Fresh from his arrest on honeymoon, alleged Bonanno wiseguy Vito Pipitone and wife go to court
She's got a big rock on her finger, and he's wearing an ankle bracelet.
Reputed wiseguy Vito Pipitone and his new wife, Paula, made their first appearance Thursday in Brooklyn Federal Court since he was arrested on their Hawaiian honeymoon.
And they didn't look happy.
"I feel terrible for them," defense lawyer Joseph Mure said.
"They never had a honeymoon. It was a nightmare."
Pipitone, a reputed Bonanno associate, is expecting to get the boot from laborers union Local 79 because of the criminal case against him.
An indictment charges him with participating in the stabbing of two men who broke the windows of the Napa & Sonoma restaurant in Whitestone, Queens, which authorities say was under the protection of the Bonannos.
In the courtroom, Pipitone and his wife sat holding hands on one side.
On the other side, observing the proceedings, was former FBI supervisor Bruce Mouw, who is rooting out mob influence in the union local.
Vito Pipitone was already airborne, on his way to wedded bliss in paradise, when the FBI rounded up 13 Bonanno gangsters, including his brother, reputed capo Anthony Pipitone, on Oct. 7.
Family members contacted Vito and his wife when they reached Honolulu and told them the feds were looking for him, too.
Pipitone was initially held without bail in Honolulu, but after a video-hookup hearing, a Brooklyn judge let him return to New York with his bride on a commercial jet - instead of the U.S. Marshals Service's Con Air.
He is free on a $400,000 bond signed by his parents and his in-laws, who put up their home in Astoria.
Anthony Pipitone has resigned from Local 79.
If Vito is forced out, he has some experience as a deejay to fall back on, and he has studied accounting.
"He's actually a bright kid," said a law enforcement source.
"Until he got involved with this group."
Reputed wiseguy Vito Pipitone and his new wife, Paula, made their first appearance Thursday in Brooklyn Federal Court since he was arrested on their Hawaiian honeymoon.
And they didn't look happy.
"I feel terrible for them," defense lawyer Joseph Mure said.
"They never had a honeymoon. It was a nightmare."
Pipitone, a reputed Bonanno associate, is expecting to get the boot from laborers union Local 79 because of the criminal case against him.
An indictment charges him with participating in the stabbing of two men who broke the windows of the Napa & Sonoma restaurant in Whitestone, Queens, which authorities say was under the protection of the Bonannos.
In the courtroom, Pipitone and his wife sat holding hands on one side.
On the other side, observing the proceedings, was former FBI supervisor Bruce Mouw, who is rooting out mob influence in the union local.
Vito Pipitone was already airborne, on his way to wedded bliss in paradise, when the FBI rounded up 13 Bonanno gangsters, including his brother, reputed capo Anthony Pipitone, on Oct. 7.
Family members contacted Vito and his wife when they reached Honolulu and told them the feds were looking for him, too.
Pipitone was initially held without bail in Honolulu, but after a video-hookup hearing, a Brooklyn judge let him return to New York with his bride on a commercial jet - instead of the U.S. Marshals Service's Con Air.
He is free on a $400,000 bond signed by his parents and his in-laws, who put up their home in Astoria.
Anthony Pipitone has resigned from Local 79.
If Vito is forced out, he has some experience as a deejay to fall back on, and he has studied accounting.
"He's actually a bright kid," said a law enforcement source.
"Until he got involved with this group."
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