|
| ||
|
Old School - Mafia Headlines |
||
|
BRAMPTON - Constantin “Big Gus” Alevizos was gunned down outside St. Leonard’s Place, just days after he was granted parole on drug-trafficking convictions. (Toronto Star) MORE: Man linked to mob shot dead Slain mobster lived in fear Saved, then sentenced
APALACHIN, NY - Five decades ago this week, a police raid sent Mafia bosses, their underbosses and capos running through the woods of Apalachin - and into American history and popular culture. Some of the most famous names in the Mafia - Carlo Gambino, Michael Genovese, Russell Bufalino, Joe Profaci - were in town Nov. 14, 1957, ostensibly for a steak roast at the Tioga County estate of ailing local mobster and Endicott soda distributor Joseph Barbara. (Press & Sun-Bulletin) PREVIOUS: Apalachin Meeting Nov. 14, 1957
'Butcher Boy' probe uncovers crimes The FBI investigation into William (Butcher Boy) Pellegrino Masselli, from September 1978 to early 1981, uncovered evidence of nearly 30 crimes, including the conspiracy to kill Frank Cotroni. But the probe also was plagued by internal problems that delayed decisions on whether to indict suspects, FBI documents reveal. (Montreal Gazette) PREVIOUS: Crime boss tried to trick US government
FBI linked Montreal mobster to alleged US assassination plot Montreal mob boss Frank Cotroni and high-ranking US mobsters were once investigated for an alleged plot to assassinate the top judge in America, according to newly released FBI documents. (CanWest) PREVIOUS: Cotroni buried in Montreal Obituary: Frank Cotroni
Skinny Dom gets 5-year sentence NEW YORK - With his wife, his mistress and a gaggle of geezers from the neighborhood looking on, a Gambino capo was sentenced yesterday to 15 years for conspiring to murder a Bonnie and Clyde duo who robbed his Queens social club. (NY Daily News) PREVIOUS: Double life of Mafia's kindly killer gramps Dominick Pizzonia Mob-slay rat: We joined with 'Junior' Michael ‘Mikey Scars’ DiLeonardo Bonnie and Clyde murders 'Skinny Dom' gets split verdict Feds tie Gotti to Bonnie-Clyde hit
Bosses voted on whacking Giuliani NEW YORK - The heads of New York's five Mafia families debated whacking Rudy Giuliani at a 1986 sitdown, according to bombshell testimony Wednesday at the trial of a disgraced FBI agent. (NY Daily News) MORE: Mafia plot to kill Giuliani
Vegas strip club owner gets prison LAS VEGAS - Rick Rizzolo, 48, owner of the Crazy Horse Too, was expected to report to a federal prison by May 22. Rizzolo also was fined $250,000 after pleading guilty in June to conspiracy to defraud the government in a plea deal that ended a decade-long federal probe of whether the club was tied to the mob. He agreed not to contest almost $17 million more in fines, forfeitures and restitution to be paid by the club. (AP) PREVIOUS: Rizzolo gets year and a day in prison Rick Rizzolo connection Strippergate
Official Of Bus Drivers Union Obstructed Grand Jury Probe NEW YORK - The former director of the Employees' Pension and Welfare Fund for Local 1181 of the Amalgamated Transit Union has been sentenced to five months' imprisonment for obstructing a grand jury investigation into the illicit relationship between Local 1181 and the Genovese Organized Crime Family of La Cosa Nostra. (North Country Gazette)
City paid 'mob' pal green fees NEW YORK - A Brooklyn man with links to the Colombo crime family has been operating a city-owned golf course for more than a year, officials revealed yesterday. The Parks Department awarded a $10 million contract to run the Marine Park Golf Course to a man who allegedly has ties to the notorious Mafia family. (New York Post)
Old tricks spell problems for mob rat HOBOKEN, NJ - There's is an old Aesop's fable about a scorpion and a frog meeting on the bank of a stream. (Hudson Reporter) |
Court orders Mafia to pay family ROME - A Sicilian court has ordered mafia boss of bosses Salvatore Riina and another mafioso to pay $5 million to the family of a top anti-Mafia judge killed in a car bomb attack, the family lawyer said on Saturday. Riina and Salvatore Biondino were among seven mafiosi handed life sentences in 1999 for their part in the 1992 attack that killed the judge, Paolo Borsellino, and shocked Italians. (Reuters)
AMSTERDAM, NY - Mike Craft is a self-confessed former "degenerate gambler" and heavy drinker, who ran bars frequented by members of the upper New York State mob. He also came within a few weeks in the summer of 1974 of becoming something far worse, he says – the assassin of former Canadian prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau. (Toronto Star)
NEW YORK - Colombo boss Alphonse Persico was convicted Friday of ordering the 1999 rubout of underboss William Cutolo - meaning he'll spend the rest of his life in prison. Former underboss John (Jackie) DeRoss also was convicted of plotting to murder Cutolo in an internal struggle for control over the crime family. Both were cleared in a failed plot to kill soldier Joseph Campanella. (NY Daily News)
Little-known mafia is cocaine 'king' GIOIA TAURO, ITALY - Europe is fast overtaking the US as the leading destination for the world's cocaine, and a single Italian mafia is largely responsible. The 'Ndrangheta crime syndicate, a ruthless and mysterious network of 155 families born in the rough hills here in southern Italy's Calabria region, now dominates the European drug trade. (LA Times) PREVIOUS: Italian organized crime groups
NEW YORK - A former Nassau County judge was sentenced to nearly 3 years in prison for conspiring to launder more than $400,000 for members of the Genovese crime family. David Gross, 45, pleaded guilty in July and admitted he agreed to try to secretly move cash he believed was the result of a jewelry heist. (WNBC)
NEW YORK - Several of those charged are criminal associates of Genovese crime family captain Angelo Prisco, while others were of Albanian background -- demonstrating an increasing reliance by traditional organized crime groups on Eastern European gangs "for muscle.” (North Jersey Media) MORE: 7 charged with extortion, break-ins after mob probe Prisco pals roundup
MONTREAL - An RCMP expert in electronic surveillance has been arrested in Montreal and charged with selling police secrets to organized crime. Angelo Cecere, a 50-year-old visually impaired civilian employee, has worked for decades for the RCMP, listening to sensitive police wiretaps of criminals under investigation, translating them from Italian and interpreting their meaning. (Topix)
NEW YORK - The man the feds say is the new acting boss of the Genovese crime family made his first public appearance yesterday - but left his bathrobe home. Daniel ‘Danny the Lion’ Leo appeared in a Manhattan federal courtroom to face charges that he threatened to harm a livery driver if he didn't pay back $150,000 in loans and shook down the owners of an illegal gambling operation. (NY Daily News) PREVIOUS: New York Mafia boss arrested Meet the Genovese Crime Family's new boss Low key wiseguy rises to the top
Organized crime finding mortgage fraud The latest statistics from the Federal Bureau of Investigation confirm that mortgage fraud is on the upswing. "Mortgage fraud is now a criminal enterprise that puts dollars in the hands of people who also are involved in such other crimes as drugs, murders and gangs," said Special Agent Bill Stern at a conference in Los Vegas. (Realty Times) |
|
|
NEW YORK - Each and every Mother's Day until he landed behind bars, mobster Jimmy 'The Gent' Burke performed a sacrosanct ritual. Burke, the mastermind behind the $5.8 million Lufthansa heist immortalized in "Goodfellas," dropped a few C-notes on dozens of red roses from a Rockaway Boulevard florist. He then toured the homes of his jailed Lucchese crime family pals, providing their mothers with a bouquet and a kiss. (AP) RELATED: Mafia wives: Married to the Mob |
NEW YORK - A federal judge whacked Gambino mob capo Salvatore "Fat Sal" Scala with a six-year sentence yesterday for shaking down a Manhattan strip club and kicking up tens of thousands of dollars to two brothers of the late John Gotti. (NY Post) PREVIOUS: Scala whacked Castellano: feds NY mobsters used strip club for training-prosecutor Corrupt brokers got VIP access to gals Careful shaker of his money maker Dapper Don pal '$tripped club' | |
|
Integrity of projects questioned NEW YORK - The integrity of a number of major infrastructure projects in New York City are now under question as evidence indicate the Gambino mafia, arrested Friday, had a large stake in infrastructure projects, both public and private sectors. (AHN) Mob tied to NYC construction jobs 170-page indictment .pdf |
Mass arrests show Mafia down but never out Truck brought crime family to its knees Turncoat taped Gambinos for feds Arrests thwart return of Mafia clan |
|
|
Mob lawyer seeks to regain license after prison term PHILADELPHIA - A notorious mob lawyer who represented crime boss Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo and went to prison for racketeering should regain his law license, a court disciplinary panel recommended. (AP) |
Mobster sentenced to house arrest FORT LAUDERDALE - Albert "The Old Man" Facchiano, a 97-year-old whose life of crime dates to the days of Lucky Luciano and Bugsy Siegel, was sentenced Friday to six months house arrest and an additional 18 months of probation on federal racketeering charges. (AP) |
|
|
ATHENS - Reports of a growing racket in the illegal sale of babies have begun to emerge from Athens, according to a Daily Mail investigation, with trafficked women from eastern Europe forced to produce infants on demand for sale to Western women. (LifeSiteNews) PREVIOUS: The shocking truth about the baby factories Patients die as Sicilian mafia buys into the hospital service |
NEW YORK - Two years ago, federal prosecutors boldly proclaimed a civil racketeering lawsuit against the mighty International Longshoremen's Association that would "once and for all" shatter suspected mob control on the nation's docks. (AP) PREVIOUS: US files racketeering case against the International Longshoremen's Association and top ILA officials |
|
|
NEW YORK - Bonanno crime boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano learned yesterday that smoking can also be hazardous to his racketeering case. (NY Daily News) PREVIOUS: Where there's smoke there's PJ Bonanno 'lies guy' now risks lethal jab Feds to judge: Gorgeous is worthy of the death penalty 5 on Mafia big's 'hit list' |
FORT LAUDERDALE - Renaldi ''Ray'' Ruggiero, 73, admitted in a plea agreement that he was a ''capo'' in the New York-based Mafia family and supervised a Florida crew that committed numerous crimes, including extortion, robbery, money laundering and possession of stolen property. (AP) MORE: Gangster pleads guilty 2 more plead guilty in mob trash-hauling scheme |
|
|
ROME - Ann Hathaway, the Rochdale mother of two accused of helping run a multimillion-pound mafia empire in Italy, is offering to cut a deal after her extradition to Sicily, prosecutors said yesterday. (Guardian UK) PREVIOUS: 'Mafia godmother' arrested at home Married to the mob Warrant issued for the wife of Mafia boss |
CHICAGO - Reputed mob boss Michael Marcello apparently didn't watch crime shows on television otherwise he might have known the FBI could listen in on his conversations in the visitors room at the federal penitentiary in Milan, Mich. (AP) PREVIOUS: Did marshal turn mob snitch? Deputy U.S. marshal charged with mob ties |
|
|
Matty 'The Horse' on His Last Ride NEW YORK - At an age when most of his contemporaries were long out to pasture or in prison, Matthew 'Matty the Horse' Ianniello was still riding high. Retirement held no appeal for the old man -- and why would it? (AP) PREVIOUS: 'Matty the Horse' cuts a deal Genovese family member indictment Wiseguy gets life for hit on boss Millions diverted in Mob case |
Kin of man allegedly killed by mobster win $3.1M BOSTON - A federal judge awarded $3.1 million Tuesday to the family of a man who was killed by fugitive mobster James "Whitey" Bulger. U.S. District Judge Reginald ruled that the federal government is liable for the man's death because his identity was leaked to Bulger by a rogue FBI agent. (AP) |
|
|
Prosecutors drop murder case against ex-FBI agent NEW YORK - Former FBI Agent R. Lindley DeVecchio escaped four murder charges when the Brooklyn DA's office decided to dismiss its case accusing him of helping a mobster kill his rivals. The move became clear after Village Voice reporter Tom Robbins realized that the prosecution's star witness had told him very different things in a 1997 interview. (Gothamist) |
Mob moll 'petrified' of going to jail Tall Tales of a Mafia Mistress Ex-FBI agent indicted for role in mob killings |
|
|
NEW YORK - Rogue ref Tim Donaghy revealed yesterday he'd been betting on NBA games he officiated for four years - in a deal requiring him to rat out any other officials involved in gambling, sources said. The revelations came yesterday as the disgraced ex-ref copped a guilty plea in Brooklyn federal court. (NY Post) |
||
|
Tocchet gets 2 years probation MOUNT HOLLY, NJ - Former NHL player Rick Tocchet has been ordered to serve two years probation for his role in an illegal sports gambling ring. (AP) |
Tocchet eyed in earlier mob case NJ State Police Complaint against Tocchet .pdf |
|
|
BOSTON - As FBI agents cuffed Boston Mafia leader Gennaro "Jerry" Angiulo and hauled him out of Francesco's Restaurant in the North End on Sept. 19, 1983, he yelled, "I'll be back before my pork chops get cold." He never did get to finish that meal. (Boston Globe) |
US must pay $102M to wrongly imprisoned men Top judge wants US prosecutor disciplined A look at mob hits, misses, disappearances, and deaths in America by year |
|
|
CHICAGO - Three aging, top Chicago mobsters -- Frank Calabrese Sr., Joseph "Joey the Clown" Lombardo and James "Little Jimmy" Marcello -- will almost certainly never see freedom again as a federal jury held them accountable for a total of 10 murders. (Chicago Sun Times) Ex-cop admits to moonlighting for the mob Lombardo: I only acted like mobster |
Question: Where are the answers? Mayor livid over 'ridiculous' headline Daley pal implicated in mob bombing Operation Family Secrets: Trial exhibits Court papers detail Chicago mob hits Chicago 'outfit' organizational chart Mob ties run through Chicago trucking program |
|
|
OTTAWA - Canada's highest court refused on Thursday to hear the appeal of a Mafia fugitive fighting extradition to Italy, where he was convicted in absentia a decade ago on drug charges. Alfonso Caruana, whom Canadian police once called a superstar of organized crime, is alleged to be the senior member of a crime family that operated in 13 countries. (Reuters) |
Top court allows Italy to jail mobster Drug baron to be sent back to Italy The Rothschilds of the Mafia on Aruba Gomery appointment raises conflict questions |
|
|
Mob alliance in rackets dismantled ELIZABETH, NY - The tip came in last year, alerting authorities to a gambling ring run from an unlikely spot: a nondescript construction trailer beneath the Goethals Bridge in Elizabeth. (NJ Star-Ledger) |
NEW YORK - A beloved East Harlem barber whose tiny shop has attracted celebrities from Jimmy Durante to J.Lo is fighting charges he lied to the feds to protect his mobster pals. (NY Daily News) |
|
|
Reputed mob boss pleads guilty in trash hauling probe NEW HAVEN, Conn. - A reputed mob boss pleaded guilty Wednesday to racketeering conspiracy and tax evasion in a federal probe of the mob's influence over the trash industry in Connecticut and New York. (NY Daily News) |
RICO law lives on despite losses against mob NEW YORK - For more than two decades, the federal RICO law was a pitiless tool in the fight against organized crime - corralling, convicting and incarcerating a long string of mob bosses once considered untouchable. (AP) |
|
|
Judge seeks details on probe of prosecutor in Mafia case BOSTON - The chief federal judge in Boston is urging the US Justice Department to find out and tell him what happened to an internal investigation of a federal prosecutor accused of withholding evidence in a high-profile Mafia case. (Boston Globe) RELATED: Feds in Manhattan hit losing streak |
NEW YORK - When a Bonanno crime family associate disrespected Michael Souza over a financial dispute, he had to pay. Mr. Souza, who ran a dangerous Colombo mob crew on Staten Island, decided to launch a surprise attack, or a Jack in the Box, to take out the Bonanno associate, prosecutors said. (AP) MORE: Unlucky 13 'mobsters' swept up |
|
|
Cops vs. Colacurcio - the last round SEATTLE - For years, the feds chased Seattle strip-club magnate Frank Colacurcio Sr. They picked through his trash, eavesdropped on his conversations and recruited snitches. (Seattle Times) |
|
|
|
Stock scam linked to organized crime TORONTO - Friends know him as the soft-spoken owner of a popular garden centre north of Toronto, a family man who financially supports minor hockey teams. But in court documents obtained by the Toronto Star, the RCMP alleges Aneillo (Neil) Peluso is a key member of the Cosimo Commisso organized crime family and a major player in a multi-million-dollar Bay Street "pump-and-dump" stock fraud. (Toronto Star) PREVIOUS: | ||
