Tokyo Underworld: The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan

Tokyo Underworld: The Fast Times and Hard Life of an American Gangster in Japan.

In this unorthodox chronicle of the rise of Japan, Inc., Robert Whiting, author of You Gotta Have Wa, gives us a fresh perspective on the economic miracle and near disaster that is modern Japan.

Through the eyes of Nick Zappetti, a former GI, former black marketer, failed professional wrestler, bungling diamond thief who turned himself into "the Mafia boss of Tokyo and the king of Rappongi," we meet the players and the losers in the high-stakes game of postwar finance, politics, and criminal corruption in which he thrived. Here's the story of the Imperial Hotel diamond robbers, who attempted (and may have accomplished) the biggest heist in Tokyo's history. Here is Rikidozan, the professional wrestler who almost single-handedly revived Japanese pride, but whose own ethnicity had to be kept secret. And here is the story of the intimate relationships shared by Japan's ruling party, its financial combines, its ruthless criminal gangs, the CIA, American Big Business, and perhaps at least one presidential relative. Here is the underside of postwar Japan, which is only now coming to light.

"A fascinating look at some fascinating people who show how democracy advances hand in hand with crime in Japan."--Mario Puzo

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Anthony Comello, Alleged Mob-Boss Killer of Francesco "Franky Boy" Cali, Has Court Case Adjourned Until June

The pretrial conference for alleged mob-boss killer Anthony Comello has been pushed back six weeks. The conference was originally scheduled for next Monday in state Supreme Court, St. George.

However, since mid-March, efforts to stop the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19) disease have severely curtailed court operations in cases considered non-essential. There have been no new jury trials. The conference is now scheduled for June 1, online state court records show.

At Comello’s last court conference on Feb. 7, Justice William E. Garnett said he anticipated holding a final status conference on April 20 and possibly setting a trial date.

Defense lawyer Robert Gottlieb had said then he has four other trials scheduled in the coming months in various jurisdictions that may occupy him through June.

In view of coronavirus restrictions at both state and federal courthouses, it is unclear how many, if any, of those cases have gone to trial or been otherwise resolved.

Prosecutors allege Comello, 25, fatally shot Gambino crime family boss Francesco (Franky Boy) Cali, 53, outside Cali’s Dongan Hills home on March 13, 2019. Comello is charged with murder and criminal weapon possession.

Authorities have not publicly commented on a possible motive.

In court papers, Gottlieb contends Comello was deluded by conspiracy theories and was defending himself when he shot the victim.

In a videotaped interview with a detective after his arrest, Comello gave conflicting and sometimes bizarre accounts of the shooting during the course of the three-and-a-half-hour interrogation.

In fact, at the end of the February court conference, he launched into a strange, rambling 20-second monologue in which he said his phone had contained information on human sex trafficking and drug smuggling. Then, in quick succession, Comello referenced Australia, Russia and Ukraine, as well as “Operation Mockingbird,” without further details.

The latter is an alleged large-scale CIA program dating to the 1950s which attempted to manipulate the news media for propaganda purposes.

Meanwhile, the defendant appears to have undercut the viability of a potential insanity defense. At the February conference, Gottlieb said the Eltingville resident refuses to be examined by prosecutors’ psychiatric expert. The defendant’s failure to submit to the exam would preclude his own psychiatric experts from testifying at trial. But, lay witnesses could offer psychiatric testimony.

Thanks to Frank Donnelly.

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Junior Gotti Allegedly Holds Sit Down with Latin King Leadership

John “Junior”, namesake son of the late Gambino family boss, once pondered life as a gangbanger instead of a godfather while locked in a federal prison. And now the 56-year-old Gotti, retired from the Mafia for better than two decades, is under investigation for his meetings with accused Massachusetts-based Latin Kings bigwig Michael Cecchetelli, aka King Merlin, according to GanglandNews.com.

The get-togethers involved Gotti, Cecchetelli and the latter man’s uncle David “Fat Chicky” Cecchetelli, according to law enforcement sources. Of particular interest, the sources say, was the use of a longtime Genovese family social club in Springfield, Mass., for two Latin Kings meetings captured on videotape.

The Mount Carmel Social Club is perhaps best known as the location for a mob hit on capo Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno, gunned down in the parking lot while leaving a 2003 card game. Fat Chicky is an associate of the Genovese crime family, according to sources.

King Merlin, identified in court papers as the east coast commander for Latin King chapters from Massachusetts to Florida, was busted this past December after a four-year federal probe, with prosecutors alleging he at one point advocated an re-enactment of the St. Valentine’s Day massacre to take out an enemy.

Boston FBI head Joseph Bonolovonta noted Cecchetelli’s “blood ties” to the New York-based Genovese family.

Asked whether Gotti was on the federal radar, Boston FBI spokeswoman Kristin Setera said investigators would not comment “because of the ongoing investigation and prosecution of the case.”

Gotti’s links to the Latin Kings date to his federal prison time in upstate Ray Brook, N.Y., while he was serving six years in a 1999 racketeering plea deal. Sources indicate Gotti reconnected with the Kings though Fat Chicky, an MMA fighting fan. Gotti’s son, John III, is 5-0 in his young career as an MMA fighter.

Various Instagram accounts posted online show photos of Gotti with King Merlin, Fat Chicky and a former MMA fighter named Damien “The Omen” Trites. And Junior had once appeared to show an affinity for the Kings, a group whose membership is not based on ethnicity — unlike the Mafia.

In a recording played at Gotti’s third of four unsuccessful racketeering prosecutions in Manhattan Federal Court, the mob scion complained that he was “pushed” into the mob life against his better judgement. “I’d rather be a Latin King than what I am,” he declared. “I mean it on my father’s grave. I’m so ashamed. I’m so ashamed.”

Attorney Ron Kuby, who spent time with the younger Gotti during the 1990s racketeering case and testified at a separate 2009 racketeering trial, said the second-generation Mafioso was looking for a different kind of lifestyle when they first met. “He was pretty much sick of all criminal life, so it’s hard to imagine he was pining for a lateral transfer,” said Kuby.

Attempts to reach Gotti for comment were unsuccessful.

Thanks to Jerry Capaci and Larry McShane .

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Top Ten Mafia #AprilFools Pranks

10. Tell a guy you're going to shoot him, then kill him with a brick.

9. Tape sign to informant's back that reads: "Whack me."

8. The old "non-drying cement shoes" gag.

7. Put body in big paper bag, place it on somebody's doorstep, light it on fire, ring doorbell, run away.

6. Phone local teamsters office, say, "This is Jimmy Hoffa--any messages for me?"

5. Call up Domino's; order a pizza for Mr. Foghead A. Boutit.

4. The old severed finger in the hot dog bun trick.

3. Replace someone's "Godfather" tape with a Teletubbys video.

2. Instead of horse's head, rig it so somebody wakes up next to Linda Tripp.

1. Three words: squirting pinkie rings.

Thanks to David Letterman

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Transnational Organized Crime and Natural Resources Trafficking: Funding Conflict and Stealing from the World's Most Vulnerable Citizens

Transnational Organized Crime and Natural Resources Trafficking: Funding Conflict and Stealing from the World's Most Vulnerable Citizens, describes and analyzes conflict commodities, which the author, Donald R. Liddick Jr., defines as “high-value commodities trafficked in by networks of transnational criminals who use the illicitly derived proceeds to finance armed conflict and loot natural resource wealth from national treasuries.”

Each chapter examines a different commodity or set of commodities that have become the province of transnational organized crime networks: diamonds, ivory, rhino horn, timber, lapis lazuli, jade, rare minerals, gold, and oil receive scholarly analyses across multiple dimensions, including the structure and operation of criminal networks, the social and environmental consequences of the various conflict commodities trades, and the full range of palliative responses.

The book provides coverage of all the players involved, from high-ranking government officials to insurgent groups and terrorists. The work also enumerates the array of human rights abuses associated with the traffic in conflict commodities

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