Justice Department Won't Appeal $102 Million Verdict In Boston Wrongful-Conviction Case

The tortured legal ordeal of four Boston men wrongly convicted of murder by a cabal of gangsters and corrupt FBI agents apparently ended Friday with a decision by the U.S. Department of Justice not to appeal their record, $100 million wrongful imprisonment verdict to the U.S. Supreme Court, lawyers involved in the case said Friday.

The government had not appealed by a 5 p.m. deadline Friday, which lets stand an August 2009 decision by the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals upholding what is believed to be the largest verdict ever awarded in a wrongful imprisonment case, $101.7 million.

The four men spent decades in prison after FBI agents, in a scheme to cultivate mob informants, permitted the fabrication of evidence that led to their wrongful convictions for a 1965 murder.

The Justice Department's decision not to pursue another challenge of the verdict, awarded in July 2007 in Boston by U.S. District Judge Nancy Gertner, is the latest in a half-century of legal developments arising in Boston about ruthless mob violence and shocking corruption by key figures in law enforcement. In its opening lines, Gertner's decision spoke of "egregious governmental misconduct," a "bullet-ridden" body, and the FBI's "callous disregard" for the four victims, referred to throughout as "the scapegoats."

Barring unexpected legal developments, the judgment will be divided among Joseph Savati, Peter Limone Sr. and the estates of the two other men, Henry Tameleo and Louis Greco Sr.

Tameleo and Greco died of old age in prison before a sensational series of legal developments beginning in the late 1990s proved that they had been framed by mob turncoats with the knowledge of agents at the highest levels of the FBI.

Three of the victims were reputed organized crime figures in Boston and were believed to have been framed to settle old disputes. Salvati, who had no connection to organized crime, was wrongly implicated in the murder because he had borrowed $400 from one of the turncoats and did not repay it quickly enough.

The FBI agents named in the wrongful imprisonment case were the same figures implicated two decades later in what became a sensational attempt by members of Boston's notorious Winter Hill gang to take over a significant portion of the U.S. parimutuel gambling industry. Oklahoma tycoon Roger Wheeler, whose World Jai Alai company owned the jai alai venue in north Hartford, was one of those shot dead in a conspiracy by then-current and retired FBI agents and mobsters in the takeover attempt.

Salvati's lead attorney in his lawsuit against the federal government was Hartford lawyer Austin J. McGuigan, who was joined in Hartford by his partner Joseph Burns and in Boston by attorney Victor J. Garo, whose early work on the case resulted in Salvati's being freed from prison after more than 30 years in 2001.

McGuigan said Friday that he was encouraged by the government's decision not to appeal. When the 1st Circuit upheld Gertner's damage award, McGuigan called the decision "the greatest experience of my legal career in terms of being able to right a wrong that had been perpetuated for so many years."

The 22-day bench trial before Gertner in 2007 amounted to a painstaking re-creation of events that began with the 1965 murder in Chelsea, Mass., of a nickel-and-dime hoodlum named Edward "Teddy" Deegan.

Salvati and the other victims produced as evidence hundreds of previously secret FBI reports showing that their innocence was widely known in the FBI within minutes of Deegan's murder. Nearly all the reports were routinely forwarded to the office of then-Director J. Edgar Hoover.

Deegan's real killers were the two mob turncoats that the FBI was trying to recruit as informants: Joseph "The Animal" Barboza and James Flemmi. Both were cold-blooded killers. An illegal FBI bug captured Flemmi bragging at about the time of the murder that he wanted to be Boston's most prolific hit man.

After Deegan was riddled with bullets in an unlit alley, FBI agents allowed Barboza to implicate the innocent men on the condition that he become a cooperating witness in a series of late 1960s mob prosecutions. Barboza agreed on the additional condition that his partner be kept out of the Deegan case as well.

In the trial court decision, Gertner wrote that the FBI records, which had been illegally concealed for decades, created a strong case against the bureau: "The FBI agents 'handling' Barboza ... and their superiors — all the way up to the FBI Director — knew that Barboza would perjure himself. They knew this because Barboza, a killer many times over, had told them so — directly and indirectly. Barboza's testimony about the plaintiffs contradicted every shred of evidence in the FBI's possession at the time — and the FBI had extraordinary information."

John "Jackie The Lackey" Cerone: Chicago Outfit

John "Jackie The Lackey" Cerone (July 7, 1914 - November 20, 1996) was a Chicago mobster and boss of the Chicago Outfit, during the late 1960s. During the 1950s Cerone was a chauffeur to boss Antonino "Tony" "Joe Batters" Accardo, then became the protege of boss Salvatore "Sam," "Momo" Giancana.. As an Outfit enforcer, Cerone was arrested over 20 times on charges including armed robbery, bookmaking, illegal gambling, and embezzlement. Cerone became boss of the Outfit following the semi-retirements of Accardo and Joey "Doves" Aiuppa. In 1986 Cerone, Aiuppa, Carl "Corky" Civella, and Carl "Tuffy" DeLuna were convicted of skimming $2 million from a Las Vegas casino. Joseph Agosto, Kansas City crime family member and Las Vegas casino worker, turned states evidence and testified against the bosses. In 1996, Jackie Cerone died of natural causes six days after

Salvatore Russo camorra mafia clan captured

Rome - Italian police on Saturday said they arrested one of the country's most wanted mafia fugitives in a dawn raid near the southern city of Naples.Salvatore Russo, who heads a Camorra clan carrying his name and was sentenced to life in prison for homicide and links to organised crime, had been on the run since 1995, Naples police said in a statement.The arrest was made in a country house not far from where he was living.The Naples Camorra, which comprises several dozen often feuding clans, is believed to be 5 000-strong.

Federal Prosecutors Portray John Gotti as Killer as Victoria Gotti Enjoys Star Treatment

NEW YORK — As his sister Victoria Gotti began a book tour like a celebrity author, John "Junior" Gotti sat in court, portrayed as a merciless killer by federal prosecutors who want to show he was far different from his entrepreneurial sister.
Last week, the government used its star witness — childhood friend John Alite — to convince a Manhattan jury that Gotti was as lethal a threat to society as anyone else in the Gambino crime family once led by his late father, John Gotti Sr.

Read The Full Story RatFella Alite

Genovese crime boss Carlo Mastrototaro dies

WORCESTER — The man frequently identified as a kingpin of organized crime in the Worcester area for much of the latter half of the past century and a highly decorated World War II combat veteran died yesterday at his city home. Carlo Mastrototaro, 89, of 40 Hancock Hill Drive, died peacefully surrounded by family members, according to his obituary.

In an interview earlier this year, Mr. Mastrototaro would only describe himself as a “retired businessman,” determinedly steering clear of specifying what he did before retiring.“Different things” was all he would say. Reminded that law enforcement officials and other sources had labeled him a powerful figure in the New England mob, he responded, “Not everything said about me is true.”


A Worcester native, Mr. Mastrototaro, for the most part, stayed out of local headlines. He owned several restaurants in the area over the years and occasional stories referred to arrests and convictions for, among other things, racketeering, wire fraud and gambling.


Thomas J. Foley, former superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police, said that Mr. Mastrototaro answered in the 1980s and '90s to the Genovese crime family in New York with the tacit approval of Raymond L.S. Patriarca of Providence, regarded as the head of the New England Mafia until his death in 1984.One of his convictions was in 1971 in Baltimore federal court after he was tried for aiding and abetting in the transportation of three stolen U.S. Treasury bills.

The man who stole the treasury bills, Boston and Providence mob figure Vincent “Big Vinnie” Teresa, testified against Mr. Mastrototaro in exchange for a reduced sentence.Two years later, Mr. Teresa wrote a tell-all book called “My Life in the Mafia,” in which he described Mr. Mastrototaro as “the boss of Worcester” and “the fourth most powerful boss in the current New England hierarchy of crime.”


There are numerous references in the book to Mr. Mastrototaro, some linking him to Mafia-backed casinos that operated in Haiti and pre-communist Cuba, as well as to Meyer Lansky, a notorious figure in mob annals who was regarded as a financial genius.Despite his testimony, which helped convict Mr. Mastrototaro, Mr. Teresa, who died in 1990 while in the federal witness protection program, had an obvious admiration for the Worcester resident. “…

He was as honest as they come in the mob when you dealt with him,” Mr. Teresa wrote. “If you had a cent and half coming from him, it didn't make a bit of difference if you didn't show up to collect for six months. When you got there, the money was there waiting for you.”Far less well-known about Mr. Mastrototaro was his distinguished record as a Marine serving in the Pacific during World War II.

That service earned him a Purple Heart and the Silver Star, the military's third-highest award for valor in the face of the enemy.In his later years, Mr. Mastrototaro spent time at the Leatherneck Lounge on Lake Avenue and on rare occasions, friends say, he would open up about his military service from 1939 to 1944.


The Silver Star, he confided, stemmed from fighting in the Mariana Islands in the fierce Battle of Saipan in June and July 1944. On watch late one night while others in his platoon were asleep in foxholes, he detected shadows from behind, yelled a warning to fellow Marines then jumped up and opened fire.He killed eight or nine Japanese on the perimeter of the platoon's camp.Mr. Mastrototaro and several others in his company were badly wounded by mortar fire a few weeks later in the Battle of Tinian, also in the Marianas.


He was evacuated to a hospital ship and later sent home with a medical discharge.His wounds, he told friends, actually saved his life. Much of his company was wiped out when they moved on to the Battle of Iwo Jima.Mr. Mastrototaro helped found the Marine Corps League chapter in Worcester and was a member of several veterans' organizations.

Mafia and Movie stars

Posted by John L. Smith review journal.com Sunday, Oct. 04, 2009 at 05:00 PM.
John L Smith writes
Tough-guy actor Paul Burke died Sept. 13 at age 83. He was known for a long career in movies and television. His best-known roles came on television in the early 1960s as the star of “Naked City” and “12 0’Clock High.” But Burke kept busy throughout his life, taking smaller parts late in his career after enjoying big-screen star status for a time.
Burke was the son of a New Orleans boxer, Marty Burke, who was best known for having lost to Gene Tunney. The elder Burke was a boxer at a time mob guys were all over the fight game.
So perhaps it’s little surprise that my friend, former mobster Anthony Fiato, would have run into Burke in Boston and Hollywood amid some shadowy company.
Suffice to say that Burke sometimes played cops on television, but he was often seen hanging out with criminals.
Now a relocated witness, Fiato recalled the first time he saw Burke off screen. It was back in the late 1960s in Boston’s North End neighborhood at mob soldier Paulie Intiso’s restaurant. Burke was in the middle of filming “The Thomas Crown Affair” and was chummy with Intiso and members of his crew.
“Jerry Angiulo took Paul to dinner on Hanover Street,” Fiato recalls. “They ate at Paulie Intiso’s restaurant, Giro’s, a lot. He ate dinner many times with Jerry Angiulo.”
Fast forward seven years, and Burke walked in to the Villa Capri for a sitdown with his friend, Mike Rizzitello, who was working with Fiato at the time.
“It was like old home week,” Fiato says. “Burke was talking about Boston, about Joey Gallo, who he knew very well. He lit up like a Christmas tree when he talked about Joey Gallo. He really liked Joey a lot. And we talked boxing because Paul’s father was a fighter. Mike boxed some, too. Mike pinched him on the cheek, hugged and kissed him like a friend, and Burke ate that stuff up.
“Paul was successful, and Mike was hurting at the time. He’d just gotten out of the can and was facing what for him were big tax problems. He had nothing and was afraid to move. At the Villa, Mike and Lefty Castiglione talked to Burke about his movie roles. The IRS was on Mike’s ass, and he was looking to pick up some money to pay the tax man. Burke gave him $5,000 to help pay his tax bill, which he then gave to me. We later walked into the IRS office and I handed the clerk the $5,000 because Mike, of course, couldn’t justify having any income.
“Paul really thought a lot of those guys. He would talk about going to dinner on President Street in Brooklyn with Joey Gallo. He really admired Joey and was torn up when he was murdered. At the Villa he talked about what a warrior Joey was, a man’s man, all that macho stuff. That was Paul Burke.”

'Junior' gleeful when describing murder: witness

A gleeful John "Junior" Gotti, joking and "creeping like the Grinch," described how a murder witness was forced to hang himself, the prosecution’s star witness testified today.
Mob turncoat John Alite said that in 1984, Junior came to visit him in Jamaica Hospital, where he was recovering from serious injuries after a fight.
The scion of Teflon Don John Gotti began talking about the death of John Cennamo, who was found hanging from a broken tree branch after bragging he saw Junior stab a man to death in a vicious bar brawl.
"Junior started joking around by the window, saying, ‘Hey, look he’s hanging from the tree," Alite recalled. "He was creeping like the Grinch, joking around. " ‘Look you can see him hanging. Let's see if we can help him,’" Junior quipped, according to Alite.
Alite said Cennano had been a witness to the killing of Daniel Silva in the Silver Fox bar in Queens on March 12, 1983, and on the orders of John Gotti Sr., a team of three hitmen was sent to rub him out.
"There was more joking how he (Cennamo) got helped to be killed. And he was persuaded to put something on his neck," Alite recalled.
"Junior did the creeping thing. Let’s help put that (a noose) around there and then jump," he quoted the reputed mob boss as saying.
A medical examiner, James Gill, testified yesterday that Cennamo, with a piece of clothing around his neck, was found hanging from a broken branch of a tree behind a Queens laundromat on May 27, 1984.
Cennamo’s knees were on the ground, he said. There were no signs of a struggle.
In testimony yesterday, Alite said he and Junior were directly involved in the murders of George Grosso and Bruce John Gotterup, two drug dealers, and Louis DiBono, a wiseguy who ignored John Gotti Sr.’s orders to meet with him.
Alite said Junior told him he was involved in four other killings, those of Silva, Cennamo, Wilfred "Wille Boy" Johnson, an informant, and an unidentified man who was killed and then crushed in a car chopper at a junkyard owned by Junior’s ex-brother-in-law, Carmine Agnello. http://cftaf1234.wordpress.com/prime-time-ratfellas/

Carlo "Charlie Big Ears" Majuri ,DeCavalcante crime family

Carlo Majuri also known as "Charlie Big Ears" (born December 28, 1940) is a New Jersey mobster and Caporegime within the DeCavalcante crime family, which he attempted to gain control of in the 1990s.
Majuri became involved in the DeCavalcante crime family as a teenager.


His father, Frank Majuri, was once the Underboss of the DeCavalcantes, and later longtime Consigliere. The younger Majuri's criminal record would eventually include illegal gambling, larceny, stolen property, and bookmaking, in the late 1960s and early 1970s.


At some point between the early and late 1970s, Majuri is to have become inducted into the DeCavalcante crime family, but toward the early 1980s and longtime and infamous Mob boss, Simone "Sam the Plumber" DeCavalcante retired, Giovanni "John the Eagle" Riggi, the longtime Underboss, substantly promoted Majuri to the rank of Caporegime or Captain of the family in the Newark faction.

In 2000, Majuri was indicted on 19 counts of bookmaking, illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, and labor racketeering, and on two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. Following his indictment, Majuri was officially excluded by the State of New Jersey from any of its casinos. In 2006, Majuri was convicted and sent to prison. He was released around April 28, 2009.

Judge cuts Cheeseman DiNunzio some slack

A federal judge has gifted Boston Mafia godfather Carmen “The Cheeseman” DiNunzio another 30 days of freedom before he must report to the Federal Medical Center at Fort Devens on Oct. 22 and hunker down behind bars for the next six years. Read This Full story

U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young gave no reason yesterday for the stay, and assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Levitt didn’t balk - even after Young shot down his bid to ban DiNunzio from the North End for the next decade

Patriarca mafia family capo Robert "Bobby DeLuca" a free man

Federal authorities say he is a captain in the Patriarca crime family ... PROVIDENCE, R.I.—A reputed member of the Patriarca crime family plans to plead

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WPRI) - For the first time in more than 14 years, reputed Patriarca Crime Family captain Robert “Bobby” DeLuca, is a free man.
Shortly before 11 a.m. Friday morning, DeLuca walked into a downtown federal building with his attorney Artin Coloian to officially end his federal probation. Minutes later, clutching what federal probation officials call “a letter of satisfaction” DeLuca strolled out without comment.
His probation will end one minute after midnight on September 20th.
DeLuca was arrested in 1995, caught up in a sweeping federal investigation that also accused mob enforcer Gerard Ouimette. The pair was found guilty of trying to extort $50,000 from Providence businessman Paulie Calenda.
The mid-90s were a tough stretch for DeLuca, legally speaking. He was also snared in a federal investigation out of Boston along with James J. "Whitey" Bulger , leader of Boston's Winter Hill Gang and notorious hit-man Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi. Read Full Story

Arnold "The Brain" Rothstein

Arnold "The Brain" Rothstein (January 17, 1882–November 4, 1928) was a New York businessman and gambler who became a famous kingpin of organized crime. Rothstein was also widely reputed to have been behind baseball's Black Sox Scandal, in which the 1919 World Series was fixed

. His notoriety inspired several fictional characters based on his life, including "Meyer Wolfsheim" in F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby, and "Nathan Detroit" in the Damon Runyon story The Idyll of Miss Sarah Brown, which was made into the musical Guys and Dolls
.According to crime writer Leo Katcher, Rothstein "transformed organized crime from a thuggish activity by hoodlums into a big business, run like a corporation, with himself at the top."

According to Rich Cohen, Rothstein was the person who first saw in Prohibition a business opportunity, a means to enormous wealth, who "understood the truths of early century capitalism (hypocrisy, exclusion, greed) and came to dominate them".

Rothstein was the Moses of the Jewish gangsters, according to Cohen, the progenitor, a rich man's son who showed the young hoodlums of the Bowery how to have style; indeed, the man who, the Sicilian-American gangster Lucky Luciano would later say, "taught me how to dress."

Richard Cantarella aka Shellackhead", Bonanno crime family

Richard Cantarella, also known as "Shellackhead", was a New York mobster who became a caporegime for the Bonanno crime family and later a government witness..As a skinny kid with jet-black hair, Cantarella got the name "Shellackhead" from the hair oil that he used. In October 2002, Cantarella was indicted on racketeering charges that included , loansharking, extortion, illegal gambling, and money laundering and murder..Cantarella flipped and testified at the murder trial of Bonanno boss Joseph Massino.and he testified at the murder and racketeering trial of Bonanno mobster Vincent Basciano As of 2009, it is assumed that Canterella and his family are part of the Witness Protection Program.

Alphonse Capone, aka. Al, Scarface

Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1899, of an immigrant family, Al Capone quit school after the sixth grade and associated with a notorious street gang, becoming accepted as a member. Johnny Torrio was the street gang leader and among the other members was Lucky Luciano, who would later attain his own notoriety.
About 1920, at Torrio's invitation, Capone joined Torrio in Chicago where he had become an influential lieutenant in the Colosimo mob. The rackets spawned by enactment of the Prohibition Amendment, illegal brewing, distilling and distribution of beer and liquor, were viewed as "growth industries." Torrio, abetted by Al Capone, intended to take full advantage of opportunities. The mobs also developed interests in legitimate businesses, in the cleaning and dyeing field, and cultivated influence with receptive public officials, labor unions and employees' associations.
Torrio soon succeeded to full leadership of the gang with the violent demise of Big Jim Colosimo, and Capone gained experience and expertise as his strong right arm.
In 1925, Capone became boss when Torrio, seriously wounded in an assassination attempt, surrendered control and retired to Brooklyn. Capone had built a fearsome reputation in the ruthless gang rivalries of the period, struggling to acquire and retain "racketeering rights" to several areas of Chicago. That reputation grew as rival gangs were eliminated or nullified, and the suburb of Cicero became, in effect, a fiefdom of the Capone mob.

Perhaps the St. Valentine's Day Massacre on February 14, 1929, might be regarded as the culminating violence of the Chicago gang era, as seven members or associates of the "Bugs" Moran mob were machine-gunned against a garage wall by rivals posing as police. The massacre was generally ascribed to the Capone mob, although Al himself was then in Florida.
The investigative jurisdiction of the Bureau of Investigation during the 1920s and early 1930s was more limited than it is now, and the gang warfare and depredations of the period were not within the Bureau's investigative authority.
The Bureau's investigation of Al Capone arose from his reluctance to appear before a Federal Grand Jury on March 12, 1929, in response to a subpoena. On March 11, his lawyers formally filed for postponement of his appearance, submitting a physician's affidavit dated March 5, which attested that Capone, in Miami, had been suffering from bronchial pneumonia, had been confined to bed from January 13 to February 23, and that it would be dangerous to Capone's health to travel to Chicago. His appearance date before the grand jury was re-set for March 20.

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James "Whitey" Bulger now small potatoes

Where’s Whitey?

Who cares?

Not Warren Bamford, the very earnest and squared-away gentleman who runs the FBI’s Boston office. Not really. Don’t get me wrong, Bamford said all the right things when he stopped by the Herald yesterday. Yes, he knows that James “Whitey” Bulger is a “career criminal” who killed at least 19 people we know of. And yeah, Bamford is still expending the “appropriate resources” to find the Southie gangster who still haunts post office walls right behind Uncle Osama. But the fact is, the White Man is coming up on 80.

And though he’s just miserable enough to live another 20 years, nobody on the FBI’s “Bulger Task Force” expects this seasoned killer to board a train or drive through a tunnel with a bunch of plastic explosives strapped to his chest.

Whitey may be a wrinkled monster. But he’s no terrorist.

And at this moment in time, terrorists are to Warren Bamford what an Italian mobster was to J. Edgar Hoover. In other words, the White Man’s basically a pimple on the arse of the universe. Bamford has bigger fish to fry.

To understand how much the world has changed since 9/11 is to hear Warren Bamford speak about how his FBI office reached out to the Somali community in Boston. Why? To alert them to the possibility of young Somalis returning to the homeland for terrorist training.

None of his agents are venturing over to the Beer Garden on East Broadway to address the boyos about a geezer psycho, who may or may not be stalking the green fields of Kilarney.

When I asked Bamford whether the FBI would consider allowing U.S. marshals to join the Whitey hunt, he seemed wide open to the possibility. The more the merrier. That’s when I knew that Whitey had indeed become small potatoes on today’s FBI playlist.

While Bamford may hold a federal management position under the big tent of the U.S. Justice Department, he declined to venture an opinion on the raft of civil suits, or millions in claims handed down for the past sins of imprisoned local G-man John “Zip” Connolly.

A week from now, Warren Bamford and his Whitey Task Force will call the media in for a Whitey update in advance of the old killer’s 80th year in this vale of tears. There will be accounts of new tips, new look-alike photos - maybe even a “we just missed him” tale. But no Whitey.

Truth is, Warren Bamford couldn’t care less. Sooner or later this awful old gangster will either die on the road . . . or have his brother bring him back to die in jail. In the meantime, we got all those terrorists to worry about.

Philip Lombardo,Cockeyed Phil", Genovese Crime Family

Philip Lombardo (October 6, 1908 - April 1987) also known as "Benny Squint" and "Cockeyed Phil", was a boss of the Genovese crime family. Federal arrest photo of Philip "Benny Squint" Lombardo
Lombardo began his career as a soldier on Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola's powerful 116th Street Crew in the East Harlem section of New York. During the 1940s, Lombardo served a brief prison stretch for narcotics trafficking, his only imprisonment. Due to this thick eyeglasses Lombardo earned the nickname, "Benny Squint."


In 1959, family boss Vito Genovese was sent to prison. However, Genovese used a series of acting bosses to maintain control of the family from prison. His three acting bosses, or Ruling Panel, were consigliere Michele Miranda, underboss Gerardo "Jerry" Catena, and acting boss Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli

. The trio panel was known to authorities but in 1962 former mobster turned government witness Joseph Valachi stated before a US Senate subcommittee that Lombardo was also a part of this same panel. In that same year Anthony Strollo disappeared and was presumed murdered. Strollo's role as a front or acting boss was given to Thomas Eboli. Eboli himself was later gunned down in 1972


Lombardo was then seen as the true power behind the crime family with Anthony Salerno as consigliere and Gerardo Catena as the underboss. Miranda had fallen ill in 1971 and would pass away a year later. However the rank or role of these figures was irrelevant as it was agreed upon by historians and law enforcement that each of these mobsters held equal status, despite Catena's retirement from criminal activities in 1972

. Additionally with the murder of Eboli, the Gigante brothers, most notably Vincent Gigante were considered important figures within the Genovese criminal network. The Gigante brothers had previously been soldiers under Eboli.

power with Catena, Lombardo, Salerno and now Vincent Gigante. Upon Tieri's death, which was preceded with a 1980 conviction for racketeering in 1981, Lombardo was recognized as the official boss by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In 1981 Lombardo was hospitalized and it is generally considered he stepped down as boss to allow the combination of Vincent Gigante and Anthony Salerno to manage the Genovese crime family.

According to FBI informant Vincent Cafaro, Lombardo had been boss since 1969 and had been using Eboli and Tieri as decoys to insulate himself from the FBI. It then seems that he coincided his retirement with Tieri's death and named Vincent Gigante as his successor whilst at the same making Anthony Salerno the new front boss to disguise Gigante's transition into boss. This way, the FBI would still not know who was really in charge and would continue to go after the wrong people, which they did sentencing Salerno to 100 years in prison in 1986. Although there is no definitive evidence Valachi's and Cafaro's testimonies have made it widely believed that he had been boss all along.

Tieri and Gigante manipulated members of the Philadelphia crime family into murdering their boss Angelo Bruno in 1979, and then killed off those same members of the Philly mob to cover their tracks. It is worth noting that Lombardo may also have been involved. As he was at least the de facto boss, and probably the official boss during that time he probably had the final say on whether the plan could go ahead. Adept at remaining behind the scenes he may have been privy to this scheme also, this is purely speculation however.

By 1981, Lombardo was in poor health and played a more relaxed role in the day-to-day operations of the family. Although he resided in Englewood, New Jersey,he spent his remaining winters in Hollywood, Florida. He made it clear that Gigante was to become the new boss, and Salerno would continue as the front boss. Although he began to pass leadership to Gigante, Lombardo was still the real power in the Genovese family until his death in April 1987. He was 78 years old and living in Florida.

nicholas Guido Lucchese Hit

On Christmas Day, 1986, police discovered the body of Nicholas Guido, an innocent victim of a Mafia mistaken identity killing. Guido was murdered on the orders of Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, who believed another man with the same name had tried to kill him.
Information on the wrong NIcholas Guido was provided to the Lucchese family by mob cops Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa.

Domenico "Danny" Cutaia , Lucchese Crime Family

Domenico "Danny" Cutaia is a Brooklyn mafioso and captain in the Lucchese crime family., A former bodyguard and chauffeur for capo Paul Vario, Cutaia soon had his own crew based in Brooklyn. In 1990, the family's acting boss, Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco, appointed Cutaia, then a family soldier, to a position within the family's "Construction Panel", which was headed by capos Dominic Truscello and Steven Crea.In the mid-1990s, Cutaia was arrested for loansharking.. Cutaia, was released from prison after a two year sentence for extortion. He was supposed banned from communicating with family members it was reported that Cutaia was the primary liaison between jailed boss Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and three capos, Aniello "Neil" Migliore, Joseph "Joey Dee" DiNapoli and Matthew Madonna, who are currently running the Lucchese crime family in his absence .On February 28, 2008, Cutaia, was indicted in the Eastern District of New York, on federal racketeering charges, some of which date back to the 1980s, including loansharking, extortionate collection of credit, extortion, marijuana distribution conspiracy, illegal

William "Willie the Rat" Cammisano, KC Crime Family

William "Willie the Rat" Cammisano was a Kansas City, Missouri, mobster and enforcer for Nicholas Civella's Kansas City crime family.

By 1929, Cammisano had an extensive rap sheet. He been arrested for carrying a concealed weapon, bootlegging, pistol whipping a robbery victim, running an alcohol still, being AWOL from the U.S. Army, disturbing the peace, and gambling.

It was said that he had stolen everything from the wheels off a truck to the rings off a woman’s fingers


. Cammisano once served a felony sentence at a federal prison in El Reno, Oklahoma. In the 1940s, he opened a tavern and called it the El Reno Bar, stating that had been the name of his favorite prison.

He is the father and namesake of William Dominick Cammisano Jr. born May 8, 1949 in Kansas City, Missouri.

A high ranking member of Civella's organization, Cammisano was called in 1980 to appear before a U.S. Senate Subcommittee investigating organized crime activity in Kansas City.

During the investigation, government witness Fred Harvey Bonadonna described how Cammisano's used strong arm tactics in the River Quay neighborhood redevelopment project to turn the area into a red light district with brothels and other vice.

Bonadonna stated that Cammisano murdered his father, a business associate of Cammisano's, for refusing to obtain liquor licenses for mob establishments in River Quay: "Willie [Cammisano] told my father that he would kill me.

My father (David) said he'd have to kill him first."

During the Senate investigation, Cammisano was serving a five year prison sentence for extortion in Springfield, Missouri. Cammisano refused to cooperate with the committee; he was cited for Contempt of Congress on May 14, 1981 and received added prison time.

With Civella's conviction in 1983, Cammisano became the new leader of the Kans

as City organization. Because of the unfavorable publicity of recent criminal trials, the Chicago Outfit officially disowned Kansas City as an affiliate.

This gave Cammisano the opportunity to establish new operations in California, Florida and Washington, D.C without Outfit approval or interference. This expansion reinvigorated the Kansas city organization.On January 26, 1995, William Cammisano died of multiple organ failure related to lung disease.

Joseph "The Builder" Andriacchi, Chicago outfit

Joseph "The Builder" Andriacchi (born October 20, 1932) has been reported by Chicago newspapers to be a high-ranking member of the Chicago Outfit criminal organization.Chicago Outfit careerIn 1989, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Andriacchi had been elevated to being the second-in-command in the Chicago Outfit. The article identified Andriacchi as having two nicknames: "the Sledgehammer" -- because of his unsubtle ways as a safecracker -- and "the Builder.".

The article also noted that Andriacchi had been imprisoned on burglary charges from 1968 until 1971Andriacchi was one of several reputed mobsters ordered to appear before a federal grand jury after the May 17, 1992 bombing of a car outside the home of a daughter of mob turncoat Leonard Patrick, who was in the process of testifying against several known mobsters.

Andriacchi was identified in a 1995 Chicago Tribune article as being an underboss for day-to-day operations for the Chicago Outfit.
In 1997, the Chicago Sun-Times reported that Andriacchi was "at the top of the Outfit's new organizational chart," identifying Andriacchi as a reported longtime lieutenant of Chicago Outfit kingpin John DiFronzo
After the conclusion of the "Family Secrets" trial in Chicago in 2007, which sent multiple high-ranking members of the Chicago Outfit to prison for long sentences, Andriacchi was again identified in Chicago newspapers as being a powerful member of the Chicago Outfit..

"Reputed mobsters not charged in the Family Secrets case who are still powerful in the Outfit include John "No Nose" DiFronzo, Joe "The Builder" Andriacchi, Al Tornabene, Frank "Tootsie Babe" Caruso, Marco D'Amico and Michael Sarno, law enforcement sources said," the Chicago Sun-Times wrote on September 11, 2007. On September 30, 2007, the Chicago Tribune reported that law enforcement sources indicated that Andriacchi controls Chicago's north side and north suburbs, and that he leads the Elmwood Park crew.

Louis A. "Bobby" Manna,Genovese crime family.

Louis A. "Bobby" Manna (born December 2, 1929, Hoboken, New Jersey), is a New Jersey mobster and former consigliere of the Genovese crime family.
Manna was a close associate of family boss Vincent "the Chin" Gigante; he rented an apartment in Greenwich Village, New York to be close to Gigante's headquarters at the Triangle Social Club. Louis stands at 5'8" and weighs 155 pounds with brown hair and brown eyes

. However, Manna's power base was in New Jersey. He supervised four caporegimes while also serving as consigliere. He ran his personal criminal operations out of an Italian eatery called Casella's in Hoboken, New Jersey.

With the March 1981 murder of Angelo Bruno, boss of the Philadelphia crime family, the family's territory in New Jersey suddenly became open. Manna became the lead man for the Genovese family in discussions with the Gambino crime family on how to equitably divide up that area. Up until his conviction he lived in Bricktown, New Jersey.

In 1987, Manna because pushing the Genovese family to murder John Gotti, the new boss of the Gambino family. A Gambino capo, Gotti had arranged the murder of Gambino boss Paul Castellano in 1985 and taken control of the Gambino family without the approval of the other four New York crime families.

Manna was especially unhappy about Gotti's unsanctioned coup against Castellano. In addition, Gotti wanted to take the lucrative South Jersey holdings that used to belong to the Philadelphia family and leave the less desirable North Jersey territory to the Genovese family.Unfortunately for Manna, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had bugged Casella's and was listening to Manna's conversations about killing Gotti. Following Bureau policy, they notified Gotti about the planned hit and gave their evidence to prosecutors. In 1990, Manna was convicted of racketeering and conspiring to murder Gotti and his brother, Gene Gotti.

As of March 2009, Manna is incarcerated in the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Fairton in New Jersey. His projected release date is February 20, 2056, effectively life without parole.