Joseph Bruno's Blog, page 52

Book Review – Born to Kill – The Rise and Fall of America’s Bloodiest Asian Gang – by T.J. English

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009CGA74M

 

It was a sweltering summer day in 1990 and more than 100 Asian gang members and their families were gathered at the Rosedale Memorial Park Cemetery in Linden, N.J to bury 21-year-old Vinh Vu, the No. 2 leader of the violent Born to Kill Gang (BTK).

Suddenly, three men approached wearing long coats covering the automatic weapons they were carrying. These men then did the unthinkable: they opened fire on the mourners and pandemonium broke loose. Frightened people ran in all direction, including the gang’s leader David Thai and 19-year old Vietnamese refugee Tinh Ngo, called Timmy by his cohorts. Over 100 rounds were fired into the crowd. Five mourners were wounded, but, shockingly, no one was killed.

Tinh, like most of the typically teenage gang members, had no family in America and he gravitated to the mostly-Vietnamese BTK gang for the same reason the other gang members did: he wanted a sense of family in a foreign land – people he could trust and converse with in his native language. Tinh never realized he would be drawn into a viper’s nest, where the 34-year old Thai would order his underlings to perform violent crimes (shakedowns, robberies and even murders) against other Asian immigrants – people who traditionally never reported crimes to the police.

Tinh did his first dirty deed when he participated in the holdup of a Chinese brothel in Chinatown. While Tinh didn’t enjoy the caper, it still gave him a sense of exhilaration, knowing that he now was “one of the gang.” As he committed robbery after robbery, Tinh gradually began to question whether this violent life was meant for him.

David Thai sent his underlings all over America to perform their mayhem. In late 1990, Thai directed a group of BTKs, including Tinh, to Doraville, Ga. to rob a Chinese curio shop owned by Odum Lin. Lin, not impressed with gangsters who barely shaved, resisted and was shot in the side of the head.

Miraculously, Lin survived but Tinh did not know the owner was still alive; he thought he was an accessary to murder. This senseless shooting sent Tinh over the top, and when he was arrested on a minor charge soon after, he was met by a group of investigators, both Federal and New York City law enforcement officers, who were trying to build a case against the Born to Kill Gang, and it’s leader David Thai specifically.

Tired of the gang life, Tinh easily flipped, and under the guidance of New York City Detective Bill Oldham, Special ATF Agent Dan Kumor, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Vinegrad, he began wearing a wire during his meetings with Thai and other top BTK gang members.

In Born to Kill, T.J. English, a former New York City taxi driver and the author of another fine book – The Westies, gives us a vivid account of Tinh’s confidential activities which decimated the Born to Kill Gang. Tinh’s inside information was so accurate; Kumor and Oldham were even able to thwart several BTK robberies before they were able to occur.

At first, Tinh was terrified of wearing a wire. On one occasion, while Tinh sat in the living room of a safe house watching television with several other BTKs, another gang member noticed a red glow inside Tinh’s shirt. The glow was the battery light on his tape recorder which was taped to his chest.

Thinking he was now a dead man, Tinh rushed to the bathroom, removed the recorder, and then slinked back to the living room to await his fate. Amazingly, the other gang member were glued to the television set and barely noticed Tinh had left the room and returned. Tinh mumbled something about a bad beeper to the gang member who had noticed the red light; the gang member bought Tinh’s explanation, and Tinh was safe – for now.

After Thai tried to engage his gang in a robbery in concert with Italian mobsters from New Jersey, which was again prevented by Tinh’s inside knowledge of the impending event, Oldham, Kumor and Vinegrad decided it was too dangerous for Tinh to stay undercover. They pulled Tinh off the streets and began the prosecution of Thai and other top BTK operatives. This resulted in Thai being sentenced to life behind bars with no chance of parole.

Born to Kill was originally written in 1996 and is now available in a Kindle Edition for $7.69. I was lucky enough to purchase the ebook for only $1.99 when English ran a special promotion. The book is a bargain at both prices. It’s also available in a paperback version for $14.99 at Amazon.com.

Buy it. You won’t be sorry.

 

Book Review – “On the Run” by Gregg and Gina Hill

http://www.amazon.com/Mobsters-Gangs-...

I never thought that I could enjoy a book about mob rat Henry Hill, but this one written by his son, Gregg, and his daughter, Gina, kept my interest and gave me a vivid account of two poor kids “on the run.”

This book is told from two perspectives, where Gregg first gives his version of what happened and his feeling about what they were going through, and then Gina gives her versions. Most of the time the two versions are totally different. Gregg, in his early teens, thoroughly hated his father and his father’s deceptive and downright mean machinations, while Gina, a few years younger, was more of a Daddy’s Girl, until she eventually smartened up too.

At the end of the movie Goodfellas, in which Henry Hill was portrayed by handsome actor Ray Liotta, Hill is in the Witness Protection Program in an unnamed locale, which looked like some out-of-the-way place called something like “Hicksville” – so unlike where Hill committed endless crimes (New York City) and enjoyed being one of the Wiseguys (the book about Hill’s life was actually named Wiseguys but was changed to Goodfellas for the movie.)

In On the Run we discover that in 1980, after being shuttled from one hotel to another for several months while the Feds got as much information as they could from Hill, the family ended up on the outskirts of Omaha, Neb. where their family surname was changed to Haynes. On the first night in their new home, the senior Hill, instead of playing it low-key, took his family to Godfather’s Pizza and proceed to get drunk and unruly.

Gregg  recalls that night vividly.

“My father thought it was funny, eating at Godfather’s Pizza, and maybe it was funny,” Gregg wrote. “But I wasn’t in a laughing mood. Worse, he behaved like it was some mobster joint back in New York City.

Hill immediately got drunk and started cursing out loud in front of the local yokels.

“Nobody said anything to him,” Gregg wrote. “But people stared and then they glared. I couldn’t help but stare back and wonder what they must be thinking: New York hood on the run from the Mob.”

The rest of the book details how Hill kept on breaking the rules of the government’s Witness Protection Program, and as a result, the Feds had to keep re-locating Hill’s family to different locations to keep them safe. The Feds also changed the family’s last name again: this time to Scott.

Despite being under the supervision of the Feds, Hill became a violent drug addict and began dealing drugs to support his habit. According to Gregg Hill, his father constantly cheated on his wife, Karan, and he even got married again to one of his drug buddies while he was still married to Karen.

When Karen found out her husband was a bigamist, Hill gave her this incredible excuse; “Don’t worry; it means nothing. I married her under the name Scott,” Hill told Karen.

Hill then told his wife the only reason he married the girl was because she had money. Unfortunately, Hill later discovered the only reason the girl married Hill was because she thought he had money.

It turned out they both were wrong.

Finally, after Hill, against the government’s rules, decided to let writer Nick Pileggi pen his autobiography, the government dropped Hill and his family from the Witness Protection Program. Soon after, Gregg Hill left home to go out on his own. He kept his assumed name Scott, finished college, and then law school. Gregg ultimately became a successful attorney. Soon, Gregg got married and started his own family. Unlike his father, Gregg adored and took special care of his children.

After Karen kicked out her husband for good and got a divorce, Gina Scott went back to New York City and attended New York University. Gina also got married and started her own family.

Henry Hill continued to be the same reprobate he always had been. He married his then-girlfriend Dawn, who was a degenerate junkie like Hill. They had a son named Justin, but in 1997, Hill and Dawn, now living in California, became totally out of control with their drug use. As a result, the state took away their son. Gina flew to Florida, and although Justin was already in a foster home, Gina was able to obtain custody.

As for Henry Hill, he continued on his downward spiral. In the Afterword of the On the Run Greg Scott wrote, “In the 1990’s, after he (Henry Hill) squandered whatever money he made off the book and the movie, he was in and out of prison on an assortment of charges and parole violations. Along the way he peddled cookbooks, travel guides, posters – anything for a buck, anything to relive, just for an instant, his days of glittering infamy. It was almost as if he had come to believe his own hype, bought into his own scam, convinced himself that, yeah, it was really like a movie.”

Henry Hill died of a heart attack in 2012 eight years after On the Run was written.

On the Run is a terrific read, but quite disturbing. How a man could do so much harm to his own family is shocking; even sickening. However, we are getting this story from two people closest to Henry Hill: his son and his daughter, so we know it must be the awful truth.

 Frankly, On the Run could have been entitled Daddy Dearest. According to his son and his daughter, Henry Hill was truly a despicable man.

 

 

 

Book Review – Mob Fest ‘ 29: The True Story About the Birth of Organized Crime

http://www.amazon.com/Mobsters-Gangs-...

Mob Fest ’29:  The True Story About the Birth of Organized Crime was written by veteran mob writer Bill Tonelli, and while I don’t think this is a great book, it’s certainly an excellent book that deserves your attention. Tonelli has written about organized crime for the New York Times, Slate and Philadelphia Magazine, as well as several full-length books on the subject, certainly an impressive resume and not one of whom is wet behind the ears as far as the mob is concerned.

I would have given this book 4 ½ stars if that were possible, but since it’s not on Amazon’s options list, I gave it the full five stars.

It’s exasperating and I  really don’t understand the caustic one-star reviews that are splashed across the review page of this book. Saying Mob Fest ‘29 is poorly written may be an opinion, but it also may be a vendetta. Look up the term sock puppeteers and you’ll get an understanding of what I’m talking about. In my opinion, and I’ve been a published writer for almost 40 years, this is a well-written book; maybe a little rude in spots, but certainly well enough written that Tonelli keeps the reader reading, and that’s the result any good writer strives for anyway.

 In these one-star reviews, readers complain Tonelli is quoting other books to make a point. Well, that’s exactly what writers do. They research books related to the subject they are writing about and they attribute the quotes, instead of writing them like they were their own original words.

Tonelli, a true pro, did extensive research for this book, going as far as to interview top-notch crime writers like Jimmy Breslin and Mike Dash. Concerning the legendary (imaginary?) huge Atlantic City  mob summit in 1929,  Tonelli digests the facts as he sees them. Then he comes to a conclusion, which I won’t divulge for obvious reasons. I happen to not totally agree with Tonelli’s conclusion, but I understand his reasoning and he may be right about certain events or non-events, which, according to mob lore, have always been presented as gospel when they may have been total bunk.

For instance, there is a question as to the validity of the famous photo of  Chicago mobster Al Capone bouncing on the Atlantic City boardwalk with Atlantic City mob boss Enoch “Nucky” Johnson and three other mob dignitaries (This picture is on the cover Mob Fest ’29). Capone is on the far left and Johnson is on the far right.

Was the picture a phony posted in the  Heart-owned New York Evening Journal to discredit Johnson? According to Johnson – it was.

Tonelli noted in Mob Fest ’29, which was originally posted in Chance of a Lifetime by Grace D’Amato, “I never walked with Capone. I told people that the New York Evening Journal’s photographer superimposed two photographs. If you noticed, I had a summer suit on, while Capone and his cronies had on winter clothes.”

The supposed  reason why Hearst would do such a dirty deed to Johnson was that Johnson was fooling around with Hearst’s girlfriend and Hearst hit Johnson where it hurt him most: in his reputation.

Like Tonelli says in Mob Fest ’29, “Hearst was the press baron who instigated the Spanish-American War to boost readership. After that, faking a photograph didn’t seem much of an ethical stretch.”

Despite the troubling one-star reviews, mob aficionados should enjoy Mob Fest ’29.

I know I did.

Book Review – “Mafia Wife – My Story of Love, Murder, and Madness”

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008G0J77S

While reading “Mafia Wife – My Story of Love, Murder, and Madness,” written by Linda Melito, wife of dead mobster/multiple-murderer Louie Milito, and Reg Potterson, it was hard to feel sympathy for anyone, especially Linda, who not only reveled in her husband’s crimes and power, but sometimes even assisted him in breaking the law

Linda claims she was a normal sixteen-year-old girl when she fell for Melito, who was no more than a petty crook at the time. Linda tells us she did not especially like her Jewish mother (the feeling was mutual), but she adored her Jewish father, who was little more than a verbal abuse sponge – courtesy of her Jewish mother.

Linda said of her mother, “From my mother I learned that nothing mattered much except money and respecting people who had it, and looking down on those who didn’t have it.”

            Linda met Louie and love whistled in the air. To get away from her mother, Linda and Louie moved in to together; eventually got married and it was the start of a wonderful life, only it wasn’t.

Linda would like us to believe Louie was just a charming guy with a beautiful smile, and at the beginning she claims she had no idea how involved Louie was with the mob. Linda should have taken the hint when Louie took her along as a lookout while he cracked into pay phones all over New York City for nickels, dimes, and quarters, just about the lowest crime you can commit in the mob short of stealing vegetables off a pushcart owned by a blind man.

The rest of the book is Linda feeling sorry for herself and hating just about all of Louie’s pals. Linda spewed especially thick venom at Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, whom she claimed made a pass at her while she and Louie were married.

The main theme of the book is Linda’s whining, whining, and more whining. She claims she was mentally ill for a time, and even after Louie disappeared from the face of the earth (it was later determined that Gravano ordered Louie’s killing), she got into several relationships where the men in her life were nothing more than cruds, which might tell your something about Linda’s choice of men and something about Linda herself.

Near the book’s end she asks herself the questions, “As for Louie, if I had grown up with a little bit of self-respect instead of thinking I was pretty much worthless and longing to be different and better than I was, like I did, would I have still been dumb enough to run off with that kind of man? Would I have married him, and stayed married to him, had two children with him, stayed with him after he hooked up with the Gambinos (crime family), after I knew about his violence, saw it, felt it, and was terrified about it.” (Louie smacked Linda around when he felt the urge, which was often.)

However, Linda tells us the questions, but instead of possible answers he goes off on how Louie’s power made her feel strong, and what a good father he was, and yatta, yatta, yatta, ad nauseam.( I heard Hitler was nice to dogs too.)

I finished reading this book feeling like I just wasted several good hours of my time and not getting anything out of it in return; no pleasure- just disgust for people like Louie and Linda Melito.

If you want to get aggravated – read this book. If you value your time, do something more constructive, like playing solitaire.

 

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Book Review – Blood Relation

http://www.amazon.com/Mobsters-Gangs-...

Blood Relation is a commendable book, written in 2004, about a really bad guy – Harold “Kayo” Konigsberg – a stone killer – doing life imprisonment at the time of the book’s writing. Blood Relation was written Kayo’s grandnephew, Eric Konigsberg, over the objection of everyone in Eric’s family, with the possible exception of Kayo himself, who granted his grandnephew several interviews for the book, but was not too happy with the end result.

In Blood Relation, Eric tells of how Kayo threatened his life because of Kayo’s dissatisfaction at his portrayal in a New Yorker magazine article Eric wrote, and how the nephew took this threat seriously, as well he should, since Kayo was said to have killed as many as 20 people for the Italian mob; and more just for fun. Sadism to Kayo was like candy to a kid and some of Kayo’s murders were exceptionally brutal.

To show Kayo’s influence even when he was behind bars, he was able to pull enough strings to get favors from the prison personnel other cons could only dream about.

In Blood Relation Eric wrote, “He (Kayo) had a private apartment done over for him in the jail library, with his own TV, telephone, radio, refrigerator, hot plate, desk and sofa.”

To add spice to his plate, Kayo did the unimaginable in prison. He got himself a chippy and a knockout to boot.

 The News York Daily News wrote, “A shapely young blond, Marilyn Jane Fraser, was smuggled into his (Kayo’s) cell in 1965 to provide him female companionship.”

Accompanying the News York Daily News was a seductive photo of Miss Fraser. I’ve seen less skin in Playboy Magazine.

Retired NYPD detective and veteran mob aficionado,Harold “Kayo” Konigsberg, told the New York Daily News it’s a scandal that Konigsberg is now out from behind bars.

“I knew him well and he was the worst of the worst,” Coffey said. “He enjoyed killing and enjoyed getting paid for it. He was a nasty bastard and he should have gotten the electric chair.”

Kayo’s sadism was also evident in the courtroom. Coffey said that Kayo represented himself at an extortion trial in Manhattan Supreme Court and he emphatically told the court he was insane. Kayo then demonstrated how insane.

“He sat in a wheelchair and defecated in his pants right in front of the judge,” Coffey said. “I was there and he grossed out everyone and cleared the courtroom, but he was convicted anyway. I remember it like it was yesterday.” 

In 2008 parole hearing, Kayo said the only reason he was still in prison was because in 1963 Attorney General Robert Kennedy offered him a doozey of a deal in return for information on his pals and Kayo turned RFK down flat

“There was no way he could break me,” Kayo told the parole board. “The Nazis, the Germans, those people that were not hanged at Nuremberg didn’t do 20 years.”

But alas, all good things must come to an end.  

In August, 2012, Kayo, at the age of 86, was inexplicably released on parole from the Mohawk Prison in Rome, NY, after being denied parole seven times. Kayo did 49 years behind bars for several murders, and is now living the good life in a $750,000 house in sunny Weston, Florida, with his daughter Edie.

New York State Parole Commissioners Sally Thompson and Michael Hagler gave no reason for granting Konigsberg’s release, which is not surprising since they could be no sane motive for them letting a killer like Kayo out of the can in anything other than in a pine box.

One of the men Kayo was convicted of killing was Anthony “Three Fingers” Castellito, who was whacked by Kayo at the urging of Castellito’s rival union rival, Anthony (Tony Pro) Provenzano. Jennie Castellito was just 13 when her dad was killed and she was incensed Kayo had been released from prison.

“When ‘Tony Pro’ died in prison — he had cancer — that was the greatest news I ever heard,” she told the New York Daily News. “My father’s dead and he didn’t have the last 49 years to spend alive with his children and grandchildren. I don’t think he should have been released. I don’t understand it.”

The question is – does Eric Konigsberg have to fear for his life now that his granduncle is a free man?

I wish I knew the answer, and I wish when I read Blood Relation I had known Kayo was soon to be sprung from the can and still a danger to anyone he believed had wronged him. It would have made reading the book all the more compelling.

Sadly, if I were Eric Konigsberg, I’d be looking over both my shoulders for Uncle Kayo or, more likely, for someone hired by Uncle Kayo. A man isn’t born with spots then dies with stripes.

Or is it the other way around?

 

 

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Book Review – The Valachi Papers

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009CGA74M

Peter Maas is certainly one of the best writers of his generation. However, this book tells about mob activities from the viewpoint of a supposed insider (Valachi), who was, in truth, an illiterate, minor Italian mob thug, not usually allowed in the same room with mob bosses like Lucky Luciano, or Frank Costello.

The most flagrant mistake mentioned in this book is Valachi’s contention that his Italian organized crime group was called “La Cosa Nostra (this thing of ours).” In fact, “la cosa nostra” was a term Italian- American mobsters loosely used in the lower case form, because the Italian mob in America doesn’t have an name except “Italian Mob,” or “Italian organized crime.” No matter what you read elsewhere, the Mafia exists only in Sicily, so when Italian mobsters get together in America, “this thing of ours” is the best they can come up with without confusing each other (we’re dealing with mobsters here, not Harvard professors).

That aside, “The Valachi Papers” is a four-star book, due to the skill of the writer rather than for the misinformation sometimes stated in its content.

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Lucky Gambler is Unlucky at the Wrong Kind of Pot

November 15, 2012

Mob Wives – Fuhgeddaboudit!

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Whitey Bulger Says He Was Given Permission by the Feds to Commit Crimes, Including Murder

http://www.amazon.com/Mobsters-Gangs-...

Oct. 25, 2012

 

As far as legal defenses go, this one really takes the cake.

Former Boston crime boss Whitey Bulger’s lawyer’s claims the charges against him, including 19 murders, should be thrown out because Bulger said he was given permission by the FBI to commit any crime he pleased as long as he remained an informant for the government. Not only is Bulger’s lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., making this ridiculous claim, but Carney even named the person who gave Bulger this supposed immunity. Unfortunately, that man, Federal prosecutor Jeremiah O’Sullivan, is now dead.

Not only does Carney claim that O’Sullivan gave Bulger carte blanche to commit crimes, Carney also wants the presiding judge on Bulger’s case, Judge Richard G. Stearns, to recuse himself from Bulger’s case because Stearns worked as a Federal prosecutor at the same time Sullivan did (in the late 1970’s and throughout the 1980’s) and Sterns should have known about the doozy deal Sullivan had worked out with Bulger,

The only problem with Bulger’s argument is that, according to Brian T. Kelly, one of the prosecutors in his case, “In 2002 Sullivan testified under oath before Congress that he never extended immunity to either James Bulger or Stephen Flemmi. And the First Circuit has already held that O’Sullivan was unaware of any promise of immunity to either Bulger or Flemmi (Bulger’s partner in crime for many years.)”

Judge Stearns quickly struck down Carney’s attempt to have him recuse himself from the case. Stearns said in his ruling, “I have no doubt whatsoever about my ability to remain impartial at all times while presiding over the case.”

Judge Stearns also said while he was a Federal prosecutor he “had no knowledge of any case or investigation in which Bulger was a subject or a target.”

This is a case of Bulger’s attorney throwing a Hail Mary pass with no time remaining on the clock. However, fortunately for the state of Massachusetts and humanity at large, Judge Stearns swatted it down before it even got close to the goal line.

What’s next for Bulger’s defense?

Will Carney claim that not only did the FBI give Bulger permission to commit crimes, but even aided him in doing so? This is not so far-fetched as it seems, since former FBI agent John Connelly is now doing 40 years in prison because he was convicted of giving Bulger information that led to the murder of a witness who was about to testify against Boston mob members, including Bulger. Connelly will do anything to get out of prison, and if Connelly takes the stand in Bulger’s trial (Carney said he will call Connelly as a witness and that Bulger will also take the stand in his own defense) and confirms that O’Sullivan indeed did give Bulger immunity to commit crimes, this case could become very sticky.

Who will the jury believe – a crime lord like Whitey Bulger and a convicted and disgraced FBI agent like John Connelly? Or will the jury believe the swore testimony of a highly decorated FBI prosecutor who just happens to be dead.

I’ll go with the dead guy.

 

P.S. Carney’s services are being paid, not by Bulger, who claims he is indigent, but by the state of Massachusetts.

When Bulger was captured in early 2011 in a condo in Santa Monica, Cal, along with his moll Catherine Grieg, the FBI found over $800,000 hidden in the walls of a condo. Bulger swears this was all the money he had in the whole wide world, and if you believe that, there’s a condo in Libya I’d like to sell you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Defense lawyers name Jeremiah O’Sullivan as federal agent who granted James ‘Whitey’ Bulger immunity to commit crimes

 

 

By Milton J. Valencia and Travis Andersen, Globe Staff

Lawyers for James “Whitey” Bulger have identified the late federal prosecutor Jeremiah O’Sullivan as the federal agent who allegedly gave the notorious gangster immunity to commit his reign of terror.

Attorney JW. Carney Jr.., of Boston, made the bombshell allegation in a court filing late Wednesday in which he again called for a US District Court judge to recuse himself from presiding over the case. He said the judge has an apparent conflict of interest as a former prosecutor who worked at the same time as O’Sullivan, a former US attorney who died in 2009 at age 66.

Carney said he may call US District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns and other former prosecutors as witnesses to testify about the leeway that the leadership within the US attorney’s office gave Bulger, and their failure for years to charge him with any crimes, which he said would speak to the immunity agreement that Bulger claims he had.

Stearns was a former federal prosecutor and chief of the criminal division during part of Bulger’s alleged reign of terror, in the 1970s and 1980s. The judge was not part of the New England Organized Crime Strike Force that had an apparent relationship with Bulger at the time, however, and he has maintained he did not know that Bulger was the target of any investigation.

Carney argued that there was no line dividing work between the Strike Force and the US attorney’s office, and so prosecutors from both units shared and were aware of investigations.

The judge refused an initial request to recuse himself in July, citing the high standards that must be met for a judge to have to recuse himself for conflict of interest concerns.

“I have no doubt whatsoever about my ability to remain impartial at all times while presiding over the case,” the judge said in his ruling, maintaining that he had no knowledge “of any case or investigation” in which Bulger was “a subject or a target.”

But Carney said Bulger’s reputation was well known, or should have been, particularly among leaders in the US attorney’s office.

He also said that the notorious gangster, now 83, will testify to support his claim. He said Bulger will provide “a detailed account of his receipt of immunity by O’Sullivan,” who was a member of the strike force and at one point its chief.

In one example, Carney said, Bulger will discuss an occasion in which O’Sullivan allegedly ordered that Bulger be removed from a list of targets in a horse race-fixing scheme in the early 1980s.

Brian T. Kelly, one of the prosecutors in the case, wrote a letter to Carney on Friday in which he said the government has provided defense counsel with ample materials pertaining to O’Sullivan, as requested, calling it typical procedure in the case.

He offered on his own, however, that “the First Circuit has already held that O’Sullivan was unaware of any promise of immunity.”

He added, “O’Sullivan himself testified under oath before Congress that he never extended immunity to either James Bulger or Stephen Flemmi.”

Carney added that, in addition to Stearns, he would call other US Department of Justice leaders to testify as to why Bulger was never charged by the federal government. Those leaders would include FBI director Robert Mueller, who served as a federal prosecutor and chief of the criminal division in Massachusetts in the early 1980s, and with whom Stearns has a close relationship.

Carney said he will introduce evidence from a courthouse ceremony where Mueller characterized Stearns as a “friend and mentor,” and in which Stearns called the FBI director’s speech “the greatest tribute that a friend could pay.”

Bulger’s lead lawyer questioned whether Stearns could remain impartial in deciding whether he and Mueller could be called as a credible witness to testify about the immunity agreement, which has emerged as Bulger’s main point of defense in a trial that could trigger the death sentence.

“Federal law mandates in this situation that Judge Stearns recuse himself from this case,” Carney said in a 24-page motion filed late Wednesday. “The law – and common sense – says that a person cannot be both judge and witness. …To do so otherwise will put an irreparable taint on the public’s view of the fairness of the defendant’s trial, and allow citizens to believe that the infamous cover-up of misconduct by past members of the Department of Justice, the United States’ attorney’s office, and the FBI is continuing.”

Carney noted that Bulger was not accused of any crimes in a federal indictment until after Stearns, Mueller, and O’Sullivan left office, and he argued that their testimony will focus on why that did not happen. That should be up to a jury to decide, he said.

Bulger was once of America’s Most Wanted until his arrest in June 2011 after 16 years on the lam. He is accused in a federal racketeering indictment of participating in 19 murders.

He is also the notorious gangster at the center of one of the most scandalous periods in the history of the FBI. A series of hearings in Boston in the 1990s exposed a corrupt relationship between him and his FBI handlers. During that time, he was allegedly allowed to carry out crimes including murders in exchange for working as a cooperating witness against the New England Mafia.

Carney has claimed Bulger was granted immunity in exchange for his cooperation, though legal analysts have questioned whether anyone could have had a right to kill, as Bulger claims.

Federal prosecutors, who have argued that Stearns does not have to recuse himself, also deny that Bulger had any claim of immunity.

O’Sullivan suffered a heart attack and several strokes in 1998 when he was slated to testify about Bulger and Flemmi before US District Court Judge Mark L. Wolf. O’Sullivan was in a coma for a month.

In 2002, O’Sullivan was called before Congress during the Government Reform Committee’s investigation of the Boston FBI. He denied ever protecting Bulger and Flemmi from prosecution for serious crimes.

O’Sullivan acknowledged dropping the pair from a 1978 race-fixing case against the Winter Hill Gang, of Somerville, because he said he considered them small-time players and was focused on gang leader Howie Winter.

Grilled by the committee, O’Sullivan said he could not go against the FBI in those days. “They will try to get you. They will wage war on you,” he said.

Milton Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com and Travis Andersen can be reached at tandersen@globe.com.

A federal judge today rejected a request by lawyers for James “Whitey” Bulger to recuse himself from the long-anticipated trial of the notorious gangster, saying he has no conflict of interest in the case.

“I am confident that no reasonable person could doubt my impartiality,” said US District Judge Richard G. Stearns. “I have no doubt whatsoever about my ability to remain impartial at all times while presiding over this case.”

Lawyers for Bulger had alleged that Stearns would have a conflict because the judge was once a federal prosecutor, including during times when Bulger allegedly committed his crimes several decades ago. The judge was also head of the US attorney’s office’s criminal division during part of that time.

Bulger’s lawyers have indicated they may call the judge to testify as a witness as part of a motion to have the case dismissed. That motion will be based on Bulger’s argument that he was granted immunity from prosecution for his crimes because he was working as an FBI informant.

The lawyers alleged that Stearns had either known, or should have known, of Bulger’s immunity deal.

But Stearns argued that he has no reason to recuse himself and that he would not be considered a material witness in the proceedings: the standard a judge must follow in recusing himself. He said he did not participate in, or have any knowledge of, any case or investigation in which Bulger was a subject or a target.

“I have nothing of a relevant or material nature to offer with regard to this case or any claim of immunity,” the judge said in an 11-page order issued today.

“There is a long-standing presumption of judicial impartiality in the federal courts of the United States, including those of the First Circuit. This presumption is not overcome by specious and unsupported factual allegations,” he wrote.

Also today, a federal magistrate judge lifted a protective order limiting the disclosure of evidence gathered by the government in the case.

The order by US Magistrate Judge Marianne Bowler had barred Bulger’s legal team from sharing evidence provided by the government with anyone except witnesses and people mentioned in court records. Bulger’s lawyers had contended they needed to share the information under seal with other people to properly defend their client. The Boston Globe also sought to have the order lifted.

Bowler lifted most of the order during a hearing this afternoon. She said she would issue a detailed order today on the types of information that must remain under seal. The order will not go into effect for two weeks, though, during which time prosecutors will be given a chance to identify records they believe should be sealed.

Carney said the order would allow the defense team to share some of the “hundreds of thousands” of documents with outside lawyers, for example, so they could discuss strategy, and groups such as focus groups or groups of friends and relatives “that a lawyer traditionally runs his or her case past” to get some feedback.

“These steps are taken by every competent lawyer in preparing for a trial. We’ve been unable to do so but now with Judge Bowler’s order, we expect we will be able to have those discussions.”

Bulger, 82, was one of America’s most wanted fugitives before his arrest in June 2011 after more than 16 years. He is set to go to trial in March that alleges he participated in 19 murders. Prosecutors and defense attorneys are set to appear in court today at a routine status hearing.

Martin Finucane of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Milton Valencia can be reached at mvalencia@globe.com.

 

Joe Bruno on the Mob – Rajat Gupta gets only two years in prison for role in biggest insider trading case in U.S. history

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009CGA74M

This is one time where money walks and bullspit talks.

Disgraced Wall Street fat cat Rajat Gupta was facing 8-10 years in prison for his role in feeding insider trading information  to now jailed former Galleon Group hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam — nicknamed “Hedge Hog” — which earned Rajaratnam up to $75 million illegally. Gupta testified at Rajaratnam’s trial and as a result, Rajaratnam got 11 years in the slammer.

However, after Gupta was found guilty- he was convicted of three counts of securities fraud and one count of conspiracy – Gupta got an amazingly light sentence – only two years, with an additional $5 million fine – peanuts compared to what Gupta earned crookedly in the past several years.

This sentence was passed down by U.S. District Court Judge Jed Rakoff, after prosecutors told the judge that Gupta “belonged behind bars anywhere from eight to 10 years because he showed ‘above-the-law arrogance’ while feeding Rajaratnam inside tips between March 2007 and January 2009, sometimes within seconds of learning the information.

However, Judge Rakoff (which rhymes with J***off) said the guidelines were too tough, and he gave Rupta a slight slap on the wrist.

What’s even more amazing is that Gupta’s lawyers were arguing for no jail time at all, since Rupta had been doing charitable work in Rwanda.

RWANDA!!

Who the flip cares?

One hedge fund) cheat (Rajaratnam) gets 11 years in jail, and the man who fed him the inside information (Rupta) gets only 2 years behind bars.

Maybe this is the way justice works in Rwanda, but it’s not the way justice should work in the United States of America.

Judge Rakoff – are you listening?

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/wall-st-fat-cat-2-years-article-1.1191342

The Wall Street fat cat who fed inside information to the infamous “Hedge Hog” is going to prison — not Rwanda.

Rajat Gupta, who had pleaded to be allowed to pay for his crimes by doing charity work in the African country, was sentenced Wednesday to two years behind bars and a $5 million fine in the biggest insider trading case in U.S. history.

“With today’s sentence, Rajat Gupta now must face the grave consequences of his crime – a term of imprisonment,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara.

“His conduct has forever tarnished a once-sterling reputation that took years to cultivate. We hope that others who might consider breaking the securities laws will take heed from this sad occasion and choose not to follow in Mr. Gupta’s footsteps.”

The ex-Goldman Sachs director was convicted of feeding info to now-jailed hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam — nicknamed “Hedge Hog” — that earned him up to $75 million illegally.

Gupta, 63, of Westport, Conn., was the highest-ranking executive ensnared in a four-year investigation of his billionaire buddy, who headed the corrupt Galleon Group and was busted in October 2009 — and is now serving 11 years in prison.

Prosecutors argued that Gupta belonged behind bars anywhere from eight to 10 years because he showed “above-the-law arrogance” while feeding Rajaratnam inside tips between March 2007 and January 2009, sometimes within seconds of learning the information.

They said Rajaratnam used the inside dope to make millions in illegal profits for him and his investors.

“Gupta’s crimes are extraordinarily serious and damaging to the capital markets,” the government wrote. “It understandably fuels cynicism among the investing public that Wall Street is rigged and that Wall Street professionals unfairly exploit privileged access to information.”

Gupta’s defenders argued that jailing him would be a disservice to humanity and asked that he be allowed to continue doing the AIDS and anti-poverty work he’s done for years in Rwanda.

“The conduct for which he was convicted represents an isolated aberration and a stark departure from this personal history,” his lawyers wrote.

They also cited Gupta’s efforts to help development in his native India and produced more than 400 letters written on his behalf, including documents signed by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

csiemaszko@nydailynews.com

Book Description – Mob Wives – Fuhgeddaboudit! – By Joe Bruno

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0091UNCFA

People love to watch train wrecks, and the VH1 hit show “Mob Wives,” which miraculously has run for two seasons, is a train wreck of biblical proportions.

“Mob Wives” is such a monstrosity that it is beyond belief that a show starring several loud, cranky, surgically altered, unpleasant, and uninteresting women could be such a big commercial success; so much so, there’s two spinoffs presently on television: “Chicago Mob Wives,” and “The Big Ang Show,”staring Big Ang Raiola. (Big Ang is a character in “Mob Wives,” who is so big in so many ways she resembles a WWE wrestler in drag; with breasts the size of boulders and lips the size of limousine mud flaps.)

“Mob Wives – Fuhgeddaboudit!” consists of my “Joe Bruno on the Mob” blogs concerning “Mob Wives,” along with the responses I’ve received from my readers, both on my blog and on my Facebook page “Mobsters, Gangs,” where I also post my blog.

Some of the responses are hysterical; some are dumb; and some are downright obscene. I’ve tried to clear up the obscenities and the bad English the best I could.

After reading this book, if you still decide to watch Season 3 of “Mob Wives,” then there’s nothing I can do for you. You’re hooked and you’re probably watching “Chicago Mob Wives and “The Big Ang Show,” too.

God have mercy on your soul.

And if you have never seen “Mob Wives” and are contemplating watching one of the three shows, or any combination thereof, this book might talk you out of doing so.

One can only hope.