Prison Sentence for 87 Year Old Mafia Capo

Federal authorities announced that Ciro Perrone, 87, a “capo” or captain in the Genovese Organized Crime Family, has been sentenced to five years in prison.

Perrone was convicted by a jury in June 2007 following a two-week trial of all counts against him, including racketeering.

Perrone has been a member of the Genovese Family since at least the 1960s, the feds said.

He was convicted of four separate racketeering acts including operation of a gambling business, loan-sharking conspiracy, and loan-sharking against two victims; RICO conspiracy, conspiracy to make extortionate extensions of credit; and conspiracy to use extortionate means to collect extensions of credit.

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Last Photo of John Gotti Emerges

Here's the last photo ever taken of John Gotti, the murderous degenerate who once headed the Gambino crime family. Gotti, the so-called Dapper Don, posed for the below Bureau of Prisons photo on October 17, 2001, less than eight months before he died, at age 61, at the federal prison hospital in Springfield, Missouri.

The Gotti image was released this week in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by The Smoking Gun. According to a BoP letter, the color image was Gotti's "institution commissary photo." The once-robust Gotti appears frail in the prison photo, which was snapped more than two years after the convicted killer was operated on for head and neck cancer.

Compare the above photo with that of perhaps of John Gotti's "rookie card". Unearthed from the files of New York's Suffolk County Police Department, the photo captures a Brylcreem-laden Gotti, then 24, following his March 1965 arrest for a botched burglary.

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IRS Agents Used Muscle to Get Capone

Recently released memos written by the IRS investigators who brought down Al Capone are shedding new light on the way federal agents successfully ended the reign of the Chicago crime lord.

IRS investigators could prove Capone had money, but they couldn't prove where he was getting it from, said Jonathan Eig, a Chicago author who is writing a book about the investigation leading to Capone's arrest and conviction.

Agents found one bookkeeper who could testify to Capone's income source, and they "used a lot of muscle to get this guy to testify," Eig said.

The bookkeeper was sent to South America for a time to safeguard him from assassins, he said.

"The evidence shows the IRS agents really did get out of the office and track down this accountant and really put the screws to him to get him to testify," he said.

Eig sought the material through the Freedom of Information Act, something others had previously done without success. A new lawyer at the IRS reviewed Eig's request and released the documents to him.

Eig's book, whose working title is Get Capone, is being published by Simon & Schuster. It focuses on the last years of Capone's reign. Eig said he hopes to correct the myth that Eliot Ness brought down the man known as "Public Enemy No. 1."

"'The Untouchables' movie has made Eliot Ness the hero of the story," he said. "The IRS agents are."

Thanks to Kara Spak

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Sam Giancana Mini-Series Announces New Ownership

Zuma Beach Entertainment, Inc. (Pink Sheets: ZMBC) ("Zuma") announced today that "MOMO," The Sam Giancana Story, is the first project of a slate of film and television projects in which ownership interest has been acquired from Westlake Productions, LLC ("Westlake").

Mark Wolper, President of The Wolper Organization, prolific producers of television mini-series and movies, is developing and producing the six-hour mini-series for Warner Bros. Entertainment, a Time Warner Company (NYSE: TWX).

The high profile television mini-series details the life of infamous Chicago mob boss Sam Giancana whose rein spanned the 1950's and 1960's. Giancana was best known for his ties to John F. Kennedy and is reputed to have played a key role in helping Kennedy take the White House in 1960.

After Giancana's wife died as a result of a rheumatic heart, he was left to raise three daughters while carrying out his role as a mob leader. Giancana, a larger-than-life character whose flamboyant lifestyle included friendships with celebrities like Frank Sinatra of the "Rat Pack," paved the way for high profile mobsters until his assassination in 1975.

Wolper optioned rights to the life story of Giancana from Nicholas Celozzi who had acquired them from
Giancana's daughter Francine, who is Celozzi's cousin. Wolper is producing the project for Warner Bros. while Dimitri Logothetis and Nick Celozzi are co-writing and co-executive producing the television mini-series. Production of the project is scheduled for summer/fall 2008.

Said Wolper, in an earlier press release; "This is a fascinating chapter in American history with an incredibly compelling family story and real-life character in Sam Giancana as the patriarch. We envision the mini-series as a true-life "Sopranos" meets "The Gangster Chronicles," shedding light on never-before-exposed parts of the story."

Wolper is the recipient of multiple Emmy Award-nominations including those for the mini-series "The Mists of Avalon," the television movie "Murder in Mississippi," the CBS mini-series "Queen," and the Showtime series "Penn & Teller's Bullshit".

Logothetis has served as an executive producer and showrunner for two shows on Warner Bros. Television -- "Code Name Eternity" and "Dark Real".

Celozzi is a prominent Actor, Director, Producer and Writer. He was the Executive Producer and starred in "Dumb Luck in Vegas" (1997) and directed "Deep Cover, a.k.a. Checkmate" (1996) and "Dark and Deadly" (1995). Along with Freddy Braidy, he recently co-produced the film "Bottoms Up" starring Paris Hilton and released from Sony Pictures Entertainment, a U.S. business of Sony Corporation of America.

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Is the Mafia a Farce?

A contrite former Bonanno crime associate trashed the Mafia as "a farce" at his sentencing for murder yesterday in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Francesco (Frank) Fiordilino was then rewarded for his cooperation against Bonanno big shots with a sentence of time served plus 30 days.

"Cooperating witnesses are essential to achieving justice, and you have done your part," said Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis.

Fiordilino, 37, pleaded guilty to shooting drug dealer Thomas Sajn in the throat in 1993 in Ridgewood. Sajn wasn't immediately killed by the gunshot, so a second assailant cut his throat, nearly decapitating him.

At the time, Fiordilino was paying his dues, making espresso and cappuccino at coffee shops under the control of the crime family. His uncle, Frank (Cheech) Navarro, was a made member of the Bonanno family.

Fiordilino was after Sajn's drug money and also wanted to prove to gangsters that he was capable of committing a murder. But after the feds arrested him in 2002, Fiordilino decided to change sides.

"I'm totally at peace with my decision to defect," Fiordilino said yesterday. "I no longer have to lie, cheat or pretend anymore."

He acknowledged the taking of Sajn's life was "cowardly," and reflected on the hypocrisy of the Mafia.

"The mob was and still is a farce that's built on deceit, venom, greed and destruction," he said. "As for loyalty and respect, I never seen it. I could recall hundreds of conversations in which guys would sit around a table bad-mouthing each other. I'm so glad that's behind me."

Prosecutor Greg Andres said Fiordilino's testimony against former Bonanno boss Joseph Massino and soldier Baldassare (Baldo) Amato contributed to their convictions.

"I apologize as well, especially to anyone of Italian background, by conspiring and utilizing our culture in the same manner the entertainment industry does with its stereotypes. ... Hollywood intensified my love for that life, and in the process blindsided what being Italian meant," Fiordilino said.

Thanks to John Marzulli

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