Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Chicago Police to Reassign 150 More Officers to Its Neighborhoods
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy announced the deployment of 150 police officers to districts throughout the city as part of a continued effort to improve safety in Chicago’s neighborhoods.
“We are putting them where they can have the best immediate impact on our communities, working with residents – on the beat,” said Mayor Emanuel at a press conference at the Illinois Centennial Monument in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood.
Districts scheduled to receive the additional police officers include 2, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25.
The officers will begin their new assignments next Sunday, June 19th. These assignments are permanent.
At the press conference, Mayor Emanuel praised the “exceptional police work” that went into finding and filing charges against the offender involved in the shooting of two young girls last week. He also noted that 33 arrests have already been made in connection with recent group attacks downtown.
“The identification and apprehension of the offender was a team effort – our officers worked tirelessly across districts and divisions and intimately with the community, which provided solid information to generate leads¸” added Mayor Emanuel. “This type of community partnership is exactly what we want to see happen in Chicago.”
On May 24th, Mayor Emanuel announced that 500 police officers primarily from the Department’s Mobile Strike Force and Targeted Response Unit would be redeployed to districts 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 11, and 15.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Monday, June 13, 2011
Roman Catholic Priest Reputed to Assist Mobster in Hiding Violin from Federal Repossession
There are new developments in the case of a ruthless Chicago mobster, a Roman Catholic priest and a priceless violin. That unusual combination is the focus of this Intelligence Report.
Chicago Outfit boss Frank Calabrese Sr. enlisted the help of a prison chaplain to get around jailhouse security rules intended to stop him from communicating with associates on the outside. Now the Roman Catholic priest is facing federal indictment in Chicago and has been suspended by the church.
The purpose of Calabrese's mission from God wasn't to put out a murder contract, according to federal authorities; it was to retrieve an expensive violin.
"It was suppose to have been a Stradivarius violin, and at one time it was supposed to have been owned by Liberace," said ex-Calabrese lawyer Joe "The Shark" Lopez. Probably not the flamboyant Lee Liberace, because he played the piano, more likely his brother George who frequently accompanied on the violin.
It was such a million-dollar instrument that Frank "the Breeze" Calabrese somehow obtained on a trip to Las Vegas-- not that the gruff Outfit enforcer is thought to have been particularly musical, but the violin was an item of value that Calabrese did not want federal authorities to seize and apply to his $4 million forfeiture bill.
So, as Calabrese serves a life sentence in Springfield, Missouri, in solitary confinement for his role in mob murders and racketeering, he was allowed face-to-face meetings only with doctors, social workers and the prison chaplain, Catholic priest Father Eugene Klein.
According to the federal indictment, Father Klein agreed to help Calabrese retrieve the valuable violin from a secret hiding place inside a summer home that Calabrese owned in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.
But there was no unholy alliance between Father Klein and Calabrese as the feds have charged, according to Lopez, the attorney who represented Calabrese during Operation Family Secrets.
"I think Frank wasn't conning the priest, I think Frank was just asking the priest to help him," Lopez said. "I think it's kind of an unholy thing, but I'm not the federal government, and if I were I wouldn't indict the priest... I would give him a pass. He really didn't do anything wrong."
Nevertheless, the priest charged in Chicago has now been suspended by his home diocese. Winona, Minnesota, Bishop John Quinn on Friday afternoon issued a statement ordering Father Klein onto administrative leave, suspending his priestly faculties while asking that Klein be kept in prayer.
Father Klein is accused of traveling to north suburban Barrington, where he met with a friend of Frank Calabrese, a 72-year-old, former Italian restaurant owner, and wanted him to help get the violin back. It is believed that Barrington resident ended up cooperatingwith the FBI.
Attempts by the I-Team to contact the Barrington resident have been unsuccessful.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
Chicago Outfit boss Frank Calabrese Sr. enlisted the help of a prison chaplain to get around jailhouse security rules intended to stop him from communicating with associates on the outside. Now the Roman Catholic priest is facing federal indictment in Chicago and has been suspended by the church.
The purpose of Calabrese's mission from God wasn't to put out a murder contract, according to federal authorities; it was to retrieve an expensive violin.
"It was suppose to have been a Stradivarius violin, and at one time it was supposed to have been owned by Liberace," said ex-Calabrese lawyer Joe "The Shark" Lopez. Probably not the flamboyant Lee Liberace, because he played the piano, more likely his brother George who frequently accompanied on the violin.
It was such a million-dollar instrument that Frank "the Breeze" Calabrese somehow obtained on a trip to Las Vegas-- not that the gruff Outfit enforcer is thought to have been particularly musical, but the violin was an item of value that Calabrese did not want federal authorities to seize and apply to his $4 million forfeiture bill.
So, as Calabrese serves a life sentence in Springfield, Missouri, in solitary confinement for his role in mob murders and racketeering, he was allowed face-to-face meetings only with doctors, social workers and the prison chaplain, Catholic priest Father Eugene Klein.
According to the federal indictment, Father Klein agreed to help Calabrese retrieve the valuable violin from a secret hiding place inside a summer home that Calabrese owned in Williams Bay, Wisconsin.
But there was no unholy alliance between Father Klein and Calabrese as the feds have charged, according to Lopez, the attorney who represented Calabrese during Operation Family Secrets.
"I think Frank wasn't conning the priest, I think Frank was just asking the priest to help him," Lopez said. "I think it's kind of an unholy thing, but I'm not the federal government, and if I were I wouldn't indict the priest... I would give him a pass. He really didn't do anything wrong."
Nevertheless, the priest charged in Chicago has now been suspended by his home diocese. Winona, Minnesota, Bishop John Quinn on Friday afternoon issued a statement ordering Father Klein onto administrative leave, suspending his priestly faculties while asking that Klein be kept in prayer.
Father Klein is accused of traveling to north suburban Barrington, where he met with a friend of Frank Calabrese, a 72-year-old, former Italian restaurant owner, and wanted him to help get the violin back. It is believed that Barrington resident ended up cooperatingwith the FBI.
Attempts by the I-Team to contact the Barrington resident have been unsuccessful.
Thanks to Chuck Goudie
Frank Calabrese Assisted in Prison by Catholic Priest, Father Eugene Klein
A prison chaplain has been charged in an alleged scheme to help imprisoned Chicago mobster Frank Calabrese, who is serving a life sentence for 13 murders, recover a valuable violin reportedly hidden in a Wisconsin house to keep the government from selling it, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.
Catholic priest Eugene Klein, 62, of Springfield, Mo., was indicted late Wednesday on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and attempting to prevent seizure of Calabrese's personal property, the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago said.
Prosecutors said Klein ministered to Calabrese at a federal prison in Springfield, Mo., where he allegedly agreed to illegally pass messages to people outside of the prison and then participate in a scheme to recover the violin, which Calabrese claimed was a Stradivarius worth millions of dollars, from a home Calabrese once owned in Williams Bay, Wis.
A spokeswoman with the Springfield Diocese says Klein is a priest of the Diocese of Winona in Minnesota and under contract with the federal prison system as a chaplain in Springfield. She said he served as an assistant pastor within the Springfield Diocese from 2004-2005.
It was not clear whether Klein had an attorney. An arraignment date has not yet been set. Each of the two counts carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to the indictment, Calabrese told Klein in March that he had hidden the violin in the house and passed notes to Klein through the food slot in his cell with questions that Klein was to ask an unnamed third person, called Individual A in the indictment, and disclosing the location of the violin.
Klein drove to Barrington, Ill., in April to meet with Individual A, who told Klein the government was selling the house as part of an attempt to recover $4.4 million in restitution that Calabrese owed to his victims' families, according to the indictment. Klein then allegedly met with Individual A and a second person, called Individual B in the indictment, to plot a way to get the violin.
Klein allegedly called the real estate agent posing as a potential buyer, with the plan that one person would distract the agent while Klein and the other person looked for the violin.
Prosecutors say the government has since searched the Wisconsin residence but found no violin. They also say that during a March 2010 search of Calabrese's home in Oak Brook, Ill., a suburb west of Chicago, they found a certificate for a violin made in 1764 by Giuseppe Antonio Artalli, not Antonius Stradivarius.
It was during that same search that federal agents found loaded guns, nearly $730,000 in cash and tape recordings that officials said could contain "criminal conversations" hidden in a basement wall behind a large family portrait. The stash also included jewelry, recording devices and handwritten notes.
Agents also found about $26,000 in bundled cash in a locked desk drawer in the bedroom of his wife, Diane, according to court documents.
Calabrese, 74, was sentenced to life in prison in 2009 after being convicted with several other reputed members of the Chicago Outfit in a racketeering conspiracy that included 18 murders that had gone unsolved for decades; Calabrese himself was found responsible for 13 mob murders.
Calabrese's brother, Nicholas Calabrese, was the government's star witness. He testified that his brother carried out mob hits, sometimes strangling his victims with a rope and then slashing their throats to make sure they were dead. Two victims were killed in a darkened Cicero restaurant while the Frank Sinatra record of "Strangers in the Night" was playing on the jukebox, he said.
Thanks to Forbes
Catholic priest Eugene Klein, 62, of Springfield, Mo., was indicted late Wednesday on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States and attempting to prevent seizure of Calabrese's personal property, the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago said.
Prosecutors said Klein ministered to Calabrese at a federal prison in Springfield, Mo., where he allegedly agreed to illegally pass messages to people outside of the prison and then participate in a scheme to recover the violin, which Calabrese claimed was a Stradivarius worth millions of dollars, from a home Calabrese once owned in Williams Bay, Wis.
A spokeswoman with the Springfield Diocese says Klein is a priest of the Diocese of Winona in Minnesota and under contract with the federal prison system as a chaplain in Springfield. She said he served as an assistant pastor within the Springfield Diocese from 2004-2005.
It was not clear whether Klein had an attorney. An arraignment date has not yet been set. Each of the two counts carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
According to the indictment, Calabrese told Klein in March that he had hidden the violin in the house and passed notes to Klein through the food slot in his cell with questions that Klein was to ask an unnamed third person, called Individual A in the indictment, and disclosing the location of the violin.
Klein drove to Barrington, Ill., in April to meet with Individual A, who told Klein the government was selling the house as part of an attempt to recover $4.4 million in restitution that Calabrese owed to his victims' families, according to the indictment. Klein then allegedly met with Individual A and a second person, called Individual B in the indictment, to plot a way to get the violin.
Klein allegedly called the real estate agent posing as a potential buyer, with the plan that one person would distract the agent while Klein and the other person looked for the violin.
Prosecutors say the government has since searched the Wisconsin residence but found no violin. They also say that during a March 2010 search of Calabrese's home in Oak Brook, Ill., a suburb west of Chicago, they found a certificate for a violin made in 1764 by Giuseppe Antonio Artalli, not Antonius Stradivarius.
It was during that same search that federal agents found loaded guns, nearly $730,000 in cash and tape recordings that officials said could contain "criminal conversations" hidden in a basement wall behind a large family portrait. The stash also included jewelry, recording devices and handwritten notes.
Agents also found about $26,000 in bundled cash in a locked desk drawer in the bedroom of his wife, Diane, according to court documents.
Calabrese, 74, was sentenced to life in prison in 2009 after being convicted with several other reputed members of the Chicago Outfit in a racketeering conspiracy that included 18 murders that had gone unsolved for decades; Calabrese himself was found responsible for 13 mob murders.
Calabrese's brother, Nicholas Calabrese, was the government's star witness. He testified that his brother carried out mob hits, sometimes strangling his victims with a rope and then slashing their throats to make sure they were dead. Two victims were killed in a darkened Cicero restaurant while the Frank Sinatra record of "Strangers in the Night" was playing on the jukebox, he said.
Thanks to Forbes
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
Closure of OTB Parlors in New York City Boom for the Mob at the Belmont Stakes
Looking for a sure thing at Saturday's 143rd running of the Belmont Stakes?
Bet on organized crime and illegal bookies to win, place and show a bigger profit at the first Belmont since Off Track Betting shuttered its 54 New York City betting parlors in December.
"Where there is money to be made, the mob is most certainly there," one veteran Bonanno family soldier said of the chance to cash in on the Triple Crown race. "They were taking bets when OTB was operating," he continued. "And I'd bet — no pun intended — that they have been taking bets on this race for weeks now."
There's a lot of money to be made: NYC OTB handled nearly $2.4 million in Belmont bets last year — a lucrative one-day windfall. A good portion of those wagers will wind up as illegal action.
Gamblers "are going to go with a bookmaker, sure," said Arnie Wexler, former head of the New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling. "Not all these people are going to run to the track."
A city rackets prosecutor agreed: "This has got to increase business for organized crime-controlled horse parlors."
Mob gambling rings offer other short-term benefits — no taxes taken out of your winnings, credit terms available. The latter inevitably leads to a long-term problem: loan-sharking.
"It's the constant circle of the mob," said ex-FBI undercover Jack Garcia, who spent three years inside the Gambino family. "They keep on ticking like Timex."
Last month's bust of a Staten Island sports betting operation showed how much gambling money is out there. Officials said the ring handled $100,000 a week in wagers, including bets on horse racing.
Its reputed boss even bragged that his operation, in contrast with New York's politicians, would have saved OTB from becoming the only local bookie bathing in red ink.
Jerry Stentella "was confident of his ability to run OTB well" after the success of his storefront betting parlor, prosecutors said.
He might be right.
The Bonanno soldier recalls a mob buddy pulling in about $10,000 a week from an offshore gambling operation — "and he wasn't nearly as big as most."
Garcia said the Belmont betting pool offers too great an opportunity for the mob to ignore.
"The mob is all about making money," Garcia said. "If there's an opportunity there, they'll be there like white on rice. So if you want to put some money down on the Belmont, who do you see? It's Joey Pots and Pans! He'll take that bet for you."
Thanks to Larry McShane
Bet on organized crime and illegal bookies to win, place and show a bigger profit at the first Belmont since Off Track Betting shuttered its 54 New York City betting parlors in December.
"Where there is money to be made, the mob is most certainly there," one veteran Bonanno family soldier said of the chance to cash in on the Triple Crown race. "They were taking bets when OTB was operating," he continued. "And I'd bet — no pun intended — that they have been taking bets on this race for weeks now."
There's a lot of money to be made: NYC OTB handled nearly $2.4 million in Belmont bets last year — a lucrative one-day windfall. A good portion of those wagers will wind up as illegal action.
Gamblers "are going to go with a bookmaker, sure," said Arnie Wexler, former head of the New Jersey Council on Compulsive Gambling. "Not all these people are going to run to the track."
A city rackets prosecutor agreed: "This has got to increase business for organized crime-controlled horse parlors."
Mob gambling rings offer other short-term benefits — no taxes taken out of your winnings, credit terms available. The latter inevitably leads to a long-term problem: loan-sharking.
"It's the constant circle of the mob," said ex-FBI undercover Jack Garcia, who spent three years inside the Gambino family. "They keep on ticking like Timex."
Last month's bust of a Staten Island sports betting operation showed how much gambling money is out there. Officials said the ring handled $100,000 a week in wagers, including bets on horse racing.
Its reputed boss even bragged that his operation, in contrast with New York's politicians, would have saved OTB from becoming the only local bookie bathing in red ink.
Jerry Stentella "was confident of his ability to run OTB well" after the success of his storefront betting parlor, prosecutors said.
He might be right.
The Bonanno soldier recalls a mob buddy pulling in about $10,000 a week from an offshore gambling operation — "and he wasn't nearly as big as most."
Garcia said the Belmont betting pool offers too great an opportunity for the mob to ignore.
"The mob is all about making money," Garcia said. "If there's an opportunity there, they'll be there like white on rice. So if you want to put some money down on the Belmont, who do you see? It's Joey Pots and Pans! He'll take that bet for you."
Thanks to Larry McShane
Monday, June 06, 2011
Chicago Mob Resurgence to Accompany Casinos in Chicago?
The way Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel sees it, thousands of craps players and slot machine pullers would flock to his cash-strapped city if it gets into the gambling business. It's a safe bet a seedier element will be right behind them.
This is Chicago, after all, where the shadow of Al Capone still looms, federal corruption trials appear like television reruns, and the remnants of the mob are sure to try for a piece of the action.
Illinois lawmakers voted this week to allow legal gambling for the first time in Chicago. Backers envision a new casino and video poker machines across the nation's third-largest city, from its two international airports to corner bars. It's part of an ambitious statewide expansion of gambling lawmakers have sent to Gov. Pat Quinn.
None of it sits well with the Chicago Crime Commission, whose public enemies list once included Scarface and other gangsters who based their bootlegging and other criminal enterprises out of Chicago. "If the gaming legislation that passed becomes law, political corruption and crime syndicate infiltration will follow," said J.R. Davis, president and chairman of the 92-year-old nonprofit organization that studies and promotes crime prevention in the city.
At least one former mobster agrees: Millions of dollars would be too enticing for the corrupt and the criminal. "It's a lifeline that whatever outfit guys are left are going to use," said Frank Calabrese Jr., who wore an FBI wiretap to help convict his mobster father and later wrote a book about it. "As an outfit guy ... I am going to get a piece of something somewhere."
Lobbying by Emanuel, Chicago's first new mayor in two decades, is credited for facilitating the plan's approval. But neither he nor lawmakers who sponsored the legislation are talking specifics about how the city would thwart Davis' prediction.
Emanuel said this week that there would be a "blue ribbon group" appointed if Quinn signs the legislation into law. Quinn has opposed an ambitious expansion of gambling in the state but supports the idea of a casino in Chicago, which is facing a budget shortfall of between $500 million and $700 million. Proponents say gambling will mean the state will collect $1.6 billion in upfront fees to those who what to set up shop in Illinois and then another $500 million a year. Emanuel said the casino also would keep gamblers and their money from crossing the state line to casinos in Indiana. "We lose $20 million, around, a month to Hammond, Ind.," he said.
A leading proponent, Chicago Democratic Rep. Lou Lang, said there have been "zero scandals" with the state's existing casinos. Lang argued that if the mob tried to move in, regulators would clamp down, like they did a few years ago when the state nixed a planned casino in suburban Rosemont after getting word investors may have had mob ties. "To automatically link casinos with organized crime when there is no hint of that in Illinois to date ... is a stretch," said Lang, who has worked for years to expand gambling in Illinois. But this is Chicago, where Capone based his bootlegging empire during Prohibition and Tony "Big Tuna" Accardo ran the show after that with, according to one estimate, 10,000 gambling spots. Chicago was Sam Giancana's base of operations until his mob career ended in 1975 when he was gunned down as he fried up sausages at home. So notorious is the city's history of organized crime that tour guides offer specific routes to show off mob bosses' former hangouts.
While the outfit is a shadow of its former self, it's still here, and it has an interest in gambling.
Just last year, reputed mobster Michael "The Large Guy" Sarno was convicted of orchestrating the 2003 bombing of the suburban Chicago office of a rival video gaming company. The bombing, federal prosecutors said, was designed as a message to the company to stop horning in on a lucrative mob business.
Gambling expert William Thompson of the University of Nevada at Las Vegas said the mob would have a tough time gaining a foothold in Chicago casinos because investors wouldn't shell out millions of dollars if there were even a hint of organized crime involvement. "They're wary of having criminal elements involved where they might lose their (gaming) license," he said.
Regulation could be pricey, with some predicting it could cost millions to fund the small army that would be needed to monitor casinos, bars, restaurants, race tracks and other locations where thousands of slot and video poker machines could be set up.
"The way the Illinois Gaming Board operates, where people are able to gamble, we have agents present," board spokesman Gene O'Shea said.
Still, Thompson believes mobsters would be lurking around the edges — many, many edges since the legislation calls for tripling the number of gaming tables, slot and video poker machines in Illinois to more than 39,000, including 4,000 in Chicago. "The mob is going to come in on the side, run the loan shark businesses, have the prostitutes," he said, adding that a loan shark could be someone sitting at a corner table or the bartender, pulling money out of the till. "There's no way to police it."
Even a weakened mob is strong enough to take advantage of a whole new revenue stream, said Gus Russo, author of a book about the Chicago mob called "The Outfit." The mob's history has been one of turning what people want — be it alcohol or gambling, drugs or prostitutes — into money.
"They're like cockroaches. If they see a scam they will be a part of it," Russo said. "And if they're not a part of it, it will be the first time in history."
Thanks to Don Babwin
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Auction for Al Capone's Gun
Hoping to own a little piece of Chicago history?
A gun belonging to Al Capone, Windy City’s most infamous mob boss, is expected to sell for up to $115,000 when it is auctioned online on June 22.
The Colt .38 was made in 1929 after Capone had ordered the murder of seven of his rivals in the St Valentine’s Day Massacre. The revolver comes with a letter signed by the gangster’s sister-in-law confirming its authenticity.
Capone led a Prohibition-era crime syndicate until he was arrested in 1931 for tax evasion. He died in 1947 from cardiac arrest after suffering a stroke.
A gun belonging to outlaw Thomas Coleman “Cole” Younger, a member of the James gang with brothers Frank and Jesse, will also go under the hammer this month.
Thursday, June 02, 2011
Reward Offered in Search for Chicago Gang Fugitive Corey Griffen
Robert D. Grant, Special Agent in Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), was joined today by Garry F. McCarthy, Acting Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), in asking for the public’s help in locating COREY GRIFFIN, age 40, whose last known address was 12 South Mayfield Avenue in Chicago. In making this appeal for assistance, Mr. Grant noted that a reward of up to $10,000 was being offered for information leading to Griffin’s arrest.
GRIFFIN has been the subject of a nationwide manhunt, coordinated by the Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs (JTFG), since November of last year, when he was charged in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago with violation of federal drug laws.
GRIFFIN and 95 others, all known or suspected members of the Traveling Vice Lords street gang, were charged with drug violations in a combined federal and state investigation, code named Operation Blue Knight, which culminated with the arrest of 70 individuals. GRIFFIN, however, was one of nearly two dozen defendants in this case who avoided capture and is still at-large.
GRIFFIN, also known as “Fat Rat,” is described as a black male, 40 years of age, 5’9” tall, weighing approximately 200 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes with a short beard and mustache and a tattoo on his left arm of crossed paths with angels. Due to his criminal record and the nature of the charges filed against him, GRIFFIN should be considered ARMED and DANGEROUS.
Anyone recognizing GRIFFIN or having any information as to his current whereabouts is asked to call the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700.
The Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs is comprised of FBI special agents and officers from the Chicago Police Department.
The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
GRIFFIN and 95 others, all known or suspected members of the Traveling Vice Lords street gang, were charged with drug violations in a combined federal and state investigation, code named Operation Blue Knight, which culminated with the arrest of 70 individuals. GRIFFIN, however, was one of nearly two dozen defendants in this case who avoided capture and is still at-large.
GRIFFIN, also known as “Fat Rat,” is described as a black male, 40 years of age, 5’9” tall, weighing approximately 200 pounds. He has black hair and brown eyes with a short beard and mustache and a tattoo on his left arm of crossed paths with angels. Due to his criminal record and the nature of the charges filed against him, GRIFFIN should be considered ARMED and DANGEROUS.
Anyone recognizing GRIFFIN or having any information as to his current whereabouts is asked to call the Chicago FBI at (312) 421-6700.
The Chicago FBI’s Joint Task Force on Gangs is comprised of FBI special agents and officers from the Chicago Police Department.
The public is reminded that a complaint is not evidence of guilt and that all defendants in a criminal case are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
"The Family" Mob Musical to Open on Thursday
Is it just a silly trifle about a bunch of wise guys, or is Arlene Violet’s musical about the Rhode Island mob the real deal? Thursday will tell, when “The Family,” which has been four years in the making, opens for a month-long run at the Lederer Theater Center in Providence, the Washington Street home of Trinity Rep.
The show, based on some of the more colorful characters Violet encountered as Rhode Island attorney general in the mid-1980s, has got to be the most anticipated event of the summer. After all, who can resist Mafia lore, especially in Rhode Island, where organized crime has had such deep roots? And who isn’t curious about anything touched by Violet, the former nun and prosecutor, and now a controversial radio talk show host?
Only a musical about Buddy Cianci might top it.
Violet doesn’t want to say too much about the plot of her baby, except that it’s “gritty but also funny, because wise guys are funny.” But South County composer Enrico Garzilli, who wrote the musical’s 20-plus songs and lyrics, said the show packs an unexpected punch. “It’s going to surprise a lot of people,” said Garzilli, who has written the music and books for four other musicals. “It’s extremely powerful.”
The cast moved into the rented upstairs space at the Lederer Theater last week, where it will perform on a set that at times resembles the Italian neighborhood of Federal Hill, with its pine-nut arch and unassuming vending machine company that for years served as headquarters for the late Raymond L.S. Patriarca, longtime head of the New England rackets.
Meanwhile, Violet is busy raising money, doing publicity and making sure New York movers and shakers come to town to see the show. She has hopes of taking “The Family” to New York, but said that will cost $8 million.
“I am extremely busy,” she said, “just not creatively.”
This is not Violet’s first crack at writing. Her 200-page autobiography “Convictions” came out in 1988, the year after she left elective office as state Attorney General. Last year, Simon & Schuster published “The Mob and Me,” her tribute to her friend, the late John Partington, who started the federal witness-protection program. But this is her first theatrical venture, one that had its beginnings in a casual conversation with Garzilli after the premiere at the Providence Performing Arts Center of his coming-of-age musical “Michelangelo.” Garzilli, a former priest who received much of his musical training in Rome, suggested a future collaboration and Violet jumped at the chance, turning to what she knew best, the mobsters she encountered as attorney general.
She once joked that she and Garzilli decided to stay away from lampooning the Catholic Church, given their backgrounds.
Violet met once a week with Garzilli, who gave her pointers on how to write for a musical and helped flesh out an outline she had written. They started work in July of 2007, and by December of that year the project was finished, save for some tweaking.
“The Family” follows the exploits of a certain crime boss named Don Marco, who bears a striking resemblance to Patriarca. Don Marco wants his son, Renaldo, to take over the family business. But the sensitive Renaldo, who is into opera and other guys, wants no part of that life.
Meanwhile, the godfather has more family problems to deal with when two of his lieutenants rat him out. The show’s two snitches, Joe Barros and Vinny the Capo, are based on murderer and government informant Joseph “The Animal” Barboza, and Vincent “Fat Vinny” Teresa, who wrote a book about his years in the Mafia. Both men testified against Patriarca.
The Don’s troubles come to a head in the potent second act.
The characters are essentially composites with real-life roots. The song “What a Saint Is He” tells how the godfather gives money to a desperate woman for an eye operation for her son, something Patriarca once did. The woman sings how Don Marco does more for the neighborhood than politicians, the police and even, God forgive me, the priests.
The song, said Violet, shows that even bad guys have a good side, a recurrent theme in the show. When snitch Joe Barros goes into witness protection at the end of act one, he gives his daughter a string of pearls, albeit stolen pearls, to ease her pain of having to give up the life she knew, echoing a practice of Barboza, who in real life used to give his daughter a doll each time he killed someone.
At the same time, the tough U. S. Marshal in the show has his bad side, said Violet. In other words, no one in the show is all black or white, except perhaps the son, Renaldo, the aspiring opera singer who is gay. Garzilli called him the show’s “moral barometer,” the son every mother would love to have.
In most musicals in which there is a gay character, like “La Cage aux Folles,” audiences have to contend with what Violet called the “swish factor.” She finds that stereotype “counterproductive.”
“Maybe if people see a character like the son,” said Violet, “it will change the Rhode Island debate over same-sex marriage.”
The show also features a Mafia induction ceremony using the transcript from an actual FBI wiretap. Violet said the godfather and the inductee, the “made man,” speak at times in Italian, just like on the FBI tape, but then the rest of the gang chimes in and repeats the lines in English, like a chorus.
The story of “The Family” is not told by crooks alone. Violet wanted to include a tribute to Partington, and show what federal marshals had to deal with when it came to the families of mobsters, people whose lives were often thrown into chaos when they entered the witness-protection program. In the moving song “What’s Going to Become of Us,” Barros’ wife, Claire, laments her fate, finding out that the guy she married isn’t who she thought he was.
“I wanted to show the human element that the marshals had to deal with,” said Violet. She said it’s her “tip of the hat” to Partington, who served for a while as Providence public safety commissioner under Cianci.
The music for the show, for the most part, has a big band flavor, the kind of Vegas-inspired sounds mobsters might have danced to in the 1970s and ’80s. But composer Garzilli, who has an eclectic musical background, said he just as often took his inspiration from Stravinsky, especially the composer’s use of poly-rhythms. There is even a homage to Puccini, in a scene where Renaldo sings at the Providence Performing Arts Center, while his father is on the phone with a Chicago mob boss and another character is being beaten senseless in a corner.
The show opens with the song “Family Values,” with its code of, “see nuttin’, know nuttin’, say nuttin’ at all.” It’s a tune that pops up in various guises every time this code comes into play, and provides something of a unifying thread to the musical.
“My writing leads up to the emotion of the song,” said Violet. “It’s not enough to say these words; we have to sing them to get the emotion of the scene.”
The cast is pretty much made up of local talent, including five Rhode Island College theater students. Tom Gleadow, who has done a lot of work at the Gamm Theatre in Pawtucket, plays Don Marco, the godfather. Mark Colozzi, head of music in the Cranston public schools, who has sung as a tenor soloist throughout the Diocese of Providence, is Barros, the snitch. Colin Earyes, who is from Scranton, Pa, and getting his musical theater degree from West Chester University this month, plays the gay son Renaldo.
“All things being considered, we gave preference to Rhode Islanders,” said Violet. “We wanted to showcase the talent here to out-of-towners.”
Violet said she likes the touches director Peter Sampieri has brought to rehearsals so far. In one scene, he has Joe Barros doing push-ups to stay in shape. That rings true, she said, because in real life, Barboza was a former boxer who liked to work out. One thing she is looking for in the show, she said, is authenticity.
Whether that’s enough to make “The Family” the hit of the summer remains to be seen. But even if the show is not the greatest thing since sliced prosciutto, it won’t be for lack of trying.
“Arlene worked very hard on the show,” said Garzilli, “and I tried to do the same. We were never satisfied.”
“The Family” opens Thursday and runs through July 1 at the Lederer Theater Center, 201 Washington St., Providence. The show is renting the theater; it is not a Trinity Rep production. Tickets are $60. Call (401) 351-4242.
Thanks to Channing Gray
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Peter Bart's "Infamous Players: A Tale of Movies, the Mob (and Sex)"
He was a tall, silver-haired man, square-jawed with a military bearing, always impeccably attired in a dark blue suit. It was only a few weeks into my Paramount job when I came to understand that His visits were a daily occurrence, but did not linger or chat with anyone other than (Paramount head of production) Bob Evans, nor did anyone on staff ever refer to him or acknowledge his visits. Korshak was the ghost who was always there but never there.
Evans had talked earlier about him once or twice
, always in a manner that betrayed not only respect but near-reverence. Sidney Korshak was not so much his personal attorney (he never paid him) or even his mentor as he was his consigliere. And when Korshak arrived for an Evans audience, all other plans would be set aside. Whoever happened to be in the reception room would have to wait until the big man had come and gone from Evans' sanctum sanctorum. And this procedure was replicated by other power players at other offices in town, as I was to learn.
Sidney Korshak, it seemed to me, was the man who knew everything -- the big corporate deals as well as the personal peccadilloes. It was some time before I also realized that Korshak was the man who knew too much.
It was Korshak's role in life to dwell simultaneously in two separate and distinct worlds which, in his grand design, would remain hermetically sealed against each other. There was his celebrity world -- he liked to drop names like Kirk Douglas or Dinah Shore or Debbie Reynolds, or to casually mention that he'd just had dinner with Sinatra in Las Vegas, or with Nancy and Ronnie Reagan in Beverly Hills. But he would never mention his other friends, like Tony Accardo or Sam Giancana from the Chicago mob or Jimmy Hoffa from the Teamsters or Moe Dalitz from Vegas.
Korshak would allude to the corporate deals he made on behalf of Lew Wasserman or Howard Hughes, but he never confided what he knew about Bugsy Siegel's murder or Hoffa's disappearance.
Korshak's life was built around a web of secrecy, and he was convinced that he would always be able to move effortlessly from one world to the next. It was only later in his life that he, too, found himself trapped. As the dangers in his nether life became more ominous, Korshak was unable to extricate himself from his underworld bonds. The celebrities would continue to decorate his life, like glitzy toys, but the bad boys would always be hovering out there with their furtive demands and threats. …
Over the years my relationship with Korshak remained distanced but cordial. He never directly asked anything from me nor subjected me to his power games. When his son, Harry, began to produce movies at Paramount -- I never figured out precisely how this deal came about -- Korshak said to me he would "appreciate it" if I were to "look out" for Harry and provide advice if he began to stray. But when young Harry's career did not go well, Korshak was the first to inform his son that he would do well to pursue other career possibilities.In observing Korshak's superbly surreptitious maneuverings over time, I began to accept a reality none of us wanted to openly address. Sidney Korshak was a gangster, albeit a very civil and well-groomed gangster. The bad boys had achieved major clout in the entertainment industry, and Korshak, despite all his secrecy, represented the embodiment of that clout.
Ironically, while Korshak yearned for the trappings of "respectability," his pals in Hollywood venerated him, not for his cool or his great wardrobe or even for his lawyering skills, but rather for his fabled underworld ties. …Bob Evans, for one, had always romanticized the lore of the gangster -- hence his lifelong ambition to make the movie about the mythic, mobster-owned Cotton Club, which ultimately came to haunt him. Charlie Bluhdorn,founder of Gulf + Western, which owned Par, had a longstanding flirtation with the shadow world out of fringe financiers in Europe and ended up doing deals that resulted in prison sentences for his partners and almost for himself. (Paramount president) Frank Yablans subscribed to mobster mythology to such a degree that he even agreed to play the role of an underworld thug in a movie titled "Mikey and Nicky." He was in rehearsal on the film before an apoplectic Bluhdorn vetoed his participation (even the often reckless Bluhdhorn realized the potential jeopardy to his corporate image).
Thanks to Peter Bart
Evans had talked earlier about him once or twice
, always in a manner that betrayed not only respect but near-reverence. Sidney Korshak was not so much his personal attorney (he never paid him) or even his mentor as he was his consigliere. And when Korshak arrived for an Evans audience, all other plans would be set aside. Whoever happened to be in the reception room would have to wait until the big man had come and gone from Evans' sanctum sanctorum. And this procedure was replicated by other power players at other offices in town, as I was to learn.Sidney Korshak, it seemed to me, was the man who knew everything -- the big corporate deals as well as the personal peccadilloes. It was some time before I also realized that Korshak was the man who knew too much.
It was Korshak's role in life to dwell simultaneously in two separate and distinct worlds which, in his grand design, would remain hermetically sealed against each other. There was his celebrity world -- he liked to drop names like Kirk Douglas or Dinah Shore or Debbie Reynolds, or to casually mention that he'd just had dinner with Sinatra in Las Vegas, or with Nancy and Ronnie Reagan in Beverly Hills. But he would never mention his other friends, like Tony Accardo or Sam Giancana from the Chicago mob or Jimmy Hoffa from the Teamsters or Moe Dalitz from Vegas.
Korshak would allude to the corporate deals he made on behalf of Lew Wasserman or Howard Hughes, but he never confided what he knew about Bugsy Siegel's murder or Hoffa's disappearance.
Korshak's life was built around a web of secrecy, and he was convinced that he would always be able to move effortlessly from one world to the next. It was only later in his life that he, too, found himself trapped. As the dangers in his nether life became more ominous, Korshak was unable to extricate himself from his underworld bonds. The celebrities would continue to decorate his life, like glitzy toys, but the bad boys would always be hovering out there with their furtive demands and threats. …
Over the years my relationship with Korshak remained distanced but cordial. He never directly asked anything from me nor subjected me to his power games. When his son, Harry, began to produce movies at Paramount -- I never figured out precisely how this deal came about -- Korshak said to me he would "appreciate it" if I were to "look out" for Harry and provide advice if he began to stray. But when young Harry's career did not go well, Korshak was the first to inform his son that he would do well to pursue other career possibilities.In observing Korshak's superbly surreptitious maneuverings over time, I began to accept a reality none of us wanted to openly address. Sidney Korshak was a gangster, albeit a very civil and well-groomed gangster. The bad boys had achieved major clout in the entertainment industry, and Korshak, despite all his secrecy, represented the embodiment of that clout.
Ironically, while Korshak yearned for the trappings of "respectability," his pals in Hollywood venerated him, not for his cool or his great wardrobe or even for his lawyering skills, but rather for his fabled underworld ties. …Bob Evans, for one, had always romanticized the lore of the gangster -- hence his lifelong ambition to make the movie about the mythic, mobster-owned Cotton Club, which ultimately came to haunt him. Charlie Bluhdorn,founder of Gulf + Western, which owned Par, had a longstanding flirtation with the shadow world out of fringe financiers in Europe and ended up doing deals that resulted in prison sentences for his partners and almost for himself. (Paramount president) Frank Yablans subscribed to mobster mythology to such a degree that he even agreed to play the role of an underworld thug in a movie titled "Mikey and Nicky." He was in rehearsal on the film before an apoplectic Bluhdorn vetoed his participation (even the often reckless Bluhdhorn realized the potential jeopardy to his corporate image).
Thanks to Peter Bart
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Mob Outfit Film "Predators Game" to Start Filming in Chicago Soon
Predators Game is a feature-length crime thriller set (and filmed) in Chicago. The lives of a Chicago outfit Hitman and a serial killer with an obsession for beautiful women he wants to make perfect, become intimately and surprisingly intertwined.
FBI profiler, Dr. Carmichael, joins forces with lead Detective John Burke, who is tasked with putting a stop to the murderous havoc of this dangerous Predator.
The Hitman’s life is changed forever as the serial killer manipulates events in his life which sets him on a rampage of carnage in search for this unlikely opponent.
Time is running out for Detective Burke and Dr. Carmichael as they seek this Predator who is playing a deadly life and death game with all of their lives.
Filming stars soon and extras casting will be handled by Darlene Hunt and Extraordinary Casting.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Philadelphia Mafia Takedown Recap
On Monday, a superseding federal grand jury indictment was announced charging 13 members and associates of the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra (LCN) family with racketeering, extortion, loan sharking, illegal gambling, and witness tampering.
Eleven of the 13—including the reputed boss and underboss of the criminal enterprise—were arrested earlier that day in Philadelphia and New Jersey. Two of the subjects were already serving time in federal prison for previous convictions but managed to continue their racketeering activities from behind bars.
Alleged mob boss Joseph Ligambi rose through the ranks of the Philadelphia LCN crime family and took over at the helm after the 2001 incarceration of previous boss Joseph “Skinny Joey” Merlino on racketeering charges.
The indictment alleges that for more than a decade, Ligambi, underboss Joseph Massimino, and the others conspired to generate money through various crimes. For example, they reportedly operated illegal gambling businesses involving sports bookmaking and electronic gambling devices in places like bars, restaurants, convenience stories, and coffee shops…and pocketed the proceeds. Mafia families like the one in Philadelphia often make millions of dollars and traditionally use gambling proceeds as seed money for other crimes.
The defendants also offered “loans”—at exorbitant interest rates—to victims who knew there would be dire consequences if they failed to repay them within a certain time frame.
To carry out their crimes, the defendants often used actual or implied threats of violence against their victims. According to the indictment, some of the defendants used phrases like, “I’ll put a bullet in your head,” and, “Chop him up,” to threaten victims who weren’t repaying their loans. The defendants used their reputation for violence to intimidate and prevent victims and witnesses from cooperating with law enforcement.
The defendants also actively worked to conceal their illegal operations from law enforcement. For example, they used coded language over the phone, such as calling the electronic gambling devices “coffee machines.” They often took “walk and talks” where they would conduct covert conversations with each other while walking to and from a particular destination because they thought they couldn’t be intercepted. They also established companies that appeared to be legitimate but were actually created to launder money and conceal the illegal nature of their activities.
To collect the evidence needed for these indictments, this long-term investigation included undercover scenarios, court-authorized electronic surveillances, consensual recordings, and many hours of physical surveillance.
This particular case was a good example of law enforcement cooperation at its best—the Philadelphia Police Department, the Pennsylvania and New Jersey State Police, the Criminal Division of the Internal Revenue Service, and the Department of Labor all worked alongside the Philadelphia FBI, with additional assistance from the New Jersey Department of Corrections and the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office. Prosecutors from the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Justice’s Organized Crime and Racketeering Section are assisting the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania as well.
This arrest of the reputed leadership of the Philadelphia LCN comes on the heels of the large mafia takedown in New York earlier this year. And law enforcement efforts against the LCN, as well as other types of organized crime—international and domestic—will continue unabated.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Steve Wynn Shares Casino Owner's Handbook on Organized Crime
Gambling mogul Steve Wynn
had fun with a question at a press conference Tuesday about allegations of organized crime in Macau, the world’s largest casino market.“I know one thing–organized crime is illegal…And one should avoid participating in organized crime,” he said. “That’s the first page of the casino owner’s handbook…actually I didn’t go any further in the book. That’s where I left it right there,” he joked.
Turning more serious, he said Wynn Resorts Ltd. has an “extensive internal investigation process” to ensure it remains compliant with regulations in the U.S. and China. “We have former FBI agents and policemen from Hong Kong and China–a whole staff of people to check things up and have access to intelligence and things that us normal people wouldn’t necessarily know about.”
Mr. Wynn, Wynn Resorts’ chief executive, said the company and its Hong Kong-listed Wynn Macau Ltd. unit vet business partners including junket operators, the middlemen who recruit mostly mainland Chinese gamblers, lend them money and collect debts.
“All of this we did out of sheer common sense and understanding the business we’re in,” said Mr. Wynn following the annual general meeting for Wynn Macau. Mr. Wynn said that his compliance committee doesn’t report to him, but to Wynn Resorts board member and former Nevada Gov. Bob Miller.
Investigations into the casino industry have been on investors’ minds recently. A U.S. government probe of rival casino operator Las Vegas Sands for possible lack of compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act has some investors and industry watchers concerned there could be a sector-wide probe on the way. (Las Vegas Sands has said it is cooperating with investigators and has denied allegations in a separate lawsuit the company believes sparked the investigation.) Last year, another Macau casino player, MGM Resorts International, sold its stake in a New Jersey casino after regulators there found the operator’s Macau partnership with a daughter of tycoon Stanley Ho troubling because of his alleged ties to organized crime. Mr. Ho and his family denied any such ties.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal Saturday, Mr. Wynn said his company didn’t face any regulatory risk despite the increased scrutiny of some in the industry.
“We’ve never been investigated by anyone and have no risk of any kind whatsoever,” he said.
Thanks to Kate O'Keefe
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Crime Beat Radio Show Releases Upcoming Program Schedule
Crime Beat: Issues, Controversies and Personalities from the Darkside has been programming since January 28 of this year and is currently averaging 60,000 listeners plus each week, and the figure is growing.
Crime Beat is now pleased to announce its forthcoming schedule:
Crime Beat is now pleased to announce its forthcoming schedule:
- May 26: Eric Forchion (AKA NJWeedman)
- Forchion,activist and Rastafarian, will discuss his historic legal brief in New Jersey's Burlington County Superior Court, his upcoming criminal trial and his long-running battle to make marijuana legal and to change the drug laws in the U.S.
- June 2: Andrew DiDonato (Command Performance)
- DiDonato will reveal how he survived the Mob and led a street soldier’s life in the Gambino crime family
- June 9: Anthony DeStafano
- The crime author will discuss his just released book,Mob Killer: The Bloody Rampage of Charles Carneglia, Mafia Hit Man
- June 16: John Pappas, Executive Director, Poker Player’s Alliance
- Pappas will discuss issues relating to Internet gambling
- June 23: Nathaniel Vinton and the co-authors from the New York Daily News will discuss their book, American Icon: The Fall of Roger Clemens and the Rise of Steroids in America's Pastime
- June 30: The Serial killer
- Dan Zupansky, author of Trophy Kill: the Shall We Dance Murder, and Scott Bonn, serial killer expert and professor at Rutgers University, will discuss Zupansky’s book and the mind of the serial killer.
- July 7: David Albright
- Albright will discuss his latest book Peddling Peril: How the Secret Nuclear Trade Arms America's Enemies
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Vinny Gorgeous Begs Jury for Mercy
After a blood-soaked career as a New York mafia boss, Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano found himself begging a jury Tuesday for something he rarely gave himself: mercy.
Jurors in Brooklyn federal court began hearing arguments on whether the convicted murderer and former boss of the Italian-American Bonanno crime family should be executed or spend the rest of his life in a top security prison.
A lawyer for Basciano, a 51-year-old famous for his sharp suits and swept-back, immaculate hair, made an emotional appeal, telling the jury to let his client die "in God's time and not man's."In several years' time, defense attorney Richard Jasper said in a dramatic whisper, jurors would be asked by their children how they acted "and you will be able to tell them: 'I chose life.'"Basciano was convicted last week for ordering the murder of a fellow wiseguy, Randolph Pizzolo. Unlike in usual cases where the judge sets the sentence, the jury in a capital case also has sentencing power.
Prosecutor Jack Dennehy described "the murderous rise to power" that took Basciano to the top of the Bonannos, one of New York's traditional five Cosa Nostra crime syndicates.
He said Basciano was involved in several mafia killings, both as trigger puller and the man who gave the orders -- "a man who wants to decide who lives and who dies."If Basciano were sent to prison, even without parole, he would continue to pull the strings, Dennehy argued. "He will not leave the Bonanno crime family behind in prison."Basciano's life and trial could be taken from the script of a brutal Hollywood mafia movie. A striking-looking man, he spent three decades thriving in the snake-pit of the Big Apple underworld.In court, he has fought equally hard to justify his infamous "Vinny Gorgeous" nickname. He complained several times at the outset about his poor access to clothes and he even borrowed the judge's tie so that he could look smart before jurors came in.
On Tuesday, the cool killer wore an olive green suit with a tie in forest colors and a white shirt. His silver-black hair was combed perfectly backward.With years of experience in the justice system, Basciano takes active part in his defense. He entered court carrying a box of documents and spent his time taking notes -- passing some along to his lawyers -- and shaking his head when Dennehy said he'd gone as far as plotting to murder women.
Dennehy said the fallen mob boss "poses a future danger to others" and had "earned the ultimate punishment, the punishment of death." But Jasper, his voice ranging from a near shout to intimate whispers, sought to tug jurors' consciences. For a death sentence, the jury must be unanimous. If not, Basciano will go to prison.
Jasper urged jurors against thinking that life in prison was a soft option. Basciano, he said, would be sent to the Supermax facility in a remote part of Colorado, a place "feared" by the hardest of the hard.There would be no second chance for Basciano, he said. "Vinny Basciano will come out of prison in a box."The dapper don act will be over too."No suits, no shirts, no ties, no 'Vinny Gorgeous,'" Jasper said. "The rest of his life in prison."
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Reputed Philly Mob Boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi Along with Alleged Underboss Joseph "Mousei" Massimino Among 12 Arrested
The reputed boss of the Philadelphia mob, his alleged lieutenant and 11 others were hit with federal racketeering and gambling charges in an indictment unsealed Monday that federal authorities said shows that violent organized crime remains a real-life menace.
Alleged mob leader Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi, reputed underboss Joseph "Mousie" Massimino and the others ran illegal gambling operations and engaged in loan sharking, according to the 70-page indictment that described a "Godfather"-like world in which reputed mobsters used threats to kill or harm people to recoup business debts.
Eleven people, including Ligambi, were arrested Monday. The other two defendants were already in federal custody.
Ligambi, 72, pleaded not guilty during an initial appearance. His attorney, Joseph Santaguida, said the case against his client isn't strong and that he should be granted bail at a hearing later this week.
Massimino, 61, said in court that he didn't yet have an attorney. He has a bail hearing scheduled for Thursday. A judge also scheduled bail hearings for many of the other defendants this week.
The arrests were the largest action taken against Philadelphia's crime family in a decade.
"They used violence and the threat of violence to exert control over others," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said at a news conference, noting that organized crime in Philadelphia had shown "a remarkable ability to reorganize and reinvent itself."
Ligambi, Massimino and the others provided video poker machines and other illegal gambling devices to bars, restaurants and convenience stores in and around Philadelphia, prosecutors said.
Ligambi, Massimino and another defendant tried to make the business appear legitimate to hide the money from the federal government, prosecutors said. Ligambi, Massimino and other defendants also "approved, supervised, and otherwise participated in extortions" to generate income for the enterprise and its members, the indictment said.
In one instance, between about 2002 and 2006, Massimino and another defendant extorted a bookmaker by demanding that the bookmaker provide "yearly tribute payments" to the Philadelphia La Casa Nostra in order to "avoid personal harm" and the disruption of business, the indictment said.
The indictment is also riddled with allegations of defendants threatening to kill or harm people who haven't paid their debts, including alleged threats to "put a bullet in your head" and to "chop him up." Massimino allegedly told one victim that he wouldn't "be able to hide anywhere in the U.S.," prosecutors allege.
"The defendants also used express and implied threats of physical violence and economic harm to instill fear in their victims and to preserve and sustain the enterprise," the indictment said.
U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said the arrests should serve as a warning that law enforcement hasn't forgotten about the Mafia.
"Today, we make clear that such activity will not be tolerated by my office and that La Cosa Nostra remains a priority for the Department of Justice," Memeger said.
Ligambi took over the Philadelphia mob after former boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino was convicted of racketeering in 2001, according to investigators. Merlino was later acquitted of a murder charge in 2004.
Ligambi was convicted in the 1985 gangland slaying of Frank "Frankie Flowers" D'Alfonso and spent 10 years in prison before he was acquitted on retrial in 1997.
Merlino is currently serving a six-month term at a Florida halfway house after being released from federal prison in March.
Alleged mob leader Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi, reputed underboss Joseph "Mousie" Massimino and the others ran illegal gambling operations and engaged in loan sharking, according to the 70-page indictment that described a "Godfather"-like world in which reputed mobsters used threats to kill or harm people to recoup business debts.
Eleven people, including Ligambi, were arrested Monday. The other two defendants were already in federal custody.
Ligambi, 72, pleaded not guilty during an initial appearance. His attorney, Joseph Santaguida, said the case against his client isn't strong and that he should be granted bail at a hearing later this week.
Massimino, 61, said in court that he didn't yet have an attorney. He has a bail hearing scheduled for Thursday. A judge also scheduled bail hearings for many of the other defendants this week.
The arrests were the largest action taken against Philadelphia's crime family in a decade.
"They used violence and the threat of violence to exert control over others," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said at a news conference, noting that organized crime in Philadelphia had shown "a remarkable ability to reorganize and reinvent itself."
Ligambi, Massimino and the others provided video poker machines and other illegal gambling devices to bars, restaurants and convenience stores in and around Philadelphia, prosecutors said.
Ligambi, Massimino and another defendant tried to make the business appear legitimate to hide the money from the federal government, prosecutors said. Ligambi, Massimino and other defendants also "approved, supervised, and otherwise participated in extortions" to generate income for the enterprise and its members, the indictment said.
In one instance, between about 2002 and 2006, Massimino and another defendant extorted a bookmaker by demanding that the bookmaker provide "yearly tribute payments" to the Philadelphia La Casa Nostra in order to "avoid personal harm" and the disruption of business, the indictment said.
The indictment is also riddled with allegations of defendants threatening to kill or harm people who haven't paid their debts, including alleged threats to "put a bullet in your head" and to "chop him up." Massimino allegedly told one victim that he wouldn't "be able to hide anywhere in the U.S.," prosecutors allege.
"The defendants also used express and implied threats of physical violence and economic harm to instill fear in their victims and to preserve and sustain the enterprise," the indictment said.
U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said the arrests should serve as a warning that law enforcement hasn't forgotten about the Mafia.
"Today, we make clear that such activity will not be tolerated by my office and that La Cosa Nostra remains a priority for the Department of Justice," Memeger said.
Ligambi took over the Philadelphia mob after former boss Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino was convicted of racketeering in 2001, according to investigators. Merlino was later acquitted of a murder charge in 2004.
Ligambi was convicted in the 1985 gangland slaying of Frank "Frankie Flowers" D'Alfonso and spent 10 years in prison before he was acquitted on retrial in 1997.
Merlino is currently serving a six-month term at a Florida halfway house after being released from federal prison in March.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Extradition of Genovese Family Soldier from Italy to Face Racketeering Charges for His Alleged Role in Two Murders and Other Crimes
PREET BHARARA, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that EMILIO FUSCO was extradited from Italy to face racketeering and other charges in connection with his role as a made member of the Genovese organized crime family. FUSCO arrived in New York , and was arraigned in Manhattan federal court.
FUSCO was charged, along with co-defendants FELIX TRANGHESE, TY GEAS, FOTIOS GEAS, and ARTHUR NIGRO, in a superseding indictment (the “indictment”) unsealed in July 2010. TRANGHESE pled guilty in January 2011, and NIGRO, FOTIOS GEAS, and TY GEAS were convicted by a jury on April 1, 2011, of racketeering charges, multiple murder charges, and multiple extortion charges.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA stated: “Emilio Fusco will finally face the justice he deserves—something that he never afforded his alleged victims.”
According to the indictment and testimony and evidence presented at the trial of FUSCO’s co-defendants:
FUSCO was a made member of the Genovese organized crime family, in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 2003, prior to being sentenced for an earlier racketeering conviction, FUSCO obtained a court document showing that Genovese family capo Adolfo Bruno had spoken with an FBI agent about FUSCO’s status in the Genovese family. Thereafter, Arthur Nigro, who was then an acting boss of the Genovese family, gave the order to murder Bruno. FUSCO and others conspired to carry out the murder, and Bruno was killed on November 23, 2003.
Less than three weeks before Bruno’s murder, FUSCO, along with another Genovese family soldier and two associates, murdered an individual named Gary Westerman to maintain and increase their position in the Genovese organized crime family and to prevent Westerman from providing information to law enforcement about crimes committed by members and associates of the Genovese organized crime family.
FUSCO is charged with one count each of racketeering conspiracy, racketeering, conspiring to commit extortion, extortion, and interstate travel in aid of racketeering. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence on each racketeering count of life in prison, a maximum sentence on each extortion count of 20 years in prison, and a maximum sentence on the interstate travel count of five years in prison.
A conference in the case is scheduled before U.S. District Judge P. KEVIN CASTEL on June 17, 2011, at 12:00 p.m.
Sentencing for NIGRO, FOTIOS GEAS, and TY GEAS is scheduled for July 15, 2011, at 11:15 a.m. TRANGHESE is scheduled to be sentenced on July 15, 2011, at 9:30 a.m.
Mr. BHARARA praised the efforts of the FBI’s New York Field Office, the FBI’s Springfield, Massachusetts, Resident Agency, and the Massachusetts State Police for their outstanding work in the ongoing investigation. He also thanked the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and the United States Marshals Service for their involvement in the extradition process.
This case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Organized Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys MARK LANPHER, ELIE HONIG, and DANIEL GOLDMAN are in charge of the prosecution.
The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
FUSCO was charged, along with co-defendants FELIX TRANGHESE, TY GEAS, FOTIOS GEAS, and ARTHUR NIGRO, in a superseding indictment (the “indictment”) unsealed in July 2010. TRANGHESE pled guilty in January 2011, and NIGRO, FOTIOS GEAS, and TY GEAS were convicted by a jury on April 1, 2011, of racketeering charges, multiple murder charges, and multiple extortion charges.
Manhattan U.S. Attorney PREET BHARARA stated: “Emilio Fusco will finally face the justice he deserves—something that he never afforded his alleged victims.”
According to the indictment and testimony and evidence presented at the trial of FUSCO’s co-defendants:
FUSCO was a made member of the Genovese organized crime family, in Springfield, Massachusetts. In 2003, prior to being sentenced for an earlier racketeering conviction, FUSCO obtained a court document showing that Genovese family capo Adolfo Bruno had spoken with an FBI agent about FUSCO’s status in the Genovese family. Thereafter, Arthur Nigro, who was then an acting boss of the Genovese family, gave the order to murder Bruno. FUSCO and others conspired to carry out the murder, and Bruno was killed on November 23, 2003.
Less than three weeks before Bruno’s murder, FUSCO, along with another Genovese family soldier and two associates, murdered an individual named Gary Westerman to maintain and increase their position in the Genovese organized crime family and to prevent Westerman from providing information to law enforcement about crimes committed by members and associates of the Genovese organized crime family.
FUSCO is charged with one count each of racketeering conspiracy, racketeering, conspiring to commit extortion, extortion, and interstate travel in aid of racketeering. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence on each racketeering count of life in prison, a maximum sentence on each extortion count of 20 years in prison, and a maximum sentence on the interstate travel count of five years in prison.
A conference in the case is scheduled before U.S. District Judge P. KEVIN CASTEL on June 17, 2011, at 12:00 p.m.
Sentencing for NIGRO, FOTIOS GEAS, and TY GEAS is scheduled for July 15, 2011, at 11:15 a.m. TRANGHESE is scheduled to be sentenced on July 15, 2011, at 9:30 a.m.
Mr. BHARARA praised the efforts of the FBI’s New York Field Office, the FBI’s Springfield, Massachusetts, Resident Agency, and the Massachusetts State Police for their outstanding work in the ongoing investigation. He also thanked the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs and the United States Marshals Service for their involvement in the extradition process.
This case is being prosecuted by the Office’s Organized Crime Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys MARK LANPHER, ELIE HONIG, and DANIEL GOLDMAN are in charge of the prosecution.
The charges contained in the indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Unfinished Business on Mob Wives
During a ladies' night out, "Party Renee" Graziano makes an overdue and completely wild appearance. Meanwhile, Drita D'avanzo comes face to face with the harsh realities of having a husband behind bars as her birthday approaches. Her boozy blowout pushes her to resolve one conflict, though she remains oblivious to another even bigger one that is brewing. Carla Facciolo's blissful relationship with a mystery man sows the seeds of dissent among the women, as Renee prepares herself for a fresh start, at any cost. While continuing to work on her book and dig into her past, Karen Gravano resolves to confront an explosive issue that's been eating at her for a long time. Sparks fly. Lines are crossed.
Friday, May 20, 2011
How Joseph Massino Exposed the Ugly Truth About "Vinny Gorgeous"
A New York City mobster who is serving a life sentence for attempted murder could become the first mafia boss to face the death penalty after being convicted in a case accusing him of ordering a gangland killing to cement his rise to power in the Bonanno organised crime family.
A Brooklyn jury had deliberated for four days in the death penalty case before finding tough-talking Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano guilty of murder, racketeering, conspiracy and other charges on Monday.
The jury, after being swayed by wiretaps and a series of low-level mob witnesses, will reconvene next week to decide whether Basciano, 51, will get another life term or execution by lethal injection.
The federal trial of the one-time owner of the Hello Gorgeous beauty salon featured testimony by former Bonanno boss Joseph Massino, who made another first in this trial, by becoming the first boss to testify against one of their own.
Massino, 68, began talking with investigators after his 2004 conviction for orchestrating a quarter-century's worth of murder, racketeering and other crimes as he rose through the Bonanno ranks.
He is serving two consecutive life terms for eight murders. He testified his cooperation spared his wife from prosecution, allowed her to keep their home and gave him a shot at a reduced sentence.
By cooperating, he told jurors he was violating a sacred oath he took during a 1977 induction ceremony to protect the secret society. It was understood, he said, that "once a bullet leaves that gun, you never talk about it".
The bloodshed revealed by Massino's testimony includes the shotgun slayings of three rival captains and the execution of a mobster who vouched for FBI undercover agent Donnie Brasco in the 1980s.
While imprisoned together in 2005, the former Bonanno boss agreed to wear a wire and betray Basciano, a gangster known for his meticulously groomed hair, sharp suits and hot temper. Before trial, Basciano won approval to have access to five different suits to wear to court – one for each day of the week.
Jurors heard one recording of Basciano boasting, "I'm a hoodlum, I'm a tough guy. Whatever happens, happens. Let's go."
The tape was evidence that the defendant is "a cold-blooded remorseless killer," Assistant US Attorney Stephen Frank said in his closing argument.
Prosecutors alleged that Basciano – while seizing control of the Bonannos as acting boss in 2004 after Massino was jailed – orchestrated the killing of mob associate Randolph Pizzolo. The slaying was payback for a drunken tirade by Pizzolo demanding induction into the family.
Thanks to Richard Hall and Tom Hays
A Brooklyn jury had deliberated for four days in the death penalty case before finding tough-talking Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano guilty of murder, racketeering, conspiracy and other charges on Monday.
The jury, after being swayed by wiretaps and a series of low-level mob witnesses, will reconvene next week to decide whether Basciano, 51, will get another life term or execution by lethal injection.
The federal trial of the one-time owner of the Hello Gorgeous beauty salon featured testimony by former Bonanno boss Joseph Massino, who made another first in this trial, by becoming the first boss to testify against one of their own.
Massino, 68, began talking with investigators after his 2004 conviction for orchestrating a quarter-century's worth of murder, racketeering and other crimes as he rose through the Bonanno ranks.
He is serving two consecutive life terms for eight murders. He testified his cooperation spared his wife from prosecution, allowed her to keep their home and gave him a shot at a reduced sentence.
By cooperating, he told jurors he was violating a sacred oath he took during a 1977 induction ceremony to protect the secret society. It was understood, he said, that "once a bullet leaves that gun, you never talk about it".
The bloodshed revealed by Massino's testimony includes the shotgun slayings of three rival captains and the execution of a mobster who vouched for FBI undercover agent Donnie Brasco in the 1980s.
While imprisoned together in 2005, the former Bonanno boss agreed to wear a wire and betray Basciano, a gangster known for his meticulously groomed hair, sharp suits and hot temper. Before trial, Basciano won approval to have access to five different suits to wear to court – one for each day of the week.
Jurors heard one recording of Basciano boasting, "I'm a hoodlum, I'm a tough guy. Whatever happens, happens. Let's go."
The tape was evidence that the defendant is "a cold-blooded remorseless killer," Assistant US Attorney Stephen Frank said in his closing argument.
Prosecutors alleged that Basciano – while seizing control of the Bonannos as acting boss in 2004 after Massino was jailed – orchestrated the killing of mob associate Randolph Pizzolo. The slaying was payback for a drunken tirade by Pizzolo demanding induction into the family.
Thanks to Richard Hall and Tom Hays
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