All Blog Posts Tagged 'LCN' (153)

By David Amoruso

Joseph Massino, the first New York mob boss to become a cooperating witness, feels he has earned a release from prison. This week, the New York Daily News reported that the FBI agrees and asked the judge to reduce the former Bonanno big wig’s life sentence as a reward for his unprecedented cooperation. “As the first official boss of the American Mafia to…

Boston crime boss James “Whitey” Bulger will finally stand trial this week. After going on the lam in 1994 he managed to escape the hands of justice for sixteen years until his arrest in 2011. Now, two years later, he will face a slew of RICO charges and former members of his crew who will testify against him. Boston crime reporter Dick Lehr wrote a new book about Bulger…

By Peter Lance (author of the book Deal with the Devil: The FBI's Secret Thirty-Year Relationship with a Mafia Killer available at Amazon.com)

Gregory Scarpa Sr. was a trifecta of contradiction. A peacock dresser, he carried a wad…

By David Amoruso

After more than thirty years, Gambino capo Bartolomeo “Pepe” Vernace finally faced the music this past week as he was found guilty of a 1981 murder and various racketeering charges. His victim was an innocent bar owner who had nothing to do with the mob. Vernace on the other hand began rising rapidly through the underworld as he managed to…

Like most big cities, St. Louis has a long criminal history filled with pickpockets, robbers, bootleggers, mobsters, and gangsters. Puparo has put together a comprehensive text of all the information available on St. Louis’ gangland, describing wars, hits, murders, and alliances that occurred in the city from the 1900s up until now.

Any feedback, comments, or extra…

“I'm in the waste management business. Everybody immediately assumes you're mobbed up. It's a stereotype. And it's offensive. (…) There is no Mafia.” - Tony Soprano

By David Amoruso

Thirty-two members and associates of the Genovese, Gambino, and Lucchese crime families were hit with various racketeering charges yesterday, all…

By David Amoruso

Chicago mobster Frank Calabrese Sr. died Christmas day at the age of 75. He was serving a life sentence at Butner Federal Correctional Complex in North Carolina after having been convicted of several murders at the Family Secrets trial in Chicago.

Calabrese Sr. will not be remembered as a kind person. During his trial there was…

The Genovese Crime Family is seen as the most secretive and successful mob group in New York and maybe even the country. Also known as The Westside, today the Genoveses are the largest crime family in the Big Apple and have managed to keep the number of turncoats to a minimum.

The family has a long and bloody history. A history that Puparo has decided to…

By Thom L. Jones

Top end of Cypress Avenue, Ridgewood, right on the Brooklyn-Queens boundary line. Friday evening, November 10th 1967.

It’s a quiet Jewish, Italian community. Like every neighborhood or district in the biggest city in America, it has stories to tell if you listen hard enough. Tongue-numbing Dutch names like Onderdonk jostle for space with simple…

By David Amoruso

The Philadelphia crime family is finally returning to its dysfunctional roots. After a decade of relative peace and quiet under the guidance of boss Joseph Ligambi, South Philadelphia was shocked on Wednesday by the first mob hit in years.

On Wednesday, around 3 p.m., gunshots were heard across Iseminger Street in Philadelphia. Gino DiPietro, 50, was…

By Thom L. Jones

Early morning Thursday, Christmas Eve, 1992.

A maroon, four door, Mercury Topaz slows to a halt at traffic lights in Ozone Park, a suburb in Queens, New York.

The driver is a slim, dark-haired, dark skinned Italian-American. The passenger, his wife, is a diminutive, chubby, doe-eyed woman. She is thirty-one, three years older than her husband. They…

Crime Beat: Issues, Controversies and Personalities from the dark side on Artist First World Radio Network is pleased to announce its forthcoming schedule for October 18, 2012, through January 3, 2013. Topics covered include the John F. Kennedy Assassination, Marilyn Monroe, Vinnie The Chin Gigante, the New York mafia and more.

Here is the…

By David Amoruso

Loose lips sink ships… and mafia families. For over a decade Joseph Ligambi has been credited with returning the dysfunctional Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra family to old world values of secrecy and efficiency. After he replaced Joseph Merlino as boss the juicy news and street gossip dried up. Until now.…

In a very short time Crime Beat Radio has become a huge hit on the world wide web. Run by Ron Chepesiuk and William Hryb the show covers the shady world of crime. Its topics range from the Italian Mafia to mob wives to serial killers to crimes committed by states and governments and Chepesiuk and Hryb invite the best and most knowledgeable guests to shine…

By Thom L. Jones

In 1960, Joe and Jack Taliercio opened a restaurant in Forest Hills, Queens, New York. They had worked as chefs in some of the finest restaurants in Europe and in Manhattan, and working as a family, determined to create a historic food locale. They leased premises at 102-11 Queens Boulevard, and began serving food a la Neapolitan style to a rapidly growing and…

By David Amoruso

These last few weeks the news of the death of three mobsters hit the airwaves. All three men died of natural causes. Though they were all members of the Mafia, their stories not only show the different path mobsters take, but also how much La Cosa Nostra influenced various businesses and areas in the United States.

Let’s start with…

By Peter Lance

I was first introduced to Murder Incorporated, by Nicholas Pileggi, the extraordinary journalist, author and screenwriter responsible for two of the most iconic works in the literature of organized crime: Wiseguy, which he adapted into the film Goodfellas and Casino which he also brought to the screen with Martin Scorsese. Along with Mario…

By David Amoruso

His death didn’t come as a surprise. Former mob associate-turned rat Henry Hill died in a hospital on June 12 at the age of 69. He leaves behind his fiancée Lisa Caserta and her son Nate. Nate told the Los Angeles Times that Hill died of complications of heart problems related to smoking. Not the cause of death many people would have expected for Hill…