Ed Scarpo's Blog, page 28

Mob Film Family Enforcer Marked Pesci's Debut

Frank Vincent sports a '70s 'fro in Family Enforcer, Joe Pesci's film debut.
Wanna watch Family Enforcer, the film that launched Joe Pesci's career? Robert De Niro allegedly viewed the B-flick and recommended that Martin Scorsese check it out. That's apparently how Pesci (and Frank Vincent, who also starred in the film) wound up in Raging Bull, then Goodfellas.

Family Enforcer was originally named The Death Collector, and versions of the 1976 film can be found under either title. Amazon offers it as part of a double- and even triple-feature DVD for as little as $5 (with free two- day delivery for Amazon Prime members).

Grindhouse Releasing, which focuses on acquiring and distributing "classic" films (ie, shock horror (Cannibal Holocaust) and exploitation films) is preparing a new version of Family Enforcer for release as well.

Or you could watch Family Enforcer for free....



Cosa Nostra News presents Family Enforcer, directed by onetime filmmaker Ralph De Vito....
The film is public domain and there's a couple of things to keep in mind.

First off, Pesci isn't the star; he supposedly has third billing (I didn't watch the film yet myself). And I'm not sure if Frank Vincent's role is larger or smaller. Also the film comes highly recommended. A former Mafia captain recommended it to me, among other people.
According to one of Amazon's most-helpful reviews:

... Aside from Joe Pesci and Frank Vincent, most of the actors are pretty much unknown. The plot of the story is solid and believable... the soundtrack and the time-to-time nudity makes it seem like a cheesy porno flick. Joe Pesci's character, Joey, is similar to the psycho character he portrayed in "Goodfellas". Another unique aspect is that the main hitman is African-American (Keith Davis), pretty rare for a Mafia movie. Based in New Jersey it's pretty much a 90 minute episode of "The Sopranos" before the series was even thought of! This would make a great remake....

There's quite a lot "unnecessary nudity" (???) by an actress who was also given good reviews (for her acting ability). However, she, like the writer/director, apparently dropped out of the film world as well.

Family Enforcer's taglines

If You Liked "The Godfather" & "Dog Day Afternoon," Then This Is Your Kind of Motion Picture. JERRY BOLANTE isn't afraid of anyone or anything. He's young, street-smart, tough, with a fierce raw sexual energy ... He's MAFIA! He always collects...or you pay with your life! The Mean Streets Just Got Meaner.

If you've already viewed, leave your thoughts below. If you view it on this blog or purchase the DVD version, also leave a comment below.

From Wikipedia, part of the film's plot:

"Jerry Bolanti (Joe Cortese), a mafia-connected hoodlum, is released from jail and needs a job. During this very uncertain and stressful transitional period he plays the field to help stay relaxed. He discovers almost by accident that he has a talent for debt collecting and intimidation. He then decides to pay a visit to a mid-level wiseguy acquaintance (Lou Criscuola) and offer up his services. 

His first gig is to collect from a certain Bernie Feldshuh (Frank Vincent). Before he can deliver the swag to his capo, however, he is intercepted by Bernie's henchmen who take back the money and leave him for dead. Jerry returns to Bernie's home while still healing from his gunshot wounds and extracts a moderate amount of retribution. Bernie's response is to hire a top-notch assassin named Marley (Keith Davis) to take down Jerry as well as the lawyer named Herb Greene (Jack Ramage) who commissioned him to collect on the debt in the first place. An unfortunate secretary becomes collateral damage. Jerry's boss Anthony learns of the deed and sends a man of his own to even the score. An unfortunate bodyguard becomes collateral damage. But Jerry never does recover the $28,000. 

His next assignment is to team up with enforcers Joe (Joe Pesci) and Serge (Bobby Alto) to conduct a raid on a shop manager for $40,000 that he may or may not have "owed" to somebody. But Bernie's newly hired hitman Marley is watching and waiting for an opportunity to take Jerry down. This proves disastrous for the entire operation. After the heist the trio of gangsters heads over to a hotel room to count out the profits and celebrate a little......."

1st Interview, with National Crime Syndicate Site

Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire...

Thanks to NCS for interviewing me and linking to my book. I'm going to include first part here but you should visit the website for the full interview (if you're interested)....

"Joining us in the hot seat today is the journalist and author Ed Scarpo who runs Cosa Nostra News and also has a book available called Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire in which former Mafia Capo Dominick Cicale makes a contribution.

"Ed also runs a Facebook page called Cosa Nostra News which is dedicated to covering the Mafia in America as well as the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, Calabrian Ndrangheta and Neapolitan Camorra."

We wanted to get to know a little bit more about him and where his interest all started, and as this is the very first interview Ed has given it is certainly one that you don’t want to miss! 

The NCS: Ed, thanks for taking the time out to speak with us at the NCS. Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself and where your mob interest first started from? Has it been a lifelong passion of yours? 

Ed: Sure thing – thanks for asking me… 

I am a lifelong New Yorker–the Mafia was heavily covered in the local media. My grandfather also had connections. He operated a car service and drove members of Carlo Gambino’s blood family. 

When you grow up where and how I did (in Queens with an old-school Italian connected grandfather, for example) it’s inevitable you meet some made guys and associates—I even had ex in-laws who were connected to Ronnie One-Arm. Then I dated a few Italian girls who lived in Brooklyn and through them met a few guys who were connected in various ways. I remember one couple dubbed “Henry and Karen” because he was supposedly a made guy (Goodfellas had recently been released). One girlfriend had a brother who was made. I used to see a lot of familiar names in the newspapers back in the 1980s and 1990s. 

I also read a lot and have a love for history. Any topic I am interested in – WWII, say – I immediately read a dozen books about it. When I started blogging, it was a general interest blog. At some point, I realized I’d been writing mostly about the mob. Then a sort of business decision kicked in – write a blog about the Mafia, 

The NCS: Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire is your first published book, where did the idea for this come from and how long was it in the making? 

Ed: Well, with self-publishing, anyone can be an author. And I am a journalist by profession so writing is my “thing.” When I realized how difficult it was earning off online advertising, I decided I needed product to sell. A book was simply a natural progression. 

Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire was written after I met Dominic Cicale who wanted to talk to me for a blog story. As soon as he’d called me – we have a mutual friend – I smiled to myself and said, I’m going to write a book with him…. So short answer is, I was an author looking for a book idea and Dom was the idea for the book. 

The short-format ebook series has proven quite successful in the fiction arena – I implanted it in the field of organized crime nonfiction. We reached no. 2 on a Kindle best seller list but to be honest, the book Dom did with Rob Sberna about Lufthansa was much more successful. ITLGME is mostly about the murder of an unknown gangster (George Sciascia) and also provides a brief glimpse inside the last years of the Bonanno family under Joe Massino. 

I’d like to add, if I can, that I also partnered up with Frank Gangi (that book, about Gangi and Tommy Pitera, I am still writing. It’s a difficult book – the material very dark and depressing). It is the Gangi book that is holding up Volume two of the Cicale files, which will focus on the Bronx.

READ FULL INTERVIEW AND CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE....

First Interview, with NCS Website

Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire...

Thanks to NCS for interviewing me and linking to my book. I'm going to include first part here but you should visit the website for the full interview (if you're interested)....

"Joining us in the hot seat today is the journalist and author Ed Scarpo who runs Cosa Nostra News and also has a book available called Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire in which former Mafia Capo Dominick Cicale makes a contribution.

"Ed also runs a Facebook page called Cosa Nostra News which is dedicated to covering the Mafia in America as well as the Sicilian Cosa Nostra, Calabrian Ndrangheta and Neapolitan Camorra."

We wanted to get to know a little bit more about him and where his interest all started, and as this is the very first interview Ed has given it is certainly one that you don’t want to miss! 

The NCS: Ed, thanks for taking the time out to speak with us at the NCS. Firstly, tell us a bit about yourself and where your mob interest first started from? Has it been a lifelong passion of yours? 

Ed: Sure thing – thanks for asking me… 

I am a lifelong New Yorker–the Mafia was heavily covered in the local media. My grandfather also had connections. He operated a car service and drove members of Carlo Gambino’s blood family. 

When you grow up where and how I did (in Queens with an old-school Italian connected grandfather, for example) it’s inevitable you meet some made guys and associates—I even had ex in-laws who were connected to Ronnie One-Arm. Then I dated a few Italian girls who lived in Brooklyn and through them met a few guys who were connected in various ways. I remember one couple dubbed “Henry and Karen” because he was supposedly a made guy (Goodfellas had recently been released). One girlfriend had a brother who was made. I used to see a lot of familiar names in the newspapers back in the 1980s and 1990s. 

I also read a lot and have a love for history. Any topic I am interested in – WWII, say – I immediately read a dozen books about it. When I started blogging, it was a general interest blog. At some point, I realized I’d been writing mostly about the mob. Then a sort of business decision kicked in – write a blog about the Mafia, 

The NCS: Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire is your first published book, where did the idea for this come from and how long was it in the making? 

Ed: Well, with self-publishing, anyone can be an author. And I am a journalist by profession so writing is my “thing.” When I realized how difficult it was earning off online advertising, I decided I needed product to sell. A book was simply a natural progression. 

Inside the Last Great Mafia Empire was written after I met Dominic Cicale who wanted to talk to me for a blog story. As soon as he’d called me – we have a mutual friend – I smiled to myself and said, I’m going to write a book with him…. So short answer is, I was an author looking for a book idea and Dom was the idea for the book. 

The short-format ebook series has proven quite successful in the fiction arena – I implanted it in the field of organized crime nonfiction. We reached no. 2 on a Kindle best seller list but to be honest, the book Dom did with Rob Sberna about Lufthansa was much more successful. ITLGME is mostly about the murder of an unknown gangster (George Sciascia) and also provides a brief glimpse inside the last years of the Bonanno family under Joe Massino. 

I’d like to add, if I can, that I also partnered up with Frank Gangi (that book, about Gangi and Tommy Pitera, I am still writing. It’s a difficult book – the material very dark and depressing). It is the Gangi book that is holding up Volume two of the Cicale files, which will focus on the Bronx.

READ FULL INTERVIEW AND CHECK OUT THE WEBSITE....

Tommy Karate's "Invisible" Prison Assault

Tommy Pitera, right, with Bonanno boss Spero.
COSA NOSTRA NEWS EXCLUSIVE
On August 11, 1996, the seemingly impossible happened at the high-security U.S. Penitentiary in Allenwood, Pennsylvania.

An inmate was "serious[ly] assaulted," yet an incident report suggests there was little physical evidence in terms of wounds. Some witnesses said they could see no wounds. The inmate himself, who appeared "nervous," denied that he'd been assaulted. Nevertheless, he'd been beaten repeatedly in the face with a metal object that was never found.

Imprisoned Bonanno crime family member Thomas "Tommy Karate" Pitera was sanctioned by prison officials for committing the assault.

If not for the testimony of several Confidential Informants (all of whom feared for their lives), prison officials never would've nabbed Pitera for the assault.

To try something new and to show that it's not my intention to exaggerate, I include excerpts from high-level security Discipline Hearing Officer Report (DHO) number 430571 dated August 29, 1996.

 Tommy Karate personally sent to me the document via a third-party. (No, I didn't trek up to Allenwood, though Tommy invited me to speak with him under two conditions, one of which I am unable to meet.) He sent this to me in response to comments made on this blog that claimed Pitera was a rat.

Is Tommy Karate trying to tell us -- or rather tell someone he believes made the comment -- something between the lines? You have your opinion, I have mine.

I may post the full documents at the end - but for now we'll do with cropped excerpts I have incorporated into the story.

As to what exactly happened to the inmate, whose name Tommy Pitera blackened out before sending me the document (he used the yellow highlighter, as well), the report says:




The document further notes:



And the final result of the assault, Pitera was sent to 45 days in segregation.

To underline the most intriguing part of this story,



On June 25, 1992, Pitera was convicted of murdering six people and supervising a massive drug dealing operation in Brooklyn. (He was acquitted of the 1988 "Willie Boy" Johnson murder).

The jury rejected the death penalty for Pitera, so in October 1992, Judge Reena Raggi sentenced him to life in prison.

On April 3, 2012, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals denied Pitera's motion for DNA testing of the guns and other evidence in three of Pitera's murders.

Pitera sent me a number of documents, including his correspondence with Philip Carlo.   As noted, I am currently writing two books about Pitera, one is Frank Gangi's memoir -- while the other centers on the Carlo-Pitera letters (in which Carlo makes some startling confessions, including that he'd been had by the Ice Man.)

John Gotti's Grandson Marries

The married couple. John, stupenda sposa ...


The late John Gotti's grandson, John Gotti Agnello, was married this past weekend.

Agnello, the son of Victoria Gotti and Carmine Agnello and one of the stars of A&E's Growing Up Gotti, wed his longtime love Alina Sanchez, a physician’s assistant. According to Page Six, the 500 guests gave gifts of at least $5,000. The couple left the evening with $2.5 million.

The event took place at the Oheka Castle in Long Island and went from 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25, and ended at 1 p.m. on Saturday.



It reportedly included a multi-course meal at midnight and a breakfast at 7 a.m.

The "unusual hours"  were a result of Agnello and Sanchez’s vast array of guests, some of whom have colorful pasts.

“Felons can’t consort together,” a source told Page Six. “ You have to stagger the felons. That’s standard mob procedure.” The source added there was “enough security to guard an army.”

Page Six reports that the father of the groom had to get a judge’s approval to attend the wedding while he awaits trial for racketeering charges.

Celebrity guests included John Travolta (who will play John Gotti in an upcoming biopic), his actress wife, Kelly Preston, actor Kevin Connolly, Goodfellas star Debi Mazar, and Robert De Niro’s daughter Drena De Niro.

Victoria’s spokesman released a statement to Page Six about the event, saying, “I think whomever is creating these stories has watched The Godfather one too many times.”



OHEKA CASTLE This magnificent Gold Coast Mansion, resting majestically on the highest point of Long Island, emanates the elegant refinement of a chateaux in France coupled with world-class service and a rich history that is distinctly American. OHEKA has been celebrating the art of entertaining since 1919, when financier and patron of the arts, Otto Hermann Kahn, commissioned celebrated architects, Delano and Aldrich, to design his palatial country residence to accommodate Kahn’s fondness to host lavish parties.
Today, OHEKA is recognized as one of the most prestigious wedding and event venues and Historic Hotels of the World. The Castle boasts 32 luxurious guestrooms and suites situated on the upper floors of the estate, where guests can sleep like royalty. 

Desideriamo per voi tutta la felicità di questo mondo...


Please be civil with comments....

(You have to stagger felons?)

Mob-busting NYPD Detective Joe Coffey Dies

Joe Coffey, the mob buster who John Gotti wanted sent to the hospital.
NYPD Detective Sgt. Joseph Coffey died this past Sunday. He was 77 and had suffered from cancer.

The high-profile mob buster was known for his frequent media appearances, as well as an organized crime taskforce he led that solved more than 80 gangland hits. Coffey also personally arrested John Gotti three times, earning the deep animosity of  the feared former Gambino boss, who in the early 1990s ordered the beating of the then-retired detective.

“He was one of the greatest detectives in the NYPD ever,” Jerry Schmetterer, a former Daily News police bureau chief who coauthored The Coffey Files: One Cop's War Against the Mob, told The Daily News. “He was a larger-than-life guy who always wanted to be involved in the biggest cases."



Turncoat John Alite named Coffey and 10 other lawmen as being on the Gambino crime family's take. Coffey and others, including acclaimed private investigator Bo Dietl, a former NYPD detective and media personality for Fox News and Imus in the Morning, vehemently denied the charges.

Coffey's career in the NYPD touched on many high-profile cases, including that of serial killer David Berkowitz known as the Son of Sam (as well as the .44 Caliber Killer).

Coffey frequently used the media to assist his investigations, which earned him criticism, as TJ English wrote in The Westies: Inside New York's Irish Mob. English also noted that Coffey's media technique nevertheless proved quite effective.

Coffey's direct appeal to the public for information regarding the Son of Sam helped the NYPD eventually arrest Berkowitz.

In a near eight-year run, Coffey ran his own Organized Crime Homicide Task force at the request of then-Mayor Ed Koch. Supposedly New York's first Mafia-related taskforce ever, the group solved 82 murders.

Coffey was given the go-ahead to form the squad following a rash of gangland hits in early 1978 -- the work of the Italian Mafia. Although Cosa Nostra was the group's general focus, Coffey and his team also eventually went after The Westies, a group of Irish-American killers affiliated with the Gambino crime family. Coffey supposedly coined the group's name.

When forming the taskforce Coffey chose Irishmen such as Frank McDarby and Joe McGlynn, both of whom could be described as versions of Coffey himself. In addition to their heritage, all three were tall (well over six feet), tough, no-bullshit detectives. When grouped together they reportedly looked more like NFL linebackers than cops.
Upon hearing the NYPD Intel group's reports of murder and dismemberment, one of the first murders attributed to The Westies, Coffey said: "Are these guys fuckin' monsters or what?"
To which head of Intel Kenny McCabe replied: "You ain't gonna believe some of the things we been hearing."

Jimmy Coonan, Westies boss, was on Coffey's radar quite early in the investigation, as was his right hand man, Mickey Featherstone.
Coffey, McDarby and McGlynn were personally offended at the notion of  young Irish-American's using their ethnic heritage to form the framework of their own organized crime group.


-----

Coffey had the distinction of arresting John Gotti on three separate occasions, something both Coffey and the media always remembered. So did John Gotti apparently.
Coffey retired from the NYPD in 1985 and went to work for the state Organized Crime Task Force for the next 11 years.

Some time while Gotti was in the MCC (Metropolitan Correctional Center) word reached Jackie Nose D'Amico that the Gambino boss wanted Joe Coffey put in the hospital. Additionally Gotti wanted "Mikie Scars" to handle it. "He's a good kid," Gotti had said of him.
This came out in DiLeonardo's testimony.

When D'Amico passed the order to him, "Mikie Scars" couldn't conceal his surprise.
"You gotta be kidding me," DiLeonardo said was his response when Jackie told him he was supposed to put Coffey in the hospital.

DiLeonardo foresaw the ramifications of Gotti's order immediately. Based on Coffey's experience in law enforcement, Scars knew that any violent confrontation with the veteran law enforcement officer would involve the use of a gun. 
"Mikie Scars" knew he'd have a better chance simply shooting Coffey versus beating him up. "You can't walk up on a guy like Joe Coffey carrying a baseball bat," DiLeonardo said. "He's gonna see you."
Michael certainly was prepared to carry out Gotti's order, deciding he'd wear a mask when he carried it out. He also knew Coffey had a habit of drinking and socializing at Elaine's.

But the order was cancelled within two weeks.

Years later, while having dinner with Allie Boy Persico at Elain's, DiLeonardo noticed Coffey. He'd been drinking liberally and was himself wearing an expensive, nicely cut suit. "He was dressed like a gangster and laughing it up," Michael recalled of that night.

Michael also enjoyed a chuckle, knowing the former NYPD detective had had no idea that he and "Scars" had been on a collision course -- until Gotti called off the hospital job.


-----

Coffey been raised in Manhattan's Murray Hill section weaned on his law-abiding father's tales of Manhattan's Irish gangsters. Joe Senior was himself a boyhood friend of Eddie McGrath, the Irish-American gangster who controlled the Hell's Kitchen Irish Mob as well as the West Side waterfront during the 1940s. 
McGrath, following a long stretch in Sing Sing, took control of the waterfront using as muscle Irish killers like John "Cockeye" Dunn, McGrath's brother-in-law, and Andrew "Squint" Sheridan. 
McGrather was reportedly allied with Albert Anastasia and Meyer Lansky. In 1949, when an ongoing investigation turned the waterfront hot, Lansky sent McGrath to Miami to work as an ILA organizer, where he spent the rest of his life.
But while in power, McGrath was once able to assist his old boyhood chum who continued driving a truck even while his pal was reaping a fortune from lucrative waterfront rackets.

Joe Senior had formed a teamsters local. When "Cockeye" went gunning for Joe Senior in a bid to rob him of his union -- even even firing a shot or two at him when son Joe Junior was 10 -- McGrath intervened, essentially saving Coffey Senior's life.


-----

Coffey got in the last word, telling the New York Post in 2002 that despite Gotti's widespread popularity among the public, the "Dapper Don" had actually hastened the New York Mafia's downfall.

“He brought down the Mafia,” Coffey said. “He gave us all the finger, and he made himself and other people in organized crime bigger targets than they were. As a result, the Mafia is nowhere near what it used to be.”

Coffey certainly didn't mince words.
Steve Dunleavy, in an Oct 2007 New York Post story, quoted Coffey speaking at length about Lindley DeVecchio, and not in a favorable way.
In a story, DIRT BAG IS GRIME OF CENTURY, Coffey told Dunleavy:

“It was no secret in the ’80s that DeVecchio was on the take from [Colombo crime-family mobster Gregory] Scarpa. He was a loudmouth walking around with pinky rings and, even in those days, $2,000 suits. I worked on the same cases as he did, and a lot of us and other feds knew about him, too." 

“The last time I had words with him was at a retirement or promotion celebration in 1984,” Coffey recalled of DeVecchio. 

“He was blabbing how he would never share information with a cop from the NYPD – he just wouldn’t work with them. I said, ‘Yeah that’s why New York cops solve 80 percent of your cases.’ 

“I won’t tell you what I said next, but we had to be pulled apart.” 

... Coffey, over time, has been privy to some aspects of some investigations and is convinced “DeVecchio was dirty.” 

“I never spoke to him again after our confrontation, no use for him. I have many beefs with the FBI, not the least of which is they always get too close to their informants,” he said. 

“... I’m not saying DeVecchio in any way ordered hits,” said Coffey, “but he knew what Scarpa was – a stone-dead killer who may have murdered as many as 20 people.” 

“DeVecchio curried favor for professional and economic gains,” Coffey says. 

“Well he’ll have to live the rest of his life knowing that a lot of people know that he was virtually an FBI member of organized crime.”

Coffey is survived by his wife, Susan; sons Joseph Jr. and Steven; daughter, Kathleen Tonn, and six grandchildren. Coffey's first wife Patricia died in 1993.



Coffey on Today's Cosa Nostra Sex and drugs are nothing new to organized crime, Coffey said in a 2010 interview with CNN.

At the time, New York’s Gambino crime family had allegedly introduced underage prostitution into its web of rackets, authorities said. 
“The Mafia, as we know it today, is no longer what it was. Although they’ve always been ruthless, greedy, unlawful, murderous, they always had a certain amount of respect, i.e., for women and children,” he said.

A law enforcement crackdown in the 1970s and 1980s targeting organized crime’s leadership left a power vacuum that has been filled by leaders with a greater appetite for sex and drugs, he said.

“The mob, as we see it today, has lost all respect, lost all the historical culture that it was intended to have since 1931 and that’s because they’re becoming their own best customers within the drug culture,” Coffey said.

Gotti Biopic Returns with John Travolta

The two Johns:  Gotti and Travolta
The John Gotti biopic is on again, with a new set of Hollywood backers joining the original producer.

John Travolta remains tied to the project and is ready, once again, to step into the shoes of mob boss John Gotti in the long-gestating film, which Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films, Fiore Films and Herrick Entertainment are together producing.
Travolta met with buyers and glad-handed the press at a Toronto event Sept. 11 where he discussed how the Gotti project had become a family project. His wife, Kelly Preston, and daughter, Ella Bleu Travolta, have signed on to play Gotti’s real-life wife and daughter in the Lionsgate project. “My wife looks like Victoria and my daughter looks like Angel. It’s really weird,” Travolta told the press at a recent event in Toronto (Travolta flew himself there in his own plane.) 
Newly signed on director Kevin Connolly, known for his supporting role in HBO's Entourage, also noted the ironic coincidence: “It’s uncanny. I looked at pictures and was thinking this is too perfect. Life is too short not to go to work with your family and friends.”

 "It's a small character study of John Jr. and John Sr. that investigates the realness and grittiness of their repoire and the historical events of the Gotti family."

Travolta stuck with the mobster-based biopic for years because of the quality of the story, he said, adding that his excitement has risen based on Connolly joining the project.

"Kevin presented his take to me, which is the vision I've always wanted, and I believe the vision John Jr. wanted," said Travolta. "It's a small character study of John Jr. and John Sr. that investigates the realness and grittiness of their repoire and the historical events of the Gotti family."

The Gotti project has been in and out of turnaround the past few years. Major Hollywood names had been attached to the production, including Lindsay Lohan, Al Pacino, Ben Foster, and Joe Pesci, and directors such as Nick Cassavetes, Barry Levinson, and Joe Johnston.
John Gotti Jr., son of John “Junior” Gotti and grandson of the legendary former Gambino boss, tweeted at Connolly: "I have faith in u, you will be great."





It is the latest development in the runup to a Toronto Festival that has buyers sparked not so much by must-have completed acquisition titles, but by projects that will be shopped for pre-buys.

Many of the hottest festival films were pre-bought and arrive at Toronto with distribution already spoken for.

Shaky funding is blamed for whacking previously announced versions of the Gotti film. One major media splash included Gotti family members, though this time around they seem to be keeping a low profile, except on social media. John "Junior" sold his life rights to the project, according to published reports.

He has since written and published Shadow of My Father, available in Kindle and print format.

The script is said to be "in large part a father-and-son story set in the backdrop of an iconic organized crime family in New York."

The elder Gotti was a New York City tabloid fixture known for his designer suits and strut. Typically news photos and footage would capture a smiling Gotti, surrounded by his men. A beaming "Jackie Nose" D'Amico can often be seen opening doors for the Gambino entourage, which usually included a deadly Joe Watts, replete with black pompadour, looming menacingly in the background.

The Gotti regime came crashing down in 1992, with Sammy “The Bull” Gravano eventually flipping and testifying against Gotti, who made numerous incriminating remarks that were caught on bugs planted in the apartment above the Ravenite. Gotti held court there, thinking he was ensconced in a safe place that the Feds would never have known about. Gotti spoke his mind to an often silent Frank Locascio, who was known primarily for his silence. In fact some have postulated that Gotti may not have spoken at such length if "Frankie Lo" had responded occasionally.

Whether any of the other high-profile names formerly attached to the project are still involved is not yet known. (Ben Foster at one point was in talks to play Junior.

Leo Rossi and Lem Dobbs crafted the most recent draft of the script, which was said to be initially developed under producer Marc Fiore.

Lindsay Lohan was once attached to play Gotti’s wife, Victoria, Joe Pesci was also on board at one point to play Gotti’s right hand man, Angelo Ruggiero, before he was recast in another role, Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, and offered a lot less money. He sued over it. Sir Anthony Hopkins was also on board in an unspecified role at one point. 
Let's pick our own cast for the film. 
Readers, in your comments below, tell us, who'd be perfect for each of the following roles, as well as any figures we have left out:

John Gotti
John Junior Gotti
Aniello Dellacroce
Michael "Mikie Scars" DiLeonardo
John Alite
Bruce Cutler
Sammy the Bull Gravano
Jackie D'Amico
Angelo Ruggiero
John Carneglia
Gene Gotti
Pete Gotti
Jerry Capeci
Bruce Meow
Paul Castellano
Robert DiBernardo
Thomas Bilotti
Robert "Bobby" Decicco

Also See Cosa Nostra News: Gotti Film Back On? Maybe, but Likely Minus ...

Cosa Nostra News: Travolta Meets Gotti Matriarch for Sit Down

Cosa Nostra News: EW: Gotti Film Retitled

Cosa Nostra News: Pesci Sues 'Gotti' Film Producers for Switching...

Cosa Nostra News: Film: 'Junior' Pins Four More Hits, Including ...

Cosa Nostra News: Gotti Pic a Go -- As Is Gotti Grandkids Reality ...

'Gotti' Film Gets Whacked, Forbes Reports - Cosa Nostra News

Cosa Nostra News: It's Official: Gotti Biopic Put 'on Hold'

Hillary Clinton Held Fundraiser at Castellano's "White House"

Paul Castellano's White House, on Todt Hill.

Buzzfeed, among other newspapers and websites, reported that Hillary Clinton made an unannounced visit yesterday to Staten Island -- specifically to the White House, "a sprawling estate that earned the name during its time as a legendary mob palace in the 1980s."

Clinton was at Gambino boss Paul Castellano's old home to collect checks from supporters.




As Buzzfeed noted:

Sal Lusi, whose family business maintains the facades of Manhattan skyscrapers and who has no ties to the home’s former inhabitant, is a Republican who said he’s hosting the event at the insistence of his own father, who he said “worships” the Clintons for their support of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. 

“The Clintons have been the best friend Albania ever had,” he added, pointing out that there is a statue of Bill Clinton in Kosovo. President Bill Clinton ordered a bombing campaign against Serbia in 1999, and Hillary Clinton addressed the Albanian Parliament in 2012 on its 100th anniversary as a free nation. She’s expected at Lusi’s home after taping an interview with Jimmy Fallon Wednesday.

Lusi bought the 10-bathroom home in 2009 for $3.1 million.

Castellano, who was shot to death on 46th Street in 1985.

The home was called “The White House” by law enforcement officials and mobsters because Castellano built it to resemble the real White House. 
Huge columns stand in front.
Castellano once told one of his capos: “This is how we should live. Like presidents.”

One hundred guests were expected at Lusi's first political fundraiser.
A Clinton spokesman declined to comment on the house’s history, or any aspect of the fundraiser, which is closed to the press. But the house has seen its share of intruders through the years. In 2011, Lusi’s family was the victim of a burglar who was found in a bedroom closet. Lusi ran for his gun- he has a New York City license for it- and chased the burglar out of his house, shooting at him as he left.
Back in 1983, federal agents planted several bugs in the house, which recorded 600 hours of Castellano talking freely.

Mob Museum Spotlights John Alite

John Alite speaks at the Las Vegas Mob Museum.
John Alite recently took to the podium at Las Vegas's Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement.

He offered an Author Talk spotlighted on his collaboration with acclaimed Philadelphia-based journalist George Anastasia, who wrote Gotti’s Rules: The Story of John Alite, Junior Gotti and the Demise of the American Mafia. In an even, somber tone, he voiced his experiences and perceptions as an associate of the Gambino crime family during John Gotti's reign.

Alite's presentation was provided free of charge with museum admission (and for museum members). A video of the presentation can be viewed on this story's jump page.





As the Mob Museum's by Geoff Schumacher noted:

The book details Alite’s life, from a lower-middle-class youth in Queens to his bleakest moments surviving in the filthiest, most corrupt prison in Brazil. But the book’s primary goal is to provide an inside look at the Gotti family and how it operated. Alite, a brutal brawler in his Mob days, does not pull any punches in the book either. 

“The Gottis . . . were a dysfunctional group of Mafia misfits who wrested control of one of the biggest crime syndicates in America and tore it apart,” Alite contends. “Nepotism, greed, and treachery replaced honor and loyalty when John J. Gotti took over.”...

"He was released from prison in 2012, and today he’s striving to put his criminal past behind him. He chose not to enter the Witness Protection Program or live outside his home turf of New York and New Jersey. 

“I wanted to live my life on my terms,” Alite says. “Knowing I could be killed any minute is normal. I’m used to it. It doesn’t affect the way I live.”

The Mob Museum today is certainly at the forefront of providing exclusive and original content via its venues as well as its blogs.

Recent blog posts include The Chicago Mob vs. Chicago Street Gangs and a profile of Cleveland mob boss James Licavoli.

Mob Museum content development specialist Jeff Burbank recently noted the release of  The Patriarca Papers, nearly 10,000 pages of FBI files regarding the boss of the New England Crime Family.

The website, GoLocalProv will release portions of the files on a weekly basis.
As GoLocal reported:

For the past year, GoLocal reporters and editors have been working to gain access to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) file for one of America’s most infamous criminals and one of Rhode Island’s notorious favorite sons - Raymond Patriarca.

Launching on August 3, 2015 and continuing over the next few months, GoLocal will be releasing the FBI files in segments - with expert insights and related documents - each Monday. This weekly series is being called, “The Patriarca Papers.”...

FBI files unveil hundreds of connections, alleged crimes and business partners of Patriarca that have never been disclosed before in such detail.... 

The FBI materials begin in 1954 and continue into the 1980’s....

This week's entry was  FBI Files - The Patriarca Papers - Entry 5

Scarfo Junior Gets 30 Years for FirstPlus Looting

The judge slammed Scarfo Jr. in court.

Nicodemo Scarfo Junior, a member of the Luchese crime family, was sentenced to serve 360 months in prison for participating in a racketeering conspiracy and other offenses related to the looting of FirstPlus Financial Group, a Texas-based mortgage company. Scarpo and a partner used the publicly traded company to buy shell companies from which they could steal assets.

FirstPlus is now defunct. He was sentenced in July.

“Nicodemo Scarfo and his associates tried to take La Cosa Nostra corporate, using traditional, strong-arm mob tactics to take over a publicly traded company and loot it like a personal piggy bank,” said Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “The Justice Department will fight organized crime wherever it may surface—from back alleys to public board rooms—to ensure that crime does not pay.”
“Scarfo and his crew gave new meaning to the term ‘corporate takeover,’ pushing out the legitimate leadership of a publicly traded company and then looting it,” said  and U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman of the District New Jersey.

“They used false SEC filings, phony consulting agreements and more traditional mob methods to steal $12 million from the company’s shareholders. That’s a risk that investors should never have to take.”

Scarfo, 50, of Galloway, New Jersey; Salvatore Pelullo, 48, of Philadelphia, an associate of the Philadelphia and Luchese families; William Maxwell, 56, of Houston, a Texas attorney; and John Maxwell, 63, of Dallas, were convicted in July 2014, after a six-month trial, of racketeering conspiracy and related offenses, including securities fraud, wire fraud, mail fraud, bank fraud, extortion, money laundering and obstruction of justice.

In addition to sentencing Scarfo to prison, U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler ordered Scarfo to forfeit his interest in certain properties and to pay restitution in the amount of approximately $14 million. Pelullo, William Maxwell and John Maxwell are scheduled to be sentenced later this week.

The trial evidence showed that, in April 2007, Scarfo, Pelullo and others conspired to take control of FirstPlus Financial Group Inc. (FPFG), a publicly-held company in Texas, by using threats of economic harm to intimidate and remove FPFG’s management and board of directors, and to replace them with persons beholden to Scarfo and Pelullo, including William Maxwell and his brother, John Maxwell.

The evidence introduced at trial further demonstrated that, once the takeover had occurred, FPFG’s new board of directors named William Maxwell as “special counsel” to FPFG and John Maxwell as the company’s CEO, positions that they used to funnel approximately $12 million to themselves, Scarfo and Pelullo through fraudulent legal services and consulting agreements.

Scarfo and Pelullo used their illicit gains to fund extravagant purchases, including an $850,000 yacht, a luxury home, a Bentley automobile and thousands of dollars in jewelry.

The indictment also named as co-conspirators Nicodemo D. Scarfo, or Scarfo Sr., the imprisoned former boss of the Philadelphia family, and Vittorio Amuso, the imprisoned boss of the Luchese family.

Five other defendants—Cory Leshner, Howard Drossner, John Parisi, Todd Stark and Scarfo’s wife, Lisa Murray-Scarfo—previously pleaded guilty to various charges.

The case was investigated by the FBI’s Newark, New Jersey, Division, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor-Office of Inspector General’s Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations New York Region, the FBI’s Philadelphia Division and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Adam L. Small of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Steven D’Aguanno and Howard Wiener of the District of New Jersey.