Even for an infamous gang of mobsters already weakened by federal prosecutions spanning decades, Feb. 7, 2008 was an unusually bad day for the Gambino organized crime family.
Hundreds of federal agents fanned out across the city and elsewhere in a roundup of 62 suspects from all walks of Mafia life, from reputed acting boss John "Jackie Nose" D'Amico _ a crony of former boss John Gotti _ to common street thugs.
At the time, authorities made headlines by hailing the takedown as one of the largest in recent memory and predicting it would further cripple a storied crime family formerly led by the legendary "Dapper Don."
Six months later and with far less fanfare, 60 of the defendants have pleaded guilty, with many taking deals that will put them behind bars for three years or less. Two of the pleas were entered Thursday and one case was dismissed last week, leaving a lone defendant charged with murder facing trial.
The U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn, which has a long history of prosecuting high-profile Mafia cases with lengthy trials and sentences, has called the case a success. But some defense attorneys suggest the many plea deals show the office overreached and became overwhelmed as the judge pushed for a speedy outcome. "There's no such thing as a 62-defendant trial," said one of the lawyers, Avraham Moskowitz. "So what's the point? The point is to make a splash."
Extortion charges against his client, a New Jersey construction official, were quietly dropped earlier this month after prosecutors conceded they didn't have enough evidence against him. But by then, the lawyer said, an innocent man had seen his reputation ruined by stories linking him to co-defendants with nicknames like "Tommy Sneakers" and "Joe Rackets."
"My client's experience suggests they brought an indictment without careful evaluation of the evidence," he said. "He had his name dragged through the mud for no reason."
Former mob prosecutors say there was nothing haphazard about the Gambino case. Instead, they say, it reflected a calculated shift in strategy favoring carpet bombing of the entire enterprise over strategic strikes against leadership.
"In my view, this is groundbreaking," said James Walden, a former federal prosecutor in Brooklyn who won major convictions against the Bonanno crime family. "They essentially took out the entire organization in one fell swoop" _ an approach designed to reap a new crop of cooperators and rattle those mobsters still on the street but under surveillance.
"It disrupts the family and creates an environment of insecurity," he said. "It causes people to get nervous and talk about things they normally wouldn't talk about."
Prosecutors in Tampa, Fla., took a separate shot at the Gambinos last week, naming John A. "Junior" Gotti in a murder and drug trafficking indictment linking him to three New York City murders from the 1980s and '90s. Three previous cases brought against the Gotti scion since 2005 ended in mistrials.
Randy Mastro, another ex-prosecutor who targeted mob ties to construction as a deputy mayor to Rudy Giuliani, said the two cases have demonstrated the government's resolve to combat a resilient foe. The Brooklyn prosecution, in particular, was "an innovative approach to an endemic historical problem," he said. "Whether it will work, time will tell."
The 80-count Gambino indictment charged the defendants with seven murders, three dating back more than a quarter century, "mob-tax" extortion of the construction industry and racketeering. Among the crime were the slaying of a court officer and extortion at a failed NASCAR track.
Authorities said the case was built with the help of an informant in the construction industry who made three years worth of secret recordings implicating many of the defendants. The arrests, they added, coincided with a smaller sweep of accused gangsters in Italy in a bid to sever the relationship between the Sicilian Mafia and the Gambino family.
On Thursday, reputed capo "Little Nick" Corozzo and co-defendant Vincent DeCongilio avoided a trial scheduled for next week by pleading guilty. The indictment alleged Corozzo ordered the Jan. 26, 1996, murder of a rival mobster. Corozzo now faces 12 to 15 years in prison for murder conspiracy _ by far the harshest term for any of the defendants _ and DeCongilio 12 to 18 months for lesser crimes.
According to prosecutors, Corozzo, 68, was part of a three-man committee of capos formed in 1994 to help "Junior" run New York's Gambino family while his father was in prison, serving a life sentence for murder and racketeering; the elder Gotti died behind bars in 2002.
In May, D'Amico, the acting boss originally charged with racketeering, pleaded guilty to extorting a cement company out of $100,000 and could serve less than two years in prison. The plea, his lawyer said afterward, shows "a lack of evidence and quality of evidence."
Thanks to Tom Hays
Friday, August 15, 2008
Reputed Mob Associate is Good Family Man and Neighbor, Bad Citizen
In the annals of Chicago organized crime, among "No Nose," "Joe Batters" and "The Lackey," mob underling Joe Venezia was never awarded a nickname.
Yesterday, the 65-year old Venezia may have earned his own mob moniker. Joe "The Family Man" Venezia.
That was the gist of Mr. Venezia's plea for mercy as he stood to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel. Venezia contended that he should get a break because he was a good family man to his wife and kids.
The government contended that Venezia was a good member of another family: the Chicago Organized Crime family, where he worked for an illegal video poker racket in the suburbs.
In the end, Judge Zagel brushed aside Venezia's standing in the Venezia family. "He is a good family man and a good neighbor," Zagel said. "He is not a good citizen."
With that, Zagel sentenced the aging hoodlum to 40 months in federal prison and three years of probabtion once he is released.
Venezia pleaded guilty to gambling and tax offenses that were leveled against him in the landmark Operation Family Secrets mob case, but he was not implicated in any of the 18 murders allegedly committed by some co-defendants.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie and Ann Pistone
Yesterday, the 65-year old Venezia may have earned his own mob moniker. Joe "The Family Man" Venezia.
That was the gist of Mr. Venezia's plea for mercy as he stood to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel. Venezia contended that he should get a break because he was a good family man to his wife and kids.
The government contended that Venezia was a good member of another family: the Chicago Organized Crime family, where he worked for an illegal video poker racket in the suburbs.
In the end, Judge Zagel brushed aside Venezia's standing in the Venezia family. "He is a good family man and a good neighbor," Zagel said. "He is not a good citizen."
With that, Zagel sentenced the aging hoodlum to 40 months in federal prison and three years of probabtion once he is released.
Venezia pleaded guilty to gambling and tax offenses that were leveled against him in the landmark Operation Family Secrets mob case, but he was not implicated in any of the 18 murders allegedly committed by some co-defendants.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie and Ann Pistone
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Joseph Venezia Says He Only Worked for the Mob and Was Not in the Mob
A low-echelon courier for the Chicago Outfit alleges that federal prosecutors are trying to throw the book at him because he is Italian.
Joseph Venezia of Hillside pleaded guilty to running a gambling business and hiding the his profits from the IRS. He was charged with more than a dozen Chicago hoodlums in the Operation: Family Secrets mob case.
In a court filing, Venezia attorneys state that the hoodlum "takes objection to the investigating agent's conclusion that he was an 'associate' of the Chicago Outfit. There is nothing other than his name ending in a vowel that distinguishes" him from other, non-Italian defendants, argue Venezia's lawyers.
Mr. Venezia, 65, was a runner for an Outfit gambling operation in Cicero. He admits having been "a route man who, among his other duties, collected the proceeds from the video poker machines. For this he was paid a salary of $2,400.00 per month. His tenure was from 1996 until his arrest."
Venezia is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Chicago. The motion filed by his lawyers in advance of sentencing asks for probation, downplaying his role in the Outfit scheme and characterizing him as little more than a gopher.
"He is not a member of the 'Chicago Outfit.' He had no dealings with any of the co-defendants other than the owner and employees of M&M Amusement," states Venezia's motion for mercy filed by attorney Kevin P. Bolger. M&M is a business owned by Mickey Marcello, another defendant in the case who pleaded guilty, and the brother of Chicago Outfit powerhouse James "Little Jimmy" Marcello, so named as a play off of his pasta-infused mid-section.
Venezia isn't the first Family Secrets defendant to raise the issue of an Italian bias by prosecutors. During last summer's trial, lawyers for "Little Jimmy" Marcello flashed a pickup truck-sized shamrock on a screen for the jury to see. The show and tell by Marcello's attorneys was intended to prove that the gangster was really an Irishman because of his mother's heritage.
Another defendant, former Chicago police officer Anthony Doyle, actually changed his moniker from the Italian family name he was born with to the Irish name he now sports. Doyle changed his last name at the time he took the police exam, apparently to better fit in with a department that has been historically well-populated by Irish-American officers.
In Venezia's case, the government is asking a lengthy prison sentence for his role in the mob scheme. Venezia computes the applicable sentence range as 18-24 months but wants Judge James Zagel to adopt a downward departure from the federal guidelines. "He has no criminal record, no history of violence and but for this indiscretion is a law abiding citizen. A period of probation would not deprecate the seriousness of the instant offense," according to Venezia's motion.
Further, his motion states that the mob messenger "is married to a women who is in poor health and is dependent on him for financial support as well as assist her in her every day activities. He is also supporting his hearing impaired step son & he has lost his elderly mother, but his son Frank has had a mental breakdown an attempted suicide. He was hospitalized for treatment and now depends on Joe for strength in getting through a most difficult time in his life."
Thanks to Chuck Goudie and Ann Pistone
Joseph Venezia of Hillside pleaded guilty to running a gambling business and hiding the his profits from the IRS. He was charged with more than a dozen Chicago hoodlums in the Operation: Family Secrets mob case.
In a court filing, Venezia attorneys state that the hoodlum "takes objection to the investigating agent's conclusion that he was an 'associate' of the Chicago Outfit. There is nothing other than his name ending in a vowel that distinguishes" him from other, non-Italian defendants, argue Venezia's lawyers.
Mr. Venezia, 65, was a runner for an Outfit gambling operation in Cicero. He admits having been "a route man who, among his other duties, collected the proceeds from the video poker machines. For this he was paid a salary of $2,400.00 per month. His tenure was from 1996 until his arrest."
Venezia is scheduled to be sentenced Thursday afternoon in U.S. District Court in Chicago. The motion filed by his lawyers in advance of sentencing asks for probation, downplaying his role in the Outfit scheme and characterizing him as little more than a gopher.
"He is not a member of the 'Chicago Outfit.' He had no dealings with any of the co-defendants other than the owner and employees of M&M Amusement," states Venezia's motion for mercy filed by attorney Kevin P. Bolger. M&M is a business owned by Mickey Marcello, another defendant in the case who pleaded guilty, and the brother of Chicago Outfit powerhouse James "Little Jimmy" Marcello, so named as a play off of his pasta-infused mid-section.
Venezia isn't the first Family Secrets defendant to raise the issue of an Italian bias by prosecutors. During last summer's trial, lawyers for "Little Jimmy" Marcello flashed a pickup truck-sized shamrock on a screen for the jury to see. The show and tell by Marcello's attorneys was intended to prove that the gangster was really an Irishman because of his mother's heritage.
Another defendant, former Chicago police officer Anthony Doyle, actually changed his moniker from the Italian family name he was born with to the Irish name he now sports. Doyle changed his last name at the time he took the police exam, apparently to better fit in with a department that has been historically well-populated by Irish-American officers.
In Venezia's case, the government is asking a lengthy prison sentence for his role in the mob scheme. Venezia computes the applicable sentence range as 18-24 months but wants Judge James Zagel to adopt a downward departure from the federal guidelines. "He has no criminal record, no history of violence and but for this indiscretion is a law abiding citizen. A period of probation would not deprecate the seriousness of the instant offense," according to Venezia's motion.
Further, his motion states that the mob messenger "is married to a women who is in poor health and is dependent on him for financial support as well as assist her in her every day activities. He is also supporting his hearing impaired step son & he has lost his elderly mother, but his son Frank has had a mental breakdown an attempted suicide. He was hospitalized for treatment and now depends on Joe for strength in getting through a most difficult time in his life."
Thanks to Chuck Goudie and Ann Pistone
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Domenico Cefalu, Reputed Gambino Underboss, Gets 2 Years in Prison
The Feds say Domenico Cefalu is acting underboss of the Gambino crime family. His lawyer says he's "under," all right - underpaid and underachieving.
At his sentencing on an extortion conviction on Monday, the two sides painted very different pictures of the 61-year-old Cefalu.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Brownell argued in Brooklyn Federal Court that Cefalu's sentence should reflect his high rank in the crime family as underboss. "These claims that he has very little contact with the [Gambino crime family] simply make no sense," Brownell said.
Defense lawyer Joseph Ryan had a few "under" suggestions of his own. Cefalu is "underpaid" - earning a measly $42,000 as a salesman for a bakery supply company, Ryan said.
Then Ryan came up with "underachieving" because Cefalu only pocketed about $8,000 on the shakedown of a cement company. And don't forget "undercut," Ryan noted, because his client was pushed out of another Gambino scheme involving a NASCAR race track on Staten Island.
Just in case Judge Jack Weinstein didn't get the full picture, Ryan noted that Cefalu drives a 1999 sedan, lost his $1,700-a-month rental apartment in Bay Ridge after his arrest in February and will have to move in with his elderly mother when he's released from prison.
The judge didn't comment on Cefalu's rank, but hit him with two full years in prison, which is more than the minimum 21 months he faced.
Also sentenced yesterday were retired NYPD Detective Frank Vassallo to four months and ex-NYPD cop Ronald Flam, who got time served for illegal gambling with the Gambinos.
thanks to John Marzulli
At his sentencing on an extortion conviction on Monday, the two sides painted very different pictures of the 61-year-old Cefalu.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Brownell argued in Brooklyn Federal Court that Cefalu's sentence should reflect his high rank in the crime family as underboss. "These claims that he has very little contact with the [Gambino crime family] simply make no sense," Brownell said.
Defense lawyer Joseph Ryan had a few "under" suggestions of his own. Cefalu is "underpaid" - earning a measly $42,000 as a salesman for a bakery supply company, Ryan said.
Then Ryan came up with "underachieving" because Cefalu only pocketed about $8,000 on the shakedown of a cement company. And don't forget "undercut," Ryan noted, because his client was pushed out of another Gambino scheme involving a NASCAR race track on Staten Island.
Just in case Judge Jack Weinstein didn't get the full picture, Ryan noted that Cefalu drives a 1999 sedan, lost his $1,700-a-month rental apartment in Bay Ridge after his arrest in February and will have to move in with his elderly mother when he's released from prison.
The judge didn't comment on Cefalu's rank, but hit him with two full years in prison, which is more than the minimum 21 months he faced.
Also sentenced yesterday were retired NYPD Detective Frank Vassallo to four months and ex-NYPD cop Ronald Flam, who got time served for illegal gambling with the Gambinos.
thanks to John Marzulli
Robert Maheu, Who Hired the Chicago Outfit to Kill Castro, Dies at 90
For one simple reason, nearly all of the notable and notorious from Robert Maheu's life couldn't make it to his funeral over the weekend.
They were dead.
At age 90, Maheu outlived the oddballs and Outfit members who made him a legend in law enforcement circles. Howard Hughes, the richest-man recluse with fingernails as long as his bank statement; Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro who ended up 6-feet under; Johnny Roselli, the crafty gangland killer; and Sam "Mooney" Giancana of Chicago mobdom fame. They were all Maheu associates who preceded him in death.
The one surviving celebrity from Mr. Maheu's storied past who might have shown up in the pews at St. Viator Catholic Church in Las Vegas on Saturday, didn't come.
Fidel Castro.
Of course Mr. Castro is preoccupied back in Cuba with his own health problems, those pesky reports of his personal demise and that continuing U.S. trade and travel embargo.
The fact is if Maheu's biggest professional project had succeeded, Cuba today would be more a popular tourist haven than the Bahamas and Castro would be a name carved onto an ornate Havana gravestone.
Maheu (pronounced May-hew) worked for the FBI during World War II in counter-espionage. He opened his own private-eye firm in 1954 and the Central Intelligence Agency was his best client, paying him a $500 retainer. The CIA handed him "cut-out" assignments that involved illegal tactics, which if exposed would be untraceable to the federal agency.
Maheu's most spectacular cut-out assignment from the CIA was to overthrow Cuban dictator Fidel Castro by murdering him. Thirteen million was budgeted to instruct paramilitary soldiers outside of Cuba for a guerrilla assault. Dozens of those rebels were trained in a Chicago warehouse, according to law enforcement officials cited in an ABC7 investigative report a few years ago.
As the soldiers-for-hire trained, Maheu recruited two top Chicago Outfit bosses, Johnny Roselli and Sam Giancana, to carry out the Castro assassination. Roselli and Giancana preferred a scheme to poison Castro.
Giancana was the perfect candidate to eliminate Castro. He had the power, the firepower and the persona. In his autobiography, Maheu recalls how the mob boss enjoyed playing gangster. Once, when a young tough walked up to him, the Outfit boss put him in place.
"Without even looking at the punk, Giancana grabbed his necktie and yanked him close. Sam stared right into the kid's eyes and said, 'I eat little boys like you for breakfast. Get your ass out of here before I get hungry.'"
Recently declassified CIA records reveal that the government covertly offered Giancana $150,000 for the gangland hit on Castro but that Momo, as he was sometimes called, refused the money and wanted to do the job for free. The Chicago Outfit and the New York Mafia had an interest in getting rid of Castro.
"They'd had a grudge against Castro ever since he'd forced them out of the Havana casinos," Maheu recalled in a 1992 autobiography. "It was even rumored that Meyer Lansky had put a million-dollar bounty on Castro's head. CIA Director Allen Dulles passed the ball to his deputy director, Richard Bissell. Bissell handed off to the CIA security chief. Colonel Sheffield Edwards. And then I received the call..."
"They used the analogy of World War II," Maheu wrote. "If we had known the exact bunker that Hitler was in during the war, we wouldn't have hesitated to kill the bastard. The CIA felt exactly the same way about Castro. If Fidel, his brother Raul, and Che Guevara were assassinated, thousands of lives might be saved."
CIA memos show that at least two assassination attempts were made on Castro in early 1961 with CIA-supplied lethal pills and organized-crime support, but both failed. Testimony and evidence presented at congressional hearings in 1975 revealed that the CIA tried to kill Castro at least eight times in the early 1960s.
The attempts all failed just like the bungled Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Castro survived. Those who masterminded the plots against him didn't.
Except Robert Maheu. Until last week when he died of old age. "It's been a helluva ride," Maheu was quoted as saying in a fascinating story written in last November's Chicago Magazine by Bryan Smith, the fine freelance reporter.
Despite the morals and ethics that always tugged at his conscience, Maheu said that he might do it all again. "If I were called upon tomorrow again, and I thought it would save one American life, I think I'd be tempted."
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
They were dead.
At age 90, Maheu outlived the oddballs and Outfit members who made him a legend in law enforcement circles. Howard Hughes, the richest-man recluse with fingernails as long as his bank statement; Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro who ended up 6-feet under; Johnny Roselli, the crafty gangland killer; and Sam "Mooney" Giancana of Chicago mobdom fame. They were all Maheu associates who preceded him in death.
The one surviving celebrity from Mr. Maheu's storied past who might have shown up in the pews at St. Viator Catholic Church in Las Vegas on Saturday, didn't come.
Fidel Castro.
Of course Mr. Castro is preoccupied back in Cuba with his own health problems, those pesky reports of his personal demise and that continuing U.S. trade and travel embargo.
The fact is if Maheu's biggest professional project had succeeded, Cuba today would be more a popular tourist haven than the Bahamas and Castro would be a name carved onto an ornate Havana gravestone.
Maheu (pronounced May-hew) worked for the FBI during World War II in counter-espionage. He opened his own private-eye firm in 1954 and the Central Intelligence Agency was his best client, paying him a $500 retainer. The CIA handed him "cut-out" assignments that involved illegal tactics, which if exposed would be untraceable to the federal agency.
Maheu's most spectacular cut-out assignment from the CIA was to overthrow Cuban dictator Fidel Castro by murdering him. Thirteen million was budgeted to instruct paramilitary soldiers outside of Cuba for a guerrilla assault. Dozens of those rebels were trained in a Chicago warehouse, according to law enforcement officials cited in an ABC7 investigative report a few years ago.
As the soldiers-for-hire trained, Maheu recruited two top Chicago Outfit bosses, Johnny Roselli and Sam Giancana, to carry out the Castro assassination. Roselli and Giancana preferred a scheme to poison Castro.
Giancana was the perfect candidate to eliminate Castro. He had the power, the firepower and the persona. In his autobiography, Maheu recalls how the mob boss enjoyed playing gangster. Once, when a young tough walked up to him, the Outfit boss put him in place.
"Without even looking at the punk, Giancana grabbed his necktie and yanked him close. Sam stared right into the kid's eyes and said, 'I eat little boys like you for breakfast. Get your ass out of here before I get hungry.'"
Recently declassified CIA records reveal that the government covertly offered Giancana $150,000 for the gangland hit on Castro but that Momo, as he was sometimes called, refused the money and wanted to do the job for free. The Chicago Outfit and the New York Mafia had an interest in getting rid of Castro.
"They'd had a grudge against Castro ever since he'd forced them out of the Havana casinos," Maheu recalled in a 1992 autobiography. "It was even rumored that Meyer Lansky had put a million-dollar bounty on Castro's head. CIA Director Allen Dulles passed the ball to his deputy director, Richard Bissell. Bissell handed off to the CIA security chief. Colonel Sheffield Edwards. And then I received the call..."
"They used the analogy of World War II," Maheu wrote. "If we had known the exact bunker that Hitler was in during the war, we wouldn't have hesitated to kill the bastard. The CIA felt exactly the same way about Castro. If Fidel, his brother Raul, and Che Guevara were assassinated, thousands of lives might be saved."
CIA memos show that at least two assassination attempts were made on Castro in early 1961 with CIA-supplied lethal pills and organized-crime support, but both failed. Testimony and evidence presented at congressional hearings in 1975 revealed that the CIA tried to kill Castro at least eight times in the early 1960s.
The attempts all failed just like the bungled Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961. Castro survived. Those who masterminded the plots against him didn't.
Except Robert Maheu. Until last week when he died of old age. "It's been a helluva ride," Maheu was quoted as saying in a fascinating story written in last November's Chicago Magazine by Bryan Smith, the fine freelance reporter.
Despite the morals and ethics that always tugged at his conscience, Maheu said that he might do it all again. "If I were called upon tomorrow again, and I thought it would save one American life, I think I'd be tempted."
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
The First Vice Lord
My tendency to either skim books or proofread them (from early magazine days) has encountered a new one from former Cook County police chief Art Bilek that I can’t put down: The First Vice Lord (Big Jim Colosimo and the Ladies of the Levee), by Arthur J. Bilek (Cumberland House).
This is a masterpiece of writing and excruciatingly accurate research that describes how Big Jim Colosimo rose from a lowly street-sweeper to the most prominent operator of whorehouses, gambling joints, and low-life restaurants in the days leading up to Prohibition, with the collusion of the police and politicians and the managerial skills of John Torrio and Al Capone. When his increasingly notorious Colosimo’s Café combined with his growing desire for respectability, love for a young songbird, and failure to exploit the opportunities afforded by Prohibition, Torrio (we must presume) had him murdered in the vestibule of his elegant restaurant in 1920—and the band marched on.
Nowhere has Chicago’s graft and corruption been so carefully and entertainingly documented, with special attention to the backgrounds of Torrio and Capone, who worked hard to weld the new and competing bootlegging gangs into the greatest illicit booze empire the country has ever known--one that did not factionalize into Chicago’s bloody Beer Wars that began with the killing of North Side mob-leader Dean O’Banion four years later. My own work has concentrated on the years following Prohibition, so I’m especially happy to report that Bilek’s book explains what made the Roaring Twenties possible.
Reviewed by William J. Helmer courtesy of On the Spot Journal
This is a masterpiece of writing and excruciatingly accurate research that describes how Big Jim Colosimo rose from a lowly street-sweeper to the most prominent operator of whorehouses, gambling joints, and low-life restaurants in the days leading up to Prohibition, with the collusion of the police and politicians and the managerial skills of John Torrio and Al Capone. When his increasingly notorious Colosimo’s Café combined with his growing desire for respectability, love for a young songbird, and failure to exploit the opportunities afforded by Prohibition, Torrio (we must presume) had him murdered in the vestibule of his elegant restaurant in 1920—and the band marched on.
Nowhere has Chicago’s graft and corruption been so carefully and entertainingly documented, with special attention to the backgrounds of Torrio and Capone, who worked hard to weld the new and competing bootlegging gangs into the greatest illicit booze empire the country has ever known--one that did not factionalize into Chicago’s bloody Beer Wars that began with the killing of North Side mob-leader Dean O’Banion four years later. My own work has concentrated on the years following Prohibition, so I’m especially happy to report that Bilek’s book explains what made the Roaring Twenties possible.
Reviewed by William J. Helmer courtesy of On the Spot Journal
The Other Side of Capone
The Other Side of Capone is an exciting new documentary that presents fascinating and little-known details about the legendary Al Capone. Through the use of re-enactments and archival footage gathered after exhaustive research, this film, narrated by Antoinette Giancana, begs the question: How could a man so notorious as a ruthless gangster also be capable of giving so much of his money away to the less fortunate, display unyielding loyalty to friends and associates, warmth to strangers and even forgiveness to his enemies. It is a compelling side of Al Capone that is not to be missed.
The latest news from this project is that filming is now complete and they are in contact with several networks regarding its airing.
The latest news from this project is that filming is now complete and they are in contact with several networks regarding its airing.
Richard Basciano Not Related to "Vinny Gorgeous"
The New York Daily News has issued the following correction to the story directly below:
“An Aug. 3 article about the partnership of Jamie Masada and Richard Basciano in the Laugh Factory mistakenly reported that Basciano's brother is the former Bonanno crime family boss known as "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano, who is serving a life sentence for murder. In fact, the two are not brothers. The News regrets the error.”
Laugh Factory owner Jamie Masada has filed suit against his Times Square business partner, Show World owner Richard Basciano, claiming that he has been shaken down by the mob-connected adult theater owner (In actuality there is no specific claim in the civil action that the Laugh Factory was “shaken down” or that a New York crime family is shaking down the Laugh Factory). Masada alleges to have been threatened with a gun, coerced into contracts and even says that the club was told that "somebody could be killed" if a certain comedian was booked again.
The suit pits the new, cleaned-up Times Square against its seedier past. Basciano has Gambino crime family associates and is the brother Bonanno crime family boss "Vinny Gorgeous." (Per above correction, the Bascianos are not related.) Masada, on the other hand, was personally asked to bring the Laugh Factory to New York by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the wake of 9/11. "I thought, 'Yes, New York needs some laughs,'" Masada said when he agreed to bring the club to Times Square in 2003.
“An Aug. 3 article about the partnership of Jamie Masada and Richard Basciano in the Laugh Factory mistakenly reported that Basciano's brother is the former Bonanno crime family boss known as "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano, who is serving a life sentence for murder. In fact, the two are not brothers. The News regrets the error.”
Laugh Factory owner Jamie Masada has filed suit against his Times Square business partner, Show World owner Richard Basciano, claiming that he has been shaken down by the mob-connected adult theater owner (In actuality there is no specific claim in the civil action that the Laugh Factory was “shaken down” or that a New York crime family is shaking down the Laugh Factory). Masada alleges to have been threatened with a gun, coerced into contracts and even says that the club was told that "somebody could be killed" if a certain comedian was booked again.
The suit pits the new, cleaned-up Times Square against its seedier past. Basciano has Gambino crime family associates and is the brother Bonanno crime family boss "Vinny Gorgeous." (Per above correction, the Bascianos are not related.) Masada, on the other hand, was personally asked to bring the Laugh Factory to New York by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the wake of 9/11. "I thought, 'Yes, New York needs some laughs,'" Masada said when he agreed to bring the club to Times Square in 2003.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Bob Cooley - Man vs. The Chicago Mob
The Chicago Mob, known as the Outfit was literally getting away with murder. Through rarely seen archival footage and interviews with former Mob associates and FBI agents, NGC takes you inside what took down the Mob. Be sure to watch the National Geographic Channel on Sunday, August 17th at 7:00PM Chicago time.
The Godfather II Video Game to be Released in Early 2009
Electronic Arts is looking to pull gamers back in.
Publisher is developing "The Godfather II," a sequel to its 2006 videogame based on the classic Paramount film, for release in February.
Original "Godfather" game saw worldwide sales of more than 4 million units. A total solid enough that EA greenlit a sequel almost immediately after production on the final version of the game was done in late 2006. According to industry tracker NPD, the first game grossed $62 million in the U.S.
Follow-up will follow elements of "The Godfather Part II" film plot that take place in the late 1950s, but not the flashbacks to Vito Corleone's early life that starred Robert De Niro. As in the first game, players control a new member of the Corleone crime family who is rising through the ranks. "The flashbacks that are so great as a film experience don't really work for a game," said Nick Earl, senior VP-general manager for the EA Games label. "We've created our own story that weaves in and out with the film and hits its major touchpoints."
Most of the film's stars except, notably, Al Pacino, are providing likeness rights to EA. In addition, Robert Duvall, whose Tom Hagen plays a prominent role in the game as an adviser to the character, is recording original voiceovers. Director Francis Ford Coppola, who publicly criticized the first game, is again not involved.
Sequel makes "Godfather" the rare Hollywood license to turn into a videogame franchise, along with titles like "Harry Potter," James Bond and "Lord of the Rings." Paramount's long-term deal with EA allows the publisher to continue making more games if the sequel performs better than the original, as is common for successful videogame franchises. "So many movie-based games are just one-offs, so to create a franchise, especially off a property from the 1970s, is pretty phenomenal," said Paramount senior veep of interactive and mobile Sandi Isaacs, who noted that the "Godfather" games benefit from not having to match the release date of a new film.
Studio's homevideo and pay TV groups are already considering plans to re-release "The Godfather: Part II" next winter tied to the game.
"Godfather" is one of several games based on movies from the 1970s and early '80s, including "Jaws" and "Scarface," to come out in the past few years, but it's the only one to get a sequel. Warner Bros. has had a videogame based on "Dirty Harry" in the works for several years.
Like the first "Godfather" game, "Godfather II" will take place in an open world similar to Rockstar's "Grand Theft Auto." However, the follow-up takes place in three different cities: New York, Miami and Havana. Gameplay elements include up-close action as well as a the ability for players to manage their organized crime family from a citywide perspective.
Game will also feature online multiplayer features with battles between mob families.
EA is developing "Godfather II" at its Redwood Shores studio for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, though for other consoles, the game may come out later in 2009.
Thanks to Ben Fritz
Publisher is developing "The Godfather II," a sequel to its 2006 videogame based on the classic Paramount film, for release in February.
Original "Godfather" game saw worldwide sales of more than 4 million units. A total solid enough that EA greenlit a sequel almost immediately after production on the final version of the game was done in late 2006. According to industry tracker NPD, the first game grossed $62 million in the U.S.
Follow-up will follow elements of "The Godfather Part II" film plot that take place in the late 1950s, but not the flashbacks to Vito Corleone's early life that starred Robert De Niro. As in the first game, players control a new member of the Corleone crime family who is rising through the ranks. "The flashbacks that are so great as a film experience don't really work for a game," said Nick Earl, senior VP-general manager for the EA Games label. "We've created our own story that weaves in and out with the film and hits its major touchpoints."
Most of the film's stars except, notably, Al Pacino, are providing likeness rights to EA. In addition, Robert Duvall, whose Tom Hagen plays a prominent role in the game as an adviser to the character, is recording original voiceovers. Director Francis Ford Coppola, who publicly criticized the first game, is again not involved.
Sequel makes "Godfather" the rare Hollywood license to turn into a videogame franchise, along with titles like "Harry Potter," James Bond and "Lord of the Rings." Paramount's long-term deal with EA allows the publisher to continue making more games if the sequel performs better than the original, as is common for successful videogame franchises. "So many movie-based games are just one-offs, so to create a franchise, especially off a property from the 1970s, is pretty phenomenal," said Paramount senior veep of interactive and mobile Sandi Isaacs, who noted that the "Godfather" games benefit from not having to match the release date of a new film.
Studio's homevideo and pay TV groups are already considering plans to re-release "The Godfather: Part II" next winter tied to the game.
"Godfather" is one of several games based on movies from the 1970s and early '80s, including "Jaws" and "Scarface," to come out in the past few years, but it's the only one to get a sequel. Warner Bros. has had a videogame based on "Dirty Harry" in the works for several years.
Like the first "Godfather" game, "Godfather II" will take place in an open world similar to Rockstar's "Grand Theft Auto." However, the follow-up takes place in three different cities: New York, Miami and Havana. Gameplay elements include up-close action as well as a the ability for players to manage their organized crime family from a citywide perspective.
Game will also feature online multiplayer features with battles between mob families.
EA is developing "Godfather II" at its Redwood Shores studio for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, though for other consoles, the game may come out later in 2009.
Thanks to Ben Fritz
Sopranos Flip to the FBI at Newark's 100th Anniversary Celebration
They turned one of his lieutenants into an informant. They sneaked through the woods to hunt him down. And eventually, FBI agents put Johnny "Sack" Sacramoni, the New York mob boss, behind bars.
Then the gangster took an elevator ride to a fifth-floor parking garage in Newark and walked out to find himself surrounded by federal agents once again. This time there were hundreds of them. "I thought this was all over with you guys," he sighed to a round of laughter.
Johnny Sack, of course, was a character on the "Sopranos," HBO's hit show about a dysfunctional Jersey mob family. Vincent Curatola, a Bergen County resident, is the actor who played him. Curatola and several of his cast mates were featured guests at a luncheon in which the FBI's Newark Division celebrated the 100th anniversary of the bureau.
Each division around the nation marked the occasion in its own way to recognize the FBI's growth from a team of 34 investigators to an elite agency with more than 30,000 employees. In Alabama, there was a picnic. In Pittsburgh, an office party. In Philadelphia, a formal dinner. But in Newark, there was Johnny Sack (Curatola), Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico), Furio Giunta (Federico Castelluccio) and Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese).
Weysan Dun, special agent in charge of the FBI's Newark division, invited the actors, saying it was a way to pay tribute to a significant part of the FBI's history and New Jersey culture. "Fighting organized crime is part of our legendary success," he said.
On the show, as in real life, the FBI agents and the mobsters were engaged in a protracted cat-and-mouse game. Today's odd pairing gave real-life crime fighters a chance to compare notes with the fictional wiseguys.
William Evanina, special agent in charge of the FBI's Trenton office, said plenty of New Jersey agents were fans of the show. "We waited to see every Sunday whether they would get it right," he said. He recalled watching his fictional counterparts execute a search warrant at Johnny Sack's home with their guns drawn. "That would never happen," he said -- a simple knock was more likely. "The majority of the stuff they got right. But obviously you've got to take liberties with television."
On another episode, an FBI agent who tipped off Tony Soprano to the whereabouts of an enemy cheered when the rival got whacked. "We're not as bad as they make us out to be. And I'm not sure the real organized crime figures are as good as they are made out to be. But it's great entertainment," said Edward Kahrer, assistant special agent in charge of the Newark division.
Sirico, a Brooklyn actor, joked that if his fellow wiseguys knew he was hanging around a bunch of G-men, "they'd probably whack me."
Chianese's character, Uncle Junior, once complained on the show that he had the feds so far up one part of his anatomy, he could "taste Brylcreem."
Curatola teased Chianese today as they readied to pose for photos with agents. "Did you make a deal with these people? Are you going to flip?" Curatola asked.
Seth Gilliam, who played Sgt. Ellis Carver on "The Wire," a Baltimore police drama and another widely acclaimed HBO series, also was on hand. "I'm the only celebrity here who played a cop. Everybody else is a mobster. Until the special agents came in the room, I felt a little outnumbered," he joked.
Former FBI director and New Jersey native Louis Freeh was the luncheon's keynote speaker. During his remarks, he acknowledged that television and movies have helped burnish the bureau's image for decades, turning the FBI into a "global icon" and name brand. "We certainly thank Hollywood," he said. "But the essence of the FBI is really a direct result of the quality and integrity of the men and women who have served there."
Thanks to Jeff Whelan
Then the gangster took an elevator ride to a fifth-floor parking garage in Newark and walked out to find himself surrounded by federal agents once again. This time there were hundreds of them. "I thought this was all over with you guys," he sighed to a round of laughter.
Johnny Sack, of course, was a character on the "Sopranos," HBO's hit show about a dysfunctional Jersey mob family. Vincent Curatola, a Bergen County resident, is the actor who played him. Curatola and several of his cast mates were featured guests at a luncheon in which the FBI's Newark Division celebrated the 100th anniversary of the bureau.
Each division around the nation marked the occasion in its own way to recognize the FBI's growth from a team of 34 investigators to an elite agency with more than 30,000 employees. In Alabama, there was a picnic. In Pittsburgh, an office party. In Philadelphia, a formal dinner. But in Newark, there was Johnny Sack (Curatola), Paulie Walnuts (Tony Sirico), Furio Giunta (Federico Castelluccio) and Uncle Junior (Dominic Chianese).
Weysan Dun, special agent in charge of the FBI's Newark division, invited the actors, saying it was a way to pay tribute to a significant part of the FBI's history and New Jersey culture. "Fighting organized crime is part of our legendary success," he said.
On the show, as in real life, the FBI agents and the mobsters were engaged in a protracted cat-and-mouse game. Today's odd pairing gave real-life crime fighters a chance to compare notes with the fictional wiseguys.
William Evanina, special agent in charge of the FBI's Trenton office, said plenty of New Jersey agents were fans of the show. "We waited to see every Sunday whether they would get it right," he said. He recalled watching his fictional counterparts execute a search warrant at Johnny Sack's home with their guns drawn. "That would never happen," he said -- a simple knock was more likely. "The majority of the stuff they got right. But obviously you've got to take liberties with television."
On another episode, an FBI agent who tipped off Tony Soprano to the whereabouts of an enemy cheered when the rival got whacked. "We're not as bad as they make us out to be. And I'm not sure the real organized crime figures are as good as they are made out to be. But it's great entertainment," said Edward Kahrer, assistant special agent in charge of the Newark division.
Sirico, a Brooklyn actor, joked that if his fellow wiseguys knew he was hanging around a bunch of G-men, "they'd probably whack me."
Chianese's character, Uncle Junior, once complained on the show that he had the feds so far up one part of his anatomy, he could "taste Brylcreem."
Curatola teased Chianese today as they readied to pose for photos with agents. "Did you make a deal with these people? Are you going to flip?" Curatola asked.
Seth Gilliam, who played Sgt. Ellis Carver on "The Wire," a Baltimore police drama and another widely acclaimed HBO series, also was on hand. "I'm the only celebrity here who played a cop. Everybody else is a mobster. Until the special agents came in the room, I felt a little outnumbered," he joked.
Former FBI director and New Jersey native Louis Freeh was the luncheon's keynote speaker. During his remarks, he acknowledged that television and movies have helped burnish the bureau's image for decades, turning the FBI into a "global icon" and name brand. "We certainly thank Hollywood," he said. "But the essence of the FBI is really a direct result of the quality and integrity of the men and women who have served there."
Thanks to Jeff Whelan
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