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2024-03-29T08:36:48Z
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Profile: Gambino crime family boss Carlo Gambino
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/gambino-boss-carlo-gambino
2015-03-25T07:36:51.000Z
2015-03-25T07:36:51.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted in 2002<br /><br /> Carlo Gambino was born on August 24, 1902 in Palermo, Sicily. He arrived in the US in 1921 and settled in Brooklyn with help of relatives and friends who had already made it their home. He would later help his two brothers when they arrived in the US. In the United States Gambino got involved in crime and in 1930 he was arrested for larcency in the operation of the "handkerchief pill game". By the 1930s he was heavily involved in bootlegging. From the money he made through bootlegging he bought restaurants and other legit fronts. After prohibition in 1939 Carlo Gambino continued the bootlegging and in May 23, 1939 received a 22 month sentence and a $2.500 dollar fine for conspiracy to defraud the United States of liquor taxes. Eight months later the conviction was thrown out and Gambino was a free man again. During the second World War Gambino made millions from ration stamps. The stamps came out of the OPA's offices. First Carlo's boys would steal them. Then, when the government started hiding them in banks, Carlo made contact and the OPA men sold him the stamps. All in all by the wars end Gambino had made millions through the stamps and the bootlegging.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236989884,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />Gambino also got involved in the narcotics trade. Gambino traveled to Palermo several times to set up the routes and make the deals. Using Sicilian men Gambino imported the narcotics into the United States. By 1957 Carlo Gambino had moved up in the Mangano Crime Family, he had become Underboss of Albert Anastasia. He also had a loving wife Catherine and three children (two sons and a daughter). 1957 was a great year for Gambino, on October 24, 1957 his boss Anastasia got whacked while he was getting a shave in the barber shop of the Park Sheraton Hotel. With Anastasia gone Gambino assumed leadership of the Mangano Family, exactly his plan since it was Gambino who was behind the Anastasia hit. Listed as a labor consultant to the outside world Gambino was leading his Crime Family into better times.<br /> <br /> Gambino was making loads of money by now. In addition to the illegal income Gambino also made loads with his legal businesses. Gambino owned meat markets, bakeries, restaurants, nightclubs, linen supply companies and on and on. Life was great for Gambino. His health wasn't good but with both his blood and crime family doing well and money pooring in he didn't mind. RICO hadn't made it's grand appearance yet and turncoats weren't as common as they would be during the 1990s. The government knew who Gambino was and what he did for a living but to get to him was impossible. Gambino who entered the United States as an illegal alien still hadn't become an American yet and so that's where the government tried to take Gambino down. They tried to get him deported, but failed time after time. In 1971 Gambino's wife Catharine died. His health was detoriating fast after that. His heart problems kept playing up and by 1975 Gambino felt it was time to choose his successor.<br /> <br /> And there he made the only mistake during his reign as boss of the Mangano/Gambino Family. He chose Paul Castellano over his Underboss Neil Dellacroce. This decision cut the Gambino Family in two factions and would create a power struggle a decade later. But in the end Carlo Gambino is considered one of the great bosses of La Cosa Nostra. He died on October 15, 1976 of natural causes in his Massapequa, Long Island home.</p>
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Profile: Gambino crime family boss John "Junior" Gotti
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/gambino-boss-john-junior-gotti
2013-11-12T12:30:00.000Z
2013-11-12T12:30:00.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted: March 10, 2007<br /> Updated on: August 12, 2008<br /> <br /> "<span style="font-style:italic;">I know my father loved me, but I got to question how much, to put me with all these wolves. This is the world you put your kid in? So much treachery. ... My father couldn't have loved me, to push me into this life.</span>" – <span style="font-weight:bold;">John “Junior” Gotti</span><br /> <br /> John “Junior” Gotti was born on February 14, 1964. His father, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-boss-john-gotti-sr">John Gotti Sr</a> would become the most famous mob boss since Al Capone. It has been said many times, John Gotti Sr had charisma. He walked the streets in his expensive suits, and had an air of being untouchable surrounding him. After winning several court cases against him, he got the nickname “The Teflon Don.” John Gotti Sr was at the top of the world, and on the cover of TIME magazine. On top of the Gambino Crime Family after orchestrating the murder of boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-boss-paul-castellano">Paul Castellano</a>. The media attention would be his downfall though. The FBI was obsessed with putting him behind bars. In April 1992 they succeeded, John Gotti Sr was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. Gotti Sr put his 28 year old son in charge of the crime family.<br /> <br /> Junior Gotti became a made guy, a Mafia member, on Christmas Eve in 1988. Two years later he was made a captain, and two more years later he was Acting Boss of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambino" target="_blank">Gambino Crime Family</a>. A meteoric rise if there ever was one. With the rise came the money. Junior bought a six-bedroom Colonial mansion on three acres of rolling hills in Mill Neck, an exclusive community on the North Shore of Long Island.<br /> <br /> In January of 1998 Junior was arrested and charged with extorting the owners and employees of the Scores nightclub; armed robbery of a drug dealer; telephone calling card fraud; loansharking and gambling. In April 1999 he pleaded guilty in a deal carrying a maximum of seven years and three months in prison, $1.5 million in fines, forfeitures, restitution and court costs to charges that include bribery, labor racketeering, gambling, loansharking, tax evasion and lying on a mortgage application. In October 1999 he began serving his sentence.<br /> <br /> Just a few weeks before being released from prison Junior was indicted again. This time he was charged with racketeering, extortion, securities fraud and loansharking. The biggest charge was the kidnapping and shooting of radio host Curtis Sliwa. Sliwa had been badmouthing Gotti Sr on his radio show. Junior allegedly ordered his men to “teach Sliwa a lesson” for disresprecting his father. The government’s star witness was Gambino capo Michael DiLeonardo, who had been made during the same ceremony as Junior, and was a good friend of him as well.<br /> <br /> Junior Gotti went to trial saying he had quit the mob in 1999. To bolster his claims Gotti’s <a href="https://www.jeffreylichtman.com/" target="_blank">attorney Jeffrey Lichtman</a> had 100 hours of recordings of Gotti's talks with close friends inside the bleak visiting room of a prison in upstate Ray Brook. The FBI had begun taping Junior’s prison conversations on March 13, 2003. The tapes give interesting insights in Junior’s views on mob life during and after his father’s reign.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236976269,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />"My father on the street made you want to be a part of it, because he was that kind of guy." "You had to be part of it. You wanted to feel as close as possible to him. The only way was by being that. You wanted to be in it. When he left, John, the picture changed." "I finally realized that when my father was here, it was a real thing. It meant something. He really, really in his heart, loved and believed it, do you understand?" "I wanted to believe and love like him, but then I - once he went to jail and I seen how some people work - believe me, it was like a thing I wanted to get away from. I wanted to be anywhere else but there. I wanted to raise my children. I wanted to coach football for my kid. I wanted to get away from them, you understand me?" "Now I'm here. Here. Now he's dead. I really realize that it's not real. What he loved and what he believed in doesn't exist. It may have existed at one time, and it certainly existed in his mind, and probably in the fellas' minds and some other people's. But it doesn't exist anymore.” "Any honor and dignity, died with my father."<br /> <br /> In September 2005 Junior Gotti was acquitted of securities fraud, the jury was hung 11-1 for conviction on racketeering charges, which included the kidnapping and assault of Sliwa. His re-trial on the remaining charges also ended in a mistrial. At Junior Gotti’s third trial, his new lawyer Charles Carnesi told the jury: “They don’t have evidence after 1999.” “They know he’s out. They want to recycle this evidence.” It worked again, his third trial ended in a mistrial again! Shortly thereafter the government dropped all charges against Gotti.<br /> <br /> "In the 1990s, I lived an opulent and extraordinary lifestyle. I have very simple needs now." "I'll take my family and I'll go. It's enough now. They got to let go. Let us go, he's [John Gotti Sr] dead." "I want to start from scratch, w<img style="float:left;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236975886,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />herever my wife would be happy. I'm different than my father. My children are my life. You can convert me. My father you could not."<br /> <br /> "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in." This could be one of the things Junior Gotti was thinking on the morning of August 5, 2008 when he was arrested by federal agents at his Oyster Bay, Long Island home and charged him with racketeering, murder and cocaine trafficking. The three murders he is charged with are that of Gambino family soldier Louis DiBono in 1990, the 1988 murder of George Grosso, and the 1991 slaying of Bruce Gotterup. All murders occurred under Junior's father John Gotti's watch. Junior Gotti claims he is being framed. If he is found guilty he will face life in prison.</p>
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Profile of Cosa Nostra boss Bernardo Provenzano
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-bernardo
2013-05-21T19:00:00.000Z
2013-05-21T19:00:00.000Z
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<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236982066,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" /><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted in 2006 - Updated in 2016</p>
<p><strong>Read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-of-bosses-bernardo-provenzano-dead-at-83">Cosa Nostra boss of bosses Bernardo Provenzano dead at 83</a></strong><br /> <br /> Bernardo Provenzano was born on January 31, 1933 in Corleone, Sicily. After the second World War Provenzano joined the Mafia Family of boss Michele Navarra and became an enforcer for Luciano Leggio in that Family. In a short time Provenzano and another young man named Toto Riina, who would later become known as one of the most vicious Mafia bosses ever, became Leggio's most trusted enforcers. They were feared and had a reputation. Leggio said of Provenzano: "he has the brains of a chicken but shoots like an angel". He also gained the nickname "The Tractor", because "he mows people down". With people like Riina and Provenzano and his own fearsome reputation Leggio grew more powerful and eventuelly became a threat to Navarra. Navarra acknowledged the threat and decided it was time to eliminate Leggio so he could continue his rule. Navarra sent a group of his men to ambush Leggio and whack him, they failed and only wounded him, with the help of Riina he escaped. Now it was Leggio's turn to strike. He put together a group of hitmen, which included Provenzano and Riina, to take out Navarra. And Leggio's group of hitmen succeeded where Navarra's men failed, Leggio's group ambushed Navarra while he was driving back from a meeting. The group of young assassins riddled the car in which Navarra sat with bullets. In the end the car was pumped with 112 bulletholes and Navarra and another person who happened to be along for the ride were dead. With Navarra out of the way Luciano Leggio became the new Godfather.<br /> <br /> Navarra's death made a lot of Mafiosi unhappy and not only because they lost an ally but also because it was a breach of the Mafia code that you didn't whack your boss. These Mafiosi as well as Navarra supporters who wanted to avenge their boss made it very dangerous for Leggio and his two enforcers Provenzano and Riina. In the early 1960s the heat became too much for Provenzano, sensing that he would soon be arrested or whacked he took off and disappeared in the countryside of Sicily. While he was on the run he became the father of his two sons and spent his days looking over his shoulder. The Italian authorities had declared him a missing person and eventually thought he was whacked and his body would soon be found. But they couldn't be further from the truth. While on the run Provenzano had continued his criminal career, a career that came to new heights when his old pal Toto Riina became the new boss. While Riina took care of the violent aspect of mob business and stept into the front, Provenzano was hidden taking care of the money aspect of mob business. Provenzano made sure everybody paid and all the Mafiosi got their share.<br /> <br /> As the drug money came flowing in a powerstruggle started over who was to control it. Riina went on a rampage in a war that would leave 800 Mafiosi dead. And when the government decided that it was enough and started cracking down on the Mafia Riina hit back. Two top prosecutors were killed by bombs. Anyone who opposed was found dead. The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-state-trial-exposes-italy-s-corrupt-political-system">campaign of terror</a> that was supposed to scare off the people and government had the opposite effect, the government went on even harder and the public was now in their favour. The people had seen the brutal image of the Mafia and were sickened by it. As the hunt for Riina became more intense Provenzano was still hidden from everybody and presumed dead. When in 1992 his wife and children returned from the countryside and back in the open, talk about Provenzano's death flared up. However without a body who could be sure.<br /> <br /> On January 15, 1993 in Palermo, Sicily <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-salvatore">Toto Riina</a> was arrested by Italian police. The arrest of Riina placed Provenzano at the top of a criminal empire under fire by competition and law enforcement, changes needed to be made. Under Provenzano the Sicilian Mafia steered away from it's terror tactics towards the government and went back into the underworld. Out of sight the Mafia restructured, returning to it's roots. Under Provenzano the Sicilian Mafia had once again become the invisible power and had expanded it's interests while keeping clear from law enforcement. Provenzano commanded his troops via cryptic, handwritten notes transported by key members. There were occasional visits and very occasional summits with Mafia leaders, but otherwise Provenzano was a ghost, presumed dead but feared to be running the most powerful Sicilian Mafia in decades. Police believed he spent most of his time in western and central Sicily going from one safe house to the other. In January of 2001 police intercepted several letters by Provenzano to his family. Proof that he was still very alive. The letters were as close as police got to Provenzano he seemed unfindable. While other bosses and Mafiosi had been caught one by one Provenzano had now been on the run for over 40 years.<br /> <br /> Then on April 11, 2006 the unbelievable news broke: Bernardo Provenzano had been captured. Provenzano was arrested while hiding in a farmhouse near Corleone in Sicily. Authorities said their lucky break came when they tracked a package (it turned out to be clean laundry) that had been sent to Provenzano by his wife, who lived in Corleone. Provenzano put up no resistance and acknowledged his identity after first denying it. He appeared surprised to be caught, police said. He was flown to Palermo and taken to the main police station there.<br /> <br /> Provenzano will live the last years of his life in prison. He had been sentenced in absentia to life in prison for more than a dozen murders including the murders of anti Mafia magistrates Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino.<br /> <br /> <strong>Also read: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/italian-prison-too-tough-on-mafia-boss-provenzano">Italian Prison Too Tough On Mafia Boss Provenzano?</a></strong></p>
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Profile of Irish crime boss Martin "The General" Cahill
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/irish-crime-boss-martin-the
2011-03-24T21:00:00.000Z
2011-03-24T21:00:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/irish-crime-boss-martin-the"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236992877,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236992877?profile=original" width="508" /></a><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> <br /> Martin Cahill was one of Ireland’s most notorious crime bosses. He and his crew were mostly involved in robberies, some of which netted them millions of pounds sterling. And a select few of those, put him on the radar of every cop in Ireland and the United Kingdom. As his notoriety grew, so did his paranoia and violent behavior. But it wasn’t until he stood up against the IRA, that he met his demise. <br /> <br /> Martin Cahill was born on May 23, 1949. His father was a laborer, who later got a job as a lighthouse keeper. His mother stayed at home to look after the kids. The family lived in the inner city slums of Dublin. Cahill’s father had trouble earning enough money to support his large family, and would frequently come home drunk. His father’s drunk behavior set young Martin Cahill straight, as he never drank alcohol during his adult life. With his father unable to provide for his family, Cahill started thinking about life. His father was an honest hardworking man, but had nothing to show for it. He would do things different and, more importantly, earn more money. <br /> <br /> Together with his brothers John, Eddie, Anthony, Michael and Paddy, Martin Cahill started committing burglaries. These burglaries resulted in his first arrest at age twelve for larceny. He got off with a warning. The warning did not slow down young Cahill. It seemed to encourage him as he continued his criminal behavior. After several more arrests he was eventually convicted of two burglary charges and was sentenced to one month of detention in Marlboro House Glasnevin. It would be his first time being locked up away from his parents. It failed to make him switch career paths. He would be sent to several juvenile institutions in the years to come. <br /> <br /> By 1967 Cahill was considered a professional burglar. He and his brothers worked at night. Operating from their home and headquarters in the Hollyfield buildings in Rathmines, a suburb on the southside of Dublin. During the early 1970s, Cahill teamed up with another group of criminal brothers named Dunne. The Dunnes were skilled armed robbers, and it wasn’t long before the Cahill brothers were involved in a new staple of organized crime. <br /> <br /> <a href="{{#staticFileLink}}9236993490,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236993490,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236993490?profile=original" width="371" /></a>Even though Cahill (right) was a very successful gangster. Making thousands of pounds doing burglaries and robberies, he still lived in the slums of Hollyfield. It was the only place where he felt safe and protected. Proof of this was the fact that he had bought a large Mercedes and Harley Davidson motorcycle, which he parked right outside his home. The two vehicles stood out like a sore thumb and if they were owned by anyone else they would’ve been stolen or demolished. But people knew the owner was Martin Cahill, and by then that name meant something to those living in the area. <br /> <br /> Though Cahill was considered a big threat to society, no one in law enforcement expected him to take a shot at one of them. But that is exactly what he did when they came close to convicting him. <br /> <br /> Dr. James Donovan was the head of the forensic science laboratory. He was very good at what he did and thanks to his work many Dublin criminals received prison sentences. Two of those criminals were Anthony and Eddie Cahill. And Donovan was closing in on Martin as well. <br /> <br /> On January 29, 1981 Martin Cahill and Christy Dutton robbed Quintin Flynn Ltd. The company was involved in sale and hire of computer games. The two men left with 5,724.47 pounds sterling and rode off on a Kawasaki motorcycle. Not long after they were apprehended by police while they were walking on the street. At the station, officers from the technical bureau took their helmets, gloves, and jackets. Since Cahill and Dutton were not in possession of the loot or motorcycle forensic experts had to connect them to those. And Donovan was the man who found the evidence. <br /> <br /> Cahill was worried sick. He started contemplating several plans and eventually settled for a bomb. The IRA was using those, and had much success. On January 6, 1982 Dr Donovan was driving to work, when an explosion destroyed his car. But Dr Donovan survived the blast. Cahill’s plan was about to backfire.<br /> <br /> Irish police started an investigation which led them to Cahill. After the failed hit attempt, Cahill didn’t lay low, matter of fact he had committed an armed robbery a day before cops picked him up in connection to the bombing of Dr Donovan. But there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Cahill with the bombing. And to make matters worse for authorities, Cahill was acquitted of the Quintin Flynn Ltd. robbery as well. He was on his way to becoming the most feared and dangerous gangster in Ireland.<br /> <br /> And he did his best to let everyone know that he wasn’t a man to be fucked with. In his excellent book The General author Paul Williams details a story about the time Cahill felt he had been shorted by a member of his gang. <br /> <br /> Cahill and an associate pulled the man off the street and dragged him into their car. They then drove to a dilapidated house near the Hollyfield Buildings. Upstairs the suspected thief was questioned about the missing loot. Williams writes: “At first Cahill and the lieutenant gave the terrified gang member a few slaps. When he wasn’t forthcoming with what Cahill considered the truth, the man was pinned to the floor. […] The man replied that he had done nothing. Cahill then stapled each of his fingers to the floor.” The torture and interrogation went on for hours. At one point Cahill also hammered six inch nails into the victim’s hands. <br /> <br /> When the man continued to claim innocence, Cahill believed him. He then brought him to the hospital. Afterwards, he allegedly said: “People remember pain. A bullet through the head is too easy. You think of the pain before you do wrong again.”<br /> <br /> While other robbers made a switch and became more involved in drug dealing, Cahill continued his illustrious career and hatched bigger and bolder plans. In 1983 Cahill and his gang robbed O’Conner’s jewelers in Dublin and got away clean with a loot valued at 2 million pounds sterling. In 1986 Cahill executed the second biggest art theft in the world when he stole eleven of the most valuable paintings in the collection of Sir Alfred Beit. <br /> <br /> This last heist proved to be the beginning of the end for Cahill though. Law enforcement was sick of getting outsmarted by such a brazen crook and upped the ante with the formation of the so-called Tango Squad which was to bring down the crime boss. Meanwhile the media started taking notice of this new criminal mastermind who combined brain with vicious muscle as well. Another problem he faced was being a criminal in a country dominated by the IRA and Loyalist groups who were at war. At times Cahill did something that angered one of these groups. <br /> <br /> As his gang had been slowly dismantled by the Tango Squad, Cahill continued as he had before. He still felt untouchable, but things had changed. He wasn’t the man he was years before. Nor was he surrounded by the loyal tough men from years back. He was nearing his final days. <br /> <br /> During his life as a criminal, Cahill had been a major annoyance for the Irish police force, and not to mention the people who fell victim to his robberies, kidnappings, and violent behavior. But he had also pissed off a group that was neither part of the government, nor was it part of the civilian population, and though it could carry out criminal acts, it did not consider itself a criminal organization. The group I am talking about is the IRA and they were very unhappy with Cahill. <br /> <br /> On the afternoon of August 18, 1994, Cahill sat in his car waiting in front of a junction. He was on his way to returning a video tape of the movie A Bronx Tale. As he waited, a man, dressed in worker’s clothes and carrying a clipboard, walked up to his car. Before Cahill knew what was going on the man pulled out a gun and fired several bullets at his target. Afterwards, the assassin calmly took a peek inside the car to see if his target was really dead. He then got on a waiting motorcycle driven by an accomplice and drove off. <br /> <br /> In the aftermath of Cahill’s murder several groups claimed responsibility for his killing. But in the end, one group did something unheard of: they sent out a confession in which they gave every detail of the assassination. No doubt about it that this group, the IRA, was responsible. The IRA claimed they killed Cahill because of his involvement with pro-British death squads. <br /> </p>
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Profile: Bonanno crime family boss Salvatore Montagna
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/bonanno-boss-salvatore
2010-11-27T17:30:00.000Z
2010-11-27T17:30:00.000Z
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<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236995491,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236995491?profile=original" /><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted on April 5, 2010 - Updated on November 25, 2011<br /> <br /> Salvatore Montagna burst onto the front page of the New York Daily News in 2006 when authorities labeled him the new acting boss of the Bonanno Crime Family. But before the public and press got to know him he was already being deported to Canada. Here is the story behind this 35-year-old reputed mob boss.<br /> <br /> The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-bonanno-crime-family">Bonanno Crime Family</a> has been through a lot in the past eighty years. From becoming an outcast after being infiltrated by FBI agent Joseph Pistone in the 1980s, to hosting the last Commission meeting in 2000.<br /> <br /> The man responsible for bringing the Bonanno Crime Family back from the brink was <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bonanno-boss-joseph-massino">Joseph Massino</a>. During the 1990s he ruled the family with an iron fist, demanding absolute loyalty from his men. But when indictments came falling down, one after the other ‘loyal’ Bonanno wiseguy made a deal with the FBI and told them all he knew.<br /> <br /> Even Joseph Massino, the boss himself, decided the oath of silence called omerta was worth nothing. After being found guilty of seven murders and racketeering charges he started wearing a wire on his successor: Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano. Both men are now locked up behind bars for the rest of their lives.<br /> <br /> Law enforcement had indicted over seventy Bonanno mobsters since 2002. Nine made members of the Bonanno Family, including its boss Massino, turned State’s evidence. The crime family was in serious disarray. Out of this chaos, a young Sicilian-Canadian man nicknamed “Sal the Ironworker” managed to climb his way to the top of the heap.<br /> <br /> Salvatore Montagna was born on May 11, 1971, in Montreal, Canada. The son of Sicilian immigrants, he and his family shuttled back and forth between Montreal and Sicily. When Montagna was 15 years old he and his family moved to New York. After finishing high school he began working as an ironworker and eventually started his own company called Matrix Steel Co. in Brooklyn.<br /> <br /> In 2001, Montagna was subpoenaed to testify in a state gambling case. The prosecutor was unsatisfied with the alleged mobster’s testimony and charged him with criminal contempt. On October 28, 2003, he pleaded guilty to that charge and was sentenced to five years probation. He had been indicted a year earlier after a probe by the Manhattan district attorney's office as one of twenty wiseguys charged in a takedown of a Mafia crew allegedly involved in gambling, loansharking and weapons possession. But other than that not much is known about Montagna's alleged mob activities.<br /> <br /> When the <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/">New York Daily News</a> brought the news about the new mob boss, the heat, naturally, increased. George Stavropoulos served as Montagna’s lawyer at the time. He denies the allegations about his client’s involvement in organized crime. "He is not involved in the Mafia, he is not the boss of the Bonanno crime family or the acting boss of the Bonanno crime family. This is something that the FBI manufactured."<br /> <br /> Whether or not Montagna is or isn’t the new acting boss of the Bonanno Crime Family, the fact is that the FBI never managed to arrest this reputed mob leader on any criminal charges. In 2009, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported Montagna to Canada because of his criminal contempt charge.<br /> <br /> What position Montagna now holds is unknown. Located in Montreal, Canada he is now in the territory of the Rizzuto Family. The Rizzuto/Montreal Family is considered a branch of the New York Bonannos. But the Rizzutos achieved far more power than their cousins in New York and are believed to have separated with them.<br /> <br /> Thus, Montagna is an acting boss on foreign territory. Foreign territory that is very hostile. The <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-mafia-of-montreal-a-short">Rizzuto Family</a> has been almost entirely wiped out by mysterious rivals. Several social clubs were burnt down and Nicholas Rizzuto, the son of boss Vito Rizzuto, was shot dead in broad daylight, while his father, Nicolo, met the same fate when he was shot at his home by an assassin. Montagna has managed to outsmart the law, but he may be in a lot more trouble in Montreal than he was in New York.<br /> <br /> <strong>UPDATE</strong>: On Thursday morning, November 24, Salvatore Montagna (40) was found shot to death in a river near Montreal. For the full story, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/bonanno-boss-murdered-near-montreal">click here</a>.</p>
<p><strong>UPDATE: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/six-plead-guilty-in-murder-of-ex-bonanno-family-mob-boss">Six men pleaded guilty to murder of Sal Montagna</a></strong></p>
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Profile of Lucchese crime family boss Steven Crea
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/lucchese-acting-boss-steven
2010-11-26T11:02:42.000Z
2010-11-26T11:02:42.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> <br /> Steven "Stevie Wonder" Crea is one of the leading members of the troubled Lucchese Crime Family. Crea is a powerhouse in labor racketeering. Using the reputation of the Lucchese Family and, when needed to prove that reputation, its muscle, he had gained a position in which he could put in place a mob tax of five percent on every job. By paying that mob tax the contractors did not run into any labor problems. The Luccheses used Local 608 for this racket. Its president Michael Forde (who's father, who had already been convicted of Taft-Hartley crimes in the 1980s, was the previous president of Local 608) was under total control of Crea.<br /> <br /> When Lucchese bosses Vic Amuso and "Gaspipe" Casso went on the lam Crea was put on a panel of Lucchese mobsters who would run the family in their absence. This newfound power did not mean Crea was safe. Crea's crew was located in The Bronx and several mobsters started worrying when two other ruling panel mobsters were imprisoned. Capos George Zappola and Frank Papagni and soldier Frank Gioia Jr. were concerned that the power in the family would shift from Brooklyn to The Bronx as Crea was the last member of the ruling panel who was not in prison. The three men discussed killing Crea. The hit had to be a "sneak job" they said, meaning the bosses could not know, this was because they knew the bosses would not OK the hit. In the end the plan never came to fruition because the Lucchese Family had a lot bigger problems than where their boss was located when several of its members became witnesses for the government.<br /> <br /> On August 24, 2006 Crea was released from prison after doing time on a labor racketeering conviction. He had plead guilty to price fixing, bid rigging, and constraint of trade in connection with three large construction projects. And also to "enterprise corruption." Back on the streets Crea can not associate with any known mobsters for a year due to parole restrictions. Will he manage to stay out of trouble and seize control of the Lucchese Crime Family? Or will he violate his parole and go back to prison? Or will a Lucchese rat implicate him in some old murder? We will wait and see. One thing is for sure, the Lucchese Crime Family desperately needs the expertise and leadership of a good boss. Is Steven Crea that boss?<br /> </p>
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Profile: Lucchese crime family boss Louis Daidone
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/lucchese-acting-boss-louis
2010-11-26T11:01:30.000Z
2010-11-26T11:01:30.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /><br /> Louis "Louis Bagels" Daidone was born on February 23, 1946. In the early 1980s the FBI listed him as a soldier in the Lucchese Crime Family. In 1989 Daidone received orders that he had to kill small time car thief Thomas Gilmore. The mob suspected that Gilmore was a rat. Daidone and two associates tailed Gilmore to his home in Queens. There they ran up behind him and shot him in the head and neck. A year later Daidone was called upon again to kill a suspected rat. This time the target was mobster Bruno Facciola. Daidone lured Facciola to a brooklyn garage. Once there Facciola was certain it was a set up and ran away. Daidone caught up with him, tackled him and then dragged him back into the garage. There Facciola was held down while he was stabbed and shot in both eyes. As a finishing touch Daidone stuffed a canary in Facciola’s mouth as a sign that: you sing to the feds, you're going to get your head blown off. Days later Facciola’s body was found in Brooklyn in the trunk of his own car.<br /> <br /> In 1992 Daidone was arrested and charged with an 1988 armored truck heist that netted $1.2 million. Daidone was eventually acquitted of robbery and weapons charges but was convicted of robbery conspiracy and sentenced to five years. In 1996 he was released from prison. In 2000 Lucchese Acting Boss Steven Crea was arrested and Daidone became Acting Boss. In 2003 Daidone’s reign was over when he was arrested and charged with the murders of Gilmore and Facciola and two counts of extortion. In January 2004 Daidone was found guilty and was later sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole.</p>
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Profile: Lucchese crime family boss Gaetano Lucchese
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/lucchese-boss-gaetano-lucchese
2010-11-26T10:52:07.000Z
2010-11-26T10:52:07.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted in 2001<br /> <br /> Thomas Lucchese was Boss of the Mafia Family that still bears his name. A ruthless guy with a ruthless reputation but he somehow managed to have friends who were law abiding citizens and weren't scared of him, later when they found out he was a major figure in the New York underworld they didn't know where to run. Lucchese's tenure as Boss of his Family wasn't that long, about 14 years, compared to his long tenure as Underboss: about 23 years. It shows Lucchese was a loyal soldier and at least abided by the few rules that were left for a mobster to follow.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236987258,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />Gaetano Thomas Lucchese was born 1899 in Palermo, Sicily. He had come to America as an 11 year old boy. He had risen rapidly through the ranks of the New York underworld, and was a soldier in the family of Gaetano Reina. As he cruised the underworld he made contacts with powerful people and set up business everywhere. When Lucchese was 19, he lost an index finger in a machine shop accident. In 1923, he was arrested for stealing a Packard automobile and sentenced to three years in prison. Paroled after 13 months, it was the only time he ever spent in prison throughout his long criminal career. At the age of 31 Lucchese had become Underboss of Gaetano Reina. When Gaetano Reina was murdered in March 1930. His Family came under the control of Gaetano "Tom" Gagliano, Lucchese would stay on as Underboss. Gagliano would run the Familie without problems. Under Gagliano Lucchese went on with expanding his power. His legitimate business interests were many and varied. He would come to be a major power in the garment industry and also made friends in the legit world befriending politicians and judges. A young Thomas LuccheseLucchese also had a reputation as a man of violence. It was estimated by the police that he was personally involved in at least 30 murders.<br /> <br /> In 1953 Lucchese's Boss Gagliano died of natural causes. Lucchese now became the new Boss of the Family. He was 54 years old and at the peak of his power, both as a criminal and as an arch manipulator of the convoluted political system that drove the powerhouse of the New York political engine. If Frank Costello was the Prime Minister of the underworld, then Lucchese was undoubtedly its Director General. Lucchese was for many years a personal friend and confidant of Thomas Murphy, who just happened to be the Police Commissioner of the city of New York, and consequently the head of the entire New York Police Department. In 1952 Thomas Lucchese was brought out in the open, the Kefauver Hearings started and all the major mobsters were there to be admired. It was because of these hearings that the Family got the name: The Lucchese Crime Family, a name that still goes.<br /> <br /> Under Lucchese and Gagliano the Lucchese Crime Family reached it's peak. The Lucchese crime family generated its money from many sources,: union control, loan-sharking, gambling, hi-jacking, numbers and drugs. The huge amount of profits from importing and selling heroin, or as they called it "babania," was so enormous, that Lucchese, like so many of his peers, turned a blind eye to the edict that had been laid down many years before, prohibiting the involvement in drug trafficking. In 1961 the Lucchese family was involved in one of the highest profile cases ever, involving heroin importation. It became famous world wide because of a book that was written about the case, and an award-winning movie that followed. The incident was known as "The French Connection."<br /> <br /> In the late 1960s Lucchese developed brain cancer. In 1967 he underwent brain surgery to remove a tumor. He died on July 13, 1967. Over 1,000 mourners came to his funeral. The crowd included politicians, judges, policemen, racketeers, drug pushers, pimps and hitmen. Some bosses did not show up out of fear of the F.B.I. surveillance, but others like Carlo Gambino and Aniello Dellacroce did to show respect. </p>
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Profile of Lucchese family soldier Frank Gioia Jr.
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/lucchese-soldier-frank-gioia
2010-11-26T10:30:00.000Z
2010-11-26T10:30:00.000Z
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<div><p><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236988673,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9236988673?profile=original" width="566" /></a><br /> Posted in 2006 - Updated in 2017<br /> <br /> Frank Gioia Junior was born in 1967. From the start, his life was pretty much set in stone. He was born into "the life" as they say, his father Frank Senior and grandfather both were involved in organized crime and members of the Mafia. Growing up around mobsters it wasn't long until Gioia himself became one. At age 12, he hung around a mob owned social club, getting drinks for wiseguys and doing small tasks for them. By the age of 18, Gioia had left behind the errand-boy role and showed his violent capabilities. He shot a bouncer who had disrespected a Lucchese wiseguy. This act of violence earned Gioia huge respect from his mob buddies.<br /> <br /> By the age of 21, he had earned more than $1 million dollars dealing in drugs. In October 1991, at age 24, Gioia became a made guy in the Lucchese Crime Family, his sponsor was George Zapolla. Where most wiseguys believe that upon becoming "made" all their problems are solved, it usually means the opposite. This was true in Gioia`s case as well. In June of 1992, he got arrested on gun charges. And a year later he got arrested again on serious federal drug charges. He was accused of running a heroin pipeline from Manhattan to Boston and was sentenced to 7 years in prison.<br /> <br /> Behind bars, Gioia didn't stay quiet. He got into a fight with another inmate, breaking the man's jaw. Then he got some bad news from his cousin, Vincent Salanardi. The Lucchese family was plotting to whack Gioia's father over some money dispute. After hearing this, Gioia called the feds, got himself, his father, and family a deal, and began cooperating. He was moved to a special prison unit for witnesses and there he, again, broke an inmate's jaw. This time it was an argument over use of the prison phone that lit the fuse.</p>
<p>After serving just 6 years in prison, Gioia was released early, given a new identity and was relocated under the federal witness protection program. Gioia testified against scores of mobsters and drug dealers. As it stands now his testimony resulted in the conviction of over 80 criminals, including one cop killer. Once in the Witness Protection Program, Gioia began giving lectures about organized crime to rookie and veteran FBI agents. </p>
<p>He also had another lucrative gig scamming mall owners and real-estate developers out of tens of millions of dollars, <em>The Arizona Republic</em> reported in November of 2017. Read about <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/former-lucchese-mobster-frank-gioia-outed-as-multi-million-dollar" target="_blank">that story here</a>:</p>
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<li><strong><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/former-lucchese-mobster-frank-gioia-outed-as-multi-million-dollar" target="_blank">Former Lucchese mobster outed</a> as multi-million-dollar fraudster while in Witness Protection</strong></li>
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Profile of Russian Mafia boss Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/russian-boss-alimzhan
2010-11-25T16:30:00.000Z
2010-11-25T16:30:00.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted in 2002<br /> <br /> Alimzhan Tokhtakhounov was born in 1949 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Tokhtakhounov's first set back came when at a young age he lost his father and, not long after his fathers death, Tokhtakhounov's mother died as well leaving Tokhtakhounov alone at the age of 13 to take care of his younger brother. Growing up as a kid one of the few places Tokhtakhounov felt happy was on the football field (soccer). Tokhtakhounov loved football and played it with a passion eventually he played in the first team of the Uzbek team Pakhtakor. As a football player Tokhtakhounov earned the nickname "Taiwanchik," which means little Taiwanese. But despite the fun he had playing football it wasn't paying the bills and Tokhtakhounov needed money to take care of his younger brother. And so Tokhtakhounov began playing cards for money and won big with it. When he injured his knee during football practise Tokhtakhounov's football career was over and he decided to test his 'luck' at cards and other operations in the big city, Moscow.<br /> <br /> In Moscow, Tokhtakhounov started managing a football team during the day and playing cards at night he also joined the Izmaylovo Organized Crime group. For the communistic times Tokhtakhounov made good money playing cards. During the vacation Tokhtakhounov went to the resort town of Sochi where he scammed tourists out of their card money. Things went good for Tokhtakhounov he was earning a nice living with his criminal activities and had given up his manager job at the football club and was now a criminal full time. In 1972 this proved to be a mistake. Tokhtakhounov was arrested for nothing more than being without a job. In communist Russia those arrests were frequent and in 1980 Tokhtakhounov was arrested again on similar charges. During his years with the Izmaylovo Organization Tokhtakhounov mingled with Russian celebreties and athletes. He met all these people while working for the Association XXI Century company, a company owned by the powerful mobster Otari Kvantrishvily. His job in this company was to take care of the debtors who refused to pay. In 1989 Tokhtakhounov decided to leave Russia and planned on setting up business in East Germany. After having spent three years in East Germany Tokhtakhounov found the heat attention from German authorities became too much. People around Tokhtakhounov were getting killed and police questioned him on why that was, Tokhtakhounov didn't know but fearing for his own life left Germany in 1993.<br /> <br /> While in France Tokhtakhounov continued his criminal ways and in 1994 was involved, according to French authorities, in a money laundering case involving $70 million dolllars. French police also questioned him in connection with the murder of a Russian man because they believed he had ties to the man behind the murder. After all the questioning Tokhtakhounov had had enough and decided to move again this time to Israel. He didn't stay long though, after a while he moved back to France. Back in France Tokhtakhounov once again mingled with celebrities and athletes and other members of high society. And it paid off. In 1999 Tokhtakhounov was made a knight in the Order of St. Constatine. The ceremony was attended by several reputed Russian Organized Crime figures.<br /> <br /> But in 2000 Tokhtakhounov moved yet again, this time to Italy. This time it seemed like a permanent move, he bought houses in Forte dei Marmi, Rome and Milan. In Italy Tokhtakhounov kept a low profile, or so it seemed. His friends say he was very busy trying to get a Russian passport but that was it they say. On July 31 2002 however the truth of what Tokhtakhounov was doing in Italy became clear: He had fixed the Olympic Ice Skating games. On that day, June 31, 2002, Tokhtakhounov was arrested on charges that he fixed the pairs and ice dancing figure skating competitions at the Salt Lake City Olympics. According to the FBI Tokhtakhounov fixed the competition for French couple Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat and made them win by pressuring a Russian juror to vote for them in turn he pressured a French juror to vote for the Russian pair Elena Berezhnaya and Anton Sikharulidze. Tokhtakhounov did this according to the FBI to obtain a French visum. True or not Tokhtakhounov was arrested in Italy and kept there the U.S. has requested that the Italian authorities hand him over but so far it seems Tokhtakhounov will stay put in an Italian prison. If the Ice Skating fix turns out to be true it is yet another example of how far the power of the Russian Mafia reaches.</p>
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Profile: Genovese crime family capo Anthony Antico
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/genovese-capo-anthony-antico
2010-11-21T19:00:00.000Z
2010-11-21T19:00:00.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted on August 20, 2010<br /> <br /> A reporter once wrote that if you took one look at Anthony Antico, you knew he had to be a defendant in a criminal trial. Though looks can be deceiving, in Antico’s case they were not. As a leading member of New York’s <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family" target="_blank">Genovese Crime Family</a> he stole and murdered his way to the top of the mob.<br /> <br /> While other American Mafia families were slowly being dismantled by prosecutors and the FBI, the Genovese Family managed to slip through relatively unscathed. Under the leadership of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-vincent-chin" target="_blank">Vincent “Chin” Gigante</a>, the family held a steady membership of around 250 made members and business ran like clockwork.<br /> <br /> When Gigante went to prison, he remained in control through former boxer Dominick Cirillo. Cirillo is an aging mobster with a heart problem and thus needed help running the family. A ruling panel named the Westside Crew was set up. The panel included John Barbato, 70, Lawrence Dentico, 81, and Anthony Antico. By now Antico was a captain and among the most influential mobsters within the family.<br /> <br /> Born on June 16, 1945, Antico has a criminal history dating to 1955, with convictions for attempted robbery and racketeering. He is the stereotypical gangster that does not seem to give a fuck. With the backing of the most powerful mob family in the United States he felt strong. When an associate told him a debtor had invoked the name of Vincent “Vinny TV” Badalamenti, a Bonanno Family mobster, in order to be left alone, he replied: “Tell ‘em he can bring Vinny TVs, Vinny Magnavox, everybody!” Antico then ordered the victim to be slapped in the face after his underling had collected the extortion fee.<br /> <br /> Being the hands-on mobster that he is, the FBI had little difficulty in rounding Antico up and charging him with racketeering charges. On April 5, 2005, he and the rest of the men on the Genovese ruling panel were arrested. In October of the same year, Cirillo, Barbato, Dentico, and Antico pleaded guilty. Antico admitted to participating in extortion conspiracy and witness tampering.<br /> <br /> When the charges against the Genovese leaders were initially brought, FBI Acting Assistant Director John Klochan said: "Our hope is that the indictment will serve as their retirement papers." Though all men pleaded guilty, they in no shape or form retired from the mafia. Antico, especially, did not slow down one bit. And authorities quickly noticed.<br /> <br /> In December of 2008, authorities hit Antico with new charges, which included: racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, and extortionate collection of credit. Genovese associate Joseph Barrafato Jr. was indicted as well and is viewed as Antico’s muscle on the street.<br /> <br /> According to the indictment, both men “conspired to rob one individual who had won $1.6 million in the Pick Six, a horse racing wager that requires the bettor to pick the winners of six races. When Antico inquired about the status of the robbery, Barrafato said he needed ‘the right ingredients to make the sauce’, an apparent reference to his efforts to recruit other participants in the robbery. Over the next several days, Barrafato reached out to others, informing them the target hit a Pick Six for a million point six and telling one individual, ‘I just spoke to Big Nose and . . . you are down on it... you and somebody else.’ A few days later, Antico asked Barrafato, ‘going to rob anybody, hello?’”<br /> <br /> Apparently, Antico had a thing for robberies. As he got ready to stand trial on the aforementioned charges, prosecutors added another robbery charge. But there was a big difference between the other charges: this robbery ended with a murder.<br /> <br /> Louis Antonelli was a mobbed up jeweler who was allowed to peddle gems at Antico’s social club in Brooklyn. In return Antonelli had to kick up money to the Genovese captain. Something he failed to do, prosecutors claim. On April 29, 2008, the 43-year-old jeweler was walking towards his sports utility vehicle that was parked near the El Sabor Tropical in West Brighton, Staten Island. Walking beside him was Joseph Aiello, a former police officer, who police say acted as a bodyguard for the mob associate. (Antonelli’s relatives say Aiello was just a friend.)<br /> <br /> Before Antonelli and Aiello reached the SUV, two men stepped forward. One of the men fired several shots at Antonelli, who fell to the ground. The men then ran off, leaving the jeweler and his bodyguard behind. Antonelli would die two weeks later. One of the two hitmen was Joseph Gencarelli. He decided to cooperate with authorities and tell the story behind the “hit”. According to Gencarelli, he and Charles Santiago, who fired the fatal shots, were supposed to rob the jeweler. They had information that he was carrying hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and gems. Gencarelli claimed he had no idea Antonelli would be shot.<br /> <br /> Prosecutors presented their evidence during Antico’s trial, telling the jury that the mob captain had planned and ordered the robbery because Antonelli failed to pay him his cash tribute for allowing the jeweler to sell gems at his social club.<br /> <br /> On July 29, 2010, the jury had reached a verdict. Antico was acquitted of ordering the fatal robbery of Louis Antonelli, but was convicted of running an illegal gambling club from prison, and conspiring to extort the man who won $1.6 million picking the winners of six horse races at the Santa Anita racetrack in 2004. That meant he was found guilty of two counts of RICO conspiracy, which could result in a maximum of twenty years in prison.<br /> <br /> For an old man like Anthony Antico, twenty years in prison means dying behind bars. With so much at stake during his trial, he did not seem worried to the general public and court reporters. Several newspapers reported about Antico’s nose picking during the trial. He would pick long and hard and then lick his fingers for several minutes. His behavior seemed to say: I don’ t give a fuck. But his relatives paint a different picture, they say Antico was very stressed and this was his way of coping with that stress. Whether the thought of a future in a cell was getting to him, is unknown. But if it did, it didn’t make him decide to become a turncoat. Antico chooses to die in prison to protect the criminal brotherhood that he is a part of.</p>
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Profile: Genovese crime family boss Daniel Leo
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-daniel-leo
2010-11-21T19:00:00.000Z
2010-11-21T19:00:00.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted on January 12, 2008<br /> Updated on August 22, 2008<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236987287,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />The Genovese Crime Family is, and has been for decades, the most secretive and well-run Mafia family in New York. When the family's boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-vincent-chin">Vincent "Chin" Gigante</a> (photo on the right) died in December of 2005 speculation began as to who would succeed him. Many names were thrown around: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-capo-tino-fiumara">Tino Fiumara</a>, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-genovese-crime-family-boss-liborio-bellomo">Liborio "Barney" Bellomo</a>, but the name of the man who authorities now say has been the Genovese boss since Gigante's death was not mentioned. That man is Daniel "The Lion" Leo. Mob expert Jerry Capeci broke the news in November 2006, in a way, it signaled it wouldn't be long until Leo would end up in prison.<br /> <br /> During the 1970s Daniel Leo was a member of the violent East Harlem Purple Gang. The Purple Gang was comprised of 127 drug dealers, several of which went on to become prominent members of New York mob families. In 1980 Leo suffered his first arrest when he was hit with a criminal contempt indictment for refusing to testify before a grand jury that was investigating loansharking, drug trafficking, and four murders. After that things went quiet. But Leo was not sitting still, he was making a name for himself within the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family">Genovese Crime Family</a>. By the time Vincent Gigante's leadership came to an end, he was one of the most valued members, and after Gigante's death, became the boss.<br /> <br /> Being the successor to one of the most mysterious bosses in the history of the American Mafia it was all the more surprising when Leo was arrested on extortion and federal loan sharking charges on May 30, 2007. Starting in 2002 he had made three $50,000 high-interest loans to a livery car businessman. When the man had trouble making his payments, he was threatened by Genovese enforcer Charles Salzano. Two brothers who ran an illegal gambling operation were also extorted and threatened by Leo's underlings. On October 31, 2007 Daniel Leo pleaded guilty to extortion charges, and will pay back the $75,000 he made from the extortion. On February 28, 2008 he was sentenced to five years in prison. Leo is 66 years old, and prison will not be kind to him. If he makes it out, it will be interesting if he will continue his life of crime. History has proven though, that Mafiosi are not bothered by old age.</p>
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Profile: Genovese crime family boss Matthew Ianniello
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-matthew-matty
2010-11-21T19:00:00.000Z
2010-11-21T19:00:00.000Z
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<div><p><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236986271,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" /><br /> By Maarten Anthonissen<br /> <br /> Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello isn’t your average mobster. He is an acting boss of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family" target="_blank">Genovese Crime Family</a>, who was on the ruling committee of the Family after official boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-vincent-chin" target="_blank">Vincent “The Chin” Gigante</a> was convicted. According to the FBI Matty had the most important vote in the committee, they ranked him as acting boss. He has had a long and successful mob career. And has been an important Genovese member since the 70s. He is a cold blooded Mafioso who also was successful in the businessworld. He is the prototype of the shrewd gangster who despite his old age, wasn’t ready to retire.<br /> <br /> Matthew Ianniello was born in 1920. He grew up in the Italian neighborhoods of New York. In 1942, like so many Italian Americans, he joined the army, to fight in the second world war. When he came back home, Matty was a decorated war veteran and decided he wanted to start a career in organized crime. Back then he was already known by his nickname “Matty The Horse.” Like so many wiseguys he got his nickname as a young kid and kept it until today. Matty was a gifted baseball player with a hard swing. During one of the many games at a neighborhood field things got out of control. The pitcher of the opposite team was annoying Matty’s team mate who was about to bat. To make things worse he threw the ball as hard as he could in the face of the batter. A fight errupted in which Matty knocked down the pitcher, who was at least three years older and two heads taller than himself. After this his teammates and several local mobsters said: “That boy is as strong as a horse.” The nickname “Matty The Horse” was born. Seventy years later the nickname has become famous far outside New York.<br /> <br /> Ianniello quietly climbed the underworld ladder. He joined the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family">Mafia Family</a> of Frank “The Prime Minister” Costello. A few years later a power struggle broke out that would carry on for ten years. After Costello Vito Genovese grabbed power. After him Thomas Eboli became head of the ruling committee. It didn’t matter to Matty, he was now a made guy, and active in the union. He was also active in typical mob crimes as extortion and illegal gambling. But slowly he got involved in another business, one he himself controlled, a web of sex shops.<br /> <br /> At the beginning of the 1970s Matty, now promoted to caporegime, controlled nearly every sex shop and porno club on Times Square. Officially he still had a respectable job with the union. It was a good time to be a Mafioso, before RICO, and before the FBI had started its witch hunt on the five Families. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover denied the existence of of an organized Italian crime syndicate. Hoover was head of the FBI from 1924 until his death in 1972. In those fifty years he was considered one of the most powerful men in the US. Why would such a powerful and intelligent man ignore the clear signals of the mob’s existence for so long? According to rumors Hoover was having a homosexual relationship with an FBI underling, and the mob had obtained evidence of his homosexuality. The mob allegedly had photos of Hoover in bed with another man. For years mob leaders blackmailed Hoover with these photos in order to keep their organizations out of the long arm of the Feds. It apparantly worked, it wasn’t until a few years after Hoover’s death that the FBI increased its pressure on organized crime.<br /> <br /> It were easy times for Matty in the beginning of the 70s. In 1972 Matty’s brother Bobby opened a restaurant on Mulberry Street in New York’s Little Italy. The restaurant, Umberto’s Clam House, would become a tourist attraction for those interested in the American Mafia. Matty loaned his brother money to start the restaurant, and he himself would be a silent partner. On April 7 the name Umberto’s would become part of a legend. Around 4am, after a night out celebrating his birthday, Joe Gallo and company left the Copa Cabana club, on their way to disaster.<br /> <br /> “Crazy” Joe Gallo was already a legend back then. A Colombo capo he was known as the man who had fought the leadership of his own Family ten years earlier. Together with his two brothers Larry and Albert, and his ally <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/colombo-boss-carmine-persico">Carmine “The Snake” Persico</a> (current boss of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family">Colombo Family</a>) he was responsible for overthrowing Joe Profaci as boss of the Colombos. In 1961 Crazy Joe was arrested and sentenced to ten years in prison. He had only been out for a year that night in 1972. But already he was rumored to be involved in the shooting of Profaci’s successor, Joe Colombo, in June 1971.<br /> <br /> That April 7, 1972 morning most places were closed, when Gallo and his entourage, among them his bodyguard Peter “The Greek” Diapoulos, were hungry and looking for a restaurant. Umberto’s hadn’t been open that long, and none of them had ever eaten there. When he entered the restaurant Gallo greeted Matty The Horse, whom he knew to be a Genovese capo. But he wasn’t aware that Matty’s brother was the owner of the restaurant, nor that Matty was a silent partner. Not long after the group sat down for dinner three armed men stormed into the restaurant. They were gunning for Joe Gallo and opened fire. Because he was standing and walking away from the table he protected the group, among them his sister and stepdaughter, from getting shot. Joe Gallo was hit several times, collapsed and dies. Pete the Greek tried to shoot the hitmen but got hit in the buttocks. When he got back up after seeing the shooters drive off in a car, he confronted Matty, who was in the kitchen at the time of the hit. Matty convinces Pete the Greek that he had nothing to do with the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/give-a-man-a-gun-the-story-of-carmine-dibiase">hit</a>, and that he is part owner of the restaurant. The Greek realises Gallo had a lot more enemies and takes Matty’s word. To this day <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/photo/1972-murder-of-crazy-joey?context=album&albumId=6329524%3AAlbum%3A785">Umberto’s</a> is a tourist attraction, the restaurant has moved from its original location though.<br /> <br /> Life continued as usual for Matty the Horse after the Gallo shooting. He expanded his porno empire and befriended Vincent Gigante, a rising star within the Genovese Family. In 1975 Matty and his Jewish associate Julius “Spike” Bernstein were indicted with corruption and extortion of the union they controlled. But Matty and Spike are found not guilty on all charges. Matty is now 55 years old and had never spent more than a few months behind bars.<br /> <br /> The next ten years everything seemed to be going Ianniello’s way. Gigante had become boss of the Genovese Family at the start of the 1980s, which was great for Matty. Gigante was very happy with the money Matty sent his way. And Matty was very happy with the freedom he had to handle his business. Other mob families were becoming active in the porno world by then, but there was enough money for everybody. Matty also continued his normal mob business for which he is convicted and on February 15, 1986 sentenced to six years in prison and a fine of $2 million.<br /> <br /> When he is released from prison not much had changed within the Genovese Family. While other Families are having problems with rats, the Genoveses run a tight ship. Boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-vincent-chin">Vincent Gigante</a> is very secretive and his capos act the same. Gigante was known for his crazy act. He walked around Greenwich Village in his bathrobe mumbling to himself. This act had kept him out of prison for decades. But in 1997 he is finally convicted, and in 2003 he admitted his crazy behaviour was indeed an act. Matty also ran into some trouble. In 1996 his name popped up in several indictments against the Genovese Family. But the FBI had insufficient evidence after several witnesses decided not to testify.<br /> <br /> With Gigante in prison there was an opening at the top of the crime family. But The Chin keeps control, and gives his orders from prison. After several acting bosses are arrested Gigante installs a committee consiting of several powerful capos. It is their job to take over some of Gigante’s duties and to give out and enforce his orders. Ianniello has a place on that committee. And when several other committee members are arrested, Matty becomes the man whose vote counts the most.<br /> <br /> In the beginning of 2005 the FBI says Ianniello (84) is the acting boss. Matty is still going strong, despite his old age. But on July 28, 2005 at 6 o’ clock in the morning there is a loud knock on Matty’s door. It’s the FBI with a search warrant and a warrant for his arrest. Matty knows what time it is, he’s been in “the life” long enough. Matty still has a full head of white hair, he insists he is allowed to comb it, and put on a new shirt, before being led away. He knows there will be dozens of reporters waiting for him. His motto always has been: “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.”<br /> <br /> By 2006 Ianniello’s world came crashing down. He had already been indicted in New York, and in June 2006 he is also indicted in Connecticut involving the garbage industry. Eventually Matty pleaded guilty to both indictments. For the first (New York) indictment Matty faces up to two years in prison. For the Connecticut plea he faces 24 to 30 months in prison. The chance that Matty the Horse will ever be a free man again are slim to none, yet he keeps his mouth shut and honors omerta, the code of silence. His friend Vincent Gigante already passed away in prison. Gigante wasn’t the last real gangster, Matthew Ianniello is the last real gangster.<br /> <br /> <strong>UPDATE:</strong> "<em>Matthew "Matty The Horse" Ianniello, one of the last of the old time New York mobsters, has died</em>", reported Anthony M. DeStefano for <a href="http://www.newsday.com/long-island/obituaries/li-mobster-matthew-matty-the-horse-ianniello-dies-at-92-1.3914408" target="_blank">Newsday</a>. According to the article, Ianniello died August 15 at his home in Old Westbury at the age of 92. His medical records showed he had heart surgery in 2000 and had a pacemaker installed.</p>
<p>This profile was first published on January 20, 2007 and updated on August 20, 2012.</p>
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Profile: Genovese crime family boss Dominick Cirillo
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-dominick-cirillo
2010-11-21T19:00:00.000Z
2010-11-21T19:00:00.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted on March 25, 2006<br /> <br /> Dominick "Quiet Dom" Cirillo was born on the 4th of July, 1929. He started out as a boxer but eventually turned to a life of crime. Early on in his criminal career, in 1952, Cirillo was convicted on a narcotics charge. Cirillo was a good friend of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family" target="_blank">Genovese crime family</a> boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-vincent-chin" target="_blank">Vincent Gigante</a> and when Gigante went to prison in July of 1997 he was annointed Acting Boss. Cirillo conducted his Mafia business in the shadows. He favored walk talks over telephones. On May 8, 1998 Cirillo had a massive heart attack.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:left;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236983681,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />On May 9, 2004 Nicholas Cirillo (picture on the left), Dominick Cirillo’s son, left his home and told his wife he was going to Home Depot to buy compound. He did not return. On May 10 Nicholas’ wife Gina filed a missing persons report on her husband. On May 23 the New York Daily News reported the rumors regarding Nicholas’ disappearance; he was murdered by Bonanno mobsters. According to their mob source two weeks before his disappearance Nicholas went to a real estate office in Pelham Bay and got into a fight with Vincent Basciano jr, son of Vinny Gorgeous Basciano at that time Acting Boss of the Bonanno crime family, and Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale. "He wanted to start pushing around made guys, and now he's gone," said one organized crime investigator. "We don't think he is going to resurface." It was believed that Dominick Cirillo would avenge his son but the New York Daily News reported that he was unhappy with his son for building a rap sheet of minor drug offenses. Nicholas was believed not to be a made guy or even mobster. One investigator in the case is quoted: "His own father hates him,".<br /> <br /> On December 1, 2004 Randolph Pizzolo (43) was found shot to death. It was alleged by authorities that he was murdered by the Bonannos because he bragged about his role in killing Nicholas Cirillo.<br /> <br /> On April 5, 2005 Dominick Cirillo was arrested and charged with racketeering, murder conspiracy, extortion and loan-sharking. Arrested at the same time were: Lawrence Dentico, John Barbato and Anthony Antico. All men pleaded not guilty. According to federal prosecutors Cirillo, Dentico, Barbato and Antico are leading figures in the Genovese Crime Family. Prosecutors furthermore said that the indictments were the result of secretely recorded conversations by an informer inside the Genovese crime family.<br /> <br /> When federal agents arrived at Cirillo’s home they took him by surprise. Agents say they found a piece of paper on the kitchen table with the names of five men who were proposed for membership of the Genovese crime family. It also became known that when mobsters discussed Cirillo they wouldn’t say his name. Instead they would put a finger to the lips, which indicated they were talking about "Quiet Dom" Cirillo.<br /> <br /> A week after being arrested Cirillo asked for a court-appointed lawyer. Cirillo claimed he was too poor to afford a lawyer and asked for the court to appoint one. Cirillo’s registered income consists of $600 a month in social security. It was furthermore said that he gave his modest house on Research Ave. in the Bronx to his now-missing son, Nicholas, five years ago. When Cirillo was arrested he was living with his daughter Anne Marie in her summer home in Long Beach, L.I.<br /> <br /> On March 3, 2006 Dominick Cirillo was sentenced to 46 months in prison and was ordered to pay $75,000 in restitution. "You continued to commit criminal acts as an elderly, infirm individual," Federal Judge Sandra Townes told Cirillo, who remained seated as he heard his sentence, complaining of a cough and sore throat.</p>
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Profile: Genovese crime family capo Tino Fiumara
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/genovese-capo-tino-fiumara
2010-11-21T19:00:00.000Z
2010-11-21T19:00:00.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Last update in September 2010<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236982655,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />Tino Fiumara was born on August 11, 1941. Fiumara became head of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family" target="_blank">Genovese Crime Family</a>’s New Jersey faction in 1994, when he replaced Bobby Manna. Fiumara had been released from prison on parole after serving 15 years of a 25 year sentence for racketeering. After his release from prison he went back several times because he violated his parole conditions. In one such case in 2003 Fiumara was sentenced to 8 months in prison for failing to report his contact with an organized crime fugitive charged with murder. The fugitive was Genovese mobster Michael Coppola. Coppola was charged with the 1977 murder of Genovese soldier John "Johnny Cokes" Lardiere. For years nothing happened, until rats started crawling to the surface, told authorities Coppola killed Lardiere. In 1996 Coppola was ordered to give blood and saliva samples. Coppola fled. Fiumara kept in contact and was intercepted in a court-authorized wiretap speaking with Coppola. Fiumara pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit misprision (failure to report) of a felony.<br /> <br /> During Fiumara’s absence Lawrence Ricci became Acting Capo of his crew. Ricci was arrested for labor racketeering. Ricci and three ILA executives were charged with diverting hundreds of thousands of dollars from workers’ health and welfare funds to the Genovese Crime Family from 1996 through October 2004. In October 2005, Ricci went missing midway through the trial. On November 8 he was acquitted, and November 30 Ricci’s rotting corpse was found in the trunk of his car outside a Union, New Jersey Diner. It is widely believed Fiumara gave the OK for the murder. One of the motives given for Ricci’s murder is the fact that he refused to plead guilty, instead going to trial for labor racketeering. A trial brought unwanted attention, and therefor Ricci had to go. Another rumored motive is Ricci’s involvement to overthrow the leadership of Philadelphia’s La Cosa Nostra Family.<br /> <br /> Fiumara only enjoyed his freedom for a short while. On September 16, 2010, he died from natural causes at the age of 71. For years his name rang out when people were discussing the future of the Genovese Crime Family. Everyone agreed Fiumara had what it took. He was a ruthless and vicious killer, but also had the brains needed to run a large criminal enterprise such as the Genovese family.</p>
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Profile of Chicago Mafia boss Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/chicago-boss-joseph-joey-doves
2010-11-19T19:21:09.000Z
2010-11-19T19:21:09.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted on July 22, 2007<br /><br /> <img style="float:left;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236979060,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />Joseph "Joey Doves" Aiuppa was born on December 1, 1907 in Melrose Park. Aiuppa's parents both came from the same village in Italy and had come to the US to find a better life. Joseph Aiuppa was their first child. In 1918 an eleven year old Aiuppa dropped out of school and started working as a gardener. After that he worked several years as a laborer and in 1925 he became a truck driver for Midwest Cartage Company. By now Aiuppa had made some connections to the criminal world. He was linked with John Dillinger and the Alvin Karpis gang. He also hooked up with Al Capone's gang. And was taught the do's and don'ts from Outfit mobster John Moore who was also known as Claude Maddox. In 1930 he bought the Turf Lounge, which would become his headquarters for several decades. Through the years he would buy several more clubs including the Frolics, and the Magic Lounge. He also owned the Towne Hotel in Cicero. Furthermore in 1930 Aiuppa became a partner in the Taylor Company which manufactured gambling equipment.<br /> <br /> By 1935 Aiuppa worked for the Capone mob as an enforcer. He would rise through the ranks and be given the territory of Cicero to run. Mob boss Sam Giancana was overheard on a wiretap expressing his true feelings about his underling, talking to Frank Ferraro: "If Joey Aiuppa comes whining to you tell him to go to hell. He says he's broke. We gave him Cicero. Cicero is a great territory. If he can't make it there he can't make it anywhere."<br /> <br /> Aiuppa got his nickname from an incident in 1962 when he was arrested on the way back from a hunting trip in Kansas with 500 dead doves in his possession. Evidently not an animal lover he was equally vicious when it came to human beings. He was arrested in 1935 on suspicion of assault with intent to kill. Climbing the ranks of the organization once headed by Capone didn't go without leaving a trail of dead bodies. By the time Aiuppa became boss the FBI alleged he amassed a fortune worth millions.<br /> <br /> Aiuppa's chance for the top position in the Chicago Outfit came when Felix Alderisio was convicted of bank fraud and sent to prison in 1971. His underboss was John Cerone. The real power would remain with Antonino Accardo. In the 1970s the Chicago Outfit participated, together with the Kansas City, Milwaukee, and Cleveland La Cosa Nostra Families, in the skimming of five Las Vegas casinos. Four casinos were bought by the Argent Corporation which was headed by Allen Glick. Glick held no real power, he was just a front. Thanks to the connections the mob had inside the Teamster Central States Pension Fund the Argent Corporation was loaned millions of dollars to buy the Stardust, Fremont, Hacienda, and Marina. After the casinos were bought Glick was ordered to install Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal in a management position at Argent. From this position Rosenthal ran the casinos, while Chicago mobster Anthony Spilotro protected the mob's investments from other criminals. The skimming started and things went smoothly. But law enforcement was on their trail and eventually things fell apart. In 1983 Joseph Aiuppa and a host of other gangsters were indicted on charges that they skimmed millions from the four Argent controlled casinos. Three years later Aiuppa was found guilty and sentenced to 28 and a half years in prison and fined $80,000. He was released from prison in January 1996 after serving almost 10 years of a 28 1/2-year sentence on racketeering charges. In February 1997 he died at age 89.</p>
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Profile of Chicago Mafia boss Paul "The Waiter" Ricca
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/chicago-boss-paul-the-waiter
2010-11-19T19:16:10.000Z
2010-11-19T19:16:10.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted in 2001<br /> <br /> Paul "The Waiter" Ricca was born Felice DeLucia in 1897 in Naples, Italy. In 1915 Ricca got in serious trouble: he murdered a man and was sentenced to 2 years in prison. When he got out he killed the eye witness who had testified against him at his trial after that Ricca went on the lam. On August 10th, 1920 Ricca boarded a boat to New York when he got there he changed his name to Paul Ricca to avoid being arrested for the death of the witness after that he took the train to Chicago where he laid low and began working as a waiter. Ricca kept himself low profile for a time but pretty soon got himself involved in the same old troubles when he hooked up with local mobsters. That wasn't a hard thing to do since the restaurant he worked in was owned by Chicago mob boss Diamond Joe Esposito. The restaurant was frequented by several high ranking Chicago mobsters after a while Ricca got to be on first name terms with these guys and became closer with them. It wasn`t long before Ricca left his waiter job and started working for the Chicago mob full time.<br /> <br /> As a mobster Ricca started climbing the ranks and after several years held the position of second in command behind boss Frank Nitti. After enjoying some good years things took a turn for the worse when Ricca and Nitti and several other mobsters were indicted in the Hollywood Extortion Case. On the day of the trial, March 18 1943 all became clear. It turned out that Ricca and his mob cronies had been using the unions to extort large sums of money from some of the biggest studios in Hollywood. Studios that were extorted were: RKO, Paramount, MGM Studios and 20th Century Fox. The indictment sent shockwaves through the Outfit. Ricca and Nitti met with several others at Frank Nitti`s home to decide how best to handle this setback. it became clear as the men sat around the table that Ricca held more power than Nitti. Ricca confronted Nitti saying that he was responsible for the mess and that he should take the responsibility and blame for the entire case on his own putting Paul Ricca along with the others in the clear. Nitti was shocked and told Ricca and the rest to leave his house immediately. This insult did`nt sit well with the Outfit. Nitti's time was up and he knew it. On March 19 1943 Nitti went outside his house walked down the railroad track and blew his brains out. Paul`The Waiter`Ricca was now the boss of the Chicago Outfit.<br /> <br /> On December 30th, 1943 a Federal Grand Jury returned a guilty verdict against Ricca and his cohorts. Ricca was sentenced to 10 years in prison plus $10.000 in fines along with court costs. Ricca didn't like the idea of 10 years in a prison cell and ordered his organization to see to it that he got out sooner and so the Outfit went to work. The Outfit's political fixer was Murray Humphreys, and Humphreys contacted Tom Clarke the attorney general of Harry Truman. Tom Clarke saw to it that Ricca was released on parole after serving only 3 years of his sentence. This was strange since he was handed a sentence without the possibility of parole. However there was one minus to Ricca's release he could not associate with known mobsters. On his release Ricca vacated the top position of boss and made Anthony Accardo number one in command of the Chicago Outfit, Ricca assumed the role of adviser a position he would maintain untill his death of natural causes on October 11, 1972.</p>
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Profile of Chicago Mafia soldier Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/chicago-soldier-anthony-the
2010-11-19T19:14:24.000Z
2010-11-19T19:14:24.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted in 2001<br /><br /> Anthony Spilotro was born on May 19, 1938 in Chicago. Spilotro grew up in a loving family, and seemed to be on track for a decent and honest life. But he decided he wanted something else, and in his sophmore year at Steinmetz Highschool he dropped out and turned to a life of crime. Once out of school he joined forces with other Steinmetz dropouts and engaged in petty crimes, like shoplifting and purse snatching. On January 11, 1955 Spilotro is arrested for the first time, for stealing a shirt. He is fined ten dollars and is put on probation. But after several more arrests Spilotro receives some special attention from the police. By 1960 Spilotro has been arrested thirteen times and he feels he is ready for the next step in his criminal career.<br /> <br /> To get anywhere as a criminal in Chicago you had to be connected to the Outfit, the Chicago Family of La Cosa Nostra. And that's exactly what Spilotro did, he hooked up with Outfit enforcer "Mad" Sam DeStefano. Spilotro starts out as a debt collector for DeStefano but quickly gets involved in bigger crimes. Stay involved with the Mafia long enough and you'll be asked to commit that century old crime: murder. In 1962 Spilotro "makes his bones" in the M&M killings. "Making your bones" means committing a mob ordered murder for the first time. Together with mob hitters DeStefano, Felix Alderisio, and Chuckie Nicoletti, Spilotro tortured criminals Bill McCartney and Jimmy Miraglia. McCartney's head was put in a vice untill his eye popped out. After this gruesome murder Spilotro was considered golden material for the Chicago Outfit. After the M&M murders in 1963 Spilotro became a made guy in the Chicago Outfit and left Mad Sam DeStefano's crew to join Felix Alderisio's crew instead.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236976491,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />Now a member of the Chicago Outfit Spilotro got assigned to a bookmaking territory on the North West Side of Chicago. There he controlled a few dozen bookmakers. In 1964 Spilotro was sent to Miami to work with Frank "Lefty" Rosenthal, who was big in sportsbetting. Rosenthal was sent to Miami to control Chicago Outfit interests there, and Spilotro was there to see to it that things ran smoothly and nobody tried to muscle in on their operations. By 1967 Spilotro was back in Chicago fulltime. In 1971 Spilotro is assigned to Las Vegas where he replaces Marshall Caifano. Spilotro sets himself up in the Circus Circus Casino and conducts his business from the gift shop there. Spilotro operated under the name Anthony Stuart, Stuart was his wife's maiden name. The moment Spilotro arrived in Las Vegas he started taking care of lose ends. There were five murders where the victims were tortured before they were killed, and several casino employees were found buried in the desert.<br /> <br /> In September 1972 Spilotro had to come back to Chicago, when he was indicted in the Foreman case. He was indicted along with Mad Sam DeStefano, and his brother Mario DeStefano. Another criminal, named Crimaldi, who was present at the Foreman killing, had flipped and was the star witness. Things looked bad for Spilotro, especially considering Mad Sam's crazy court antics. Spilotro and Mario DeStefano figured that they had a chance of beating the case if they could somehow seperate their case from Mad Sam, and so they decided to take Mad Sam out themselves. In May of 1973 Mario DeStefano and Spilotro set up Mad Sam at his home and murdered him with a shotgun. On May 22, 1973 Mario DeStefano was found guilty and Spilotro was acquitted and went back to Las Vegas. But problems weren't over yet, new indictments were coming. This time Spilotro was indicted together with Joseph Lombardo. Again there was a witness, but that was no problem for Tony and Joey. In September of 1974 they found the witness and blew his head off. Without the witness there was no case and Spilotro and Lombardo were acquitted of all charges. Spilotro went back to Vegas for a final time.<br /> <br /> In Las Vegas he saw to it that the skim from the casinos went as planned and that no other mobsters moved in on their operations. Spilotro worked closely with his old partner Frank Rosenthal who was the boss of the Stardust Casino. But after a few years things started going bad for Spilotro. In 1979 he was added to the Las Vegas black book, an exclusion list which included people that could not set foot in any of the Las Vegas casinos. Spilotro was outraged but it didn't stop him from running his Las Vegas business. Besides the casinos Spilotro also started his own gang named "The Hole In The Wall Gang". This gang was made up out of Spilotro and his brother and their associates. They were called the hole in the wall gang, because when they committed a burglary they would gain entry by making a hole in the wall. This gang was against the Outfit's orders, the Outfit ordered Spilotro to keep quiet, and a gang of thieves wasn't exactly quiet. But the hole in the wall gang wasn't the worst thing Spilotro did. Rumors were floating around that Spilotro was selling drugs and sleeping with the wife of Frank Rosenthal. When word got back to the Outfit bosses, Spilotro's time was up. On June 14, 1986 Spilotro and his brother Michael were summoned to an Outfit meeting. They were beaten with baseball bats, and driven to an Indiana cornfield where they were buried in a shallow grave. And so was the end of one of Las Vegas most notorious mobsters.</p>
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Profile of Chicago Mafia soldier "Mad Sam" Destefano
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/chicago-soldier-mad-sam
2010-11-19T19:12:18.000Z
2010-11-19T19:12:18.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted in 2001<br /> <br /> Mad Sam is not that well known to the general public, but his 'student' Tony "The Ant" Spilotro is. Mad Sam taught Tony everything he knew about murder and torture, and Mad Sam knew a lot about that kind of stuff.<br /> <br /> DeStefano grew up in Southern Illinois and moved to Chicago when he was a teenager. He officially began his criminal career in 1927 when at the age of 18 he raped a girl and was convicted of that crime. Later he got convictions for assault with a deadly weapon, bank robbery, extortion, and possession of counterfeit stamps.<br /> <br /> After a while DeStefano became involved with Sam "Momo" Giancana's West Side "42 Gang", a gang which was made up of an assortment of vicious thugs and bootleggers. By the 1960s DeStefano had moved up the ranks, going from petty hoodlum to a major force in Chicago's loan sharking and drug trafficking rackets. Alongh with his brother Mario Anthony, DeStefano succeeded in bringing to Chicago what has become known as "The juice loan": a loansharking operation in which violence is used to force payments from debtors.<br /> <br /> Eventhough most of the "42 Gang" became top mobsters in the Chicago mob DeStefano never climbed the ranks. He was too unstable for any top position in the Chicago Mafia, but they still had use for him though....especially notorious mob bosses Sam "Momo" Giancana and Paul "the Waiter" Ricca had much use for him. DeStefano became known as a stonecold executioner and a peerless loan collector. He was known to collect a variety of instruments of torture in his basement, but his favorite tool was the icepick. DeStefano used ice picks to stab his victims in the throat, testicles and torso, either to squeeze payments out of them or as foreplay to murder.<br /> <br /> Now I've told you about Sam and his tools, I told you he was notorious I think now it's time to tell you some of those stories that made Sam earn the nickname Mad Sam and made him the most deranged, sick, notorious and feared hitman in the history of the Chicago Mafia.<br /> <br /> Sam DeStefano lived in a nice far west side suburb of Chicago with his wife and three children, he looked everything like the normal family man. But that's because people couldn't look in his basement, if they had looked there they probably wouldn't live to tell the story. Sam DeStefano's basement was where Sam turned into Mad Sam and tortured and killed his victims. Sam's basement was soundproof and had all the torture tools a hitman needs. One of DeStefano's victims was Artie Adler, a local restaurant owner who had been late on juice payments. One week Adler couldn't pay and was brought to Sam's basement. Sam went to work with the ice pick and Adler had a heart attack. The body was dumped into a sewer near North Sayre and Harlem on the far west side and there it stayed, in the frozen winter waters of the sewer until the spring thaw. The Department of Sanitation got a call in the spring about a backed up sewer and that's when Adlers perfectly preserved corpse was discorved.<br /> <br /> Not all of Sam's victims went out of the basement dead, some like Peter Cappelletti, were just humiliated and tortured. One time, Cappelletti tried to run off with $25.000,00 he owed Sam. Cappelletti was caught and brought to Mario DeStefano's restaurant Cicero. The poor guy was stripped naked and handcuffed to a boiling radiator. Tied to the radiator Cappelletti was beaten and tortured by Sam for 3 full days. On the night of the 3rd day DeStefano phoned the guys family and invited them all to a luxurious dinner at the restaurant in the man's honor. That Saturday, the whole family (of Cappelletti) turned up at Mario's place and were given a multi course Italian dinner. The guest of honor was not there at the table but Sam assured the family that he would be joining them soon. Once the meal was finished, the naked and severely burned man was brought in front of his family and thrown at the feet of his mother. According which story you believe the outcome is the same, Cappelletti got urinated on, either by his family who were forced by Sam, or by Sam himself but like I said the outcome was the same. Sam let Cappelletti live, after Cappelletti promised to make things right, and made him an example to others who thought they could steal from him.<br /> <br /> When Sam Giancana ordered the hit of DeStefano's younger brother Michael, Sam carried out the hit with no second thoughts. When questioned about the 1955 murder, DeStefano refused to answer any questions, instead he was giggling uncontrollably. When investigators tried repeating their questions DeStefano only laughed harder. Perhaps more strangely, Michael DeStefano was a drug addict, a fact that seemed to pain the remorseless hit man to no end. After completing the murder with Mario Anthony DeStefano's assistance, Sam DeStefano took great pains to cleanse his brother's corpse in order to remove any traces of the drugs before abandoning the body in the trunk of a car.<br /> <br /> Tony SpilotroAnd then there was the hit of Leo Foreman. Leo Foreman led a dubble life being a legit real estate agent on the one hand and a mob juice loan collector on the other. Foreman collected juice for DeStefano, one day in November 1963, DeStefano paid a visit to Foreman's real estate offices and Sam started an argument. The quarrel ended with Foreman throwing Sam out. Foreman was later lured to the Cicero home of Sam's brother Mario by Tony Spilotro and Chuckie Crimaldi. Foreman went because he was told that Sam wanted to kiss and make up for the ealier argument. Once in the house Leo Foreman was coaxed into the basement where he was grabbed and tied up by Spilotro (picture on the left), Mario DeStefano and Crimaldi. The 3 then proceeded to beat up Foreman, soften him up a bit before Sam would get there. Foreman was beaten with a hammer on his knees and beaten about the head, ribs and crotch. Sam applied his normal technique with his icq pick stabbing Leo 20 times. They tortured him in a certain way so that it would hurt but not kill Foreman. When Foreman had been sufficiently wounded, a pajama-clad DeStefano glided from a nearby bedroom, laughing at the wounded man. According to Crimaldi, who later turned government witness, DeStefano screamed and giggled as he admonished Foreman, saying, "I told you I'd get you. Greed got you killed!". Foreman pleaded for his life as DeStefano shot him repeatedly in the buttocks. DeStefano and his crew watched Foreman bleed and whimper for awhile before torturing him to death with a butcher knife. Far from letting a death spoil their party, DeStefano and the boys then took turns excising chunks of flesh from Foreman's arms.<br /> <br /> Eventually the madness of Mad Sam that was of such good use for the Outfit became too mad and fell out of favor. When Sam DeStefano was called to testify in court, he would often demand to speak through a bullhorn. He often acted as his own attorney, and his courtroom antics included appearing in pajamas, arriving on a stretcher, and longwinded rants in which he would attempt to discredit investigators by accusing them of colluding with Joseph Stalin. In 1972, the FBI turned Chuckie Crimaldi. Tony Spilotro and the DeStefano brothers Mario and Sam were indicted for the murder of Leo Forman on the evidence given by Crimaldi. The three of them were incarcerated pending the trial which was set for May 1973. At the pre-trial, Sam DeStefano made a circus of the proceedings, acting as his own attorney. Sam began to alienate the judge and jury. Making the trial such a high profile media event was an obvious mistake. It would be very hard to influence the judge and jury with bribes or other forms of corruption if the trial was front page news. So, Mario and Spilotro devised a plan to keep Sam quiet - for good.<br /> <br /> Mario and Tony went to Sam telling him that they had located the safe house where Chuckie Crimaldi was being held by the authorities. Sam was ecstatic. What fun he would have exacting revenge on Crimaldi the stool pigeon. Mario and Tony told Sam that the guards covering Crimaldi had been bribed to turn their backs that Saturday and the three of them could whack Chuckie there and then. It was all set. Saturday came around and Sam was out in his garage at his home. Mario came up the driveway followed closely by Tony Spilotro. As the three got to within a few feet of each other, Mario stepped aside and Spilotro pulled out a double barreled shot gun he had been hiding. Spilotro fired both barrels in quick succession, the first shot removed Mad Sam's arm and the second hit him with full force in the chest. Sam was dead before he hit the ground. On April 14th, 1973 "Mad Sam" was no longer but his skills were past on to Tony "The Ant" Spilotro (who was acquitted in the Foreman murder trial) who would use it whenever he needed to.</p>
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Profile of Chicago Mafia boss Antonino Accardo
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/chicago-boss-antonino-accardo
2010-11-19T19:00:00.000Z
2010-11-19T19:00:00.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted: December 2, 2006<br /> <br /> Antonino Accardo was born in Chicago on April 28, 1906. He grew up in Little Sicily on Chicago’s Northwest Side. As a teenager Accardo began his life of crime, he started out as a pickpocket, and would later steal cars. He was arrested numerous times, but never spent a night in jail. During prohibition Accardo began hanging out at the Circus Cafe on North Avenue, which was owned by gangster John Moore, also known as Claude Maddox, who was connected to John Torrio’s bootlegging organization. Accardo would also start working for the Torrio gang, becoming an enforcer. While working as an enforcer he got his nickname: “Joe Batters.” Because he hit people, who wouldn’t pay, in the head with a baseball bat. His talents didn’t go unnoticed by Chicago’s most notorious crime boss either.<br /> <br /> At age 20, he became a made member in the Capone gang. He was made at a meeting with Capone. Chicago’s LCN Family never had a making ceremony that was like the other LCN Families. In Chicago the boss would explain the proposed member the rules (stay loyal, don’t rat) and then the whole thing was finished with a handshake. No pricking blood from the trigger finger or burning the card of a saint. The lack of a “proper” ceremony didn’t mean Accardo was less loyal. When rivals fired their guns at Capone, it was Accardo who pulled him down and shielded him with his body. Accardo was immediately promoted to personal driver and bodyguard. By the 1930s Accardo was a capo in the Outfit, overseeing gambling operations.<br /> <br /> On March 19, 1943 Frank Nitti committed suicide. The day before, indictments were brought against several Outfit gangsters, among them Nitti and Paul “The Waiter” Ricca, (Ricca was a close friend of Accardo) in the so called “Hollywood Extortion Case.” That night there was a meeting between the top Outfit gangsters. Ricca immediately ripped Nitti for being the mastermind of the scheme, and said he should take the fall. Nitti disagreed and tempers flared, resulting in Nitti opening the door and indicating his fellow mobsters should leave. Nitti had no support within the Outfit and he knew if he didn’t take the fall, he would be killed by his “friends.” And so he blew his brains out on the tracks of the Illinois Central Railroad. With Nitti gone, Ricca was the obvious successor, but on New Year’s Eve 1943 he was sentenced to ten years in prison in the Hollywood Extortion Case. Accardo emerged as the new leader.<br /> <br /> Under Accardo the Outfit expanded its Las Vegas operations. In the 1950s Accardo and the Outfit invested millions in Las Vegas casinos, among those The Riviera, The Stardust and The Tropicana. By this time Accardo was starting to use underboss Salvatore “Mooney” Giancana as a front boss. The real power, however, stayed with Accardo (and Ricca.) Because of Giancana the Outfit made a deal with Joseph Kennedy: the Outfit would supply presidential candidate John F. Kennedy with votes, in return (President) Kennedy would back off from the Outfit, especially their Las Vegas interests. Giancana saw golden mountains, and Accardo did too. The Outfit would have their own connection to the White House.<br /> <br /> But their mood changed when John F. Kennedy appointed his brother Robert Attorney General. Bobby Kennedy had been chasing the mob for years, it was clear to all involved the hustlers had been hustled. In 1965 Giancana went to prison on a contempt charge, in 1966 he got out, and was summoned by Accardo and Ricca. At that meeting Giancana was taken down as boss, and ordered to leave the country. He did, but got involved in casinos, with which he made millions. Accardo wanted a piece of the action, but Giancana refused. On June 18, 1975 Giancana was shot to death in his basement. His antics had annoyed Accardo enough.<br /> <br /> By this time Joseph Aiuppa was the new Outfit boss, with Accardo semi retired. Semi retired, but still a man to be feared. In January 1978 Accardo’s Chicago home was <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-message-dont-fuck-with">burglarized</a>. Accardo told Aiuppa to bring in Anthony Spilotro. When word about Accardo’s orders to hunt down the men responsible for the burglary, there was a mass exodus from Illinois of thieves and cat burglars. But those responsible were eventually found. All were killed, and their last moments in the world of the living wasnt pleasant. One had been castrated and had his face burned off with an acetylene torch. The message was clear: don’t fuck with Tony Accardo. And nobody did. On May 27, 1992 Antonino “Joe Batters” Accardo died of heart failure at Chicago’s St. Mary of Nazareth Hospital. He was 86. In his entire life he had never spent a night in jail, law enforcement had tried though, and failed.</p>
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From Boss to Rat: Profile of Philadelphia Mafia leader Ralph Natale
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-boss-ralph-natale
2010-11-19T18:27:09.000Z
2010-11-19T18:27:09.000Z
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<div><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/10052160895?profile=RESIZE_400x&width=400"></div><div><p>By David Amoruso<br /> <br /> Ralph Natale was proof that the Philadelphia Crime Family was at its end and in deep trouble. Natale would become the first Mafia boss to flip, turn government witness, and testifie against his former 'employees'. But was he really the top guy or just an Uncle Junior type of bulls eye for the feds to aim their guns at?<br /> <br /> Ralph Natale started out as an absolute nobody. He wasn't a killer or tough guy and he wasn't a smart street guy either. Natale was the guy who hung around but was never truly part of the crew. Still, the guys he hung around liked his company. One of those guys was Philadelphia Crime boss <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-boss-angelo-bruno">Angelo "The Gentle Don" Bruno</a>, Bruno got Natale started as a bartender at the Rickshaw Inn in Cherry Hill. Tending bar Natale came into contact with a lot of the lower level guys but never really joined the action. A few years later Natale got <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-left" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10052167093,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="10052167093?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="106" /></a>his first big break when Local 170, bartenders union he belonged to, was in chaos. Three of the union leaders who were controlled by Angelo Bruno were arrested and convicted of extortion. Looking for a new union leader Bruno decided that Natale (left) would be the guy who would take out Bruno's orders at the union. As the head of the union Natale diverted hundreds of thousands of dollars from the union's health benefit plans to Bruno. Things were going great for Natale, finally he was a somebody with some power and he wasn't gonna let anybody take that away from him....and so when former Local 170 official Joey McGreal was released from prison and wanted Natale's spot Natale committed his first murder. Well he didn't do it himself, the guy who was with him pulled the trigger for him. Anyway Natale stayed on top as head of the union and after this murder thought he was even more than just a somebody and started getting into other rackets.<br /> <br /> One day a lawyer working for Mr. Living Room, which was a furniture store in Marlton New Jersey, approached Natale to help him out with some insurance scam. Natale was asked to firebomb the place and in turn he would receive 25% from the million dollar insurance settlement. Natale firebombed the place but was allready thinking out a plot that would give him the full 100%. Natale contacted a hitman named Charlie Allen and asked him to help him murder a business partner that owed him money. Natale told Allen: "I’m gonna take him down by the waterfront" "I’m gonna dump ’im. That guy’s stealing my fuckin’ money and when somebody gets into my money". We know he said this because Charlie Allen was a police informer who wore a wire at every meeting he had with Natale. Natale had no clue and told Allen all about rackets he was in on, help he needed and more. Natale talked about how he was a no show employee for the largest beer distributorship in Pliladelphia. In 1978 Natale was arrested for the Mr. Living Room arson and convicted a year later. While he was out on bail Natale used Allen (who again was wearing a wire) to sell 4000 Quaaludes and arrange a meeting between his cocaine suppliers and Allen's buyers (who were federal agents working undercover). And so Natale was arrested again in January 1979 and convicted of smuggling cocaine in July 1980.</p>
<p><strong>READ: <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/former-philadelphia-mob-boss-ralph-natale-s-last-don-standing-rev" target="_blank">Former Philadelphia mob boss Ralph Natale’s Last Don Standing</a> reveals a gangster desperately in search of respect</strong><br /> <br /> How Natale dealt with prison is difficult the say, one story (the one he told his associates) was that he was THE man in there and that every group feared him. But all of that seems to be an attempt to impress his associates then the truth. The truth probably was that he didn't get raped. He did say about his life behind bars: "It was like like being inside an x-ray machine. Prison shows you who is a real man, how they handle themselves. You see how they act at Christmas with no family or friends around, locked up like that. You see how they do their time. You see who breaks, who bends and who is a stand-up guy."<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10052167462,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="10052167462?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="106" /></a>Inside Natale eventually shared a cell in Erie County, Pa. with Joseph Merlino (right), a young Philadelphia mobster. Natale found out that the 2 had a lot in common as they both hated the former boss Nicky Scarfo and the way he had run the Philadelphia Crime Family. Merlino hated Scarfo for demoting his father Salvatore "Chuckie" Merlino from Underboss to soldier and Natale was angry when Scarfo grabbed his illegal proceeds and never took care of his family while he was in prison. Natale found he had authority and seniority and with the help of Merlino and his crew of youngsters he could become boss. After a few years Merlino got out and found that Scarfo had been replaced with the Sicilian born <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-boss-john-stanfa">John Stanfa</a>. Merlino who after all the talks about leadership with Natale wasn't about to let his plans be stopped by this old Sicilian out of towner and pretty soon Merlino got ready for war.<br /> <br /> As Merlino and his group of youngsters were fighting Stanfa and his guys Natale was safe in prison, sometimes calling Merlino to give him some pep talk and promise him that once they would be the leaders things would be great. Easy talk when you're not in the line of fire. After several mobsters on both sides were killed the F.B.I. decided to put a stop on this war and take Stanfa and his crew off the streets. Now Natale and Merlino could take the top positions. In 1995 Natale was released from prison and took the top spot after Merlino (who had become a made guy under Stanfa) made him. Now Natale who never had done any real Mafia work in his gangster life was in the top spot of the Philadelphia Crime Family just after becoming a made guy. He had the backing of the New York Families.</p>
<p><strong>WATCH: Former <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/videos/ex-mob-boss-turned-informant-loses-his-cool" target="_blank">Philadelphia Mafia boss Ralph Natale discusses his life of crime</a>, loses his temper</strong><br /> <br /> Natale was a happy man but right away things seemed to be not quite as they should've been. Merlino continued to act as he had done under Stanfa. Eventhough Natale was boss and as such the guy who said how things had to go he realized that a lot of stuf was done without talking to him first. People were getting whacked without Natale's permission and there was more and more proof that Merlino was running his own organization. One former Natale associate said: "They tried to leave Ralph out," "But he knew. People would drop money or other things off for Joey but Joey wouldn’t be there and Ralph was. So Ralph would say, ‘I’ll hold onto it.’ Then he’d check it out and find money or something from a scheme nobody had told him about. This was about 1995, less than a year in his position, that Natale began to suspect Merlino and his friends were very disloyal. They were cutting him out of deals and going behind his back to make money. Natale was letting them get comfortable and bury themselves." His former associates also say that Stanfa was planning on taking the whole Merlino crew out with the help of a North Jersey crew ran by Pete Caprio.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}10052167664,RESIZE_180x180{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="10052167664?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="121" /></a>Because he was left out of business deals Natale (right) probably really needed more money for his girlfriend (besides his wife), so Natale decided to sell some drugs by himself to make that extra bit Merlino was holding him out on. Acting all by himself out of touch with current events it didn't take the feds long to arrest Natale. Looking at 20 to life and with nothing but hate towards Merlino and his crew Natale decided to save his own skin and burn theirs by becoming a government witness and testifie against his former Family. The first Mafia boss to ever turn on his own Family.<br /> <br /> After word got out that Natale had flipped people began to leak stories to the press that Natale knew nothing, that he was nothing but a puppet on a string and that he was kept out of all the major business. They also said that he was never formally inducted but that he bought his way into La Cosa Nostra. This may all be and they try to put Natale down but he had them tricked first when he made them fight his war. And now that he has flipped he seems to have tricked them all again because in 10 years from now Natale will be living somewhere in freedom where they will be either dead, in prison or on their way to prison. The whole situation just shows how fucked up the situation in the Philadelphia Crime Family really is.<br /> <br /> On January 21, 2005 Ralph Natale was sentenced to 13 years in prison for drug dealing, racketeering and bribery. Before he decided to cooperate with authorities he was facing life in prison. He will serve no more than 8 years because of time already spent in prison.</p>
<p>After his release from prison, Natale wrote a book about his life titled <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/former-philadelphia-mob-boss-ralph-natale-s-last-don-standing-rev" target="_blank">Last Don Standing</a>, which we discuss <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/former-philadelphia-mob-boss-ralph-natale-s-last-don-standing-rev" target="_blank">here</a>. He passed away January 23, 2022 at age 86.</p>
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Profile: Philadelphia Mafia boss John Stanfa
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-boss-john-stanfa
2010-11-19T18:23:46.000Z
2010-11-19T18:23:46.000Z
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<p><br /> By: David Amoruso<br /> Posted in 2001<br /> <br /> John Stanfa was going to be the guy who would bring the Philadelphia Crime Family back to the top. After the Scarfo years which crippled the Philadelphia Crime Family law enforcement and mobsters all agreed, John Stanfa was gonna get the Family back on it's feet. Stanfa was Sicilian, low key and knew the game. Things ofcourse would turn out very different.<br /> <br /> John Stanfa was born on December 7, 1940 in the tiny mountain village of Caccamo, about 30 miles southeast of Palermo, in a region of western sicily long dominated by the Mafia. Stanfa was the youngest of 4 children. He had 2 older brothers and 1 brother in law who were members of the Sicilian Mafia. He came to the U.S. with his wife Nicolena Congialdi and they moved to Philadelphia. In 1967 their first child Sara would be born followed by Joseph 4 years later and Maria in 1976. Stanfa went by unnoticed in his early years. The F.B.I. had seen him hanging around the wiseguy spots but didn't even consider him a big associate. He was registerd as a stonemason and bricklayer by trade. He was set up by his friend Carlo Gambino, the New York Mafia Boss. Gambino was a friend of Philadelphia Mafia Boss Angelo Bruno. Gambino helped Stanfa as a favor for his Sicilian friends. When Bruno was whacked Stanfa was in the seat next to him, it is said STanfa was in on the plot, he didn't say anything however. When questioned he didn't say anything and on May 14, 1980 he was indicted on perjury charges. Stanfa took off and went underground. With the help of his Gambino contacts he set himself up with a nice girlfriend leaving his wife and 3 kids alone letting them survive on foodstamps. After 8 months of hiding Stanfa came out of hiding and on April 21, 1981 he was sentenced to 8 years in prison for lying to the grand jury. In the meantime another Boss got whacked, Testa, and a new Boss took over: Nicodemo Scarfo. At the end of Scarfo's reign, around 1987, the Family was in big trouble. Scarfo brought enormous heat from law enforcement and eventually his underlings began to flip to the other side resulting in lengthy prison sentences for Scarfo and associates.<br /> <br /> In 1987 Stanfa got out of prison and for the next several years kept a low profile. He spent some time in Sicily and New York before returing to Philadelphia in late 1989 or early 1990. At that point Anthony Piccolo was acting boss and didn't like his job, he wanted to step down. With Piccolo's, Gambino Family and Genovese Family backing Stanfa became the new boss. Piccolo would become his consigliere and eventually 33 year old Joseph "Joey Chang" Ciancaglini jr (son of a jailed Scarfo Capo.) would become Underboss. As a boss Stanfa always talked about the flaws of Scarfo yet in a lot of ways he did the same thing. Stanfa put in place the street tax again, every criminal had to pay a tax on his activities, this created tension and threats of violence on the streets of Philadelphia, right away Stanfa put in place an atmosphere that wouldn't be good for business. Stanfa sent out Felix Bocchino to collect the street tax, things were running OK for Stanfa, the street tax was easy money. Then Felix Bocchino got whacked.....The media went crazy, they called it the first mob hit since 7 years. At first both Stanfa and the F.B.I. had no clue as to who was behind the murder but pretty soon things became clear.<br /> <br /> In South Philadelphia there were a group of young thugs. Sons, brothers, nephews of Philadelphia mobsters, who didn't feel connected to the new administration. The youngsters were led by Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino (picture on the left), a young flashy good looking thug who gave great christmas parties. Merlino was the son of former Scarfo Underboss Salvatore Merlino. Other youngsters in Merlino's group were: Steven Mazzone, Marty Angelina, George Borgesi (whose father was an imprisoned Scarfo hitman), Gaetano "Tommy Horsehead" Scafidi and Vince Iannece (whose father was a jailed Scarfo soldier). Merlino and his friends were already running things and were doing pretty good, they already had the street tax in place and so when Bocchino came around collecting what they felt was their money, he had to go. The Bocchino hit would be the first casualty in the war between the young mobsters and the old school Cosa Nostra gangsters. Pretty soon Stanfa found out about the young turks, as they would later be called by the media, and took action. There was a botched hit on Merlino's second in command Michael Ciancaglini. Michael was 29, he was the son of a jailed Scarfo Capo, his brother was doing 7 years for extortion. When asked about the murder attempt Michael said he didn't know nothin' and didn't seen nothin'. At the time of this botched hit Merlino was in jail.<br /> <br /> In the meantime Stanfa decided he could use some new blood and got himself some Sicilian soldiers. 2 young guys named Biagio Adornetto and Rosario Bellochi. By the fall of 1992 Stanfa began to plot the demise of the Merlino faction (as it was now called). Stanfa operated by the saying: "Keep your friends close but your enemies even closer" and so he and Merlino would be seen together on social occasions and mob meetings. In September Stanfa held a secret ceremony in which Merlino, Michael Ciancaglini and Adornetto were inducted into the Philadelphia Family as made members. People around Stanfa warned him that these youngsters were no good and that they would bring the whole thing down but Stanfa said he knew and would take care of it. With all these murder plots you'd almost forget the love that was in the air. The 2 Sicilian mobsters that Stanfa had inducted into his Family started making moves for his daughter Sara. One was rejected by her and this would set the stage for another botched hit. The one who was turned down was Adornetto and ever since then he was bad mouthing the administration and Bellocchi, something had to be done. And so Bellocchi went to see his friend with a shotgun, the shotgun wouldn't fire any shots and Adornetto escaped.<br /> <br /> Pretty soon Stanfa decided it was time to get rid of that young turk Merlino. Merlino had irritated Stanfa once again, Merlino liked to bet....but when he lost he wouldn't pay the bookmaker. Stanfa didn't understand the guy, going to war with him was the easiest thing. But Merlino was way ahead of Stanfa. On March 2 1992 Stanfa's Underboss Joey Chang (picture on the left) was hit in his social club. He was shot in the head, neck and chest.....but survived, however he was too wounded to ever again become an active Mafia member, at the age of 35 he retired. Stanfa went crazy, where did this young punk get the nerves? Soon he found out. It turned out that Merlino got advice from Joe Ciancaglini sr (Joey Chang's father) and his father Salvatore Merlino. Merlino also made some contacts in prison, his cell mate was Ralph Natale (picture on the right), a 64 year old Bruno Family member doing time for arson and drug trafficking. Natale would be out on parole in 2 years and would be a serious rival to Stanfa. Even more troubling was the fact that Natale had ties to New York, New York ties that would like to see Stanfa go. Merlino was backed by the Genovese Family.<br /> <br /> Stanfa moved fast and ordered the hit on Merlino and his 2 top associates. But by the summer of 1993 Merlino and friends were still alive and kicking. They came close to death....but the bombs didn't explode when they were supposed to. Stanfa had to wait untill August 5 1993. In a drive by shooting Merlino and second in command Michael Ciancaglini were shot down, Ciancaglini was dead but Merlino was lucky....he was shot in the ass and would survive. Eventhough Merlino survived Stanfa was a happy man, he felt at ease and on top of things, he was sure that this Merlino kid would fall very soon.....he was wrong.<br /> <br /> Stanfa was still high on the succes of the drive by shooting and got careless. And so it was that on August 31 1993 while he was driving to work with his son Joe and driver he drove into an ambush. While getting stuck in trafic a van pulled up besides them, the side doors opened and bullets came blazing through Stanfa's car. Stanfa's son was hit in the face. Stanfa's driver got the car away from the van and managed to escape with Stanfa and his wounded son. Joe would survive but for Stanfa this meant war. The F.B.I. agreed, mobhits in shady back ally's was one thing but mobhits on a busy highway was another and so they turned on the heat on the Philadelphia mobsters. Stanfa wanted the entire Merlino faction wiped out. For several weeks hit teams from both factions were on the look out for targets. 2 Merlino associates were whacked and Merlino and his top associates went underground. 1 even changed sides: Tommy "Horsehead" Scafidi, stepped over with info to Stanfa.<br /> <br /> On November 15 Merlino was arrested by the F.B.I. and charged with violating his parole. On November 23 he went back to jail. Stanfa had some more problems of his own at this time: he discovered he had an informer, a rat among his Family. When he ordered the hit.....it failed, the guy escaped with 2 bullets in his head. Stanfa knew he was in trouble now. On March 17 1994 Stanfa and 23 top associates were indicted on racketeering charges that included murder, murder conspiracy, extortion, arson, kidnapping and obstruction of justice. Stanfa knew he had rats but where did the Feds get the proof for all these things? Well, turns out the F.B.I. had Stanfa bugged from the early weeks of his reign as boss. The entire war and mob business were caught on tape by the F.B.I., the Joey Chang hit was videotaped.....this along with the informers and future informers (Bellocchi would flip later on, as would others after sentencing.) would bring the entire Family down. Stanfa knew his time was up and took it like a man. In November of 1995 John Stanfa was sentenced to 5 consecutive life sentences.</p>
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Profile: Philadelphia Mafia boss Angelo Bruno
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-boss-angelo-bruno
2010-11-19T18:21:22.000Z
2010-11-19T18:21:22.000Z
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<p><br /> By: David Amoruso<br /> Profile reviewed on July 31, 2006<br /> <br /> Angelo "The Gentle Don" Bruno was the last of the old school Philadelphia Mafia Bosses. He was given the nickname "The Gentle Don" because he was like that, he thought everything over and didn't overreact, he handled his business in a quiet way that was good for the Philadelphia Family. Angelo Bruno was by far the most succesful boss that the Philadelphia Crime Family ever had. Under his leadership the Family flourished, when he was killed the Family self-destruct.<br /> <br /> Angelo Bruno was born on Sicily in 1911 and came to the U.S. in the late 1920s and settled in Philadelphia. Pretty soon Bruno started doing crime. In those days the Philadelphia Mafia boss was Salvatore Sabella. Sabella started the family in 1911. With the surge of Italian immigrants in that area, he had no trouble getting men to do his biding. Bruno had set up a gambling operation and ran some bootlegging operations for Sabella. In 1927 Sabella was deported and John Avenna became the new Boss. Under Avenno Bruno became a made man in the Philadelphia Crime Family this would happen in the early 1930s. In 1934 he formed an important partnership with Carlo Gambino in a lucrative land transaction. In 1959 the boss of the Philadelphia Family Joseph Ida retired and made Antonio Pollina the new boss. Pollina was one of two choices for Ida, the other candidate for the top position was Bruno. Eventhough Pollina was made boss and had Bruno's total support Pollina didn't feel at ease with a potential rival to his power and so he ordered that Bruno should be whacked. When Bruno heard of this order he went to see his dear old friend Carlo Gambino, who by this time was one of the most powerfull bosses in the U.S. Bruno told Gambino of the hit order and Gambino made it clear that his friend would not be whacked. Instead he would be made the new Boss of the Philadelphia Crime Family. Gambino also asked Bruno what he wanted to do with Pollina, Bruno decided to keep him around so the Family could get used to their new leader and not angry them by murdering their old leader. The plan worked and soon Bruno was the undisputed Boss of the Philadelphia Crime Family.<br /> <br /> Bruno ruled his Family with a low key style directed mostly to the traditional rackets. He held it tight and strict and always handled business extremely professional. Like the time Bruno had to deal with a guy who was robbing bookmakers connected to the Family. The guy had been warned but wouldn't stop and so Bruno ordered the hit. The contract was given to then soldier Nicky Scarfo (he would become boss in the early 1980s.) The victim was lured to a bar where he was strangled and stabbed to death. Bruno then ordered Scarfo to take the body to a spot in the woods nearby where another Bruno crew had already dug a grave. But Scarfo and his crew were told not to bury the body, they were instructed to leave the body next to the grave. They were told another crew would bury the body. When Scarfo and his crew had left, Bruno sent two of his most trusted men to pick up the body. First they filled the grave with dirt, then they took the body and buried him at another location. That way if any members of the Scarfo crew or the crew originally assigned to dig the grave decided to flip and become informants they'd have nothing to deliver. The grave they went to would be empty. This was what made Bruno the most succesful boss in Philadelphia Family history it also gave him the nicknames "The Docile Don" and "The Gentle Don" because he never lost his cool and always handled his business in a professional manner.<br /> <br /> Right from the start of his reign as Boss Bruno opposed the Family's involvement in drug trafficking. Bruno didn't want to attract any attention from the D.E.A. or even more attention from the F.B.I. By this time Bruno had been arrested 13 times in his long career. He had been subpoenaed and indicted by grand juries regularly, his only jail term lasted two and a half years for refusing to testify in an investigation of official corruption in Atlantic City. The ban on getting involved with drugs angered several Philadelphia mobsters who saw the money that could be made with drugs. They were even angrier to see that Bruno, although he had decreed a ban on dealing drugs, associated, and took money from several drugdealers, among them the Cherry Hill Gambinos.<br /> <br /> In 1977 the gambling act in New Jersey was altered and Philly mobsters had dollar signs in their eyes just thinking of all the money they could make. However Bruno declared Atlantic City open territory, this meant other Mafia Families could come in and operate criminal businesses there. Bruno felt that if he didn't declare Atlantic City open territory he could get his Family into a war with the bigger and more powerful New York Families, declaring open territory made sure that there would be no war. He also told his Family there would be enough for everyone. His Family however felt he was selling out to the New York Families. This along with the ban on drug trafficking would be the reason of Bruno's demise.<br /> <br /> Angelo Bruno whacked in his carPretty soon a faction within the Family started to plan the hit on Bruno. The faction was headed by Bruno's consigliere Anthony "Tony Bananas" Caponigro. On March 21, 1980, Bruno, at age 69, was sitting in his car when a man fired a shotgun at him, and in the process wounding John Stanfa, 39, Bruno's bodyguard. Afterwards it is generally believed that Tony Caponigro carried out the hit himself. Angelo Bruno would be the most succesful Boss in the history of the Philadelphia Crime Family. With the death of "The Gentle Don" or "The Docile Don" there came an end to the peace that surrounded the Philadelphia Family during his 21 year reign as Boss. His succesors would bring the Philadelphia Family down to it's knees and give it the name "The most dysfunctional Mafia Family in the United States".</p>
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Profile: Philadelphia Mafia capo George Fresolone
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-capo-george
2010-11-19T18:17:40.000Z
2010-11-19T18:17:40.000Z
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<div><p>By David Amoruso<br /> Posted on October 14, 2006<br /> <br /> George Fresolone was the first mobster who taped his induction into the Mafia. His information led to indictments against 38 mobsters, including Philadelphia boss “Little Nicky” Scarfo. In 1994 his autobiography came out, titled “Blood Oath: The Heroic Story of a Gangster Turned Government Agent Who Brought Down One of America’s Most Powerful Mob Families.” This profile is largely based on that book.<br /> <br /> George Fresolone was born in Newark, New Jersey in 1953. He grew up in the Down Neck section of Newark. His father was a bookmaker and ran a numbers operation. Being in that business it was impossible to evade the mob, so too for his father who would become a mob associate. George Fresolone knew at a young age the life of a mobster was the life he wanted. In his autobiography he says: “It was really simple: In that kind of working-class world, everyone else broke their backs at some job they hated, trying to make a buck. But the wiseguys just hung around, and the money seemed to roll downhill into their pockets. And they were respected. Next to the parish priests, they were the most respected guys in the neighborhood.”<br /> <br /> While Fresolone was still in high school he started to hang around Pasquale “Patty Specs” Martirano. Martirano was a made guy in the Philadelphia Crime Family. Fresolone became his driver, a job that had good prospects. Martirano started grooming Fresolone, teaching him the rules and codes of La Cosa Nostra. After being Martirano’s driver for two years Fresolone and Martirano decided Fresolone should try something on his own. By the mid 1970s Fresolone had his own bookmaking and numbers business.<br /> <br /> When Fresolone was getting involved with the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra Family, the boss was Angelo Bruno. Bruno became boss in 1959 and had led his Family with a gentle but firm hand. But by the late 1970s through early 1980 Philadelphia mobsters had had enough of Bruno. Bruno stood in the way of their earnings. Bruno had put a ban on narcotics trafficking but most mobsters knew about the Cherry Hill Gambinos (major Sicilian drug traffickers) who operated in his territory and paid him a percentage. A lot of wiseguys also felt he was passing up on too many business opportunities in Atlantic City. On March 21, 1980 Angelo Bruno was murdered in front of his home. The Philadelphia Family had just begun its descent into darkness. Several mob murders later Nicodemo Scarfo emerged as the new boss.<br /> <br /> Two and a half years after Bruno’s murder George Fresolone was arrested for the first time. But he wasn’t worried: “This arrest was no big deal; it was just part of doing business. I was a first time loser, so I was not too worried. First-time bookies almost always got probation.” A month after his first arrest, police came looking for him again. But his in-laws warned Fresolone and he briefly went into hiding before turning himself in. On March 12, 1983 Fresolone was busted again! This time in Queens, New York. It still didn’t worry Fresolone but due to his dumb lawyer he eventually was sentenced to a maximum of four years of which he had to serve at least half. While in prison Fresolone received some good news: Patty Martirano was promoted to capo. Since Fresolone was very close to Martirano it meant he had a good future ahead of him. Fresolone spent some time in freedom on an appeal bond but it didn’t last forever and he went to prison on July 12, 1985. Before going away to prison his fellow mobsters assured him they would look after his family, Fresolone believed them. It wouldn’t take long for him to see the truth.<br /> <br /> Excuses, excuses, that is what the Fresolones heard when he and his wife asked for help from their “friends.” “We’re all broke.” “The cops are all over us, and we can’t make any moves.” And “I’ve never seen things so tight” were some of the excuses Fresolone heard when he started making calls. Fresolone was fed up with them and would get his revenge. He would climb the Mafia ladder and make them pay. The problem was however that several of those guys had been made while he was in prison. They had already climbed the Mafia ladder and outranked him. When Fresolone got out of prison Acting Boss Anthony Piccolo assured him that he would’ve been straightened out together with them if he hadn’t been in prison, and that he would be straightened out very soon now that he was out of prison. “Straightened out” means becoming a (made) member of a (in this case Philadelphia) La Cosa Nostra Family.<br /> <br /> There were about a dozen men in “Patty Specs” Martirano’s crew. Fresolone, although not a made guy, was the closest to Martirano, and according to himself he was also Martirano’s biggest earner. Other men in Martirano’s crew like Joseph “Scoops” Licata and Anthony “Slicker” Attanasio (both made guys) were earning but kept it to themselves. Or as Fresolone said: “This was truly the every-man-for-himself gang.” Scoops and Fresolone never got along but now that Scoops was made he acted different towards Fresolone: “His whole attitude seemed to say: I’m made and you’re not.”<br /> <br /> Patty Specs Martirano was high on the target list of authorities. Martirano was the leader of the Northern New Jersey faction of the Philadelphia Crime Family and therefor an important guy to take down. Through a mole Fresolone learned that Martirano was being bugged. They looked everywhere and eventually found a bug in a car of a crew member. The heat was on and Martirano fled to Argentina. Several weeks passed but when he came home after a long night he found cops at his house. The cops were New Jersey State Police and Detective Sergeant Ed Quirk told Fresolone they were there to arrest him on a warrant charging him with racketeering, conspiracy, usury, usury as a business, and promoting gambling. Martirano faced the same charges and was also charged with being a leader of organized crime. Martirano’s crew was re-organized: Martirano would remain the official capo and Fresolone (out on bail) would be the only person to communicate with him. Scoops Licata was designated “first among equals.”<br /> <br /> After his arrest Fresolone was called several times by Ed Quirk, who tried to get him to cooperate. Fresolone knew they wanted him to give up Martirano, something he didnt want to do. Martirano was like a father to him. Fresolone talked to Martirano by phone several times. During one of those calls Martirano told Fresolone he wanted to leave Argentina and go to the Calabria region in Italy. But Martirano worried about getting caught when he entered Italy. To protect Martirano Fresolone became an informant. Fresolone called Quirk for a meeting and made his demands clear. He said Martirano was not in the US and had no intention of coming back to New Jersey. Fresolone said he was willing to cooperate if Quirk could guarantee him that he would not issue any kind of international warrant for Martirano and not actively try to track him down. After some more talks Fresolone and Quirk made a deal: Fresolone would become a “confidential source,” this meant he would “confirm” certain bits of information. He didn’t go all out and tell them all he knew.<br /> <br /> George Fresolone was a good earner, but he wasn’t a millionaire. He made good money but as fast as the money was coming in, it went back out. Fresolone was supporting his family, Martirano in Italy, Martirano’s wife and kids in Newark and also Martirano’s girlfriend. At one point Fresolone didn’t have enough cash to send to Martirano, so he went to Scoops Licata (first among equals) to ask him for $10.000 to give to their capo Patty Specs Martirano. Fresolone had to beg, after that Scoops came up with a couple of grand. This showed Fresolone for the second time how things went in the Mafia, the I in Mafia was what it was all about. Then Ed Quirk played Fresolone a tape of a bugged conversation between “Slicker” Attanasio and “Turk” Cifelli in which the two mobsters were discussing Fresolone: “Who the fuck does he think he is?” Slicker said. “He ain’t straightened out. In fact he ain’t shit. It’s time we put him in his place.” This shocked and angered Fresolone a lot, and when Nicky Scarfo Jr told him that Underboss Philip Leonetti had flipped, Fresolone decided he too would go all the way to get out of the mob.<br /> <br /> All the way meant wearing a wire. Fresolone recorded hundreds of conversations while cooperating. It is interesting that he also recorded conversations he had with Patty Specs Martirano. Throughout his book he says he wants to protect Martirano, yet here he was, recording his voice. Fresolone does say he didn’t think Martirano had much longer to live, and wouldn’t be alive long enough to be convicted or stand trial. Still it is an interesting note.<br /> <br /> By the summer of 1990 Fresolone’s induction into La Cosa Nostra was imminent. In a June 14 meeting (which was recorded) Martirano told his crew that he had been made Underboss of the Philadelphia Family and that he would take a more active role in running things. Martirano also said that Acting Boss Anthony “Cousin Anthony” Piccolo would pressure Scarfo Sr to make some new members. The first group of men on the list to be made were: Fresolone, John Praino and Anthony “Slicker” Attanasio.<br /> <br /> The induction ceremony was set for July 22, 1990 but was called off and a new date was planned. Fresolone almost did not participate in that one. At a card game Fresolone met Michael Perna’s brother, Ralph, who told him that: “Someone close to Patty Specs has screwed and is working for the state.” The information came from a mole in the Attorney General’s Office. Fresolone was shocked and asked who the rat was. “Don’t know.” Perna replied. “But our guy will keep looking, and I’ll let you know as soon as I hear.” A meeting of everybody involved in the operation was called to decide whether or not to pull out Fresolone. Fresolone said he wanted to continue, he would be able to record an induction ceremony of La Cosa Nostra, the operation would go on.<br /> <br /> The ceremony took place on July 29, 1990 in John Praino’s house in the Bronx. Five men would become “made guys” today: George Fresolone (37), John Praino (47), Nicholas “Turk” Cifelli (68), Vincent “Beeps” Centorino (in his late 50s) and Nicholas “Nicky O” Oliveri (42.) Anthony Piccolo was running the ceremony, seated next to him was Pasquale Martirano (who at this point was in the final stages of liver cancer.) Soon after Fresolone was given the rank of capo, the four men who were made with him would be his crew.<br /> <br /> Shortly after Fresolone went on a “vacation,” the vacation consisted of checking out cities and houses where he and his wife and kids would spend the rest of their lives. While on vacation Fresolone got a call from Nicky O who told him Patty Specs Martirano had died.<br /> <br /> Ever since Scoops heard about Fresolone becoming made and upped to capo he was furious and bitching and moaning. Scoops hadn’t been invited to attend the ceremony. Scoops started a major beef, saying a “list” had not been circulated before the ceremony. Among the New York Families it is a rule that a “list” of names of proposed members are circulated among the Families to see if anyone has a problem with any of the names. The Philadelphia Family isn’t obligated to circulate a list but out of respect has done so in the past, except for this time. The new guys had been made so if a new list would be circulated and someone had a problem withone of the new members, that new member would have to be killed. This was Scoops plan. It was a good time for Fresolone to stop his work as an informant.<br /> <br /> On Wednesday, March 17, 2002 George Fresolone died of a heart attack at an undiclosed location. He was 48.</p>
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Profile of Philadelphia Mafia family capo Thomas “Tommy Del” DelGiorno
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/philadelphia-capo-thomas-tommy
2010-11-19T18:00:00.000Z
2010-11-19T18:00:00.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> <br /> Tommy DelGiorno started out running a small bookmaking and numbers business during nights and weekends while also having a legit day job as a truck driver in the early 1960s. Tommy Del himself liked to gamble as well. He visited several mob run card and dice games. This is how he hooked up with the Philly mob. After slowly expanding his business Tommy Del came to the point where he needed a big partner where he could edge off some of his bets.<br /> <br /> He was introduced to Broadway Eddie Colcher who worked for big time bookie and Bruno associate Frankie Flowers D’Alfonso. First he edged of some of his bets to Colcher and D’Alfonso but eventually he became partners with them. DelGiorno eventually rose in importance, outranking Eddie Colcher. DelGiorno and D’Alfonso became partners in a restaurant which they bought from the Piccolo brothers (who were made members of the Philadelphia Family.) The restaurant was called Piccolo’s 500 and had been a mob hang out, that would not change, what did change was the name. DelGiorno and D’Alfonso hired notable Philadelphia chef Vincent “Cous” Pilla, and to lure him to work at their restaurant they changed the name from Piccolo’s 500 to Cous’ Little Italy.<br /> <br /> It was at DelGiorno’s restaurant that Philadelphia’s mob boss Angelo Bruno had his last dinner. He was brought home by mob associate John Stanfa and when he arrived there a gunman shot him in the head with a twelve gauge shotgun. Bruno was dead on the spot and Stanfa fled (he would emerge as boss in the early 1990s.) At this point DelGiorno was an associate and desperately wanted to become a made member of the organization. In order to become a member he had to participate in a murder.<br /> <br /> After the murder of Angelo Bruno several more murders of high ranking Philadelphia mobsters followed, among them Anthony Caponigro and the new boss Phil Testa. Eventually Nicodemo “Little Nicky” Scarfo became the new boss. It was under Scarfo’s rule that DelGiorno was ordered to commit his first murder. The victim was John Calabrese, who had the nerve to set up his own independent loansharking operation out of several pawnshops in Atlantic City. Atlantic City was considered Nicky Scarfo’s territory, his home turf. But Calabrese didn’t just refuse to send money from his loansharking business, he refused to pay Scarfo anything at all. Calabrese had to be made an example of.<br /> <br /> On October 6, 1981 the Calabrese hit went down. Calabrese showed up unannounced at Cous’ Little Italy and as Chickie Ciancaglini lured him outside to a spot in front of an alley DelGiorno and Faffy Iannarella snuck up behind him and shot him. Scarfo sent word to both men that “it was great!”<br /> <br /> Another man who had to be made an example of was Frank “Frankie Flowers” D’Alfonso. He too refused to pay tribute to Scarfo. He however was not killed. In 1981 Scarfo ordered Salvatore Testa and Gino Milano to beat up D’Alfonso. D’Alfonso was hit with a steel rod and a baseball bat, his injuries consisted of a fractured skull, a broken jaw, bones under both his eye sockets had been shattered along with his left kneecap, two bones in his lower left leg were broken, he had a gaping head wound that took 64 stitches to close. Asked by police what had happened D’Alfonso said: “I got hit by a truck.” Several years would pass in which this stand up guy continued to refuse paying Scarfo his tribute, Scarfo this time was seriously fed up. On July 23, 1985 D’Alfonso left his house to buy a pack of cigarettes. Two men walked up behind him and fired five shots in his back and head, Frankie Flowers a true stand up guy was dead. He knew he didn’t stand a chance against Scarfo, he knew he would be killed, but refused to run to the law. The man supervising his murder was Tommy DelGiorno.<br /> <br /> DelGiorno was one of the supervisors of the hit on Salvie Testa. Testa had become a threat to Scarfo and as a result had to go. Testa was a difficult target though, he sensed Scarfo’s men were out to get him. Eventually DelGiorno told Scarfo of his plan to pressure a member of Testa’s inner circle to betray him. It worked, on orders of Scarfo DelGiorno told Joey Pungitore that Scarfo wanted Testa dead and that if he did not help them Scarfo would kill him, his father and his two brothers. A shocked Pungitore eventually said okay but requested that he would not have to kill Testa himself. On September 14, 1984 Testa was killed. The man who participated in his killing reaped the benefits, Tommy DelGiorno was promoted to capo.<br /> <br /> By the summer of 1986 things began to look bad for Tommy Del. Two major money making deals went bad and Scarfo blamed him. The New Jersey State Police had Delgiorno’s Ocean City condo bugged and his phone wiretapped. Several mob soldiers were complaining to Scarfo and underboss Philip Leonetti about DelGiorno. On November 2, 1986 two New Jersey State Police detectives visited DelGiorno. They told him they were there to talk about a plot to kill him. They had two tapes they would like him to hear, one contained DelGiorno’s own voice, the other was a conversation between Faffy Iannarella and Sal Grande. Two days later DelGiorno flipped, the first Philadelphia made guy to do so.<br /> <br /> DelGiorno’s testimony helped put 53 Philadelphia mobsters and associates in prison and his decision to turn government witness caused a flood of other Philly Family turncoats, among them underboss Philip Leonetti. DelGiorno was eventually sentenced to five years in prison and vanished into the witness protection program.<br /> <br /> While testifying DelGiorno said the following about Frankie Flowers D’Alfonso:<br /> “Are you familiar with an individual named Frank D’Alfonso?”<br /> “Yes, I am.” DelGiorno replied.<br /> “And what is his nickname?”<br /> “Frankie Flowers.”<br /> “And who did you know him to be?”<br /> “He was just a guy hanging around the neighbourhood, pretending he was a gangster.”<br /> <br /> In the end it turned out Tommy Del was the one pretending.</p>
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Profile: Lucchese crime family associate Henry Hill
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/lucchese-associate-henry-hill
2010-11-19T17:00:00.000Z
2010-11-19T17:00:00.000Z
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<p><br /> Henry Hill is probably the most famous mob rat of them all. Immortalized by Martin Scorsese's movie 'Goodfellas' in wich Henry Hill was played by Ray Liotta. Thanks to this movie Hill's life in the witness protection program isn't as boring as he had anticipated at the end of the movie 'Goodfellas'. He's doing interviews and appears on TV shows, all thanks to his shady past and the great movie made about his life.<br /> <br /> Henry Hill grew up in the Brooklyn area dominated by Lucchese Crime Family capo Paul Vario. Paul Vario was one of the more respected capos in the Lucchese crime family. He controlled a lot of the family's rackets and also had a number of criminal innovations that returned even more profit, including a number of chop shops throughout Brooklyn where the stolen parts were sold on to crooked auto suppliers and service centers.<br /> <br /> Henry was fascinated by the gangsters and mafiosi and from the moment he saw them wanted to become just like them. But he couldn't become like them, Henry couldn't become a full fledged Mafia member because he wasn't Italian. His mother was, but his father wasn't. His father was Irish and becuase of that Henry could never become a made guy. But not being Italian didn't stop Henry from becoming a close associate and friend of Paul Vario and his crew. In his teenage years Henry would run errands for Vario and his crew, and eventuelly after becoming best friends with Jimmy "The Gent" Burke and Tommy DeSimone, moved on from running errands to more serious crimes like truck hijacking.<br /> <br /> Henry was married to Karen who was the mother of his two children. Henry and Karen had a love hate relationship as Henry lived up to his gangster image having a number of affairs and girlfriends, staying out long nights drinking and partying, playing cards and just doing the usual things that wiseguys did in Brooklyn around that time.<br /> <br /> After beating up a gambler who refused to pay his debts who's sister happened to work at the FBI as a typist, Henry was sentenced to jail for ten years. Once Inside Henry soon realized that prison time for wiseguys was different compared to that of the normal convicts. The mobsters were treated with respect by everyone from convicts to the prison guards, who were paid off in order to make the time a little easier for the mafiosi and their associates. Inside Henry made some contacts in the narcotics trade which he would soon seek out upon his release.<br /> <br /> His release came after four and a quarter years thanks to Paul Vario who set up a dummy job for him, which also helped when he began his probation. It wasn't long before Henry began to use his narcotics contacts from prison and began shifting large amounts of cocaine from Brooklyn to Pittsburgh even though Paul Vario vehemently forbid any of his crew from dealing drugs. But the money came rolling in and soon Henry needed help as his operation grew. So he cut his two best pals Jimmy Burke and Tommy DeSimone in on the action. Things started going bad when Henry began using his own product and became very sloppy as he was arrested and the whole chain including his contacts in Pittsburgh was busted with him.<br /> <br /> Now Henry found himself in a sticky position. Paul Vario had banned the use or distribution of drugs because he was afraid of what the government could do with a drug charge. So Henry would be killed if he would turn to Vario. On the other hand a life on the run with two young children isn't really an option and so Henry Hill became a government witness. He ratted out his best pal Jimmy "The Gent" Burke and his capo Paul Vario, who the feds had wanted to get for a long time. And because of the wider range of rackets he had under his belt the feds valued Henry's testimony highly, as they knew all to well that he could put Vario away for probably the rest of his life.<br /> <br /> Henry Hill enjoyed the fame the movie Goodfellas brought him. He wrote several more books and regularly appeared on Howard Stern's radio show. But Henry started using drugs again, and again got in trouble with the law. In March 2005 he was arrested in Nebraska where he worked at an Italian restaurant as a chef, when drug paraphernalia (glass tubes with cocaine and methamphetamine residue) were found in his luggage at the airport.</p>
<p><strong>On June 12, 2012, Henry Hill died in a California hospital. For the full story <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/goodfella-henry-hill-dead-at-69">click here</a>.</strong></p>
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Profile of Cosa Nostra boss Gianni Nicchi
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-gianni-nicchi
2010-11-19T13:01:02.000Z
2010-11-19T13:01:02.000Z
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<p><br /> By David Amoruso<br /> Posted on December 17, 2009<br /> <br /> Giovanni “Gianni” Nicchi is considered an example of the latest generation of Sicilian Mafiosi. Capable of violence, loyal, and very young. According to Italian authorities, Nicchi had become a leading Cosa Nostra member when he was only in his mid twenties.<br /> <br /> It is a recurring theme: the son follows in his father’s footsteps. It happens in families from all walks of life. The world of the Sicilian Mafia is no different. Gianni Nicchi’s story is no different. His father is a member of Cosa Nostra and is serving a life-long prison sentence for his crimes. There are numerous stories of children as young as five being around drugs and guns, while their fathers teach them they did not see anything. The code of silence, known as Omerta, is the first rule these children learn, as it is considered to be the Mafia’s most sacred rule.<br /> <br /> In the last few decades, however, that sacred rule has been broken by hundreds of Mafiosi. From the lowest associate to the most violent boss, each rank has delivered several pentiti; witnesses. With bosses testifying about Cosa Nostra crimes, murders, and its members, Italian police made quick progress in arresting Mafiosi and sending them to prison for long terms. These arrests left a vacuum. With the older and wiser mobsters locked up, the younger generation had to step up sooner than expected to replace them and take charge.<br /> <br /> The same thing happened to Nicchi. His Mafia-mentor was Antonio Rotolo, the boss of the Pagliarelli area in Palermo. Nicchi was Rotolo’s godson, but Rotolo made it clear that he saw the youngster as his real son. Nicchi’s power was solidified when his Godfather told other Mafiosi that: "From this day on, you have to know that when you talk to him it is as if you talk to me. It is the same." These words made it clear that Nicchi had become a leading figure within the Pagliarelli Family.<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236983874,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />Between 2003 and 2006 Nicchi made several trips to New York to meet with mobsters of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-crime-family-overview">Gambino Crime Family</a>. His contact there was Gambino captain <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/gambino-capo-francesco-cali">Francesco Cali</a>. According to American authorities, the men made arrangements for drug shipments between the US and Europe. Cali has well-known links to narcotics traffickers that were involved in the “Pizza Connection” heroin pipeline.<br /> <br /> He also has strong links to the Inzerillo Family. The Inzerillos were part of the Cosa Nostra Families that were defeated by the Corleonesi in the last Sicilian Mafia war. Rotolo was an ally of the Corleonesi and also wanted Nicchi to check out what Cali had to say about the Inzerillos who were living in exile in the US.<br /> <br /> All the while, American and Italian police were watching. In Sicily one big boss after the other was arrested. The biggest catch was boss of bosses Bernardo Provenzano. He had been on the run for over forty years and had run Sicilian Cosa Nostra since the arrest of Toto Riina and his closest associates in the early 1990s. Several months later, Antonio Rotolo was arrested as well. Authorities had an arrest warrant for Nicchi as well, but he escaped arrest.<br /> <br /> More arrests followed. As well as indictments. In February 2008, 80 members and associates of the New York Gambino Family were indicted in Operation Old Bridge. The operation was meant to shut down the renewed ties between Sicily and New York. Many Sicilian Mafiosi, including Nicchi, were indicted as well. A month earlier, a Palermo court had already sentenced Nicchi to 18 years in prison when it found him guilty of extortion and other Mafia crimes.<br /> <br /> Of course, Gianni Nicchi was not around to serve his sentence. He was still a fugitive and giving orders to the Cosa Nostra members that remained on the streets of Palermo. Italian politician Roberto Maroni called him a "young, dangerous, ambitious, pitiless killer". Police considered Nicchi the number two man within Cosa Nostra, behind the mysterious Matteo Messina Denaro. His name was put on the list of Italy’s 30 Most Wanted Criminals.<br /> <br /> After decades of police corruption and ineptitude, Sicilian police had shown a very different side during the 2000s. Many Mafiosi had been arrested and their operations had been busted. They were on top of their game. On December 5, 2009 police found their main target. 28-year-old Gianni Nicchi was hiding in an apartment in Palermo. When he noticed the cops, he tried to flee but was quickly apprehended.<br /> <br /> "If we carry on like this, there will be no names left on the list of 30 most-wanted criminals," Anti-Mafia prosecutor Piero Grasso said following the arrest of Nicchi. Authorities have managed to arrest 17 of Italy's top 30 most-wanted suspected criminals in a few months time. Could it be they are finally winning the battle against Cosa Nostra?<br /> </p>
<p style="text-align:center;"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236984074,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" /></p>
<p> </p>
<div style="text-align:center;font-weight:bold;">From left to right: Frank Cali, Nicola Mandala, Gianni Nicchi enjoying themselves in New York with girlfriends.</div>
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Cosa Nostra Boss: Matteo Messina Denaro
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-matteo
2010-11-19T12:54:59.000Z
2010-11-19T12:54:59.000Z
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<div><div style="text-align:center;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">The New Star In Cosa Nostra: Matteo Messina Denaro</span></div>
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<p><br /> <br /> By Joris van der Aa (article was first published in Belgian monthly magazine "Ché")<br /> <br /> Ever since the arrest of Salvatore "Toto" Riina the power within the leadership of Cosa Nostra (still the most powerful crime organization in the world) has been shifting. One ambitious and ruthless young man can’t wait to grab the top position within the Sicilian Mafia. let me introduce to you Matteo Messina Denaro, the Capo Di Tutti Capi of the 21st century.<br /> <br /> "I have to go, but I can’t explain the reasons of my choice to you. At this moment things are testifying against me. I fight for a cause that can’t be understood at this time, but one day people will see that I stood on the side of what was right."<br /> <br /> In 1993 the Italian police agencies searched a house in Mazara Del Vallo there they found a letter belonging to Matteo Messina Denaro (40), the rising star of the Sicilian Mafia. Since that letter we have heard nothing of Denaro he’s been in hiding, running from the hunters of the anti mafia. He is public enemy numero uno, seemingly unable to track down. Is he sitting peacefully in a farmhouse on some Sicilian mountain? Or is he controlling his business with an iron fist from abroad? No one knows the answer.<br /> <br /> His presence is felt more than ever within Cosa Nostra, the crime group that controls all other Italian crime groups (such as the Neapolitan Camorra, the Calabrian Ndrangheta and the Sacra Corona Unita from Pulii). Even more so, Diabolik is trying hard to push the current Capo Di Tutti Capi (boss of all bosses), Bernardo Provenzano, off the throne. Some mafia investigators are assuming that he already took over from Provenzano.<br /> <br /> "If you compare Cosa Nostra with a normal business, then you could say that Provenzano has been demoted. And Denaro has been promoted." says Guiseppa Luma, head of the parliamentary anti mafia commission in the British newspaper The Times.<br /> <br style="font-weight:bold;" /><span style="font-weight:bold;">A Man Of Honour At birth</span><br /> <br /> Any Mafioso`s life is one big cliche, Messina Denaro`s is no different. Denaro was born to be a Mafioso. He was born on April 26, 1962 in Castelvetrano, near Trapani. It was in this period that the Mafia clans were gaining power and influence, prime example: the Corleone Clan.<br /> <br /> It was also in this time that the American Mafia went into a working relationship with the Sicilians in the extremely profitable heroin trade. The Sicilian Island was controlled by the so called "Men of Honour", which is how Mafiosi see themselves. The local population didn’t object with that term most use the term to refer to members of the Mafia. the Mafia saw to it that there was economic activity on the poor island and on top of that Mafiosi acted like they were fighting for a higher cause: the fight against the Italian State. The Italian State was seen by many Sicilians as an occupier. It was in these times and this atmosphere that little Matteo Messina Denaro grew up. his father Francesco was also a man of honour and would eventually become Capo of the Trapani region. He was also one of the trusted men of Toto Riina.<br /> <br /> It wasn’t long before he saw that Messina Denaro junior had talent. According to the Italian weekly magazine L’Espresso he learned how to use a gun when he was only 14. 4 years later he committed his first murder. And it didn't` stop at that one murder. At the time of writing this article Denaro has reputedly killed around 50 people and he is proud of it.<br /> <br /> "I filled a cemetery all by myself" he bragged once.<br /> <br /> Friend of the Colombians Matteo Messina Denaro was a replica of his teacher Toto Riina. Extremely violent, cruel, not afraid of anyone but above all intelligent enough to stay out of the hands of justice. Diabolik also has a nose for profitable business. He made his fortune dealing in drugs and collecting pizzo, protection money extorted from businesses. In the drug trade his career advanced at breathtaking speed. Within several years he grew from being a small distributor to becoming an international player with whom people need to be careful. Even the American security services took notice of him.<br /> <br /> The FBI sees Denaro as one of the biggest drug traders in the world. With this in mind it is no surprise that he has close contacts with more than one Colombian drug-lord. With his growing drugs business he leaves his mark on Cosa Nostra. The Italians don’t call the Sicilian Mafia the Narco Mafia for nothing. Denaro’s climb to the top has begun, especially after taking over the position of capo of the Trapani region from his father. This is only the beginning.<br /> <br /> A Member of the Supercosa 1993. A bloody year in Italian history. A historical year in the history of the Mafia. It was in this year that there was a top meeting between heads of the Russian Mafia and Cosa Nostra. Italian justice hit them hard by arresting dozens of Mafiosi. The Italian office of homeland affairs pulled apart 70 governing panels because they were infiltrated by the Mafia. The Pentiti, better known as informants, government witnesses or rats, caused much damage to Cosa Nostra. The highlight of the war against the Mafia was the arrest of Salvatore "Toto" Riina, the boss of bosses. 1993 was also an important year for Matteo Messina Denaro. in that year, he just turned 31, he enters the supercosa. The supercosa is a select group of capi who know all the dark secrets of Cosa Nostra. As he entered this position of power he decided to, as he called it, "fight a just war against the Italian State." In June 1993 bombs went off in Rome, Firenze and Milan. 10 people die as a result of the bombings. One of the targets was the Catholic church. The coordinator of these attacks: Matteo Messina Denaro. Diabolik not only sends his troops out to attack the church, the justice department and the police agencies he also sends a clear message to the media. Denaro executes several journalists who dug too deep into the world of Cosa Nostra. Slowly the Italian justice department starts to realize that the arrest of Toto Riina and several hundred other big fish along with lower ranking Mafiosi hasn’t destabilized Cosa Nostra. They also realize that with Denaro a new devil has stepped up to the forefront. the hunt for Diabolik begins.<br /> <br style="font-weight:bold;" /><span style="font-weight:bold;">Target: Bernardo Provenzano</span><br /> <br /> The rising star of Cosa Nostra goes into hiding in 1993 after Giovanni Brusca, an important pentiti, breaks omerta and tells the government all he knows about the young man. In absence Denaro is sentenced to life in prison. But it doesn’t stop Denaro from continuing his criminal career. Denaro also uses the feelings most Mafiosi have about Provenzano to his own use. The average Mafioso is unhappy with the low profile way of doing business advocated by Bernardo Provenzano, the man who took over from Toto Riina. Provenzano chose a quiet rise back to power for the Mafia he shuns spectacular and high profile murders and attacks. "Why risk losing all our contacts and power within politics with high profile ways when you can commit fraudulent acts in the shadows" was his motto. And that approach has done Cosa Nostra good.<br /> <br /> Money made through illegal activities went through the roof just like in the old days and the political contacts were once again corrupted (prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is the prime example of that.) But this way of doing business has given Provenzano the reputation of being weak, reluctant to use violence. the much younger and more violent group of Mafiosi led by Denaro doesn’t want him as a leader anymore and regard him as being weak. Provenzano and Denaro never got along. When the young protégé of Riina was to be inducted in the Supercosa in 1993 Provenzano did everything in his power to stop it, but failed. Provenzano would rather have had Mafiosi such as Pietro Aglieri, Benedetto Spera or Antonino Giuffre who had been arrested in late April inducted in the inner circle but to no avail. "Denaro has put a chainsaw to the chair of Provenzano" an anonymous researcher once said. "He knows it himself cause he doesn’t want to meet with Denaro in person anymore, he’s afraid he’ll get killed".<br /> <br /> <span style="font-weight:bold;">New mafia</span><br /> <br /> Sole leadership of Cosa Nostra is within reach of the ambitious Matteo Messina Denaro. That will mean yet another re-styling for the most powerful criminal organization in the world. The cliché of the old Mafia boss who controls his empire from a farm on a mountain makes way for a new cliché: The Sopranos style. "the old mob boss still had mud on his hands" said a police agent in the The Times newspaper. "Denaro drives around in a Porche and loves computer games and reading comic books. He’s extremely wealthy, lives fast and is an almost compulsive womaniser. A real playboy, dressed in an Armani suit, and the almost compulsory eye wear for the modern day Mafiosi the Ray Ban sunglasses. " Another sign that things are changing within the Mafia is this, Denaro is married to a woman named Maria Mesi but he already had a daughter with one Francesca Alagna. This would’ve been impossible at the time of the old Mafia, with it’s conservative ways of thinking. Still, it would be wrong to call the new Denaro generation a bunch of brainless, shallow psychopaths. Because the youthful Denaro turned out to be a brilliant strategist, who is extremely focused on expanding his power.<br /> <br /> Denaro understands that infiltration of the political world and the justice world is of extreme importance to a criminal organization. So he too sends his men out into the political world. In the past the Christian Democrats under the leadership of ex prime minister Andreotti were the partners of Cosa Nostra. Nowadays more and more ties between Forza Italia (the party of Silvio Berlusconi) and the Mafia are uncovered. Senator Antonio D’Ali, elected in Trapani and a member of Forza Italia, is said to have good ties via his family with Denaro. Denaro reputedly donated millions to D’Ali`s political fund. A brother-in-law of Denaro, Vito Panicola, was convicted for unwillingly killing his son in an attempt to kill another man. Vito Panicola was a member of the governing council of Trapani. At this moment there are dozens of similar cases all across Italy. Maybe things haven’t changed with Matteo Messina Denaro as new capo di tutti capi.</p>
<p><span style="text-decoration:underline;"><strong>UPDATE</strong> </span>- January 16, 2023: <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/too-old-for-this-sh-t-italian-police-arrest-sicilian-mafia-s-boss">Too old for this sh*t? Italian police arrest Sicilian Mafia’s boss of bosses Matteo Messina Denaro</a></p>
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Profile of Cosa Nostra boss Leoluca Bagarella
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-leoluca
2010-11-19T12:50:44.000Z
2010-11-19T12:50:44.000Z
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<p><br /> By Angelo Carmelo Gallitto<br /> Posted in 2003<br /> <br /> Leoluca Bagarella was born in Corleone in 1941. He is the brother-in-law of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-salvatore">Salvatore Riina</a>, the boss of bosses, who married his sister Antonina. He supported Luciano Leggio during the war against Navarra’s men in 1960s. His brother Calogero was murdered in 1969 during the Viale Lazio slaughter in Palermo; he organized the attack together with Bernardo Provenzano, but the Acquasanta boss Michele Cavataio, before his death, shot him in the head; another brother, Giuseppe, was poisoned in 1972. <br /> <br /> He’s considered one of the most violent and feared boss in the mafia history; when Tommaso Buscetta was asked about him, he answered: “I prefer not to speak about him; I think he doesn’t belong to human species; he probably had also mental and physical problems because when we played soccer in the prison’s courtyard he kicked the ball with two foots at the same time; have you ever seen a similar thing? In prison everybody feared him; I remember we stayed three months together in the prison’s infirmary and the only words he told me were good morning and good evening, nothing else”. That’s Leoluca Bagarella. <br /> <br /> On May 6th 1995 in Palermo, he killed Domenico Buscetta, nephew of Tommaso, because that morning a friend introduced each other in a bar and he shook hands with him; when the friend told him he was a Buscetta’s nephew, he answered “why the hell do you introduce me to infamous?”, and in the evening he shot him to death. He’s suspected to be involved in his wife’s hanging, Vincenza Marchese, because her brother Giuseppe Marchese, member of Corso dei Mille “family”, was an informer; he would hang his wife in order to eliminate any connection to him.<br /> <br /> Inside Cosa Nostra everybody called him simply “The Brother-in-law”, because of his relationship with Riina, but also because nobody wanted to nickname him, in order to avoid problems. He was involved in hundreds of murders, included journalist Mario Francese, policemen Boris Giuliano and Giuseppe Montana, judges Falcone and Borsellino, and the mysterious Milan, Florence and Rome slaughters.<br /> <br /> After the arrest of Totò Riina in 1993, Cosa Nostra was divided in two factions; the “stragisti”, very violent, led by him, and the “moderati”, less violent and more diplomatic, led by Provenzano; In 1994 he formed, trough his men, the political party “Sicilia Libera” in order to divide the island of Sicily from the rest of Italy. He probably was one of the ultimate men regarding the obscure agreement between Cosa Nostra and the Italian government at the beginning of 1990s.<br /> <br /> Bagarella was arrested on June 24th 1995, after a lot of years of fugitiveness, and sentenced to life for several murders. But after 7 years of silence, on June 2002 during a trial, he protested heavily against politicians, and probably also against free bosses, like Provenzano; it seemed a real threat; they were Bagarella’s words and despite he’s behind bars, his words can’t be underestimated. Maybe the Italian government didn’t respect the agreement with “stragisti” and he’s tired to wait…</p>
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Profile of Cosa Nostra boss Giuseppe Calò
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/cosa-nostra-boss-giuseppe-calo
2010-11-19T12:46:46.000Z
2010-11-19T12:46:46.000Z
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<p><br /> By Angelo Carmelo Gallitto<br /> Posted in 2003<br /> <br /> <img style="float:right;" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9236981070,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="" />Giuseppe Calò was born in Palermo in 1931. In 1954 he killed Pietro Scaletta in order to revenge his father and the same year he became a “man of honour” of Porta Nuova family; in 1962, when the old boss Carlo Brandaleone died, he replaced him as the family boss. At the beginning of 1970s he took part in the Provincial Commission as “capomandamento”. He supported Totò Riina during the mafia war at the beginning of 1980s and became one of the most loyal allied of “Corleonesi” faction. At the ending of 1970s he went to Rome under the fake name of Mario Agliarolo; in the Italian capital he was supported by local Cosa Nostra “decinas”, terrorists, and members of Banda della Magliana but he also had strong links with several politicians, freemasons, secret services agents, bishops and bankers. <br /> <br /> He was nicknamed “The Cashier” because he managed the most important financial business of the mafia. He was accused to be involved in some of the most obscure and mysterious mafia misdeeds, included the murders of journalist Pecorelli, the bankers Sindona and Calvi, the lawyer Ambrosoli, the judges Chinnici, Falcone and Borsellino, and the so called “904 train’s slaughter”; Carmine Pecorelli was murdered in Rome on Mars 20th 1979; according to the inquiries the reputed shooters were the “man of honour” Michelangelo La Barbera and the terrorist Massimo Carminati; Pecorelli would be killed because Andreotti didn’t like his articles about politics. <br /> <br /> Giorgio Ambrosoli was murdered in Milan on June 12th 1979; Roberto Calvi was hanged in London on June 18th 1982. Michele Sindona was poisoned inside Voghera prison on Mars 22nd 1985. On December 23rd 1984 a bomb attack against a train in San Benedetto, between Florence and Bologna, caused 16 dead and 100 wounded. <br /> <br /> In 1978 the Commission of Cosa Nostra asked him to contact the Red Brigade terrorist group in order to free the politician of DC party Aldo Moro, but he answered that Andreotti didn’t want it; a clear signal of his huge connections and knowledge inside national politics. Giuseppe Calò was arrested in Rome on May 31st 1985; he was surprised inside an elegant apartment together with “men of honour” Antonino Rotolo and Lorenzo Di Gesù. Sentenced to life for several murders, his position inside Cosa Nostra is uncertain; some people say he’s still the boss of Porta Nuova family, others say he retired in 1990s.</p>
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