob mayhem Tuesday at a murder trial in Brooklyn federal court.
Admitted killer Hector Pagan was testifying against a pair of former pals accused in the murder of Luchese associate James Donovan outside a Gravesend body shop in 2010.
Pagan has admitted to pulling the trigger in the slaying but agreed to cooperate against reputed Gambino associate Luigi Grasso and reputed Bonanno associate Richard Riccardi to lighten his own sentence for a host of separate crimes.
“I put the gun to him and said, ‘Stay right here,’” said Pagan. “He wiggled away and started running. I turned around and shot him.”
Several of Donovan’s family members were reduced to tears as Pagan recalled the cold-blooded killing.
The mobsters targeted Donovan because he was known to carry around thick wads of cash and they ambushed him as he pulled up to a body shop.
Now 47, Pagan chillingly outlined his more than three decades of violent and criminal behavior that began at the age of 13 for jurors.
Pagan, who told the court that he’s half-Italian and half-Spanish, shifted allegiances between mob families before he settled with the Bonannos after marrying Graziano, whose father was then consigliere of the crime crew.
Pagan admitted to selling hundreds of pounds of pot, committing numerous assaults, loan sharking and illegal gambling.
He coldly recalled one gruesome prison incident where he punched a man who then fell onto a sharp object that popped out his eyeball.
Pagan became a prolific mob rat and wore a wire to record incriminating conversations with his own father-in-law, Anthony Graziano, to save his skin.

http://nypost.com/2014/03/11/mob-wives-stars-ex-hubby-lays-out-crime-past-in-murder-trial/

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Doctor details Lucchese associate's final moments before death

Doctor details Lucchese associate's final moments before death

  March 12, 2014    Dapper_Don

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A stunning Brooklyn-born surgeon who parlayed reality show celebrity into a thriving Atlanta plastic surgery career returned to her roots Monday to offer graphic testimony at a mafia murder trial.
Before performing nips and nose jobs at a high end spa down south, Dr. Tara Margarella treated gunshot and stabbing victims in the chaotic emergency room at Lutheran Medical Center in her home borough.
The head-turning physician testified at the murder trial of mobsters Luigi Grasso and Richard Riccardi in Brooklyn federal court Monday where she recalled the dying moments of the man they’re accused of killing.
The Fontbonne Hall Academy valedictorian — who was the featured on the 2012 ABC show “New York Med” and appeared on the Dr. Oz show last year — described treating the “shredded” body of Luchese associate James Donovan on July 2, 2010.
Speaking with a slight Brooklyn accent, the married mom said she was about to finish up an otherwise quiet shift when she was told that a seriously wounded patient was on the way.
“He was bleeding profusely,” Margarella recalled as Donovan’s relatives burst out into sobs in the crowded courtroom gallery.
After his vital signs began to fade, she said the situation was hopeless. “I wasn’t able to bring him back,” she said.
Gambino associate Grasso and Bonanno associate Riccardi are accused of taking part in the botched robbery of Donovan at his Gravesend body shop.
The accused triggerman in the murder, Bonanno associate Hector Pagan, is testifying against them after agreeing to cooperate with the government.
The ex-husband of “Mob Wives” star Renee Graziano, Pagan has worn a wire to bust a slew of mobsters.

http://nypost.com/2014/03/10/doctor-details-dying-mans-last-moments-in-mob-murder-trial/

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Hector Pagan Jr from Mob Wives admits to being a snitch since 2006 and 2010 murder during testimony

Hector Pagan Jr from Mob Wives admits to being a snitch since 2006 and 2010 murder during testimony

  March 12, 2014    Dapper_Don

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Hector Pagan became a government informant in 2006 — five years before he agreed to wear a wire against his father-in-law, reputed capo Anthony Graziano, and other Bonanno bigwigs.

"Mob Wives" star Renee Graziano was sleeping with a snitch longer than she apparently knew.

The reality TV mob princess’ ex-husband testified Tuesday in Brooklyn Federal Court that he became a government informant in 2006 — five years before he agreed to wear a wire against his father-in-law, reputed capo Anthony Graziano, and other Bonanno bigwigs.

Luigi Grasso (center) is escorted into Manhattan Supreme Court on Dec. 16. He is on trial for killing check casher James Donovan in a 2010 robbery outside a Brooklyn auto body shop.

Hector Pagan, 47, turned rat “to take the focus off myself” and pocketed $15,000 for information he gave the FBI.

He took the stand Tuesday against two accomplices in a fatal robbery outside a Brooklyn auto body shop in July 2010.

'Mob Wives' star Renee Graziano was sleeping with a mob rat longer than she knew.

Mob wannabes Luigi Grasso and Richard Riccardi are on trial for the killing of check casher James Donovan.

Pagan admitted that he fired the fatal shot during the stickup in Gravesend that netted the thugs $50,000 apiece.

Grasso and Riccardi face life in prison if convicted.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/mob-snitch-explains-role-feds-article-1.1718512#ixzz2vl19CPp7

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Feds want secret jury in murder trial linked to Mob Wives tv show

Feds want secret jury in murder trial linked to Mob Wives tv show

  January 28, 2014    Dapper_Don

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Reputed Bonanno member Luigi Grasso (center) will face accusations from mob triggerman Hector Pagan at trial in February.

Prosecutors fear jurors for an upcoming gangland murder trial with stars in their eyes may become part of the cast of the reality TV show “Mob Wives.”

Hector Pagan, the star witness against reputed mobsters Richard Riccardi and Luigi Grasso, has become a recurring plot line on the popular show because he is the ex-husband of “Mob Wives” star Renee Graziano.


Pagan, who admitted to slaying Luchese mobster James Donovan in 2010, sports a tux from his cameo on 'Mob Wives.'

Pagan's so-called "betrayal" of his ex-wife and father-in-law, Bonanno capo Anthony Graziano, will undoubtedly be the subject of further discussion when he takes the stand in Brooklyn Federal Court next month, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Argentieri stated in papers seeking an anonymous jury.

The feds want the jurors' identities kept secret to prevent anyone from hunting them down "to generate additional stories," Argentieri warns.

'Mob Wives' star Renee Graziano, who was married to Pagan, at Brooklyn Federal Court.

Worse, jurors might ignore the evidence and reach a verdict to "avoid the notoriety associated with the show or seek it out."

Pagan is the actual gunman who fatally shot reputed Lucchese mobter James Donovan during a stickup in Brooklyn in 2010.

He cut a deal with the feds to get out from under the murder in exchange for testifying against Riccardi and Grasso. Pagan, who made a cameo appearance on the show, even helped the feds make a racketeering case against his father-in-law.

The feds want the Brooklyn Federal Court jurors’ identities kept secret to prevent anyone from hunting them down “to generate additional stories,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Argentieri wrote in court papers.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/feds-eye-secret-jury-mob-wives-trial-article-1.1593409#ixzz2rkfkdpc7

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