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Mafia Crumbles as The Last Don is First to Sing
Paul Harris in New York
Sunday February 13, 2005
The American mafia has been dealt one of the biggest blows in its history with a revelation that a Godfather has turned
informant.
Joseph 'Big Joey' Massino, boss of the Bonanno family, is is the first official boss of a mafia family ever
to violate the bloody code of omerta, the vow of silence that has lain behind the success of the brotherhood's huge criminal
empire.
It has emerged that he has been co-operating with the FBI since last September while awaiting sentencing for
ordering seven murders.
Fellow gangsters are stunned that the first boss to 'rat' on his colleagues is such a man
as Massino. Known as the Last Don, he was long hailed as an old school leader. Unlike such flamboyant figures as John Gotti,
known as the Dapper Don, Massino avoided the limelight, living simply in a New York suburb as he ruled his empire with a rod
of iron.
Omerta was the key to his success in rejuvenating the Bonanno family which had been hit by a devastating
FBI sting in the Eighties.
Now that Massino himself has broken the vow, many experts believe the mafia in America
is effectively doomed. If Massino can sell out, there is little incentive for mafia soldiers lower down the pecking order
to maintain their loyalty, they say.
'The mafia as we know it is effectively over,' said Ronald Goldstock, former
head of New York's organised crime task force. 'If people in the lower orders didn't know that their bosses would sell them
out, then they know it now.'
Since the news emerged that Massino was informing on his comrades there have been reports
of a huge crisis in the other mafia families. Some senior figures are reported to have fled New York.
The extent of
Massino's betrayal of his fellow mobsters has emerged from court transcripts detailing conversations between Massino and a
co-defendant, Vincent 'Vinny Gorgeous' Basciano, at several meetings in December and last month.
At one stage Basciano
and Massino are heard discussing the murder of a mob associate, Randolph Pizzolo. Massino asks Basciano why he had to kill
him. 'I thought this kid would have been a good wake-up call for everybody,' Basciano chillingly replied.
Other transcripts
reveal Basciano discussing a conspiracy to kill court prosecutor Greg Andres.
Though the authorities won't officially
confirm it, the clear implication of the transcripts is that Massino was wearing a wire when he talked to Basciano. That means
not only that Massino has agreed to confess all but that he is co-operating to help convict his comrades.
Such a thing
would have been unthinkable a few decades ago in the mafia's heyday. However, its power in the US has faded. While Italian
mobsters still dominate the news media and the movies, it is the new ethnic gangs, Russians and Mexicans, which are the real
dominant players on the New York crime scene.
'It is the end of an era. Some of these people will continue to be involved
in crime but the old-style mafia does not really exist any more,' said Goldstock.
The reasons for Massino's betrayal
now seem obvious. It is believed that prosecutors will now no longer seek the death penalty for his role in the brutal mob
killings of which he has been convicted. Nor will they aggressively pursue Massino's ill-gotten gains. This could have led
to relatives, including his 89-year-old mother, Adeline, losing their homes.
Perhaps the greatest reason was that
Massino, despite having devoted his whole life to the Bonannos, was himself convicted by the word of a turncoat from his own
family.
The key witness against him was Salvatore 'Good Looking Sal' Vitale. Vitale was Massino's brother-in-law and
childhood friend. The two had grown up together, but that did not stop Vitale from betraying Massino when the crunch came.
Now it seems the Last Don, who was lauded for his obedience to the omerta code throughout his career, has simply followed
suit.
'In the end I am not surprised by anyone in the mafia co-operating. It is what they do now,' Goldstock added.
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| Originaly posted on: Thu, Aug. 28, 2003 |
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Report: Sicilian Mafia Rebuilding
FRANCES D'EMILIO
ROME - A split over strategy between Cosa Nostra
leaders seems to have been patched up, but another southern Italian crime organization has been climbing in dominance, a government
report has concluded.The annual report by the Interior Ministry to Parliament said Sicily's Mafia was experiencing a "moment
of renewal to overcome a structural crisis following the arrest of many top-ranking elements," in the last several years,
including some who are collaborating with investigators.
Cosa Nostra, the report said, is busy trying to "regain credibility and competitiveness."
Italian newspapers on Wednesday quoted the head of parliament's anti-Mafia commission, Roberto Centaro, as challenging
some of the report's conclusions.
Centaro, from Premier Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, said he wasn't convinced feuding was finished between Sicilian
mobsters loyal to fugitive Cosa Nostra boss Bernardo Provenzano and those faithful to Salvatore Riina, who is serving a life
sentence after his 1993 capture.Centaro cited the barbershop slaying in Sicily earlier this month of a businessman with links
to the Mafia. Palermo's chief prosecutor, Piero Grasso, has said that the slaying might signal the start of a bloody new war
for power.
The report by the Interior Ministry, which includes a national police force, said Provenzano, a fugitive since 1963, remains
Cosa Nostra's top boss and has been working to "preserve the cohesion" of the Mafia.Investigators have said Riina continues
to wield some influence from behind bars. They say Cosa Nostra has been torn for some time between Provenzano's strategy calling
for mobsters to keep a low profile and Riinas' championing of dramatic attacks to give the impression the Mafia is still strong.
The ministry report said Cosa Nostra was pressing ahead with traditional activities such as gaining control of public works
contracts in Sicily and widespread extortion of Sicilian businesses for "protection" money.While Cosa Nostra has been trying
to get its house in order, a rival syndicate, the 'ndrangheta of Calabria, located in the "toe" of the Italian peninsula,
has been steadily gaining in influence over criminal activities, the report said.
The 'ndrangheta has benefited from the ability of its leaders and it has increased its hold on cocaine trafficking with
strong ties with Colombian drug cartels, the ministry report said.
Above is from www.charlotte.com
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Net Arrest
April
4th 2003
After a yearlong investigation, New York City law enforcement agents moved to break up six drug rings in Ozone
Park and Howard Beach, Queens, Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly and District Attorney Richard A. Brown of Queens said
yesterday. The police arrested 43 people and confiscated illegal drugs, 7 guns, 10 luxury cars and nearly $150,000 in cash,
the officials said.
Most of those arrested, Mr. Brown said, were "unemployed mob wannabes" who spent time dining
at expensive restaurants and visiting tanning salons. Among those arrested were three people believed to have ties to the
Gambino crime family, and the actor Richard Maldone, the police said. Mr. Maldone, who played Albert Barese in several episodes
of "The Sopranos," was charged with one count of selling ketamine, a drug popular in nightclubs.
By Shaila K. Dewan (NYT)
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Prosecutor calls ILA local corrupt Calling
the union a "cesspool" of corruption and organized-crime influence, federal prosecutors yesterday asked a judge to appoint
an administrator to take over Local 1588 of the International Longshoremen's Association, based in Bayonne, N.J.
The request from James B. Comey, the United States attorney for the Southern District in Manhattan, cited the indictments
in May of the local's president, other union officers and several other figures said to be associated with the Genovese crime
family on charges of extorting money from union members in exchange for plum job assignments.
Eight people are awaiting trial on the indictments, which grew out of an investigation in which state officials
and the Waterfront Commission, a bistate agency that regulates waterfront businesses and workers, planted a microphone and
cameras behind ceiling tiles in the local's offices to gather evidence. The investigation ended prematurely when a repairman
discovered the surveillance equipment's wires.
Comey said the indictments were just the latest to grow out of a series of violations of a 1992 consent decree
Local 1588 agreed to after federal prosecutors accused it and six other longshoremen's locals of being racketeering criminal
enterprises.
As part of that settlement, the old leadership was required to step aside and the new leaders had to vow that they
were not controlled by organized crime and commit themselves to cleaning up all illegal activities.
Indicted in May was the current president, John Timpanaro, 45, of Middletown. Two previous presidents Eugene G'Sell,
who signed the 1992 decree, and his successor, John Angelone both pleaded guilty in June 2000 to embezzling union funds. They
testified at subsequent racketeering trials that the local was virtually controlled by Joseph Lore and Nicholas Furina, who
are said by prosecutors to be Genovese crime family figures.
The request for administrative oversight of the local comes on the eve of nominations for officers. In their application
to the court, the prosecutors said the administrator should supervise those elections as well as take immediate control of
the local's finances, run its affairs, discipline members and establish reforms.
Mob informant testifies
A detective tipped off his mobster cousin that the cousin and his pals were suspects in a drug dealer's murder, a mob turncoat
testified yesterday.
And Detective Michael Silvestri - who is on trial in Manhattan federal court - used his position as a cop to dig
up information about people who owed money to the cousin, loan shark Joseph "Big Joey" Brideson, stoolie Thomas DiTorra told
the jury.
Brideson "told me that Michael Silvestri was his cousin and that if he had any problem collecting loan-sharking
money, Michael Silvestri would help him running [license] plates and phone numbers" of debtors, DiTorra testified.
Silvestri, 46, is on trial for allegedly helping cover up a 1998 mob hit that Brideson is accused of plotting.
Prosecutors say Silvestri swiped spent bullet-shell casings that might have carried Brideson's fingerprints from
the murder victim's car before other cops could find them.
He said Brideson told him about witnessing the July 1992 murder of a drug dealer by DeCalvacante mobsters in the
early 1990s. The dealer's body was found later that month in a vacant lot.
"Brideson said he spoke to his cousin, Michael Silvestri, and Michael Silvestri told him the drug dealer investigation
was 'around them,' " DiTorra testified.
Second bet fixer to plead guilty A
second of three fraternity brothers will plead guilty to rigging bets in the Breeders' Cup Pick Six scandal today, the man's
lawyer said yesterday.
Glen DaSilva, 29, will appear in federal court in White Plains and plead guilty on two federal counts - wire-fraud
conspiracy and money laundering - according to his lawyer, Ed Hayes.
"I think he's going to go to jail, but the question is for how long," Hayes said.
(above from www.about.com)
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Five Los Angeles residents vanish over a span of six months. Faxes
from Russia demand millions in ransom, and one desperate family wires $200,000 to various banks.
All five turn up dead, bound and dumped in a Sierra foothills reservoir. Authorities said the kidnappings
were part of a Russian organized crime plot, and they have arrested six Russian men as suspects.
But as ruthlessly efficient as the crime might appear, experts and federal authorities say violence
is rare for America's Russian mob. They also say the criminals are nothing like La Cosa Nostra or the drug cartels south of
the border.
The alleged kidnappers even left a credit card and money trail investigators could follow, prompting a spokesman for the U.S.
attorney's office to refer to them as "knuckleheads."
"The truth is, Russian organized crime just isn't that organized," said William Callahan, a former federal
prosecutor who now runs an international security company in New York. "They are clannish and thuggish, but they have never
developed the organization of the old Italian Mafia."
What passes for the Russian mob in America is believed to be hundreds or thousands of small criminal enterprises,
connected by blood, religion, ethnicity or expediency. They are a growing presence in the burgeoning Eastern European immigrant
communities in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Toronto and Portland, said Louise Shelley, an expert on international crime at
American University. Experts say most Russian-speaking criminals are clever opportunists who grew up in a society where scamming
the government was a way of survival. They prefer fraud over kidnapping, deceit over muscle.
"We haven't run across a lot of stuff that has been heinous and bloody," said Larry Cho, an assistant U.S.
attorney in Los Angeles who specializes in organized crime. "If you can make millions defrauding the government why get your
hands dirty?"
The most popular scams for Russians are gas tax frauds, in which dummy companies sell fuel below market value
and never pay the fuel excise taxes. Insurance scams, often involving faked auto accidents, are another favorite.
"They are intelligent people and they come over here and see all these programs are offered by the country
and the state. And they see these programs aren't policed well, and they just jump in with both feet," said Lt. Dan Hooper
of the Los Angeles Police Department's organized crime and vice division.
A Medicaid scam in Los Angeles in 1996 brought in millions before authorities broke it up. One group recently
scammed a small fortune in nickels from California's recycling reimbursement program. Less sophisticated mobsters resort to
old-fashioned shakedowns for protection money in the ethnic neighborhoods of Hollywood and New York's Brighton Beach.
Along with fraud and shakedowns, Russian-speaking criminals are branching out into the vices. Some crime groups
are using false documents to smuggle eastern European women into the country, then setting them up as prostitutes. "They are
really good at forgery and fraudulent production of immigration documents," Hooper said.
Which is why the recent murders stand out. The bodies were found in New Melones Lake near Sacramento between
October and last week. Federal prosecutors said all five were abducted, blackmailed and killed by Russian mobsters.
The six men in custody are charged with hostage-taking or receiving ransom money. More than $5.5 million in
ransom was demanded of relatives, and the kidnappers managed to persuade one family to wire more than $200,000 to banks in
the U.S. and elsewhere. Four of the five victims were from the Russian immigrant community, Hooper said.
In Los Angeles, the Russian-speaking community has grown to almost 500,000, centered in Hollywood, West Hollywood
and Glendale. Yurik and Ruzanna Beloshitski, recent immigrants to Hollywood, said it's too bad the criminals followed the
good people to America.
"America is a magic land," Ruzanna said, as the Russian couple paused along the Walk of Fame. "But a lot of
people come to make a mess here."
THE ABOVE INFO WAS OBTAINED FROM A CNN REPORT.
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The Genovese family has managed to weather the war on New York organized crime that federal
prosecutors have waged for the past ten years. According to the Brooklyn report, the string of successful prosecutions that
has undermined the leadership and organization of the families has left the Genoveses
on top, with the Bonnanofamily assuming the position of second most powerful family.
The Bonannos, led by Joseph "The Ear" Massino, are said to take in huge profits, largely from
the sale of narcotics. The Gambinos whose primary rackets are said to be loan-sharking
and construction, are thought to have sunk to an uncertain third -- it is difficult to determine if the Gambinos or the Luccehese are stronger -- and the Colombo family is no longer recognized by the
other families.
Often dubbed the "Rolls Royce of organized crime," the Genovese family has weathered the prosecutorial storm exceptionally
well. Despite several lengthy investigations and the indictment of 45 Genovese family members and associates last April
the group has adapted unusually well, with only a very small number of members turning informant, and its leadership operating
under a strict code of secrecy and discretion. Even the sweeping racketeering indictment filed in April identified Gigante
as the reigning boss of the secretive and powerful Genovese organized crime family.
Of course, every theory has its opponents. In this case, Gigante's attorney has repeatedly dismissed the allegations that
his client still rules the family, saying that the idea of a sick old man behind bars running a crime family was ridiculous.
In the end, the exact degree of power wielded by Gigante is unimportant -- whether he rules with an iron hand or simply manages
decisions from time to time, the quiet and efficient Genovese family has come out on top of the new Mafia order.
The Genovese family derives the bulk of its income from a lock on the trucking industry, but they also are involved in
union shakedowns, labor rackets, the entertainment industry and a litany of other illegal activities including stock fraud,
illegal gambling, drug trafficking, bank robbery, extortion and loan-sharking.
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