All Blog Posts Tagged 'Manhattan' (57)

By David Amoruso

If you thought Michael Spinelli’s nickname was bad, wait until you’ve heard the story of how he became a made member of the Lucchese crime family. As far as gangland stories go, Spinelli’s is anything but Hollywood material.…

By Thom L. Jones for Gangsters Inc.

In January 1966, a civil war broke out. Not between different people in a country, but within a family. A family of…

There are more than a million people buried in this graveyard. There are no stones or memorials to remember them. It’s not the biggest…

By Thom. L. Jones for Gangsters Inc.

Being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong kind of friend was the worst thing that ever happened to Frank Santora Junior.

As he walked along a street in…

By David Amoruso for Gangsters Inc.

For a few years, the New York Mafia seemed to have quieted down. Increased scrutiny from law enforcement coupled with RICO made mobsters rethink their violent deeds, opting for less conspicuous ways of getting…

By Thom L. Jones for Gangsters Inc.

Being in the mob isn't all beer and skittles.

Created in 1970, the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organization Act, by 1985, had been used almost one thousand times, to bring criminal and civil cases. RICO…

This is part 2 of Five Minutes to Midnight. Read part 1 here.

By Thom L. Jones for…

By David Amoruso for Gangsters Inc.

The infamous Westies gang from Hell’s Kitchen, New York, continues to fascinate fans of the true crime genre. Upcoming television series The Flannagans will…

By David Amoruso for Gangsters Inc.

Bonanno crime family associate Salvatore Russo is considered trustworthy by his peers in the…

By Thom L. Jones for Gangsters Inc.

This is part 2. To read…

By David Amoruso

Alleged New York Mafia associate Paul Ragusa was sentenced to 6 years in prison on Tuesday for possessing nine firearms, including three automatic assault rifles and a silencer. 48-year-old Ragusa was busted in Operation OTremens, a joint investigation which unearthed a partnership between Mafia families…

By David Amoruso

Lucchese crime family boss Michael “Big Mike” DeSantis got to the top of the hill in an unusual way: A letter from his…

By David Amoruso



Leroy "Nicky" Barnes is a legend of African American organized crime history. Once a dope fiend himself, he kicked the habit, and became the main distributor of heroin in Harlem, NY. In 2007 his autobiography "Mr Untouchable: The Rise, Fall, and Resurrection of Heroin's Teflon Don" was released. In it Barnes tells his story. How he…

By David Amoruso

In the seventies, Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen was dominated by The Westies, an Irish gang of mobsters with a reputation for deadly violence. In the movie The Kitchen, moviegoers get to experience that scene, but with a twist: The women are taking over!

Starring Melissa McCarthy, Tiffany…

By Barbara Casey

So much has been written about World War II and the role that the United States played in it. There is one story, however, that has remained relatively hidden, even though at the time it made international news.

On the afternoon of January 21, 1944, small-boned, petite—no more than 5 feet tall, if…

By David Amoruso

The son of late New York Mafia boss Vincent “Chin” Gigante pleaded guilty to racketeering conspiracy in Manhattan federal court on Wednesday. 51-year-old Vincent Esposito (photo above, left) admitted conspiring with other Genovese crime family mobsters in extorting union officials.

Esposito is the…

By David Amoruso

It helps to have friends in high places. It enables one to have more opportunities, but also to get away with mistakes or grave crimes even. If one’s friend is powerful enough, one could get away with anything. Until that friend is gone, of course. Like in the case of…

By David Amoruso

He was convicted of a crime and he’s doing the time. Genovese crime family mobster Salvatore Delligatti (photo above) had previously been found guilty of racketeering and murder conspiracy charges and today was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

When facing such a harsh sentence, guys usually decide…

By David Amoruso

They called him “Fresh.” But chances were that after a meeting with him, you were anything but and more likely rotting away in a shallow grave. As a hitman for the Rival Impact street gang, 33-year-old Frank Smith was a cold-blooded killing machine on the streets of New York.

The gang life was all…

By Gangsters Inc. Editors

Six individuals have been arrested and charged last month and Tuesday for their roles in a drug ring that distributed kilogram quantities of cocaine each week in New York City, New Jersey and Pennsylvania and laundered hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The investigation centered on Gerardo…