Results tagged “mob”

Could the fourth time be another charm? The jury deliberating the fate of John Gotti Jr.—whose past three federal trials have ended in mistrials—sent a note to Judge Kevin Castel yesterday reading, "We are unable to reach a verdict." Castel told the group to keep deliberating at first, but then sent them home for the weekend.

Yesterday, the NY Attorney General's Organized Crime Task Force and NYPD raided a number of homes and business in Staten Island, Brooklyn, NJ, Pennsylvania, and Nevada, arresting 22 people from two investigations dubbed "Operation Pure Luck" and "Operation Night Gallery." The charges, according to Cuomo's office, stem "from the operation of lucrative loan sharking and gambling activities closely controlled by organized crime"—the Gambino and Luchese crime families.

According to the AP, police officers raided the circulation offices of the NY Times, Daily News, NY Post, and El Diario today "as part of a union corruption probe... Investigators were seeking paperwork related to the Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union, which packages and delivers newspapers across the region."

For the love of everything that is good and pure in this world, the next time there are multiple Lloyd Doblers around town, please alert us! Yesterday there were not 1, not 2, but approximately a zillion trench-coat wearing, boom-box-over-head-holding Lloyd Doblers right in this very city. Did you see them? USA Today reports that the self-dubbed "Mobler" hit up Penn Station, NYU, Union Square and landed in Times Square to meet up with a band called the Lloyd Dobler Effect, who sang "In Your Eyes."

Pre-Halloween vandals ransacked Carroll Gardens on Friday in one of the least intelligent fits of teenaged angst that we've heard of in a long time. The neighborhood blog Pardon Me For Asking reports that three teens ran wild on Court Street at around 2 am, "overturning newspaper stands at the corner of President Street, throwing planters they found in front gardens onto the street, and smashing the Marco Polo Valet Parking sign right through the back of this car."

Brooklyn's Anthony (Todo) Anastasio, 80, a member of the Gambino family, was convicted yesterday on racketeering and other charges, and faces up to 20 years in prison. He shook "down a trucking company on the Staten Island waterfront, the owners of an Italian bakery in Brooklyn and order[ed] a Dunkin Donuts torched for the insurance money." There were also secret recordings of him at the Guys and Dolls hair salon in Staten Island, where he held business meetings during his haircuts. His uncle, Albert Anastasia, the head of Murder, Inc., was gunned down while getting a shave at the Park Sheraton Hotel in 1957.

A gunman for the Gambino family has taken the unusual and dangerous step of outing himself as homosexual, as a gambit to obtain a lower sentence for killing a Queens bagel store owner in 2003. Robert Mormando had already confessed to the murder, and his decision to out himself in court was intended to show the judge that his cooperation was riskier than most, because, as we know from The Sopranos, the mob kills gay members. In fact, the NY Times even gets the actor who played a homosexual gangster on the series to weigh in!

">Post reports the Teflon Don's son shouted to John Alite during a break, "You’re a dog! You’re a dog! Did I kill little girls, you fag? You’re a punk. You’re a dog all your life — you always were. Do I strangle little girls in motels?"

Hey, New Yorkers, in case you needed to remember that NYC is full of mob wiseguys, check out this video from the NRA. It's airing in Virginia, to remind voters that gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell is fighting for their rights—rights that Mayor Bloomberg and his mobbed up, dese-dem-dose-talking constituents want to take away!

During the trial of an alleged Gambino mobster, the Daily News reports that a Brooklyn and S.I. bakery chain owner Giuseppe "Joe" Generoso told jurors how he stood up to "reputed mobsters Anthony (Todo) Anastasio and William Scotto - telling them he was his own 'strongman.'" However, "What jurors in Brooklyn Federal Court didn't hear was how nine months later, gunmen ambushed Generoso at his Staten Island home and shot him in the face."

After a two year investigation, the Manhattan DA has indicted 29 people accused of connections with the Lucchese crime family, and six of them worked as inspectors for the city Department of Buildings. Asked how the mobsters were able to rise to the level of supervisory positions in the department, DA Robert Morgenthau told reporters, "I’ll leave that for you to figure out...They had developed a small beachfront into this agency... This two-year joint investigation reminds us that the threat of traditional organized crime is not a thing of the past."

John Gotti Jr., scion of the Gambino crime family and its alleged leaders, decided to greet potential jurors to his racketeering trial, "Good morning, I am John Gotti. Here I am again." It was a reference to how this is his fourth trial (the other three times ended in hung juries); the NY Post reports that while "Manhattan federal Judge P. Kevin Castel said that while Gotti's remark was 'undoubtedly innocent and made in the utmost of good faith,' it amounted to 'improper argument.'" Castel added it could have been misconduct. Of course, it might be a long jury selection process—many people are apparently afraid of the Teflon Don's son and associates—but Gotti is ready, with his "scholarly" glasses and note-taking.

After the Post reported that at least six buildings inspectors were to be arrested, along with members of the Luchese crime family, for things like allegedly taking bribes and dealing drugs at sites, Mayor Bloomberg spoke out about the looming scandal. According to the Post, he said, "They have resigned... You can rest assured we're not going to tolerate any of this... This is an industry that obviously for a long period of time has had problems with lawbreakers. We keep working at it and working at it, and hopefully, someday, we'll get rid of everybody in the construction industry that breaks the law." Now the Buildings Department has to re-inspect those former inspectors' hundreds of sites!

The Post reports that at least six Department of Buildings employees "will be arrested later this month, along with about two dozen Luchese crime-family captains, soldiers and associates." Ooh, another mob sweep. Apparently the Buildings inspectors, two of whom are "full-blown Luchese associates," "were videotaped taking bribes at construction sites, and some were seen dealing cocaine and prescription pills while on duty" and "lined their pockets by ignoring violations or expediting construction and building work permits." And the revelations emerged from a 2007 case in NJ, where some members of the Luchese crime family "ran a staggering $2 billion-a-year gambling operation and supplied drugs and cellphones to Bloods gang members in state prisons." Guess the DOB's new code of conduct is coming in handy.

       

When the NY Times wrote about The Hole back in 2004, they said, "It is the closest thing New York has to a border town... an isolated neighborhood that straddles the Brooklyn-Queens line. The five blocks at the junction of Conduit Avenue and Linden Boulevard have all the characteristics of a frontier town in the Old West." Now, years later, Nate Kensinger has visited the almost-ghost town and come back to tell the story with plenty of gorgeous images of the decay. He says, "The Hole is literally a hole. It is 30 feet below grade... sunken down from the busy roads around it. The neighborhood floods often and is only a few feet above the water table, so its homes are 'not incorporated into the city sewer system. They all have cesspools.'"

John Gotti Jr. pleaded not guilty once again to two new murder charges. Though the feds could have opted for the death penalty, they won't be. Gotti Jr. has been tried on other murder and racketeering charges many times before without a conviction. Curtis Sliwa, the Guardian Angels founder who was allegedly targeted by Gotti Jr.'s henchman, told NY1 that he hopes the Gambino family scion finally stays behind bars, "I've got the target on my back, but you know something, I still walk those neighborhoods. I still deal with those cafones. Those guys, they threaten to bend my leg and stuff it in my pocket but I'm going to continue to talk what has been the truth for years."

Despite his claim that he had kidney stones that were more painful than going into labor, John Gotti Jr. was denied bail yesterday as he awaits his racketeering trial to start this September. A judge in Manhattan federal court yesterday said that there was no amount he could set bail at that "can reasonably assure the presence of the defendant and the safety of persons in the community." The Daily News said that Gotti showed up in court "in greenish prison garb that resembled hospital scrubs" and the paper agreed with Junior's claim that stones were more painful than childbirth. Also taking Gotti's side was arch-nemesis Curtis Sliwa, who nonetheless seemed to take glee in knowing how much pain the mob boss was in. Sliwa said, "I'm hoping they come at a prolific rate ... He can't have enough pain." Gotti's lawyer said that they do not plan to appeal the bail denial and that he believes his client has now fully passed the stones while he's been behind bars.

The manager of an Italian-American social club in New Rochelle almost lost a hand Sunday night because he may have owed the mob money, police suspect. Lt. Christopher Hearle tells CBS2 that 42-year-old club manager Vincent Zarcone "owed a substantial amount of money, and apparently Mr. Calise was unhappy with the payment schedule that had been worked out. Basically, [he] severed his right hand with a meat cleaver." Christopher Calise is accused of attacking Zarcone with the cleaver while an accomplice, Maurice Mann, held him in a bear hug. (Whatever happened to just wrapping a telephone cord around the guy's neck until his toupee falls off?) A patrolman caught the suspects as they fled the scene in a rented Cadillac, and Zarcone, who has a 2005 conviction for promoting gambling, required surgery to get his hand reattached. Now the FBI's Organized Crime task force is looking into the club, but Zarcone's cleaning lady insists he's a good fellow, telling CBS2, "He works downstairs, the computer."

Carmine Agnello Jr., son of Victoria Gotti and grandson of the late Teflon Don John Gotti Sr., spoke out about the foreclosure proceedings on his family's mansion in Old Westbury. Agnello told the Post, "My dad"—and his namesake, Carmine Sr.—"did this to us. He decided once he got out of jail he was going to get another life, and he left us behind with the burden. He did his kids wrong, and he did his wife wrong... To be honest with you, we don't consider him our father." (Still, last year, little Carmine told Grub Street he hung out with his dad.) Victoria Gotti claims that her ex-husband took out a $850,000 mortgage on the home without her knowledge; Agnello Sr. now lives in Cleveland and is remarried to the daughter of a "former leader in Armenian terrorism." As for Carmine Jr., he revealed that he and brothers John and Frank are going to be in a new reality show set in LA.

John Gotti Jr., on trial yet again (he's been tried three times before, each time ending in mistrials) for murder and drug trafficking charges, was defended by his mother yesterday. Victoria Gotti, widow of the Teflon Don, unleashed torrent of words at her son's pretrial hearing. She yelled, "Excuse me, your honor, may I speak? I am his mother!" to which the judge said no. But that didn't stop her: She shouted "How do you feel about perjury?" "Why don't you just hang him now?" "The government is suborning perjury. This trial is rigged," "They're trying to kill him before trial. These are the good guys? God help us!" and that the feds were "fighting like little b----es, instead of men." Unsurprising, the judge ended the hearing. In spite of being in jail, Junior told his lawyer he was feeling good, though his lawyer pointed out Gotti needs treatment for kidney stones. Curtis Sliwa, Guardian Angels founder who was the target of a hit, told the Daily News, "I'd be more than happy to break up his kidney stones with a nice therapeutic massage."

Bizarre: A book claims that a hitman was actually dispatched to the Hamptons home interviewer Charlie Rose, who shares the same name as a prosecutor with the same name. The Post has that scoop from Friends of the Family, a book about convicted "Mafia Cops" Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, who were sentenced to life for helping the mob carry out hits while working for the NYPD. Eppolito and Caracappa allegedly "gave bad information to their benefactor, Luchese underboss Anthony 'Gaspipe' Casso...[who] was furious with Mafia-busting prosecutor Charles Rose, believing that Rose embarrassed him by leaking a story about Casso having killed his former architect for having an affair with the mobster's wife." The hitman apparently left because TV's Rose never showed up and Casso was arrested before he could off Rose the prosecutor (Rose died in 1998 of cancer). When the Post told the talk show host, Rose, whose close calls involve self-inflicted injuries from saving his gadgets, said, "It's a surprise it's all new to me."

The FBI will resume a search for bodies allegedly buried at an industrial park in East Farmingdale, Long Island. Last fall, FBI went there in October after an informant said that at least three bodies were there, but only the body of mob hit man William Cutolo, aka Wild Bill, was found (he was previously thought to be dumped in the ocean). The remains the FBI are reportedly looking for belong to Richard Greaves, a Columbo family associate suspect of becoming an informant, and Pace student Carmine Gargano Jr., who may have been targeted because a relative worked for a rival mob family.

John Gotti Jr. returned to the NYC court scene —his past three trials have ended in mistrial, but the feds are still going after him—and was remanded without bail. The Daily News reports, "Manhattan Federal Judge Kevin Castel cited government claims that Gotti ordered three murders and oversaw a multimillion dollar cocaine trafficking network in Queens as reason for keeping the mob scion locked up ahead of his Sept. 14 trial date," and added Gotti "might have had a better shot if he stole $50 billion." Well, Gotti did manage to have the trial moved from Florida to NYC, so you win some, you lose some. The Teflon Don's son told Castel he was feeling "pretty good" except for a kidney stone issue. Junior also apologized, via his lawyer, to Castel for wearing prison garb and showing off a tattoo, but the judge said, "I'm familiar with the dress code of the place where he resides."

An informant says that Gambino family soldier Charles Carneglia killed John Gotti Sr.'s Howard Beach neighbor and got rid of the body by dumping him in a vat of acid. Carneglia, who has been behind bars since the feds' big sweep of the Gambinos last year, is accused of being part of a group of men who targeted Gotti neighbor John Favara, who fatally struck Gotti's bike-riding 12-year-old son Frankie in 1980. The Daily News explains that Favara "found the word Murderer scrawled on his auto and was attacked with a bat by Gotti's wife, Victoria, but failed to heed repeated warnings to move out of the area." The Post reports the feds originally thought Favara's body (in a barrel of concrete) was thrown off a Brooklyn pier, but "Carneglia's love of acid and his use of it in Favara's case came to light thanks to new information from the cooperating witness." Carneglia allegedly kept vats of acid in his basement and had asked the informant for help in moving them.

In this latest round, it's federal prosecutors 0, and John Gotti Jr. 1. A federal judge denied the feds's attempt to try Gotti in Florida and ordered the trial be moved to NYC. Judge Steven Merryday said the case, which includes three murder charges, against the supposed Gambino crime family boss is "unmistakably the same" as the, um, three trials Gotti went through in Manhattan in 2005 and 2006. Those NYC trials ended in mistrial, and the feds were hoping that a change of turf to Florida could change their luck. The feds had no comment, but Gotti's mother groused to the Daily News, "They can't find Osama Bin Laden but a Gotti at any given moment is a sure thing. ... The bruised egos from three hung juries will ensure [my son] will never, ever live his life in peace again."

trials against Gotti Jr. ended in mistrial. The two sides await the judge's decision.

A forensic dentist confirmed a body found at a Long Island site is that of William "Wild Bill" Cutolo, former Colombo crime family underboss. Newsday reports that Cutolo, who led the Local 400 and lived in Staten Island, "disappeared in 1999 and was believed to have been a victim in a war for control of the Colombo family...which resulted in more than a dozen murders." And the Staten Island Advance recounted a previous attempted hit on Cutolo: "the assassins dressed as Hasidic Jews, hoping to execute Cutolo as he sat in a restaurant in Borough Park." The FBI has been digging at the East Farmingdale site for a week--based on a mob informant's tip--and may recover two other bodies also believed to be buried there.

After days of digging and only finding dog bones, a source tells Newsday that the FBI seems to have found human remains buried in East Farmingdale, Long Island yesterday afternoon. The FBI has been at the industrial complex ever since a tipster said three bodies were buried there and, by last evening, "FBI agents were chopping down tree branches so a large set of floodlights could illuminate the baseball diamond-sized dig area through the evening." The Daily News reports that agents think the remains are of former Colombo underboss William (Wild Bill) Cutolo--"the corpse was found in a tarp cocoon - the traditional way mob hit men dispose of their kills - with shoe-clad feet sticking out."

Since the middle of last week, the FBI has been digging at an East Farmindale industrial complex, reportedly looking for the remains of three victims of mob hits, including Colombo crime family underboss (and Staten Island resident) William "Wild Bill" Cutolo. But so far, the only bones they've found are non-human bones. Newsday reports that the NYC ME's office determined that the bones were canine, and the FBI is continuing its digs around the site. The two other victims suspected to be buried there are Pace University student, Charles Gargano Jr. (cousin of a Luchese crime family member) and Richard Greaves, suspected of becoming an informant.

Dozens of agents from the FBI's Colombo crime family squad were at a Farmingdale industrial complex yesterday, looking for human remains. There are "at least three victims of the bloody wars" over control of the crime family buried on the grounds, according to Newsday, based on a tip about bodies the squad received. The dig was called off in the evening but is resuming today. Apparently one of the bodies might be of William Cutolo, aka Wild Bill, whose body was previously thought to be dumped in the ocean. And the Daily News adds that the Colombo street boss Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioelli who carried out that hit lives "not far from the possible mob burial ground."