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Colombo crime family

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:32 GMT

Colombo Crime Family

The Colombo crime family is the youngest of the " Five Families " that dominates organized crime activities in New York City , United States , within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia (or Cosa Nostra ). The family, formerly known as the Profaci crime family , was originally formed in 1928 by Joseph "The Olive Oil King" Profaci . The family has since gone through three separate family wars. The first war took place during the late 1950s when Crazy Joe Gallo began revolting against his boss Joe Profaci for demanding too much tribute. The war began to lose momentum in the early 1960s, when Crazy Joe was arrested and boss Joe Profaci died of cancer. The family came together under Joseph "Joe C" Colombo 's command. After some years the second family war began immediately after the release of Crazy Joe from prison he ordered the shooting of Colombo in 1971. The Colombo supporters led by Carmine Persico won the war when his side murdered Crazy Joe Gallo in a Little Italy restaurant in 1972.

After two decades of peace the third and bloodiest war erupted in 1991 when Victor Orena undermined the imprisoned boss Carmine Persico. The family then split into two separate factions, one loyal to the boss Persico and others to Orena. The Persico faction attacked soldiers and capos who were supporting Orena and vice versa. In 1993 with twelve family members dead and Orena imprisoned the war was finally over. Since then, the family has been hit again and again by prosecutions, informants and convictions due to the third war. Due to this, the Colombo family is believed to be the weakest of the Five Families of New York City.

History

Origins

In September 1921, Joseph Profaci arrived in New York City . Months before he had decided to make the voyage to America, leaving behind his small town of Villabate , Sicily , Italy . After some time of struggling in Chicago with his businesses he moved back to Brooklyn in 1925, becoming a well known olive oil importer. Profaci obtained his American citizenship on September 27, 1927. With his olive oil importing business doing well he made deals with friends from his old town in Sicily and one of his largest buyers was Tampa mobster Ignazio Italiano . He controlled his small gang of criminals that operated mainly in the borough of Brooklyn. The most dominant Cosa Nostra groups active in Brooklyn were led by Salvatore D'Aquila , Frankie Yale , Giuseppe Masseria and Nicola Schiro (leader of the Castellammarese Clan ).

On July 1, 1928 Brooklyn mobster Frankie Yale was murdered by Chicago Outfit 's boss Al Capone hit-men. Yale was murdered because he did not want to give Al Capone the control over the Unione Siciliana . Yale's murder allowed Joseph Profaci and his brother in-law Joseph Magliocco to gain territory for their small gang. Profaci's gang gained territory in Bensonhurst , Bay Ridge , Red Hook and Carroll Gardens while the rest of Yale's group went to the Masseria family .

Months later on October 10, 1928 the capo di tutti capi Salvatore "Toto" D'Aquila was murdered resulting in a dispute over who would take over D'Aquila's family. In order to prevent a long and violent war in Brooklyn a Mafia meeting was called. The meeting took place on December 5, 1928 in the Statler Hotel in Cleveland. The hotel was chosen in Cleveland, Ohio because it was under the Porrello crime family control and protection. The main topic discussed was the dividing of D'Aquila's territory. At the meeting the mobsters representing Brooklyn were Joseph Profaci, Joseph Magliocco (Profaci's second ), Vincent Mangano (who reported to disputable D'Aqulia family boss Alfred "Al Mineo" Manfredi ), Joseph Bonanno (represented Salvatore Maranzano ), Chicago mobsters Joseph Guinta, Pasquale Lolordo and Tampa mobster Ignazio Italiano arrived to make a peace resolution. As a result of Profaci's connections present at the meeting he received a fraction of D'Aqulia's Brooklyn territory.

The Castellammarese War

Months after the D'Aquila murder, Joe Masseria began a campaign to become Capo di tutti capi ( Boss of Bosses ) in the United States demanding tribute from the remaining three Mafia groups in New York City which included the Reina family , the Castellammarese Clan and the Profaci family . Castellammarese Clan boss Salvatore Maranzano began his own campaign to become boss of bosses , this started the Castellammarese War. Masseria along with his allie Alfred Manfredi, the new boss of the D'Aquila family ordered the murder of Gaetano Reina . Masseria believed that Reina was going to support Maranzano to become the new boss of bosses . On February 26, 1930, Gaetano Reina was murdered and Masseria appointed Joseph Pinzolo as the new boss of the Reina family. During the war Profaci remained neutral, while he secretly supported Maranzano. The war would come to an end when Charles "Lucky" Luciano a lieutenant for Masseria betrayed him and worked with Maranzano. The secret alliance between the two had Masseria killed on April 15, 1931. Maranzano then became the new Capo di tutti capi in the United States. Five months later on September 10, 1931 Luciano had Maranzano killed and created the Mafia Commission . Now there would be five independent Cosa Nostra families in New York City and twenty one additional families across the United States.

Gallo-Profaci War (1960-1964)

Joseph Profaci in 1959.

Joseph Profaci had become a wealthy Mafia boss and was known as "the olive-oil and tomato paste king of America". One of Profaci's most unpopular demands was a $25 due from every soldier in his family. In the late 1950s, capo Frank "Frankie Shots" Abbatemarco became a problem for Joe Profaci. Abbatemarco controlled a lucrative policy game that earned him nearly $2.5 million a year with a average of $7,000 a day in Red Hook, Brooklyn . In 1959, Abbatemarco with the support of gangs (the Gallo brothers and the Garfield Boys ) he controlled in Red Hook, Abbatemarco began refusing to pay Profaci's excessive tribute demands. In 1959, Abbatemarco's debt had grown to $50,000 and Joseph Profaci ordered Joe Gallo to murder Abbatemarco. In return Profaci agreed to give the Gallo's control over Abbatemarco's policy game. On November 4, 1959, Frank Abbatemarco walked out of his cousin's bar on 4th Avenue and Carroll St in Park Slope, Brooklyn when Joseph Gioielli and another hitmen shot and killed him. Profaci then ordered the Gallo's to hand over Abbatemaro's son Anthony, the Gallo's refused and Profaci refused to give them control over the policy game, this started a war. The Gallo brothers and the Garfield boys (led by Carmine Persico ) went up against Profaci and his loyalist.

On February 27, 1961 the Gallo's kidnapped four of Profaci's top men underboss Joseph Magliocco , Frank Profaci (Joe Profaci's brother), capo Salvatore Mussachia and soldier John Scimone. While holding the hostages Joe Gallo was sent to California by his brothers. Profaci's Consigliere Charles "the Sidge" LoCicero negotiated with the Gallo's and all the hostages were released peacefully. On August 20, 1961 Joseph Profaci ordered the murder of Gallo members, Joseph "Joe Jelly" Gioielli (who was murdered) and Larry Gallo who survived a strangulation in the Sahara club on Utica Ave in East Flatbush by Carmine Persico and Salvatore "Sally" D'Ambrosio after a police officer intervened. The Gallo's then began calling Carmine "The Snake" , he had betrayed them, the war continued on resulting in nine murders and three disappearances.

The war lost momentum when Crazy Joe Gallo was sentenced to seven-to-fourteen years for murder in late November 1961. A year later boss Joe Profaci passed away from cancer, leaving Joe Magliocco as the boss. The war continued on between the two factions. In 1963, Carmine Persico survived a car bombing and his enforcer Hugh McIntosh was shot in the groin after as he attempted to kill Larry Gallo. On May 19, 1963 a Gallo hit team opened fire shooting Carmine Persico multiple times, Persico survived.

In the same year boss Joe Magliocco aligned himself with Joseph Bonanno together they planned to murder bosses Carlo Gambino , Tommy Lucchese , Stefano Magaddino and Frank DeSimone . Joseph Magliocco gave the contact to Joseph Colombo , who feared for his life and reported the plot to The Commission , resulting in the forced retirement of Magliocco and Bonanno.

Colombo and the second war

In 1963, Joseph Colombo was rewarded becoming boss of the Profaci family for his loyalty to the Commission. Along with former Gallo crew member Nicholas Bianco and New England family boss Raymond Patriarca , Colombo was able to end the war. As a reward for his loyaly Bianco was made into the Colombo family. As boss Colombo was able to bring stability back to the broken crime family. Many American Mafia bosses viewed Colombo as Carlo Gambino 's "puppet boss", who never deserved to be a boss. Colombo's leadership was never challenged due to his support from Carlo Gambino. In 1968, the Colombo family leaders watched the renegade Gallo crew leader Larry Gallo die of cancer.

In 1969, Joe Colombo founded the Italian American Civil Rights League many American Mafia bosses disapproved of the idea because it brought unwanted attention. Colombo ignored the concerns of the other bosses and continued gaining support for his league. On July 28, 1970, Colombo held the first league demonstration which was a success. In 1971, months before the second demonstration began, the other Mafia bosses order their men to stay away and show no support for Colombo's cause. In the same year Colombo also lost one of his biggest supporters, the league's chief organizer Gambino family capo Joseph DeCicco, who had become ill and resigned. Joe Gallo was also released from prison, and he did not agree with the past peace treaty. On June 28, 1971 Colombo held the second demonstration at Columbus Circle in Manhattan. As Colombo prepared to speak, an African American man, Jerome Johnson, walked up and shot Colombo in the back of the head three times; seconds later Johnson was shot to death. The shooting did not kill Colombo but left him brain dead; he died naturally on May 22, 1978.

Colombo's Consigliere Joseph Yacovelli to become the family acting boss, and directed a campaign to murder Joe Gallo and his crew. On April 7, 1972 four gunmen walked into Umberto's Clam House in Little Italy and shot and killed Joe Gallo. Yacovelli later fled the city, this left Carmine Persico as the new boss.

The family under Persico

Gennaro "Jerry Lang" Langella

Following the high-profile media exposure of Joseph Colombo and the murderous excesses of Joe Gallo, the Colombo family entered a period of comparative calm and stability. With Colombo in a coma, the family leadership went to Thomas DiBella, a man adept at evading the authorities since his sole bootlegging conviction in 1932. However, DiBella was unable to prevent the Gambino family from chipping away at Colombo rackets, and the Colombos declined in power. Poor health forced DiBella to retire in 1977, and Colombo died in 1978. The Colombo family was facing another power vacuum.

During the 1970s, Carmine Persico had grown in stature within the family and was considered to be the clear successor as boss. However, Persico had spent much of this time in prison, and it was unclear if he could effectively rule the family from prison. Nevertheless, Persico took control, designating Gennaro "Jerry Lang" Langella as his street boss. In 1986, both men were convicted on massive Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charges and were sentenced to 100 years. In 1988, Persico named Victor Orena as the new acting boss.

Third Colombo war

Orena, an ambitious capo from Cedarhurst was not content with being acting boss to Persico. In 1990, using his strong ties to Gambino boss John Gotti , Orena petitioned the Mafia Commission to declare him the official boss of the Colombo family. Unwilling to cause more conflict, the Commission refused. On June 21, 1991, an enraged Persico sent gunmen under the leadership of Carmine Sessa to murder Orena at his house. However, Orena managed to escape before the gunmen could strike. The third Colombo war had begun.

While both sides appealed to the Commission for help, the war continued. On November 1991, Gregory Scarpa Sr. , a Persico loyalist, was driving his daughter and granddaughter home when several Orena gunmen ambushed them. Scarpa and his relatives managed to escape. The war continued until 1992, when law enforcement imprisoned Orena and most of his loyalists.

Twelve people, including three innocent bystanders, died in this gang war. More than 80 made members and associates from both sides of the Colombo family were convicted, jailed or indicted. These included Persico's brother Theodore "Teddy" Persico and his son Alphonse Persico, DeRoss, and Orena's two sons, Victor Jr. Orena and John Orena.

While the Colombo war raged, the Commission refused to allow any Colombo member to sit on the Commission and considered dissolving the family and splitting its manpower and resources among the remaining families. In 2002, with the help of Bonanno family boss Joseph Massino , the Commission finally allowed the Colombos to rejoin them.

Current leadership

Carmine "Junior" Persico allegedly remains boss of the much-weakened Colombo family. He is serving a life sentence in a federal prison in North Carolina . Persico had designated his son Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico as his successor. However, in December 2007, Alphonse Persico and Underboss John "Jackie" DeRoss were convicted of ordering the 1999 killing of William Cutolo and were sentenced to life in prison.

John "Sonny" Franzese , 92 years old and a bitter Persico enemy, is allegedly underboss. Franzese has spent much of his life in prison and is under tight parole restrictions, but has still assumed a top spot in the family. In May 2007, Franzese was arrested on parole violation charges from meetings with Colombo capo regimes and high-ranking members of other crime families. Franzese was released from jail in 2008. In January 2011, Franzese was convicted of extortion and sentenced to eight years in prison.

Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo, longtime capo and former street boss, assumed the role of acting boss after the 2008 arrest of Thomas Gioeli. Vincenzo "Vinny" Aloi is said to be the current Colombo Consigliere . He is currently living in Florida and considered semi-retired.

In June 2008, acting boss Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli , underboss John "Sonny" Franzese , former consigliere Joel "Joe Waverly" Cacace , captain Dino Calabro, mob soldier Dino Saracino and several members and associates were indicted on multiple racketeering charges. These charges included drug trafficking, loan sharking, extortion and three murders dating back to the Colombo Wars. As of October 2010, Gioeli is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. If convicted, he faces life in prison. On December 24, 2008, Franzese was released from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. However he is still under indictment and is scheduled to go on trial sometime in 2009 along with Gioeli and Calabro. If convicted, they are all facing life sentences .

On December 17, 2009, the FBI charged members of the Colombo family with allegedly engaging in drug trafficking, extortion and loansharking. The crew was operating in Massachusetts, Arkansas, Rhode Island, New York and Florida. The leader of the crew is the current "Street Boss", Ralph F. DeLeo. He grabbed a piece of territory in Boston for the family. As the new street boss, DeLeo is not a New York City based mobster. He met Alphonse Persico in prison in the early 1990s and when he was released he became a made member in the family. DeLeo became street boss after the Gioeli arrest in 2008.

On January 26, 2010 capo Dino Calabro, facing trial for murdering a New York police officer, became a government witness. His testimony could be devastating to the family leadership. On July 20, 2010. Michael Souza became a government witness, testifying against Anthony Dentico of the Genovese crime family .

On January 20, 2011 members of the Colombo crime family, as well as members of other Mafia families in New York City, were arrested on charges of murder, narcotics trafficking, and labor racketeering.

Historical leadership

Boss (official and acting)

The Boss (also sometimes called Godfather or Don ) is the head of his own family. He makes all the major decisions within the organization. The Boss, Underboss, and Consigliere are the only men allowed to induct an associate into the family. If the Boss is incarcerated or debilitated, he chooses an Acting Boss to enforce his decisions.

1928–1962 — Joseph Profaci – died of natural causes
1962–1963 — Joseph Magliocco – forced to retire by Mafia Commission
1963–1971 — Joseph Colombo – left in vegetative state by assassination attempt
Acting 1971–1972 — Joseph Yacovelli – fled, after the murder of Joe Gallo
Acting - 1972–1973 – Vincenzo "Vincent" Aloi – imprisoned
Acting - 1973 — Joseph "Joey" Brancato – imprisoned
1973–present — Carmine "Junior" Persico – imprisoned 1973-1979 for truck-hijacking, 1981–1984 for criminal conspiracy, 1985–present
Acting - 1973–1979 — Thomas DiBella – stepped down, became consigliere
Acting - 1981-1983 — Alphonse "Allie Boy" Persico – Carmine Persico's brother; fugitive 1980-1987, imprisoned
Acting - 1983–1984 — Gennaro "Jerry Lang" Langella – imprisoned
Acting - 1985–1987 — Anthony "Scappy" Scarpati – imprisoned
Acting - 1987— Ruling Panel : Benedetto Aloi , Vincent "Jimmy" Angelino and Joseph T. Tomasello – disbanded September 1987
Acting - 1987–1991 — Vittorio "Vic" Orena – imprisoned sentenced to life
Acting - 1991–1993 — Vacant – disputed leadership during the third war
Acting - 1993–1994 — Ruling Panel : Joseph Tomasello, Theodore "Teddy" Persico and Joseph Baudanza – disbanded 1994
Acting - 1994–1996 — Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo – imprisoned March 1997
Acting - 1996–present — Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico – Carmine Persico's son, imprisoned serving life

Street Bosses

1991–1994 — Joseph T. Tomasello
1994–1996 — Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico – became acting boss
1996–1999 — Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo – imprisoned
2000–2003 — Joel "Joe Waverly" Cacace – imprisoned
2003–2008 — Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli – jailed
2008–2009 — Ralph F. DeLeo – jailed, operated from New England
2009–2010 — Ruling Panel – Theodore N. Persico, Jr. (jailed) and others
2010–present — Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo – jailed January 2011

Underboss

1927-1962 — Joseph "Joe Malyak" Magliocco – promoted to Boss
1962-1963 — Salvatore "Sally the Sheik" Mussachio – brother-in-law to Joseph Magliocco
1963-1967 — John "Sonny" Franzese – imprisoned
1967-1971 — Charles "Charlie Lemons" Mineo – stepped down
1971-1973 — Sebastian "Buster" Aloi
1973-1977 — Anthony "Tony Shots" Abbatemarco – fled
Acting 1973-1975 — Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo
1977-1981 — Alphonse "Allie Boy" Persico – Carmine Persico's brother; promoted to Acting Boss
1981-1994 — Gennaro "Jerry Lang" Langella – promoted to Acting Boss
Acting 1983-1987 — John "Sonny" Franzese – imprisoned
Acting 1987— Benedetto "Benny" Aloi
Acting 1991–1993 — Vacant — disputed leadership during the third war
1994-1999 — Joel Cacace (became Consigliere)
Acting 1993-1999 — Benedetto "Benny" Aloi
1999 — William "Wild Bill" Cutolo – murdered 1999
1999-2004 — John DeRoss – imprisoned life sentence
Acting 2001-2003 — Thomas Gioeli (promoted to Acting Boss)
2004–present — John "Sonny" Franzese (Jailed)
Acting 2008–2009 — Theodore "Skinny Teddy" Persico Jr. – Theodore Persico's son; joined the ruling panel
Acting 2009–present — Benjamin "The Claw" Castellazzo (Jailed)

Consigliere

1931-1954 — Salvatore Profaci – Joseph Profaci's brother; died
1954-1963 — Carlaggero "Charles the Sidge" LoCicero – murdered 1968
1963-1969 — Benedetto D'Alessandro
1970-1973 — Joseph "Joey Yack" Yacovelli – became Acting Boss 1971
1973-1977 — Alphonse "Allie Boy" Persico – Carmine Persico's brother; promoted to Underboss
1977-1983 — Thomas "Old Man" DiBella – stepped down
1983-1988 — Alphonse "Allie Boy" Persico – Carmine Persico's brother; died in 1989
Acting 1983-1986 — Thomas "Old Man" DiBella – retired
Acting - 1987-1988 — Vincent "James" Angellino
1988-1993 — Carmine Sessa
Acting - 1988-1991 — Benedetto "Benny" Aloi (promoted to Acting Underboss)
Acting - 1991–1993 — Vacant – disputed leadership during the third war
1993-1999 — Vincenzo "Vinny" Aloi
1999-2008 — Joel "Joe Waverly" Cacace (promoted to Acting Boss)
Acting - 2001-2004 — Ralph "Ralphie" Lombardo
Acting - 2004-2008 — Vincenzo "Vinny" Aloi
2008–present — Richard Fusco (Jailed)

Factions of the third war

The Colombo family divided into two factions during the third family war (1991 to 1993).

The Persico faction

Boss – Carmine "Junior" Persico
Acting Boss – Joseph T. Tomasello
Underboss – Jerry Langella
Acting Underboss – Joseph "JoJo" Russo
Consigliere – Carmine Sessa

The Orena faction

Boss – Vittorio "Vic" Orena
Underboss – Joseph Scopo
Consigliere – Vincenzo Aloi

Current family members

Current administration

Boss Carmine "Junior" Persico – has been boss since 1973. In 1986, Persico was convicted in the Mafia Commission Trial and sentenced to 100 years in federal prison. His projected release date is March 20, 2050.
Acting Boss Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico – Carmine Persico's son, holding the title of "Acting Boss". In 2009, Alphonse was sentenced to life in prison and is currently in the United States Penitentiary, Florence in Colorado .
Street Boss Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo – is Carmine Persico's cousin. In November 1986, Russo was sentenced to 14 years, he was released on July 29, 1994 under special parole conditions. In August 1999, Russo was convicted of jury tampering and sentenced to 57 months, he was also sentenced to 123 months for both parole violation and his involvement in a racketeering case of a Long Island carting company. In March 2010, after his parole period expired, Russo became Street boss. In January 2011, Russo was imprisoned along other members of the Colombo family.
Underboss John "Sonny" Franzese – In 2011, was sentenced to eight years in prison
Acting Underboss Benjamin "The Claw" Castellazzo – jailed 2011
Consigliere Richard Fusco – jailed 2011

Capos

Brooklyn faction

( In prison ) Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli – a capo and former Street boss. Gioeli's crew is operating in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Long Island. In 2011, Gioeli's acting capo Paul Bevacqua became a government informant.
Joseph Baudanza – a capo with operations in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island. Baudanza along with his brother Carmine and nephew John were arrested and convicted on stock fraud in 2008. Baudanza was released from prison in February 2011.
William "Billy" Russo – a capo and the youngest son of Andrew Russo. His brother Joseph "Jo Jo" Russo died in prison in 2007.

Long Island faction

Ralph "Ralphie" Lombardo – a capo and former acting consigliere. Lombardo runs bookmaking and loansharking activities on Long Island. In 1975, Lombardo was convicted of conspiracy of selling stock in an automobile leasing company in New Jersey. In 2003, Lombardo was the Consigliere and he was indicted on illegal gambling, loan-sharking and witness tampering. He was released from prison on August 27, 2006.
Michael Uvino – a capo since 2007. Uvino ran his crew from "The sons of Italy Social Club" in Hauppauge , Long Island. In 2009, Uvino was sentenced to 10 years for running illegal card games on Long Island and for assaulting two men.

Florida faction

Reynold Maragni – a capo, he was running loansharking and illegal gambling in South Florida since the 1980s. Maragni was arrested during the January 2011 Federal indictments that arrested 127 Mafia members.

New England faction

Ralph F. DeLeo – lives in Somerville, Massachusetts and led the New England faction for family. He met Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico in prison in the 1990s, when he was released in 1997 he was inducted into Colombo crime family, in 2008 became Street Boss after Thomas Gioeli was arrested, in 2009 DeLoe was indicted on Racketeering chargers.

Soldiers

Vincenzo "Vinny" Aloi (semi-retired in 2008 residing in Florida)
Thomas Petrizzo – a soldier, he operated a contracting company in Middlesex, New Jersey .
Charles "Moose" Panarella

Imprisoned soldiers

Theodore "Teddy" Persico - brother to Carmine Persico, uncle to Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico, and father to Theodore N. Persico Jr. The 71 year-old mobster has been a capo in Brooklyn since the 1970s. Persico served on the family ruling panel in the early 1990s until his arrest. His projected release date is October 9, 2013.
John "Jackie" DeRoss – a soldier serving life in prison after his 2009 conviction for the 1999 William Cutolo murder. DeRoss is a cousin to Carmine Persico and was underboss from 1999 to 2004.
Vincent "Chickie" DeMartino - a soldier. In 1993, DeMartino was sentenced to four years on weapons charges. In 1999, Alphonse Persico ordered DeMartino and Thomas Gioeli to murder William Cutolo . On July 16, 2001, DeMartino and Michael Spataro attempted to murder Joseph Campanella but failed. In May 2004, Campanella testified against DeMartino. He is currently imprisoned with a projected release date of January 1, 2025.
Anthony "Chucky" Russo - a soldier and cousin to William "Billy" Russo, in 1990s he worked closely with now deceased cousin Joseph "Jo Jo" Russo, operating in Brooklyn and Long Island.
Michael Catapano - former acting capo. Catapano is the nephew of John Franzese . He is currently serving a 6½ year sentence after pleading guilty to extorting a pizzeria and a gambling club.

Family Crews

The Garfield Boys – was an Italian American street gang that operated in South Brooklyn sections of Red Hook and Gowanus . The gang was headed by future Colombo boss Carmine Persico from the 1950s and until the 1970s.

Controlled unions

N.Y.C. District Council of Carpenters The Colombo crime family and the Genovese crime family worked together from (1991–1996) extorting the N.Y.C. District Council of Carpenters union. The Colombo family capo's Thomas Petrizzo and Vincent "Jimmy" Angellino were controlling Frederick Devine the President of N.Y.C. District Council of Carpenters. The Genovese crime family had two members working inside the union, Anthony Fiorino (brother in-law to Liborio Bellomo ) and Leonard Simon (brother in-law to Ralph Coppola) together the men gave hundreds of jobs and trust funds to their associates. In 1998 informants Sammy Gravano and Vincent Cafaro testified against Devine. He was found guilty of embezzling union funds and sentenced to fifteen months in prison.

Former members and associates

Michael "Yuppie Don" Franzese – retired from the crime family
Joseph "Jo Jo" Russo – the oldest son of Andrew Russo, convicted in 1994 with his cousin Anthony "Chuckie" Russo both received life sentences when ex-FBI agent Lindley DeVecchio testified against them, in 2007 JoJo died of kidney cancer in prison.
Salvatore "Sally" D'Ambrosio – During the 1960s Gallo war, D'Ambrosio and future boss Carmine Persico attempted to murder mobster Larry Gallo. D'Ambrosio also participated in the murder of Joseph Gioelli.
Nicholas "Jiggs" Forlano – former capo who ran loan-sharking operations with Charles "Ruby" Stein. In the 1970s, Forlano moved to Fort Lauderdale and started operating from Florida. In 1977, Forlano died of a hart attack at the Hialeah race track .
Frank "Frankie Shots" Abbatemarco – was born in 1899 and grew up in Red Hook, Brooklyn. During the 1950s, Abbatemarco was a prowerful capo in Profaci family controlling Red Hook. On November 4, 1959 Abbatemarco was murdered.
Anthony "Big Tony" Peraino – died of natural causes in 1996
Dominick "Little Dom" Cataldo – died in prison 1990
Ralph "Little Ralphie" Scopo – died in prison 1993
Antonio Cottone – deported back to Sicily where he became the Mafia boss of Villabate the town the Profaci family originated from; he was murdered in 1956
Benedetto "Benny" Aloi – capo and brother to Vincent Aloi. During the third family war in the 1990s, Aloi was Orena's underboss. In 1991, Aloi was convicted in the Window Case, was released from prison on March 17, 2009. He died on April 7, 2011.

Associates

Hugh "Apples" MacIntosh – was an Irish-American enforcer for Carmine Persico during the 1960s. In 1969, he was imprisoned on hijacking charges. He was released in 1975 and controlled clubs and loan sharking rings for Persico. In 1982, McIntosh was caught bribing an IRS agent for Carmine Persico early release. McIntosh was imprisoned in the Colombo family Rico case and released on December 31, 1992. He was later arrested for meeting with Daniel Persico (Teddy Persico's son) and was sent back to prison. McIntosh died on November 10, 1997.
Charles Ruby Stein – "loan shark to the stars" , was a former associate and business partner to Nicholas Forlano. He ran a gambling club on Upper West Side. In early 1970s, Jimmy Coonan became his bodyguard. Stein was murdered in 1977.
Nicholas "Nicky" Bianco – joined the Patriarca crime family , he died in prison 1994
Gerard Pappa – murdered in 1980

Government informants and witnesses

Members

Gregory Scarpa, Sr. – notorious hitman and FBI informant from the 1970s to 1994. Scarpa Sr. died in prison from AIDS –related complications.
Carmine Sessa – in 1993 turned informant with the urging of his wife.
Paul "Paulie Guns" Bevacqua – former acting capo of the Gieoli crew. In 2011, Bevacqua became a government witness.
Dino "Big Dino" Calabro – former capo involved in the 1997 murder of NYPD officer Ralph Dols. Calabro was convicted of murder in 2009 and became a government witness in 2010. Calabro is going to testify against mobster Joel Cacace, who allegedly ordered him to murder Dols.
Anthony "Big Anthony" Russo – former acting capo, he is not related to Andrew Russo. In 2011, Russo was charged with the 1993 murder of Orena faction underboss Joseph Scopo and agreed to be a federal witness.
Joseph "Joey Caves" Competiello – former soldier, he was involved in the 1997 murder of NYPD officer Ralph Dols. Competiello became an informant in 2008 and led the FBI to find the body of Colombo mobster William Cutolo.
Joseph "Joe Campy" Campanella – former capo. In 2001, after surviving a assassination attempt, he was arrested and became a government witness.

Associates

Kenny "Kenji" Gallo – former associate. Gallo a Japanese American, worked for the Colombo family before becoming a government witnesses.
Joseph "Joe Pesh" Luparelli – was a Colombo associate and bodyguard to Joseph Yacovelli. Luparelli was part of the team that murdered Colombo mobster Joe Gallo . After the Gallo murder, a fearful Luparelli entered the Witness Protection Program and later testified against Yacovelli.
Salvatore "Crazy Sal" Polisi – a former associate of the Colombo and Gambino crime families. Polisi and his friends Dominick and Joseph Cataldo all joined the Mafia. In 1984, Polisi was arrested on narcotic charges and became an informant. Polisi testified in John Gotti's 1986 trial.

Colombo crime family

Joe Profaci · Joseph Magliocco · Joseph Colombo · Carmine Persico

Vincenzo Aloi · Joel Cacace · John DeRoss · John Franzese · Thomas Gioeli · Gennaro Langella · Charles Panarella · Alphonse Persico

Past members

Made men

Benedetto Aloi · Dominick Cataldo · William Cutolo · Michael Franzese · Joe Gallo · Victor Orena · Anthony Peraino · Ralph Scopo

Associates

Nicholas Bianco · Albert Gallo

Gregory Scarpa · Carmine Sessa · Kenny Gallo

Family events

Hearings

Kefauver Committee (1950–1951) · Valachi hearings (1963)

Trials

Mafia Commission Trial (1986) · Window Case (1991)

Victims

Wars

Castellammarese War (1929–1931) · Colombo family's first war (1960-1964) · Colombo family's second war (1971-1972) · Colombo family's third war (1991-1993)

Allies

Genovese family · Gambino family · Bonanno family · Lucchese family

DeCavalcante crime family

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:31 GMT

DeCavalcante crime family

The DeCavalcante crime family is an organized crime family that controls organized crime activities in Elizabeth, New Jersey and surrounding areas in the state, despite operating on the other side of the Hudson River in New York, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia (or Cosa Nostra). It maintains strong relations with much of the Five Families of New York, plus the Philadelphia crime family , the Patriarca crime family of New England . Its illicit activities include construction, building and cement violations; drug trafficking ; extortion ; fencing ; fraud ; illegal gambling ; hijacking; labor racketeering ; loansharking ; money laundering ; murder ; and pier thefts. The DeCavalcantes are, in part, the inspiration for the fictional DiMeo crime family of HBO's dramatic series, The Sopranos . The DeCavalcante family is the subject of the CNBC program Mob Money , which debuted June 23, 2010.

History

Beginnings

Although not recognized as an autonomous crime family until the regime of Simone DeCavalcante , there were several bosses in North Jersey during the Prohibition era controlling transportation of alcohol and whiskey into New York City. In Newark, New Jersey , there was the Newark family headed by Gaspare D'Amico , the Reina family 's Jersey crew controlled by Gaetano "Tom" Reina , the Masseria family 's New Jersey faction and the Elizabeth family headed by Stefano Badami. In Newark, D'Amico controlled illegal gambling and bootlegging operations throughout the early 1920. In 1935, Vincenzo Troia a former associate of Salvatore Maranzano conspired to take over the Newark family and he was murdered. Two years later in 1937, D'Amico fled the United States after a failed assassination attempt on his life order by Joseph Profaci . The Commission decided to divide up his territory among the Five Families and Badami's Elizabeth family .

Stefano "Steve" Badami, became the boss Elizabeth-Newark family however, his reign proved to be very disruptive, as members of the Newark and the Elizabeth factions began fighting for total control of New Jersey. As Badami kept controlling the crew up towards the 1950s, he was suddenly murdered in 1955, in what appears to have been another power struggle between the two factions. Badami's Underboss and fellow mobster, Phil Amari stepped up to run the illegal operations.

Filippo "Phil" Amari, a mobster recognized by US law enforcement to be heavily involved with labor racketeering, loansharking, extortion and narcotics activities in Newark and New York City , was now considered the new head of the New Jersey organization. His reign proved to be very short, as there were multiple factions operating underneath who all conspired to take over. While still in charge, he relocated to Sicily and was replaced by Nicholas "Nick" Delmore , who with Underbosses of Elizabeth and Newark, Frank Majuri and Louis "Fat Lou" LaRasso attended the infamous 1957 Apalachin Convention to represent the small New Jersey crime family.

As Delmore kept running the organization before he became ill in the early 1960s, the rebellious times of New Jersey had finally ended. Nick Delmore later died in 1964, and his nephew Simone DeCavalcante was quickly installed as new boss of the newly official recognized "DeCavalcante crime family" of North Jersey.

Sam the Plumber

The official criminal organization began with Simone DeCavalcante, a diplomatic, 'old school', classy and calculated Don who resembled, in many ways, the character of Don Corleone in Mario Puzo 's The Godfather . He was born in 1913 and was a mobster involved in illegal gambling, murder and racketeering for most of his life. He died of a heart attack at the age of 84.

Between 1964, when he rose to power, and 1969, when he was incarcerated, he doubled the number of made-men within his family. He owned "Kenilworth Heating and Air Conditioning", in Kenilworth, New Jersey , as a legal front and source of taxable income and for which he gained the nickname "Sam the Plumber". Sam DeCavalcante also claimed to be of Italian royal lineage and another nickname he bore was "The Count". He gained much respect because he won a coveted place on the infamous ' Commission ', a governing body for the U.S. Mafia, which included the Five Families of New York and the Chicago Outfit of the Midwest . Mob representatives of Miami were also included.

DeCavalcante and 54 associates were charged and tried; he pleaded guilty to operating a gambling racket, turning over $20 million a year. At the same time, a state report indicated that he and another Mafia family controlled 90% of pornography stores in New York City. DeCavalcante was sentenced to five years, and after he was released from prison, he retired to a high-rise condo in Florida and largely stayed out of Mafia business, although the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) believed he was still 'advising' the family into the early 1990s.

John Riggi

After DeCavalcante left prison in the mid 1970s, he appointed Giovanni "John the Eagle" Riggi as acting boss of the family while he stayed semi-retired in Florida . DeCavalcante stepped down as Boss officially in 1980, passing leadership to Riggi, who had been a business agent of the "International Association of Laborers and Hod Carriers", in New Jersey for years. He was promoted to the position of official boss, and he reaped the enormous benefits of large labor and construction racketeering, loansharking, illegal gambling and extortion activities. Riggi also had the family maintain their old traditions, which Sam DeCavalcante saw as unnecessary. After Riggi used his power and influence to place subcontractors and workers other than laborers at various construction projects around the state, the DeCavalcantes were able to rip-off union welfare and pension funds. Riggi continued to run the family throughout the 1980s, with underboss Girolamo "Jimmy" Palermo and Stefano Vitabile as consigliere , after Frank Majuri died of health problems. It was around the mid-1980s, that Riggi established a great friendship with new reputed Gambino crime family boss, John Gotti .

After Riggi's conviction for racketeering, he appointed John D'Amato as acting boss of the family in 1990. D'Amato was later revealed to have participated in homosexual acts and was murdered in 1992. Riggi continued to run the family from his jail cell, but he appointed Giacomo "Jake" Amari, as his new acting boss. All was seemingly settled until Amari became ill and died slowly of stomach cancer in 1997. This caused a massive power vacuum within the family high-ranking members pushing to become the next boss of the DeCavalcante crime family.

The Ruling Panel

After acting boss Amari's death, Riggi organized a three man ruling panel in 1998 to run the day-to-day business of the crime family. These members of the ruling panel were Girolamo Palermo, Vincent Palermo (no relation) and Charles Majuri, with Stefano Vitabile as the reputed consigliere and adviser to the three.

The Panel, however, infuriated longtime captain Charles Majuri, who had been a hardworking member of the family since his teens, feeling he was wronged when he was not selected as the only acting boss. To gain complete control of the DeCavalcante family, Majuri decided that he should murder Vincent Palermo, leaving him in charge of the family. Majuri contracted soldier James Gallo to murder Vincent Palermo, however, Gallo was a strong ally and friend of Vincent Palermo, and told him about Majuri's plans. In retaliation, Vincent Palermo decided to have Majuri murdered. However, after one plot fell through, the murder was eventually called off.

Informants and convictions

Toward the late 1990s, the 'Ruling Panel' kept running the DeCavalcante crime family with Giovanni Riggi still behind bars as the Boss. The downfall of the DeCavalcante family was precipitated in 1998 when an associate named Ralph Guarino became an FBI informant in an effort to avoid a long prison sentence in connection with taking part with two others in a heist of $1.6 million from the World Trade Center . Guarino spent 10 years undercover working for the FBI. He wore a listening device and recorded conversations mobsters would have about criminal business. During Guarino's time as an informant, fellow mobster Joseph Masella was gunned down on the orders of Vincent Palermo. Using information provided by Guarino, US law enforcement launched a large scale arrest on December 2, 1999 of over 30 members and associates of the DeCavalcante crime family. Palermo realized that they would likely spend the rest of their lives behind bars and decided to cooperate with the FBI in exchange for a lenient sentence. This resulted in the arrest of 12 more men less than a year later. This decimated the crime family's hierarchy and put it on the brink of extinction. Other top members like Anthony Rotondo and Anthony Capo also agreed to become government witnesses.

In 2001, 20 mobsters were charged with racketeering, seven murders, 14 murder conspiracies, attempted murder, extortion in the construction industry and stock fraud. This was the fourth indictment of the family since 1999. Since then, several other top mobsters agreed to become government witnesses in exchange for being given lenient or no sentences at all. US law enforcement even put Giovanni Riggi, who was hoping to be released in 2003, on trial and he was sentenced to 10 additional years in prison.

Current position and leadership

Between 1999-2005, about 45 men have been imprisoned, including the family’s consigliere and seven capos. With the decline of the DeCavalcante family, New York's Five Families have taken over many of the rackets in North New Jersey. It is unknown how much influence, if any, John Riggi still has in the family. In his 80s, he has been in sick and in jail since the early 1990s. He is due out of prison on November 27, 2012. Longtime soldier Joseph Miranda took over the family as acting boss around early 2005. He inducted up to 12 members and tried to rebuild the family before stepping down as acting boss in 2006. Sicilian immigrant Francesco Guarraci is now believed by law enforcement to be the current acting Boss of the DeCavalcante crime family. Joseph Miranda continues to serve as the DeCavalcante underboss.

Historical leadership

Boss (official and acting)

Newark New Jersey family

1910s– 1937 — Gaspare D’Amico — in 1937 he fled the country after a failed assassination attempt on his life; his crime family is later disbanded.

Elizabeth New Jersey family

1920s– 1955 — Stefano "Don Steven" Badami — murdered on March 31, 1955 in Newark, New Jersey at Vito's Clam bar on 15th Avenue.
1955– 1957 — Filippo "Phil" Amari (retired)
1957– 1964 — Nicholas "Nick" Delmore
Acting 1962– 1964 — Simone "Sam the Plumber" DeCavalcante (became boss)
1964– 1982 — Simone "Sam the Plumber" DeCavalcante (retired)
1982– present — John Riggi
Acting 1990– 1992 — John D'Amato (murdered)
Acting 1992– 1997 — Giacomo "Jake" Amari (died of stomach cancer)
Three man ruling panel 1997– 1999 — Girolamo Palermo , Vincent Palermo and Charles Majuri (members arrested)
Acting 2005– 2007 – Joseph Miranda (stepped down)
Acting 2007– present – Francesco Guarraci

Underboss (official and acting)

1920s– 1931 — Sam Monaco (murdered on September 10, 1931)
1931– 1955 — Filippo "Phil" Amari (promoted to boss)
1955– 1956 — Nicholas Delmore (promoted boss in 1957)
1956– 1957 — Frank Majuri (stepped down and became Consigliere)
1957– 1991 — Louis LaRasso (murdered)
2007– present – Joseph Miranda

Consigliere (official and acting)

1920s– 1931 — Unknown
1931– 1957 — Unknown
1957– 1982 — Frank Majuri
1982– present Stefano Vitabile

History of Membership

Current Members

Deceased Members

Philip Amari - Capo/Newark Faction(1930s-1955)
Nicholas Delmore - Capo/Newark Faction(1930s-1955)
Sam DeCavalcante - Capo/Newark Faction(1950s-1964)
Stefano Badami - Capo/Elizabeth Faction(1920s-1937)
Frank Majuri - Capo/Elizabeth Faction(1957–1964)
Louis LaRasso - Capo/Elizabeth Faction(1955–1957)
Giacomo Amari
Louis LaRasso
Joseph Masella
Frank Polizzi

Government Witnesses

East Harlem Purple Gang

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:31 GMT

East Harlem Purple Gang

The East Harlem Purple Gang was a semi-independent group of Italian American hit-men and heroin dealers who according to Federal prosecutors dominated heroin distribution in East Harlem and the Bronx during the late 1970s in New York City . The gang was originally affiliated with the Lucchese crime family and later with the Bonanno crime family and Genovese crime family , and its remnants are now part of the 116th Street Crew . They allegedly named their group the 'Purple Gang' as a tribute to a Prohibition Era gang ( Purple Gang ) that terrorized Detroit 50 years earlier. Membership in the group was restricted to Italian Americans who grew up on Pleasant Avenue between 114th and 120th streets, just east of 1st avenue.

In 1977, at the peak of its strength, The Purple Gang had 30 members according to police reports and 80 associates. After the arrest of Leroy Barnes , the top heroin dealer in Harlem, the Purple Gang began supplying heroin to his network of African-American dealers in Harlem at $75,000 per kilogram. In 1977, law enforcement claimed that the Purple Gang committed at least 17 homicides, some on behalf of 'organized crime principals'.

Law enforcement speculated that during the late 1970s, the Purple Gang developed a relationship with Nicaraguan drug dealers, trading firearms for drugs.

The Purple Gang disintegrated during the late 1970s and became absorbed into the current 116th Street Crew . Some members were invited to join the Mafia and became made men , including Angelo Prisco and Daniel Leo who became the acting boss of the Genovese crime family in 2005.

Pleasant Avenue

Pleasant Avenue , a six-block stretch in East Harlem is one of the most famous incubators of the Italian Mafia in New York City. Anthony 'Fat Tony' Salerno ran the Genovese crime family from Pleasant Avenue. Rao's, the most exclusive restaurant in all of New York is located here. In the 1960s and 1970s, Pleasant Avenue was so protected by the mob that residents did not lock their doors.

Locals still recall such colorful characters as Eddie the Butcher, whose meat shop on 119th street supposedly didn't sell a single piece of meat in 40 years and Charlie Ding-Ding's candy shop on 118th street was a casino by night.

Anthony Loria Sr. , longtime partner of Vincent Papa who masterminded the "Who Stole The French Connection" corruption scandal was born and raised on Pleasant Avenue . This scheme involved corrupt NYPD and law officials that allowed the drug lords to steal an estimated 70 million dollars of narcotics from the NYPD property room at 400 Broome Street in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The total scope of the scandal is still not known and many questions linger on how exactly it happened.

In popular culture

In The Godfather movie, Sonny Corleone beat up Carlo on Pleasant Avenue.
In Carlito's Way the Purple Gang was referred to as the 'Pleasant Avenue Crew'.
In Analyze That Robert DeNiro recalled growing up with the Purple gang.
The Purple Gang was also the subject of books "The Pleasant Avenue Connection" (Harper & Row, 1976) and "Blue Domino" (Putnam, 1978).

In Elvis Presley's song " Jailhouse Rock " there is a lyric "The whole rhythm section was a Purple Gang".

Five Families

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:29 GMT

Five Families

The Five Families are the five original Italian-American Mafia crime families which have dominated organized crime in America since 1931. The Five Families in New York remain as the powerhouse of the Italian Mafia in the United States.

History

The Five Families originated out of already existing New York City Sicilian Mafia gangs. They were formally organized in the summer of 1931 by Salvatore Maranzano after the murder of Giuseppe Masseria , in what has become known as the Castellammarese War . Maranzano also introduced the now familiar Mafia hierarchy: Boss, Underboss, Consigliere, Capo, Soldier, and declared himself "capo di tutti capi" -- the ultimate boss over all of the families.

When Maranzano was murdered just months after Masseria, the "Boss of all Bosses" position was eliminated in favor of the Commission , a council which demarcated territory between the previously warring factions and governs American Mafia activities in the United States (virtually a "board of directors.") The idea was to settle things politically amongst the families and prevent the tyranny of one man controlling all the Mafia's operations.

Names

The names of the Five Families are attributed to Mafia informant Joe Valachi . After his arrest in 1959, Valachi gave the police the names of the current bosses of the Five Families. The names of four of those bosses, Tommy Lucchese , Vito Genovese , Carlo Gambino , and Joe Bonanno , were used to name their respective families. While the fifth family was headed by Joe Profaci in 1959, it is named after the succeeding boss, Joseph Colombo .

Current bosses

Genovese : Boss - Vacant, ( Acting Boss - Danny Leo )
Gambino : Boss - Domenico Cefalu
Lucchese : Boss - Vittorio "Vic" Amuso , ( Ruling Committee/Panel - Aniello "Neil" Migliore , Joseph "Joey Dee" DiNapoli , Matthew Madonna )
Colombo : Boss - Carmine "Junior" Persico , ( Acting Boss - Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo)
Bonanno : Boss - Vacant, ( Acting Boss - Vincent Asaro is also the candidate to become the new official Boss.)

Territories

The Five Families operate throughout the New York Metropolitan area , but mainly within New York City 's five boroughs of Manhattan , Brooklyn , Queens , The Bronx and Staten Island and also in Northern New Jersey . In the state of New York the families have increased their criminal rackets in Long Island ( Nassau and Suffolk ) and the counties of Westchester , Rockland and Albany . They have maintained a historical presence in the state of New Jersey since the Prohibition era . The families are also active in South Florida , Connecticut , Massachusetts and Las Vegas .

The Genovese crime family — operates mainly in Manhattan, The Bronx, Brooklyn and New Jersey. It also maintains influence in Queens, Staten Island, Long Island, Westchester County, Rockland County, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Florida.
116th Street Crew — (operates in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx)
Greenwich Village Crew — (operates in Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan)
Genovese crime family New Jersey faction — (operates all over New Jersey)
The Gambino crime family — operates mainly in Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan and New Jersey. It also maintains influence in The Bronx, Staten Island, Long Island, Westchester County, Connecticut,Boston, Florida and Los Angeles .
The Ozone Park Boys — (operates in Queens and Long Island area)
DeMeo Crew — (operates in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan)
The Lucchese crime family — operates mainly in The Bronx, Manhattan, Brooklyn, and New Jersey. It also maintains influence in Queens, Long Island, Staten Island, Westchester County, and Florida.
Cutaia Crew — (operates in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island)
The Jersey Crew — (operates all over New Jersey)
The Tanglewood Boys — (a recruitment gang operating in Westchester County, The Bronx and Manhattan.)
The Bonanno crime family — operates mainly in Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and Long Island. It also maintains influence in Manhattan, The Bronx, Westchester County, New Jersey, Florida and Montreal, Quebec Canada .
The Motion Lounge crew — (operates in Brooklyn and Long Island)
The Colombo crime family — operates mainly in Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island. It also maintains influence in Staten Island, Manhattan, The Bronx, New Jersey and Florida.
Garfield Boys — (operates in the South Brooklyn area)

In popular culture

In the 1972 film The Godfather , the Five Families are represented by the Godfather Five Families , named the Corleones , the Tattaglias , the Barzinis , the Cuneos and the Straccis .
In the HBO series The Sopranos , the Soprano family (based on DeCavalcante family ) works with the Lupertazzi crime family of Brooklyn, one of the five families in New York.
In the video game series Grand Theft Auto , the Five Families are represented by the Leone, Sindacco and Forelli families. In Grand Theft Auto IV , the Five Families are represented by the Gambetti, Pavano, Messina, Lupisella, and Ancelotti families.
Raab, Selwyn. The Five Families: The Rise, Decline & Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empire . New York: St. Martins Press, 2005.

Gambino crime family

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:28 GMT

Gambino crime family

The Gambino crime family is one of the " Five Families " that dominates organized crime activities in New York City , United States , within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia (or Cosa Nostra ). The group is named after Carlo Gambino , boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963 when the structure of organized crime first gained public attention. The group's operations extend from New York and the eastern seaboard to California . Its illicit activities include labor and construction racketeering , gambling , loansharking , extortion , money laundering , prostitution , dumping violations, construction, building and cement violations, fraud and wire fraud , hijacking , pier thefts, and fencing .

The rise of what for a time was the most powerful crime family in America began in 1957, the day Albert Anastasia was assassinated while sitting in a barber chair at the Park-Sheraton Hotel in Manhattan. Experts believe Carlo Gambino helped orchestrate the hit to take over the family. Gambino partnered with Meyer Lansky to control gambling interests in Cuba. The family’s fortunes grew through 1976, when Gambino appointed his brother-in-law, Paul Castellano , as boss. Castellano infuriated upstart capo John Gotti , who orchestrated Castellano's murder in 1985. Gotti's downfall came in 1992, when his underboss Sammy Gravano decided to cooperate with the FBI. Gravano's cooperation brought down Gotti, along with most of the top members of the Gambino family. The family is now run by Domenico Cefalu .

History

Origins

The origins of the Gambino crime family can be traced back to the emergence of Italian Mafioso Salvatore "Toto" D'Aquila upon the New York Mafia scene around 1906, which is when D'Aquila's name first appears on police records for running a confidence scam , a racket that requires a great deal of intelligence and patience. D'Aquila had immigrated to the United States as an influential Palermitano Mafioso, and quickly used his ties to other Mafia leaders across the country to create a network of connections and to gain influence within the Italian-American underworld. By 1910 D'Aquila had become the leader of his own New York–based Sicilian Mafia group, one of four that emerged by the mid 1900s.

These four crime families included D'Aquila's own crime family based in East Harlem , Manhattan , which was also the base of the "first family", the Morello crime family . The Morello family was originally led by Giuseppe Morello and his half-brothers, Vincent, Ciro and Nick Terranova, and then by Joe Masseria , who became D'Aquila's biggest rival in New York. Two Brooklyn-based crime families emerged: one was the Castellammarese clan, led by Nicola "Cola" Schiro from Roccamena , Sicily (not from Castellammare del Golfo , Sicily, where the majority of his Brooklyn crime family members came from), and second was a group led by Alfred Mineo based in Brooklyn. Eventually, two more Mafia groups emerged in New York City during Prohibition: This was a break-away faction from the Morello crime family based in the Bronx and led by Gaetano Reina , who was once aligned with boss Ciro "The Artichoke King" Terranova , and the last group formed in the late 1920s based in Brooklyn and led by Joe Profaci . Profaci became boss of one of the Five Families of New York that soon emerged once power in New York's Italian underworld was consolidated and the factions re-structured into the crime families that ruled organized crime in the city and across the country for the next eight decades.

By the mid 1910s D'Aquila had become the most influential Mafia boss in New York, in part because former New York Mafia "boss of bosses", Giuseppe Morello and his brother-in-law and second-in-command, Ignazio Saietta , had been imprisoned for 30 years in 1909 for counterfeiting. D'Aquila continued to amass power and influence within New York's Sicilian underworld and across the nation as his crime family grew in numbers and territory.

The expansion of the D'Aquila crime family was aided by the decimation of the Brooklyn Camorra led by Neapolitan Mafia boss, Don Pellegrino Morano , when Morano and his second-in-command, Alessandro Vollero were imprisoned for life in 1917, following a war with the Morello crime family, which led to the murder of boss Nick Morello (born Terranova) in 1916, for which Morano and Vollero were convicted.

By the beginning of Prohibition, the remaining Neapolitan Mafia members and the territory once under control of bosses Morano and Vollero were absorbed into the D'Aquila crime family. Soon after the Brooklyn-based Mineo group was also absorbed into Toto D'Aquila's crime family, making it the largest and most influential in New York City. The only remaining rival that D'Aquila needed to fear was the expanding forces and growing influence of boss Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria . Masseria had taken over the Morello crime family interests and territory by 1920, and quickly began to amass a great deal of power and influence, enough to rival D'Aquila by the mid 1920s.

By the late 1920s D'Aquila and Masseria were headed for a showdown and inevitable war, but Masseria struck first and D'Aquila was killed on October 10, 1928 by Masseria family gunmen. The crime family D'Aquila had led passed into the hands of his second-in-command or underboss, Alfred Mineo and his top lieutenant Steve Ferrigno , who at the height of the Prohibition era commanded the largest and most influential Sicilian crime family in New York City.

The Castellammarese War , between rival New York bosses Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano claimed many victims, including Mineo and Ferrigno who were ambushed and killed on November 5, 1930, outside Ferrigno's home at 759 Pelham Parkway South. It was the latest in a long line of killings on both sides of the war, which ultimately ended with the deaths of both principals - Masseria in April 1931 and Maranzano five months later. The main beneficiary (and organizer of both hits) was Charlie "Lucky" Luciano , who rearranged New York's organized crime and established the basis of the " Five Families " of New York, which became known as the Commission of the Cosa Nostra .

After the Castellammarese War

Following a brief period under the control of Frank Scalice , the first recognized leader of what became the Gambino family was Vincent Mangano , an older mafioso who was still very much steeped in the Old World traditions of "honor," "tradition," "respect" and "dignity." However, he was somewhat more forward-looking than Masseria and Maranzano. He branched out into activities including extortion, union racketeering, and illegal gambling operations including horse betting, running numbers and lotteries.

Mangano also established the City Democratic Club, ostensibly to promote bedrock American values but in reality as a cover for Murder, Inc. , the notorious band of mainly Jewish hitmen who did the bidding of the Italian-American run families, for a price. The operating head of the troupe was Mangano family underboss Albert Anastasia , known as the "Lord High Executioner". Vince's brother Phil Mangano was also a prominent member.

He also had close ties with Emil Camarda, a vice-president of the International Longshoremen's Association . Through the association, Mangano and the family controlled the Manhattan and Brooklyn waterfront with a mailed fist. From 1932 onward, the president of Local 1814 of the ILA was Anthony "Tough Tony" Anastasio , Albert Anastasia's younger brother (Anthony kept the original spelling of their last name). He was one of the family's biggest earners, steering millions of dollars in kickbacks and payoffs to the Mangano coffers. Tough Tony made no secret of his ties to the mob; he only had to say "my brother Albert" to get his point across.

Around this time, Carlo Gambino was promoted within the organization, as was another future boss of the family, Gambino's cousin Paul Castellano .

Mangano brothers murdered

Anastasia and Mangano never entirely saw eye to eye, even though they worked together for 20 years. Mangano wasn't pleased that Anastasia preferred the company of other gangsters rather than those in his own family. He also resented how the other families used Anastasia's services without his permission. On numerous occasions the two almost came to blows. This was only going to end badly for Mangano, and in April 1951, Phil Mangano was discovered murdered, while his brother disappeared without a trace. Although it has never been proven, it is generally believed that both were murdered by Anastasia.

Called to answer for the crimes of which he was suspected by the other New York bosses, Anastasia never admitted to his involvement in the deaths of the Manganos, but did claim that Vince had been planning to have him killed. He was already running the family in Mangano's "absence," and few in the organization found themselves inclined to depose one of the most feared killers of the age. With the support of Frank Costello , boss of the Luciano crime family , Anastasia was formally acclaimed boss of the renamed Anastasia family. Carlo Gambino, a wily character with designs on the leadership himself, maneuvered himself into position as underboss.

Anastasia eliminated

For most of the 1950s, the Luciano and Anastasia families' fortunes were closely linked and provided solidarity in the National Crime Syndicate for the two bosses. This particularly helped Costello, as Vito Genovese was angling to replace him, but knew he couldn't make a move as long as Anastasia was in the picture.

Genovese thus jumped on the 1952 killing of a Brooklyn man named Arnold Schuster , who Anastasia had killed for the most minor of indiscretions (acting as a prosecution witness against a bank robber Anastasia didn't even know), as evidence that Anastasia was unbalanced and generated too much heat for the syndicate. With Gambino secretly siding with Genovese against his own boss, the wheels were in motion for the removal of Anastasia.

On October 25, 1957, Anastasia was murdered while sitting in a barber's chair at the Park Sheraton Hotel on West 56th Street. For many years, the murder was believed to have been committed by Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo . Later, Colombo crime family boss and Gallo foe, Carmine "Junior" Persico claimed credit. Modern historians believe that Carlo Gambino ordered caporegime Joseph "Joe the Blonde" Biondo to kill Anastasia and Biondo gave the contract to soldier Stephen Armone . On the morning of October 25, 1957 Armone, along with Arnold Wittenburg and Stephen Grammauta , murdered Anastasia in the barbershop of the Park Sheraton Hotel. As Anastasia sat in the barber chair the three assailants rushed in, shoved the barber out of the way, and started shooting. The wounded Anastasia allegedly lunged at his killers, but only hit their reflections in the wall mirror. Anastasia died at the scene. Anastasia's underboss Carlo Gambino took the reins of the family, which from then on bore his name. Biondo was rewarded with the underboss position, which he kept until being demoted in 1965. Stephen Grammauta eventually became a caporegime in the 1990s. Six months earlier, Costello had been driven into retirement by an attempt on his life, clearing the way for Genovese.

Gambino promotes the family

By all accounts, Genovese was angling to become Boss of all Bosses, and believed that Gambino would support him. Gambino, however, had his own mind. He secretly joined forces with Luciano and Costello to get Genovese out of the way as well. Gambino helped trick Genovese into a lucrative drug deal, then paid a small-time Puerto Rican dealer to testify against him. Genovese was sent to prison in late 1957, and died there in 1969.

Gambino quickly built the family into the most powerful crime family in the United States, with close ties to Meyer Lansky 's offshore gaming houses in Cuba and the Bahamas, a lucrative business for the Mafia. The failure of Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno , the head of the Bonanno crime family and Gambino's top rival, to kill off Gambino and the heads of other New York crime families in the aftermath of the Bonanno War, saw Gambino become the most powerful leader of the "Five Families".

Gambino allegedly stretched his power as far as to organize the shooting of Joseph Colombo , head of the Colombo crime family, on June 28, 1971. Colombo survived the shooting but remained in a coma until his death in 1978. He was buried next to Joseph Gallo.

In either case, Gambino's influence stretched into behind-the-scenes control of the Lucchese crime family , led by Carmine "Mr. Gribbs" Tramunti . Gambino also allegedly influenced the selection of Frank "Funzi" Tieri as front boss of the Genovese crime family, after the murder of Thomas Eboli , whom Gambino, allegedly, had had killed over money owed. It is also more likely believed Eboli was killed by own crime family for his erratic ways.

Under Gambino, the family gained particularly strong influence in the construction industry. It acquired behind-the-scenes control of Teamsters Local 282, which controlled access to most building materials in the New York area and could literally bring most construction jobs in New York City to a halt.

On October 15, 1976, Gambino died of a heart attack, and control of the family passed not to the obvious choice, longtime underboss Aniello "Mr. Neil" Dellacroce , but to Paul Castellano , whose sister was married to Gambino. Allies of Dellacroce were thoroughly unhappy about that move, but Dellacroce himself kept his men in line, and was kept on as Castellano's Underboss.

The FBI closes in on Castellano

Paul Castellano

The Dellacroce faction remained displeased, believing that Castellano had inherited the role rather than earning it. They were also annoyed that Castellano saw himself more as a businessman than a crime boss, even though he expanded the family's influence in the construction industry. For all intents and purposes, the Gambinos held veto power over all construction projects worth over $2 million in New York City.

Castellano did retain a degree of muscle to keep Dellacroce's allies in check, including the notorious crew run by Anthony "Nino" Gaggi and Roy DeMeo , which was believed to have committed over 200 murders during Castellano's regime from the late 1970s and mid 1980s. While Castellano was still in charge, most of the family affairs were run and controlled unofficially by a four-man ruling panel which included powerful Garment District leader Thomas "Tommy" Gambino , bodyguard and later Underboss Thomas "Tommy" Bilotti , and powerful Queens faction-leaders Daniel "Danny" Marino and James "Jimmy Brown" Failla , all top rivals of John Gotti.

It was not a time for the family to be embroiled in inner turmoil and argument, as the Federal Bureau of Investigation had targeted the Gambino family as the easiest of the five families to infiltrate – FBI tapes obtained from a bug planted in a lamp on Castellano's kitchen table caught him discussing illegal deals with his subordinates, and by the early 1980s Castellano was up on a number of charges and faced with conviction. He let it be known that he wanted Carlo Gambino's son Thomas to take over the family should he be sent to jail, with Thomas Bilotti (Castellano's chauffeur and bodyguard) as his underboss, which further enraged the Dellacroce faction, particularly John Gotti .

In 1983, a federal indictment charged 13 members of the Gambino family with drug trafficking. This group included John Gotti's brother, Gene , and his best friend, Angelo "Quack Quack" Ruggiero , who got his nickname for his non-stop talking. The feds had in fact been listening in on his home phone conversations since 1980 – they had Ruggiero on tape discussing family business, making drug deals, and expressing contempt for Castellano. If Castellano knew they were dealing drugs, in violation of his no-drug policy, Ruggiero would be killed. By law, the accused were allowed transcripts of wiretap conversations to aid their defense, and Castellano demanded to be shown them, though Dellacroce did his best to put him off.

Dellacroce was by this time suffering from cancer, but with Ruggiero desperate for help, his friend John Gotti stood up for him. All the same, Castellano maintained that he wanted the transcripts, or he would have Ruggiero and Gotti removed. Gotti realized he had to act fast, and the death of his mentor Dellacroce on December 2, 1985, paved the way for him to take out Castellano.

John Gotti takes over

Gennaro "Jerry Lang" Langella

Third Colombo war

Current leadership

Historical leadership

Boss (official and acting)

1928–1962 — Joseph Profaci – died of natural causes
1962–1963 — Joseph Magliocco – forced to retire by Mafia Commission
1963–1971 — Joseph Colombo – left in vegetative state by assassination attempt
Acting 1971–1972 — Joseph Yacovelli – fled, after the murder of Joe Gallo
Acting - 1972–1973 – Vincenzo "Vincent" Aloi – imprisoned
Acting - 1973 — Joseph "Joey" Brancato – imprisoned
1973–present — Carmine "Junior" Persico – imprisoned 1973-1979 for truck-hijacking, 1981–1984 for criminal conspiracy, 1985–present
Acting - 1973–1979 — Thomas DiBella – stepped down, became consigliere
Acting - 1981-1983 — Alphonse "Allie Boy" Persico – Carmine Persico's brother; fugitive 1980-1987, imprisoned
Acting - 1983–1984 — Gennaro "Jerry Lang" Langella – imprisoned
Acting - 1985–1987 — Anthony "Scappy" Scarpati – imprisoned
Acting - 1987— Ruling Panel : Benedetto Aloi , Vincent "Jimmy" Angelino and Joseph T. Tomasello – disbanded September 1987
Acting - 1987–1991 — Vittorio "Vic" Orena – imprisoned sentenced to life
Acting - 1991–1993 — Vacant – disputed leadership during the third war
Acting - 1993–1994 — Ruling Panel : Joseph Tomasello, Theodore "Teddy" Persico and Joseph Baudanza – disbanded 1994
Acting - 1994–1996 — Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo – imprisoned March 1997
Acting - 1996–present — Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico – Carmine Persico's son, imprisoned serving life

Street Bosses

1991–1994 — Joseph T. Tomasello
1994–1996 — Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico – became acting boss
1996–1999 — Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo – imprisoned
2000–2003 — Joel "Joe Waverly" Cacace – imprisoned
2003–2008 — Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli – jailed
2008–2009 — Ralph F. DeLeo – jailed, operated from New England
2009–2010 — Ruling Panel – Theodore N. Persico, Jr. (jailed) and others
2010–present — Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo – jailed January 2011

Underboss

1927-1962 — Joseph "Joe Malyak" Magliocco – promoted to Boss
1962-1963 — Salvatore "Sally the Sheik" Mussachio – brother-in-law to Joseph Magliocco
1963-1967 — John "Sonny" Franzese – imprisoned
1967-1971 — Charles "Charlie Lemons" Mineo – stepped down
1971-1973 — Sebastian "Buster" Aloi
1973-1977 — Anthony "Tony Shots" Abbatemarco – fled
Acting 1973-1975 — Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo
1977-1981 — Alphonse "Allie Boy" Persico – Carmine Persico's brother; promoted to Acting Boss
1981-1994 — Gennaro "Jerry Lang" Langella – promoted to Acting Boss
Acting 1983-1987 — John "Sonny" Franzese – imprisoned
Acting 1987— Benedetto "Benny" Aloi
Acting 1991–1993 — Vacant — disputed leadership during the third war
1994-1999 — Joel Cacace (became Consigliere)
Acting 1993-1999 — Benedetto "Benny" Aloi
1999 — William "Wild Bill" Cutolo – murdered 1999
1999-2004 — John DeRoss – imprisoned life sentence
Acting 2001-2003 — Thomas Gioeli (promoted to Acting Boss)
2004–present — John "Sonny" Franzese (Jailed)
Acting 2008–2009 — Theodore "Skinny Teddy" Persico Jr. – Theodore Persico's son; joined the ruling panel
Acting 2009–present — Benjamin "The Claw" Castellazzo (Jailed)

Consigliere

1931-1954 — Salvatore Profaci – Joseph Profaci's brother; died
1954-1963 — Carlaggero "Charles the Sidge" LoCicero – murdered 1968
1963-1969 — Benedetto D'Alessandro
1970-1973 — Joseph "Joey Yack" Yacovelli – became Acting Boss 1971
1973-1977 — Alphonse "Allie Boy" Persico – Carmine Persico's brother; promoted to Underboss
1977-1983 — Thomas "Old Man" DiBella – stepped down
1983-1988 — Alphonse "Allie Boy" Persico – Carmine Persico's brother; died in 1989
Acting 1983-1986 — Thomas "Old Man" DiBella – retired
Acting - 1987-1988 — Vincent "James" Angellino
1988-1993 — Carmine Sessa
Acting - 1988-1991 — Benedetto "Benny" Aloi (promoted to Acting Underboss)
Acting - 1991–1993 — Vacant – disputed leadership during the third war
1993-1999 — Vincenzo "Vinny" Aloi
1999-2008 — Joel "Joe Waverly" Cacace (promoted to Acting Boss)
Acting - 2001-2004 — Ralph "Ralphie" Lombardo
Acting - 2004-2008 — Vincenzo "Vinny" Aloi
2008–present — Richard Fusco (Jailed)

Factions of the third war

The Colombo family divided into two factions during the third family war (1991 to 1993).

The Persico faction

Boss – Carmine "Junior" Persico
Acting Boss – Joseph T. Tomasello
Underboss – Jerry Langella
Acting Underboss – Joseph "JoJo" Russo
Consigliere – Carmine Sessa

The Orena faction

Boss – Vittorio "Vic" Orena
Underboss – Joseph Scopo
Consigliere – Vincenzo Aloi

Current family members

Current administration

Boss Carmine "Junior" Persico – has been boss since 1973. In 1986, Persico was convicted in the Mafia Commission Trial and sentenced to 100 years in federal prison. His projected release date is March 20, 2050.
Acting Boss Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico – Carmine Persico's son, holding the title of "Acting Boss". In 2009, Alphonse was sentenced to life in prison and is currently in the United States Penitentiary, Florence in Colorado .
Street Boss Andrew "Andy Mush" Russo – is Carmine Persico's cousin. In November 1986, Russo was sentenced to 14 years, he was released on July 29, 1994 under special parole conditions. In August 1999, Russo was convicted of jury tampering and sentenced to 57 months, he was also sentenced to 123 months for both parole violation and his involvement in a racketeering case of a Long Island carting company. In March 2010, after his parole period expired, Russo became Street boss. In January 2011, Russo was imprisoned along other members of the Colombo family.
Underboss John "Sonny" Franzese – In 2011, was sentenced to eight years in prison
Acting Underboss Benjamin "The Claw" Castellazzo – jailed 2011
Consigliere Richard Fusco – jailed 2011

Capos

Brooklyn faction

( In prison ) Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli – a capo and former Street boss. Gioeli's crew is operating in Brooklyn, Staten Island and Long Island. In 2011, Gioeli's acting capo Paul Bevacqua became a government informant.
Joseph Baudanza – a capo with operations in Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island. Baudanza along with his brother Carmine and nephew John were arrested and convicted on stock fraud in 2008. Baudanza was released from prison in February 2011.
William "Billy" Russo – a capo and the youngest son of Andrew Russo. His brother Joseph "Jo Jo" Russo died in prison in 2007.

Long Island faction

Ralph "Ralphie" Lombardo – a capo and former acting consigliere. Lombardo runs bookmaking and loansharking activities on Long Island. In 1975, Lombardo was convicted of conspiracy of selling stock in an automobile leasing company in New Jersey. In 2003, Lombardo was the Consigliere and he was indicted on illegal gambling, loan-sharking and witness tampering. He was released from prison on August 27, 2006.
Michael Uvino – a capo since 2007. Uvino ran his crew from "The sons of Italy Social Club" in Hauppauge , Long Island. In 2009, Uvino was sentenced to 10 years for running illegal card games on Long Island and for assaulting two men.

Florida faction

Reynold Maragni – a capo, he was running loansharking and illegal gambling in South Florida since the 1980s. Maragni was arrested during the January 2011 Federal indictments that arrested 127 Mafia members.

New England faction

Ralph F. DeLeo – lives in Somerville, Massachusetts and led the New England faction for family. He met Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico in prison in the 1990s, when he was released in 1997 he was inducted into Colombo crime family, in 2008 became Street Boss after Thomas Gioeli was arrested, in 2009 DeLoe was indicted on Racketeering chargers.

Soldiers

Vincenzo "Vinny" Aloi (semi-retired in 2008 residing in Florida)
Thomas Petrizzo – a soldier, he operated a contracting company in Middlesex, New Jersey .
Charles "Moose" Panarella

Imprisoned soldiers

Theodore "Teddy" Persico - brother to Carmine Persico, uncle to Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico, and father to Theodore N. Persico Jr. The 71 year-old mobster has been a capo in Brooklyn since the 1970s. Persico served on the family ruling panel in the early 1990s until his arrest. His projected release date is October 9, 2013.
John "Jackie" DeRoss – a soldier serving life in prison after his 2009 conviction for the 1999 William Cutolo murder. DeRoss is a cousin to Carmine Persico and was underboss from 1999 to 2004.
Vincent "Chickie" DeMartino - a soldier. In 1993, DeMartino was sentenced to four years on weapons charges. In 1999, Alphonse Persico ordered DeMartino and Thomas Gioeli to murder William Cutolo . On July 16, 2001, DeMartino and Michael Spataro attempted to murder Joseph Campanella but failed. In May 2004, Campanella testified against DeMartino. He is currently imprisoned with a projected release date of January 1, 2025.
Anthony "Chucky" Russo - a soldier and cousin to William "Billy" Russo, in 1990s he worked closely with now deceased cousin Joseph "Jo Jo" Russo, operating in Brooklyn and Long Island.
Michael Catapano - former acting capo. Catapano is the nephew of John Franzese . He is currently serving a 6½ year sentence after pleading guilty to extorting a pizzeria and a gambling club.

Family Crews

The Garfield Boys – was an Italian American street gang that operated in South Brooklyn sections of Red Hook and Gowanus . The gang was headed by future Colombo boss Carmine Persico from the 1950s and until the 1970s.

Controlled unions

N.Y.C. District Council of Carpenters The Colombo crime family and the Genovese crime family worked together from (1991–1996) extorting the N.Y.C. District Council of Carpenters union. The Colombo family capo's Thomas Petrizzo and Vincent "Jimmy" Angellino were controlling Frederick Devine the President of N.Y.C. District Council of Carpenters. The Genovese crime family had two members working inside the union, Anthony Fiorino (brother in-law to Liborio Bellomo ) and Leonard Simon (brother in-law to Ralph Coppola) together the men gave hundreds of jobs and trust funds to their associates. In 1998 informants Sammy Gravano and Vincent Cafaro testified against Devine. He was found guilty of embezzling union funds and sentenced to fifteen months in prison.

Former members and associates

Michael "Yuppie Don" Franzese – retired from the crime family
Joseph "Jo Jo" Russo – the oldest son of Andrew Russo, convicted in 1994 with his cousin Anthony "Chuckie" Russo both received life sentences when ex-FBI agent Lindley DeVecchio testified against them, in 2007 JoJo died of kidney cancer in prison.
Salvatore "Sally" D'Ambrosio – During the 1960s Gallo war, D'Ambrosio and future boss Carmine Persico attempted to murder mobster Larry Gallo. D'Ambrosio also participated in the murder of Joseph Gioelli.
Nicholas "Jiggs" Forlano – former capo who ran loan-sharking operations with Charles "Ruby" Stein. In the 1970s, Forlano moved to Fort Lauderdale and started operating from Florida. In 1977, Forlano died of a hart attack at the Hialeah race track .
Frank "Frankie Shots" Abbatemarco – was born in 1899 and grew up in Red Hook, Brooklyn. During the 1950s, Abbatemarco was a prowerful capo in Profaci family controlling Red Hook. On November 4, 1959 Abbatemarco was murdered.
Anthony "Big Tony" Peraino – died of natural causes in 1996
Dominick "Little Dom" Cataldo – died in prison 1990
Ralph "Little Ralphie" Scopo – died in prison 1993
Antonio Cottone – deported back to Sicily where he became the Mafia boss of Villabate the town the Profaci family originated from; he was murdered in 1956
Benedetto "Benny" Aloi – capo and brother to Vincent Aloi. During the third family war in the 1990s, Aloi was Orena's underboss. In 1991, Aloi was convicted in the Window Case, was released from prison on March 17, 2009. He died on April 7, 2011.

Associates

Hugh "Apples" MacIntosh – was an Irish-American enforcer for Carmine Persico during the 1960s. In 1969, he was imprisoned on hijacking charges. He was released in 1975 and controlled clubs and loan sharking rings for Persico. In 1982, McIntosh was caught bribing an IRS agent for Carmine Persico early release. McIntosh was imprisoned in the Colombo family Rico case and released on December 31, 1992. He was later arrested for meeting with Daniel Persico (Teddy Persico's son) and was sent back to prison. McIntosh died on November 10, 1997.
Charles Ruby Stein – "loan shark to the stars" , was a former associate and business partner to Nicholas Forlano. He ran a gambling club on Upper West Side. In early 1970s, Jimmy Coonan became his bodyguard. Stein was murdered in 1977.
Nicholas "Nicky" Bianco – joined the Patriarca crime family , he died in prison 1994
Gerard Pappa – murdered in 1980

Government informants and witnesses

Members

Gregory Scarpa, Sr. – notorious hitman and FBI informant from the 1970s to 1994. Scarpa Sr. died in prison from AIDS –related complications.
Carmine Sessa – in 1993 turned informant with the urging of his wife.
Paul "Paulie Guns" Bevacqua – former acting capo of the Gieoli crew. In 2011, Bevacqua became a government witness.
Dino "Big Dino" Calabro – former capo involved in the 1997 murder of NYPD officer Ralph Dols. Calabro was convicted of murder in 2009 and became a government witness in 2010. Calabro is going to testify against mobster Joel Cacace, who allegedly ordered him to murder Dols.
Anthony "Big Anthony" Russo – former acting capo, he is not related to Andrew Russo. In 2011, Russo was charged with the 1993 murder of Orena faction underboss Joseph Scopo and agreed to be a federal witness.
Joseph "Joey Caves" Competiello – former soldier, he was involved in the 1997 murder of NYPD officer Ralph Dols. Competiello became an informant in 2008 and led the FBI to find the body of Colombo mobster William Cutolo.
Joseph "Joe Campy" Campanella – former capo. In 2001, after surviving a assassination attempt, he was arrested and became a government witness.

Associates

Kenny "Kenji" Gallo – former associate. Gallo a Japanese American, worked for the Colombo family before becoming a government witnesses.
Joseph "Joe Pesh" Luparelli – was a Colombo associate and bodyguard to Joseph Yacovelli. Luparelli was part of the team that murdered Colombo mobster Joe Gallo . After the Gallo murder, a fearful Luparelli entered the Witness Protection Program and later testified against Yacovelli.
Salvatore "Crazy Sal" Polisi – a former associate of the Colombo and Gambino crime families. Polisi and his friends Dominick and Joseph Cataldo all joined the Mafia. In 1984, Polisi was arrested on narcotic charges and became an informant. Polisi testified in John Gotti's 1986 trial.

Colombo crime family

Joe Profaci · Joseph Magliocco · Joseph Colombo · Carmine Persico

Vincenzo Aloi · Joel Cacace · John DeRoss · John Franzese · Thomas Gioeli · Gennaro Langella · Charles Panarella · Alphonse Persico

Past members

Made men

Benedetto Aloi · Dominick Cataldo · William Cutolo · Michael Franzese · Joe Gallo · Victor Orena · Anthony Peraino · Ralph Scopo

Associates

Nicholas Bianco · Albert Gallo

Gregory Scarpa · Carmine Sessa · Kenny Gallo

Family events

Hearings

Kefauver Committee (1950–1951) · Valachi hearings (1963)

Trials

Mafia Commission Trial (1986) · Window Case (1991)

Victims

The Genovese crime family originated from the Morello crime family of East Harlem, the first Mafia family in New York City. The Morellos started arriving in New York from the village of Corleone, Sicily around 1892, when only a few thousand Italians lived in New York. The first incarnation of what would become the Morello crime family was the 107th Street Mob, established by Giuseppe Morello, later joined by associate Ignazio "the Wolf" Lupo. Morello's lieutenants were his half brothers Nicholas, Vincenzo and Ciro. By the early 1900s, the Morello family was involved with counterfeiting, extortion, kidnapping, and other traditional Mafia activities in Manhattan.

Wars

Castellammarese War (1929–1931) · Colombo family's first war (1960-1964) · Colombo family's second war (1971-1972) · Colombo family's third war (1991-1993)

Allies

Genovese family · Gambino family · Bonanno family · Lucchese family

Genovese crime family

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:28 GMT

Genovese crime family

The Genovese crime family is one of the " Five Families " that dominates organized crime activities in New York City , United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia (or Cosa Nostra ). The Genovese crime family has been nicknamed the " Ivy League " and " Rolls Royce " of organized crime. They are rivaled in size by only the Gambino crime family and Chicago Outfit and are unmatched in terms of power. They have generally maintained a varying degree of influence over many of the smaller mob families outside of New York, including ties with the Patriarca , Buffalo , Syracuse , Albany and Philadelphia crime families.

Finding new ways to make money in the 21st century, the Genovese family took advantage of lax due diligence by banks during the housing spike with a wave of mortgage frauds. Prosecutors say loan shark victims obtained home equity loans to pay off debts to their mob bankers. The family found ways to use new technology to improve on old reliable illegal gambling, with customers placing bets through offshore sites via the Internet . The modern family was founded by Lucky Luciano , but after 1957 it was renamed after boss Vito Genovese . Originally in control of the waterfront on the West Side of Manhattan (including the Fulton Fish Market ), the family was run for years by "the Oddfather", Vincent "the Chin" Gigante , who feigned insanity by shuffling unshaven through New York’s Greenwich Village wearing a tattered bath robe and muttering to himself incoherently.

Although the leadership of the Genovese family seemed to have been in limbo after the death of Gigante in 2005, the family still appears to be the most organized family and remains powerful. The family, now named after Vito Genovese , has endured like no other. Unique in today's Mafia, the family has benefited greatly from members following the code of Omertà . While many mobsters from across the country have testified against their crime families since the 1980s, the Genovese family has only had five members turn state's evidence in its history.

History

Origins

Giuseppe Morello

As the Morello family increased in power and influence, bloody territorial conflicts arose with other Italian criminal gangs in New York. Their new rival was the Neapolitan Camorra organization, which consisted of two small Brooklyn gangs run by Pellegrino Morano and Alessandro Vollero. Unlike the Sicilian Morellos, the Camorra was composed of immigrants from Naples, Italy. Initially the Morellos and the Camorra collaborated to divide up criminal activities in Manhattan. However, when Giuseppe Morello and Lupo went to prison in 1909 for counterfeiting, Morano decided that he could kill the remaining Morello leadership and take the family's more lucrative rackets. Morano's move resulted in the bloody Mafia-Camorra War from 1914 to 1918. By 1918, law enforcement had sent many Camorra gang members to prison, decimating the Camorra in New York and ending the war. Although the Morellos had won this gang conflict, they had suffered losses also, including the 1916 assassination of boss Nicholas Morello. The Morellos now faced stronger rivals than the Camorra.

With the passage of Prohibition in 1919 and the outlawing of alcohol sales, the Morello family regrouped and built a lucrative bootlegging operation in Manhattan. However, by the early 1920s, the Morello family no longer existed. A powerful Sicilian rival, Salvatore D'Aquila, had declared a death sentence on Giuseppe Morello and Lupo, both recently released from prison, forcing them to flee to Italy for safety. When the two men returned to New York, they relied on Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria, a new Morello ally, to kill D'Aquilla. However, the price of Masseria's help was to essentially take over the Morello Family.

The Castellammarese era

Joseph Masseria

During the mid-1920s, Massaria continued to expand his bootlegging, extortion, loansharking , and illegal gambling rackets throughout New York. To operate and protect these rackets, Massaria recruited many ambitious young mobsters. These mobsters included future Cosa Nostra powers Charlie "Lucky" Luciano , Frank Costello , Frankie Yale , Joseph "Joey A" Adonis , Vito Genovese , Albert Anastasia and Carlo Gambino . Masseria was willing to take all Italian-American recruits, no matter where they had originated in Sicily or Italy.

Masseria's strongest rival in New York was Salvatore Maranzano , leader of the Castellammare del Golfo Sicilian organization in Brooklyn. A recent arrival from Sicily, Maranzano had strong support from elements of the Sicilian Mafia and was a traditionalist mafiosi. He recruited Sicilian mobsters only, preferably from the Castellammarese clan. Marangano's top lieutenants included future family bosses Joseph "Joe Bananas" Bonanno , Joseph Profaci , and Stefano Magaddino . By 1928, the Castellammarese War between Masseria and Maranzano had begun. By the late 1920s, more than 60 mobsters on both sides had been murdered. On April 15, 1931, Masseria was murdered in a Coney Island , Brooklyn, restaurant, reportedly by members of Luciano's crew. Angry over broken promises from Masseria, Luciano had secretly conspired with Maranzano to plot Masseria's assassination. On the day of the murder, Luciano was allegedly eating dinner with Masseria at a restaurant. After Luciano went to the restroom, his hitmen arrived and murdered Masseria. With Masseria's death, the Castellamarese War had ended.

Now in control of New York, Maranzano took several important steps to solidify his victory. He reorganized the Italian-American gangs of New York into five new families, structured after the hierarchical and highly disciplined Mafia families of Sicily. Maranzano's second big change was to appoint himself as the boss of all the families. As part of this reorganization, Maranzano designated Luciano as boss of the old Morello/Masseria family. However, Luciano and other mob leaders privately objected to Maranzano's dictatorial role. Maranzano soon found out about Luciano's discontent and ordered his assassination. Discovering that he was in danger, Luciano plotted Maranzano's assassination with Maranzano trustee Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese . On September 10, 1931, Jewish gangsters provided by Luciano ally Meyer Lansky shot and stabbed Maranzano to death in his Manhattan office. Luciano was now the most powerful mobster in the United States.

Luciano and the Commission

"Lucky" Luciano in a police photo

After Maranzano's murder, Luciano created a new governing body for the Cosa Nostra families, the Commission . The Commission consisted of representatives from each of the Five Families, the Chicago Outfit and the Magaddino crime family of Buffalo, New York . Luciano wanted the Commission to mediate disputes between the families and prevent future gang wars. Although nominally a democratic body, Luciano and his allies actually controlled the Commission throughout the 1930s. As head of the new Luciano family, Luciano appointed Vito Genovese as his underboss, or second in command, and Frank Costello as his Consigliere , or advisor. With the new structure in place, the five New York families would enjoy several decades of peace and growth.

In 1935, Luciano was indicted on pandering charges by New York district attorney Thomas Dewey . Many observers believed that Luciano would never have directly involved himself with prostitutes, and that the case was fraudulent. During the trial, Luciano made a tactical mistake in taking the witness stand, where the prosecutor interrogated him for five hours about how he made his living. In 1936, Luciano was convicted and sentenced to 30 to 50 years in prison. Although in prison, Luciano continued to run his crime family. His underboss Genovese now supervised the day-to-day family activities. In 1937, Genovese was indicted on murder charges and fled the country to Italy. After Genovese's departure, Costello became the new acting boss of the Luciano family.

During World War II , federal agents asked Luciano for help in preventing enemy sabotage on the New York waterfront and other activities. Luciano agreed to help, but in reality provided insignificant assistance to the allied cause. After the end of the war, the arrangement with Luciano became public knowledge. To prevent further embarrassment, the government agreed to deport Luciano on condition that he never return to the United States. In 1946, Luciano was taken from prison and deported to Italy, never to return to the United States. Costello became the effective boss of the Luciano family.

The Prime Minister

Frank Costello at the Kefauver hearings.

During the reign of Frank Costello , the Luciano family controlled much of the bookmaking , loansharking, illegal gambling and labor racketeering activities in New York City. Costello wanted to increase the family involvement in lucrative financial schemes; he was less interested in low grossing criminal activities that relied on brutality and intimidation. Costello believed in diplomacy and discipline, and in diversifying family interests.

Nicknamed "The Prime Minister of the Underworld", Costello controlled much of the New York waterfront and had tremendous political connections. It was said that no state judge could be appointed in any case without Costello's consent. During the 1940s, Costello allowed Luciano associates Meyer Lansky and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel to expand the family business in Southern California and build the first modern casino resort in Las Vegas. When Siegel failed to open the resort on time, his mob investors allegedly sanctioned his murder.

While serving as boss of the Luciano family in the 1950s, Costello suffered from depression and panic attacks . During this period Costello sought help from a psychiatrist , who advised him to distance himself from old associates such as Genovese and spend more time with politicians. In the early 1950s, U.S. Senator Estes Kefauver of Tennessee began investigating organized crime in New York in the Kefauver hearings . The Committee summoned numerous mobsters to testify, but they refused to answer questions at the hearings. The mobsters uniformly cited the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution , a legal protection against self-incrimination . However, when Costello was summoned, he agreed to answer questions at the hearings and not take the Fifth Amendment. As part of the agreement to testify, the Special Committee and the U.S. television networks agreed not to broadcast Costello's face. During the questioning, Costello nervously refused to answer certain questions and skirted around others. When the Committee asked Costello, "What have you done for your country Mr. Costello?", he famously replied, "Paid my tax!". The TV cameras, unable to show Costello's face, instead focused on his hands, which Costello wrung nervously while answering questions. Costello eventually walked out of the hearings.

The return of Genovese

Costello ruled for 20 peaceful years, but that quiet reign ended when Genovese was extradited from Italy to New York. During his absence, Costello demoted Genovese from underboss to capo and Genovese determined to take control of the family. Soon after his arrival in the United States, Genovese was acquitted of the 1936 murder charge that had driven him into exile. Free of legal entanglements, Genovese started plotting against Costello with the assistance of Mangano crime family underboss Carlo Gambino . On May 2, 1957, Luciano family mobster Vincente "Chin" Gigante shot Costello in the side of the head on a public street; however, Costello survived the attack. Months later, Mangano family boss Albert Anastasia, a powerful ally of Costello, was murdered by Gambino's gunmen. With Anastasia's death, Gambino seized control of the Mangano family. Feeling afraid and isolated after the shootings, Costello quietly retired and surrendered control of the Luciano family to Genovese.

Vito Genovese in a police photo

Having taken control of what was now the Genovese crime family in 1957, Vito Genovese decided to organize a Cosa Nostra conference to legitimize his new position. Held on mobster Joseph Barbera 's farm in Apalachin, New York , the Apalachin Meeting attracted over 100 Cosa Nostra mobsters from around the nation. However, local law enforcement discovered the meeting by chance and quickly surrounded the farm. As the meeting broke up, Genovese escaped capture by running through the woods. However, many other high-ranking mobsters were arrested. Cosa Nostra leaders were chagrined by the public exposure and bad publicity from the Apalachin meeting, and generally blamed Genovese for the fiasco. Wary of Genovese gaining more power in the Mafia Commission, Gambino used the abortive Apalachin Meeting as an excuse to move against his former ally. Gambino, former Genovese bosses Lucky Luciano and Frank Costello , and Lucchese crime family boss Tommy Lucchese allegedly lured Genovese into a drug distribution scheme that ultimately resulted in his conspiracy indictment and conviction. In 1959, Genovese was sentenced to 15 years in prison on narcotics charges. Genovese, who was the most powerful boss in New York, had been effectively eliminated as a rival by Gambino. Genovese would later die in prison.

The Valachi Hearings

Joseph Valachi at the McClellan Hearings

The Genovese family was soon rocked by a second public embarrassment: the United States Senate McClellan Hearings . While incarcerated at a federal prison in Atlanta, Genovese soldier Joseph "Joe Cargo" Valachi believed he was being targeted for murder by the mob on the suspicion that he was an informer. On June 22, 1962, Valachi brutally murdered another inmate with a pipe. Valachi told investigators that he thought the victim was Joseph "Joe Beck" DiPalermo, a Genovese soldier coming to kill him.

To avoid a capital murder trial, Valachi agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors against the Genovese family. He thus became the first Cosa Nostra mobster to publicly affirm the organization's existence. With information from prosecutors, the low-level Valachi was able to testify in nationally-televised hearings about the Cosa Nostra's influence over legal enterprises in aid of racketeering and other criminal activities to make huge profit. Valachi also introduced the name "Cosa Nostra" as a household name. Although Valachi's testimony never led to any convictions, it helped law enforcement by identifying many members of the Genovese and other New York families.

Front bosses and the ruling panels

New York Police Department mugshot of Thomas Eboli

After Genovese was sent to prison in 1959, the family leadership secretly established a "Ruling Panel" to run the family in Genovese's absence. This first panel included acting boss Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli , underboss Gerardo "Jerry" Catena , and Catena's protege Philip "Benny Squint" Lombardo . After Genovese died in 1969, Lombardo was named his successor. However, the family appointed a series of "Front Bosses" to masquerade as the official family boss. The aim of these deceptions was to confuse both law enforcement and rival crime families as to the true leader of the family. In the late 1960s, Gambino boss Carlo Gambino loaned $4 million to Eboli for a drug scheme in an attempt to gain control of the Genovese family. When Eboli failed to pay back his debt, Gambino, with Commission approval, murdered Eboli in 1972.

After Eboli's death, Genovese capo and Gambino ally Frank "Funzi" Tieri was appointed as the new front boss. In reality, the Genovese family created a new ruling panel to run the family. This second panel consisted of Catena, Michele "Big Mike" Miranda , and Lombardo. In 1981, Tieri became the first Cosa Nostra boss to be convicted under the new Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). In 1982, Tieri died in prison. After Tieri went to prison in 1981, the Genovese family reshuffled its leadership. The capo of the Manhattan faction, Anthony Salerno ("Fat Tony"), became the new front boss. Lombardo, the defacto boss of the family, retired and Vincent "Chin" Gigante , the triggerman on the failed Costello hit, took actual control of the family. In 1985, Salerno was convicted in the Mafia Commission Trial and sentenced to 100 years in federal prison.

After the 1980 murder of Philadelphia crime family boss Angelo "Gentle Don" Bruno, Gigante and Lombardo began manipulating the rival factions in the war-torn Philadelphia family. Gigante and Lombardo finally gave their support to Philadelphia mobster Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo , who in return gave the Genovese mobsters permission to operate in Atlantic City in 1982.

The Oddfather

FBI mugshot of Vincent Gigante in his bathrobe.

After Vincent Gigante took over the Genovese family, he instituted a new "administration" structure. Former Salerno protègé Vincent Cafaro had turned informer and identified Gigante as the real boss to the FBI, so the use of front bosses no longer protected the real leader of the family. In addition, Gigante was unnerved by Salerno's conviction and long sentence, and decided he needed greater protection. Gigante decided to replace the front boss with a new street boss position. The job of the street boss was to publicly run the family operations on a daily basis, under Gigante's remote direction. To insulate himself even further from law enforcement, Gigante started communicating to his men through another new position, the messenger . As a result of these changes, Gigante did not directly communicate with other family mobsters, with the exception of his sons, Vincent Esposito and Andrew Gigante, and a few other close associates.

Another Gigante tactic to confuse law enforcement was by pretending insanity. Gigante frequently walked down New York streets in a bathrobe , mumbling incoherently. Gigante succeeded in convincing court-appointed psychiatrists that his mental illness was worsening, and avoided several criminal prosecutions. The New York media soon nicknamed Gigante "The Oddfather". Gigante reportedly operated from the Triangle Social Club in Greenwich Village in Manhattan. He never left his house during the day, fearing that the FBI would sneak in and plant a bug. At night, he would sneak away from his house and conduct family business when FBI surveillance was more lax. Even then, he only whispered to keep from being picked up by wiretaps. To avoid incrimination from undercover surveillance, family members were forbidden to speak Gigante's name under penalty of death. When necessary, mobsters would only point to their chins when referring to him. In this way, Gigante managed to stay on the streets while the city's other four bosses ended up getting long prison terms.

While the public and media were watching Gigante, other family leaders were running the day-to-day operations of the family. Underboss Venero "Benny Eggs" Mangano operated out of Brooklyn and ran the family's Windows Case rackets. Consigliere Louis "Bobby" Manna , who operated out of the New Jersey faction of the family, as well as supervising four captains around that area during the 1980s.

In 1985, Gigante and other family bosses were shocked and enraged by the murder of Paul Castellano , the Gambino family boss. An ambitious Gambino capo, John Gotti , had capitalized on discontent in that family to murder Castellano and his underboss outside a Manhattan restaurant and become the new Gambino boss. Gotti had violated Cosa Nostra protocol by failing to obtain prior approval for the murder from The Commission . Ironically, as mentioned above, Gigante had been the triggerman on the last unsanctioned hit on a boss—the hit on Costello. With Castellano dead, Gigante now controlled the Commission and he decided to kill Gotti. Gigante and Lucchese crime family boss Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and underboss Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso hatched a scheme to kill Gotti with a car bomb. On April 13, 1986, a bomb exploded in Gambino underboss Frank DeCicco 's car, killing DeCicco. However, Gotti was not in DiCicco's car that day and escaped harm. Although Gigante eventually made peace with Gotti, Gigante remained the boss of the most powerful crime family in New York. The Genovese family dominated construction and union rackets, gambling rackets, and operations at the Fulton Fish Market and the waterfront operations. During this period, Gigante used intimidation and murder to maintain control of the family.

During the early 1990s, law enforcement used several high profile government informants and witnesses to finally put Gigante in prison. Faced with criminal prosecution, in 1992 Gambino underboss Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano agreed to testify against Gotti and other Cosa Nostra leaders, including Gigante. Philadelphia crime family underboss Phil Leonetti also became a government witness and testified that during the 1980s, Gigante had ordered the murders of several Philadelphia associates. Finally, Lucchese underboss Anthony Casso implicated Gigante in the 1986 plan to kill John Gotti, Frank DeCicco and Eugene "Gene" Gotti . While in prison, Gigante was recorded as saying that he'd feigned insanity for 40 years. In 1997, Gigante was convicted on racketeering and conspiracy charges and sentenced to 12 years in federal prison. While Gigante was in prison, the Genovese family was run by acting bosses Ernest Muscarella, Dominick Cirillo, and Gigante's brother Mario . On December 19, 2005, Gigante died in prison from heart disease .

Since the 1990s, infamous mobsters in top positions of the other Five Families of NYC have become informants and testified against many mobsters, putting bosses, capos, and soldiers into prison. The most prominent government witness was Bonanno crime family Boss Joseph "Big Joe" Massino , who started cooperating in 2005. Genovese Underboss Venero "Benny Eggs" Mangano , Consigliere Louis "Bobby" Manna , capo James Ida ("Little Jimmy") and street boss Liborio "Barney" Bellomo received lengthy prison sentences on murder, racketeering and conspiracy convictions. During the last decades, US law enforcement systematically broke down the Genovese crime family, as well as the other Mafia families. Despite these indictments the Genovese family remains a formidable power with as approximately 250 made men and 14 active crews as of 2005, according to Selwyn Raab.

Current position and leadership

When Vincent Gigante died in late 2005, the leadership went to Genovese capo Daniel "Danny the Lion" Leo , who was apparently running the day-to-day activities of the Genovese crime family by 2006. In 2006, Genovese underboss and former Gigante loyalist, Venero "Benny Eggs" Mangano was released from prison. That same year, former Gigante loyalist and prominent capo Dominick Cirillo was allegedly promoted to consigliere in prison. By 2008, the Genovese family administration was believed to be whole again. In March 2008, Leo was sentenced to five years in prison for loansharking and extortion. Underboss Venero Mangano is reportedly one of the top leaders within the Manhattan faction of the Genovese crime family. Former acting consigliere Lawrence "Little Larry" Dentico was leading the New Jersey faction of the family until convicted of racketeering in 2006. Dentico was released from prison in 2009. In July 2008, one-time Gigante street boss Liborio "Barney" Bellomo was paroled from prison after serving 12 years. What role Bellomo plays in the Genovese hierarchy is open to speculation, but he is likely to have a major say in the running of the family once his tight parole restrictions are over.

A March 2009 article in the New York Post claimed Daniel Leo was still acting boss despite his incarceration. It also estimated that the family consists of approximately 270 "made" members. The Genovese family maintains power and influence in New York, New Jersey, Atlantic City and Florida. It is recognized as the most powerful Cosa Nostra family in the United States. Since Gigante's reign, the Genovese family has been so strong and successful because of its continued devotion to secrecy. According to the FBI, many family associates don't know the names of family leaders or even other associates. This information lockdown makes it more difficult difficult for the FBI to gain incriminating information from government informants.

According to the FBI, the Genovese family has not had an official boss since Gigante's death. Law enforcement considers Leo to be the acting boss, Mangano the underboss, and Cirillo the consigliere. The Genovese family is known for placing top caporegimes in leadership positions to help the administration run the day-to-day activities of the crime family. At present,capos Bellomo, Ernest Muscarella, Cirillo, and Dentico hold the greatest influence within the family and play major roles in its administration. The Manhattan and Bronx factions, the traditional powers in the family, still exercise that control today.

Historical leadership

Boss (official and acting)

1890s–1909 — Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello — imprisoned in 1910
1910–1916 — Nicholas "Nick Morello" Terranova — murdered in 1916 during the Mafia-Camorra War
1916–1920 — Vincenzo "Vincent" Terranova — stepped down becoming underboss
1920–1922 — Giuseppe "the Clutch Hand" Morello — stepped down becoming underboss to Giuseppe Masseria in 1922
1922–1931 — Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria — murdered in 1931 during the Castellammarese War
1931–1946 — Charles "Lucky" Luciano — imprisoned in 1936, deported to Italy in 1946
Acting 1936–1937 — Vito Genovese — fled to Italy in 1937 to avoid murder charge
Acting 1937–1946 — Frank "the Prime Minister" Costello — became official boss after Luciano's deportation
1946–1957 — Frank "the Prime Minister" Costello — resigned in 1957 after assassination attempt
1957–1969 — Vito "Don Vito" Genovese — imprisoned in 1959, died in prison in 1969
Acting 1959–1962 — Anthony "Tony Bender" Strollo — disappeared in 1962
Acting 1962–1965 — Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli — became front boss
Acting 1965–1969 — Philip "Benny Squint" Lombardo — promoted to official boss
1969–1981 — Philip "Benny Squint" Lombardo — retired in 1981, died of natural causes in 1987
1981–2005 — Vincent "Chin" Gigante — imprisoned in 1997, died in prison in 2005
Acting 1990–1992 — Liborio "Barney" Bellomo — promoted to street boss
Acting 1997–1998 — Dominick "Quiet Dom" Cirillo — suffered heart attack and resigned 1998
Acting 1998–2005 — Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello — resigned when indicted in July 2005
Acting 2005–2008 — Daniel "Danny the Lion" Leo — Imprisoned in 2008. Projected release date is January 25, 2013

Front boss and street boss

After Philip Lombardo replaced Thomas Eboli as effective boss in the mid-1960s, Lombardo decided that Eboli should continue to perform the outward functions of the boss while Lombardo secretly made all the decisions. Lombardo created this deception so as to divert law enforcement attention from himself to Eboli. The family maintained this "front boss" deception for the next 20 years. Even after government witness Vincent "Fish" Cafaro exposed this scam in 1988, the Genovese family still found this way of dividing authority useful. So, in 1992, the front boss position was replaced by that of "street boss". From 1998 to 2006, a committee of capos known as the "administration" conducted decision making for the family.

Front boss

1969–1972 — Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli — murdered in 1972
1972–1980 — Frank "Funzi" Tieri — indicted under RICO statutes and resigned, died in 1981.
1981–1992 — Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno — imprisoned in 1987, died in prison in 1992.

Street boss

1992–present — Liborio "Barney" Bellomo — imprisoned from 1996–2008.
Co-Acting 1998–2002 – Ernest Muscarella and Frank Serpico – in 2002 both were indicted, and Serpico died of cancer.
Acting 2003–2005 — Dominick "Quiet Dom" Cirillo — imprisoned in 2006
Acting 2005–2008 — Mario Gigante

Underboss (official and acting)

Underboss - the number two position in the family (after the boss). Also known as the "capo bastone", the underboss ensures that criminal profits flow up to the boss. The underboss also oversees the selection of caporegimes and soldiers to carry out murders and other crimes for the family. When the boss dies, the underboss normally assumes control until a new boss is chosen (which in some cases is the underboss).

1903–1910 — Ignazio "the Wolf" Lupo — imprisoned 1910
1910-1916 — Vincenzo "Vincent" Terranova — became boss
1916-1920 — Ciro "The Artichoke King" Terranova — stepped down
1920-1922 — Vincenzo "Vincent" Terranova — murdered on May 8, 1922
1922-1930 — Giuseppe "Peter the Clutch Hand" Morello — murdered on August 15, 1930
1930-1931 — Joseph Catania — murdered on February 3, 1931
1931-1931 — Charles "Lucky" Luciano — became boss April 1931
1931-1936 — Vito Genovese — promoted to acting boss in 1936, fled to Italy in 1937
1936-1936 — Frank "Chee" Gusage
1937-1951 — Guarino "Willie" Moretti — murdered in 1951
1951-1957 — Vito Genovese — second time as underboss
1957-1972 — Gerardo "Jerry" Catena — also boss of the New Jersey faction ; jailed from 1970 to 1972.
1972-1974 — Frank "Funzi" Tieri — promoted to front boss in 1974
1974-1975 — Carmine "Little Eli" Zeccardi
1975-1980 — Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno — promoted to front boss
1980-1981 — Vincent "Chin" Gigante — promoted to official boss
1981-1987 — Saverio "Sammy" Santora — died of natural causes
1987–present — Venero Mangano — imprisoned in 1991, released December 2006
Acting 1990-1997 — Michael "Mickey Dimino" Generoso — imprisoned in 1997
Acting 1997-2003 — Joseph Zito
Acting 2003-2005 — John "Johnny Sausage" Barbato — imprisoned in 2005

Consigliere (official and acting)

Consigliere - Also known as an advisor or "right-hand man," a consigliere provides counsel to the boss of the crime family. The consigliere ranks just below the boss in the family power structure, but does not have any family members reporting to him. Each family usually has one consigliere.

1931-1937 — Frank Costello — promoted to acting boss in 1937
1937-1957 — "Sandino" — mysterious figure mentioned once by Valachi
1957-1972 — Michele "Mike" Miranda — retired in 1972
1972-1975 — Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno — promoted to underboss in 1975
1975-1978 — Antonio "Buckaloo" Ferro
Acting 1978-1980 — Dominick "Fat Dom" Alongi
1980-1981 — Dominick "Fat Dom" Alongi
1981-1990 — Louis "Bobby" Manna — imprisoned in 1990
Acting 1989-1990 — James "Little Guy" Ida — promoted to official consigliere
1990-1997 — James "Little Guy" Ida — imprisoned in 1997
1997–present — Lawrence "Little Larry" Dentico — imprisoned from 2006–2009
Acting 2006–2009 — Dominick "Quiet Dom" Cirillo

Messaggero

Messaggero – The messaggero (messenger) functions as liaison between crime families. The messenger can reduce the need for sit-downs, or meetings, of the mob hierarchy, and thus limit the public exposure of the bosses. Boss Vincent Gigante was credited with inventing the messaggero position to avoid law enforcement attention.

1957-1970s - Michael "Mike" Genovese - he was Vito Genovese's younger brother.
1981-1997 - Dominick "Quiet Dom" Cirillo
1997-2003 - Andrew Gigante

Administrative capos

If the official boss dies, goes to prison, or is incapacitated, the family may assemble a ruling committee (or panel) of capos to help the acting boss, street boss, underboss, and consigliere run the family, and to divert attention from law enforcement.

1997-1998 — ( eight-man committee ) — Frank "Farby" Serpico, Ernest "Ernie" Muscarella, Pasquale "Patsy" Parello, Lawrence "Little Larry" Dentico , John "Johnny Sausage" Barbato , Alan "Baldie" Longo , Federico "Fritzy" Giovanelli and Daniel "Danny the Lion" Leo
1998-2001 — ( seven-man committee ) — Dominick "Quiet Dom" Cirillo , Ernest Muscarella, Pasquale Parello, Lawrence Dentico, John Barbato, Alan Longo and Daniel Leo
2001-2002 — ( five-man committee ) — Dominick Cirillo, Ernest Muscarella, Lawrence Dentico, John Barbato and Alan Longo
2002-2003 — ( four-man committee ) — Dominick Cirillo, Lawrence Dentico, John Barbato and Daniel Leo
2007–2010 — ( three-man panel ) — Tino "The Greek" Fiumara (died 2010) the other two are unknown.

Current family members

Administration

Boss Vacant
Acting Boss Daniel "Danny the Lion" Leo - belonged to the Purple Gang of East Harlem in the 1970s. In the late 1990s, Leo joined Vincent Gigante's circle of trusted capos. With Gigante's death in 2005, Leo became acting boss . In 2008, Leo was sentenced to five years in prison on loansharking and extortion charges. In March 2010, Leo received an additional 18 months in prison on racketeering charges and was fined $1.3 million. Leo is currently in prison.
Street Boss Liborio "Barney" Bellomo - became Street boss in 1992 under boss Vincent Gigante. Bellomo was imprisoned from 1996 until July 2008.
Underboss Venero "Benny Eggs" Mangano - became underboss in 1986 under boss Vincent Gigante . A Gigante loyalist, Mangano belonged to the West Side Crew. Mangano was sentenced to 15 years in prison for his involvement in the 1991 "Windows Case". He was convicted of extortion and attempting to manipulate the bidding process of window replacements within municipal housing projects. Released from prison in November 2006, Mangano is reportedly still a Manhattan faction leader.
Consigliere Dominick "Quiet Dom" Cirillo - former capo and trusted aide to boss Vincent Gigante . Cirillo belonged to the West Side Crew and was known as one of the Four Doms ; capos Dominick "Baldy Dom" Canterino , Dominick "The Sailor" DiQuarto and Dominick "Fat Dom" Alongi. Cirillo served as Acting Boss from 1997 to 1998, but resigned due to heart problems. In 2003, Cirillo became acting boss, resigned in 2006 due to his imprisonment on loansharking charges. In August 2008, Cirillo was released from prison. Law enforcement believes that Cirillo is still active in the family.
New Jersey Faction Boss - Unknown - was Tino Fiumara until his death on September 16, 2010.

Capos

New York

Bronx faction

Liborio "Barney" Bellomo – capo and current Street Boss , was also the acting boss and protégé of Vincent Gigante . He controls one of the most influential crews in the crime family, the Manhattan East Harlem and Bronx-based 116th Street Crew . Bellomo, in his early 50s, was released from prison in July 2008 and is a top candidate to become the new official boss.
Joseph "Joe D" Dente Jr. – capo, operating in the Bronx. In December 2001, Dente and capos Rosario Gangi and Pasquale Parrello were indicted in Manhattan on racketeering charges. Dente was released from prison on April 29, 2009.
Pasquale "Patsy" Parello – capo operating in the Bronx, owns a restaurant on Arthur Ave. In 2004, Parello was found guilty of loansharking and embezzlement along with capo Rosario Gangi. Parello was released from prison on April 23, 2008.

Manhattan faction

Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello – capo and former acting boss for Vincent Gigante , Ianniello is a longtime Manhattan faction leader who also operates in Brooklyn, Staten Island, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut. Iannello was imprisoned on extortion and racketeering charges and released on April 3, 2009.
Rosario "Ross" Gangi – capo operating in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and New Jersey. Gangi was involved in extortion activities at Fulton Fish Market. He was released from prison on August 8, 2008.
John "Johnny Sausage" Barbato – capo and former driver of Venero Mangano , involved in labor and construction racketeering with capos from the Brooklyn faction . He was imprisoned in 2005 on racketeering and extortion charges, and released in 2008.
James "Jimmy from 8th Street" Messera – capo of the Little Italy Crew operating in Manhattan and Brooklyn. In the 1990s, Messera was involved in extorting the Mason Tenders union and was imprisoned on racketeering charges.

Brooklyn faction

Alphonse "Allie Shades" Malangone – capo operating from Brooklyn and Manhattan. Malagone was very powerful in the 1990s, controlling gambling, loansharking, waterfront rackets and extorting the Fulton Fish Market . Malangone also controlled several private sanitation companies in Brooklyn through Kings County Trade Waste Association and Greater New York Waste Paper Association . Malagone was arrested in 2000 along with several Genovese and Gambino family members for their activities in the private waste industry.
Anthony "Tico" Antico – capo involved in labor and construction racketeering in Brooklyn and Manhattan. In 2005, Antico and capos John Barbato and Lawrence Dentico were convicted of extortion charges. In 2007, Antico was released from prison. On March 6, 2010, Antico was charged with racketeering in connection with the 2008 robbery and murder of Staten Island jeweler Louis Antonelli. He was acquitted of murder charges, but found guilty of racketeering.
Frank "Punchy" Illiano – capo operating in Brooklyn and Staten Island. Illiano was a high-ranking member of the Gallo crew in the Colombo crime family before switching to the Genovese family in the mid-1970s.
Charles "Chuckie" Tuzzo – capo operating in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Tuzzo was involved in pump and dump stock schemes with capo Liborio "Barney" Bellomo. Tuzzo and acting street boss Ernest Muscarella infiltrated a International Longshoreman's Association (ILA) local in order to extort waterfront companies operating from New York, New Jersey and Florida. On February 2, 2006, Tuzzo was released from prison after serving several years on racketeering and conspiracy charges.

Queens faction

Anthony "Tough Tony" Federici – capo in the Queens faction with alleged money laundering , bribery and loansharking activities. Owner of a Queens restaurant, Federici was honored in 2005 by Queens Borough President Helen Marshall for his community service.

New Jersey

The Genovese crime family is operating in New Jersey with five crews. According to the State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation, several other New York based Genovese family members run criminal activities in New Jersey. The family's power has traditionally been base in New York, but in recent years some of the New Jersey faction members have risen to acting positions within the family's hierarchy.

( Acting ) Stephen Depiro – acting capo of the " Fiumara crew ". Depiro was overseeing the illegal operations in the New Jersey Newark/Elizabeth Seaport before Fiumara's death in 2010. It is unknown if Depiro still holds this position.
( In prison ) Angelo "The Horn" Prisco – capo of a " crew " operating in Hudson County waterfronts citys of Bayonne and Jersey City; Monmouth County and Florida. In 2009, Prisco was sentenced to life and is currently imprisoned in Florida.
Ludwig "Ninni" Bruschi – capo of a " crew " operating in South Jersey Counties of Ocean, Monmouth, Middlesex, and North Jersey Counties of Hudson, Essex, Passaic and Union. He was indicted in June 2003 and paroled in April 2010.
Unknown – after the death of capo Joseph "The Eagle" Gatto in April 2010 it is unknown who is controlling the old " Gatto crew " operating in Bergen and Passaic Counties.
Silvio P. DeVita – capo of a " crew " in Essex County.
Lawrence "Little Larry" Dentico – capo operating in South Jersey and Philadelphia . Dentico was acting consigliere from 2003 through 2005, when he was imprisoned on extortion, loansharking and racketeering charges. Released from prison on May 12, 2009.

Soldiers

New York

Salvatore "Sammy Meatballs" Aparo – former acting capo of the Gangi crew who operated large loansharking and labor rackets. In October 2002, he was sentenced to five years in federal prison for racketeering. On May 25, 2006, Aparo was released from prison.
Ralph Anthony "the Undertaker" Balsamo (born in 1971) - Bronx and Westchester soldier who works closely with Liborio Bellomo. Runs a funeral parlor where family meetings are held and is known as "the Undertaker". Pleaded guilty in 2007 to narcotics trafficking, firearms trafficking, extortion, and union-related fraud and sentenced to 97 months in prison. Currently imprisoned in a low security prison facility in Petersburg and is set to be released on March 9, 2013.
Louis DiNapoli - soldier with his brother Vincent DiNapoli's 116th Street crew.
Vincent "Vinny" DiNapoli - soldier and former capo with the 116th Street Crew. DiNapol is heavily involved in labor racketeering and has reportedly earned millions of dollars from extortion, bid rigging and loansharking rackets. DiNapoli dominated the N.Y.C. District Council of Carpenters and used them to extort other contractors in New York. DiNapoli's brother, Joseph DiNapoli , is a powerful capo in the Lucchese crime family .
Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo – acting capo of the Illiano crew in the South Brooklyn neighborhoods of Carroll Gardens , Red Hook, and Cobble Hill. Gallo runs gambling and loan sharking operations in Brooklyn , Manhattan and Staten Island . In the mid-1970s, Gallo transferred from the Gallo crew of the Colombo crime family to the Genovese family and became a made member.
John "Little John" Giglio - soldier involved in loansharking.
Federico "Fritzy" Giovanelli - soldier who was heavily involved in loansharking, illegal gambling and bookmaking in the Queens/Brooklyn area. Giovanelli was charged with the January 1986 killing of Anthony Venditti, an undercover NYPD detective, but was eventually acquitted. One known soldier in Giovanelli's crew was Frank "Frankie California" Condo . In 2001, Giovanelli worked with soldier Ernest "Junior" Varacalli in a car theft ring.
Alan "Baldie" Longo – acting capo of the Malangone crew, he was involved in stock fraud activities and white-collar crime in Manhattan and Brooklyn. He was imprisoned on loansharking and racketeering charges, sentenced to 11 years, released in June 2010.
Ernest "Ernie" Muscarella – former acting capo of the 116th Street crew in the Manhattan faction. Muscarella served as acting street boss for Vincent Gigante and Dominick Cirillo in 2002 until his racketeering conviction. He was released from prison on December 31, 2007, and is still active in the family.
Joseph Olivieri - soldier, operating in the 116th Street Crew under Capo Louis Moscatiello . Olivieri has been involved in extorting carpenters unions and is tied to labor racketeer Vincent DiNapoli. Was convicted of perjury and was released from Philadelphia CCM on January 13, 2011.
Daniel "Danny" Pagano - former acting capo of the Westchester County - Rockland County crew. Pagano was involved in the 1980s bootleg gasoline scheme with Russian mobsters. In 2007, Pagano was released after serving 105 months in prison.
Charles Salzano - A soldier released from prison in 2009 after serving 37 months on loan sharking charges.
Joseph Zito - soldier in the Manhattan faction ( the West Side Crew ) under capo Rosario Gangi . Zito was involved in bookmaking and loansharking business. Law enforcement labeled Zito as acting underboss from 1997 through 2003, but he was probably just a top lieutenant under official underboss Venero "Benny Eggs" Mangano . In the mid-1990s, Zito frequently visited Mangano in prison after his conviction in the Windows Case . Zito relayed messages from Mangano to the rest of the family leadership.

New Jersey

Anthony Palumbo - former acting capo in the New Jersey faction. Palumbo was promoted acting boss of the New Jersey faction by close ally and acting boss Daniel "Danny the Lion" Leo . On February 2, 2009, Palumbo was released from prison.

Florida

Albert "Chinkie" Facchiano - operated in South Florida until his 2007 arrest, is now considered retired.

Other territories

The Genovese family operates primarily in the New York City area; their main rackets are illegal gambling and labor racketeering.

New York City - The Genovese family operates in all five boroughs of New York as well as in Suffolk, Westchester, Rockland, and Orange Counties in the New York suburbs. The family controls many businesses in the construction, trucking and waste hauling industries. It also operates numerous illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, and insurance rackets. Small Genovese crews or individuals have operated in Albany , Syracuse , Delaware County, and Utica . The Buffalo , Rochester and Utica crime families or factions traditionally controlled these areas.
Massachusetts - Springfield, Massachusetts has been a Genovese territory since the family's earliest days. The most influential Genovese leaders from Springfield were Salvatore "Big Nose Sam" Curfari, Francesco "Frankie Skyball" Scibelli, Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno , and Anthony Arillotta (turned informant 2009). In Worcester, Massachusetts , the most influential capos were Frank Iaconi and Carlo Mastrototaro. In Boston, Massachusetts , the New England or Patriarca crime family from Providence, Rhode Island has long dominated the North End of Boston , but has been aligned with the Genovese family since the Prohibition era. In 2010, the FBI convinced Genovese mobsters Anthony Arillotta and Felix L. Tranghese to become government witnesses. They represent only the fourth and fifth Genovese made men to have cooperated with law enforcement. The government used Arillotta and Tranghese to prosecute capo Arthur "Artie" Nigro and his associates for the murder of Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno.
Connecticut - The Genovese family has long operated trucking and waste hauling rackets in New Haven, Connecticut . In 2006, Genovese capo Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello was indicted for trash hauling rackets in New Haven and Westchester County , New York.
Las Vegas - The state of Nevada legalized gambling in 1931, but Sin City was without a doubt turned into a gambling mecca and paradise by the American Mafia. Once again, Genovese crime family members such as Frank Costello , Vincent Alo and associates Meyer Lansky and Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel realized the opportunities that Las Vegas offered. Bugsy Siegel was one of the first New York mobsters sent out west in the 1930s to oversee the expansion of the Mob's race wire operations. By the mid 1940s various American Mafia crime families, mainly New York's Genovese crime family and the Chicago Outfit were looking to invest heavily in new, swanky casinos and hotels. Soon other crime family leaders from Cleveland, Detroit, New England, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Northeastern Pennsylvania, Milwaukee and Pittsburgh came together in hopes of obtaining hidden ownership of a casino. This was always done through front men they chose to oversee the casino skim, usually Jewish associates or syndicate money men such as Morris "Moe" Dalitz and Joseph "Doc" Stacher . The Genovese crime family was one of the first to invest in Las Vegas casinos and the crime family maintained those investments through Lansky and his Jewish syndicate associates. By the 1960s the Chicago Outfit and the Cleveland Syndicate carried the most influence in Las Vegas, maintaining their casino investments well into the 1980s. To this day Las Vegas is recognized as an open city where all Cosa Nostra. Crime families can operate, but today their interests are focused outside of the casino count room and not on casino ownership. The crime families still generate a great deal of profits from gambling, loansharking, extortion and narcotics rackets. They also invest in legitimate businesses such as nightclubs, strip-joints and restaurants, along with food and service industry operations such as pizza and sandwich shops, and catering companies.

Family crews

116th Street Crew - led by Liborio "Barney" Bellomo (crew operates in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx)
Greenwich Village Crew - (former crew of Vincent Gigante ) (crew operates in Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan)
Broadway Mob - (operated in Manhattan)

Former members

Dominick "Fat Dom" Alongi – former member of Vincent Gigante's Greenwich Village Crew . [90]
Dominick "Dom The Sailor" DiQuarto – former member of Vincent Gigante's Greenwich Village Crew. [90]

Hearings

[ show ] Genovese crime family's Valachi hearings chart (1963)

Boss

Vito Genovese
note: Genovese is the successor to Frank Costello and Charles Luciano

Acting Boss

Thomas Eboli
note: Eboli is the successor to Anthony Strollo

Underboss

Gerardo Catena

Consigliere

Michele Miranda

Messenger

Michael Genovese

Coppola Crew

Capo: Mike Coppola
note: Coppola is the successor to Ciro Terranova

Soldiers: Charles Albero, Alfredo Cupola, Anthony DeMartino, Benjamin DeMartino, Theodore DeMartino, Pasquale Erra, Anthony Ferro, Joseph Lanza, Frank Livorsi, Philip Lombardo , Felix Monaco, Louis Pacella, Joseph Paterra, Joseph Rao , Al Rosato, Anthony Salerno , Anthony Salerno, Ferdinand Salerno, Angelo Salerno, Dan Scarglatta, Giovanni Schillaci, Frank Serpico, Joseph Stracci, Joseph Tortorici, and Joseph Gagliano

Eboli Crew

Capo: Pasquale Eboli
note: Eboil is the successor to: Dominick DiQuarto

Soldiers: Dominio Alongi, Joseph Bruno, Michael Barrese, Edward Capobianco, Steve Casertano, John DeBellis, Joseph DeNegris, Cosmo DiPietro, Alfred Faicco, Anthony Florio, Mario Gigante , Vincent Gigante , Michael Maione, Vincent Mauro, Peter Mione, Pasquale Moccio, Gerardo Mosciello, Sabastian Ofrica, Joseph Luco Pagano , Pasquale Pagano, Armando Perillo, Girolamo Santuccio, Fiore Siano, John Stopelli, and Joseph Valachi

Miranda Crew

Capo Mike Miranda
note: Miranda is also the current Consigliere

Soldiers: John Ardito , Lorenzo Brescia, Anthony Carillo, Frank Celano, Salvatore Celembrino, Alfred Criscuolo, Peter DeFeo , Joseph DeMarco, Joseph Lanza , Alfonso Marzano, Barney Miranda, Carmine Persico Jr., David Petillo, Mathew Principe, Frank Tieri , Eli Zaccardi, Joseph Agone, Philip Albanese, Ottilio Caruso, Mike Clemente, George Filippone, Joseph Lapi, George Nobile, Michael Spinella

Alo Crew

Capo: Vincent Alo
note: Alo is the successor to Joe Adonis

Soldiers: Nicholas Belangi, Joseph Bernava, Lawrence Centore, Francesco Cucola, Aniello Ercole, Frank Galluccio, Angelo Iandosco, August Laietta, Gaetano Martino, Aldo Mazzarati, Louis Milo, Sabato Milo, Thomas Milo Sr., Rocco Perrotta, James Picarelli, Louis Pardo, Rudolph Prisco, Nicholas Ratenni, Satisto Salvo, George Smurra and Gaetano Somma

Boiardi Crew

Capo: Richard Boiardi

Soldiers: Settimo Accardi , Albert Barrasso, Anthony Boiardi, Paul Bonadio, Thomas Campisi, Antonio Caponigro, Charles Tourine Sr., Peter LaPlaca, Ernest Lazzara, Andrew Lombardino, Paul Lombardino, Anthony Marchitto, Anthony Peter Real, Salvatore Chiri

Angelina Crew

Capo: James Angelina
note: Angelina is the successor to: Rocco Pelligrino

Soldiers: Louis Barbella, Joseph Barra, Morris Barra, Earl Coralluzzo, Tobias DeMiccio, Mattew Fortunato, Paul Marchione, Michael Panetti, John Savino

Greco Regime

Capo: Thomas Greco

Soldiers: unknown

Former Capo's

John Biello, Generosos Del Duca, Gaetano Ricci, Willie Moretti , Anthony Carfano and John De Noia

In popular culture

In the 1969 novel The Godfather by Mario Puzo , the Corleone family may be based on the Genovese family. Just like Vito Corleone , the Genovese family's original founders came from the village of Corleone as were many of its members. The Corleone family also has a strong presence in areas like Little Italy and the Bronx and is described as the most powerful crime family in the country.
The 1971 film The French Connection (film) is about smuggling narcotics (heroin) from Marseille , France to New York City. In the real French Connection , the heroin was shipped from Sicily to France, then to New York City. Top members of the Genovese family, and the others four families in New York controlled the heroin trade in the United States.
In the 1991 film Mobsters , Genovese boss Charlie "Lucky" Luciano was played by Christian Slater . Patrick Dempsey played Meyer Lansky , Costas Mandylor played Frank Costello ), and Richard Grieco played Bugsy Siegel ). The film was about the formation of the Mafia Commission in the United States.
In the 1991 film Bugsy , Genovese boss Lucky Luciano was played by actor Bill Graham . Warren Beatty played Bugsy Siegel ) and Ben Kingsley played Meyer Lansky .
In the 1999 film Bonanno: A Godfather's Story , Genovese boss Charlie "Lucky" Luciano was played by actor Vince Corazza and boss Vito Genovese by Emidio Michetti.
The 2010 to present HBO U.S. television series Boardwalk Empire takes place in 1920s Atlantic City, New Jersey . Mobster Charlie "Lucky" Luciano is played by actor Vincent Piazza .

Genovese crime family

Giuseppe Morello · Nicholas Morello · Vincenzo Terranova · Giuseppe Masseria · Charles Luciano · Vito Genovese · Frank Costello · Philip Lombardo · Vincent Gigante

Anthony Antico · Salvatore Aparo · John Barbato · Liborio Bellomo · Dominick Cirillo · Mikey Coppola · Lawrence Dentico · Louis DiNapoli · Vincent DiNapoli · Albert Facchiano · Anthony Federici · Albert Gallo · Rosario Gangi · Mario Gigante · Federico Giovanelli · Matthew Ianniello · James Ida · Frank Illiano · Daniel Leo · Alan Longo · Alphonse Malangone · Venero Mangano · Louis Manna · Daniel Pagano · Ciro Perrone · Angelo Prisco · Rudolph Santobello · Charles Tuzzo · Ernest Varacalli

Past members

Made men

Joe Adonis · Vincent Alo · John Ardito · Richard Boiardo · Adolfo Bruno · Dominick Canterino · Anthony Carfano · Gerardo Catena · Michael Clemente · Michael Coppola · Angelo DeCarlo · Peter DeFeo · John DiGilio · Thomas Eboli · Tino Fiumara · Steven Franse · Joseph Galizia · Joseph Lanza · Ignazio Lupo · Michele Miranda · Willie Moretti · James Napoli · Joseph Luco Pagano · Gerard Pappa · Anthony Provenzano · Nunzio Provenzano · Joseph Rao · Lawrence Ricci · Carmine Romano · Ernest Rupolo · Anthony Russo · Anthony Salerno · Saverio Santora · Anthony Strollo · Ciro Terranova · Frank Tieri · Frankie Yale

Associates

Attilio Bitondo · James Galante · Louis Gigante · Ellsworth Johnson · Phillip Kastel · Meyer Lansky · Peter LaTempa · Angelo Ponte · Bugsy Siegel

Vincent Cafaro · Ernest Rupolo · Joseph Valachi

Factions and crews

Active

New Jersey faction · 116th Street Crew · Greenwich Village Crew

Defunct

Broadway Mob · East Harlem Purple Gang

Family events

Hearings

Kefauver Committee (1950–1951) · Valachi hearings (1963)

History

Morello crime family

Scheme

French Connection (1960s–1970s)

Trials

Mafia Commission Trial (1986) · Window Case (1991)

Victims

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wars

Mafia-Camorra War (1914–1917) · Castellammarese War (1929–1931)

Relation to other groups

Allies

Lucchese family · Gambino family · Bonanno family · Colombo family · The Bugs-Meyer gang · Murder, Inc.

Rivals

Westies

Greenwich Village Crew

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:26 GMT

Greenwich Village Crew

The Greenwich Village Crew is a crew within the Genovese crime family , active in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan. Original controlled by Don Vito Genovese from the early 1920s up until his arrest in the late 1950s. In the early 1980s Capo Vincent Gigante , was made the new boss of the Genovese crime family. He continued to operate from and with the Greenwich Village Crew members. Today the crew is still active, but after the death of Dominick Canterino , it is uncertain who is controlling the crew.

Locations and activities

The crew controlled many of the organized crime activities throughout downtown Manhattan, and some of the rackets included labor racketeering, gambling, loan sharking, hijackings, and extortion of businesses. The crew also maintained influence in the Bronx, Yonkers and upper Westchester. The main hangout for Gigante and his crew was based out of the Triangle Social Club , located at 208 Sullivan Street.

Historical leadership

Capos of the Greenwich Village Crew

1920s-1937 — Vito Genovese – promoted to acting boss 1937; fled to Italy; promoted to boss in 1957
1930s-1959 — Anthony "Tony Bender" Strollo – promoted to acting boss in 1959; killed 1962
1959-1972 — Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli – promoted to front boss 1965-1972
1962-1972 — Pasquale "Patsy Ryan" Eboli – younger brother to Thomas Eboli
Acting 1965-1972 — Dominick "Dom The Sailor" DiQuarto
1972-1981 — Vincent "The Chin" Gigante – promoted to boss in 1981
Acting 1978-1981 — Dominick "Fat Dom" Alongi – retired to Florida
1981-1993 — Dominick "Baldy Dom" Canterino – died in 1993
1993–present — Unknown

Former and current members

Israeli mafia

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:25 GMT

Israeli Mafia

The Israeli mafia is the general term for organized crime groups operating in Israel and also internationally. Allegedly there are 16 crime families operating in Israel, five major groups active on the national-level, and 11 smaller organizations. Many heads and members of the crime groups have either been killed or are in prison.

Organized crime in Israel

The major crime groups are the Abergils , the Abutbuls , the Alperons , the Dumranis , the Shirazis , the Amir Mulner and Zeev Rosenstein syndicates. The illegal activities they are engaged in include:

Operating casinos and other forms of gambling inside and outside Israel
Prostitution and trafficking in women
Money Laundering
Protection and extortion rackets
Loan sharking
Drugs and arms dealing
Fencing stolen goods
Diamond smuggling

According to Israel’s former Police Commissioner David Cohen, Israeli crime organizations had penetrated the formal economic sector and local governments, and “equipped themselves with large quantities of combat means explosives and arms.” In a mob war starting in the early 2000s between the crime families, several crime bosses were killed. It also cost the life of innocent bystanders.

Ex-Soviet organized crime

Ex-Soviet organized crime in Israel began with the mass immigration of Russian Jews to Israel in 1989. The Russian mafia saw Israel as an ideal place to launder money , as Israel's banking system was designed to encourage aliyah , the immigration of Jews, and the accompanying capital. Following the trend of global financial deregulation , Israel had also implemented legislation aimed at easing the movement of capital. Combined with the lack of anti- money laundering legislation, "Russian" organized crime found it an easy place to transfer ill-gotten gains. In 2005, police estimated that Russian organized crime had laundered between $ 5 and 10 billion in the fifteen years since the end of the Soviet Union. Even non-Jewish criminals such as Sergei Mikhailov , sought to get an Israeli passport using fake Jewish documentation.

The Israeli mafia in the United States

In the 1980s Israelis set up a crime syndicate headed by Johnny Attias in New York, dubbed the “Israeli mafia”. It pulled off the biggest gold heist in the history of Manhattan's jewellery district, getting away with over $4 million in gold jewellery. Attias was murdered in January 1990, and New York's Israeli mafia fell apart soon after. Several members among them Ron Gonen had turned informant and the authorities arrested the rest of the gang in September of that year.

Israeli crime organizations such as the Abergil crime family and Zeev Rosenstein are heavily involved in ecstasy trafficking in the United States. In a statement before Congress in 2000, officials with the U.S. Customs Service noted that "Israeli organized-crime elements appear to be in control" of the multibillion-dollar U.S. Ecstasy trade, "from production through the international smuggling phase". The main drug supplier of former Gambino crime family underboss Sammy Gravano in his Arizona drug ring allegedly was New York based Israeli mobster Ilan Zarger, who allegedly distributed more than 1 million Ecstasy pills from May 1999 to May 2000 with a wholesale value of $7 million. He pleaded guilty to charges of running a drug gang that flooded Arizona and New York with almost four million Ecstasy pills over three years. Another Israeli, Oded Tuito, said to head one of the largest Ecstasy-smuggling organization, which imported millions of Ecstasy pills from Paris, Brussels and Frankfurt into New York, Miami and Los Angeles, was arrested in May 2001.

In 2006 Zeev Rosenstein was extradited to the U.S., after being arrested in Israel. He pleaded guilty before a federal court in Florida to charges that he distributed ecstasy pills and was sentenced to 12 years in prison which he serves in Israel. In January 2011, Yitzik and Meir Abergil and three other suspects were extradited to the U.S. They are facing a 77-page, 32-count federal indictment that alleges murder, massive embezzlement, money laundering, racketeering and running a large Los Angeles-based Ecstasy ring. The trial is set for November 8, 2011 in the Los Angeles Federal District Court.

Notable Members

Abergil Crime Family - Top criminal organization in Israel, involved mostly in drug trafficking and illegal gambling .
Asi Abutbul - Head of the Abutbul Crime Family , got 13 years in prison for running a criminal organization , extortion , and money laundering .
Yaakov Alperon - Head of the Alperon Crime Family , until his car bombing assassination on November 17, 2008.
Ludwig Fainberg - He was a crime figure in America with connections to the Medellin Cartel and the Russian Mafia , until he got busted. He lives in Israel now.
Semion Mogilevich - A Russian crime figure operating worldwide, said to be the most powerful crime figure in the world, he allegedly runs human trafficking , prostitution and other criminal operations in Israel and other countries, and allegedly launders a lot of his money in Israel.
Zeev Rosenstein - He used to be the top crime figure in Tel-Aviv, until he was caught. He was heavily involved in drug trafficking , mostly ecstasy , and allegedly ran other criminal operations as well.

Jewish Mafia

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:24 GMT

Jewish-American Organized Crime

Meyer Lansky was instrumental in the creation of Las Vegas .

Jewish-American organized crime (sometimes called the Jewish Mob , Jewish Mafia , Kosher Mafia , or the Kosher Nostra —a pun on Cosa Nostra ), emerged during the late 19th century and early 20th century.

In the late 19th century in New York City, Monk Eastman operated a powerful Jewish gang that competed with Italian and Irish gangs, notably Paul Kelly 's Five Points Gang , for control of New York 's underworld. In the early 1920s, stimulated by the economic opportunities of the Roaring Twenties and later, Prohibition , organized crime figures such as Arnold Rothstein were controlling a wide range of criminal enterprises.

Origins and characteristics

Jewish-American gangsters were involved in many different criminal activities, including murder , racketeering , bootlegging , prostitution and narcotics . Their role was also significant in New York's burgeoning labor movement , especially the garment and trucking unions, as well as the poultry industry. Jewish organized crime was incompatible with the ethics of Judaism , fueled anti-Semitism and deeply concerned the Jewish community. Jewish organized crime was used by anti-Semites and anti-immigration supporters as arguments to bolster their agenda. Jewish gangs controlled portions of the Lower East Side and Brownsville in New York City , and were also present in other major American cities.

Jewish American organized crime was a reflection of the ethnic succession among gangsters, which has tended to follow the immigrant waves in the United States: English, German, Irish, Jewish, Italian, Asian and Latino. Ethnic involvement in organized crime gave rise to alien conspiracy theories in the US law enforcement community, in which the conception of organized crime as an alien and united entity was vital. The involvement of a small percentage of recent immigrants in organized crime created a lasting stereotype of devious immigrants corrupting the morality of native-born Americans. Organized crime was a complex set of relations between the recently arrived Jewish and Italian criminals and groups like the Irish-American organized crime networks, which had been established before the 1920s and which the newer groups were sometimes subordinate to.

From the late 1960s, Jewish American organized crime became part of an entire literature on "tough Jews." The Jewish gangsters and boxers in the pre-World War II era were seen as tougher, more aggressive role models, which freed Jews from the dominant stereotypes of cowardice, pacifism, intellectualism and professional legitimacy. The stigma of defenselessness and powerlessness associated with Jews, compared with the physical aggressiveness and lawlessness more associated with the Irish and Italian immigrants began to disappear. According to Rich Cohen , author of Tough Jews: Fathers, Sons and Gangster Dreams :

"if Jewish gangsters still thrived today, if they hadn't gone legit, if Jews of my generation didn't regard them as figments, creatures to be classed with Big Foot and the Loch Ness monster, I think the Jewish community would be better off."

Following Cohen's line of reasoning, one could say that Jewish American organized crime played a role in the emancipation of the Jewish American community from the ancient stereotypes. However, Cohen's description of Jewish gangsters ignores their criminality and immorality. These tough characters were still gangsters who extorted, exploited and murdered other members of the American Jewish community for profit. They forced Jewish women into the sex industry, and were generally considered a scourge within their own community. The Yiddish press and literature of the 1920s and 30s were resolute in its condemnation of Jewish mobsters.

History

19th Century-early 20th Century

A large wave of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe in the late-19th century and early 20th century produced Jewish mobsters such as Max "Kid Twist" Zwerbach , "Big" Jack Zelig , and Vach "Cyclone Louie" Lewis who competed with and were acknowledged by Italian and Irish gangs.

Just as their Italian counterparts , gangs specializing in extortion began operating in the heavily Jewish neighborhoods of New York's Lower East Side most prominently the so-called Yiddish Black Hand headed by Jacob Levinsky , Charles "Charlie the Cripple" Litoffsky and Joseph Toplinsky during the early 20th century. A significant Jewish underworld already existed in New York at the start of the 20th century, with Jewish mobsters conversing in a jargon with Yiddish origins. A pimp was known as a " simcha ," a detective as a " shamus " and a loafer as a "trombenik." Jewish-American organized crime arose among slum kids who in pre-puberty stole from pushcarts, who as adolescents extorted money from store owners, who as young adults practiced schlamming (wielding an iron pipe wrapped in newspaper against striking workers or against scabs) – until as adults they joined well organized gangs involved in a wide variety of criminal enterprises boosted by Prohibition .

The lure of quick money, power and the romance of the criminal lifestyle was attractive to both second-generation Jewish and Italian immigrants. There was a supposed Jewish "crime wave" in early-20th-century New York. In disturbing numbers young Jews had joined crime " rackets ," it was said, along with children of Irish, Italian and other immigrants. However, the supposed Jewish-immigrant crime wave was mostly an urban legend . Crime and population figures show that Jews in New York committed crimes at a rate far below the average for the wider society. As described by sociologist Stephen Steinberg, about a sixth of the city's felony arrests were Jews during the 1920s, when Jews constituted nearly a third of the city’s population.

As the 20th century progressed, Jewish-American mobsters such as "Dopey" Benny Fein and Joe "The Greaser" Rosenzweig entered labor racketeering, hiring out to both businesses and labor unions as strong arm men. Labor racketeering or "labor slugging" as it was known, would become a source of conflict as it came under the domination of several racketeers including former Five Points Gang members Nathan "Kid Dropper" Kaplan and Johnny Spanish during the Labor slugger wars until its eventual takeover by Jacob "Gurrah" Shapiro in 1927. Other Jewish organized crime figures involved in controlling labor unions include Moses Annenberg and Arnold Rothstein , the latter reportedly responsible for fixing the 1919 World Series .

Prohibition

According to crime writer Leo Katcher, Rothstein "transformed organized crime from a thuggish activity by hoodlums into a big business, run like a corporation, with himself at the top." According to Rich Cohen, Rothstein was the person to see in Prohibition (1920–1933) a tremendous business opportunity, a means to enormous wealth and power. Rothstein "understood the truths of early 20th century capitalism (hypocrisy, exclusion, greed) and came to dominate them". According to Cohen, Rothstein was the 'Moses of Jewish gangsters', a rich man's son, who showed the young and uneducated hoodlums of the Bowery how to have style. Lucky Luciano , the prominent boss of the Italian- American Mafia once said that Rothstein "taught me how to dress". The stereotypical attire of the American mobster portrayed in movies can trace its roots directly to Rothstein.

During Prohibition, Jewish gangsters became major operatives in the American underworld and played prominent roles in the distribution of illegal alcohol and the spread of organized crime throughout the United States. At the time, Jewish gangs operated primarily in America's largest cities, including Cleveland , Detroit , Minneapolis , Newark , New York City , and Philadelphia . Numerous bootlegging gangs such as the Bug and Meyer Mob headed by Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel and Abe Bernstein 's Purple Gang would see the rise of Jewish-American organized crime to its height. Other mobsters included Dutch Schultz , Moe Dalitz , Charles "King" Solomon and Abner "Longy" Zwillman became wealthy during Prohibition.

During this time, Luciano successfully eliminated the Old World Sicilian Mafia bosses like Joe Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano in the 1931 Castellammarese War and took control of the New York Italian Mafia. Luciano did not discriminate against Jews and valued long time associates such as Meyer Lansky and Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel. Several Jewish gangsters such as Red Levine and Bo Weinberg were used in the war as unsuspected non-Italian hitmen. After Masseria and Maranzano were murdered, a conference was held at New York's Franconia Hotel on November 11, 1931 which included Jewish mobsters such as Jacob Shapiro , Louis "Lepke" Buchalter , Joseph "Doc" Stacher , Hyman "Curly" Holtz , Louis "Shadows" Kravitz , Harry Tietlebaum , Philip "Little Farvel" Kovolick and Harry "Big Greenie" Greenberg . During this meeting, Luciano and Lansky convinced the Jewish-American mobsters of the benefits of cooperating with the Italian-American Mafia in a newly created consortium called the National Crime Syndicate by the press. At the meeting's conclusion, "Bugsy" Siegel supposedly declared "The yids and the dagos will no longer fight each other."

Those Jewish gangsters hostile to the idea of cooperation with non-Jewish rivals gradually receded, most notably Philadelphia bootlegger Waxey Gordon , who was convicted and imprisoned for tax evasion. Following Gordon's imprisonment, his operations were assumed by Nig Rosen and Max "Boo Hoo" Hoff.

Under Lansky, Jewish mobsters became involved in syndicate gambling interests in Cuba and Las Vegas . Buchalter would also lead the predominantly Jewish Murder Incorporated as the Luciano-Meyer syndicate's exclusive hitmen.

After World War II

For several decades after World War II , the dominant figures in organized crime were second-generation Jews and Italians, often working in concert. As late as the 1960s, Jewish presence in organized crime was still acknowledged as Los Angeles mobster Jack Dragna explained to hitman and later government informant Jimmy Fratianno :

"Meyer's got a Jewish family built along the same lines as our thing. But his family's all over the country. He's got guys like Lou Rhody and Dalitz , Doc Stacher , Gus Greenbaum , sharp fucking guys, good businessmen, and they know better than try to fuck us."

Jewish-American organized crime derived from dislocation and poverty, where language and custom made the community vulnerable to undesirables, the sort of thing that fosters criminality among any other ethnicity in a similar situation. As American Jews improved their conditions, the Jewish thug and racketeer either disappeared or merged into a more assimilated American crime environment. American Jews quietly buried the public memory of the gangster past; unlike the Mafia , famous Jewish American gangsters like Meyer Lansky, Dutch Schultz and Bugsy Siegel founded no crime families.

Much like Irish-Americans and other ethnicities (with the exception of Italian-American criminal organizations), Jewish-American presence in organized crime began to decline after World War II. Jewish-American individuals remained associated with organized crime, but the criminal organizations and gangs which once rivaled the Italian and Irish-American mobsters during the first half of the 20th century had eventually faded.

Late 20th Century to Present

In more recent years, Jewish-American organized crime has reappeared in the forms of both Israeli and Russian mafia criminal groups. The Soviet and Russian émigré community in New York's Brighton Beach contains a large Jewish presence, as does its criminal element. Some of these newer American-based Jewish gangsters, such as Ludwig Fainberg (who has lived in Ukraine, Israel and the United States but never Russia), share more in common culturally with Russia and the Soviet republics than their predecessors such as Meyer Lansky.

Israeli mobsters also have had a presence in the United States. The Israeli mafia (such as the Abergil crime family ) is heavily involved in ecstasy trafficking in America.

Jewish-American organized crime and Israel

Several notable Jewish American mobsters provided financial support for Israel through donations to Jewish organizations since the country's independence in 1948. Jewish-American gangsters used Israel's Law of Return to flee criminal charges or face deportation. Notables include Joseph "Doc" Stacher , who built up Las Vegas by pairing the Jewish and Italian Mafia into a national organized crime syndicate. Prime Minister Golda Meir set to reverse this trend in 1970 when she denied entrance to Meyer Lansky. He was the mob's accountant, thought to be among the most powerful people in the country, with a gambling empire stretching the United States.

In 2010, it was reported by Wikileaks that the United States Embassy in Israel, in a cable titled "Israel: The Promised Land of Organized Crime?", had expressed grave concern about the activities of Israeli organized crime figures and was taking measures to prevent members of crime families from being issued visas to the United States.

List of Italian American mobsters by organization

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:22 GMT

List of Italian American mobsters by organization

This is a list of Italian American Mafia crime families and their leading members. Names without WP articles or references identifying the person as a mobster should not be placed in this list and will be removed. Such names should be listed in the talk page.

Lucchese crime family

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:21 GMT

Lucchese crime family

The Lucchese crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia (or Cosa Nostra ). The family originated in the early 1920s with Gaetano "Tommy" Reina serving as boss up until his murder in 1930. It was taken over by Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano during the Castellammarese War, and led by him until his death in 1951. The family under Gagliano was peaceful and low key, concentrating their criminal actives to the Bronx, Manhattan and New Jersey. The next boss was Tommy "Three-Finger Brown" Lucchese, who turned the family around to became one of the most powerful families to sit on the Commission. Lucchese teamed up with Gambino family boss Carlo Gambino to control organized crime in New York City. When Lucchese died of natural causes in 1967, Carmine Tramunti controlled the family for a brief time; he was arrested in 1973. Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo then gained control of the family. Corallo was very secretive and soon became one of the most powerful members of the Commission. He was arrested and tried in the famous Commission case of 1986.

Corallo decided to put Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and Anthony Casso in charge of the family. Casso was soon promoted to underboss, and the family barely survived his reign. In the early 1990s, Casso who was fearing arrest kept ordering those he felt unloyal to be murdered. The former street boss for Casso, Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco, feared for his own life and turned informant. This led to the arrest of the entire Lucchese family hierarchy, with Casso also becoming an informant. Today the family is still controlled by Vic Amuso who is serving life in prison.

History

The Reina Gang

The early history of the Reina crime family can be traced to members of the Morello gang based in East Harlem and the Bronx. Gaetano "Tommy" Reina would leave the Morello's around the time of World War I and created his own family based in East Harlem and the Bronx. As the family's leader, Reina avoided the Mafia-Cammora War for control over New York City. He instead focused on controlling the home ice distribution business throughout New York City. During the early 1920s, Reina became a powerful prohibition era boss and aligned himself with Joseph Masseria, the most powerful Italian-American crime boss in New York. Masseria soon became involved in the Castellammarese War, a vicious gang war with rival Sicilian boss Salvatore Maranzano. At this point, Masseria started demanding a share of Reina's criminal profits, prompting Reina to consider changing allegiance to Maranzano. When Masseria learned of Reina's possible betrayal, he plotted with Reina lieutenant Tommy Gagliano to kill him. On February 26, 1930, gunman Vito Genovese murdered Reina outside his aunt's apartment. With Reina dead, Masseria bypassed Gagliano, who expected to take control of the Reina gang, and installed his underling Joseph "Fat Joe" Pinzolo as boss. Furious with this betrayal, Gagliano and Tommy Lucchese secretly defected to Maranzano. In September 1930, Lucchese lured Pinzolo to a Manhattan office building, where Pinzolo was murdered.

The Two Tommies

With Masseria's murder in early 1931, Maranzano won the Castellammarese War. He then outlined a peace plan to all the Sicilian and Italian Mafia leaders in the United States. There would be 24 organizations (to be known as "families") throughout the country who would elect their own bosses . Maranzano also reorganized all the Italian-American gangs in New York City into five New York families to be headed by Maranzano, Lucky Luciano, Vincent Mangano, Tommy Gagliano and Joseph Profaci. Gagliano became the boss of the old Reina gang, to be later known as the Lucchese family, with Lucchese as his underboss and Stefano Rondelli as his consigliere. The final element of Maranzano's peace plan was that he would become the supreme leader of all the families, the Boss of all Bosses. However, Luciano and other mob members did not want another top leader. When Maranzano learned about Luciano's disaffection, he hired a gunman to kill him. However, in September 1931 Luciano struck first. Several Jewish assassins provided by Luciano associate Meyer Lansky murdered Maranzano in his office. Luciano now became the most powerful mobster in New York.

Luciano kept the family structure as created by Maranzano, but removed the Boss of Bosses in favor of a ruling body, The Commission. The Commission's responsibility was to regulate the families' affairs and resolve all differences between the families. The first Commission members included Luciano family boss Luciano as head of the Commission, Mangano family boss Vincent Mangano, Gagliano family boss Tommy Gagliano, Profaci family boss Joseph Profaci, Chicago Outfit boss Al "Scarface" Capone, and Maranzano family boss Joseph Bonanno. Although the Commission was technically a democratic institution, it was actually controlled by Luciano and his allies.

During the 1930s and 1940s, Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano and Lucchese led their family into profitable areas of the trucking and clothing industries. When Luciano was sent to prison for pandering in 1936, a rival alliance took control of the Commission. The alliance of Mangano, Bonanno, Buffalo crime family boss Stefano Magaddino, and Profaci used their power to control organized crime in America. Understanding his vulnerability, Gagliano was careful to avoid opposing this new alliance. Gagliano was a quiet man who avoided the media and stayed off the streets. He preferred to pass his orders to the family though Lucchese and a few other close allies. In contrast, Lucchese was the public face of the family who carried out Gagliano's orders. In 1946, Lucchese attended the Cosa Nostra Havana Conference in Cuba on behalf of Gagliano. Gagliano remained the hidden boss of the family until his death in 1951 or 1953.

The Lucchese era

After Gagliano's death in 1951 or 1953, Lucchese became family boss and appointed Vincenzo "Vincent" Rao as his Consigliere and Stefano LaSalle as his Underboss. Lucchese continued with Gagliano's policies, making the now Lucchese family one of the most profitable in New York. Lucchese established control over Teamsters union locals, workers' co-operatives and trade associations, and rackets at the new Idlewild Airport. Lucchese also expanded family rackets in Manhattan's Garment District and in related trucking industry around New York City. Lucchese built close relations with many powerful New York politicians, including Mayors William O'Dwyer and Vincent Impellitteri and members of the judiciary, who aided the family on numerous occasions. Throughout his regime, Lucchese kept a low profile for which he became lauded in Mafia circles. Remembering how the Mustache Petes treated their soldati like mere commodities, he saw to it that his men were well taken care of.

When Lucchese became boss, he helped Vito Genovese and Carlo Gambino in their fights to take control of their families. By 1962, Lucchese and Gambino controlled the Commission. Together they backed the Gallo crew from the rival Profaci family in its war with their boss Joe Profaci. Gambino and Lucchese saw the war as a way to take over rackets from the distracted Profaci's. After uncovering a plot by Joe Bonanno to assassinate them, Lucchese and Gambino used the Commission to strip Bonanno of his role as boss. This power play started a war within the Bonanno family and served to strengthen both the Lucchese and Gambino families.

Lucchese led a quiet, stable life until his death from a brain tumor on July 13, 1967. At the time of his death, he had not spent a day in jail in 44 years. Lucchese left his family in a very powerful position in New York City. The Lucchese family had a stronghold in East Harlem, the Bronx and consisted of about 200 made members. After Lucchese's death, the Commission made Carmine Tramunti acting boss until Lucchese's chosen successor, Anthony Corallo, was released from prison.

Tramunti and the French Connection

At the time of his appointment as temporary boss, Carmine "Mr. Gribbs" Tramunti was almost 70 years old and in ill health. With boss-in-waiting Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo in prison, Tramunti was expected to hold power until Corallo's release. Tramunti faced a number of criminal charges during his time as acting boss and was eventually convicted of financing a large heroin smuggling operation, the infamous French Connection. This scheme was responsible for distributing millions of dollars in heroin along the East Coast during the early seventies.

Before the French Connection trail, the seized heroin was stored in the NYPD property/evidence storage room pending trial. In a brazen scheme, criminals stole hundreds of kilograms of heroin worth $70 million from the room and replaced them with bags of flour. Officers discovered the theft when they noticed insects eating the so-called heroin. The scope and depth of this scheme is still unknown, but officials suspect the thieves had assistance from corrupt NYPD officers Certain plotters received jail sentences, including Papa (he was later assassinated in the Atlanta Federal Penitentiary in Atlanta, Georgia). In 1974, after Tramunti's incarceration, Corallo finally

Tony Ducks and the Jaguar

Anthony Corallo

After Tramunti's incarceration in 1974, Anthony Corallo finally took control of the Lucchese family. Corallo came from the Queens faction of the family. Known as "Tony Ducks" from his ease at 'ducking' criminal convictions, Corallo was a Boss squarely in the Tommy Lucchese mold. Corallo had been heavily involved in labor racketeering and worked closely with Jimmy Hoffa , the Teamsters president, during the 1940s and 1950s. Corallo also enjoyed close ties to the Painters and Decorators Union', the Conduit Workers Union, and the United Textile Workers. Corrallo appointed Salvatore "Tom Mix" Santoro as the Underboss and supervisor of all labor and construction racketeering operations in New York, and Christopher "Christie Tick" Furnari as the reputed Consigliere . The family prospered under Corallo's leadership, particularly in the narcotics trafficking, labor racketeering, and major illegal gambling operations. As Corallo never discussed business during sit-downs, fearing U.S. government were monitoring the conversations, he discussed business in his bodyguard and chauffeur's Jaguar which had a phone in it, and reportedly drove around New York while on the phone discussing business. Salvatore "Sal" Avellino and Aniello "Neil" Migliore shifted as Corallo's chauffeurs during the 1970s and 1980s.

Corallo, a huge fan of the New Jersey faction of the family, reputedly inducted and promoted Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo and Michael "Mad Dog" Taccetta into the organization and put them in charge of the Jersey Crew , which reportedly controlled most of the loansharking and illegal gambling operations in Newark, New Jersey at the time.

In the early 1980s, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) finally managed to plant a bug in the Jaguar. The FBI recorded Corallo speaking at great length about mob affairs, including illegal gambling, labor racketeering, drug trafficking, and murder. Corallo was arrested and put on trial along with all the heads of the Five Families at the time. This trial became legendary as the Mafia Commission Trial . Corallo was convicted on numerous charges and January 13, 1987 was sentenced to 100 years in prison, where he died in 2000.

To succeed him as boss, Corallo originally chose acting boss Anthony "Buddy" Luongo. However, Luongo disappeared in 1986. Corallo's ultimate choice was Vittorio "Vic" Amuso . Allegedly both Amuso and Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso were candidates for the job. Evidence suggests that Corallo wanted Casso, but Casso convinced him to select Amuso instead. After becoming boss, Amuso made Casso his underboss, allowing him to exert great influence over family decisions.

The iron fists of Amuso and Casso

FBI surveillance photo of Casso (right) with Lucchese family boss, Vittorio Amuso.

During the late 1980s, the Lucchese family underwent a period of great turmoil. Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and his fierce underboss, Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso , instituted one of the most violent reigns in American Mafia history. Both men were heavily involved in labor racketeering, extortion, drug trafficking and committed many murders. Amuso and Casso were strong rivals of Gambino crime family boss John Gotti and strong allies of Genovese crime family boss Vincent "Chin" Gigante . Angry over Gotti's unauthorized murder of Gambino boss Paul Castellano , Amuso, Casso, and Gigante conspired to murder Gotti. On April 13, 1986 a car-bombing killed Gambino underboss Frank DeCicco , but missed Gotti. This assassination attempt sparked a long and confusing 'tension' between these three crime families with many deaths reported on all sides.

During the late 1980s, Amuso began demanding 50% of the profits generated by the Jersey Crew. New Jersey leaders Anthony Accetturo and Michael Taccetta refused Amuso's demand. In retaliation, Amuso ordered the entire Jersey Crew killed—the now-infamous "whack Jersey" order. He summoned them to a meeting in Brooklyn . Fearful for their lives, all the Jersey crew members skipped the meeting and went into hiding.

Taccetta and Accetturo were later put on trial in 1990, as both Amuso and Casso were implicated in a case involving the fitting of thousands of windows in New York at over-inflated prices, and the pair went into hiding of that same year, naming Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco as acting boss. For the next few years, Amuso and Casso ruled the family from afar and ordered the execution of anyone they deemed troublesome, either they were considered rivals or potential informants. All of this convinced many Lucchese wiseguys that Amuso and Casso were no longer acting or thinking rationally.

Alphonse D'Arco in a 1970s FBI surveillance photo

What followed next was a series of botched hits on family members suspected of being informants. Ironically, these hits caused several family members to actually turn informer. Amuso ordered the slaying of capo Peter "Fat Pete" Chiodo , who along with Casso was in charge of the Windows Case operation. He was shot 12 times, but still survived. After Amuso ordered hits on Chiodo's wife and sister in violation of longstanding rules against women being harmed, Chiodo turned state's evidence and provided the entire windows operation that eventually controlled $150 million in window replacements, sold in New York City. As Amuso also sanctioned the hit on Anthony Accetturo, who was on trial in 1990, he also cooperated with the government.

The planned executions went as high as acting boss D'Arco. Furious over the failed hit on Chiodo, Amuso set up D'Arco to be killed at a Manhattan hotel. However, this hit also came undone after D'Arco saw a man hide a gun in his shirt, then slip it into the bathroom. Recognizing this as a classic setup for a hit, D'Arco fled for his life and turned himself over to the authorities to spare him and his family from Amuso and Casso and their increasingly erratic demands. He was the first boss of a New York crime family, acting or otherwise, to break his blood oath.

Law enforcement eventually caught up with the two fugitives. On July 29, 1991, the FBI captured Amuso in Pennsylvania , and in 1993 Casso was caught in Greenwood, New York . Amuso steadfastly refused all offers from the government to make a deal and become a government witness. In contrast, Casso quickly agreed to a deal and started revealing family secrets. One of the biggest secrets was that Casso had been paying two New York Police Department detectives, Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, to provide Casso with sensitive police information and even perform to contract murders. Casso related how Eppolito and Caracappa, on Christmas Day 1986, murdered an innocent Brooklyn man who had the same name as a suspected government informant. Casso told the government that in 1992 Lucchese hit men tried to kill the sister of another suspected informant, violating the alleged Mafia “rule” barring violence against family members. Unfortunately for Casso, his testimony proved so inconsistent that prosecutors accused him of breaking the terms of his deal with them. As a result, the court ordered no leniency for Casso at his sentencing.

In 1991, Amuso was sentenced to life imprisonment . In 1994, Casso also received a life sentence. Casso had reportedly conspired with reputed consigliere Frank Lastorino and Brooklyn faction leaders George Zappola , George Conte, Frank "Bones" Papagni and Frank Gioia, Jr. into murdering Steven "Wonderboy" Crea , Amuso's acting underboss of the Bronx , as well as Gambino crime family acting boss John "Junior" Gotti , son of the imprisoned John Gotti, along with members of the Genovese crime family once again. But due to massive indictments, none of the plots were committed.

Acting bosses

Steven "Wonderboy" Crea in a FBI photo

When Amuso went to prison, he chose Joseph "Little Joe" DeFede to be his acting boss. Throughout the mid 1990s Amuso continued to control the family from prison. DeFede, who supervised the powerful Garment District racket, reportedly earned more than $40,000 to $60,000 a month. DeFede placed Steven Crea in charge of the family's labor and construction racketeering operations. Crea increased the Lucchese family earnings from these rackets between $300,000 and $500,000 every year. But as US law enforcement kept pressuring the organized crime activities in New York, DeFede was arrested and indicted on nine counts of racketeering in 1998. DeFede pled guilty to the charges and was sentenced to five years in prison. Angry at DeFede's guilty plea, Amuso promoted Crea as the new acting boss.

Steven Crea success with the labor and construction rackets convinced Amuso that DeFede had been previously skimming off these profits. In late 1999, Amuso placed a contract on DeFede's life. On September 6, 2000, Crea and seven other Lucchese members were arrested and jailed on extortion charges, mostly to the supervising of the construction sites with various capos Dominic "Crazy Dom" Truscello and Joseph "Joey Flowers" Tangorra. Crea was convicted in 2001 and sentenced to five years in prison.

After Crea's conviction in 2001, consigliere Louis "Lou Bagels" Daidone , a prominent Lucchese family member from Queens, took control of the family. However, Daidone's tenure was short lived. After his release from the prison, the scared DeFede became a government witness and helped the government convict Daidone of murder and conspiracy . Daidone's conviction was also helped by the testimony from Alphonse D'Arco in September 2004.

Mafia cops

In April 2006, Casso revealed that two respected New York City police detectives worked as hitmen and informants for Casso during the 1980s and early 1990s before their retirement. They were Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa , who spent much of their combined 44 years with the NYPD committing murders and leaking confidential information to the Lucchese family. Between 1986 and 1990, Eppolito and Caracappa participated in eight murders and received $375,000 from Casso in bribes and payments for murder 'contracts'. Casso used Caracappa and Eppolito to pressure the Gambino crime family by murdering several of their members. This is because Casso, along with the imprisoned Amuso and Genovese crime family boss Vincent Gigante, wanted their rival John Gotti out of the way. Caracappa and Eppolito are now seen as the main source of 'tension' between these three families during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

For one contract, Eppolito and Caracappa kidnapped mobster James Hydell, forced him into their car trunk, and delivered him to Casso for torture and murder. Hydell's body was never found. The two detectives also shot Bruno Facciolo, who was found in Brooklyn in the trunk of a car with a canary in his mouth. After pulling Gambino crime family captain Edward "Eddie" Lino for a routine traffic check, the detectives murdered him on the expressway in his Mercedes-Benz . In 2006, Eppolito and Caracappa were convicted of murdering Hydell, Nicholas Guido, John "Otto" Heidel, John Doe, Anthony DiLapi , Facciolo, Lino, and Bartholomew Boriello on the orders of Casso and the Lucchese family. They were sentenced to life imprisonment.

Three-man ruling panel

With the arrest of acting boss Louis Daidone in 2003 imprisoned boss Vic Amuso created a three-man ruling panel to run the family. The panel consisting of three senior capos Aniello "Neil" Migliore , Joseph "Joey Dee" DiNapoli and Matthew Madonna brought the family power back into the Bronx. According to a February 2004, New York Post article, the Lucchese family consisted of about 9 capos and 82 soldiers making the family the fourth largest in New York City. In 2006, the former acting boss Steven Crea was released from prison after serving five years, under restrictive parole conditions that expired in 2009. The three man panel jointly continued to maintain the power over the family, acting as street bosses .

On December 18, 2007, two members of the ruling panel Joseph DiNapoli and Matthew Madonna were indicted along with top New Jersey faction capos Ralph V. Perna and Nicodemo Scarfo, Jr. . In the New Jersey indictment a total of thirty-two members and associates of the New Jersey faction were arrested. Information obtained from New Jersey law enforcement agencies investigation "Operation Heat" revealed that the New Jersey faction controlled a $2.2 billion dollar illegal gambling, money laundering and racketeering ring from New Jersey to Costa Rica.

On October 1, 2009, the Lucchese family was hit with two separate indictments charging 49 members and associates with bribery and racketeering. In the first indictment 29, members and associates of the Lucchese family were arrested. The indicted charged Joseph DiNapoli, Matthew Madonna and acting capo Anthony Croce with running operations that nearly grossed $400 million from illegal gambling , loansharking , gun trafficking, bribery and extortion. In the second indictment obtained from investigation "Operation Open House" 12 more Lucchese mobsters were charged with bribery. Acting capo Andrew Disimone and others mobsters were charged with bribing New York Police Department (NYPD) detective and sergeant posing as crooked cops to protect illegal poker parlors.

Current position and leadership

Although in prison for life, Victor Amuso remains the official boss of the Lucchese crime family. Amuso has been boss for almost a quarter-century but it is unclear how much influence, if any, he has over the crime family's day-to-day affairs. In the last few years a three-man ruling panel consisting of Aniello "Neil" Migliore , Joseph "Joey Dee" DiNapoli and Matthew Madonna have been running the family. All three men are long time capos in the family, but Migliore is believed to be the most powerful. Arguably, Migliore, DiNapoli and Madonna brought stability to the Lucchese family during the 2000s. The family's presence remains strong in the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, and New Jersey.

A March 2009 article in the New York Post stated that the Lucchese family consists of approximately 100 "made" members, possibly making it the smallest of the Five Families , although not the weakest. It is probably the third most powerful family (behind the Genovese and Gambino families).

In late 2009 the Lucchese family was handed three federal indictments showing that the family continues to be very active in organized crime, especially in labor racketeering, illegal gambling, and extortion. In one of the indicitments ruling panel members Joseph DiNapoli and Matthew Madonna were charged with controlling an ring that extorted and bribed businesses and construction sites in Manhattan and the Bronx. Also 2009, Lucchese family Underboss Steven Crea parole expired and consigliere Joseph Caridi was released from prison after serving almost six years for extortion and loansharking.

Historical leadership

Boss (official and acting)

The boss is the head of the family and the top decision maker. Only the boss, underboss or consigliere can initiate an associate into the family, allowing them to become a made man . The boss can promote or demote family members at will. The Acting Boss is responsible for running the crime family while the boss is incarcerated or incapacitated. If the boss dies, the acting boss may become the new boss, or be stepped over and lose his position as Acting Boss.

1922–1930 — Gaetano "Tommy" Reina — murdered on February 26, 1930
1930 — Bonaventura "Joseph/Fat Joe" Pinzolo — murdered on September 5, 1930
1930–1951 — Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano — retired in 1951; died on February 16, 1953
1951–1967 — Gaetano "Tommy Brown" Lucchese — became sick in 1966, died on July 13, 1967 from a brain tumor .
Acting 1966–1967 — Carmine Tramunti — stepped down
Acting 1967 — Ettore "Eddie" Coco — stepped down
1967–1973 — Carmine "Mr. Gribbs" Tramunti — apponited by The Commission ; imprisoned in October 1973
1973–1986 — Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo — On February 15, 1985, Corallo was indicted in the Mafia commission case , was convicted on November 19, 1986 and on January 13, 1987 was sentenced to 100 years in prison.
1986–present — Vittorio "Vic" Amuso — former Brooklyn faction leader and consigliere Chris Furnari convinced Corallo to make Furnari's protégés Amuso and Casso the new bosses in early 1987. Former Bronx faction leader and underboss Tom Santoro advised against it, believing the succession of Amuso and Casso would be the biggest mistake in the crime family's history. In 1991, Amuso was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment .
Acting 1990–1991 — Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco — demoted, became a member of a ruling panel
Acting 1994–1998 — Joseph "Little Joe" DeFede — imprisoned in 1998. Became a government witness after his release in early 2002, fearing that Amuso had sanctioned his murder.
Acting 1998–2001 — Steven "Wonderboy" Crea — official underboss was promoted by Amuso. Crea was indicted and jailed on September 6, 2000 on extortion charges and convicted in 2001 was sentenced to five years in prison.
Acting 2001–2003 — Louis "Louie Bagels" Daidone — imprisoned March 2003, received life in prison in January 2004

Street Boss and Ruling panel(s)

Street Boss

In the early 1990s, Vic Amuso used a Street Boss to distance himself from federal surveillance and enforce his orders to the other members of the administration. The street boss was considered the go-to-guy for the boss, when passing on his orders to lower ranking members.

1990–1991 — Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco – promoted to Acting Boss

Ruling panel(s)

In 1991, after boss Vic Amuso was imprisoned a ruling panel (or committee) of capos was assembled to equally control the decision making of the crime family.

1991 — Anthony Baratta , Salvatore Avellino , Frank Lastorino and Alphonse D'Arco – on September 21, 1991, D'Arco became a government witness.
1991–1993 — Anthony Baratta , Salvatore Avellino , Steven Crea and Domenico Cutaia
2003–present — Aniello Migliore , Joseph DiNapoli and Matthew Madonna

Underboss (official and acting)

The underboss is the number two position in the family (after Don, Godfather, Boss). Also known as the "capo bastone" in some criminal organizations, this individual is responsible for ensuring that profits from criminal enterprises flow up to the boss and generally oversees the selection of the caporegime(s) and soldier(s) to carry out murders and other criminal activities. The underboss takes control of the crime family after the boss's death. Keeping this power until a new boss is chosen, which in some cases was the Underboss.

1920–1930 — Gaetano "Tommy" Gagliano – promoted to boss
1930–1951 — Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese – promoted to acting boss
1951–1972 — Stefano "Steve" LaSalle – retired
1973–1978 — Aniello "Neil" Migliore – resigned
1978–1986 — Salvatore "Tom Mix" Santoro Sr. – imprisoned in the Commission Case
1986–1989 — Mariano "Mac" Macaluso – retired in 1989
1989–1993 — Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso – imprisoned, became government witness in 1993
Acting 1990–1992 — Anthony "Bowat" Baratta – imprisoned in June 1992
1993–present — Steven "Wonderboy" Crea – promoted to acting boss in 1998
Acting 1998–2001 — Eugene "Boopsie" Castelle – imprisoned in November 2000
Acting 2001–2003 — Joseph "Joe C. Caridi – promoted to Consigliere

Consigliere (official and acting)

Consigliere is an advisor to the boss and usually the number three person in a crime family.

1931–1953 — Stefano "Steve" Rondelli – retired
1953–1973 — Vincenzo "Vinny" Rao – imprisoned from 1965 to 1970, retired
Acting 1965–1967 — Mariano "Mac" Macaluso
Acting 1967–1973 — Paul "Paulie" Vario – imprisoned 1974 to 1976
1973–1981 — Vincent "Vinnie Beans" Foceri – retired
1981–1986 — Christopher "Christie Trick" Furnari – imprisoned in 1986
1986–1987 — Ettore "Eddie" Coco ] – retired
1987–1989 — Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso – promoted to underboss
1989–1993 — Frank "Big Frank" Lastorino – imprisoned in April 1993
1993–1996 — Frank Papagni – imprisoned in September 1996
1996–2003 — Louis "Louie Bagels" Daidone – promoted to Acting Boss in 2001
2003–present — Joseph "Joe C." Caridi – imprisoned 2003 to 2009

Current family members

Administration

Boss Vittorio "Vic" Amuso – boss since the 1987 conviction of Anthony Corallo . One of the most feared mobsters from the old Brooklyn faction of the family. Jailed in 1992, Amuso is currently serving a life sentence
Ruling Panel Aniello Migliore , Joseph DiNapoli and Matthew Madonna – all three men are running the day-to-day activities of the family. Migliore is the most powerful member of the three man panel and has the final say in all decisions.
Underboss Steven "Wonderboy" Crea – became Underboss in 1993. Crea was released from prison on August 24, 2006. He is a former acting boss and longtime Bronx faction leader involved in construction racketeering.
Consigliere Joseph "Joe C." Caridi – operating from Long Island and Queens. Caridi was imprisoned on extortion and loansharking charges and was released on November 27, 2009.

Capos

Capo (Crew boss/captain/lieutenant/caporegime): a capo is appointed by the family boss to run his own borgata (regime, or crew) of sgarrista (soldiers). Each capo reports directly to the underboss, who gives the capo permission to perform criminal activities. If the family needs to murder someone, the underboss normally asks a capo to carry out the order. The capo runs the day-to-day operations of his crew. The capo's soldiers give part of their earnings to the capo, and the capo gives a share to the underboss. A capo can recommend to the underboss or boss that a recruit be allowed to join his crew as a mob associate.

New York

Bronx faction

Joseph "Joey Dee" DiNapoli – capo operating in the Bronx. DiNapoli was released from prison on September 17, 1999. He has two younger brothers in the Genovese crime family , Vincent and Louis . In 2003, DiNapoli along with Migliore and Madonna became members of a ruling panel that is running the family.
Matthew "Matt" Madonna – capo operating in the Bronx. Madonna served 20 years in prison for narcotics trafficking. He was released from prison on September 22, 2003. In 2003, Madonna along with Migliore and DiNapoli became members of a ruling panel that is running the family.
John "Johnny Hooks" Capra – capo operating in the Bronx, Westchester and Manhattan. In 2005, Capra was indicted and charged with extortion along with members of the Gambino crime family. Capra received an eighteen-month sentence and was released from federal prison on September 10, 2008.
Anthony "Blue Eyes" Santorelli – capo operating in the Bronx and Westchester. In the 1990s, Santorelli led The Tanglewood Boys , a recruitment gang for the Lucchese family.

Joseph Lubrano

( In prison ) Joseph "Big Joe" Lubrano – capo active on Arthur Avenue in the Bronx, Manhattan and Staten Island. Lubrano is 40-years-old and is considered a rising member in the family. In 1994, he was wrongfully sent to prison for beating a police officer and was released four years later. In May 2010, Lubrano was listed on the FBI Most Wanted List for several armed robberies; he was arrested on September 11, 2010.

Manhattan & Long Island

Aniello "Neil" Migliore – capo operating in Manhattan, Long Island and Florida. In 1992, Migliore was shot on orders from Amuso who saw him as a rival. He was released from prison on May 14, 1997. In 2003, Migliore along with Madonna and DiNapoli became members of a ruling panel that is running the family.
Dominic "Crazy Dom" Truscello – capo of the Prince Street Crew , members are active in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and Long Island. In the 1990s, Truscello along with Steven Crea and Joseph Tangorra formed the Lucchese Construction Group , supervising all the Lucchese family's construction related rackets. On September 6, 2000, Truscello, Crea and Tangorra were charged with bid rigging, corrupting construction labor officials among other crimes. In 2003, Truscello plead guilty to extortion, [44] on January 9, 2006, he was released from federal prison.
( Acting ) Anthony Croce – an acting capo active in Manhattan, Bronx and Staten Island. Croce was arrested in November 2008 for running a sport gambling ring operating in the Bronx and Upper Manhattan. He was charged in two separate indictments in 2009; the first was in October for bribery, loansharking, gun trafficking, extortion, gambling and racketeering and the second in November for running a sports betting ring from his bar "Night Gallery" in New Dorp, Staten Island.

Brooklyn faction

Eugene "Bubsie" Castelle – capo operating from Bath Beach and Bensonhurst, Brooklyn . In 1997, Castelle was charged with bribing guards to smuggle food and steroids into the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center . On November 12, 2000, Caselle and other Lucchese members were charged drug trafficking, extortion and loansharking. He was released from prison on August 28, 2008.
( In prison ) Domenico "Danny" Cutaia – capo of the Brownsville Crew . Cutaia is a former messenger between the imprisoned Amuso and the crime family. On October 25, 2009, he was sentenced to three years in prison for bank fraud. His projected release date November 21, 2012.
( Acting ) Carlo Profeta – acting capo of the Brownsville Crew . On February 24, 2010, Profeta was indicted along with Lucchese soldier Salvatore Cutaia, associates Joseph Cutaia and Eric Maione, Bonanno capo Anthony Mannone and associate Jerome Carameilli on racketeering and extortion charges. In February 2011, Profeta and associate Eric Maione pleaded guilty to extortion charges.

New Jersey

( In prison ) Michael "Mad Dog" Taccetta – capo of the Jersey Crew and boss of the entire Lucchese's New Jersey faction. Taccetta is currently serving life in prison for conspiracy and drug trafficking convictions.
Ralph Vito Perna – capo in the Jersey crew. Was arrested in December 2007 with Joseph DiNapoli and Matthew Madonna . The Jersey crew ran an illegal gambling operation that earned approximately $2.2 billion over a 15-month period. The crew also worked with New Jersey correction officers and members of Nine Trey Gangster , a set , or subgroup, of the Bloods street gang. The Jersey crew used Bloods members to smuggle illegal drugs and prepaid cell phones into the New Jersey state prisons.
Joseph "Joey" Giampa – capo operating in New Jersey. Giampa has a stepson named Gennaro Vittorio, a.k.a. Gerry Giampa who is also involved in organized crime.

Soldiers

Soldier (sgarrista/soldato/wiseguy/button/buttonman/goodfella): a soldier is a made man who has already proven himself to the family. In order to become a soldier he must pass the voting of the captain’s vote then a message is passed up to the boss or underboss. The soldier then takes an oath ( Omertà ) to honor the family; he is then assigned into a crew and given a captain. A soldier is one of the lowest ranks in the family but still has much power over associates and friends.

Thomas "Tommy Red" Anzellotto – soldier, in 1998 he replaced Lucchese soldier soldier Samuel Cavalieri.
Salvatore "Sal" Avellino – soldier and former capo. In the 1980s, Avellino was the boss Anthony Corallo's bodyguard and chauffeur. In the early 1990s, Avellino was a member of a ruling panel that controlled the family. He was released from prison on October 13, 2006.

Carmine Avellino

Carmine Avellino – soldier involved in extorting carting companies. In 1984, Carmine and his brother Salvatore had a sit-down with Bonanno family members Joe Massino, Salvatore Vitale and "Stevie Beefs" Cannone over controlling King Caterers. In 1988, Carmine was banned from New Jersey casinos. In January 1995, Carmine was indicted along with Anthony Baratta, Frank Federico and Rocco Vitulli for the August 1989, murders of Robert Kubecka and Donald Barstow. On February 25, 2004, he was released from prison.
Robert "Bucky the Boss" Caravaggio – soldier in the Jersey crew. Caravaggio is operating Morris County and Northern New Jersey.
Alfonso T. "Tic" Cataldo – soldier running illegal gambling operations in Northern New Jersey and working with Eurasian organized crime groups. Cataldo was arrested in December 2007 on charges of promoting gambling, money laundering and racketeering charges along with two members of the Lucchese ruling panel Joseph DiNapoli and Matthew Madonna.
John "Sideburns" Cerrella – soldier, former acting capo in the 1990s. Formerly a Genovese family associate operating in Broward County , Cerrella later became a made man in the Lucchese family. He is a Long Island faction leader who conducts racketeering, fraud, stocks and wire fraud in Queens and Long Island. He was released from prison on November 27, 2009.
Joseph "Joey Blue Eyes" Cosentino – soldier. In 1997, Cosention and Anthony Mangano murdered Bonanno family drug dealer Constable Farace.
Ralph Cuomo – soldier and owner of Ray's Pizza in Little Italy. In 1969, Cuomo was convicted of narcotics trafficking after being found with 50 pounds of heroin. In 1998, Cuomo discussed heroin drug sales with Lucchese soldier Frank Gioia, Jr.
Salavatore Cutaia – soldier whose father, Domenico Cutaia, is a high-ranking Lucchese capo. Salavtore's son Joseph Cutaia is considered to be an associate in the family. His son Joseph was charged on December 24, 2009 for an attempted robbery and stick up of a Bensonhurst, Brooklyn couple along with Nicholas Bernardo.
Santo Giampapa – soldier, he and his brother Joseph were acquitted in the 1992 killing of Lucchese capo Michael Salerno.
Frank "Big Frank" Lastorino – soldier in the Bensonhurst crew. He is a former capo and Consigliere. In the early 1990s, Lasterino hatched the plot to kill both John A. Gotti and Lucchese capo Steven Crea to take over the family. He was released from federal prison on December 23, 2008 after serving 14 years on racketeering, extortion and conspiracy to commit murder.
Vincent "Vinny Casablanca" Mancione – soldier and former acting capo. On December 12, 2002, Macione along with Consigliere Joseph Caridi, capo John Cerrella and soldier Carmelo Profeta were arrested for extorting restaurants on Long Island. He was released from prison in August 2006.
Anthony Mangano – soldier. In 1997, Mangano and Joseph Cosentino murdered Bonanno family drug dealer Constable Farace.
Frank Manzo – soldier with the Vario crew.
Anthony Pezzullo – soldier, former member of the Lucchese Construction Group involved in bid rigging, extorting construction companies, and corrupting union locals. The group consisted of acting boss Steven Crea, capos Dominic Truscello and Joseph Tangorra, soldiers Phillip Desimone, Joseph Datello (Truscello crew member), Joseph Zambardi and associate Andrew Reynolds.
Nicodemo Scarfo, Jr. – soldier, he is the son of former Philadelphia crime family boss Nicodemo Scarfo . With help from his father he joined the Lucchese family. Scarfo Jr. is a member of the Lucchese family's New Jersey faction.
Rocco Vitulli – soldier, he was a member of Anthony Baratta's crew. On August 10, 1989, Vitulli along with Frank Federico murdered Robert M. Kubecka and Donald Barstow, two executives of a trash-collection company in East Northport, New York . In January 1995, Vitulli was charged along with Carmine Avellino, Anthony Baratta and Frank Federico for the murders of Kubecka and Barstow. He was released from prison on September 7, 2000.

Imprisoned soldiers

Ray Argentina – soldier in the Lucchese family. In 2001 Argentina was charged along with Louis Gampero for illegal mortgage fraud activities in Brooklyn, upstate New York and Long Island. He was also running an illegal cocaine ring in Long Island with Ken Cardona. Argentina is currently incarcerated and projected release date is October 4, 2024.
Anthony "Bowat" Baratta – soldier and former capo in the Bronx. Ran large drug trafficking operations in the 1990s and sat on the family's Ruling Panel. He is currently imprisoned with a projected release-date of September 25, 2012.
John Baudanza – a soldier, operating in his father-in-law Domenico Cutaia 's crew . His father Carmine and uncle Joseph are both members of the Colombo crime family . In 1997, John and his cousin Joseph M. Baudanza were involved in stock crimes. On April 17, 2007, John, along with his father and uncle pleaded guilty to racketeering charges related to operating a " pump and dump " stock scam. He is currently serving his sentence in the Allenwood prison with a projected release date of August 2, 2015.
Michael "Mikey Bones" Carcione – soldier and former acting capo for Domenico Cutaia's crew . In 2008, Carcione was arrested along with capo Domenico Cutaia, soldiers John Baudanza, Salvatore Cutaia, associates Steven Lapella, Victor Sperber, Louis Colello, and John Rodopolous for loansharking, illegal gambling among other illegal criminal activities. Carcione is currently imprisoned with a projected release date of July 3, 2012.
George "Goggles" Conte – a soldier, and former capo. In 1991, Conte along with other capos inducted five new members into the crime family. In January 1995, Conte and George Zappola were indicted and convicted of murder and racketeering. Conte is currently imprisoned, with a projected release date of March 10, 2014.
Louis "Louie Bagels" Daidone – soldier a former acting boss , Consigliere and capo. He was convicted to life in prison in 2003.
Andrew DiSimone – a former acting capo operating in the Bronx, Westchester and Manhattan. DiSimone was arrested on October 1, 2009 for bribery and illegal gambling operations. He was convinced that he was paying off corrupt NYPD officers for protection on loansharking, sports bookmaking and illegal gambling activities. The two officers were actually undercover agents for two years the officers in a sting named Operation Open House receiving $222,000 in bribes. He is currently imprisoned, with a projected release date of August 7, 2013.
Christopher "Christie Trick" Furnari Sr. – soldier a former Consigliere in the Lucchese family, convicted in the 1980s Mafia Commission case. He is currently imprisoned with a projected release date is November 24, 2044.
James "Jimmy Frogs" Galione – a soldier replaced late Lucchese soldier Pete DePalermo position. In 1997 he and Mario Gallo plead guilty to the murder of an associate to the Bonanno/Colombo families Constable "Gus" Farace in 1989. Farace was a drug dealer responsible for killing an undercover federal agent. He was also charged with running a crack ring that operated in Bay Ridge and Bensonhurst, Brooklyn since 1992. He is currently imprisoned due out on December 24, 2015.
Joseph "Joey Bang Bang" Massaro – a soldier in the Harlem Crew reported to Capo Anthony Baratta . He was operating in Long Island forcing topless bar owners to book his strippers from Entertainment Plus Agency . Massaro would use threats of intimidations and arson to get his way. In summer of 1989 helped cover up a murder of Joseph Fiorito with Patrick Esposito he was arrested in 1993. At his trail FBI agent Joe Pistone discussed what he learned about a Bonanno-Lucchese family sit-down over the topless bars in Long Island. Former Lucchese family acting boss Alphonse D'Arco also testified against him, Massaro received a life sentenced.
Frank "Bones" Papagni – soldier and former capo in the early 1990s, with racketeering, illegal gambling and loansharking operations in the Brooklyn section. He is serving 20 years for the attempted murder conspiracy on John A. Gotti in 1993. Papagni's projected release-date is November 24, 2015.
Michael J. Perna – soldier and former Capo in the Jersey faction ; he began working for the Lucchese families Jersey faction sometime in 1976; by the 1980s was serving as the Underboss of the Jersey Faction for Michael Taccetta; acquitted in the 21 month trail along with other Jersey faction members on August 26, 1988; in 1993 was convicted of gambling and extortion along with Michael and Martin Taccetta with the testimony of Thomas Ricciardi and Anthony Accetturo ; relatives include his father Joseph Perna, younger brother Ralph; The 67 year-old is currently imprisoned at the Federal Correction Institution at Fairton, New Jersey his projected release date is August 2, 2015.
Martin Taccetta – soldier and former Capo in the Jersey Crew was released from prison in 2005 due to lack of evidence in his trial, and wrongfully being accused of murder charges in his older brother Michael Taccetta's trial in 1993. On July 30, 2009 the New Jersey Supreme Court reversed lower court decision that granted Taccetta release and reinstated Martin life sentence for racketeering and extortion.
Joseph "Joey Flowers" Tangorra – soldier and former capo whose crew was based in Bensonhurst Brooklyn and was involved in extortion and racketeering activities. Tangorra is currently incarcerated and reportedly suffers from mental illness. His projected release date is December 9, 2014.
George "Georgie Neck" Zappola – soldier and former capo under the regime of Amuso and Casso in the 1980s. He operated out of the Brooklyn wing with racketeering, extortion activities. Zappola is currently imprisoned on murder-conspiracy charges in aid of racketeering with Frank Papagni. His projected release date is March 3, 2014.

Family crews

A crew is a group of soldiers and associates who operate in a specific area. The capo runs the crew and reports to the underboss. The soldiers run illegal activities such as illegal gambling, loansharking, bookmaking, extortion, and fencing of stolen goods. The soldiers pay tribute to the capo and the capo sends a portion of this tribute money to the boss and underboss. The soldiers are "made men" , or full family members, and have associates (who are not made men) working for them. An associate works for a crew in hopes of proving his worth to the family and becoming a made man. To be eligible to become a made man, an associate must be of Italian ancestry on both sides of his family.

The Vario Crew – active in Brooklyn and Queens
The Jersey crew – a faction in the Lucchese crime family. The leader of the Jersey crew/faction is imprisoned Michael Taccetta , the acting boss/capo is Ralph Perna.

Recruitment gangs

The Tanglewood Boys – were an Italian-American gang from Yonkers, New York . They were named after the Tanglewood Shopping Center located on a busy shopping strip on Central Avenue in Yonkers. Members of the gang frequently operated within and around the shopping mall. They began in the 1990s as a " farm team " or recruitment gang for the Mafia , specifically the Lucchese crime family. Several members went on to other crime families as well, and they were usually the sons of made members . In 1994, members of the gang were arrested for murdering a college student Louis Balancio at a Yonkers sports bar. After the arrests, one member, Darin Mazzarella, became an informant , leading to the convictions of other members of the gang.
East Harlem Purple Gang – were a group of Italian American hit-men and heroin dealers. The group was considered a semi-independent gang operating in East Harlem and the Bronx during the late 1970s. Members would join the Lucchese and Genovese families.

Controlled unions

The Lucchese family has taken over unions across United States. The crime family has extorted money from the unions in blackmail, strong-arming, violence and other matters to keep their control over the market. Similar to the other four crime families of New York City they worked on controlling entire unions. With the mob having control over the union they control the entire market. Bid-rigging allows the mob to get a percentage of the income on the construction deal only allowing certain companies to bid on jobs who pay them first. The mob also allows companies to use non-union workers to work on jobs the companies must give a kickback to the mob. Unions give mob members jobs on the books to show a legitimate source of income. The Mafia members get into high union position and began embezzling money from the job and workers.

Clothes manufacturing - In the Garment District of Manhattan, the Union of Needle trades, Industrial and Textile Employees Locals 10, 23, 24, and 25 were controlled by members of the Lucchese family. Lucchese Associates would extort the businesses and organize strikes. Today some unions still are working for the family.
Kosher meat companies - In the early 1960s Giovanni "Johnny Dio" Dioguardi merged Consumer Kosher Provisions Company and American Kosher Provisions Inc. together. [176] Dio was able to control a large portion of the Kosher food market, forcing supermarkets to buy from his companies at his prices.
Food distribution - At the Hunts Point Cooperative Market in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx, the Lucchese family controlled unions involved in the food distribution industry.
Airport services and freight handling - At John F. Kennedy International Airport , LaGuardia and Newark Liberty , the unions were controlled by the Lucchese family.
Construction - Teamsters unions in New York City and New Jersey have been under Lucchese control; Mason Tenders Locals 46, 48, and 66 were controlled by the old Vario Crew .
Newspaper production and delivery - In November 2009, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau sent search warrants to investigate the Newspaper Mail Deliverers Union. This union controlled circulation, production and delivery offices at The New York Times , The New York Post , The New York Daily News and El Diario La Prensa . When the Cosa Nostra took control over the union, the price and costs for newspapers increased. Charges were put against many union members as well as the former union President Douglas LaChance. LaChance is accused as being Lucchese crime family associate. In the 1980s LaChance was convicted on labor racketeering charges and served five years in prison. He was also involved in the Manhattan 1990s case were New York Post was being strong-armed in to switching their delivery companies, but was acquitted in the case.

Former members

Anthony "Buddy" Luongo – a capo who tried to take over the family after boss Anthony Corallo was imprisoned in the Commission case. In December 1986, Luongo met Vic Amuso, Anthony Casso, Bobby Amuso and Dom Carbucci in Brooklyn when Bobby Amuso shot Luongo dead.
Mariano "Mac" Macaluso – served as consigliere in the 1960s. In 1986, after the Mafia Commission Trial , Macaluso became the new underboss. In 1989, boss Vittorio Amuso forced Macaluso into retirement. He died in 1992 from natural causes.
Bruno Facciolo – a soldier who is a brother to Gambino family associate Louis Facciolo . Died in 1990's.
Richard "Toupe" Pagliarulo – a soldier in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1991, Pagliarulo became the capo of Peter Chiodo 's Bensonhurst, Brooklyn crew. He died of natural causes in prison.
Guido "the Bull" Penosi – was an associate in the Lucchese and Gambino crime families. Penosi lived in Beverly Hills, and he was a narcotics dealer active in Los Angeles and the West Coast. In the 1980s Penosi along with his cousin Frank Piccolo stopped Genovese family mobster from extorting his friend Wayne Newton ( Wayne Newton v. NBC ).
Patrick "Patty" Testa – was the younger brother to Joseph Testa . In 1984, he was indicted on fraud and theft charges along with members of the Gambino family's DeMeo crew. Testa was sentenced to two years in prison and after his release joined the Lucchese crime family. On December 2, 1992 Testa was murdered, he was shot in the back of the head nine times. It was later revealed that Anthony Casso had ordered Frank Lastorino to murder Testa.

Government informants and witnesses

Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco – former acting boss from 1990 to 1991. Became government witness on September 21, 1991.
Joseph "Little Joe" DeFede – former acting boss from 1993 to 1998, then demoted to capo when imprisoned. Became government witness in early 2002 after his release.
Anthony Casso – former underboss from 1986 to 1993. Became government witness in 1992.
Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo – capo of the Jersey crew from 1970s to 1988. Became government witness in 1993.
Peter Chiodo – former capo. Became a government witness after being shot 12 times on May 8, 1991.
Frank "Spaghetti Man" Gioia, Jr. – former soldier. In 1991, he became a made man. In 1993, he was arrested for trafficking heroin from Manhattan to Boston. In 1994, Gioia found out that Frank Papagni planned to murder his father and he decided to become an government witness. Since becoming a government witness Gioia has testified against 60 defendants.
Frank Gioia, Sr. – former soldier. Did not testify against the family but entered Witness Protection with son Frank Jr. in 1994.
Vincent Salanardi – former soldier. In 2002, Salanardi was indicted on racketeering charges and became a government witness, and later dropped from the program. In March 2006, he was sentenced to 11 years and three months in prison. Salanardi's projected release date is October 29, 2012.
Frank Suppa – former soldier. Member of the Jersey faction seen as a Capo in Florida; became informant in late 1997.
Henry Hill – former associate. His life was the basis for the book Wiseguy and the film Goodfellas . He and his wife Karen, became government witnesses.

Allied and Rival criminal groups

Mafia allies

The Lucchese-Gambino-Genovese alliance (1953–1985) between Tommy Lucchese , Carlo Gambino and Vito Genovese began with a plot to take over the Mafia Commission by murdering family bosses Frank Costello and Albert Anastasia . At that time, Gambino was Anastasia's new underboss and Genovese was the underboss for Costello. The first target of the conspiracy was Costello. On May 2, 1957 gunmen attempted to kill Costello on a New York street. Costello survived the assassination attempt, but immediately decided to retire as boss in favor of Genovese. The conspirators' second target was Anastasia. On October 25, 1957, the Gallo brothers (from the Colombo family) murdered Anastasia in a Manhattan barber shop, allowing Gambino to become boss of Anastasia's family. After he assumed power, Gambino started conspiring with Lucchese to remove their former ally Genovese. After the disastrous 1957 Apalachin meeting of mob leaders in Upstate New York , Genovese lost a great deal of respect in the Commission. In 1959, with the assistance of Luciano, Costello, and Meyer Lansky , Genovese was arrested. Gambino and Lucchese assumed full control of the Mafia Commission. Under Gambino and Lucchese, the Commission pushed rival Bonanno boss Joseph Bonanno out of power, triggering an internal war in that family. In the 1960s, the Commission backed the Gallo brothers in their rebellion against Profaci family boss Joe Profaci. In 1962, Gambino's oldest son Thomas married Lucchese's daughter Frances, strengthening the Gambino-Lucchese alliance. Lucchese gave Gambino access into the rackets at the New York airports rackets he controlled and Garment District rackets, Gambino allowed Lucchese into some of their rackets. After Lucchese death in July 1967, Gambino used his power over the Commission to make Carmine Tramunti the boss of the Lucchese family. Gambino continued the alliance with Tramunti's successor, Anthony Corallo . After Gambino's death, the new Gambino boss Paul Castellano continued the alliance with Corallo. In 1985, the Gambino-Lucchese alliance finally dissolved after Gambino capo John Gotti ordered Castellano's assassination without Commission approval.
The Lucchese-Genovese alliance (1986–present) The new alliance started in 1986 with Vincent Gigante and Victor Amuso the bosses of the two families teaming up against John Gotti. Gotti had ordered the murder of Gambino family Boss Paul Castellano who was the head of the Commission (or Boss of Bosses). This started a three family war; the Genovese and Lucchese families versus the Gambino family. The alliance tried to get revenge for the murder of Castellano and order the killing of Gambino family underboss Frank DeCicco . The alliance is still strong today and the two families operate on deals around New York City. Joseph DiNapoli a member of the family's three man ruling panel has two brothers in the Genovese crime family ; Vincent "Vinny" DiNapoli , a captain, and Louis DiNapoli , a soldier in Vincent's crew.
The Lucchese-Gambino alliance (1999–present) The new alliance between the two families was started by acting Boss Steven Crea teaming up with Gambino family capos in 1999. They would extort the construction industry and would make millions in bid-rigging together. In early 2002 Lucchese Capo John Capra worked with Gambino family member acting Boss Arnold Squitieri, acting underboss Anthony Megale and Bronx based acting Capo Gregory DePalma. The group was involved in illegal gambling and extortion activities in Westchester. The members were arrested in 2005 leaving to reveal that Gambino acting Capo DePalma had allowed an FBI agent Joaquin Garcia (known as Jack Falcone) work undercover with his crew since 2002. In late 2008 Gambino family New Jersey based acting Capo Andrew Merola teamed with Lucchese’s Jersey faction acting Boss Martin Taccetta in an illegal gambling ring, shaking down Unions, and extorting car dealerships. Merola was indicted in 2008 and Taccetta was sent back to prison in 2009.
The Lucchese-Bonanno sitdown (2010) Lucchese family acting Capo Carlo Profeta and Bonanno family Capo Anthony Mannone had a sitdown over a Lucchese soldier owing Mannone $213,000. On February 24, 2010, acting capo Carlo Profeta, soldier Salvatore Cutaia and associates Joseph Cutaia and Eric Maione, with Bonanno family Capo Anthony Mannone and associate Jerome Carameilli were indicted on racketeering and extortion charges.

Other allies

The Lucchese-Lepke alliance (1920s-1944) started with Tommy Lucchese and Louis "Lepke" Buchalter extorting payments from garment makers in New York's Garment District . During the 1930s, Lepke was one of the most powerful Jewish gangsters in New York City. With his allies Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel, Lepke fought for control over Jewish neighborhoods throughout Brooklyn and together formed Murder, Inc. Lepke would fall when his trusted Brownsville crew leader, Abe "Kid Twist" Reles , became a government witness and testified against Lepke in a murder trial. On March 4, 1944, Lepke was executed by electrocution . After the Lepke execution, Lucchese gained control over the Garment District and took over Lepke's rackets in Brownsville.
The Lucchese-Greek Mafia alliance (1980s-present) started in the early 1980s. The Velentzas Family , a Greek-American criminal organization led by Spiros Velentzas, operated in Astoria, Queens and other Greek communities in the city. The Lucchese family offered Velentzas protection in return for a percentage of his family's illegal gambling profits.
The Lucchese-Russian Mafia alliance took place in the late 1980s. Marat Balagula was a Russian criminal boss whose organization controlled Brighton Beach and other Russian-American communities in New York. When the Colombo crime family tried to extort payments from Balagula's lucrative gasoline business, he met with Lucchese consigliere Christopher Furnari . Funari offered Balaqula an alliance to protect him from the other New York Cosa Nostra families
The Lucchese-Nicky Barnes alliance took place from the early 1970s into the 1980s. Leroy "Nicky" Barnes was an African-American drug dealer based in Harlem who was supplied with heroin by Lucchese associate Matthew Madonna and Colombo capo "Crazy Joe" Gallo . Barnes created a criminal organization known as The Council that dealt large amounts of heroin in Harlem .

Rivals

The Cuban Mafia called La Coporacion (or the Corporation) and was led by Jose Miguel Battle, Sr. a Cuban born male who set up an organization in Miami, Florida to Union City, New Jersey. He worked from Union City, New Jersey with help from Bonanno family Capo Joseph "Bayonne Joe" Zicarelli up into the 1980s. He then began to work with another Mafia family Genovese Capo James Napoli. In 1985 his Corporation battled with Lucchese family members for control over number rackets.
The Albanian Mafia called the Rudaj Organization was led by Boss Alex Rudaj, Nikolla Dedaj and Italian Nardino Colotti were operating in Yorktown New York, Bronx, and Queens. The group started in 1993 and it leadership and power has now been shut down by the Italian Mafia and criminal prosecution in 2004. The Rudja Organization had a brief fight for control of gambling rackets in Astoria, Queens with the Lucchese family. The Albanian muscle attacked two Greek associates of the Lucchese family on August 3, 2001.

Family events

Lucchese crime family's Valachi hearings chart (1963)

Boss

Tommy Lucchese

Underboss

Stefano LaSalle

Consigliere

Vincenzo Rao

Caporegimes:

Ettore Coco · Joseph LaRatro · Giovanni Ormento · Joseph Rosato · Carmine Tramunti · Anthony Corallo · Joseph Lucchese · James Plumeri · Salvatore Santoro · Natale Evola

Soldiers:

Frank Arra · Joseph Bendenelli · Nicholas Bonina · Frank Callace · Frank Campanello · Frankie Carbo · Frank Cintrano · Sam Cavalieri · Paul Correale · Dominick Bianco · Donato Laietta · Edward D'Argenio · John DiCarlo · Thomas Dioguardi · Johnny Dioguardi · Charles DiPalermo, Vincent Corrao · Joseph DiPalermo · Salvatore Granello · Joe Emanuel · Anthony Lisi · Salvatore LoProfo · Salvatore Maneri · Aniello Migliore · Vic Panica · Andinno Pappadia · Dominick Petrilli · Anthony LoPinto, Vincent Potenza · Calogero Rao · Charles Sooperto · Salvatore Shillitani · Joseph Silesi · Nicholas Tocentino · Angelo Tuminaro · Joseph Vento · Anthony Vadala · Sam Valente · Tom Valente · James Vintaloro

Window Case - 1978 to 1990 - four of the five New York City crime families (Lucchese, Genovese, Gambino and Colombo) formed a cartel that controlled the sale and installation of thousands of energy-efficient windows in New York City housing projects.

In popular culture

The 1981 film Gangster Wars Lucchese family's future boss Gaetano "Tommy Brown" Lucchese was played by actor Jon Polito .
The 1990 film Goodfellas was based on Lucchese mob associate Henry Hill and The Vario Crew of the Lucchese family.
The 1991 film Mobsters Lucchese family boss Gaetano "Tommy" Reina was played by actor Christopher Penn .
In the 1991 film Out for Justice , the William Forsythe character "Richard Madano" was based on Lucchese mobster Matthew Madonna .
The 1999-2007 HBO TV-show The Sopranos , the Lucchese family's New Jersey faction was the main inspiration for the DiMeo crime family according Crime Library. Main character Anthony "Tony" Soprano was based on Lucchese mobster Michael Taccetta .
In 2005 and 2006 a fictionalized version of The Tanglewood Boys was featured on CSI: NY , in episode 1.13 " Tanglewood " and in episode 2.20 " Run Silent, Run Deep ".
The 2006 film Find Me Guilty was based on the 1980s trial of 20 members of the Lucchese Jersey Crew.
The 2006 Electronic Arts video game The Godfather: The Game , the Stracci Family could be based on the Lucchese crime family. In the game, the family is based in New Jersey; the Lucchese family has a large power base in New Jersey.
In the 2007 film American Gangster , the Armand Assante character Dominic Cattano was based on Lucchese mobster Carmine Tramunti .
In the 2008 Rockstar North's video game GTA IV , the fictional Lupisella family could loosely be based on the Lucchese family. The Lupisella family is mainly based in Bohan , the GTA 4 version of the Bronx, and is operating in Liberty City , the game's version of New York City .

Organized Crime in Israel pt.1

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:20 GMT

Organized Crime in Israel:

An Update (Part 1)

Organized crime in Israel? That was still a debatable question when this writer wrote his first article on the subject almost 30 years ago (Bensinger, 1982). Since that time, the Israel National Police (INP) has tried, albeit with only some recent measured success, to control the ever-growing menace of the mob in Israel.

This paper briefly traces the development of organized crime in Israel since the 1970s, delineates the current structure of the crime families, and focuses on the most recent development undertaken by the INP in its war on organized crime. The paper concludes with an analysis of a report, submitted by the State Comptroller to Israel's Parliament (Knesset) in May 2009.

Historical Aspects

In Israel, like in the United States, there was a time when the existence of organized crime was not readily admitted by law enforcement. In 1971, for example, Israel's attorney general investigated such allegations and dismissed them as baseless. By 1977, however, public concern and pressure led to a parliamentary debate that resulted in the appointment of a commission of inquiry mandated to examine the prevalence of organized crime in Israel. Members of the commission, known as the Shimron Commission, wrote in their report that they were "shocked to learn about the huge amount of money that resulted from illegal businesses such as drugs, extortion and smuggling" (Shimron, 1978). In its report, the commission concluded that Israel had indeed developed its own style of organized crime. However, not unlike J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, the INP refused to concede the existence of organized crime in the country, insisting that the police never regarded the report of the Shimron Commission as credible. Thereafter, the police had their way, and organized crime became a non-issue for several years.

Public awareness was aroused again in the early 1990s with a new phenomenon that made news: the so-called Israeli Russian Mafia. This development can be tied to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the mass migration of Russian Jews (and some non-Jews) to Israel, which began in the late 1980s. The threat posed by Russian newcomers was first exposed by the Israeli press, which indulged in writing substantiated and non-substantiated horror stories committed by some of the Russians who settled in Israel. The two major criminal activities that became associated with the Russian Mafia were money laundering and the trafficking of women for the purpose of prostitution. In fact, the problem of the Russian Mafia in Israel even spilled overseas prompting a former U.S. State Department money laundering official to tell The Wall Street Journal that “by 1994, every Russian mob figure that the United States was tracking had an Israeli passport” (Karp, 2001). (It should be noted that because of Israel’s Law of Return, enacted after the Holocaust and the creation of the Jewish state, every Jewish immigrant became automatically eligible for Israeli citizenship and a passport. Not surprisingly, this policy has led to abuses by both Russian and other immigrants.) The INP also came to recognize the new threat in the 1990s. Thus, for instance, the chief of the police intelligence division, while testifying before a parliamentary committee in 1997, described the activities of the Russian Mafia in Israel as a “strategic threat” to the state and warned that the organization was attempting to get a foothold in Israeli business and banks and penetrate the country’s political system and media. At a police press conference, held at about the same time and attended by the police commissioner, it was revealed that the intelligence division had prepared a list of some 20 individuals (all immigrants from the former Soviet Union, some not even residing in Israel) whose activities were being monitored on suspicion that they were engaged in international organized crime activities.

Initial steps in the war on organized crime

Under American pressure, Israel began enacting legislation aimed at curbing organized crime activities such as money laundering and trafficking of women. American concern that Israeli links to international organized crime could threaten both countries’ anti-terrorist interests prompted the government to discount strong opposition from the country’s banking industry and push through the Knesset money laundering legislation. The law against money laundering was enacted in 2000 and went into effect in 2001. Among its various provisions, the law provides for a sentence of up to 10 years in prison for those convicted of money laundering. This law is implemented through the Israel Money Laundering Prohibition Authority.

Also in 2000, like many other countries, Israel established a Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to investigate money laundering and terror financing. The enactment by the American Congress of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Prevention Act of 2000 and the consequent publications of the State Department’s annual report on trafficking, which classifies countries according to the severity of the sex problem, the efforts made to counter trafficking of women for the purpose of prostitution, as well as the assistance provided to the victims of such trafficking, put Israel in yet another bind. Among other things, the new act provided that countries that violated the act’s provisions would be subject to certain financial sanctions, including termination of non-humanitarian foreign aid. Facing such possible American sanctions, trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation was criminalized, making perpetrators of such crimes liable to as many as 16 years in prison (20 for trafficking a minor). And, in 2003, in an attempt to make it easier for the state to prosecute the heads of crime organizations, the Knesset enacted the Organized Crime law which, among other things, holds that heading a criminal organization, even without physically participating in its activities, in itself constitutes a criminal offense punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Organized crime-linked activities

Despite the new legal constraints on money laundering and trafficking, these and other illegal activities continued to flourish throughout the country spawning ever more pervasive and deadly turf wars linked to organized crime. The major illegal activities the Israeli organized crime groups have been engaged in include:

Operating casinos and other forms of gambling inside and outside Israel
Prostitution and trafficking in women
Money Laundering
Protection and extortion rackets
Loan sharking
Drugs and arms dealing
Fencing stolen goods
Diamond smuggling

A wake-up call?

2003 Zeev Rosenstein car-bombing

On December 11, 2003, shortly after noon, a powerful bomb exploded on a busy street in Tel Aviv, killing three innocent bystanders and wounding another 20. That bombing was not the first or last bombing perpetrated by rival organized crime-linked gangsters in which innocent bystanders were killed or maimed. The target of the December 11 bombing was Zeev Rosenstein, dubbed by the local media at that time as Israel’s organized crime kingpin. The shock and outrage caused by this bombing ushered in a new era in Israel’s war on organized crime.

Immediately after the bombing, the government of Israel took the unusual step to consider a criminal justice-related issue (unusual because the government’s deliberations usually focus exclusively on political issues related to the conflict with the Palestinians or budgetary matters), ordering the Ministry of Public Safety to prepare a crime-fighting plan within 30 days. The cabinet also ordered that a task force be created with the Treasury Ministry to combat the gambling and sex industries in Israel. Consequently, the INP requested authorization to spend $100 million for hiring an additional 1,000 police officers, as well as advanced crime-fighting technology, and the creation of a specialized financial crime unit that would work closely with the already existing FIU in the Justice Ministry. The INP request was anchored in the realization that to properly fight organized crime it would need additional officers, as the great majority of officers were always engaged in anti-terrorism activities rather than crime fighting. As in the United States, it was also realized that the best weapon to fight organized crime is through financial pressure. (The case of Al Capone is often invoked in Israel to make that argument.) There was also talk about adopting new measures such as asset forfeiture and a witness protection plan. Still, in view of the severe financial crisis that was facing the country at that time, the government rejected the INP’s request for an infusion of crime-fighting resources as unrealistic and demanded that the police become more efficient.

Consequently, the INP appeared, at least on the surface, to heighten its fight against organized crime. The police commissioner declared that his force will undertake proactive measures against organized crime, and indeed the police mounted a major assault on a money laundering network, raided casinos and brothels, and launched hundreds of criminal investigations. In spite of these efforts, the basic structure of the organized crime network survived and continued to flourish, proving that, despite the December 11 bombing, the rhetoric of the INP continued to be louder than the substance of its operations.

New initiatives in the war against organized crime

While most Israelis continued to be more concerned with violence perpetrated by Palestinians on nationalistic grounds, the escalating violence and accompanying casualties of innocent bystanders related to the intra fighting among the organized crime families (see below), eroded public trust in the police with polls showing that mistrust of the police reached an all-time high (Jerusalem Post, 2008). Thus, for instance, one gangster was killed, and four bystanders—including a baby and a young boy—were wounded in a bombing in one of Israel’s larger cities. Shortly after, in two separate incidents, live grenades were tossed at two mayors’ houses. And at approximately the same time, two Israeli hit men were granted a plea bargain after murdering a former police officer who had become an executioner in Mexico for the Israeli mob. (The prosecution blamed the Mexican authorities for failing to provide evidence). Still, the fact that these two murderers received reduced sentences gave the appearance that the criminal justice system in Israel was in disarray and unable to cope with organized crime. Moreover, there were clear indications that at least one organized crime family had already infiltrated the police as far back as 1999.

As revealed in an interview with the Haaretz newspaper, Vered Zeiler, the head of an investigative commission that reviewed a six-year investigation of an alleged link between the police and organized crime, was quoted saying, “You are asking me whether crime has penetrated the government of Israel? I don’t know. But I do know that if the phenomenon I saw at this one narrow point has spread throughout the Israel Police – it’s Sicily” (Shavit & Yoaz, 2007). The so-called Zeiler Report led to a shakeup of the INP command and the appointment of a new police commissioner in May 2007. Not surprisingly, in one of his first public statements the new police commissioner tried to reassure the public of changes to come. As reported by the Jerusalem Post (2007), the INP was to embark on a new strategy, referred to officially as “the crime fighting fist,” which would be stronger and more effective in fighting organized crime. This was going to be the first of several new initiatives to be undertaken in 2008.

The new police National Crime Unit, Lahav 433

The new National Crime Unit was inaugurated on January 1, 2008. The unit, dubbed Lahav 433, consolidated five existing national bureaus into one. The units thus incorporated included: The National Unit for International Crime, The National Unit for Financial Investigations, The Etgar Vehicle Theft Prevention Unit, The National Unit for Fraud, and the “Gidonim” (elite undercover, counterterrorism) Unit. Lahav 433 has approximately 1,000 officers who are supposed to be equipped with cutting-edge intelligence and related technological tools in order to be able to produce the intelligence that is seen as the key to fighting organized crime. That mission was strengthened by a new law enacted by the Knesset, nicknamed “the big brother law,” which gives the police much greater freedom to collect information through electronic eavesdropping and other means.

Integrated anti-organized crime teams

As in the United States, law enforcement agencies in Israel have concluded that an integrated approach in which information is freely shared by several agencies is more efficient and indeed necessary to fighting crime. Consequently, it was decided that the phenomenon of organized crime could best be fought through the creation of integrated teams that include INP investigators, prosecutors, and tax and money laundering experts operating under the direction of Israel’s Attorney General.

The Witness Protection Program

Again adopting an American model, the idea of a witness protection program in Israel gained recent momentum. Traditionally, it has been the INP that was vested with the responsibility of protecting witnesses. However, already in 2004 a Justice Ministry committee recommended that the function of witness protection be shifted to the Justice Ministry or to a new agency that would be created for that purpose. The issue, however, became political with several agencies haggling over who should control the proposed witness protection program. Finally, the inter-agency dispute ended, with much time wasted, in a decision to create the program under the auspices of the Ministry of Public Security (the ministry that oversees the INP and the Israel Prison Service). Consequently, the Witness Protection Act was finally passed in late 2008 authorizing the creation of the Witness Protection Authority.

Improved Intelligence

Realizing that good intelligence is the key to success, the INP revolutionized its overall intelligence-gathering capabilities by establishing an intelligence center in March 2007. Trying to learn from Israel’s other security agencies that have excelled in collecting and analyzing intelligence data, the INP has since added innovative new tools and know-how to combat organized crime.

Organized Crime in Israel pt.2

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:19 GMT

Organized Crime in Israel:

An Update (Part 2)

The structure of organized crime

An official INP document from 2008 listed 61 organized criminal gangs that are active in Israel. Some of these groups operate independently, while others are national in scope and are hierarchically organized. The INP’s Lahav 433 has targeted at least five of the most violent and dangerous crime families. Another 11 organized crime gangs are being monitored and investigated within the country’s six police districts.

The Abergil Crime Family

Itzik Abergil

The Abergil family has local and international tentacles. In Israel, they are regarded as the most dangerous of the five families. In the United States, the Department of State lists them as one of the world’s top drug traffickers. The Abergils are engaged in illegal activities such as drug trafficking, especially Ecstasy pills, money laundering, racketeering, gambling, and extortion. Several members of the family have been convicted of murders and assassinations.

The Abergil family started making headlines when Yaacov Abergil was assassinated in front of his children in June 2002. According to the police and others, his murder was ordered by Felix Abutbul, a member of the Abutbul crime family, and the owner of the Casino Royale chain of European casinos. Two months after the killing of Yaacov Abergil, Felix Abutbul was assassinated in front of his casino in Prague, in the Czech Republic. Consequently, Yitzhak (Itzik) Abergil became an important stakeholder in the Israeli Mafia’s control of European casinos and one of Israel’s top mafia bosses.

Yitzhak and his brother Meir were arrested in Israel on August 24, 2008. Their arrest was based on a United States extradition warrant issued against the two brothers and three other suspects, all suspected of being involved in the killing of a drug dealer in the United States in 2003. As of this writing, they are in custody in Israel awaiting extradition to the United States. With the extradition of the two brothers, the INP expects to see the collapse of the enterprise of the entire family.

The Alperon Crime Family

Yaacov Alperon and son Dror

The Alperons have been known for their protection rackets. They have waged war over control of markets such as bottle recycling and flower stalls as well as gambling clubs and casinos. The family was allied with the Abergils but had a bloody falling out. Their enemies also included Zeev Rosenstein and the Abutbul organized crime family (see below). In one of many incidents of violence caused by this rivalry, three members of a hit team dispatched to assassinate a member of the Alperon family got into a fire fight with a police unit that had the hit men under surveillance. As a result, one police officer was seriously wounded, and one gunman was killed. The head of the family, Yaakov Alperon, also known informally as Don Alperon (and to many Israelis as their Tony Soprano), was killed by a huge car explosion in Tel Aviv on November 17, 2008. He had escaped as many as nine previous assassination attempts. Coincidentally, one day after the assassination, two associates of the Abergil family were convicted and sentenced for long prison terms for a failed assassination attempt against Alperon’s brother.

The Abutbul Crime Family

Assi Abutbul

As already mentioned, Felix Abutbul at one time controlled a chain of European casinos and was assassinated in Prague. Another member of the family, mob kingpin Charlie Abutbul, escaped an assassination attempt in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya in 2008. This incident was symptomatic of the violent struggle between the Abergil family and the Abutbul family over the control of the Netanya organized crime turf. In November 2007, four men were convicted of conspiring to assassinate Asi Abutbul by firing a Lau anti-tank missile at Abutbul’s house in Netanya in December 2005. That was the fourth attempt on his life. The four hit men were sentenced to between 28 to 37 months in prison. Asi Abutbul, regarded as the top leader of the family, was sentenced to a term of 13 years in prison on June 22, 2009. He was convicted on a number of charges including running a criminal organization, extortion, arson, unlawful imprisonment, and financial crimes. In addition, much of his property, amounting to millions of dollars, was forfeited, and Asi was heavily fined. At the present time, Asi and six other senior members of the Abutbul gang are in prison.

Zeev Rosenstein

Zeev Rosenstein (center)

Zeev Rosenstein, the target of the assassination attempt on December 11, 2003 (see above), was arrested in November 2004 at the behest of the United States Department of Justice on charges of conspiring to traffic Ecstasy pills manufactured in Holland. Prior to his arrest he was considered Public Enemy No. 1 by the INP, which was unable to connect him to any crime carried out by his large organization. After failing to avert extradition to the United States to stand trial, Rosenstein was turned over to three U.S. Marshals at Ben-Gurion International Airport on March 6, 2006. (According to the extradition treaty between the United States and Israel, Israeli citizens residing in Israel, when extradited for crimes committed outside of Israel, can be extradited if after conviction they serve out their prison term in Israel.) Before his trial in Miami, a federal judge agreed to allow six INP undercover agents to testify in disguises (so requested by the Israelis), overruling objections by the defense that this would violate Rosenstein’s right to confront his accusers. With the trial scheduled to open on January 22, 2008, Rosenstein decided to enter a plea bargain admitting to charges of drug trafficking and ordering the attempted assassination of two members of the Alperon crime family. The plea bargain provided that Rosenstein would be sentenced in Florida to 12 years in prison and, as already mentioned, serve his time in an Israeli prison. Rosenstein returned to Israel in May 2007. Currently, he is one of Israel’s most protected inmates, serving his time in Shatta prison. Though much weaker, the Rosenstein criminal organization is said to have been taken over by another mobster, Amir Mulner.

The Jarushi criminal family

Not limited to the Jewish citizens of Israel, organized crime is also prevalent among the Arab citizens of Israel. Ziad and Hathe Jarushi are regarded by the INP as the most dangerous of the Arab gangsters. The Jarushis are engaged mainly in drug and arms dealings. They have been involved in several dozen deadly incidents, especially in the mixed Arab-Jewish towns of Lod and Ramle.

The State Comptroller Report to the Knesset: A body blow to the Criminal Justice System

In a scathing report issued in May 2009, State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss, in a mandated annual report to the Knesset, accused the state, the INP, and other agencies of failing to effectively combat organized crime. While lauding the police for targeting and arresting many of the top organized crime figures in Israel, the report emphasized the fact that to be successful in crushing organized crime, the financial underpinnings of the mob would have to be eliminated. It is on that level that the state and the police have failed to take any meaningful action against the assets of these organizations. Specifically, the report decried the fact that the assets of the criminal organizations have not been mapped out by the police and that any investigation and collection of financial information related to organized crime was not done systematically, and thus led to no seizures or confiscations of assets.

The report also summarized the many government decisions and statements issued since 2003 meant to set goals and provide the means to the police to successfully counter organized crime, noting the lack of cooperation among different agencies to implement such plans. For instance, the report criticized the Israel Tax Authority for failing to create the necessary investigation and intelligence capacity to fight organized crime. Moreover, according to the report, the Tax Authority has refused to cooperate with the police to the benefit of organized crime.

Indeed, as the State Comptroller sees it, lack of cooperation and coordination among such agencies as the Israel Tax Authority, the Israel Money Laundering Prohibition Authority, the Justice Ministry, the INP, and the State Prosecution lies at the heart of the failure to win this war. Consequently, the report recommends that the war on organized crime be concentrated under “one roof.” In addition, the State Comptroller accused the prosecution of failing to use the laws enacted by the Knesset against money laundering (2000) and organized crime (2003). And, even after making the war on organized crime one of its central goals, the State Comptroller asserted, the prosecution has failed to implement its plan of introducing the method of vertical prosecution in cases related to organized crime (Lindenstrauss, 2009).

Reacting to the State Comptroller Report, the INP defended its latest strategy in fighting organized crime but, at the same time, voiced its support for much of the report’s findings. According to the INP, due to its efforts (Lahav 433, improved intelligence, etc.) the heads of 15 out of 16 major organized crime outfits have recently been incarcerated, thus, for the first time, putting the mob in Israel on the defensive (Lappin, 2009). Still, the INP agreed with the State Comptroller that only a well-coordinated “structured financial attack” against the infrastructure of organized crime can eventually lead to the demise of organized crime in Israel.

Conclusion

Many years have passed since the existence of organized crime was brought to the attention of law enforcement and the Israeli public. The initial reaction of the INP was characterized by denial and, for many years thereafter, by empty rhetoric on the part both of the INP and the government itself. With organized crime left free to expand its illegal activities within and outside the country, violent turf wars eventually claimed the lives not only of rival mobsters but of many innocent bystanders who happened to be in the vicinity of an exploding bomb or shooting intended to kill an underworld target. With recent public demand for action, new police initiatives have been undertaken in the past three years, leading to the incarceration of the heads of many criminal organizations targeted by the police. Still, the war on organized crime in Israel cannot be called a success. As pointed out by the State Comptroller as recently as this past May, the war on organized crime lacks the financial component to target the all-important financial assets of the crime organizations. Though some anti-organized crime initiatives in Israel have been modeled after similar programs in the United States, Israel still must learn one fundamental lesson: To be successful in the war against organized crime, as well as crime in general, the entire criminal justice system and related agencies must share information, cooperate with one another, and coordinate their activities to achieve the desired common goal.

Ozone Park Boys

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:17 GMT

Ozone Park Boys

The Ozone Park Boys , also known as "Liberty Posse" and "The Young Guns" are a Gambino crime family Mafia crew based in Ozone Park, Queens . They are infamous for their massive number of crimes, including an illegal $30 million-a-year sports gambling enterprise.

Members

Ronald Trucchio, nicknamed “Ronnie One-Arm” due to a childhood accident that left him unable to use his right arm, is the Caporegime of the crew. He identified potential victims and helped plan crimes. He also acted as an intermediary with other organized crime interests. Damian Ely Bachovacchi, also known as David Ely Quaker, a Woodhaven, Queens native and a known captain of the crew, played a significant role in organizing and enforcing rackets in both Boston and South Boston and even as far north as Maine. Along with Bachovacchi, Kevin "Capone" Antinuche and Gennaro "Gerry" Bruno, are currently the alleged crew leaders.

Other notable members include Robert “Bucks” Bucholz, Peter "Bud" Zuccaro, Frank Roccaforte, Joseph Kondrotos, Valentino Nucci, Darrin Sirrota, Dave Prevete, Jamie Carr, Dave 'Three Fingers' Lortal, Seb 'Fringe' Latour, Edward "Eddie Wrecker" Callegari and Todd Patrick Mitchell of Chelsea,Mass. also jamie Carr jr. who currently resides in Louisville,KY

Criminal history

Since as early as 1986, this crew has been responsible for auto theft and "chop shop" operations, book making, racketeering, murder, robbery, arms trafficking, arson, assault, bank robbery, extortion, kidnapping, drug trafficking, tampering with witnesses, retaliating against witnesses, credit card fraud, identity theft, illegal gambling, intrastate travel in aid of racketeering activities, interference with commerce by threats and violence, interstate transportation of stolen property, insurance fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion, wire fraud, and thefts from interstate shipments.

They organized theft of automobile and automobile parts throughout the New York metropolitan area. "The crew members stole specific cars and car parts on order and dismantled the stolen cars in several chop shops in the New York area", the government said, adding that the group also used the shops to facilitate credit card fraud, insurance fraud and robbery conspiracy.

Crew members stole credit cards and account information from the U.S. mail and thereafter purchased consumer goods from merchants in New York and Florida. "The crew participated in violent armed robberies of businesses and individuals during which victims were kidnapped and assaulted", the government alleged.

Members of the criminal crew traveled from New York to South Florida to commit robberies and traffic drugs, as well as perform credit card fraud and illegal weapons sales. In 1999 Damian Ely Bachovacchi was sentenced to five years for interstate drug trafficking, weapons possession and witness tampering. He was released on parole after serving only thirty-four months leading many to believe that Bachovacchi had an "inside man". Although he quickly rs, the government has failed in every attempt to indict him. In 2004 the Federal government had a sealed indictment for Bachovacchi which was never handed down due to a "sudden" disappearance of suspects. To this day literally hundreds of files that are linked to The Ozone Park Boys remain unsolved. The government also said the crew transported stolen property from Florida to New York and also engaged in numerous armed bank robberies in the New York area.

In 1995, nightclub bouncer Vincent D'Angola and his massage-therapist girlfriend, Jamie Schneider, were found dead in D'Angola's Fort Lauderdale apartment. The next day, the bullet-riddled body of Little League coach Mark Rizzuto was found in Boca Raton. Federal and local authorities have linked the crew to these three unsolved South Florida murders.

"The Trucchio organization" operated two separate wirerooms, first in the basement of an attached, one-family house at 149-29 122nd Street and thereafter in a third-floor apartment at 89-07 North Conduit Avenue, both in Ozone Park.

The crew has been in operation for over two decades.

Conviction

In December 2000, Trucchio and his son, Alphonse, were arrested along with most of the crew for operating a $30 million-a-year sports gambling enterprise in Ozone Park. Trucchio was also charged with failing to file New York State tax returns for the years 1999, 2000 and 2001.

Roccaforte, allegedly was the clerk in the gambling operation who answered phones at the wirerooms, recorded wagers called in by bettors and recorded those wagers on tally sheets.

In July 2004, a new indictment was instated against the mobsters, claiming that while behind bars in prison, they made weapons and planned to attack people at a court hearing. They also claimed that the mobsters planned hits on several prosecutors and witnesses against them.

In 2006, Ronald Trucchio was sentenced to life in prison.

Rizzuto crime family

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:15 GMT

Rizzuto crime family

The Rizzuto family is a Mafia organization based in Montreal , Quebec , Canada . The family territory covers most of southern Quebec and Ontario. The FBI considers the family connected to the Bonanno family , but the Canadian law enforcement considers it a separate crime family. The Rizzuto family was part of the powerful Montreal Cotroni family until an internal war broke out and the Rizzutos formed their own family.

History

In the 1970s an internal war broke out in the Cotroni crime family between the Sicilian and Calabrian factions. The Sicilian faction was led by Nicolo Rizzuto and the Calabrian faction was led by family boss Vic Cotroni. This led to a violent Mafia war in Montreal leading to the deaths of Paolo Violi (who was a capo of a crew, later underboss for Vic Cotroni) and others in the late 1970s. The war ended when Vic Cotroni the Calabrian leader had to let go of the Sicilian faction led by Nicolo Rizzuto in control by the blessing of the Bonanno family. Today the family is considered the strongest crime family in Canada. The leader is Vito Rizzuto the son of the first, and late leader Nicolo Rizzuto.

Vito Rizzuto's leadership

Vito Rizzuto's style of business was a striking contrast to flamboyant American mobsters like John Gotti. He remained at the top of Canada's criminal underworld by keeping a low profile, working only with trusted people close to the family, and spreading the wealth around. He is credited with playing a major role in bringing a truce in the deadly war between the Hells Angels and the Rock Machine in Quebec. The Rizzutos worked with both Sicilian Mafia and Calabrian ‘Ndrangheta families, the Cuntrera-Caruana Mafia clan (which branched out from Sicily to Canada and South America), Colombian drug cartels and the five Mafia families of New York, in particular the Bonannos and Gambinos. Rizzuto was the mediator who oversaw the peace with the Hells Angels, the Mafia, street gangs, Colombian cartels and the Irish mobs such as the West End Gang when the order of the day was co-operation.

Current status

After consolidation of their power in the 1990s, the Rizzutos became over-exposed and over-extended. Vito Rizzuto was arrested in January 2004 for his involvement in the 1981 gangland killings of three rival Bonanno crime family captains (Alphonse Indelicato, Phillip Giaccone and Dominick Trinchera) and was sentenced to ten years in May 2007. In November 2006 the senior leadership of the criminal organization was hit by a police operation, dubbed Project Colisee. Among the 90 people arrested were Nick Rizzuto, father of Vito Rizzuto, Paolo Renda, Vito Rizzuto's brother-in-law, and Francesco Arcadi.

On December 28, 2009, Nick Rizzuto Jr., son of Vito Rizzuto, was shot and killed near his car in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, a borough in Montreal. The killing of Nick Jr. – the face of the organization on the street – illustrated the power vacuum within the upper ranks of Montreal organized crime.

Since the slaying of Vito Rizzuto's son, the organization suffered other major setbacks. Paolo Renda, Vito's brother-in-law disappeared on May 20, 2010. A month later Agostino Cuntrera, the presumed acting boss who is believed to have taken control of the family, was killed together with his bodyguard on June 30, 2010. After three decades of relative stability, the face of the city's Mafia hierarchy is subject to a major management shuffle.

On November 10, 2010, Nicolo Rizzuto was killed at his residence in the Cartierville borough of Montreal with a single bullet from a sniper's rifle punched through two layers of glass in the rear patio doors of his Montreal mansion.

Russian Mafia

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:15 GMT

Russian Mafia

The Russian Mafia [rʌ'sijskəjə 'mɑːfijə /'rʊskəjə 'mɑːfijə]; ( Russian : Рoссийская мафия, Rossiyskaya Mafiya ; Русская Мафия, Russkaya Mafiya ) is a name applied to organized crime syndicates in Russia and Ukraine . The mafia in various countries take the name of the country, as for example the Ukrainian mafia.

Bratva [[brʌt'vɑː]] (Братва; slang for "brotherhood", which applies to all gangs, including rivals) is a another name designating a range of organized crime syndicates originating in the former Soviet Union, Russia and the CIS. Since the 1991 fall of the Soviet Union, these groups have amassed considerable worldwide power and influence. They are active in virtually every part of Russian society. Russian criminals are internationally active in illegal oil trade, human trafficking, drug trafficking, smuggling of weapons and nuclear material and money laundering. In December 2009, Timur Lakhonin, the head of the Russian National Central Bureau of Interpol, stated: "Certainly, there is crime involving our former compatriots abroad, but there is no data suggesting that an organized structure of criminal groups comprising former Russians exists abroad".

History

Organized crime has existed in Russia since the days of the Czars and Imperial Russia in the form of banditry and thievery. In the Soviet period Vory v zakone or "thieves in law" (understood as "bound by code") emerged. This class of criminals had to abide by certain rules in the prison system. One such rule was that cooperation with the authorities of any kind was forbidden. During World War II some prisoners made a deal with the government to join the armed forces in return for a reduced sentence, but upon their return to prison they were attacked and killed by inmates who remained loyal to the rules of the thieves. During the era when the Soviet economy took a downhill turn, the Vory would take control of the black market with the help of corrupt officials, supplying products such as electronics or delicatessen during the Brezhnev era which were hard to reach for the ordinary Soviet citizen.

Fall of the Soviet Union

'Don' Mogilevich believed to be the "boss of bosses" of the Russian Mafia. [6]

The real breakthrough for criminal organizations began in 1988, when the Soviet Union legalized private entrepreneurship, allowing free trade. However the new law said nothing about regulations and security of market economy. Crude markets started forming, the most notorious being the Rizhsky market where prostitution rings were run next to the Rizhsky Railway Station in Moscow. As the Soviet Union headed for its collapse, so too did the economy and resulted in a social decay. Desperate for money, many former government workers turned to crime, others joined the former Soviet citizens who moved overseas, and the Russian Mafia became a natural extension of this trend. Former KGB agents, sportsmen and veterans of the Afghan and First and Second Chechen Wars , now finding themselves out-of-work but with experience in areas which could prove useful in crime, joined the increasing crime wave. Widespread corruption, poverty and distrust of authorities only contributed to the rise of organized crime . Contract killings , bombings and kidnappings reached an all-time high with many gangland murders taking place, a substantial number remaining unsolved. By the mid-1990s it was believed that the Jewish born "Don" Semion Mogilevich had become the "boss of all bosses" of most Russian Mafia syndicates in the world, and described by the FBI as "one of the most dangerous men in the world". By 1993 almost all banks in Russia were owned by the mafia, and 80% of businesses were paying protection money . In that year, 1400 people were murdered in Moscow , crime members killed businessmen who would not pay money to them, also reporters, politicians, bank owners and other opposed to them. The new criminal class of Russia took on a more Westernized and businesslike approach to organized crime as the more code-of-honor based Vory faded into extinction .

Lubyanka Criminal Group Book

Lubyanka Criminal Group (also translated as The Gang from Lubyanka ) is a book by Alexander Litvinenko about the alleged transformation of the Russian Security Services into a criminal and terrorist organization. Lubyanka is known as KGB headquarters. In the book, Litvinenko claims that Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin and other FSB officers have been involved in organized crime, including covering up drug traffic from Afghanistan .

Internationalization

The former Soviet Bloc's opening up to the world and the internationalization of its economy also gave the Russian mafia connections to other criminal organizations around the world such as the Chinese Triads or the Sicilian Cosa Nostra . Connections with Latin American drug cartels allowed the Russian mafia to import cocaine into the country. Vyacheslav "Yaponchik" Ivankov was the first major ethnically Russian organized crime figure prosecuted by the U.S. government, running his extortion operations out of Brighton Beach Brooklyn . Russian organized crime has spread to many other countries as well including Israel , India , Hungary , South Africa , Spain , Thailand and the United Kingdom .

Connections to Islamic Fundamentalism

The Chechen independence movement has gained widespread attention and support in the Islamic world and throughout the conflict foreign charity organizations and fighters from many Arab countries have volunteered their services. Since the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City, the Putin administration has made several attempts to link Russian and Chechen insurgents to Al-Qaeda . Allegations of Al-Qaeda and Taliban links to the Russian and Chechen mafia have recently appeared and well-known Chechen leaders have been at different times referred to in the media as Islamists, terrorists, and mafia bosses. In a 1995 interview, former president of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Dzhokhar Dudayev gave his opinion of the Russian media's representation of Russian and Chechen rebels:

The use of narcotics profits to finance the Russian and Chechen separatist movement and its links to Islamists groups has been suggested by various intelligence agencies. The Russian mafia presence in Argentina has been linked primarily to the use of Argentina as a transit country for Andean cocaine shipments to Europe in fishing treaters and cargo ships, arms trafficking to Brazil and Colombia , and money laundering. In the so-called "tri-border" area between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay - which is home to a sizable Arab Muslim population - Argentine intelligence sources have detected contacts between Chechen separatist groups and "Islamic terrorists" and suspect Chechen use of these networks for arms smuggling purposes. On the other side of the globe, to finance their separatist movement, Islamist leader Shamil Basayev and his Chechen followers transported Afghani heroin through Abkhazia to the Black Sea or through Turkey to Cyprus and then on to Europe.

In 1998 it was reported by Riyad 'Alam-al-Din in Nicosia and an unidentified Al-Watan al-'Arabi correspondent in Moscow that Osama bin Ladin dispatched a delegation to the Chechen Republic made up of his group and representatives of the Taliban. Secret meetings were held in the outskirts of Grozny with some members of the Chechen Mafia to put the final touches on "the nuclear warheads deal." Allegedly the deal cost $30 million in cash from Osama bin Ladin 's treasury and a grant of two tons of Afghan heroin donated by the Taliban. It was claimed that bin Ladin resorted to the services of the Chechen Mafia after many of his aides, some specializing in nuclear physics , failed in their attempts to acquire nuclear technology and equipment. However, these reports have yet to be confirmed by outside sources.

Individual gangs

Russian Mafia gangs are typically called "bratvas", "bratva" meaning "brotherhood" in Russian .

The Solntsevskaya bratva , or Solntsevskaya brotherhood (Russian: Солнцевская братва, the Solntsevo District gang)
The Izmaylovskaya gang ( Russian : Измайловская группировка, from Izmaylovo District ) was considered one of the country's most important and oldest Russian Mafia groups in Moscow and also had a presence in Tel Aviv , Berlin , Paris , Toronto , Miami and New York City . It was founded during the 1980s under the leadership of Oleg Ivanov (Олег Иванов) and was estimated to consist of about 200 active members (according to other data of 300–500 people). In principle, the organization was divided into two separate bodies— Izmailovskaya and Gol'yanovskaya (Гольяновская), which utilized quasi-military ranks and strict internal discipline. It was involved extensively in murder-for-hire , extortions , and infiltration of legitimate businesses.
The Tambov Gang ( Тамбовская банда ) of Saint Petersburg .
The Potato Bag Gang , a manifestation of the Odessa Mafia , was a gang of con artists from Odessa that operated in New York City's Soviet emigre community in the Brighton Beach area of New York City in the mid-1970s.
The Orekhovskaya gang ( Russian : Oреховскaя группировкa) was a criminal organization based in Moscow active between the late 80's and early 90's.

In popular culture

The 1994 film Little Odessa , the Russian Mafia of Brighton Beach , New York is the subject.
In the FX television show Sons of Anarchy the Russian Mafia is an ally to the Sons of Anarchy Motorcycle Club .
In the video game Grand Theft Auto IV the main protagonist is at first allied and later on against a Russian Mafia gang.
The Russian Mafia appears in the Artemis Fowl series of books by Eoin Colfer .
The 2007 film Eastern Promises , the Russian Mafia in London is the subject.

Serbian mafia

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:14 GMT

Serbian Mafia

Serbian Organized Crime ( Serbian : Cpпска мафија / Srpska Mafija , Serbian Mafia ) or Naša Stvar ("Our Thing") are various criminal organizations based in Serbia or composed of ethnic Serbs in the Serbian Diaspora. Serbian mafiosos are very active in European Union (EU) countries. The organizations are primarily involved in smuggling , arms trafficking , drug trafficking , protection rackets , illegal gambling , jewelry and gems theft, bodyguarding , and contract killings . The Mafia is composed of several major organized groups, which in turn have wider networks throughout Europe.

The Serbian Mafia gave many Serbs a "way out" of economic disaster during the internationally imposed sanctions against Serbia during the Yugoslav Wars. Serbian criminals have been recruited to state security forces, a notable example is Legija, a commander in Arkan's Tigers which after the war was re-labeled as the JSO ( Red Berets ), he also planned the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić.

The ethnic Serbian OC groups are organized in the horizontal manner and higher ranked members are not necessarly coordinated by any leader.

History

Čaruga

In the early 1900s, a known outlaw was Jovo Stanisavljević Čaruga , a hajduk in Slavonia todays Croatia who joined the "Band of mountain birds" (Kolo gorskih tića, tići ) a group of robbers who ravaged the countryside of Slavonia. The 1991 biographical film Čaruga was the last Yugoslavian film.

Ljuba Zemunac was known as a godfather of the Serbian Mafia, during the 70's and 80's he operated in Germany and Italy where he formed his gang. He was killed in 1986 by rival Goran Vuković "Majmun".

Joca Amsterdam operated in the Netherlands and became one of the strongest gangsters through his elimination of rivals while working as a hitman and took over the drug trade. He obtained the cocaine from contacts in Colombia and earned a name as the "Cocaine King". He worked for "Duja" Bećirović as an underboss. He later lived in Bulgaria where he was successful in drug smuggling until his arrest in 2002. Upon returning to Serbia, he took over companies by force, utilizing the Surčin clan, one of three then most powerful "clans" of Belgrade; Serbia. Joca was later involved in the 2008 car bombing of Croatian journalists Ivo Pukanić and Niko Franjić.

Also up-and-coming " Arkan " was successful bank robber in Western Europe during the 70's. He had convictions and warrants in Belgium , the Netherlands , Sweden , Germany , Austria , Switzerland and Italy . He managed to escape several prisons and had made connections with several known criminals from Yugoslavia during his time there. In the 80's he returned to Serbia where he started with illegal businesses and led the Red Star Belgrade supporter club Delije Sever Ultras .

The real breakthrough for criminal organizations in Serbia occurred in 1991 when wars broke out in Yugoslavia after deteriorating relations between the republics and ethnic groups . Serbs , Croats and Bosniaks fought over territory in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina . International sanctions were imposed on Serbia since 1991 and the Republic was economically isolated. The economic disaster prompted the breakthrough for criminal organizations . Desperate for money, many former military and youths turned to crime.

In 1992, the gang of "Peca" was arrested; one of the members was Dušan Spasojević, the later head of Zemun clan. A young mobster from Vozdovac Aleksandar Knežević "Knele" is murdered in October, prompting brief wars in Belgrade, he was the son of Belgrade gangster "Buca Al Kapone"

Arkan was the founder and leader of the Serb Volunteer Guard ( Arkan's Tigers ) a Serbian paramilitary unit that fought during the war, made up of Red Star Belgrade hooligans of Delije Sever and gangsters from Serbia. The members profited from the battlefields and business from Serbia. He founded the Party of Serbian Unity in 1993 . When he returned from the war, he was the most powerful of the Serbian Mafia, he soon married Turbo-Folk singer Ceca , the most popular singer in Serbia.

Slobodan Milošević

Slobodan Milošević , the President, protected the Mafia in exchange for favours, thus being in direct connection with the Mafia. The business that profited the Mafia was cigarettes and oil smuggled during the start of the Yugoslav wars because of the sanctions. The businessman Stanko Subotić is one of the names that made huge profit in these times, his net worth is €650 million, of which the greater part was made after 1993 in the cigarettes trade; he was the leader of the so called "Tobacco Mafia". After the fall of Milošević, Subotić maintained connection with the Montenegrin President Milo Đukanović . Cigarettes were produced in the Republic of Macedonia and sold into Central Europe .

From 1994-2000 illegal cigarette smuggling in Italy was operated by the Serbian Mafia together with the Italian Mafia.

The 1996 Documentary film " Vidimo se u čitulji " (See you in the obituaries) follows the gangsters of New Belgrade.

The veterans of the wars turn to crimes in high rates. The most common crimes are assassinations, kidnapping, trafficking, robberies, money laundering, racketeering and illegal software production. The high profits from criminality, corrupt environment and possibility for money laundering make the organized crime vulnerable to the international community.

In 1997, 350 kilos of heroin was seized at the Serbian-Bulgarian border.

Arkan's tomb

On 15 January 2000, Arkan was murdered in the lobby of Continental Hotel Belgrade . The killer, Dobrosav Gavrić , is a 23-year-old police mobile brigade's junior member. Gavrić had ties to the underworld.

When Slobodan Milošević lost power in the October 2000 Bulldozer Revolution . However, a bloody feud soon emerged amongst the different "clans". The feud grew into an open war in which many of the mafia bosses were assassinated.

In 2000, a total 841 million € was determined to have been illegal profits in Serbia

Organized crime in Serbia had more money and better armed than the government and police, the Serbian Interior Minister Dušan Mihajlović said in 2001 . He said Slobodan Milošević had given life to crime-syndicates as "state-sanctioned mafia". Prostitutes from the Soviet Republics working in Northern Europe were working for Balkan organizations. After Milošević lost power the Mafia was seeking a new contact in the government In September 2001, 700 kilos of heroin was found in a bank vault rented by the BIA in central Belgrade. The illegal safekeeping was never explained nor brought up. The Zemun gang had "special training courses" with the BIA, lending them information on Kosovo Albanian terrorists.

In 2002, a "White Book" was compiled with 52 criminal organizations of Serbia, none of which had been terminated by the year's end. The same year it was concluded that the Protection rackets in the harbor cities of the Black Sea were run by Serbian, Russian and Ukrainian OC.

In February 2003, Serbian police busted several pharmaceutical factories near Belgrade with a large quantity of amphetamine, the ringleader Milan Zarubica produced tonnes of drugs that he exported throughout Europe. He got 12 years and fourteen of his associates got sentences as well.

Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić is assassinated on March 12, 2003, by members of Special Operations Unit (former Arkan's tigers ), established by Slobodan Milošević in the 90s.

During the period that started with the Yugoslav wars and ended with the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić in March 2003, connections between the mafia and the government were obvious and corruption was rampant in most branches of the government, from border patrols to law-enforcement agencies. On March 12, 2003, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić was assassinated by former Serbian Special Operations Unit ( Red Berets , transformed from Arkan's Tigers ) Zvezdan Jovanovic. Legija was involved in the assasination and he too was sentenced to 50 years in prison. Đinđić had connections within the Surčin for the earlier overthrowing of Milošević. The government set in motion a major bust on criminality in - " Operation Sablja " (English: Sabre ), which led to more than 10,000 arrests. New Belgrade malls, a frequent place of gangsters, went down more than 20+% after the Operation 123 criminal groups were broken with 844 members awaiting trial; 3,949 people were issued criminal complaints, 28 kilos of heroin, 463 grams of Cocaine, 44 837 kilos of Marijuana, 4 960 synthetic drugs and 688 stolen cars were found by the day. Milan Sarajlić, the Deputy State Prosecutor of Serbia was arrested and confessed the involvement (being on payroll) with the Zemun clan. 140 kilos of marijuana is seized in Belgrade and 4 people are arrested in November, 2003. The Red Berets are dissolved on 23 March 2003.

In 2003 a White Book is published titled "Albanian terrorism and Organized Crime in Kosovo and Metohija". A total of 126 groups were registered by 2003.

In 2005 it was confirmed that Serbia loses 7.5 million RSD because of economic crime, the estimated total loss to criminal activity is at 200 million € yearly.

In 2006 It was revealed that Dušan Spasojević , the gang leader of the Zemun clan , was a connection to Serbian Radicals leader Vojislav Šešelj , whom he had given information about high-profile murders carried out in Serbia, written about in Šešelj's two books (Spasojević under pseudonym Laufer ) More than 360 kilograms of heroin was seized in the first half of the year.

In January, 2009, Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dačić estimated some 30 to 40 serious organized crime groups operating in Serbia. The figures does not include smaller size criminal groups but more organized, involved in drug trafficking and arms trafficking, human trafficking, murder and larger robberies.

In September, 2009, 22 of the Elez group is arrested by the Serbian police, dubbed the most dangerous gang in Western Balkans. The leader, Darko Elez, is captured with 5 other members in Serbia, 13 members are captured in Bosnia & Herzegovina, of which 3 were police officers.

Police seized 2.8 tons (2,800 kg, worth 120 million €) of cocaine shipment from Uruguay on October 17, 2009, the BIA and American DEA made the joint operation. On October 31, 2009, Serbian police arrested over 500 people in the biggest anti-drug bust ever in Serbia. The Interior Ministry organized the Morava-operation that would focus on drug trafficking to young people in the primary and secondary schools, clubs and cafes and would encompass 2,000 police officers searching the whole country.

In November, 2009, Argentine Police arrested 5 Serbian drug couriers and seized their 492 kilograms of cocaine in Buenos Aires , One of the largest drug busts in 2009. The routes of the drugs were from Uruguay and Argentina via Central alt. South Africa to Northern Italy alt. Turkey to Montenegro . Also, Serbian organized crime experts estimated 10,000 foot soldiers were part of 5 major organized crime groups operating in Serbia. A courier package of 5 kilos cocaine was intercepted from Paraguay, 4 Belgraders were arrested.

The busts were part of the Operation Balkan Warrior ; an international drug smuggling case that involves mainly the Zemun clan , a name concluded as leader of the drug ring is Željko Vujanović .

In December, 2009, Ivica Dačić said "half of the Serbian sport clubs are led by people with links to organized crime". 21 kilos of heroin ($1,5-million) was found in a Belgrade flat rented by a Montenegrin national, the drugs were brought from Turkey.

In January, 2010, a 20-acre (81,000 m2) lot illegally owned by the Zemun clan was seized at Šilerova Street in Zemun , Belgrade, the clans headquarters. By January 21, The Balkan Warrior Operation included 19 suspects, 9 of whom are in custody, new arrests are Darko Šarić and Goran Soković who are colleagues of Željko Vujanović . Also, the same day, a 8-man crime group involved in stealing of oil over a two-year period from the NIS pipelines, the crude oil was sold through a company, worth several hundred thousands of Euros, among the arrested is a member of the MUP.

On February 10, Serbia's top officials said serious daily death threats from the narco-mafia have been directed against President Boris Tadić, Deputy Prime minister and Interior minister Ivica Dačić, Special prosecutor for organized crime Miljko Radisavljević among other top government officials.

On February 18, a group of six robbers from Belgrade were arrested, they had since 2008 stolen more than 10 million RSD from banks, post offices, gas stations, exchange offices and stores. They were all in the ages 18–23.

On February 19, Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said that more than 50 suspects were arrested today in an ongoing operation aimed against financial crime and money laundering conducted in Valjevo , Novi Sad , Belgrade , Šabac , Sremska Mitrovica , Čačak and Sombor .

In March 2010, Stanko Subotić , aka Cane , head of the so called "Tobacco Mafia" and on an international arrest warrant of Serbia, accused Nebojša Medojević , the Montenegrin party leader of Movement for Change of having organized a manhunt on him on the orders of Serbian businessman Milan Beko and Delta Holding owner Miroslav Mišković after they stole 50 million from Cane to buy Port of Belgrade and daily newspaper Večernje Novosti . Medojević had claimed that Cane and Darko Šarić had been hiding in a Montenegrin police villa in Žabljak , while Cane said in an interview that he was in Geneva , Switzerland . It is not quite clear why Zoran Đinđić the democratic leader invited his friend Stanko Subotić to invest in Serbia after the downfall of Milošević. If Stanko Subotić was really the head of the Tobacco Mafia, Zoran Đinđić would not have invited him. It seems that Subotić may not have been involved in illegal activities but was slurred by Serbian politicians and businessmen who wanted to monopolize trade and business in Serbia, and to block independent financial support for the Democratic Party.

In 11 March, a "well-known" entrepreneur was arrested with 1.2 kilograms of heroin meant for resale in Jagodina .

In 19 March, Boris Tadić vowed an all-out war on the Serbian mafia; in particular drug trafficking that is considered the biggest threat in society. Tadić has evidence that Serbian cartels have attempted to penetrate state institutions to destabilize the government. "The latest property seizures prove that those groups have laundered narco money by investing not only into their personal houses and land but also in tourism, factories and distribution of the press," Tadić said.

On 28 March 2010, 2 Bosniaks from Novi Pazar (Serbian citizens) were arrested at the Zagreb Airport with at least 1.7 kilograms of cocaine for the Serbian drug market. The pure cocaine came from Lima , Peru where they had spent the month traveling from Belgrade. The drugs were soaked in their clothes, estimated worth on the streets of Croatia was 70,000€.

In April 2010, it was concluded that Darko Šarić's gang had planned an operation against Serbian officials, including the president. Encrypted messages in local newspapers were deciphered by investigators and after long surveillance of the clan it was concluded that several hitmen were to kill Serbian officials of the MUP, BIA and state officials in a synchronized and highly well-coordinated way. The Šarić clan wants to liquidate people that are in their way, after the Balkan Warrior Operation that heavily decreased crime in Serbia and Montenegro.

On May 14, 2010, 3 Serbs who worked security for one of Bolivia's top drug lords were killed in a shootout with rival crime groups, the drug lord was kidnapped.

Interior Minister Ivica Dačić submitted the work report for 2009; the police had uncovered 7 OC groups and arrested 86 people. He said that by the end of 2009 there were 27 registered OC groups active, with each group having more than 200 members.

There is currently an ongoing investigation against Zemun clan members involved in assassinations who claim that Šešelj has ordered the assassination of Tomislav Nikolić .

In 2010 it was revealed that the Šarić gang had, in 2008 and 2009, ousted the 'Ndrangheta from the drug market. With the emergence of the gang on Italian soil, the gang offered better quality cocaine for a lower price, effectively gaining the market from 2007–2009, trafficking cocaine from South America. The Operation Balkan Warrior was successful in Italy, with over 80 people arrested. Two networks were among the arrested, one Italian, with members from Milan and other northern Italian towns, and the other, a Serbian network, with members from Serbia, Montenegro and Slovenia. The Serbian network has operatives all over Europe and South America.

Groups

Belgrade neighborhoods

New Belgrade (Novi Beograd) gangs, organized in different Blokovi (neighborhoods), during the 90's the gangsters of New Belgrade were very successful but had after the Yugoslav wars been killed by each other.
Surčin clan, at the beginning car thefts, smuggling of petrol and cigarettes, moved on to narcotics. Had connections with officials in police, judiciary and politicians mostly prior to the Operation Sablja .
Zemun clan , Drug trafficking, contract-killing, abduction. Had connections with officials in police, judiciary and politicians mostly prior to the Operation Sablja . Head was Legija, a former member of French Legion , Arkan's tiger and Serbian Red Beret .
Šarić gang
Voždovac clan, the leader Goran Vuković "Majmun" ( monkey ) killed godfather Ljuba Zemunac .
Zvezdara clan,
Dorćol group, drug trafficking
Karaburma One of the strongest group in Belgrade, drug trafficking

The clans have control over wide networks of smaller groups.

Other

Arkan network († 2000)
Elez group (-2009)
Keka's group
Peca's gang (-1992)

Notable people

The reign of Slobodan Milošević represented the height of power of Serbian organized crime, when mafiosos and government officials were intertwined. Milošević had criminals work for him in different special units. The role of several Belgrade gangsters were described in the documentary film " Vidimo se u čitulji " ( "See You in the Obituary" ).

Name
Alias

Born/died

Title

Info

Affiliation

Mafiosi

Željko Ražnatović
"Arkan"

1952–2000

Head Boss

Considered the most powerful criminal in Serbia until his assassination in 15 January 2000 .

Own network

Zoran Šijan

1964–1999

Boss

Killed on 27 November 1999. He was the husband of Serbian Turbo-folk singer Goca Božinovska .

Surčin

Milan Lukovic
"Kum"

-2003

Head

Head of one of the largest Serbian criminal groups on record, the Zemun clan.The peak of this cartel's influence occurred from 2000 until 2003 when Lukovic was killed by Serbian police on March 27, 2003 during a country-wide manhunt initiated after the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić.

Zemun

Georg Stanković
"Žorž"

-1993

Boss

One of the infamous mob bosses of the older generation. He was murdered on October 1, 1993 by a sole hitman.

Mihajlo Divac

-1995

Boss

Leader of the Novi Beograd gang at time, he had previously survived a number of murder attempts. Divac was gunned down in the hall of the Hotel "Putnik", in Belgrade in 1995.

Novi Beograd

Jusuf Bulić
"Jusa"

-1998

Lieutenant

One of Arkan's closest lieutenants, killed in 1998.

Arkan

Dušan Spasojević
"Šiptar"
"Duća"

-2003

Head

Head of one of the largest Serbian criminal groups on record, the Zemun clan.The peak of this cartel's influence occurred from 2000 until 2003 when Spasojević was killed by Serbian police on March 27, 2003 during a country-wide manhunt initiated after the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić.

Zemun

Ljubomir Magaš
"Ljuba Zemunac"

1948–1986

Boss

A Yugoslav amateur boxer, streetfighter and gangster, during the 70's and 80's he operated his own gang in Germany and was killed in 1986 by rival Goran Vuković "Majmun".

Own gang

Đorđe Božović
"Giška"

1955–1991

Boss

One of the closest friends of Ljubomir Magaš. He was killed in Gospic.

Sreten Jocić
"Joca Amsterdam"
"Cocaine-King"

Boss
Underboss

One of most known mafiosi, became strongest in Netherlands through his elimination of rivals. He smuggled cocaine from Colombia. He worked under "Duja" Becirovic as underboss in the Belgrade group and became boss after Duja died in 1990 after Bruinsma hired the kill. He smuggled drugs in Bulgaria and was arrested in 2002. In Serbia, he took over companies with the Surčin clan. Joca was involved in the 2008 car bomb which killed journalist Ivo Pukanić in Zagreb.

Belgrade group

Aleksandar Golubović
"Kristijan"

1969-

The only surviving gangster of top Belgrade criminals in the 90's

Milorad Ulemek
"Legija"

Boss

Arkan's Tigers member during the Yugoslav wars, transferred into the Red berets by Milošević , involved in Đinđić murder

Arkan
Zemun

Aleksandar Knežević
"Knele"

1971–1992

The youngest "star" of the Serbian mafia at the beginning of the 1990s, he was a bodyguard to Serbian politician Vuk Drašković . Knežević was murdered on October 28, 1992 in his room at the " Hyatt " hotel in Belgrade.

Voždovac
Giška

Goran Vuković
"Majmun"

1959–1994

Boss

Murdered Ljuba Zemunac outside the court in 1986. Was assassinated alongside mob Dušan Malović in downtown Belgrade on December 12, 1994

Voždovac

Božidar Stanković
"Batica"

-1996

Georg Stanković's son, he was murdered on June 23, 1996 by a sole hitman.

Zoran Dimitrov
"Žuća"

1966–1996

Had priorly survived a number of assassination attempts, but was killed on October 6, 1996 by a sole hitman.

Voždovac

Rade Ćaldović
"Ćenta"

-1997

The infamous Belgrade mafioso, was murdered on February 14, 1997 in his car in Belgrade by two assassins.

Zoran Todorović
"Kundak"

-1997

Killed on 24 October 1997.

Darko Ašanin

-1998

A Belgrade gangster involved with drugs and killings. His uncle was Pavle Bulatović, the late Defense Minister. Murdered on June 30, 1998, in his cafe "Koloseum" in Dedinje by a sole hitman.

Radoslav Trlajić
"Bata Trlaja"

-2000

A Belgrade mob boss and a member of the Novi Beograd gang. He was famous for referring to Serbia and Belgrade in the nineties as "a pond too small for so many crocodiles". He was murdered on February 26, 2000 by Mile Luković of the Zemun gang.

Novi Beograd

Zoran Davidović
"Ćanda"

-2000

Murdered while returning from the funeral of Branislav Lainović on March 23, 2000 by the Zemun clan.

Stanko Subotić
"Cane"

Boss

Head of the Tobacco Mafia that smuggled cigarettes throughout Europe, allegedly connected with Serbian and Montenegrin officials.

Own gang
Tobacco Mafia

Assassinations & connected people

Radovan Stojičić
"Badža"

-1997

Chief

a police chief killed on 10 April 1997 in the pizza parlour "Mama Mia" in Belgrade by a sole hitman.

Police

Zoran Uskoković
"Skole"

-2000

Businessman

a Belgrade businessman, was murdered on April 27, 2000 by the members of the Zemun clan.

Momir Gavrilović

Deputy Chief
(Retired)

was killed by Milorad Ulemek "Legija" and the Zemun clan in an attempt to damage Zoran Đinđić's administration by convincing the public that he was killed for delivering "evidence" of government ties with the criminals. Sretko Kalinić 's, the number one hitman of the Zemun clan, DNA was found on the murder spot. Zvezdan Jovanović was asked to carry out the assassination.

BIA

Klaas Bruinsma
"De Lange"

1953-June 27, 1991

Drug lord

A Dutch drug lord killed on June 27, 1991 by Martin Hoogland, a former police hired by Joca Amsterdam as a revenge for the killing of Joca's boss, the previous Belgrade group leader Duja.

Radojica Nikčević

-1993

Businessman

Had strong ties FR Yugoslav leadership; Milošević and Arkan. He was suspected of having ties with the Medellin cartel.

FR Yugoslavia

Smail Tarić

-2008

Beheaded because of his connections with the police by two members of the Berane Clan, Velibor Brkić and Milos Rašić.

Branislav Lainović
"Dugi"

-2000

Businessman

Businessman from Novi Sad . Murdered in Belgrade on March 21, 2000 by Miloš Simović of the Zemun gang.

Activity outside Serbia

The Pink Panthers international jewel thief network is responsible for some of the most audacious thefts in criminal history. They are responsible for what have been termed some of the most glamorous heists ever, with their crimes being thought of as "artistry" even by criminologists . They have targeted several countries and continents, and include Japan's most successful robbery ever amongst their thefts.

Interpol believes that the group are responsible for US$ 130 million in bold robberies in Dubai , Switzerland , Japan , France , Germany , Luxembourg , Spain and Monaco . They are believed to be responsible for the robbery of the jewellery store Harry Winston in Paris , on December 9, 2008. The thieves escaped with more than € 80 million worth of jewellery. The total worth of jewelry that has been stolen by the Pink Panthers was 250 million € in May, 2010.

Australia

The first Serbian Mafiosi came to Australia in the late 70's, organized in a Yugoslav clan, their headquarters were some 15 kafanas in Sydney , Wollongong and Melbourne .

In the 80's the Serbian Mafia was reinforced with the arrival of Serbian immigrants.

Milivoje Matović "Miša Kobra", arrived to Sydney in 1986 and became a known gambler who organized big games. His younger brother Braca owed money to the gang of Žorž Stanković, Žorž sent his son Batica for Miša Kobra whose friend Boža Cvetić threw down the street after he had pointed a gun at them. Batica was deported to Serbia and Braca was killed in the meantime. Žorž was killed in 1993 and his son Batica in 1996.

In 2005 interviews with Australian Serbs , it was said some 20 Zemun clan members operated in Australia at the time, double the number working prior to Operation Sablja . Serbian boxer Božidar Cvetić who in 2002 was stabbed, now worked as a bouncer in Australia said that Australian police had shown him pictures of some 150 Serbian criminals active in Australia.

In May 2007, Australian police saw recruitment to organized crime motorcycle gangs from young Serbs.

Austria

The Serbian Mafia was the main operators of drug trafficking and cigarette smuggling in Austria in 2004 and Austria was the home to many Serbian gangs. [51]

On October 27, 1978 Veljko Krivokapić secretly met with Ljubomir Magaš, a member of the gang he had just left, at the Zur Hauptpost coffee house in Vienna . Magaš and another Yugoslav, Rade Caldović , grabbed Krivokapić and fractured his skull with a glass bottle.

Involvement with Corsican gangsters in late 1960s.

Stevan Markovic 's body was found in garbage bags in 1968. He was the former bodyguard of Alain Delon . His godfather, Corsican gangster Francois Marcantoni , was under investigation for murder and spent 11 months in custody.

The Pink Panthers have operated in Austria. [52]

Belgium

In 1990, Kosovo Albanian Human Rights Activist Enver Hadri is assassinated in Brussels by Veselin Vukotić , Andrija Lakonić , and Darko Ašanin , at the time hired by the UDBA (Yugoslav intelligence).

Bosnia

The Serbian Mafia is the largest organized crime group in Bosnia & Herzegovina with operations from the entity of Republic of Srpska .

The Zemun clan is active in Bosnia.

Bulgaria

From 1994-1997 Zemun clan leader Dusan Spasojevic used heroin supplies channels through Sofia.

In 1997, 350 kilos of heroin was seized at the Serbian-Bulgarian border.

Sreten Jocić (Joca Amsterdam) escaped custody in Netherlands in 1993; he left for Bulgaria where he would continue his drug smuggling under the pseudonym "Marko Milosavljevic". He was arrested in 2002 and extradited to Netherlands.

One Macedonian national and 2 Bulgarians were arrested during the Operation Moonlight linked with the Zemun clan; they trafficked cocaine from Bolivia.

Zemun clan member Nenad Milenković "Milenko" was arrested in 2003 at the Varna resort, following the international warrant by the Serbian police after Operation Sablja . He was suspected of orchestrating at least 3 murders in Bulgaria and some 20 in Serbia.

The Zemun clan successfully managed the drug traffic from Bulgaria after 2003, taking over the market from Surcin-associate Sreten Jocić.

Bulgarian tycoon Iliya Pavlov was murdered by Serbian Mafia in 2004 it is believed. He owed 250 million dollars to the Milosevic regime.

Croatian hitman Robert Matanic and his colleagues were hired by the Zemun clan to kill people of the concurrenting Bulgarian Mafia for the Balkan drug route. Dimitar Hristov, Kaloyan Savov and Zhivko Mitev were killed in a shootout on June 4, 2004. Matanic and his men were hired by Milcho Bonev ( SIC ) as bodyguards after friends of Matanic introduced by his Serbian friends in the Zemun clan. Milcho Bonev was assassinated in 2004, believed to be organized by the Serbian Mafia.

In September 2007, a believed internal feud resulted in the death of Jovica Lukic, the critical wounding of 2 other men, a mother and her baby. The men were all members of the Zemun clan.

Former Litex president Angel Bonchev had business with the Zemun clan. He was kidnapped in 2008.

The Zemun clan is active in Bulgaria.

Croatia

The murder of Croatian publisher and founder of weekly "Nacional" Ivo Pukanić and his marketing chief Niko Franjić in 2008 was ordered by Sreten Jocić who hired Željko Milovanović , a former Red Berets member who bombed the car of the publisher with the help of Milenko Kuzmanović . Pukanic had ties to Balkan criminals. All three were arrested by the Serbian police.

Czech Republic

In the 90's, Serbian organized groups were one of the leading syndicates operating in Czech republic. A letter was sent to Czech newspapers containing information on a supposed future assassination of President Havel by 5 members (Vaso, Krule, Draza, and Micko) and their whereabouts, the letter was written in broken Czech, thought by the Police to be sent by a rival gang.

Denmark

The Serbian-Danish actor Slavko Labović , who played Radovan in the movie Pusher , was arrested, along with his brother, for possession of illegal arms (loaded gun) in Sweden. He was the director of the RK Company in Denmark, an illegal gambling company owned by Rade Kotur (Spelkungen, The Gambling King ) a known figure in Sweden who hired the murder of Ratko Đokić . During the trial of Rade Kotur , Labović came to support Kotur.

Finland

Human trafficking and Illegal immigration was growing in Finland orchestrated by Serbian Organized crime groups in 2004 (alongside Chinese triads).

France

Known in French as Mafia Serbe .

In 1962, Stevica Marković, Miša Milošević and Radovan Delić arrived in Paris, were part of the "Garderodameri" that was formed in 1966 with the arrival of Marko Nicovic.

Harry Winston

The Pink Panthers have operated in France. In October 2008, police officials in Monaco arrested two members of the gang, a Serb and a Bosnian Serb. The gang is suspected of jewelry and gems theft at Harry Winston for an estimated value of up to 80 million Euros or 105 million US dollars.

Greece

Kristijan Golubović operated in Greece

After the Yugoslav wars, Kristijan Golubović worked in Greece. In 2002 he escaped from Malandrino , a Greek prison where he was serving a 14 and a half years sentence for stealing two Mercedes-Benz cars and an armed robbery.

In December 2009, two Serbs were arrested suspected of involvement of a major group smuggling cocaine from Peru to Montenegro on luxury yachts. The American DEA helped the Greek police to track the smuggling for 5 months. 2 other Serbs are wanted in Serbia.

Germany

Known in German as the German : Serbische Mafia, Jugoslawische Mafia .

The Serbian Mafia was the main operator of cigarette smuggling in Germany in 2004.

Ljubomir Magaš "Ljuba Zemunac" ("Ljuba from Zemun"), "The Godfather", is considered as the ultimate boss of the Serbian mafia at the time. He was killed by two shots to the heart from close range in front of the courthouse in Frankfurt , Germany in 1986 by Goran Vuković "Majmun".
Goran Vuković "Majmun" ("Monkey"), who is most famous for killing Ljubomir Magaš, survived five murder attempts following the killing of Ljubomir Magaš before he was assassinated in downtown Belgrade in broad daylight in 1994. He was a member of the Vozdovac clan.

Slobodan Grbović "Slobo" left Italy for Germany in the 70's and became friends with Vaso Letećeg, a thief from Belgrade. In 1981 this friendship ended when they feuded over money, Slobo shot his patron Vaso and went to prison, Vaso survived.

In 1980, Branislav Saranovic, escapes the Wuppertal prison with the help of the Ljuba Zemunac gang who blew up a prison wall.

In February, 1988, Rade Caldovic is appointed the leader in Germany after good relations with the Italian Mafia in Milano. He becomes friend with Greek businessman Mihail Sainidis who owns over 15 casinos in southern Germany. On 30 March, Zoran Lucic, a Belgrade gangster kills an Albanian rival in Frankfurt.

In the 90's, the underground of former Eastern Germany was controlled by Italian, German, Russian, Vietnamese and Serbian organized groups. Leipzig was the centre of money laundering , smuggling , prostitution and protection rackets due to the weak system. The most profitable operations of the groups from former Yugoslavia was car thefts , luxury cars were stolen in Germany and sold to Eastern Europe , North Africa and Far East .

Andrija Drašković , an heir to Arkan's syndicate following his assassination, was arrested by German police in Frankfurt after four years on the run from the Italian Anti-Organized Crime Unit. Drašković is believed to have organized the murder of his former boss Arkan .

The Pink Panthers have made jewelry robberies in Germany

Hungary

The main organized crime groups in Hungary in 2004 were the Bulgarian and Serbian Mafia.

Italy

Dado Cerović "Metko" was the most powerful of Yugoslav criminals in Milano before moving to Genova. Bole Grčić "Bembe" and Miša Begonja "Glava Ciganin" were left of his entourage in Milano.

In 1971 Ljubomir Magas arrived in Milano with "Dača" and he settled in Milan. His friend Rade Caldovic "Centa" was shot in his stomach in Verona by rival Bata Glavac, Caldovic later went to prison in Rome. The Yugoslav mafia in Milano was formed by Ljubomir Magas, Rade Caldovic, Veljko Krivokapic, Slobodan Grbović "Slobo Crnogorac", Milan Civija, Dule Milanovic, Dragan Malesevic, Mile Ojdanic, Sava Somborac, Pera Oziljak, Marinko Magda, Arkan , Djordje Bozovic "Giška". They did holdups, murders and burglaries in Trieste , Rome and Milano .

Dragomir Petrović "Zmaj" (called Drago lo Slovo , Drago the Slav in Italian) was a Serbian gangster who found his way to Milano, he was connected with a godfather of the Italian Mafia in Calabria. He was involved with gambling, bank and jewelry robberies,

Later an influx of gangsters from SR Montenegro strengthened the Yugoslav position in the Italian underworld. Vlasto Petrović "Crnogorac", Djordje Božović and Darko Ašanin were connected with mafiosi operating from Montenegro ; Branko and Slobo Šaranović, Brano Mićunović and Ratko Djokić , Sarajevo ; Miša Martinović, Zagreb ; Marko Vlahović. In the same time Slobodan Grbović "Slobo Crnogorac" left for Germany and teamed up with Vaso Letećeg, a thief from Belgrade .

During the 90's the 'Ndrangheta acquired weapon arsenal (Bazookas, explosives, automatic firearms) built in Serbia , imported through firms outside Italy.

From 1994-2000 illegal cigarette smuggling in Italy was operated by the Serbian Mafia together with the Italian Mafia.

Zemun clan member Ninoslav Konstantinovic fled Netherlands to Italy after his brother was arrested in 2003. In Italy he became a leading heroin distributor and professional hitman, working for the Italian Mafia in Naples , he is recognized as highly skilled as many of his fellow Zemun clan members are known throughout Europe. His assassinations are known to be brutal and ruthless executions.

In May 2009, Vladimir Jovanović, a former Zemun clan member and Interpol wanted was arrested in Italy .

The presence of Serbian OC groups, among others, have increased rapidly the later years because of the badly controlled coastline.

Luxemburg

International burglary networks were present in 2004, mainly from Southeastern Europe (the Balkans).

Macedonia

Branko Crvenkovski - self-proclaimed leader of the macedonian opposition. Godfather of illegal tobacco, oil and narcotic trading.
Dragan Daravelski: Ran illegal operations in Belgrade and a counterfeiting ring in Kumanovo .
Zoran Boyadjiski, involved in drug trafficking in Germany, Bulgaria under the Zemun clan.

A Macedonian national was kidnapped for a 700.000 € ransom in 2004.

Stanislava Cocorovska Poletan, married to Ranko Poletan, a former commander of the Serbian Volunteer Guard ( Arkan 's tigers), was suspected of having orchestrated the transport of 486 kilos of cocaine seized at the border crossing of Blace , heading for Greece with the final destination in Western Europe . Poletan is linked with Serbian criminal organizations operating during the Milosevic regime with cigarette and alcohol smuggling, she is also said to be close to chief of Macedonian secret police Slobodan Bogoevski. Cocorovska, who is also a holder of a Serbian citizenship, was extradited to Macedonia in May 2007 and sentenced to 14.5 years of imprisonment.

Montenegro

Montenegro was in a state union with Serbia ( Serbia & Montenegro , former FR Yugoslavia ) from 1991-2006.

The Serbian Mafia is the leading criminal group in Montenegro. Many of the Belgrade crime groups that were not caught during Operation Sablja hid in Montenegro.

The Zemun clan is active in Montenegro.

Netherlands

There has been a number of unsolved murder cases in Amsterdam that have been linked to the activities of Serbian Organized Crime gangs. In recent years the Serbian mafia has been growing strong in the Netherlands . In 2004, the Ecstacy and Heroin of Netherlands originated from the Balkan region, Serbian organized crime groups dominated the auto theft-smuggling.

Sreten Jocić ("Joca Amsterdam"), is a hitman and a drug dealer. He is considered to be the leader for the Serbian mafia in Amsterdam.

On Christmas Eve, 1974, Slobodan Mitric killed 3 alleged UDBA members in Kafana "Mostar" in Amsterdam.

In 1977, Emilio Di Giovine was wounded and 2 of his men killed by rival Yugoslavs.

On 24 October 1979, Arkan , Slobodan Kostovski and an Italian are arrested while robbing a jewelry store in Amsterdam , they had days earlier robbed a jeweller in Hague and were sought in several countries. On 8 May 1981, Arkan escaped from the Bijlmerbajes prison in Amsterdam with Italian Sergio Settimo , one of the most sought criminals in Europe.

In 1992, a member of the Chinese Triad is killed after a debt to the Serbian Mafia.

The Serbian OC groups have become stronger and has superseded the Russian Mafia in Netherlands and the arms trade is shared by Serbian and Turkish groups.

Norway

Non-Norwegian gangs and Organized Crime groups came to dominate Norway's drug trade in the 1980s. During the 1990s Norway saw a large influx of Yugoslavs seeking refugee status due to the conflict in the Balkan region.

Slovenia

A growing trend of human trafficking by Balkan organized crime groups in 2004, Serbian organized crime operated the cigarette smuggling and arms trafficking. Serbian Mafia is the strongest organized group in Slovenia.

Spain

A growing trend of auto theft was seen by Southeastern European organized crime groups in 2004, Serbian organized crime groups saw a growth in Spain.

Sweden

Known in Swedish as: Serbiska maffian, Jugoslaviska maffian, Juggemaffian.

The Serbian mafia in Sweden was said to be the top criminal organization, but its influence has declined since the deaths of several leading figures.

A war was fought over the control of the trade of narcotics and cigarettes between Serbian Organized Crime leaders which resulted in Joksa's and Ratko Đokić's deaths.

Individuals associated to Serbian Organized Crime in Sweden:

Ratko Đokić "The Godfather", arms dealer and cigarette smuggler, he was murdered May 5, 2003 by Serbian hitmen hired by Rade Kotur, another notorious Serbian criminal.
Dragan "Jokso" Joksović, notorious gambler and assumed cigarette smuggler, was murdered February 4, 1998 in Solvalla , Stockholm by a Finnish hitman hired by "Kova". He was a close friend of Arkan and is said to have helped Arkan on many occasions. Arkan and many other known mafia figures attended his funeral. As revenge, "Kova" was later killed in front of 60 guests at the order of Arkan.
Milan Ševo , declared to be the last Head of the Serbian mafia in Sweden. He has survived many murder attempts and in 2004 he escaped from prison. He is married to Ratko Đokić's daughter. It is believed that he has connections with Swedish Hells Angels MC . He is currently living in Serbia where he is a successful businessman.

Sweden saw a large influx of ethnic Serbs during the 60s and 70s, when the "Arbetskraftsinvandring" took place; The labour force of immigrants who were granted citizenship (similar to Gastarbeiter programme). In the 80's the Serbs were the main operators of drug smuggling in Sweden.

During the 90s a war on the cigarette trade was fought between factions of the Serbian Mafia in Sweden, it resulted in many deaths of top figures.

On March 15, 2003, a Colombian hitman hired by a rivaling gang failed an attempted assassination of Ševo and his companions at a K-15 fighting gala.

In 2003, in a storage room located in the Vårby Gård suburbs, the Swedish police found silenced firearms; Ak47 's Uzi 's and MP5 's, bombs; grenades , plastic explosives and mines . The arsenal was used by the Serbian Mafia in Sweden, the owner of the storage was Milan Ševo , the son-in-law of Ratko Đokić , the former head of Mafia; the title soon inherited by Ševo.

On May 5, 2003, Ratko Đokić was assassinated outside his Boxing club in Skärholmen. One of the hitmen, Nenad Mišović , was arrested in Europe years later. Mišović came to Sweden in 2002 after fleeing the police in Serbia. He was hired by Rade Kotur, a rival of Đokić

In 2004, the Serbian Mafia dominated the organized crime in Sweden, known uncovered operations were doping substances.

One of the chapters in the " Svensk Maffia " (Swedish Mafia)-book follows the history of the Serbian mafia in Sweden from the 60's to modern time.

Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dačić claims that former members of the paramilitary Red Berets took part in the 2009 Västberga helicopter robbery one of the most spectacular heists in the history. One month prior to the robbery, the Swedish Embassy was allegedly given "certain information about a criminal group which was preparing a robbery" by Serbian police.

Switzerland

Arkan is arrested in Bern, 1982, but escapes the police station.

United Kingdom

On June 2, 2009, six Serbs were convicted together with several Israelis for their role in a major smuggling of 12.5 ton (£36m) marijuana , orchestrated by the Israeli mafia . The marijuana was seized as it travelled from Larache , Morocco to Southampton on a tugboat under an Israeli flag.

The Pink Panthers have operated in London.

United States

There has been known involvement of Balkan crime groups in the United States .

One of the most notorious Serbs was Boško Radonjić , leader of the Irish-American organized crime group " the Westies ", from 1988-1992. He reestablished the relations with the Gambino family under John Gotti .

In popular culture

The Balkan Mafia has appeared in a number of films and video games. They have appeared in:

Beck – Kartellen , Swedish crime thriller, about the case of a murdered restaurant owner
In China They Eat Dogs , Danish action-comedy, about a debt to Serb gangsters
Layer Cake , British action,
Leo , Swedish drama, about the revenge of his wife's murder
Pusher trilogy , Danish action,
Paradiset , Swedish drama thriller,
Snabba Cash , Swedish action, about criminal activities in Stockholm, one of the protagonists is a Serb henchman
Rane (1998), Serbian Crime/Drama/Comedy
Vidimo se u citulji , Serbian documentary about several Belgrade mafiosi
" Straight Business 2 ", Canadian International Short Film
" Straight Business 3 ", Canadian International Short Film
The First Rule , by Robert Crais
Bröderna Jaukka (2010), Swedish short film

Captifs (international title Caged) is a 2010 French horror film directed and co-written by Yann Gozlan. The film is about a woman named Carole who is traumatized after seeing her friend Laura being killed by a dog twenty years ago. Carole works as an aid worker in former Yugoslavia and begins to leave for Kosovo with two co-workers when she is kidnapped by a gang of masked men who deal with human organ trafficking.

South Brooklyn Boys

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:12 GMT

South Brooklyn Boys

South Brooklyn Boys ( abbreviated as SBB) is a famous New York City street gang that was formed sometime around the 1950s in Brooklyn , NY. The gang has a mostly Italian American membership.

At the time of its origin, SBB consisted of several smaller neighborhood greaser gangs that were located in the South Brooklyn area of Brooklyn made up of Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Park Slope, Red Hook and Boerum Hill. Some of the gangs that made up the original South Brooklyn Boys were The South Brooklyn Devils, the Garfield Boys, The SB Angels, SB Diapers, The Wanderers, the Degraw St boys, the Sackett St Boys, The Butler Gents, The Gowanus Boys and the Kane St. Midgets. The label South Brooklyn Boys represented the loosely connected affiliation that all of these neighborhood gangs associated under.

The 1962 book, All the Way Down: The Violent Underworld of Street Gangs by Vincent Riccio and Bill Slocum, featured real accounts of the Gowanus Boys. The gang was located in the Gowanus section of South Brooklyn, and was one of the earlier neighborhood crews that would evolve into the larger, loosely affiliated South Brooklyn Boys street gang.

Reputed Lucchese mobster, Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso was a famous member of the early South Brooklyn Boys.

Since the 1950s, South Brooklyn Boys has represented not only the original 1950s gang, but many generations of kids growing up in the South Brooklyn area, most specifically the Italian section of Carroll Gardens. The term has not only been used as a gang association, but also as a loosely connected affiliation for which many neighborhood kids felt a kinship. From the 1980s to the present, a new incarnation of the South Brooklyn Boys has been very active. Currently about 50 members ages 17 to 28 years of age.

Gang sets

The South Brooklyn Boys consisted of 10 different gangs.

The Jersey crew

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:11 GMT

The Jersey crew

The Jersey Crew is a powerful faction of the Lucchese crime family , that operates and controls illegal activities like drug trafficking , labor racketeering , loansharking , extortion , illegal gambling , money laundering , and murder , in the Northern New Jersey area.

Early history

Prohibition era

The Jersey Crew was allegedly being recognized as a criminal organization upon the foundation of the Commission in 1931, after the murders of the two most powerful mob bosses in New York City, Giuseppe "Joe the Boss" Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. The crew was recognized as bootleggers under Gaetano "Tom" Reina in the early 1920s, as they worked throughout the Prohibition with smuggling of alcohol into New York City. After the meeting in Atlantic City in 1931, when Thomas Gagliano and Tommy Lucchese were chosen as bosses of the old Reina crime family, the New Jersey Crew came under the wings of the Bronx faction leaders.

Expanding the crew

Toward the 1940s and early 1950s, the New Jersey Crew expanded their operations through their legitimate businesses. The crew had since 1931 been under the control of Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese, the Underboss of the Gagliano crime family, and the crew kept operating from Bergen County through Essex, Morris, Passaic and Union counties, all the way to Sussex County. Upon the death of longtime Boss Thomas Gagliano, Tommy Lucchese was soon installed as boss of the family, which was renamed the Lucchese crime family. The crew were then headed by several of their high-ranking members, like prominent New Jersey mobsters Settimo Accardi, Anthony "Ham" Delasco, and Joseph Abate from Newark. As the time of the Joseph Abate regime as leader was ending, Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo, who was chosen to become the new leader to the crew, Accetturo had a good friendship with Lucchese caporegime Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo and was put in charge of the crews entire illegal gambling and loansharking operation in Newark. The crew had a new unofficial leader.

Accetturo in charge

Toward the 1970s, the crew was unofficially headed by Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo, because Accetturo wasn't yet inducted into the Lucchese crime family, due to "closed books". The leader of the crew was still Joseph Abate, while Anthony Accetturo was his protégé waiting to take over the crew.[2] The Jersey Crew then came to control the entire Newark area, with loansharking, illegal gambling, narcotics, money laundering and extortion operations. Reportedly, with Accetturo in charge of the crew, they handed something between $70,000 and $80,000 a year to Tommy Lucchese. Upon Lucchese's death in 1967, and several years of different "acting bosses" as Carmine "Mr. Gribbs" Tramunti and Ettore "Eddie" Coco, until the year of 1973, when Anthony Corallo was released from prison, and quickly installed as boss. Corallo, a longtime friend of Accetturo, quickly inducted Accetturo and his second in commands Michael "Mad Dog" Taccetta and Martin Taccetta into the Lucchese crime family, so they could officially control the entire New Jersey area.

Accetturo and Taccetta

During the early 1970s, Accetturo relocated to Miami to avoid prosecution for his illegal gambling and loansharking business in Newark, and Michael Taccetta was soon promoted by Accetturo to run the day-to-day activities. Accetturo even created illegal operations in Florida where he could lie low from law enforcement. Taccetta soon expanded Accetturo's former operations in New Jersey, as the crew grew stronger, and several members of the Lucchese crime family in New York were sent to aid the moneymakers over the bridge, as Taccetta developed an operation that soon controlled the entire New Jersey area. From arson and burglary, to loansharking and extortion, to illegal gambling and drug trafficking, the Jersey Crew soon made millions of dollars in profit, and sent hundreds of thousands of dollars back to Anthony Corallo in New York City for years. Both Accetturo and Taccetta soon became the most powerful mobsters in New Jersey. Accetturo would then suffer from several indictments, following the State of New Jersey's try to extradite Accetturo, but failed due to his poor health. Accetturo later relocated his business interests to Miami and Hollywood, Florida, but still remained the official boss of New Jersey. Michael Taccetta was chosen once again to run the Northern New Jersey faction of the Lucchese crime family, during the mid 1970s. Toward the late 1970s, the crew allegedly earned something between $700,000 and $800,000 in profit every year.

Operating in Philadelphia

In 1980, the longtime Don of the Philadelphia crime family, Angelo "Gentle Don" Bruno, was shot and killed on March 12, resulting in a huge power vacuum between prominent Bruno members Philip Testa and Nicodemo Scarfo, both fighting for the total control of the Bruno crime family. Accetturo and Taccetta, on the other hand, used their situation to establish a new foothold in Philadelphia, as a part of the Jersey Crew, with illegal gambling and loansharking operations. Unfortunately, because of the bad relations between the two factions in Philadelphia's crime family, as well as both Taccetta and Accetturo taking advantage of the situation, the relationship between Philadelphia and the New York Families, especially the Luccheses, eventually turned worse after the murder of Angelo Bruno, which led to all cooperation between the families being completely terminated. It was around this time that prominent Bruno member Giacomo "Jackie" DiNorscio, and many others, defected to the New Jersey faction of the Lucchese crime family to make more profit and to avoid being killed.

21 months in trial

During the early 1980s, US law enforcement started an operation to determinate all organized crime activities in the North Jersey area, as a four-year-long investigation was finally announced, and indictments were brought up toward 20 members of the Jersey Crew. Accetturo was brought from Florida, the Taccetta brothers were arrested in Newark, and 17 other known members were put on trial for 76 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) predicates, which included loansharking, extortion, racketeering, illegal gambling, money laundering, drug trafficking, arson and thefts, as well as murder and conspiracy to commit murder. In late 1986 and early 1987, the trial first began. During the trial, former member of the Philadelphia crime family Giacomo "Jackie" DiNorscio fired his lawyer and went on to represent himself during the entire trial. Although not popular with Accetturo and Taccetta, DiNorscio is reported to have charmed the jury, as the trial ended in 1988 with the acquittal of all 20 defendants. The prosecutors were stunned, as the Jersey Crew went right back where they left off.

The Taccetta era

As the trial ended with all defendants acquitted in 1988, the authorities eventually managed to split up the Jersey Crew, as Michael Taccetta grew jealous on Anthony Accetturo, Jr., who was said to take over for Anthony Accetturo on his eventual retirement. The Taccetta brothers reportedly claimed war on Accetturo, who had escaped to Miami to avoid being killed. Although the war never got to a point of massive shooting in the streets, the two factions were close to killing and destroying each other completely in late 1988. But the crew had other problems, as the Lucchese crime family was given new leadership, when Vittorio "Vic" Amuso stepped up after Corallo.

New York rivalry

Toward the year of 1989, the Jersey Crew's war position had eventually declined, as the two factions were more interested in making money than who was in charge. The new leaders were reportedly Michael Taccetta and Martin Taccetta, who operated through their legitimate business, Taccetta Group Enterprises, which was under control by the Lucchese crime family. Through the company, the Jersey Crew were able to launder money and pay their tribute to the heads of the Luccheses in New York, but as Anthony Corallo was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1987, and his protegé Anthony "Buddy" Luongo was found murdered earlier, the new bosses Victor Amuso and Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, known for their brutal use of violence, questioned the profit they received from the Jersey Crew. Apparently, both Accetturo and Taccetta had skimmed off the profit and only sent a $50,000-a-year payment to the new leaders from the Brooklyn faction. When they demanded 50% of the crew's total profit, both Taccetta and Accetturo reportedly refused, portraying themselves as hard-working money machines that were only having a bad year. Amuso and Casso, on the other hand, saw this as an act of weakness, and gave the order to "Whack Jersey", meaning that the entire North Jersey faction should be eliminated. Summoned to a meeting in Brooklyn with Victor Amuso and Anthony Casso, the entire North Jersey faction, who were fearful of being massacred, went into hiding, disrupting their illegal activities. Over the next 12 months, most of the New Jersey crew members came back to the family. Amuso is to have portrayed Accetturo as a distrustful servant who was betraying his boss, as Taccetta reportedly is to have sent messages to Amuso in Brooklyn, asking for a contract to be placed on Accetturo's life, so Taccetta could control the entire New Jersey faction.

Taccetta's arrest and trial

Upon the murder-contract Taccetta had put on his life, Accetturo had been placed under federal protection, as he was extradited from North Carolina to New Jersey. During this time, Accetturo had little power in the Jersey Crew, as Amuso had reportedly stripped his rank and demoted him to soldier. The Taccetta brothers also had problems, as their longtime rival Thomas Ricciardi was ready to step up and take control over the North Jersey faction of the Lucchese crime family in the early 1990s, but as everything looked to bring a new war to the streets, Accetturo, the Taccetta brothers and Ricciardi were put on trial for racketeering, loansharking, extortion, illegal gambling, drug trafficking, murder and conspiracy to commit murder. As the entire crew's administration was put on trial in 1992, Ricciardi decided to defect to the government and turn state's evidence in the beginning of the trial, and eventually testify against Martin and Michael Taccetta. Although Michael Taccetta was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1993, his brother Martin was acquitted on the murder charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison, as he can be paroled in 2016. Ricciardi went into the Witness Protection Program, and revealed that the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) case in 1988 ended the way it did because the jury had been rigged.

2007 indictment

Chart of the 2007 "Operation Heat" capos Joseph DiNapoli, Matthew Madonna, Ralph V. Perna and Nicodemo Scarfo, Jr.

On December 18, 2007, New Jersey law enforcement indicted and arrested 32 members and associates of the Lucchese crime family. In a year-long investigation titled "Operation Heat" law enforcement agencies uncovered a $2.2 billion dollar illegal gambling, money laundering and racketeering ring from New Jersey to Costa Rica . Two members of the Lucchese family three man ruling panel were indicted Joseph DiNapoli and Matthew Madonna , top New Jersey Faction capos Ralph V. Perna and Nicodemo Scarfo, Jr. . Others indicted included members Alphonse Cataldo, Martin "Marty" Taccetta (brother of Michael Taccetta), and associates Frank Cetta, Antonio Russo, Joseph M. Perna and John G. Perna, Ralph M.

Perna (all three are sons of Ralph Perna), John Mangrella, Gary Medure, Samuel Juliano, Michael Maffucci, Gianni Iacovo, Robert Romano, James Furfaro Jr., John Turi, George Maiorano, Michael A. Cetta, Charles J. Bologna, Elliot Porco, Shptim Hani, Blerim Ibriami, Michael Ramuno III and two female associates Roseanne Perna (wife of Joseph Perna) and Vita Cetta.

The investigation also uncovered that Lucchese family members had aligned with members of a Bloods street gang set "Nine Trey Gangsters" to smuggle heroin, cocaine, marijuana and cell phones into East Jersey State Prison with corrupt prison guards. The prison corruption involved Lucchese associates Joseph Perna and Michael Cetta with gang members Edwin Spears, Dwayne Spears, Francine Higtower, Kristine Gilliam, and Michael Bruinton.

Current position

Although the Jersey Crew is much weakened due to increased law enforcement and internal rivalry, Michael Taccetta, at age 60, is reported as the official boss of the New Jersey faction of the Lucchese crime family, though he is serving a prison term without the possibility of parole . Upon his release, Martin Taccetta is reportedly ready to take over as the Boss of North Jersey. The crew is estimated to have between 20 to 30 made members, and twice as many associates. Still, after prosecution, the Jersey Crew remains a strong faction of the Lucchese crime family, operating with illegal activities mostly in Newark.

Historical leadership of the Lucchese's New Jersey faction

A leading capo in the faction is chosen as boss to supervise the other capos. However, this rank of boss carries little power in New York as the family leadership still views him as just a capo.

1920s–1930 – Gaetano "Tom" Reina (controlled the New Jersey Faction from his Bronx base; involved in transporting bootleg alcohol and whiskey into NYC; murdered on February 26, 1930 during the Castellammarese War by the Masseria faction.)
1930–1953 – Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese (Underboss he over saw the faction actives and operations he received profits from the faction; Lucchese was promoted to Boss of the family in 1953 and moved to Long Island)
1940s–1955 – Settimo "Big Sam" Accardi (became the leading member of the New Jersey faction operating from his Newark Crew ; promoted to Boss/Capo of the entire New Jersey faction after Lucchese became the Boss in 1953; Accardi worked with rival Elizabeth, NJ family boss Sefano Badami; in 1953 his citizenship was revoked; arrested on narcotics charges in 1955 and fled the country)
1955–1960s – Anthony "Ham" Delasco (became the Boss/Capo of the Jersey Faction ; Anthony Accetturo became his driver and protégé shaking down bookies and loan-sharks for Delasco; he died sometime in 1960s)
1960s-1979 - Joseph Abate (became the Boss/Capo of the Jersey Faction; took over the Newark crew after the death of Delasco; semi-retired in 1979 leaving Accetturo in charge of the Crew; died naturally in 1994, age 92)
1970s-1988 - Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo (allegedly in charge of a crew in his early 20s, while working with Anthony Delasco as his driver and protégé; continued to work for the Jersey faction under Joseph Abate he was finally inducted by 1976; took over as Acting Boss in 1979; relocated to Florida during the late 1970s early 1980s and set up rackets; acquitted in the 21-month trial along with other Jersey faction members on August 26, 1988; in 1987 was stripped of Capo his rank demoted to a soldier; tension between Accetturo and Taccetta almost started a war; was threatened to be murdered in 1993 Accetturo defected and became an informant)
Acting 1980s-1988 - Michael "Mad Dog" Taccetta (Michael had his own hierarchy with Michael Perna as underboss and his brother Martin Taccetta as Consigliere they controlled the entire Jersey Crew of the Lucchese family)
1988–present – Michael "Mad Dog" Taccetta (served as the acting leader for Accetturo; acquitted in the 21-month trial along with other Jersey faction members on August 26, 1988 and became the official leader of the Jersey faction late 1988; almost started a war with Accetturo; Michael set up some rackets in Philadelphia in the early 1990s; in 1993 was convicted to life in prison along with his brother Martin and Michael Perna with help from testimony of Thomas Ricciardi and Anthony Accetturo; Michael stayed the official leader of Jersey Faction).
Acting 2005-2007 – Martin "Marty" Taccetta (released from prison in 2005 due to lack of evidence in his 1993 trial; took over again with help from Ralph Perna; On July 30, 2009 the New Jersey Supreme Court reversed lower court decision that granted him his release and reinstated his life sentence for racketeering and extortion)
Acting 2007–present - Ralph Vito Perna (the 63 year was released from prison in 2006; is serving as Acting Boss/Capo on behalf of Michael Taccetta)

Current faction leaders

The Lucchese family's New Jersey faction operates in Newark's Down Neck section and Northern Jersey counties of Essex , Union , Morris , Monmouth , Bergen , Passaic and Sussex . [1] [2] In the faction also has rackets in Florida , South Jersey and Philadelphia .

Boss/Capo Michael "Mad Dog" Taccetta - Capo of the Jersey crew and boss of the entire New Jersey faction of the Lucchese family. Longtime rival of Victor Amuso. Currently serving life in prison for conspiracy charges and drug trafficking. His younger brother Martin Taccetta was reportedly the acting boss of the Jersey Crew until he was sent back to prison.
Acting Boss/Capo Ralph Vito Perna - longtime Jersey faction member, released from prison in 2006 and took over as acting faction leader in 2007. Perna was arrested in December 2007 with Joseph DiNapoli , Matthew Madonna two members of the family's ruling committee. The Jersey crew was involved with running a gambling operation that earned approximately $2.2 billion in a 15-month period. The crew also worked with New Jersey correction officers and members of the Nine Trey Gangster, a set in the Bloods gang. The crew would use gang members to smuggle drugs and pre-paid cell phones into New Jersey state prisons.

Capos

Robert "Bucky the Boss" Caravaggio - Capo in the Jersey Crew who oversees operations in the northern New Jersey, especially Morris County. Caravaggio also worked with Carlo Taccetta.
Joseph "Joey" Giampa - Capo in the Jersey Crew. Giampa has a stepson named Gennaro Vittorio, a.k.a. Gerry Giampa who is also involved in organized crime.
Nicodemo Scarfo, Jr. - Capo operating in the South Jersey-Philadelphia area , he is the son of former Philadelphia family boss Nicodemo Scarfo . He was a soldier in the Scarfo family , until his father’s arrest in the mid-1990s, he then joined the Lucchese family with his father’s help. There are rumors that Scarfo is trying to take over the Philadelphia family.

Soldiers

Alfonso T. "Tic" Cataldo - a soldier in the Lucchese family running illegal gambling operations in northern New Jersey. He is working with Eurasian organized crime groups. Cataldo was arrested in December 2007 on charges of promoting gambling, money laundering and racketeering charges along with two members of the Lucchese ruling panel Joseph DiNapoli and Matthew Madonna .
( In prison ) Michael J. Perna - soldier and former Capo in the Jersey faction ; he began working for the Lucchese families Jersey faction sometime in 1976; by the 1980s was serving as the Underboss of the Jersey Faction for Michael Taccetta; acquitted in the 21 month trail along with other Jersey faction members on August 26, 1988; in 1993 was convicted of gambling and extortion along with Michael and Martin Taccetta with the testimony of Thomas Ricciardi and Anthony Accetturo ; relatives include his father Joseph Perna, younger brother Ralph; The 67 year-old is currently imprisoned at the Federal Correction Institution at Fairton, New Jersey his projected release date is August 2, 2015.
( In prison ) Martin Taccetta - soldier and former Capo in the Jersey Crew was released from prison in 2005 due to lack of evidence in his trial, and wrongfully being accused of murder charges in his older brother Michael Taccetta's trial in 1993. On July 30, 2009 the New Jersey Supreme Court reversed lower court decision that granted Taccetta release and reinstated Martin life sentence for racketeering and extortion.

Sub-groups

The Jersey Faction has several sub-groups

In Miami and Hollywood Florida started by Anthony Accetturo in the late 1970s.
In Philadelphia started by Michael Taccetta in the 1980s.

Former Jersey crew members

Giacomo "Jackie" DiNorscio (former Philadelphia crime family member changed to join Lucchese crime family in 1980's)
Thomas "Tommy Boy" Ricciardi (soldier; 1993 turned FBI informant)
Vincent "Jimmy" Craparotta (Lucchese family associate; killed 1993)

Popular culture

The 2006 Sidney Lumet film Find Me Guilty chronicles the 2-year trial of Accetturo, the Taccetta brothers and the other family members. Vin Diesel stars as Giacomo "Jackie" DiNorscio who defends himself.
According to the Crime Library website, the Jersey Crew is the main inspiration of the DiMeo crime family in the HBO TV-show The Sopranos . Michael Taccetta is probably the inspiration to the leading role of Tony Soprano , as other real-life Jersey crew members can be recognized on the screen.

The Vario Crew

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:10 GMT

The Vario Crew

The Vario Crew is a group operating within the Lucchese crime family . It was once controlled by powerful Capo Paul Vario from the early 1950s into the early 1980s, when Vario and Jimmy Burke were betrayed by Henry Hill . Hill betrayed the crew by testifying against many members and his life-story became the plot of the 1990 crime film Goodfellas . Today the crew is still active, but less influential than before and is currently led by Domenico Cutaia .

History

Paul Vario's power

Paul Vario received money from members of his crew and local criminals; Vario would take a cut and pass on the rest to the Boss. Vario's crew was involved in hijacking cargo shipments from JFK Airport. His crew also ran several loansharking and bookmaking operations in Brooklyn.

Jimmy "The Gent" Burke, was a close ally to Paul Vario. Burke ran a crew of hijackers that would pay off truck drivers and then unload the goods at a warehouse controlled by Paul Vario. Another ally to Vario was John Dioguardi, a Lucchese family capo who controlled unions in the New York City. In the 1970s, when Paul Vario and Jimmy Burke were imprisoned, a majority of Vario's bookmaking operation were taken over by his Russian Jewish associate Martin Krugman.

Henry Hill's drug organization

Two of Vario's crew members, Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke, began dealing in heroin, cocaine, marijuana and amphetamines. Hill ran his criminal enterprise with his wife Karen, William Arico, Anthony Perla, Rocco Perla, Robin Cooperman and Judith Wicks. In early 1979, Burke and Hill began selling heroin.

After Robert "Bobby" Germaine Jr., the son of Henry Hill's drug partner, became an informant, Hill was monitored. In 1980, Hill was arrested for drug dealing and looking at several life-sentences he became an informant. Henry Hill's testimony led to 50 convictions. Jimmy Burke was given 20 years for fixing sporting events and a life sentence when the authorities convicted him for murdering scam-artist Richard Eaton. Paul Vario was given a 12½-year sentence during the KENRAC trial.

Historical leadership of the Vario Crew

Capos of the Vario crew

Past members and associates of the crew

List of past members and associates who are retired, deceased or have been murdered.

Former headquarters and hangouts

The crew operates throughout the New York City metropolitan area; these are some of the former headquarters and hangouts.

Government informants and witnesses

In popular culture

The 1990 film Goodfellas is based on the Vario Crew and the life story of crew associate Henry Hill .

Westies

Tue, 07 Sep 2021 23:13:08 GMT

Westies

The Westies are a predominantly Irish American organized crime association operating from the Hell's Kitchen area of Manhattan's West Side in New York City . According to crime author T. J. English , "Although never comprised of more than twelve to twenty members — depending on who was in or out of jail at any given time — the Westies became synonymous with the last generation of Irish in the birthplace of the Irish Mob...." According to the NYPD Organized Crime Squad, and the FBI , the Westies were responsible for between 60-100 murders from the period of 1968-1986. Most Westies victims were dismembered and in some cases tortured to death.

History

Spillane years

In the early 1960s Mickey Spillane stepped into a power vacuum that had existed in Hell's Kitchen since gang leaders fled the area in the early 1950s to avoid prosecution. A mobster from Queens named Hughie Mulligan had been running Hell's Kitchen; Spillane, a native, was his apprentice until inheriting the throne.

Spillane sent flowers to neighbors in the hospital and provided turkeys to needy families during Thanksgiving, in addition to running gambling enterprises such as bookmaking and policy, accompanied inevitably by loansharking. Loansharking led to assault, and Spillane had burglary arrests as well. However, among all his criminal activities, the most audacious was his "snatch" racket (kidnapping and holding local businessmen and members of other crime organizations for ransom).

He was able to add to his neighborhood prominence by marrying Maureen McManus, a daughter of the prestigious McManus family which had run the Midtown Democratic Club since 1905. The union of political power with criminal activity enhanced the gang's ability to control union jobs and labor racketeering, moving away from the declining waterfront and more strongly into construction jobs and service work at the New York Coliseum, Madison Square Garden, and later the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center.

Spillane-Coonan wars

The war began when James "Jimmy C" Coonan, an 18-year-old Irish hood, swore revenge against Michael "Mickey" Spillane, the boss of Hell's Kitchen, following the Spillane-initiated kidnapping and pistol whipping of Coonan's father. In 1966, Coonan fired an automatic machine gun at Spillane and his associates from atop a Hell's Kitchen tenement building. Although Coonan wounded no one, Spillane understood that the younger hoodlum was not to be taken lightly. Coonan was imprisoned for a short period of time because of murder and kidnapping charges that were pleaded down to a Class C Manslaughter Felony Charge. He was released in late 1971 and continued his war with the Westside Gang and his criminal career.

Trouble with the Genovese Family

Hell’s Kitchen was no longer safe for Spillane and his family, and he moved to the Irish working-class neighborhood of Woodside, Queens. With Spillane gone, his control of the rackets in Hell's Kitchen began to deteriorate; Coonan became the neighborhood's boss, although some still viewed Spillane as boss. On the New York Commission, Spillane was still viewed as the Irish Mob boss on the Westside, putting the Javits Convention Center construction site under his control. Anthony Salerno, a high-ranking member of the Genovese crime family, wanted the center for himself and reached an agreement with Jimmy Coonan. If Coonan became boss, Salerno would run the construction site and give Coonan a taste of the proceeds.

Salerno then reached out to Buffalo Crime Family associate and freelance hitman, Joseph Sullivan, to eliminate the three main Spillane supporters in Hell's Kitchen, Tom Devaney, Tom Kapatos, and Edward Cummiskey. Cummiskey had apparently switched sides to the Coonan camp, but Salerno and Sullivan were not aware of the switch. Devaney and Cummiskey were murdered in late 1976, and Kapatos was killed in January 1977. Spillane was now out of the picture, and Coonan was the undisputed boss of Hell's Kitchen. It was felt that Spillane still had to die. Roy DeMeo, a Gambino crime family soldier, murdered Spillane as a favor to Coonan. Mickey Featherstone stood trial for the murder and was found not guilty.

Coonan and Featherstone

During the late 1970s, Coonan tightened the alliance between the Westies and the Gambinos, then run by Paul Castellano. Coonan's main contact was Roy DeMeo. In 1979 both Coonan and Featherstone were acquitted of the murder of a bartender, Harold Whitehead. Another Westie, Jimmy McElroy, was acquitted of the murder of a Teamster in 1980.

Even though both Westies leaders were imprisoned in 1980 — Coonan on gun possession charges, Featherstone on a federal counterfeiting rap — the gambling, loansharking, and union shakedowns continued on the West Side. After DeMeo himself was murdered, Coonan's Gambino connection became Danny Marino, a capo from Brooklyn. Coonan eventually interacted directly with John Gotti, who took over the Gambinos after Castellano's murder in December 1985. From time to time, the Westies worked for the Gambinos as a contract killer squad.

Featherstone was convicted of murder in early 1986 and began cooperating with the government in hopes of getting the conviction overturned. The information he and his wife Sissy provided, and the recordings they helped make, achieved this aim. In September 1986 the prosecutor who oversaw Featherstone's conviction told the presiding judge that post-conviction investigation had revealed Featherstone was innocent. The judge immediately overturned the verdict.

At that point the information provided by the Featherstones resulted in the arrest of Coonan and several other Westies on state charges of murder and other crimes. Shortly afterward, federal prosecutor Rudolph Giuliani announced a devastating RICO indictment against Coonan and others for criminal activities going back twenty years. Featherstone testified in open court for four weeks in the trial that began in September 1987 and concluded with major convictions in 1988. Coonan was sentenced to sixty years in prison on assorted charges. Other leading gang members were also sentenced to long prison terms, including James McElroy, a top enforcer who was sentenced to 60 years, and Richard "Mugsy" Ritter, a career criminal sentenced to 40 years on loan-sharking and drug related charges.

Kevin Kelly and Kenny Shannon

During the mid-to-late 1980s, while Jimmy Coonan lived in his luxurious suburban home and Mickey Featherstone futilely attempted to support his family by legitimate means, Kevin Kelly and his sidekick, Kenny Shannon, became the most active racketeers on the West Side. Sports, gambling, and dealing coke to young professionals on the East Side were their primary rackets. In 1988, after two years on the run for a failed murder attempt, Kelly and Shannon could no longer take the heat after being featured on Americas Most Wanted and decided to turn themselves in to the authorities. Giuliani claimed that they were the last ruling body of the Westies, but he was wrong.

"The Yugo" and the new era

By the early 1990s, the old demographic of the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood was disappearing. The blue-collar Irish-American community was being displaced by a more affluent and ethnically diverse group of residents. With this change came a decrease in street crime and a change in leadership. Bosko “The Yugo” Radonjich, a Serbian nationalist and onetime anti-communist started his Westies affiliation as a low-level associate of Jimmy Coonan in 1983. He became the boss of the Westies when Kelly was sent to prison in 1988.

Around 1992, Radonjich fled the country to avoid jury tampering charges. He was eventually arrested by U.S. Customs officials during a stopover in Miami, Florida in 1999. However, Radonjich was released when the main witness in the case, Sammy Gravano, was deemed unreliable. Radonjich has since returned to his native Serbia.

Organized crime groups in New York City

Italian American Mafia

The Five Families: Bonanno · Colombo · Gambino · Genovese · Lucchese

Irish organized crime

Active

The Westies

19th Street Gang · 40 Thieves · Bowe Brothers · Dead Rabbits · The Ducky Boys · Gopher Gang · Grady Gang · Hudson Dusters · Kerryonians · Marginals · Patsy Conroy Gang · Potashes · Rhodes Gang · Roach Guards · Swamp Angels · White Hand Gang · Whyos · Yakey Yakes

Jewish-American organized crime

Arnold Rothstein · Dutch Schultz · Eastman Gang · The Bugs-Meyer gang · Murder, Inc. · Yiddish Black Hand

Russian Mafia

Evsei Agron's Bratva · Marat Balagula's Bratva · Potato Bag Gang

Eastern Europe groups

Velentzas crime family (Greek) · The Greenpoint Crew (Polish) · Rudaj Organization (Albanian, inactive)

Outlaw Motorcycle Clubs

Hells Angels · Satan's Soldiers · 69'ers

African-American groups

Active

United Blood Nation · Crips