Does Carmine "Junior" Persico Run Local 6A of the New York Cement and Concrete Workers from Prison?

Twenty-five years after the historic Commission case exposed the Colombo crime family's stranglehold over the union representing workers on all major New York construction projects, Local 6A of the New York Cement and Concrete Workers is still a family affair - in more ways than one.

Today, the grandson of a mobster who was convicted of racketeering at the Commission trial is Local 6A's key official. And the crime family's boss who was found guilty at the same trial, Carmine (Junior) Persico, is still the ultimate power behind the union, according to the special counsel for the Laborers' International Union of North America.

The imprisoned-for-life Persico has controlled the union through several underlings over the years, says LIUNA special counsel Robert Luskin. They include onetime "street boss" Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli and capo Dino (Big Dino) Calabro - two longtime Persico loyalists who allegedly whacked Junior's longtime nemesis William (Wild Bill) Cutolo in 1999.

Tommy Shots has remained loyal since his 2008 indictment for Cutolo's murder. But Big Dino has been cooperating with the feds for some time. And one of the many subjects Calabro spilled his guts about, says Luskin, was the large cast of characters - including his brothers, Vincenzo and Giuseppe - who helped him run the union for the Colombos and reap the benefits as well.

Numerous Colombo wiseguys, their relatives, friends, and cohorts affiliated with other crime families were handed no-show and seldom-show jobs, says Luskin.

They also shared in payoffs from contractors and a variety of other schemes, including a "coffee boy" scam, according to Luskin. In that rip-off, which occurred at every job site, all workers were forced to buy any food and drink they wanted - whether at lunch or during any breaks - from a mob-selected vendor who kicked back $250 a week to the Colombos.

In a complaint filed two weeks ago, Luskin asked LIUNA's Independent Hearing Officer to oust all the current officials of the Flushing, Queens based local and replace them with a trustee to "eradicate the corrupt influence of organized crime."

The complaint states that the day-to-day mob front man at Local 6A is business manager Ralph Scopo III, whose grandfather, Colombo soldier Ralph Scopo Sr. ran the union in the 1980s. Scopo III, 40, earned $160,600 in 2009 as the key official of the 1047 member union. Scopo's brother, Joseph, 35, is the union's recording secretary.

Back in 1986, Ralph Scopo Sr. and Persico were found guilty of racketeering and sentenced to 100 years. Scopo's sons, Ralph Jr. and Joseph, followed him into the crime family and took over his union - with Ralph Jr. serving as president and Joseph as vice president - until both were bounced from their union posts a year later.

Joseph Scopo's stock in the crime family rose until he was killed during the bloody Colombo war in 1993 - the same year his dad died in prison. But Ralph Scopo Jr. and the Colombo crime family still run the union, and steal from its members regularly, through Ralph Scopo III, and a host of puppets they control, according to Luskin. And like their father and late grandfather before them, Scopo III is controlled lock, stock and cement mixer by the still imprisoned Mafia boss, Junior Persico, according to Luskin.

Luskin painted Scopo III, his father, and a host of other Local 6A officials as lying, money-hungry leeches who have been stealing money from hardworking laborers for at least nine years - the same way the late Scopo Sr. did in the 1980s.

Since the Local 6A probe moved into high gear two years ago, nine union officials and members, including Calabro's brothers, have been ousted or resigned rather than answer questions about their mob connections from LIUNA's lead investigator, former FBI mob buster Bruce Mouw.

In 2002, when Big Dino first met Scopo Jr., the longtime labor racketeer praised his abilities as a moneymaker, and set the stage for the way things would operate for the next six years, until Calabro was arrested and detained without bail, according to the complaint. "I'm in charge of Local 6A and control everything that happens in that local," he told Big Dino. "My son is a delegate and he runs the Local. If anybody need a job, just let me know and I'll take care of it through my son."

Calabro met Scopo III two years later, when his father brought him to a regular monthly get-together that Scopo Jr. had with Big Dino at a "bagel store on Route 109 in West Babylon" to talk business and split the money they brought in that month.

"During this meeting, Scopo Jr. gave Calabro $10,000 as his monthly share from the shakedown" of one contractor, the complaint said. "Calabro kept $1,000 for himself; Scopo Jr. took $1,500 for himself, and the remaining $7,500 went to the Colombo Family Administration."

A few years later, according to the complaint, Big Dino and the father and son Scopos attended a sitdown to settle a dispute at a World Trade Center jobsite with a union foreman who had been "criticizing the Scopos." The elder Scopo "told Calabro that his son Ralph was there in case he decided that (the union worker) needed to be physically assaulted," the complaint said.

When Ralph Scopo learned about Calabro's cooperation, and LIUNA's investigation, he and his fellow union officials assumed they would eventually be bounced as corrupt, according to the complaint. So they decided to grab as much union cash as they could, and took vacation time checks - as many as eight weeks worth - before they were due, let alone earned.

Questioned about this last year, Scopo admitted that the LIUNA probe "was in the back of his mind," the complaint said. "Why save vacation time if the Local is placed into trusteeship?" he added.

Scopo did not return a request for comment that Gang Land placed to his union office.

Thanks to Jerry Capeci

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Chicago Crime Commission Report Traces Expanded Legalized Gambling to Organized Crime

In its rush to locate more funds for its government, the legislature in President Barack Obama's home state of Illinois is pushing legislation almost guaranteed to put a smile on the faces of organized crime figures and corruption-prone politicians.

If some of members of the Illinois General Assembly have their way, the "Prairie State" will soon become the "Gambling State," paving the way for nearly 90,000 gambling positions in Illinois, challenging Nevada and every other state in the country for the amount of gambling available.

Additionally the bill, which does not provide any additional regulatory personnel, will certainly lead to Crime Syndicate infiltration and political corruption, according to a report from the well-respected Chicago Crime Commission.

"I would caution the members of the Illinois General Assembly to think long and hard before they vote for the legislation. It is beyond my comprehension that the Illinois Senate has passed this bill. I would strongly encourage a sober review by the Illinois House and urge them to reject this dangerous legislation," according to Arthur J. Bilek, Executive Vice President of the Chicago Crime Commission.

"If passed, this legislation, more than any other in my memory, would change the complexion and perception of the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois...and not in a positive way," he continued.

The Gaming Act bill provides for a massive expansion of gambling across the entire state of Illinois, including 15 land-based casinos and 6 race track-based video gambling casinos called "Racinos" in addition to the estimated 50,000 video poker machines already approved by the General Assembly last year.

"The almost unbelievable number of new gambling activities provided by the bill will enable the always ingenious Crime Syndicate to seek out myriad ways to enrich itself by getting into the legal gambling game," Bilek added. "The investigative arm of the Gaming Board will be overwhelmed by the large number of new gambling activities," he said.

The bill mandates the Gaming Board to approve or deny licensees within 60 days of applications. With the number of new casinos, the number of new gambling positions and the dozens of changes and amendments to the existing gambling statutes, it will be virtually impossible for the Board to maintain the present integrity of Illinois gambling. "Interestingly, the bill is silent on adding or funding new investigators or staff for the Gaming Board," Bilek commented.

To date, the Crime Syndicate has been kept out of legal gambling in Illinois through the unflinching efforts of the current Illinois Gaming Board.

"Pure and simple the bill is a set-up for disaster. If passed, law enforcement can expect the entrance of the Crime Syndicate into legalized gambling through a variety of ruses and deceptions," Bilek warned. "Federal prosecutors should plan for a constant stream of federal corruption indictments against government officials, gambling operators and members of the Crime Syndicate," he added.

Specifics in the legislation include:

• A giant casino in Chicago with 4,000 gambling positions, run by a separate, independent government entity called the Chicago Development Authority and not by the Illinois Gaming Board
• .Four new casinos – Park City, Rockford, Danville and south suburban Cook County.
• Six "Racinos" with video poker and electronic slot machines at the six race tracks in Illinois. The three tracks outside of Cook County would be allowed 900 gambling positions. Each of the three tracks in Cook County would be allowed 1,200 gambling positions.
• A provision that allows all casinos to be land-based.
• Dozens of other changes and amendments that advance the proliferation of gambling activities in Illinois.

Thanks to Jim Kouri

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Onofrio Modica, Gambino Mobster, Pleads Guilty

A Gambino mobster copped a plea that could get him 10 years in jail because otherwise prosecutors wouldn't cut deals with his buddies, his lawyer said Thursday.

"He's a standup guy," lawyer Gerald McMahon said of client Onofrio (Noel) Modica.

Modica, 48, pleaded to accessory to murder, gambling and attempted jury tampering in the 1992 trial of the late John Gotti.

His lawyer said he wanted to go to trial, but the government forced his hand by refusing to offer deals to a half-dozen other Gambino soldiers.

"The government made us an offer he couldn't refuse," McMahon said.

Modica was one of 14 mobsters busted in a gambling ring in April and charged with extortion, jury tampering and murder.

Plea deals with everyone - except Gambino boss Daniel Marino, who pleaded guilty last month - hinged on Modica taking a deal, McMahon said.

He admitted he agreed to hunt down the addresses of anonymous jurors for Gotti's 1992 trial. Gotti ended up calling off the juryfixing plan.

Thanks to Scott Shifrel

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Once Upon a Time in America on Blu-Ray

Drama about the rise and fall of Jewish-American gangsters in New York at the beginning of the century through the 1960s.

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Book Claims That Lucky Luciano, the Inspiration for The Godfather's Don Corleone, Was a Fake Gangster

The gangster who inspired 1970s blockbuster The Godfather was a "fake", a historian has claimed.

Experts believed Charles "Lucky" Luciano was the father of organised crime and hailed him as the model for legendary mafia boss Don Corleone, played by Marlon Brando in the Francis Ford Coppola movie based on the Mario Puzo book.

Luciano was widely credited for running New York's notorious underworld, and was linked to extortion rackets, punishment attacks and gangland murders. But according to new research, his reputation was largely fabricated by the US government to justify the expense of tracking him down.

The revelations emerge in a new book, Lucky Luciano: Mafia Murderer and Secret Agent - 74 years after his imprisonment, and 48 years after his death. US author Tim Newark said the claims will shock other biographers who had painted Lucky as the archetypal gangster.

Mr Newark said: "The myth of Lucky Luciano is incredible. For decades, he has been portrayed as the father of modern organised crime, no less. "But after delving into the archives, I realised the real Lucky was in some respects, a fake."

Luciano was born in Sicily, in 1897 but moved to New York at the age of ten to dabble in crime. But Mr Newark said: "The sad truth is Lucky was a has-been without the money or power to pull off what he was said to. Even if he had, the Mafia wouldn't have worked with him because of his very public reputation."

Thanks to Raanan Geberer

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