Jerry’ Angiulo dies at 90

It was Boston’s first big Mafia case. New England mob underboss Gennaro “Jerry’’ Angiulo was captured on FBI tapes played at his 1985-86 trial ordering a soldier to “stomp,’’ stab, and strangle a witness, bragging about his crimes and berating underlings.

The wise-cracking Mr. Angiulo, who stood only 5 foot 7 and had a booming voice, serenaded spectators during a morning recess with his own version of, “I’m Just a Gigolo,’’ singing: “I’m just a racketeer, that’s all I ever hear, people know the game I’m playing. When they lay me to rest, with a lily on my chest, the gang will go on without me.’’

Ninety-year-old Mr. Angiulo, who outlived most of his old gang and witnessed the decline of the local Mafia, died yesterday at Massachusetts General Hospital of renal failure from kidney disease, according to his lawyer, Anthony Cardinale.

The once powerful mobster, who ruled Boston’s rackets from the 1960s until the early 1980s, considered it a personal victory that he survived 24 years in prison, won his release two years ago, and died a free man, friends said.
“He was determined to get out of jail, despite what was thought to be a life sentence, and spend the rest of his life with his family,’’ Cardinale said. “He accomplished that. He was a very strong-willed person. He outlived most of his enemies.’’ Full Story

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.

Italy: Police seize €500 mln euros in mafia assets

Rome, 20 August (AKI) - Italian Anti-Mafia tax police seized nearly half a billion euros worth of assets generated by Mafia organised crime activities and money laundering in the first half of 2009. According to figures released by police on Wednesday, tax authorities seized more than 475 million euros worth of assets, as well as 431 kilogrammes of illicit drugs.The tax police also arrested 141 people, while another 533 others are under investigation."The results were achieved as a result of co-ordinated and persistent action and analysis of criminal activities and economic and financial activities, carried out in collaboration by several departments and a number of national and international institutions," the tax police said in a statement."Using the latest advanced computer applications they are able to have at their disposal a geographical map of criminal organisations, to identify areas of influence of mafia groups in the region."

Richard "Richie" Castucci, Patriarca crime Family associate

Richie Castucci was a big-league bookie, and longtime Patriarca crime Family associate. He was also a top echelon informant .He was murdered in 1976 by John "I'm Not A Rat" Martorano, who, as a mob turncoat, testified that he shot and killed Castucci because FBI rogue agent Zip Connolly had told crime boss Whitey Bulger that Castucci was a rat.

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

Anthony Fiato , Los Angeles Mafia

Anthony Fiato aka"the Animal" aka Anthony "Tony The Animal Fiato". Fiato is a former vicious Mafia enforcer who flipped to FBI informant. He enabled the Feds to capture and convict nearly 70 underworld Mafia figures. Anthony Fiato was actor James Caan's Mafia connection in the L.os Angeles Crime Family . The F.B.I.intersepted a phone conversation between Fiato and Caan concerning actor Joe Pesci. James Caan asked his Mafia pal Anthony to grab and "take care" of Joe Pesci after learning about an $8,000 bill that wasn't paid after Pesci stayed with Princess Diana's late lover Dodi Fayed at a pal's Miami, Florida, hotel in 1982 - Anthony Fiato grew up in Boston's Little Italy section called the "North End".He moved to Hollywood and he rose in the ranks of the Los Angeles La Cosa Nostra to become a feared and vicious street boss. Anthony Fiato worked closely with mobsters, Anthony "Tony "The Ant" Man" Spilotro, Johnny Roselli, Mike "Rizzi" Rizzitello, Joey"Crazy Joe" Gallo, Guido "The Bull" Penosi, Salvatore Giglio, Pete Milano, Joe "JS" Sica, Joseph "J.R". Russo, Jimmy "The Weasel" Fratianno, Larry Bione, Gennaro "Jerry" Angiulo, and many other Mafiosi.Consigliari, Jack LoCicero sponsored Fiato's membership into the Los Angeles Crime Family. Anthony "the Animal" Fiato and his vicious crew were the Los Angeles Mafia's enforcing arm.. Anthony Fiato and Mike "Rizzi" Rizzitello were the vicious muscle overseeing east coast Mafia operations in Los Angeles. Gambino Crime Family member Guido Penosi cut Anthony Fiato in for a big piece of his "sky-is-the-limit".poker game that was located in a ritzy Sunset Strip high-rise.. As Mafia boss Pete Milano was counting his end from the poker game an F.B.I.bug picked up Milano praising Fiato to capo Louie Gelfuso saying , " finally someone knows how to get things done the right way in this Family". "Anthony is worth ten men". Fiato's violent life of crime is graphically depicted in the best selling book The Animal In Hollywood: Anythony Fiato's Life in the Mafia, by John L. Smith.)