Former mob associate details lifestyle as a Gambino crew member and getting busted on Mafia Takedown Day
Showing posts with label Alphonse Trucchio. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alphonse Trucchio. Show all posts
Tuesday, January 14, 2014
The Gambino soldier who wore a wire against his mob friends and committed suicide
They said he had the right bloodlines, that his father had been one of them before him.
And that, they all agreed, was important.
This was how a group of mobsters, meeting over lunch at a restaurant in Kenilworth three years ago, described Nicholas “Nicky Skins” Stefanelli, a soldier in the Gambino crime family who was sitting with them that day.
“If you don’t know the families, the grandmothers, the grandfathers, forget it,” said Joseph “Scoops” Licata, a capo who ran a North Jersey crew for the Philadelphia mob.
“Only way to survive,” added John Gambino, a leader of the New York family that bears his name. “You only need quality, not quantity.”
They were at a table in a corner of the main dining room at LaGriglia, a small, classy restaurant just off the Garden State Parkway. This was in May of 2010. Ten mobsters from Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York broke bread for more than four hours that day. They talked about business and history, laughing and joking about who they knew and what they had done.
A federal prosecutor would later call it a meeting of the “board of directors” of organized crime, pointing out that the participants included leaders of both the Gambino crime family and the Philadelphia branch of Cosa Nostra. Defense attorneys would argue that it was just a group of friends having lunch and talking about the old days.
The one thing no one could dispute was that “Nicky Skins” was one of the guys at the table. The “good man” who the other mobsters praised, was, in fact, their worst nightmare.
He was a wiseguy wearing a wire.
The tape from the LaGriglia meeting was one of dozens Stefanelli made for the FBI during a two-year period beginning in 2009. Large portions of it were played at a trial in Philadelphia last year along with tapes from a meeting at the American Bistro in Nutley. Other Stefanelli tapes were evidence in a case in Providence, R.I., that ended with a guilty plea from a high-ranking mob figure.
More tapes are sitting in the offices of federal prosecutors in Newark and New York, verbal time bombs waiting to go off in other cases that are still being built.
They are the legacy of Nicky Skins Stefanelli who committed suicide in February 2012 at age 69 rather than take the witness stand.
The tapes speak volumes about the fractured state of the mob in New Jersey, a once-fertile breeding ground for organized crime where members of seven mob families conducted business.
Now, it’s all come undone. What’s happened to the mob in New Jersey is a microcosm of what’s happened to the mob across America. The once-secret society is no more. Omerta, the code of silence, has been shattered again and again.
Goodfellas don't sue goodfellas. Goodfellas kill goodfellas.That's just the way it is."
Tougher racketeering laws, high tech electronic surveillance and the natural progression of the Italian-American immigrant experience have all contributed. The fact is the best and the brightest in the Italian-American community are now doctors, lawyers, engineers and educators. Pick any profession or any field of endeavor and you’ll find someone whose name ends in a vowel at or near the top of the list.
Second- and third-generation gangsters lack the grit, the style, the savvy and, most importantly, the intelligence, of their forefathers. The mob is scraping the bottom of the gene pool.
The tape from the LaGriglia meeting was one of the dozens Stefanelli made for the FBI during a two-year period beginning in 2009.
Cooperating witnesses and the multi-pronged prosecution hammer that is the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act have decimated the American Mafia. Cosa Nostra is a shell of what it once was. “Men of Honor” is a term that hardly applies.
The only people making offers that can’t be refused are FBI agents and book publishers. Mobsters all over the country have been rushing to the witness stand and to their literary agents to make deals.
Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, Alphonse “Little Al” D’Arco, Ralph Natale, Philip “Crazy Phil” Leonetti, Anthony “Tumac” Accetturo, the list goes on and on and on.
Nowhere is the phenomenon more obvious than in New Jersey.
And ironically, the wiseguys sitting at the table at LaGriglia, most of them in their 60s and 70s, were well aware of it .
“We still gotta stay with the old rules,” said Licata.
“Only way to survive,” said Gambino.
“It’s not about money,” added Louis “Big Lou” Fazzini, Licata’s top associate. “It’s about …”
“Brotherhood,” said Gambino crime family soldier Alphonse Trucchio, completing Fazzini’s thought.
“That’s the problem, f------ greed,” said Stefanelli as the body wire he was wearing picked up every word he and the others said that day.
It is hard to imagine that anyone sitting at the table that afternoon would have pegged Nicky Skins as an underworld Judas. Stefanelli had been around for years. The Newark-Belleville area where he grew up was a wiseguy paradise in the 1960s and 1970s. Members of the five New York families, as well as the indigenous DeCavalcante Family (the New Jersey mob family on whom “The Sopranos” was based) and a crew from the Philadelphia mob, all had action on the streets. They ran craps games, took sports bets, loaned money and dealt in stolen property. Everybody knew somebody who was “connected.” It was a neighborhood thing.
Stefanelli had a reputation as an easygoing wiseguy who moved in mob circles in both New York and North Jersey. But he was also known as someone who could be called upon to do some “work” when necessary. Ironically, the one murder authorities were able to tie him to definitively was the one he committed just two days before he killed himself. (But that’s getting ahead of our story.)
“Skins was raised in organized crime, from the time he was a teenager,” says Robert Carroll, a former prosecutor with the New Jersey Attorney General’s Division of Criminal Justice. “He moved freely among the families and was involved in a lot.”
Stefanelli first showed up on law enforcement’s radar as a young member of a mob-connected burglary crew, Carroll says. Over the years, he graduated to gambling, loan-sharking, extortion, drugs and murder.
He ran with some genuine tough guys, violent mobsters, guys such as Robert “Bobby Cabert” Bisaccia and another gangster whose nickname was “The Vulture,” says Carroll.
But Skins had a softer edge.
“Some of those guys would look at you like, ‘I’m gonna blow up your kids,’” the former state mob buster says. “Skins wasn’t like that. He’d be joking with you, like, ‘Come on, I’m just a bookmaker trying to make a living. Why are you guys busting on me?’”
Which, clearly, was a rhetorical question.
Stefanelli had a lengthy criminal record. His most serious bust came in 1994 for dealing in cocaine and heroin. He pleaded guilty in 1996 and did several years in federal prison. But he didn’t miss a beat when he returned to the streets, gravitating toward the Gambino crime family and an assortment of mob gambits. His Gambino connections were in New York, where authorities say he was formally initiated into the mob, becoming a soldier who had access to some of the major players in the organization.
As a jack-of-all-trades in the underworld, and always looking for opportunities, he moved up and down the East Coast as a Gambino crime family representative, a position that made him even more valuable when the FBI flipped him in 2009.
"The feds sent him ('Nicky Skins') down here to set me up," says Joseph 'Skinny Joe' Merlino, head of the Philadelphia mob. "I told him, **** legitimate. I don't want nothing to do with any of that other stuff.' What else could I say?
New England mob boss Anthony DiNunzio, 54, pleaded guilty to a racketeering charge in 2012 that was based in part on tapes made by Stefanelli. DiNunzio’s indictment includes a reference to a meeting the Rhode Island wiseguy attended on Dec. 7, 2011, in Clifton with a “senior Gambino crime family member.”
That, according to several sources, was Stefanelli. The tape, according to the indictment, includes a conversation in which DiNunzio identifies himself as a leader of the New England mob and discusses extortion gambits in which he and others were involved.
Philadelphia mob leader Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino, who moved to Florida after his release from prison in 2011, also was picked up on a Stefanelli tape made a few weeks after Skins’ encounter with DeNunzio.
Merlino says he was introduced to Stefanelli by a North Jersey attorney. Ever cautious, Merlino says he steered away from any discussion about mob activities and learned later that Stefanelli was wired during their meeting at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Boca Raton.
“The feds sent him down here to set me up,” Merlino said in an interview in April 2013. “I told him, ‘I’m legitimate. I don’t want nothing to do with any of that other stuff.’ What else could I say?”
While that tape, like the DeNunzio tape, has never been played in public, defense attorneys in the retrial of Philadelphia mob boss Joseph “Uncle Joe” Ligambi and his nephew, mobster George Borgesi, received court authorization to listen to it. They are trying to determine if the conversation, in which Merlino disavows any mob connections and says there is little if anything happening in the Philadelphia underworld, will help undermine the racketeering conspiracy charges that Ligambi and Borgesi face.
But it is the LaGriglia tape, prosecutors say, that best supports the conspiracy charge and clearly demonstrates the existence of the mob.
Ligambi, Licata, Fazzini and Anthony Staino were the Philadelphia representatives at the LaGriglia meeting. The Gambinos were represented by the brothers Joe and John Gambino, Stefanelli, Trucchio, Lorenzo Mannino and Michael Roccaforte.
The mobsters ate and drank for nearly five hours that afternoon. The entrees included Chilean sea bass, yellow fin tuna, filet mignon and chicken with broccoli rabe. Seafood salad and calamari were among the appetizers. The desserts included fresh berries and cheesecake. It was all washed down with four bottles of a nice red Mocali and a $200 bottle of Biondi Santi.
The total bill came to $902, not counting the tip.
They paid in cash.
But with the tape and potential indictments hanging over their heads, the lunch may prove to be a lot more expensive.
Everyone was picked up on the wire. The discussions ranged from talk of past mob hits and money-making plots to an ongoing dispute between the Philadelphia mob and members of the Lucchese crime family, who were apparently trying to make inroads into South Jersey where the Philadelphia mob held sway.
There was also plenty of laughing and joking and talk about the old — and better — days.
Licata, speaking partly in Italian, offered a toast at one point and everyone raised their glasses. "To everybody’s health," the then 68-year-old mob capo said with a smile. "All the good guys. Anywhere … The good guys."
Goodfellas all.
‘It used to be, if you went into a meeting with a dozen guys, whatever was said in that meeting would never get out," says Danny Provenzano. "Now half of those guys would be informants and two or three of them would be wearing wires."
That, he says, is the state of the American Mafia. Like Merlino, Provenzano says, he has turned in another direction after serving most of a seven-year state sentence for racketeering.
You just can’t trust anyone anymore, said the 50-year-old aspiring actor and director whose great uncle was Anthony "Tony Pro" Provenzano. Tony Pro, who with his brothers ran the notorious Teamsters Local 560 out of Union City, was a Genovese crime family capo and a prime suspect in the alledged murder and disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa.
Hoffa disappeared in 1975. The fact that no one has ever been charged and his body has never been recovered speaks to the old ways of the Mafia. If something like that happened today, one source quipped, you’d be watching video of the body disposal on YouTube.
Stefanelli came from the old world, but apparently got caught in the switches of time. While the exact details of his decision to cooperate have never been made public, the conventional wisdom in underworld, law enforcement and defense attorney circles is that Skins got jammed up again around 2009 in a drug case. And in order to get out from under it and to protect his son, Nicky Jr., who also might have been charged, Skins cut a deal and agreed to wear a wire for the FBI. It was a classic law enforcement move. You help us, we’ll help you.
His tapes are now part of an ever-expanding audio history of the mob in New Jersey.
In 1989, George Fresolone, a Newark-area mob associate working with the North Jersey branch of the Philadelphia mob, wore a wire for a year for the New Jersey State Police.
Operation Broadsword, the name of the investigation, resulted in the indictments of 41 mob members and associates from six crime families in the Garden State. Forty of the 41 defendants pleaded guilty rather than go to trial. The 41st was convicted by a jury.
Recordings make devastating pieces of evidence.
"You can’t cross-examine a tape," says one defense attorney.
Fresolone wore a body wire to his own mob initiation ceremony, the ultimate rejection of the code of silence and men-of-honor mystique that had long surrounded the American Mafia.
A few years later, the feds placed electronic listening devices in the Camden law office of Salvatore Avena, the longtime criminal defence attorney for Philadelphia mob boss John Stanfa.
Authorities convinced a judge to approve the bugging, arguing that Stanfa held secret mob meetings in the office suite, believing lawyer-client privilege would protect him.
The taping, which went on for two years, presented investigators with a treasure trove of information and enough dialogue to fill a season of "Sopranos" episodes.
"You know what I’ll do, I’ll get a knife … I’ll cut out his tongue and we’ll send it to the wife," Stanfa said in one conversation in which he plotted the gruesome murder of a rival. "We put it in an envelope. Put a stamp on it."
Avena was indicted with Stanfa and two dozen others in 1994 on racketerring charges built in large part around evidence gathered from the electronic bugs planted in his office. He was found not guilty during a trial in 1996.
The recordings from Avena’s office also colorful conversations, such as the one where Salvatore Profaci, a New York mobster, was trying to convince Avena to drop a civil lawsuit Avena had filed against a mob associate who was his partner in a trash disposal business that generated substantial income for organized crime. (Even Tony Soprano was a "solid waste management consultant." The mob has always been big in trash.)
Profaci, his thick New York accent bouncing off the walls, was picked up in nearly a dozen conversations counseling Avena to drop the suit. But it was one line — a line that Mario Puzo couldn’t have written any better and that Robert De Niro couldn’t have delivered with more feeling — that succinctly explained the dilemma.
"Sal, you don’t understand," Profaci told Avena. "Goodfellas don’t sue goodfellas. Goodfellas kill goodfellas. That’s just the way it is."
That investigation ended with convictions of more than 25 mob members and associates. Stanfa is now serving five consecutive life terms. But even as it was ending, the feds were bugging the phones, meeting places and penthouse apartment of Pennsauken-based mob boss Ralph Natale, who had succeeded Stanfa.
Those tapes were followed by hundreds of conversations picked up on a body wire worn by "Big Ron" Previte, a Hammonton mobster who, like Stefanelli, wore a wire for the FBI for two years.
Secretly recorded conversations are now a standard part of the Justice Department playbook in its war on organized crime. On any given day in any city where the American Mafia is doing business, it’s a good bet there is at least one wiseguy wired for sound. Nowhere has that proven more effective than in New Jersey. But somewhere along the way someone either wasn’t watching or missed some signals that Stefanelli was sending out.
"You can’t really know what it’s like (to wear a wire) unless you’ve done it," says Steven Lenehan, a former mob associate from North Jersey who did just that and is now living with a new name in another part of the country.
Lenehan, who wore a wire for the feds for two years in the early 1990s, went one step further than Stefanelli, testifying for the prosecution. His testimony helped the government win two dozen convictions.
Taking the witness stand was a move that Stefanelli apparently decided he couldn’t make. Lenehan says he understands the internal turmoil — the guilt, the angst and the self-loathing.
"There were times I felt like killing myself because of what I had done," Lenehan said in a phone interview from another part of the country where he has reinvented himself. "Cooperating, being ‘a rat,’ is something you never think you’re going to do."
Lenehan frankly admits that he misses the old life — the money, the status, the network of friends and associates all living in that same insular underworld. He would love to return to Bloomfield Avenue in Newark and have a drink in the Belmont Tavern or any one of the other bars and social clubs that were, and he believes still are, wiseguy hangouts.
"I can’t go back, I realize that," he says. "I made a choice. Nicky Skins was in that same situation. He chose to handle it differently."
Skins, in fact, went out with a bang.
While police and the FBI are reluctant to provide many details, what is known, according to law enforcement officials, is this:
On Feb. 24, 2012, Stefanelli walked into Phoenix Amusement, a video poker and game machine distributorship on Floyd Avenue in Bloomfield owned by Joseph Rossi. Skins pumped two bullets into Rossi’s head, killing him.
Stefanelli, who according to several reports had already arranged and paid for his own funeral, then checked into the Renaissance Meadowlands Hotel. Two days later, he was found dead of a drug overdose. Few other details have been provided by investigators. Rossi’s brother, Anthony, the executor of Joseph Rossi’s will, has hired an attorney who is seeking details from the FBI and local police.
Among other things, the Rossi family wants to know how much, if any, protection the feds were providing Joseph Rossi, who was apparently cooperating in an ongoing mob investigation centered in part around the mob’s operation of illegal video poker machines.
On the flip side of the murder equation, Steven Dratch, the lawyer for the Rossi estate, says he is also trying to determine how well the feds were monitoring Stefanelli.
"Right now, we have more questions than answers," says Dratch.
"We may have to file suit," (against the federal government), says Anthony Rossi.
According to several sources, Stefanelli believed that Joseph Rossi had fingered him in the 2009 drug case that led to him becoming a cooperator.
Revenge and then suicide, that’s the way Nicky Skins decided to go out.
What’s left, in addition to grieving family members looking for answers, are the tapes.
Nicky Skins worked for the FBI for two years. So far, the only cases in which his tapes have been used are in Philadelphia and Providence, R.I. There are many more tapes and, most observers believe, there will be more cases.
Today in New York and New Jersey, there are dozens of mobsters waiting and wondering. They have two questions: "What did I say to Nicky Skins?" and "Was he wearing a wire when I said it?"
http://www.nj.com/inside-jersey/index.ssf/2014/01/nicky_skins_wiseguy_with_a_wire.html
Wednesday, November 27, 2013
Engineer claims he was fired due to falsely assisting his mobster cousins
A former chief engineer at a Brooklyn federal building — who happens to have relatives in the Mafia — is claiming he was fired after a co-worker falsely accused him of assisting criminals.
Robert Trucchio, 44, who worked at 271 Cadman Plaza, which houses the offices of federal prosecutors, blamed onetime friend Kevin Smith, 51, for getting him canned in March.
Smith told the FBI that his boss took cell-phone photos of witnesses inside the U.S. Attorney offices and transmitted them to members of organized crime, according to Trucchio’s $4 million lawsuit filed last week in Brooklyn Supreme Court.
“Each and every one of the defendant’s accusations against plaintiff was completely, knowingly and intentionally false,” court papers said.
Trucchio admitted he has second and third cousins in La Cosa Nostra but claimed he “had no relationship whatsoever with either of these convicted criminals.”
The relatives are Ronald "Ronnie One Arm" Trucchio, who’s serving a life sentence for racketeering, and his son Alphonse Trucchio, a captain with the Gambinos who was sentenced in 2012 to 10 years in prison, sources said.
According to the suit, a seven-month FBI investigation failed to substantiate Smith’s claims but the engineer was fired anyway. The court papers allege that Smith — who’s described as “an angry and jealous man” — was retaliating for a longstanding feud with his former boss. “I’m gonna have his job,” Smith allegedly said, referring to Trucchio, at the end of 2012, weeks before lodging the report.
http://m.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/brooklyn-engineer-fired-mob-ties-suit-article-1.1530691
Monday, April 15, 2013
FBI agent stumbles on high level Gambino family meeting while strolling through the park
Bartolemeo Vernace, pictured in 1998, is accused of operating a criminal enterprise with fellow known wiseguys Joseph "JoJo" Corozzo and Alphonse Trucchio.
After 32 years and two trials, bringing a top Gambino mobster to justice for killing two men in a Queens bar may be a walk in the park after all.
The feds obtained crucial evidence for the racketeering case against Bartolomeo "Bobby" Vernace when an FBI agent strolling in Forest Park in Queens luckily stumbled upon a meeting between Vernace and two supporting characters in the case.
FBI agent Gerard Conrad was simply taking a break from his work supervising 15 agents who investigate the Gambino crime family, he testified.
And then, he got a stroke of good luck on that warm 2006 day: “I saw three made members of the Gambino family and two associates of the family in the park,” he said.
Alphonse Trucchi, son of Gambino crime family henchman Ronald "Ronnie One Arm" Trucchio, met with Bobby Vernace at a playground in Forest Park, Queens.
It was Vernace, Joseph "JoJo" Corozzo and Alphonse Trucchio, the son of Gambino thug Ronald "Ronnie One Arm" Trucchio, in the woods near a playground.
Conrad called for backup agents with a camera — and the resulting photos are a crucial piece of evidence because, prosecutors argued, they keep Vernace in a mob timeline that dates back to a 1981 killing in Corozzo’s Ozone Park social club.
Vernace had beaten the murder charge in 1998 — but the photos show that eight years later, the wiseguy, who is now a member of a panel running the crime family, is still with Corozzo and capo Alphonse Trucchio in a criminal enterprise and worthy of a racketeering conviction, prosecutors argue.
Joseph "JoJo" Corozzo was one of the mobsters who met Bobby Vernace at a Forest Park playground.
The case begins on April 11, 1981, when Vernace, then a low-level hood, was hanging out at Corozzo’s club when another mob associate called on him to go to the Shamrock Bar to exact revenge over a spilled drink, authorities say.
The bar owners were shot in cold blood and a key witness, bartender Joseph Patrick Sullivan, was scared into silence for three decades by Ronnie One Arm Trucchio, authorities say.
But last month, Sullivan admitted he lied to cops and jurors for more than three decades about who was responsible for the senseless murders of Richard Godkin and John D’Agnese by Gambino gangsters.
This week, as the jury resumes deliberating the charges against Vernace, agent Conrad’s walk in the park may seal the deal.
“That was certainly fortuitous,” widow Catherine Godkin said of Conrad’s stroll. “He’s my hero.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/fbi-stumples-critical-vernace-trial-evidence-article-1.1316545#ixzz2QYFTBNf6
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Rising star in the Gambino crime family gets 10 years
One of the leaders of the Gambino organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra, was sentenced to over 10 years in prison by the Manhattan federal court on July 26.
Alphonse Trucchio—one of the youngest mobsters to be made a captain in mafia history—previously pledged guilty on Feb. 17, for narcotics trafficking, assault, illegal gambling, and loansharking—which is the collecting of credit at extortionate rates.
“They can’t take my honor,” said capo Alphonse Trucchio, 35, as marshals escorted him from the courtroom after sentencing in Manhattan Federal Court.
Although this mafia traditionally purportedly spurned drug trafficking, Trucchio looked over a large drug trafficking ring, which operated primarily in Queens, New York. He rose to power after his father was given a life sentence in 2005. He joined the crime family at age 20, and became its leader 10 years later. He is currently 35 years old.
“Alphonse Trucchio rose to a leadership position in the Gambino crime family at a young age, and his future may have seemed bright—but now the life he chose has led, as it has for so many others in the mafia, to living behind bars,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
In addition to time behind bars, Trucchio has also been sentenced to five years of supervised release. He must pay $100,000 in forfeiture, and a $500 special assessment fee.
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/united-states/brooklyn-based-mafia-leader-sentenced-to-10-years-271088.html
Monday, June 4, 2012
Gambino enforcer Christopher Colon took along infant son in beatdown
It was bring your baby to work day — Mafia-style.
Mob enforcer Christopher Colon took his 2-month-old son along when he went to collect a debt, a federal prosecutor said Monday.
The Gambino family goon used a bat to threaten both the debtor and a neighbor who had tried to intervene, prosecutor Elie Honig said. Then he hit the neighbor with his car, breaking the man’s ankle and clavicle.
“The fact that he had his son in the car at the time speaks to an alarming lack of control,” Honig said of Colon.
Honig rolled out that mobster/son bonding tale shortly before a Manhattan federal judge sentenced Colon to eight years in prison for assault and other charges.
Colon told the judge that holding his son in his arms for the first time after he was born on Sept. 7, 2010, was a turning point in his life.
Tall and skinny and not especially menacing-looking in his prison scrubs, Colon admitted he “made bad decisions” in his life.
Colon also told the judge that his dad, Lee Colon, a retired Transit Authority cop, has terminal cancer.
“I pray that when I come home he is still alive,” Colon said as his dad looked on.
Colon finished with a plea for leniency. “I won’t let you down,” he told the judge.
Judge Richard Berman was unmoved and gave Colon the max to “protect the public from the future crimes of Mr. Colon.”
Colon, a 38-year-old Gambino mob associate from Ozone Park, pleaded guilty in February to racketeering conspiracy, distribution of ecstasy, operation of illegal gambling business, extortion and three assaults in connection with racketeering activity.
Prosecutors say Colon ran with the crew of Gambino capo Alphonse Trucchio, who has also pleaded guilty to racketeering and extortion and awaits sentencing.
They described Colon as the “very definition of a Mafia enforcer.” They said they have recordings of Gambino wiseguys saying that Colon would have been a made man had he been born with an Italian name.
Colon and Trucchio were among 20 suspects busted last November in what prosecutors said was a scheme by the Mafia and the Russian mob to import women from Eastern Europe to work as strippers at two clubs in Queens.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Two rising stars in Gambino crime family shipped off to prison
Two rising stars in the Gambino family were shipped off to federal prison Wednesday - one getting tearful waves from his family, the other getting smiles and thumbs up.
Michael "Roc" Roccaforte, 35, gave his family an exaggerated “What can I do?” shrug after U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman socked him with a 118-month sentence that was four months harsher than what federal prosecutors sought.
A visibly relieved Anthony Moscatiello, 41, got 43 months from the same judge. He turned to his smiling family and jokingly advised an unidentified grinning man in a loud pin-striped suit to "Spend a few dollars. Buy a new suit."
Each had pleaded guilty in February to breaking various laws for more than a decade, including racketeering, selling drugs, gambling and loan sharking.
They were among 27 accused mobsters arrested in a 2011 sweep in the Southern District of Manhattan. Of the 27, two dozen have pleaded guilty, including 11 members of the Gambino family. As of yesterday, six Gambino associates have been put behind bars.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elie Honig said both men were handpicked by Gambino bosses Ronald and Alphonse Trucchio to be made men in the Gambino gang and predicted that both would come back to the Gambinos when they get out.
He said Roccaforte, a first offender, has promised to change his life after prison, but added: "He's not leaving the mob. If he wanted to say that, he could do so right now."
Honig noted that Roccaforte was the only person below the rank of captain in the Gambino family to attend a major mob summit of New York and Philadelphia gangsters in May 2010. "He is a rising star in the mob," he said.
Roccaforte's lawyer, Alan Futerfas, urged that his client, who had never been arrested before, get the minimum possible sentence of 97 months, but Honig said Roccaforte spent more than a decade breaking laws. "He didn't have a bad day.a bad week or a bad month. He had a bad 15 years."
As Roccaforte left the courtroom, the same man in the pinstriped suit that appeared at the Moscatiello sentencing sat with the mobster's family and waved vigorously. A dejected Roccaforte finally gave a weak wave back.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/rising-stars-gambino-crime-family-shipped-prison-article-1.1087040#ixzz1wPFy6XA8
Michael "Roc" Roccaforte, 35, gave his family an exaggerated “What can I do?” shrug after U.S. District Court Judge Richard Berman socked him with a 118-month sentence that was four months harsher than what federal prosecutors sought.
A visibly relieved Anthony Moscatiello, 41, got 43 months from the same judge. He turned to his smiling family and jokingly advised an unidentified grinning man in a loud pin-striped suit to "Spend a few dollars. Buy a new suit."
Each had pleaded guilty in February to breaking various laws for more than a decade, including racketeering, selling drugs, gambling and loan sharking.
They were among 27 accused mobsters arrested in a 2011 sweep in the Southern District of Manhattan. Of the 27, two dozen have pleaded guilty, including 11 members of the Gambino family. As of yesterday, six Gambino associates have been put behind bars.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elie Honig said both men were handpicked by Gambino bosses Ronald and Alphonse Trucchio to be made men in the Gambino gang and predicted that both would come back to the Gambinos when they get out.
He said Roccaforte, a first offender, has promised to change his life after prison, but added: "He's not leaving the mob. If he wanted to say that, he could do so right now."
Honig noted that Roccaforte was the only person below the rank of captain in the Gambino family to attend a major mob summit of New York and Philadelphia gangsters in May 2010. "He is a rising star in the mob," he said.
Roccaforte's lawyer, Alan Futerfas, urged that his client, who had never been arrested before, get the minimum possible sentence of 97 months, but Honig said Roccaforte spent more than a decade breaking laws. "He didn't have a bad day.a bad week or a bad month. He had a bad 15 years."
As Roccaforte left the courtroom, the same man in the pinstriped suit that appeared at the Moscatiello sentencing sat with the mobster's family and waved vigorously. A dejected Roccaforte finally gave a weak wave back.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/rising-stars-gambino-crime-family-shipped-prison-article-1.1087040#ixzz1wPFy6XA8
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Gambino mobster tells feds to trust him on $10,000 restitution
Trust him. He says he’s good for it.
A convicted mobster tried to weasel out of handing over $10,000 in ill-gotten gains that he promised to pay back to the feds at his scheduled sentencing yesterday.
Frank “Meatball” Bellantoni’s lawyer said his client was experiencing a cash crunch because his wife has been their family’s sole breadwinner since he was locked up four months ago.
Defense lawyer Gerard Marrone also said that Bellantoni, 45, of Bellmore, LI, would pay off the debt once he gets out of prison.
But Manhattan federal prosecutor Elie Honig refused to cut the burly baldy any slack, noting it would set a “bad precedent.”
“I’ve spoken to people who know him well, and the guy has money,” Honig added. “He lives in a nice house. He has a pool. He owns a separate tract of land upstate.”
Judge Richard Berman then postponed Bellantoni’s sentencing until June 13 to give him time to come up with the dough.
Bellantoni, a reputed Gambino crime family associate, faces up to 3 1/2 years in the slammer under terms of plea deal that also requires him to forfeit $60,000. According to the feds, Bellantoni was one of the “most prolific money-makers” in a crew run by reputed Gambino captain Alphonse Trucchio, generating more than $15,000 a week in “criminal profits.”
Bellantoni pleaded guilty in February to racketeering conspiracy to cover more than a decade’s worth of crimes, including loansharking, bookmaking and running illegal card games.
He also admitted trying to extort payment of an $82,000 gambling debt with the help of mob crony Howard Santos, who had secretly turned rat.
A convicted mobster tried to weasel out of handing over $10,000 in ill-gotten gains that he promised to pay back to the feds at his scheduled sentencing yesterday.
Frank “Meatball” Bellantoni’s lawyer said his client was experiencing a cash crunch because his wife has been their family’s sole breadwinner since he was locked up four months ago.
Defense lawyer Gerard Marrone also said that Bellantoni, 45, of Bellmore, LI, would pay off the debt once he gets out of prison.
But Manhattan federal prosecutor Elie Honig refused to cut the burly baldy any slack, noting it would set a “bad precedent.”
Judge Richard Berman then postponed Bellantoni’s sentencing until June 13 to give him time to come up with the dough.
Bellantoni, a reputed Gambino crime family associate, faces up to 3 1/2 years in the slammer under terms of plea deal that also requires him to forfeit $60,000. According to the feds, Bellantoni was one of the “most prolific money-makers” in a crew run by reputed Gambino captain Alphonse Trucchio, generating more than $15,000 a week in “criminal profits.”
Bellantoni pleaded guilty in February to racketeering conspiracy to cover more than a decade’s worth of crimes, including loansharking, bookmaking and running illegal card games.
He also admitted trying to extort payment of an $82,000 gambling debt with the help of mob crony Howard Santos, who had secretly turned rat.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Five Gambino Crime Family Members and Associates Plead Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court
Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that VINCENZO FROGIERO, TODD LABARCA, JOHN BRANCACCIO, CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS, and SEAN DUNN—all of whom are either members or associates of the Gambino organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra—pled guilty to crimes including racketeering, narcotics trafficking, assault, and extortion. LABARCA also pled guilty to conspiring to commit the January 2002 murder of Martin Bosshart, which was part of a turf war over control of a Gambino family marijuana trafficking operation. These five defendants were charged along with 17 others in the Southern District of New York in January 2011 in U.S. v. Joseph Corozzo, et al. as part of a nationwide takedown of members and associates of organized crime. FROGIERO, LABARCA, BRANCACCIO, and REYNOLDS pled guilty today before U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman. DUNN pled guilty on Monday before Judge Berman.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “For more than a decade, the vicious murder of Martin Bosshart in a mafia turf battle went unsolved. With today’s guilty plea of Todd LaBarca, one of the responsible parties will be held to account. The laundry list of illegal conduct to which LaBarca and these four other defendants pled serves as a reminder of the scourge that is organized crime and that our efforts to root it out will continue unabated.”
According to the indictment, the informations, and other documents filed in the case, as well as statements made during the plea proceedings:
FROGERIO was a soldier and LABARCA was an associate in a crew run by Gambino family captain Louis Mastrangelo. Soldiers are members who have been formally initiated, or “made,” and associates are non-initiated individuals who commit crimes with and for the Gambino family. BRANCACCIO, REYNOLDS, and DUNN were associates in a crew run by Gambino family captain Alphonse Trucchio.
In addition to LABARCA’s murder conspiracy plea, the five defendants pled guilty to racketeering charges. Various defendants also pled guilty to narcotics trafficking, assault, extortion, and other crimes.
Murder of Martin Bosshart
From the late 1990s through 2002, LABARCA and other Gambino family members and associates, including Michael Roccaforte, imported hundreds of kilograms of high-potency marijuana from Canada into the New York City area. The marijuana trafficking operation yielded millions of dollars in profits for the Gambino family. In 2001, Martin Bosshart, who was involved in narcotics trafficking and other crimes with various members of Trucchio’s crew, began making efforts to exclude Michael Roccaforte from the marijuana importation operation. In an effort to prevent Bosshart from taking over for Michael Roccaforte and from moving in on the marijuana importation business, LABARCA plotted with other Gambino family members and associates to murder Bosshart. On the night of January 2, 2002, LABARCA and others lured Bosshart to an isolated location in Queens, New York. There, another Gambino family associate shot Bosshart in the back of the head at point-blank range, killing him. Bosshart’s body was recovered at the scene, and LABARCA’s guilty plea in this case is the first conviction of any individual in connection with Bosshart’s murder.
Narcotics Trafficking and Firearms Offenses
LABARCA, BRANCACCIO, REYNOLDS, and DUNN pled guilty to narcotics trafficking offenses. From the late 1980s through 2010, Trucchio and others oversaw the Gambino family’s large-scale narcotics distribution operations, which were primarily located in Queens, New York. Numerous drug suppliers, wholesalers, and street dealers operated under the authority and protection of the Gambino family in exchange for paying the family a portion of their profits. Over the years, the named defendants and others distributed hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and marijuana, and thousands of ecstasy and vicodin pills, all of which generated millions of dollars in illegal proceeds for the Gambino family. During a search of BRANCACCIO’s home, federal agents seized quantities of cocaine and marijuana, as well as a shotgun, a handgun, a bullet-proof vest, and a machete.
Extortions and Assaults
LABARCA, BRANCACCIO, and REYNOLDS pled guilty for their roles in extorting payments from various businesses’ owners and individuals based in New York City through the use of violence and threats. In one instance, LABARCA, BRANCACCIO, and others threatened a small business owner with guns and threats of death in an effort to extort tens of thousands of dollars. LABARCA and REYNOLDS also pled guilty to committing assaults for the Gambino family.
Gambling
FROGIERO, LABARCA, BRANCACCIO, and REYNOLDS pled guilty to various gambling offenses, including running Internet-based sports betting, or “bookmaking,” operations, various regular, high-stakes card games, and operating video poker machines.
Fourteen defendants previously pled guilty in connection with the case: Gambino family captains Trucchio and Mastrangelo; Gambino family soldiers Michael Roccaforte and Anthony Moscatiello; and Gambino family associates Christopher Colon, Salvatore Tortorici, Frank Bellantoni, Michael Kuhtenia, Salvatore Accardi, Keith Croce, Frank Roccaforte, Michael Russo, Robert Napolitano, and Anthino Russo.
Charges are pending against the remaining three defendants charged in the Indictment: Gambino family consigliere Joseph Corozzo, Gambino family ruling panel member Bartolomeo Vernace, and Gambino family associate Robert Bucholz. These defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Five defendants who were associates of the Gambino crime family and charged as part of last year’s takedown in a separate indictment, U.S. v. John Cipolla, et al., have also pled guilty.
Mr. Bharara praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service. Mr. Bharara also noted that the investigation is continuing.
The case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elie Honig, Daniel Chung, and Natalie Lamarque are in charge of the prosecution.
http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2012/five-gambino-crime-family-members-and-associates-plead-guilty-in-manhattan-federal-court?utm_campaign=email-Immediate&utm_medium=email&utm_source=new-york-press-releases&utm_content=92545
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said: “For more than a decade, the vicious murder of Martin Bosshart in a mafia turf battle went unsolved. With today’s guilty plea of Todd LaBarca, one of the responsible parties will be held to account. The laundry list of illegal conduct to which LaBarca and these four other defendants pled serves as a reminder of the scourge that is organized crime and that our efforts to root it out will continue unabated.”
According to the indictment, the informations, and other documents filed in the case, as well as statements made during the plea proceedings:
FROGERIO was a soldier and LABARCA was an associate in a crew run by Gambino family captain Louis Mastrangelo. Soldiers are members who have been formally initiated, or “made,” and associates are non-initiated individuals who commit crimes with and for the Gambino family. BRANCACCIO, REYNOLDS, and DUNN were associates in a crew run by Gambino family captain Alphonse Trucchio.
In addition to LABARCA’s murder conspiracy plea, the five defendants pled guilty to racketeering charges. Various defendants also pled guilty to narcotics trafficking, assault, extortion, and other crimes.
Murder of Martin Bosshart
From the late 1990s through 2002, LABARCA and other Gambino family members and associates, including Michael Roccaforte, imported hundreds of kilograms of high-potency marijuana from Canada into the New York City area. The marijuana trafficking operation yielded millions of dollars in profits for the Gambino family. In 2001, Martin Bosshart, who was involved in narcotics trafficking and other crimes with various members of Trucchio’s crew, began making efforts to exclude Michael Roccaforte from the marijuana importation operation. In an effort to prevent Bosshart from taking over for Michael Roccaforte and from moving in on the marijuana importation business, LABARCA plotted with other Gambino family members and associates to murder Bosshart. On the night of January 2, 2002, LABARCA and others lured Bosshart to an isolated location in Queens, New York. There, another Gambino family associate shot Bosshart in the back of the head at point-blank range, killing him. Bosshart’s body was recovered at the scene, and LABARCA’s guilty plea in this case is the first conviction of any individual in connection with Bosshart’s murder.
Narcotics Trafficking and Firearms Offenses
LABARCA, BRANCACCIO, REYNOLDS, and DUNN pled guilty to narcotics trafficking offenses. From the late 1980s through 2010, Trucchio and others oversaw the Gambino family’s large-scale narcotics distribution operations, which were primarily located in Queens, New York. Numerous drug suppliers, wholesalers, and street dealers operated under the authority and protection of the Gambino family in exchange for paying the family a portion of their profits. Over the years, the named defendants and others distributed hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and marijuana, and thousands of ecstasy and vicodin pills, all of which generated millions of dollars in illegal proceeds for the Gambino family. During a search of BRANCACCIO’s home, federal agents seized quantities of cocaine and marijuana, as well as a shotgun, a handgun, a bullet-proof vest, and a machete.
Extortions and Assaults
LABARCA, BRANCACCIO, and REYNOLDS pled guilty for their roles in extorting payments from various businesses’ owners and individuals based in New York City through the use of violence and threats. In one instance, LABARCA, BRANCACCIO, and others threatened a small business owner with guns and threats of death in an effort to extort tens of thousands of dollars. LABARCA and REYNOLDS also pled guilty to committing assaults for the Gambino family.
Gambling
FROGIERO, LABARCA, BRANCACCIO, and REYNOLDS pled guilty to various gambling offenses, including running Internet-based sports betting, or “bookmaking,” operations, various regular, high-stakes card games, and operating video poker machines.
* * *
The maximum penalties that each defendant faces are outlined in a chart below.Fourteen defendants previously pled guilty in connection with the case: Gambino family captains Trucchio and Mastrangelo; Gambino family soldiers Michael Roccaforte and Anthony Moscatiello; and Gambino family associates Christopher Colon, Salvatore Tortorici, Frank Bellantoni, Michael Kuhtenia, Salvatore Accardi, Keith Croce, Frank Roccaforte, Michael Russo, Robert Napolitano, and Anthino Russo.
Charges are pending against the remaining three defendants charged in the Indictment: Gambino family consigliere Joseph Corozzo, Gambino family ruling panel member Bartolomeo Vernace, and Gambino family associate Robert Bucholz. These defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Five defendants who were associates of the Gambino crime family and charged as part of last year’s takedown in a separate indictment, U.S. v. John Cipolla, et al., have also pled guilty.
Mr. Bharara praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, and the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service. Mr. Bharara also noted that the investigation is continuing.
The case is being handled by the Office’s Organized Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elie Honig, Daniel Chung, and Natalie Lamarque are in charge of the prosecution.
http://www.fbi.gov/newyork/press-releases/2012/five-gambino-crime-family-members-and-associates-plead-guilty-in-manhattan-federal-court?utm_campaign=email-Immediate&utm_medium=email&utm_source=new-york-press-releases&utm_content=92545
| Defendant | Charges | Statutory Maximum | Sentencing |
| Vincenzo Frogiero | Illegal gambling, wire transmission of gambling information | Maximum: 10 years in prison | July 12, 2012 10:00 a.m. |
| Todd LaBarca | RICO; murder conspiracy; narcotics trafficking; extortion; assault; illegal gambling | Maximum: 23 years in prison | July 12, 2012 11:00 a.m. |
| John Brancaccio | RICO; narcotics trafficking; firearms; extortion; illegal gambling | Maximum: 20 years in prison | July 25, 2012 12:45 p.m. |
| Christopher Reynolds | RICO; narcotics trafficking; extortion; assault; illegal gambling | Maximum: Life in prison | July 24, 2012 12:45 p.m. |
| Sean Dunn | RICO conspiracy; narcotics trafficking | Maximum: Life in prison | July 26, 2012 12:45 p.m. |
Saturday, March 3, 2012
Howard Beach mobsters face life in jail after guilty pleas
Two members of the Gambino family pleaded guilty to arranging for women to illegally enter the country and coaxing some of the women to work in Queens strip clubs, according to federal authorities.
Four Gambino crime family members from Howard Beach pleaded guilty last week in Manhattan federal court to a multitude of charges, including narcotics trafficking, extortions, assaults, loansharking, racketeering and gambling, according to federal authorities.
Alphonse Trucchio, Christopher Colon, Michael “Roc” Roccaforte and Anthony Moscatiello face maximum sentences of life in prison for their long rap sheets as part of one of the Mafia’s notorious Five Families, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman heard Trucchio and Colon’s pleas, while U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein heard Roccaforte and Moscatiellos’ pleas, the prosecutor said.
Trucchio and Colon also admitted their guilt in a scheme to arrange for women to enter the United States illegally and then have them work in strip clubs, Bharara said.
A federal immigration official previously identified the clubs as Gallagher’s 2000 in Sunnyside, Perfection in Woodside and Rouge in Maspeth.
“For those who believe La Cosa Nostra’s criminal activities and influence are on the decline, the sweeping charges in this case and today’s guilty pleas should disabuse them of that notion,” Bharara said.
Trucchio is a captain in the Gambino family, meaning he supervises the street-level members of the Gambino mob, and Roccaforte, Colon and Moscatiello were his underlings, Bharara said. Roccaforte and Moscatiello were considered “soldiers” in the family, meaning they were initiated, and Colon was a non-initiated member referred to as an “associate,” the prosecutor said.
In addition to involvement in the strip club scheme, Trucchio is said to have overseen the Gambinos’ involvement in the narcotics trade from the 1980s to 2010, Bharara said. Operating mostly out of Queens through many street dealers, the four men and others distributed cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy and vicodin, which brought the crime family millions, the prosecutor said. They also plead guilty to threatening and assaulting those who could not repay debts owed to the family, Bharara said.
In addition, Trucchio and Colon pleaded guilty to extorting and controlling strip clubs as well as running illegal gambling operations. Trucchio pleaded guilty to ordering two assaults in 2008 and in 2009, and Colon pleaded guilty to stabbing a man in 2008 and hitting a man with his car in 2010, Bharara said.
Trucchio, Roccaforte and Moscatiello were scheduled to be sentenced May 17 and Colon was scheduled to be sentenced June 4, Bharara said.
Others who pleaded guilty to being a part of the Gambino crime family’s activities in the same indictment that charged the four from Howard Beach include Salvatore Tortorici, Frank Bellatoni, Michael Kutenia, Louis Mastrangelo, Frank Roccaforte, Michael Russo and Anthino Russo.
http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2012/9/gambinopleas_we_2012_03_01_q.html
Alphonse Trucchio, Christopher Colon, Michael “Roc” Roccaforte and Anthony Moscatiello face maximum sentences of life in prison for their long rap sheets as part of one of the Mafia’s notorious Five Families, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
U.S. District Judge Richard Berman heard Trucchio and Colon’s pleas, while U.S. Magistrate Judge Gabriel Gorenstein heard Roccaforte and Moscatiellos’ pleas, the prosecutor said.
Trucchio and Colon also admitted their guilt in a scheme to arrange for women to enter the United States illegally and then have them work in strip clubs, Bharara said.
A federal immigration official previously identified the clubs as Gallagher’s 2000 in Sunnyside, Perfection in Woodside and Rouge in Maspeth.
“For those who believe La Cosa Nostra’s criminal activities and influence are on the decline, the sweeping charges in this case and today’s guilty pleas should disabuse them of that notion,” Bharara said.
Trucchio is a captain in the Gambino family, meaning he supervises the street-level members of the Gambino mob, and Roccaforte, Colon and Moscatiello were his underlings, Bharara said. Roccaforte and Moscatiello were considered “soldiers” in the family, meaning they were initiated, and Colon was a non-initiated member referred to as an “associate,” the prosecutor said.
In addition to involvement in the strip club scheme, Trucchio is said to have overseen the Gambinos’ involvement in the narcotics trade from the 1980s to 2010, Bharara said. Operating mostly out of Queens through many street dealers, the four men and others distributed cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy and vicodin, which brought the crime family millions, the prosecutor said. They also plead guilty to threatening and assaulting those who could not repay debts owed to the family, Bharara said.
In addition, Trucchio and Colon pleaded guilty to extorting and controlling strip clubs as well as running illegal gambling operations. Trucchio pleaded guilty to ordering two assaults in 2008 and in 2009, and Colon pleaded guilty to stabbing a man in 2008 and hitting a man with his car in 2010, Bharara said.
Trucchio, Roccaforte and Moscatiello were scheduled to be sentenced May 17 and Colon was scheduled to be sentenced June 4, Bharara said.
Others who pleaded guilty to being a part of the Gambino crime family’s activities in the same indictment that charged the four from Howard Beach include Salvatore Tortorici, Frank Bellatoni, Michael Kutenia, Louis Mastrangelo, Frank Roccaforte, Michael Russo and Anthino Russo.
http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2012/9/gambinopleas_we_2012_03_01_q.html
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Gambino crime family defendants plead guilty
Four men pleaded guilty Friday in a New York federal court to organized crime charges linked to the Gambino crime family, officials said.The charges result from a variety of activities that include assault, loansharking, drug trafficking and trying to recruit illegal aliens to work in adult entertainment clubs.
The Justice Department described the four men, Alphonse Trucchio, Michael Roccaforte, Anthony Moscatiello and Christopher Colon, as being "a captain, two soldiers and an associate of the Gambino organized crime family of La Cosa Nostra."
US Attorney Preet Bharara said, "For those who believe La Cosa Nostra's criminal activities and influence are on the decline, the sweeping charges in this case and today's guilty pleas should disabuse them of that notion."
According to the Justice Department, Trucchio and Gambino family captain Louis Mastrangelo -- who had previously pleaded guilty to criminal charges -- supervised crews of street level criminals, known as soldiers and associates.
From the late 1980s through 2010, Trucchio and his associates oversaw the Gambino family's narcotics distribution network, which was based in Queens, New York, the Justice Department reported.
"Numerous drug suppliers, wholesalers and street dealers operated under the authority and protection of the Gambino family, in exchange for paying the family a portion of their profits," the a Justice Department statement said.
Drugs they distributed included cocaine, marijuana, ecstasy and Vicodin, "which generated millions of dollars in illegal proceeds for the Gambino family," the Justice Department said.
The accused men's other illegal activities included extorting payments from business owners and strip clubs, stabbing one person and hitting another with a car while trying to collect a debt and operating illegal gambling enterprises.
Charges are pending against 11 more defendants. Other people already pleaded guilty in the case.
The FBI, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the State Department's Diplomatic Security Service participated in the investigation.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ijmWpvf1ly8lXQbccMpTUdr6md3w?docId=CNG.c32f6e53d43383b5da1382ade9b053f1.af1
Friday, January 20, 2012
Mob families still feeling the feds sting from one year ago
Here’s the mob’s new motto: Trust no one.
A year after the federal government executed the largest-ever mob crackdown, the remaining members of La Cosa Nostra are still fearful of turncoats amid their ranks.
The anniversary of the FBI’s roundup of 120-plus “made” men and associates is tomorrow — dozens have already pleaded guilty.
And like rats fleeing a sinking ship, a number of family members — including two high-ranking “capos” — have since decided to abandon “the life” for the witness-protection program.
Some of the turncoats have been identified, including ex-captain Reynold Maragni.
But not every informant has yet been unmasked, leading to stress and suspicion among those left in the ranks.
One law-enforcement official said last year’s raid — which nabbed the Colombos’ street boss, acting underboss, consigliere and four captains — left the family’s upper echelon “in complete disarray.”
A defense source agreed.
“People are under house arrest. This has to have a ripple effect,” the source said.
Of the 60 reputed mobsters arrested in the raid by the New York FBI's Colombo/Bonanno squad headed by Seamus McElearney, 41 already have pleaded guilty - including wiseguys from the Colombo, Genovese, Gambino, Bonanno, and DeCavalcante crime families.
Most of the jailed Colombos awaiting trial are housed in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, where some have continued to talk about business and pass messages to mobsters on the outside, court documents show.
"They're still trying to run things from jail," a law enforcement source said.
Others among the some 120 mobsters arrested in the Jan. 2011 raid are gearing up to fight the charges at trial.
Reputed Gambino family consigliere Joseph Corozzo is among five gangsters -- including reputed capo Alphonse Trucchio, son of notorious mobster Ronnie "One-Arm" Trucchio -- scheduled for trial in Manhattan federal court in March.
Corozzo, however, claims the drug-trafficking, extortion, loansharking and gambling charges against him are barred by "double jeopardy" rules due to his 2008 guilty plea for racketeering in Brooklyn.
Trucchio, meanwhile, was busted again in November in a scheme to smuggle women from Eastern Europe to work at mob-controlled strip clubs.
Thirteen other defendants set for trial in Manhattan include Bartolomeo Vernace, who the feds say sat on the Gambino family's three-member "ruling panel," and reputed Gambino associate Todd LaBarca, who's charged with taking part in the 2002 murder of a mobbed-up drug dealer in Queens.
Vernace, a Gambino capo, is also facing a separate trial in Brooklyn federal court for a 1981 double-murder in a Queens bar.
Nine other reputed Gambino associates have already pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court, with two of them -- Frank Roccaforte and Michael "Mush" Russo -- getting sentences of 46 months and 21 months in the slammer, respectively. The other seven are awaiting sentencing.
Some observers view last year's raid with considerable skepticism, arguing that most arrests were for relatively minor crimes while only a few were charged with murder.
Ephraim Savitt, a prominent defense attorney, said he believes the raid was intended to telegraph that the feds are still fighting the Mafia - despite have shifted significant resources after 9-11 to combat terrorism.
"I think the principal aim here was to make a large media splash. Perhaps they felt there's a public perception that they're still not devoting sufficient resources to combat traditional organized crime," Savitt said.
But both law enforcement officials and defense attorney agree on one thing: The New York mob hasn't hoisted a white flag.
"You can be sure that organized crime will resurrect like a phoenix wherever an opportunity to make money presents itself. Organized crime will find a way to take advantage of it," said Walter Mack, the former chief anti-Mafia prosecutor of the Manhattan US Attorney's Office.
A year after the federal government executed the largest-ever mob crackdown, the remaining members of La Cosa Nostra are still fearful of turncoats amid their ranks.
The anniversary of the FBI’s roundup of 120-plus “made” men and associates is tomorrow — dozens have already pleaded guilty.
And like rats fleeing a sinking ship, a number of family members — including two high-ranking “capos” — have since decided to abandon “the life” for the witness-protection program.
Some of the turncoats have been identified, including ex-captain Reynold Maragni.
His secret recordings for the feds helped lead to money-laundering charges this month against Thomas Farese, recently installed as the Colombos’ “consigliere,” or third in charge.
But not every informant has yet been unmasked, leading to stress and suspicion among those left in the ranks.
One law-enforcement official said last year’s raid — which nabbed the Colombos’ street boss, acting underboss, consigliere and four captains — left the family’s upper echelon “in complete disarray.”
A defense source agreed.
“People are under house arrest. This has to have a ripple effect,” the source said.
Of the 60 reputed mobsters arrested in the raid by the New York FBI's Colombo/Bonanno squad headed by Seamus McElearney, 41 already have pleaded guilty - including wiseguys from the Colombo, Genovese, Gambino, Bonanno, and DeCavalcante crime families.
Most of the jailed Colombos awaiting trial are housed in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, where some have continued to talk about business and pass messages to mobsters on the outside, court documents show.
"They're still trying to run things from jail," a law enforcement source said.
Others among the some 120 mobsters arrested in the Jan. 2011 raid are gearing up to fight the charges at trial.
Reputed Gambino family consigliere Joseph Corozzo is among five gangsters -- including reputed capo Alphonse Trucchio, son of notorious mobster Ronnie "One-Arm" Trucchio -- scheduled for trial in Manhattan federal court in March.
Corozzo, however, claims the drug-trafficking, extortion, loansharking and gambling charges against him are barred by "double jeopardy" rules due to his 2008 guilty plea for racketeering in Brooklyn.
Trucchio, meanwhile, was busted again in November in a scheme to smuggle women from Eastern Europe to work at mob-controlled strip clubs.
Thirteen other defendants set for trial in Manhattan include Bartolomeo Vernace, who the feds say sat on the Gambino family's three-member "ruling panel," and reputed Gambino associate Todd LaBarca, who's charged with taking part in the 2002 murder of a mobbed-up drug dealer in Queens.
Vernace, a Gambino capo, is also facing a separate trial in Brooklyn federal court for a 1981 double-murder in a Queens bar.
Nine other reputed Gambino associates have already pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court, with two of them -- Frank Roccaforte and Michael "Mush" Russo -- getting sentences of 46 months and 21 months in the slammer, respectively. The other seven are awaiting sentencing.
Some observers view last year's raid with considerable skepticism, arguing that most arrests were for relatively minor crimes while only a few were charged with murder.
Ephraim Savitt, a prominent defense attorney, said he believes the raid was intended to telegraph that the feds are still fighting the Mafia - despite have shifted significant resources after 9-11 to combat terrorism.
"I think the principal aim here was to make a large media splash. Perhaps they felt there's a public perception that they're still not devoting sufficient resources to combat traditional organized crime," Savitt said.
But both law enforcement officials and defense attorney agree on one thing: The New York mob hasn't hoisted a white flag.
"You can be sure that organized crime will resurrect like a phoenix wherever an opportunity to make money presents itself. Organized crime will find a way to take advantage of it," said Walter Mack, the former chief anti-Mafia prosecutor of the Manhattan US Attorney's Office.
Sunday, December 25, 2011
DHS tries to arrest Gambino Captain at the wrong home address
This is a goof almost too good to be true.
Mob expert Jerry Capeci of Gang Land News reports that the feds — more specifically, federal agents with the Department of Homeland Security — were a little embarrassed a few weeks ago when they tried arresting Gambino crime family capo Alphonse Trucchio.
The feds phoned Trucchio and told him to step outside his South Ozone Park, Queens home so they could arrest him on racketeering charges, according to Gang Land News.
Problem was, when Trucchio stepped outside, no one was there, Gang Land reported. Inside, shortly after, the phone rang again.
“If you don’t come outside now, we’re going to break the door down,” warned an agitated agent, Gang Land reported.
“Where are you? I just went outside and there was no one there,” said Trucchio, according to Gang Land.
The agents said they were outside his Howard Beach home.
“I don’t live there anymore,” replied the gangster, according to Gang Land. “I’ve been living here for 10 years…I’m on house arrest on an electronic monitor – and you don’t know where I am?!”
Gang Land reported that he then gave the agents the right address.
http://www.ticklethewire.com/2011/12/24/oops-fed-agents-big-goof-in-arrest-of-ny-mobster/
Mob expert Jerry Capeci of Gang Land News reports that the feds — more specifically, federal agents with the Department of Homeland Security — were a little embarrassed a few weeks ago when they tried arresting Gambino crime family capo Alphonse Trucchio.
The feds phoned Trucchio and told him to step outside his South Ozone Park, Queens home so they could arrest him on racketeering charges, according to Gang Land News.
Problem was, when Trucchio stepped outside, no one was there, Gang Land reported. Inside, shortly after, the phone rang again.
“If you don’t come outside now, we’re going to break the door down,” warned an agitated agent, Gang Land reported.
“Where are you? I just went outside and there was no one there,” said Trucchio, according to Gang Land.
The agents said they were outside his Howard Beach home.
“I don’t live there anymore,” replied the gangster, according to Gang Land. “I’ve been living here for 10 years…I’m on house arrest on an electronic monitor – and you don’t know where I am?!”
Gang Land reported that he then gave the agents the right address.
http://www.ticklethewire.com/2011/12/24/oops-fed-agents-big-goof-in-arrest-of-ny-mobster/
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
New York Mafia and Russian mob joined to lure women as strippers
The Mafia teamed up with the Russian mob to lure Eastern European beauties to work as strippers in New York — and even arranged sham marriages for them, the feds say.
Twenty suspects, including seven reputed Gambino and Bonanno mobsters, were slated to appear in Manhattan Federal Court on Wednesday to face charges of extortion, visa fraud, marriage fraud and racketeering.
The schemers allegedly recruited women in Russia and neighboring countries through Facebook and newspaper ads to work at flesh palaces like Cheetah’s in Manhattan and Perfection in Queens.
Visa rules would have barred them from adult entertainment, though, so the suspects arranged bogus offers for summer waitressing jobs and then had the women apply for seasonal visas, prosecutors said.
“Some members of the organization, recruiters for the organization, would actually solicit women as they got off the plane at JFK airport with their visas in hand, ready to go off to work at summer camps or as nannies for a couple months," said Immigration and Customs Enforcement Special Agent-in-Charge James Hayes.
In the most audacious part of the scheme, the mobsters sent female emissaries to upstate New York to find single men willing to marry strippers in exchange $5,000.
The sham nuptials gave some dancers legal status to stay in the U.S. and work in the clubs.
Although some of the women didn’t realize they would be giving lap dances for a living when they signed up for the visas, they were not forced to work in the clubs, officials said.
However, they did give the suspects money for housing, transportation to and from work, and an employment fee, authorities said.
“The defendants themselves had one thing in common: the desire to turn the women they allegedly helped enter this country illegally into their personal profit centers,” said Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.
The indictment identifies seven of the suspects as made members or associates of the mob — including reputed Gambino captain Alphonse Trucchio and alleged Bonanno captain Anthony (Perry Como) Frascone.
Prosecutors say they controlled strip clubs in Manhattan, Queens and Long Island with iron fists, shaking down protection money from the club owners and overseeing disputes about how the women were parceled out to the clubs.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Mob snitch Howard Santos admits to taping girlfriend and self in sexual act
Mob rat Howard Santos was caught on wire admitting he secretly recorded himself and girlfriend having sex but tape ran out as he showed it to buds
.
The woman had no idea Howard Santos was shooting a homemade porno, he bragged to the Gambino goons while they chowed on White Castle burgers, according to court papers.
"Santos is a degenerate in every sense of the word," said defense lawyer Joseph DeBenedetto who represents reputed Gambino soldier Anthony Moscatiello.
"Santos is a pervert who has no regard...for the mother of his child," DeBenedetto argues in papers in Manhattan Federal Court seeking bail for his client.
The sleazy snitch was caught on the wire he was wearing for the feds as he regaled Moscatiello's co-defendant with his sexual and failed cinematic exploits.
Santos had set up a hidden camera in his Howard Beach apartment - but there was a problem.
"So like I'm inviting her over for one of my booty calls," Santos says, according to court papers. "So I turn it on like 15 minutes, ya know, 20 minutes before she got there."
He continued: "And I'm f------ around and...I'm waving at the camcorder and ya know I'm making a joke out of it."
After his then-girlfriend left, Santos invited his buddies over to watch the sex show. But he found out size does matter - the tape ran out before the sex began.
"We f------ sit down eating White Castle, throw the tape in the TV, getting ready to watch you know me, the big shot," he says.
"Uh, we're watching me pacing back and forth, you f----- see the tape cut off," according to the court papers.
The woman he tried to record, whom he later married and divorced, did not respond to messages from the Daily News.
DeBenedetto said the feds should be more particular about who they lay down with.
"I look forward to cross-examining him and making him squeal like that pig that he is," DeBenedetto told The News.
Last year, the feds were forced to offer sweet plea deals in another Gambino indictment after it surfaced that the mob rat in that case, Jude Buoneto, was a convicted child molester.
Santos, 44, began cooperating with the feds after he was arrested for burglarizing an electronics store in New Jersey.
Moscatiello's bail letter asserts Santos was involved in the murder of an elderly Queens man during a home invasion robbery and other violent incidents.
"I take Xanax...it keeps me calm because I'm high-strung....Otherwise I would be looking to kill everybody," Santos says in another taped conversation.
The Gambinos learned Santos had flipped when reputed capo Alphonse Trucchio spotted him sitting in a car with an FBI agent on Queens Blvd., the website Gangland News reported earlier.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Call him a tan-fella! Mob suspect misses big bust on vacation in sunny Hawaii
The Feds have a message for reputed Gambino associate Kevin Croce, who's on vacation in sunny Hawaii: Wish you were here.
The temperature in Honolulu was 82 degrees Friday, but it's a lot hotter in New York City, where Croce was indicted on drug-trafficking charges in Thursday's massive mob takedown.
Croce, said to be a member of Gambino capo Alphonse Trucchio's crew, wasn't home when the feds came calling, but word that he was a wanted man quickly reached him 5,000 miles away.
Lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman contacted the FBI Friday and assured agents that Croce is cutting short his fun in the sun.
"We've arranged for his self-surrender on Monday morning," Lichtman said. "He strongly maintains his innocence and intends on going to trial."
Croce faces up to life in prison if convicted of the charges filed in Manhattan Federal Court.
Mob associate Robert Berliner, who was on vacation in California when his indictment was unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court, flew back Friday morning, sources said.
Meanwhile, new details emerged in the bombshell charge against reputed Colombo capo Reynold (Ren) Maragni, accused of attempting to bribe "a public servant in the State of Florida" to commute a jail sentence.
Maragni claimed that he could get former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to reduce the sentence of a relative of a cooperating witness with the help of a contact he described as a lawyer, according to sources and court papers.
"I don't have any idea what this is about or who this guy [Maragni] is," Crist told the Daily News in a telephone interview.
"The allegations that you've described I've never heard of before," Crist said.
Maragni was secretly taped discussing the scheme with the cooperating witness, who gave the gangster $20,000 in November as the first of three planned payments.
After Maragni said he could not deliver the bribe money to his contact for several weeks, the witness asked for the money back and Maragni agreed, court papers state.
Maragni's lawyer Joseph Benfanti declined to comment.
"It could have been bravado or maybe there's something to it," a law enforcement official said.
The temperature in Honolulu was 82 degrees Friday, but it's a lot hotter in New York City, where Croce was indicted on drug-trafficking charges in Thursday's massive mob takedown.
Croce, said to be a member of Gambino capo Alphonse Trucchio's crew, wasn't home when the feds came calling, but word that he was a wanted man quickly reached him 5,000 miles away.
Lawyer Jeffrey Lichtman contacted the FBI Friday and assured agents that Croce is cutting short his fun in the sun.
"We've arranged for his self-surrender on Monday morning," Lichtman said. "He strongly maintains his innocence and intends on going to trial."
Croce faces up to life in prison if convicted of the charges filed in Manhattan Federal Court.
Mob associate Robert Berliner, who was on vacation in California when his indictment was unsealed in Brooklyn Federal Court, flew back Friday morning, sources said.
Meanwhile, new details emerged in the bombshell charge against reputed Colombo capo Reynold (Ren) Maragni, accused of attempting to bribe "a public servant in the State of Florida" to commute a jail sentence.
Maragni claimed that he could get former Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to reduce the sentence of a relative of a cooperating witness with the help of a contact he described as a lawyer, according to sources and court papers.
"I don't have any idea what this is about or who this guy [Maragni] is," Crist told the Daily News in a telephone interview.
"The allegations that you've described I've never heard of before," Crist said.
Maragni was secretly taped discussing the scheme with the cooperating witness, who gave the gangster $20,000 in November as the first of three planned payments.
After Maragni said he could not deliver the bribe money to his contact for several weeks, the witness asked for the money back and Maragni agreed, court papers state.
Maragni's lawyer Joseph Benfanti declined to comment.
"It could have been bravado or maybe there's something to it," a law enforcement official said.
Colombos and Gambinos Clashed Over Stabbed Associate's Medical Bills
You know who needs ObamaCare? Mobsters.
Tucked deep within a mountain of papers detailing the biggest Mafia bust in history is a strange but true tale of how one organized crime family shook down another -- over a wiseguy's medical bills.
The Colombos' curious foray into health care came last spring, when family associate Walter Samperi was stabbed by a low-level Gambino thug -- a major faux pax in gangland, where rules call for such violence to be sanctioned by bosses.
After Samperi was attacked and racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, Colombo and Gambino higher-ups had several formal sit-downs about who was going to cough up the cannolis.
One meeting was presided over by Colombo street boss Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo in a Staten Island house.
Naturally, a rat was wearing a wire.
It was decided the Gambinos would cover Samperi's medical expenses with a one-time payment of $150,000 -- $100,000 of which would come from that clan's illegally skimmed cut of the proceeds of the annual Figli di Santa Rosalia celebration on 18th Avenue in Brooklyn.
Samperi never saw that money. Like a bad health-insurance claim, the Gambinos didn't pay out.
Samperi, it is believed, then traveled to Italy to take advantage of its free health-care system.
An indictment unsealed Thursday charged Russo, acting Colombo underboss Benjamin "The Claw" Castellazzo, consigliere Richard "Richie" Fusco, captain Dennis "Fat Dennis" DeLucia and acting captain Anthony "Big Anthony" Russo with extorting the Gambinos.
In another wiretap, the same Russo was overheard laughing about a stray bullet that had blown the hat off his head.
According to the tale, he had been in car watching psycho Colombo associate John Pappa fatally shoot gang member Joseph Scopo in 1993 in Ozone Park, Queens, when the ricocheting bullet whizzed by.
"I jumped out of the car. I was like a f- - -ing mad hatter!" he tells a friend. "I didn't know what to do."
Last year, Gambino associate Howard Santos had his own close call in a car.
He was outed as a rat because he was spied in a tete-a-tete with a fed in his own vehicle.
Gambino captain Alphonse Trucchio spotted Santos' empty car parked near the FBI's office in Kew Gardens, Queens.
Trucchio, according to a story veteran mob reporter Jerry Capeci detailed for the Huffington Post, doubled back to find Santos sitting in the car with a G-Man. Trucchio quickly spread the word about Santos' betrayal -- but the damage was done.
Trucchio, Gambino consigliere Joseph "JoJo" Corozzo, the clan's ruling panel member Bartolomeo "Pepe" Vernace and others were charged Thursday with crimes based on secret recordings Santos made.
Even when mobsters take steps to thwart feds' mob-busting efforts, they can still step in trouble with their big mouths.
Last month, the Colombo street boss Anthony Russo canceled a mob induction ceremony that was supposed to welcome associate Illario Sessa on Dec. 7 as a "made" man. He had caught wind that federal agents would be watching the proceedings.
In a recording made by a turncoat, Sessa frets that he is no longer in the running to be made.
He also admits having traveled to retrieve a pistol that was to have been used in the ceremony -- which could mean big problems for him with authorities, given his prior criminal record.
"What do think happened? The whole thing's dead," Sessa said, according to the filing. "This guy shut it down, closed down or stopped it completely."
"[Anthony] makes me go all the way back to the place to get the pistol . . . I didn't want to start," Sessa said. "I got three felonies, too."
When mobsters try to help out their mammas, they get into trouble.
Before Thursday's indictment on charges of extortion, elderly Patriarca clan boss Luigi "Baby Shacks" Manocchio's only recent conviction dated back to 1999, when he pleaded guilty to giving his then-90-year-old mom a stolen fridge and dishwasher for her Providence, RI, home.
"What can I say?" Manocchio told reporters after his guilty plea.
Where’d they get a name like that?
* John “Johnny Bandana” Brancaccio
Gambino associate
He’s a fan of wearing a bandana.
* Giovanni “LITTLE John” VELLA
Gambino family
Giovanni is short for John in English.
* Daniel “Uncle Danny” Cilenti
Genovese soldier
He’s the uncle of two other made men who were also busted.
* Michael “Jello” Kuhtenia
Gambino associate
Has a physique that looks like he’s been enjoying way too many Pudding Pops.
* Luigi “Baby Shacks” Manocchio
Former boss of Patriarcas
Had a reputation for “shacking up” with women, and an older mobster already had the nickname “Shacks.”
* Tony “Bagels” Cavezza
No rank or affiliation
Has owned several “legitimate” businesses, including a bagel shop on Long Island.
* Frank “Meatball” Bellantoni
Gambino associate
He looks like two meatballs on top of each other.
* Vincenzo “Vinnie Carwash” Frogerio
Gambino soldier
Runs a “legitimate” carwash in Queens.
* Ilario “Fat Larry” Sessa
Colombo associate
Law enforcement says he weighs 400 pounds.
* Michael “Roc” Roccaforte
Gambino soldier
Fellow mobsters were too lazy to say his whole last name, according to a mob-world watcher.
Tucked deep within a mountain of papers detailing the biggest Mafia bust in history is a strange but true tale of how one organized crime family shook down another -- over a wiseguy's medical bills.
The Colombos' curious foray into health care came last spring, when family associate Walter Samperi was stabbed by a low-level Gambino thug -- a major faux pax in gangland, where rules call for such violence to be sanctioned by bosses.
After Samperi was attacked and racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, Colombo and Gambino higher-ups had several formal sit-downs about who was going to cough up the cannolis.
Naturally, a rat was wearing a wire.
It was decided the Gambinos would cover Samperi's medical expenses with a one-time payment of $150,000 -- $100,000 of which would come from that clan's illegally skimmed cut of the proceeds of the annual Figli di Santa Rosalia celebration on 18th Avenue in Brooklyn.
Samperi never saw that money. Like a bad health-insurance claim, the Gambinos didn't pay out.
Samperi, it is believed, then traveled to Italy to take advantage of its free health-care system.
An indictment unsealed Thursday charged Russo, acting Colombo underboss Benjamin "The Claw" Castellazzo, consigliere Richard "Richie" Fusco, captain Dennis "Fat Dennis" DeLucia and acting captain Anthony "Big Anthony" Russo with extorting the Gambinos.
In another wiretap, the same Russo was overheard laughing about a stray bullet that had blown the hat off his head.
According to the tale, he had been in car watching psycho Colombo associate John Pappa fatally shoot gang member Joseph Scopo in 1993 in Ozone Park, Queens, when the ricocheting bullet whizzed by.
"I jumped out of the car. I was like a f- - -ing mad hatter!" he tells a friend. "I didn't know what to do."
Last year, Gambino associate Howard Santos had his own close call in a car.
He was outed as a rat because he was spied in a tete-a-tete with a fed in his own vehicle.
Gambino captain Alphonse Trucchio spotted Santos' empty car parked near the FBI's office in Kew Gardens, Queens.
Trucchio, according to a story veteran mob reporter Jerry Capeci detailed for the Huffington Post, doubled back to find Santos sitting in the car with a G-Man. Trucchio quickly spread the word about Santos' betrayal -- but the damage was done.
Trucchio, Gambino consigliere Joseph "JoJo" Corozzo, the clan's ruling panel member Bartolomeo "Pepe" Vernace and others were charged Thursday with crimes based on secret recordings Santos made.
Even when mobsters take steps to thwart feds' mob-busting efforts, they can still step in trouble with their big mouths.
Last month, the Colombo street boss Anthony Russo canceled a mob induction ceremony that was supposed to welcome associate Illario Sessa on Dec. 7 as a "made" man. He had caught wind that federal agents would be watching the proceedings.
He also admits having traveled to retrieve a pistol that was to have been used in the ceremony -- which could mean big problems for him with authorities, given his prior criminal record.
"What do think happened? The whole thing's dead," Sessa said, according to the filing. "This guy shut it down, closed down or stopped it completely."
"[Anthony] makes me go all the way back to the place to get the pistol . . . I didn't want to start," Sessa said. "I got three felonies, too."
When mobsters try to help out their mammas, they get into trouble.
Before Thursday's indictment on charges of extortion, elderly Patriarca clan boss Luigi "Baby Shacks" Manocchio's only recent conviction dated back to 1999, when he pleaded guilty to giving his then-90-year-old mom a stolen fridge and dishwasher for her Providence, RI, home.
"What can I say?" Manocchio told reporters after his guilty plea.
Where’d they get a name like that?
* John “Johnny Bandana” Brancaccio
Gambino associate
He’s a fan of wearing a bandana.
* Giovanni “LITTLE John” VELLA
Gambino family
Giovanni is short for John in English.
* Daniel “Uncle Danny” Cilenti
Genovese soldier
He’s the uncle of two other made men who were also busted.
* Michael “Jello” Kuhtenia
Gambino associate
Has a physique that looks like he’s been enjoying way too many Pudding Pops.
* Luigi “Baby Shacks” Manocchio
Former boss of Patriarcas
Had a reputation for “shacking up” with women, and an older mobster already had the nickname “Shacks.”
* Tony “Bagels” Cavezza
No rank or affiliation
Has owned several “legitimate” businesses, including a bagel shop on Long Island.
* Frank “Meatball” Bellantoni
Gambino associate
He looks like two meatballs on top of each other.
* Vincenzo “Vinnie Carwash” Frogerio
Gambino soldier
Runs a “legitimate” carwash in Queens.
* Ilario “Fat Larry” Sessa
Colombo associate
Law enforcement says he weighs 400 pounds.
* Michael “Roc” Roccaforte
Gambino soldier
Fellow mobsters were too lazy to say his whole last name, according to a mob-world watcher.
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