Leadership of Bonanno family robbed at gunpoint in Bronx social club
Showing posts with label Michael Mancuso. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Michael Mancuso. Show all posts
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Monday, July 31, 2023
Pasta conversation sends Bonanno Boss back to jail for parole violation
Reputed Bonanno mob boss Michael “The Nose’’ Mancuso is headed back to the slammer for 11 months — thanks partly to a phone chat with an alleged fellow wiseguy about making pasta “gravy.”
Mancuso, 68, who was released in 2019 after serving a decade in prison for signing off on a murderous hit, also had been using his girlfriend’s Long Island eyeglass shop as a meet-up spot to huddle with mob types and chowed at eateries with them, prosecutors said.
All of the occasions were no no’s, since Mancuso has been barred from any contact with other convicted felons.
“Are you gonna do the gravy today or make the sauce?” Mancuso asked reputed Colombo soldier Michael Urvino on an Oct. 24, 2020, wiretapped call, according to a transcript previously presented by prosecutors in court to argue Mancuso was violating his release provisions.
Urvino responded, “No, I’m making it in the morning … cause we’re not gonna eat early. What time you want to eat tomorrow?”
“The Nose” responded, “I don’t care, five o’clock or so?”
The conversation appears innocent, given that other times Mancuso allegedly used code words for Mafia business, the feds flagged it up in the papers.
But the Italian food chit-chat was still taboo, since Urvino was convicted of racketeering, illegal gambling and conspiracy.
Mancuso attended his Brooklyn federal court hearing over the violations Friday — accompanied by eyeglass purveyor and girlfriend Laura Keller — and was slapped with the additional prison time over the forbidden contact with the reputed La Cosa Nostra members.
Mancuso used Keller’s Great Neck eyeglass shop Real Eyes Optical “as a meeting place” while he tried to cover up his rendezvous with the alleged fellow wiseguys, prosecutors said in court papers in May.
In some of Mancuso’s calls, others could be heard “talking about Mafia business,” prosecutor Michael Gibaldi said during the Friday hearing as he asked the judge to put Mancuso away for another two years.
Gibaldi said Mancuso attended “at least one dinner where Mafia business was discussed” and added that he had “significant concerns about these contacts.”
Mancuso went to one Oct. 7, 2020, dinner at Elmont’s Salvatore’s restaurant that was attended by Uvino, Colombo captain Vincent Ricciardo, convict David Del Franco, Gambino associate Vito Cortesiano and convict Joseph Russo, the feds claim.
But Mancuso’s lawyer, Stacy Richman insisted that while he may have violated the conditions of his release, he had committed “no crimes.”
Brooklyn federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis told Mancuso he must surrender Sept. 6 to serve the new prison term.
“In between now and then, there are no dinners,” the judge said.
“This isn’t about someone who is jumping a turnstile,” Garaufis said. “This is about being in touch with individuals or members who are associated with organized crime or have a history of felonies.”
The judge also said that when Mancuso gets out, he can’t go back to the eyeglass shop during his three years of supervised release.
Mancuso went to prison after pleading guilty to murder conspiracy for signing off on the hit of Bonanno associate Randolph Pizzolo in 2004 when he was acting boss.
Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano had ordered the murder while he was locked up because Pizzolo was considered reckless and disobedient and Mancuso had Dominick Cicale carry out the deed.
https://nypost.com/2023/07/28/reputed-bonanno-mobster-heading-back-to-prison-thanks-partly-to-pasta-sauce-chat/
Tuesday, June 20, 2023
Tuesday, February 14, 2023
Saturday, July 30, 2022
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Murderous Boss of the Bonanno family posts $500k bail after violating his supervised release for meeting with Colombo family
The killer boss of the Bonanno crime family hid his face and refused to answer Daily News questions after he was released on a $500,000 bond Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn accused Michael “The Nose” Mancuso, 67, of associating with members of organized crime, violating the terms of his supervised release, which came after served 15 years in prison for his role in the 2004 death of mob associate Randolph Pizzolo.
“Don’t you have something better to do?” asked a woman standing with Mancuso in a park across from the courthouse when a reporter with The News tried Tuesday to question the Bonanno head honcho.
“Go cure cancer,” she added.
Mancuso did not respond to questions and hid his face behind his black leather coat.
He was not much more loquacious in court, responding only “deny” when asked by Judge James Cho whether the allegations that he had associated with other members of La Cosa Nostra were true.
Mancuso got caught up twice in federal wiretaps related to a separate investigation of the Colombo crime family, which resulted in 14 arrests, a law enforcement source told The News.
The 67-year-old Bonanno skipper has been out of prison for nearly three years after serving his 15-year stretch for helping carry out former Bonanno boss Vincent Basciano’s order to kill Pizzolo, who had botched a construction project for Basciano.
The hit man who carried out the killing, Anthony "Ace" Aiello, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a 30-year minimum term.
The feds say he twice violated the terms of his supervised release — in Aug. 2020 and again in June 2021 — by associating with organized crime figures.
Law enforcement officials filed a petition charging him with the violations on March 9, two days before his supervised release term was to expire.
Michael Mancuso, the reputed boss of the Bonanno crime family.
Associating with organized crime — though it violates the terms of his supervised release — is nothing new for Mancuso. He was already running the Bonanno family while locked up with five years left on his federal sentence, sources told The News in 2013.
Mancuso also served a ten-year state sentence for fatally shooting his wife in The Bronx in 1984.
He sat in court during the hearing Tuesday with his arm around the woman who snapped at the reporter.
His wife and two daughters signed onto his bond.
Mancuso’s attorney, Stacey Richman, declined to comment.
https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-bonanno-boss-michael-mancuso-released-500-thousand-bond-mob-mafia-20220315-rd63gzsjljbl5e4d6agc4cztaa-story.html
Friday, September 3, 2021
Thursday, December 6, 2018
Canadian mobster was also the underboss of the Buffalo crime family
Domenico Violi asked the judge for a moment with his family before being sent to prison for serious drug trafficking; he exchanged hugs and kisses with his wife and his 20-year-old daughter and high-fives with his 17-year-old son as supporters who overflowed from the courtroom variously cried and clapped.
The end of Monday’s hearing was about Violi’s family. It started, however, with family of a different sort.
Violi, 52, was caught in an ambitious police probe that, as officials said at the time of his arrest, penetrated organized crime at its highest level and featured a co-operating turncoat mobster becoming a “made member” of a New York Mafia family.
The probe gathered a treasure trove of revelations and allegations in recorded conversations, capturing professed secrets, gossip and internal affairs.
The wiretaps, although untested in court, suggest a re-evaluation of some of what is publicly known about the current state of legendary Mafia families in the U.S., often referred to as La Cosa Nostra.
Violi, for instance, allegedly claimed on wiretap recordings that he had been made the Underboss of the Buffalo Mafia, the second-highest position in American Mafia families. If the claim is true, he would be the only person in Canada to ever be named to one of the top leadership positions in any U.S.-based Mafia clan.
It is shocking for several reasons, not the least of which is that the Buffalo Mafia, although once a powerful cross-border criminal enterprise, has been moribund for years.
The conversations suggest a resurrection as well as open lines of communications between the major American mob families remaining intact despite fierce law enforcement crackdowns that caused disarray.
And, according to the documents, the Mafia’s legendary Commission, the ruling body over all of the main American mob families, may no longer be a completely mothballed, inactive institution.
*****
“Domenic,
you know you made history,” Violi said the alleged boss of the Buffalo
Mafia family told him in 2017 after Violi was promoted to the position
of Underboss, according to a wiretap summary tendered in court.Violi asked what he meant.
Nobody in Canada has ever held such a high position, Violi said he was told, according to his own recounting caught on an RCMP recording.
It was such a unique situation that the Buffalo boss had consulted “the Commission” about it, the conversation continued. The opinion, he said, was that as long as someone is a member of the Mafia he is entitled to hold leadership positions within that family.
He was arrested a month later, after his alleged promotion.
Violi acknowledged through an agreed statement of facts that he met numerous times with the informant, who was a trusted associate and then official “made” member of the Bonanno Family. He did not, however, adopt the Crown’s allegations of far-reaching Mafia involvement.
The conversations were recorded between 2015 and 2017 and the information could not be independently corroborated. The informant was not named in court.
Outside court, Violi’s lawyer, Dean Paquette, said his client did not accept the Crown’s Mafia allegations.
“We never had an issue about pleading guilty of the drugs. There were other charges on the information that we would have fought,” Paquette said, referring to criminal organization charges.
After Violi recounted story to his friend, the New York mobster leaned in and kissed Violi in a traditional show of respect, the Crown’s evidence claimed.
He told Violi it was “in his blood.”
Violi was indeed born in the shadow the Mafia.
He is the eldest son of Paolo Violi, who was the powerful head of the Montreal mob until his shotgun murder in 1978 by the family of rival Vito Rizzuto, who then seized the city’s underworld throne. All of Violi’s uncles on that side of his family were similarly massacred.
It was Luppino who helped forge an alliance between Hamilton’s mobsters and the Mafia of Buffalo, which at the time was a powerful entity.
The Buffalo mob has since fallen on hard times. Old-timers who had run the group for years were dying of old age or retiring with little sign of new blood coming in, including Joe Todaro Sr., who was known by the nickname Lead Pipe Joe and was Joseph Todaro’s father.
The police evidence gathered during the three-year probe claim the organization was being resuscitated as the last reputed boss, Leonard "The Calzone" Falzone, was ailing. He died in 2016.
The reorganization seemed to begin in 2014.
Violi himself said he was inducted into the Buffalo Family as a “made” member in January 2015, according to the documents, and around the same time, Rocco Luppino, Giacomo Luppino’s son, was allegedly named “captain” of the group’s outpost in Canada; a younger Luppino relative was asked if he wished to also be “made.”
Violi said he beat out 30 other guys to become Underboss, the documents claim. All would have to be “made members” of the Buffalo Family to be considered for the post.
The mobsters, the documents allege, were clear that Todaro held the reigns of power within the re-emergent Buffalo organization; the men said that nobody became a member without going through Todaro first. They said a mobster in the area was either under Todaro or they needed to pack their bags and leave.
In keeping with mob tradition, in an attempt to protect the boss, Violi and the informant sometimes made a hand gesture instead of speaking Todaro’s name: they would put their fingers to their mouth as if puffing a cigar or cigarette, the documents allege.
There was debate, according to the informant’s alleged conversations with Violi’s younger brother, Giuseppe "Joe or Joey" Violi, on whether he should be “made” by the Bonanno Family, to which their father belonged, or by Buffalo.
Giuseppe Violi was arrested in the same police operation. In June he pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to import cocaine, trafficking cocaine, and trafficking fentanyl and was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
Todaro runs a highly successful pizzeria in Buffalo and, last year, in an article on the demise of the Buffalo Mafia in the Buffalo News, Todaro is quoted saying he works seven days a week at his restaurant, just as his father did.
“I’m not going to comment” on organized crime questions, he said, according to the newspaper, “but if you want a great recipe for cheese and pepperoni, I’ll tell you.”
Maureen Dempsey, a spokeswoman with the FBI’s Buffalo office, said she could not confirm or deny any of the allegations.
The evidence from the RCMP probe suggests the lines of communication between mob families remains robust.
Soon after Violi was allegedly made Underboss, according to the documents, at least three of the families had already been told. Michael "Mikey Nose" Mancuso, the boss of the Bonanno Family knew, the documents say, and the Genovese Family and the Colombo Family also had been told.
The news apparently flowed both ways between New York and Buffalo. After the informant was “made,” a mobster named John “Porky” Zancocchio had allegedly told mobsters in Buffalo, the informant told Violi.
Paquette outlined the contributions Violi made to the community through charity and community service.
“He’s going to pay a price for what he’s done, but that’s not all of who he is and it would be a mistake to make that judgment,” he said outside court.
“There is another side of him that people genuinely find that he’s done good things,” he said noting the large crowd of supporters.
The courtroom could have been filled twice over by his supporters — young and old, men and women, entire families with babies — who waited in the hallway after being refused entry because there were no more seats.
“It says a lot about Domenic’s larger character.”
https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/shocking-mob-trial-allegation-hamilton-crime-figure-was-underboss-of-buffalo-mafia
Monday, January 18, 2016
Troubled Bonanno crime family anoints new Long Island based street boss
He's got the worst job in organized crime, but somebody’s gotta do it.
Meet Joseph Cammarano Jr., the top banana on the street for the beleaguered Bonanno crime family — or what’s left of it.
The home of organized crime figure Joseph Cammarano, Jr., the new street boss of the beleaguered Bonanno crime family is shown on January, 17, 2016, on Long Island.
Cammarano has been anointed acting underboss, a federal prosecutor revealed in Brooklyn Federal Court last week at the arraignment of three Bonanno gangsters, but sources say he wears a second hat as the crime family’s street boss, too.
Cammarano’s promotion has the blessing of the Bonannos’ jailed official boss, Michael "Mikey Nose" Mancuso, sources said.
Despite the setbacks the crime family has endured over the last decade, sources say cutting off the heads hasn’t killed the beast.
“It’s clear they’re trying to rebuild,” a law enforcement source told the Daily News.
But, with an FBI target on his back, Cammarano probably doesn’t have much time to make his mark.
Evidence photo of Joseph Cammarano, Jr., from the racketeering trial of Bonanno crime boss Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano.
His father, one-time underboss Joseph Cammarano Sr., died in prison in September 2013 while serving time for a gangland murder. The family has had a succession of at least six bosses since Joseph Massino was arrested in 2003 and decided to become the highest-ranking mob rat in history. Ever since then, the family has been infested with informants and cooperators.
Cammarano Jr. “is a unique man,” defense lawyer Elizabeth Macedonio wrote to a judge in a 2007 extortion case. “He is defined by his sense of selflessness, his strong commitment to family and his endless contributions to his country and community.”
Despite the praise, the mobster was convicted of strong-arming a Colombo mob wiseguy. He served out his 27-month sentence in prison.
Known as Joe C. Jr., the 56-year-old Cammarano grew up in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, joined the Navy after graduating from high school and served on a nuclear submarine in an elite patrol unit that conducted classified missions.
His wife, Angela, is the daughter of Bonanno soldier Vito Grimaldi, who owns Grimaldi Bakery in Queens.
While he was in the can on the prior case, Cammarano and his wife “both miss(ed) the mundane aspects of their relationship like sharing tea at the end of the day,” court papers revealed.
The couple lives in a modest home in Glen Cove, L.I.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/exclusive-mob-boss-rebuilding-left-crime-family-article-1.2499943
Meet Joseph Cammarano Jr., the top banana on the street for the beleaguered Bonanno crime family — or what’s left of it.
The home of organized crime figure Joseph Cammarano, Jr., the new street boss of the beleaguered Bonanno crime family is shown on January, 17, 2016, on Long Island.
Cammarano has been anointed acting underboss, a federal prosecutor revealed in Brooklyn Federal Court last week at the arraignment of three Bonanno gangsters, but sources say he wears a second hat as the crime family’s street boss, too.
Cammarano’s promotion has the blessing of the Bonannos’ jailed official boss, Michael "Mikey Nose" Mancuso, sources said.
Despite the setbacks the crime family has endured over the last decade, sources say cutting off the heads hasn’t killed the beast.
“It’s clear they’re trying to rebuild,” a law enforcement source told the Daily News.
But, with an FBI target on his back, Cammarano probably doesn’t have much time to make his mark.
Evidence photo of Joseph Cammarano, Jr., from the racketeering trial of Bonanno crime boss Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano.
His father, one-time underboss Joseph Cammarano Sr., died in prison in September 2013 while serving time for a gangland murder. The family has had a succession of at least six bosses since Joseph Massino was arrested in 2003 and decided to become the highest-ranking mob rat in history. Ever since then, the family has been infested with informants and cooperators.
Cammarano Jr. “is a unique man,” defense lawyer Elizabeth Macedonio wrote to a judge in a 2007 extortion case. “He is defined by his sense of selflessness, his strong commitment to family and his endless contributions to his country and community.”
Despite the praise, the mobster was convicted of strong-arming a Colombo mob wiseguy. He served out his 27-month sentence in prison.
Known as Joe C. Jr., the 56-year-old Cammarano grew up in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, joined the Navy after graduating from high school and served on a nuclear submarine in an elite patrol unit that conducted classified missions.
His wife, Angela, is the daughter of Bonanno soldier Vito Grimaldi, who owns Grimaldi Bakery in Queens.
While he was in the can on the prior case, Cammarano and his wife “both miss(ed) the mundane aspects of their relationship like sharing tea at the end of the day,” court papers revealed.
The couple lives in a modest home in Glen Cove, L.I.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/exclusive-mob-boss-rebuilding-left-crime-family-article-1.2499943
Monday, April 6, 2015
Bonanno captain turns down crime family promotion to consigliere
They made him an offer he refused.
Getting promoted to the powerful position of consigliere in a Mafia crime family apparently isn’t what it was once cracked up to be.
So says the lawyer for reputed Bonanno capo Jack Bonventre, who prosecutors say declined the high-ranking post.
“He (Bonventre) turned it down, he didn’t want it,” Bonanno gangster Vincent Asaro blabbed in a conversation with an associate that was secretly recorded on March 8, 2013. “Jack didn’t want no part of this no more.”
Bonventre is facing 21 to 27 months in prison when he’s sentenced this month for collecting a loanshark debt, and defense lawyer Gordon Mehler argues in court papers that the job offer for consigliere — Italian for counselor — should not be held against his client.
Mehler complains that the feds are exaggerating the relevance of the alleged promotion.
“Assuming that this is even true, traditional organized crime families in New York are now weaker than 20 or 30 years ago and the Bonanno family in particular has been largely decimated by arrests and defections. Being considered for consigliere does not have the same meaning as it once did,” Mehler wrote to Brooklyn Federal Judge Allyne Ross.
Robert Duvall (l.) played the consigliere in the "Godfather" films. He's seen with Al Pacino in a scene at the Senate Hearing in "The Godfather II."
JThe Bonannos’ last publicly identified consigliere is Anthony "Fat Anthony" Rabito.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Nicole Argentieri and Alicyn Cooley disagree, contending that it shows Bonventre holds a powerful and prominent position among the Bonannos.
Bonventre, 46, is described by his lawyer in the sentencing papers as a hardworking owner of an auto body shop in upstate Orange County and submitted letters from two Catholic priests attesting to his good deeds, which included the donation of fuel to his former parish, St. Helen in Howard Beach, Queens, after the area was devastated by Hurricane Sandy.
A mob consigliere is a respected and wise member of a crime family who is consulted on various matters and is “devoid of ambition” to take over as boss, according to “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Mafia,” by Jerry Capeci. The consigliere is part of the crime family's top hierarchy, along with the boss and the underboss.
Consiglieres operate in the shadows, settling disputes and advising the boss. One of the most famous is the fictional Tom Hagen, portrayed by actor Robert Duvall, who counseled Don Vito Corleone in the classic film “The Godfather.” In real life, Salvatore "Sammy Bull" Gravano was consigliere to the late Gambino boss John Gotti for a time.
Bonventre was one of five people arrested for the robbery of a Lufthansa Airlines shipment in 1978. Pictured, Vincent Asaro (c.), believed to be involved in that infamous heist, is taken from FBI Headquarters in 2014.
The Bonannos’ last publicly identified consigliere, Anthony "Fat Anthony" Rabito, has been dogged by criminal charges in recent years and was recently observed by NYPD detectives doing something not so wise — having a long meeting with the family’s Bronx street boss John Palazzolo in a Queens diner.
Sources say the beleaguered Bonannos are run by a panel that keeps changing as they’re arrested, while the reputed boss, Michael "Mikey Nose" Mancuso, serves a 15-year sentence for his role in the murder of a mob associate.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/exclusive-alleged-mob-promotion-offer-not-relevant-lawyer-article-1.2174668
Saturday, March 28, 2015
Mob war feared as feds arrest Bonanno street boss for parole violation
John Palazzolo, 77, a reputed street boss of the Bonanno crime family’s Bronx faction, got locked up Friday after federal law enforcement officials caught him meeting with other mobsters — a violation of his parole terms.
The Bonanno crime family may have lost its youth, but its wiseguys still have plenty of chutzpah.
John Palazzolo, 77, a reputed street boss of the clan’s Bronx faction, got locked up Friday after federal law enforcement officials caught him meeting with other mobsters — a violation of his parole terms.
The feds feared the old gangster was conspiring to take over Bonanno operations in Queens — which could possibly unleash a wave of violence among rival factions.
Citing allegations of “a conspiracy to conduct a war to control the Bonanno crime family,” federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis ordered the ailing oldfella to jail pending a hearing next month.
Palazzolo, who was released in 2012 after doing 10 years for attempted murder, is barred from associating with fellow mobsters.
But in past weeks, he was caught by surveillance having a suspiciously long meeting in the parking lot of a diner in Bayside, Queens with “Fat Anthony” Rabito, a consigliere of the Bonannos.
He also met with a mafioso with ties to reputed mob boss Michael “Mikey Nose” Mancuso, who has three more years left in federal prison for a murder rap and is believed to rule the family from the inside.
Those pow-wows are in violation of Palazzolo’s parole, prosecutors said in court.
“Is there still a leadership of the Bonnano family?” asked a puzzled Garaufis.
“Unfortunately, yes,” said assistant U.S. attorney Nicole Argentieri.
But in past weeks, he was caught by surveillance having a suspiciously long meeting in the parking lot of a diner in Bayside, Queens with "Fat Anthony" Rabito (pictured), a consigliere of the Bonannos.
“He’s pissed,” the law-enforcement official said. “Once we found out, we had to stop it.”
Defense lawyer Flora Edwards argued the run-in with Rabito could have been “a casual meeting” and pointed to her client’s litany of health issues.
A resigned-looking Palazzolo, wearing track pants, a black hoodie and holding a plastic bag from Target, shuffled into the lock-up.
“I thought someone’s who’s 77-years-old and has medical problems will be happy to live a quiet life,” the judge told him.
He added that the power struggle involves another imprisoned mobster, calling it “one nightmare on top of another.”
The Bonanno family has been working to replenish its ranks following dozens of convictions in the past decade, many obtained after its boss and underboss turned into rats and testified.
New recruits and old timers are still engaged in loan sharking, racketeering and other illegal activities, said a source.
“It never ends,” he added.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/mobster-locked-meeting-mobsters-violating-parole-article-1.2165308
Monday, June 24, 2013
Bonanno crime family selects jailed gangster Michael Mancuso as new boss
Michael "The Nose" Mancuso, far right, is now the top leader of the Bonanno crime family, sources told the Daily News. He will be the first top banana to hold that title since longtime boss Joseph Massino, who turned rat shortly after he was convicted in 2005 of racketeering and multiple murders.
The Bonanno crime family has picked a new leader — The Nose.
Devastated by federal prosecutions but not dead, the beleaguered New York City-based crime family is quietly rebuilding and has anointed Michael “The Nose” Mancuso as official boss, the Daily News has learned.
Mancuso, 59, would be the first top banana to hold that title since longtime boss Joseph Massino, who turned rat shortly after he was convicted in 2005 of racketeering and multiple murders.
It doesn’t matter that Mancuso has five years left to serve in federal prison for a murder conviction. The Colombo crime family is also led by an incarcerated boss, Carmine “The Snake” Persico, who is serving a life sentence.
“Mancuso’s the boss and he’s running the family from jail,” a key law enforcement source told The News.
At least 10 Bonanno mobsters have gotten their button — becoming made men — in the past 18 months, sources said, as the family is trying to replenish its ranks depleted by convictions. The Bonanno family has about 100 wise guys and hundreds of criminal associates, a source added.
A new underboss, Thomas Difiore, of Long Island, has also been tapped to run the family on the street, but he may be little more than a figurehead. The power squarely lies with Mancuso and his Bronx-based underlings, sources said.
The current Bonanno bounce-back couldn’t come at a worse time for the FBI; officials have reduced the number of squads dedicated to investigating the city’s five Mafia families from five to only two.
Veteran supervisory special agent Seamus McElearney, who oversaw the Bonanno and Colombo squads with spectacular crimefighting success, was transferred last week to a new post because bureau rules limit a supervisor to seven years in an assignment.
McElearney’s agents helped bring down top Bonanno members Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano and Vincent “Vinny TV” Badalamenti, and Colombo acting bosses Alphonse “Allie Boy” Persico, Joel “Joe Waverly” Cacace, Thomas “Tommy Shots” Gioeli and Andrew “Mush” Russo, along with dozens of other mobsters.
“If you take your foot off their neck, they’re going to come back,” said a law enforcement source disgusted over the FBI changes.
“We’ve been decimated,” said another law enforcement source, adding that mobsters on the street are aware that surveillances of their activities have been reduced.
The FBI said it is “continually realigning resources based on the current threat assessment.”
The bureau called the staff reductions “primarily administrative” and “not a significant reduction in agents assigned to the five families.”
Mancuso is serving a 15-year sentence for carrying out the order to kill mob associate Randolph Pizzollo. He served 10 years for fatally shooting his wife in 1984.
“Michael’s looking for his day in the sun,” then-acting boss Basciano said during a 2005 jailhouse conversation secretly taped by Massino.
Mancuso’s lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/bonanno-family-names-nose-new-boss-article-1.1380609#ixzz2X8kwRcve
Monday, January 30, 2012
Judge rewards former Bonanno Capo turned rat with 10 year sentence for two murders
A former Bonanno crime family captain who helped put mob boss Vinny “Gorgeous” Basciano away for life — and who also ratted out dozens of other wiseguys — was sentenced today to 10 years in prison for his role in two Mafia rubouts.Dominick Cicale, who has already served seven years behind bars, will get credit for that time, and when he gets out will be re-settled under a new identity in the witness-protection program.
At one time, the 44-year-old was a close friend and trusted lieutenant of former Bonanno boss Basciano.
But Cicale eventually betrayed his friend, became a government informant, and took the witness stand last year as one of the star witnesses to help convict Basciano of a mob murder.
Prior to becoming an FBI informant, Cicale was facing a potential death penalty trial for his role in two fatal mob hits - including the 2004 killing of Bonanno associate Randy Pizzolo.
In the end, Cicale’s decision to switch sides has brought a new lease on life, considering the “extraordinary assistance he has given the government,” Brooklyn Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis said.
”Alright, Mr. Cicale - this is your chance. I hope you will live a law-abiding and productive life,” Garaufis said.
The judge, however, noted the “Faustian bargain” that law enforcement authorities must make with unsavory criminals in order to glean information that will aid in prosecuting other mobsters.
He described Cicale as a man whose hallmarks of adult existence were “a lifetime of violence and an utter disregard for human life.”
Garaufis also pointed out that Cicale’s admitted participation in three different murders suggested traits of “viciousness and violence that were exceptional - even by organized crime standards.”
“Mr. Cicale is a true career criminal,” the judge said.
Assistant US Attorneys Nicole Argentieri and Greg Andres said nevertheless that Cicale provided a wealth of vital intelligence that helped convict a long list of ruthless mobsters.
In a detailed 58-page brief, prosecutors documented case after Mafia case where Cicale offered insider information that proved helpful — among them prosecutions of “more than a dozen inducted members of the Bonanno family.”
“Cicale’s information was particularly critical due to the leadership fluctuations in the Bonanno family’s hierarchy in the days after the incarceration and conviction of longtime Bonanno family boss Joseph Massino, and the arrest of acting boss Anthony “Tony Green” Urso and others,” the prosecutors wrote.
Inside information supplied by Cicale also “fueled a series of additional prosecutions and was used, in part, to eliminate — or at least incapacitate — the succeeding four Bonanno family administrations and bosses,” including Basciano, Michael “The Nose” Mancuso, Nicholas “Nicky Mouth” Santora, and Salvatore “Sal the Ironworker” Montagna, the feds wrote.
Cicale’s defense attorney, Russell Neufeld, observed that the ex-mobster has changed dramatically since his arrest in Jan. 2005.
”He really is a different person,” Neufeld insisted.
Cicale stood as he addressed the court, wearing a white dress shirt and gray slacks, and apologized to the families of the men he murdered - Randy Pizzolo and Frank Santoro, an addict from The Bronx who allegedly had plotted to kidnap Basciano’s son.
”I am so sorry,” Cicale said. “There is not a day when I do not pray for the souls of my victims.”
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Bonnano turncoats take stand to help prosecution put Vinny Gorgeous to death
Two former Bonanno mobsters took the stand Tuesday to help prosecutors put the mafia family's former boss to death.
Jurors listened intently as the mobsters described planned beatings and murders they say were ordered by Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano during his 30-year reign as a New York gangster.
Dominick Cicale, a former Bonanno captain who was once Basciano's protege, and Generoso "Jimmy the General" Barbieri, a former acting Bonanno captain, both testified as part of their deals to cooperate with federal prosecutors.
The testimony came on the first day in the penalty phase of Basciano's capital murder trial in Brooklyn federal court, following his conviction last week for ordering a hit on a mob associate.
The jury will decide whether Basciano should get life imprisonment or execution - he's already serving a life sentence for an earlier mob murder.
The two Bonanno mobsters-turned government rats detailed a number of violent plots - all allegedly involving Basciano - for which he has not been convicted.
Prosecutors, however, are allowed to use these "uncharged crimes" as examples of how "Vinny Gorgeous" dedicated his adult life to crime and achieved his Bonanno family leadership status through violence.
Cicale testified that Basciano had considered ordering the murders of Michael "The Nose" Mancuso, a then-Bonanno captain seen as a dangerous rival, and Salvatore "Good Looking Sal" Vitale, the family's former underboss, because he was suspected of being a government rat.
The family's then-boss, Joseph Massino - who at the time was behind bars - put the kibosh on those plots, Cicale told Assistant US Attorney Nicole Argentieri.
On another occasion, Basciano wanted a low-level mobster to be taught a lesson for hitting a made-man who was a member of his crew, Cicale said.
"Vinny Basciano told me to 'baseball bat' him and put him in the hospital," Cicale said of the intended victim.
That potentially violent assault was also called off by Massino.
Basciano also considered ordering the murder of Lynette Ayuso, who at the time was Cicale's girlfriend and mother of his child, Cicale told the jury.
That's because Basciano suspected Ayuso of informing his then-wife, Angela Basciano, about his romantic relationship with his longstanding girlfriend, Deborah Kalb.
"They'll shotgun her and make it look like a robbery," Cicale said, adding that the planned hit was called off later.
Earlier in the day, prosecutors told the jury that Basciano should be executed for ordering a mob murder while he was already serving a life sentence behind bars.
Allowing Basciano to live will permit the wiseguy to continue his "cold-blooded and remorseless life in the Mafia" while continuing to orchestrate crimes during his incarceration, Assistant US Attorney Jack Dennehy said.
"This defendant won't stop - he won't leave the Bonanno crime family behind in prison," the prosecutor said, telling the jury that the gangster poses "a future danger to society."
The wiseguy's defense attorneys countered that Basciano has already paid a high price for his crimes.
"Mr. Basciano will be imprisoned for the remainder of his life," Richard Jasper, the defense attorney, told the jury. "You don't have to kill him."
During his later testimony on the stand, Cicale also detailed a plot allegedly concocted by Basciano to murder a federal prosecutor, Greg Andres.
Basciano planned to wear a baseball cap and walk into an Italian restaurant in Manhattan frequented by the prosecutor and murder him while he dined, Cicale said.
Barbieri testified about how he had alerted the feds to the planned prosecutor hit, which was called off.
The trial resumes Wednesday with the expected testimony of Massino - the first official boss of a New York La Cosa Nostra crime family to become a government informant in the history of the American mob.
Jurors listened intently as the mobsters described planned beatings and murders they say were ordered by Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano during his 30-year reign as a New York gangster.
Dominick Cicale, a former Bonanno captain who was once Basciano's protege, and Generoso "Jimmy the General" Barbieri, a former acting Bonanno captain, both testified as part of their deals to cooperate with federal prosecutors.
The testimony came on the first day in the penalty phase of Basciano's capital murder trial in Brooklyn federal court, following his conviction last week for ordering a hit on a mob associate.
"Vincent Basciano has earned the most serious sentence American justice can impose - death," prosecutors told the jury today.
The two Bonanno mobsters-turned government rats detailed a number of violent plots - all allegedly involving Basciano - for which he has not been convicted.
Prosecutors, however, are allowed to use these "uncharged crimes" as examples of how "Vinny Gorgeous" dedicated his adult life to crime and achieved his Bonanno family leadership status through violence.
Cicale testified that Basciano had considered ordering the murders of Michael "The Nose" Mancuso, a then-Bonanno captain seen as a dangerous rival, and Salvatore "Good Looking Sal" Vitale, the family's former underboss, because he was suspected of being a government rat.
The family's then-boss, Joseph Massino - who at the time was behind bars - put the kibosh on those plots, Cicale told Assistant US Attorney Nicole Argentieri.
On another occasion, Basciano wanted a low-level mobster to be taught a lesson for hitting a made-man who was a member of his crew, Cicale said.
"Vinny Basciano told me to 'baseball bat' him and put him in the hospital," Cicale said of the intended victim.
That potentially violent assault was also called off by Massino.
Basciano also considered ordering the murder of Lynette Ayuso, who at the time was Cicale's girlfriend and mother of his child, Cicale told the jury.
That's because Basciano suspected Ayuso of informing his then-wife, Angela Basciano, about his romantic relationship with his longstanding girlfriend, Deborah Kalb.
"They'll shotgun her and make it look like a robbery," Cicale said, adding that the planned hit was called off later.
Earlier in the day, prosecutors told the jury that Basciano should be executed for ordering a mob murder while he was already serving a life sentence behind bars.
Allowing Basciano to live will permit the wiseguy to continue his "cold-blooded and remorseless life in the Mafia" while continuing to orchestrate crimes during his incarceration, Assistant US Attorney Jack Dennehy said.
"This defendant won't stop - he won't leave the Bonanno crime family behind in prison," the prosecutor said, telling the jury that the gangster poses "a future danger to society."
The wiseguy's defense attorneys countered that Basciano has already paid a high price for his crimes.
"Mr. Basciano will be imprisoned for the remainder of his life," Richard Jasper, the defense attorney, told the jury. "You don't have to kill him."
During his later testimony on the stand, Cicale also detailed a plot allegedly concocted by Basciano to murder a federal prosecutor, Greg Andres.
Basciano planned to wear a baseball cap and walk into an Italian restaurant in Manhattan frequented by the prosecutor and murder him while he dined, Cicale said.
Barbieri testified about how he had alerted the feds to the planned prosecutor hit, which was called off.
The trial resumes Wednesday with the expected testimony of Massino - the first official boss of a New York La Cosa Nostra crime family to become a government informant in the history of the American mob.
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