Ed Scarpo's Blog, page 3

October 1, 2016

Updating Earlier Reports on Carmine Agnello, Gotti Grandson

Carmine Agnello is charged with running a $3 million scrap metal scam out of his Cleveland auto body and salvage yard.

In a previous story, we incorrectly noted that Victoria Gotti's ex-husband, Carmine Agnello, was is in jail pending a racketeering case.

That's not the case, as a Gotti spokesperson icily remarked in a Facebook message.

Agnello is out on a $100,000 personal bond, which a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge set. Agnello also was to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet.


Agnello is charged with running a $3 million scrap metal scam out of his Cleveland auto body and salvage yard.

One report raised the question of whether Agnello was following a common practice in the scrap recycling business. In the story, Cleveland 19 noted that it had submitted to Cuyahoga County video of what may be evidence of another scrap yard doing something similar to what Agnello is accused of doing.

Cleveland 19 further noted, "A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office called the video "troubling" and says they plan to talk with the cell phone video owner who shot it."

The made Gambino member is also accused of injecting his race horses with illegal steroids.
Prosecutors had argued for higher bail. Two guns were recovered from his house. There also was concern over "his longtime ties to the Gambino family,” Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Matt Meyer was quoted as saying.
Agnello had moved to Cleveland in 2008, after nine years in federal prison for running a similar scrap metal racket. During his prison stint, he met his next (and current) wife, Cleveland native Danielle Vangar, daughter of his cellmate, Armenian terrorist Mourad “Moose” Topalian.

Are you in the scrap metal business? Do you believe that this is a common practice? Please note your thoughts in a comment below...

 We also heard that the FBI agents who raided a Gotti home and business last month found "nothing."



Gotti grandson's attorney won a victory in court.
Today the Daily News reported two updates regarding John Gotti's grandson:

He appeared yesterday in Queens Supreme Court for one of his drug cases while wearing an orange jumpsuit, which the News reported, indicates that he’s in protective custody at the Manhattan Detention Complex. 
His defense lawyer Gerard Marrone "won a minor victory Friday, getting the drug trafficking case consolidated with an earlier bust in June for possession of painkillers seized by the NYPD during a car stop." This means Gotti will get credit for his solitary time in jail toward his sentence if convicted.


 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on October 01, 2016 09:36

Correcting, Updating Earlier Reports on Agnello, Gotti

Carmine Agnello is charged with running a $3 million scrap metal scam out of his Cleveland auto body and salvage yard.

In a previous story, we incorrectly noted that Victoria Gotti's ex-husband, Carmine Agnello, was is in jail pending a racketeering case.

That's not the case, as a Gotti spokesperson icily remarked in a Facebook message.

Agnello is out on a $100,000 personal bond, which a Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court judge set. Agnello also was to wear an ankle monitoring bracelet.



Agnello is charged with running a $3 million scrap metal scam out of his Cleveland auto body and salvage yard.

One report raised the question of whether Agnello was following a common practice in the scrap recycling business. In the story, Cleveland 19 noted that it had submitted to Cuyahoga County video of what may be evidence of another scrap yard doing something similar to what Agnello is accused of doing.

Cleveland 19 further noted, "A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office called the video "troubling" and says they plan to talk with the cell phone video owner who shot it."

The made Gambino member is also accused of injecting his race horses with illegal steroids.
Prosecutors had argued for higher bail. Two guns were recovered from his house. There also was concern over "his longtime ties to the Gambino family,” Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Matt Meyer was quoted as saying.
Agnello had moved to Cleveland in 2008, after nine years in federal prison for running a similar scrap metal racket. During his prison stint, he met his next (and current) wife, Cleveland native Danielle Vangar, daughter of his cellmate, Armenian terrorist Mourad “Moose” Topalian.

Are you in the scrap metal business? Do you believe that this is a common practice? Please note your thoughts in a comment below...

 We also heard that the FBI agents who raided a Gotti home and business last month found "nothing."



Gotti grandson's attorney won a victory in court.
Today the Daily News reported two updates regarding John Gotti's grandson:

He appeared yesterday in Queens Supreme Court for one of his drug cases while wearing an orange jumpsuit, which the News reported, indicates that he’s in protective custody at the Manhattan Detention Complex. 
His defense lawyer Gerard Marrone "won a minor victory Friday, getting the drug trafficking case consolidated with an earlier bust in June for possession of painkillers seized by the NYPD during a car stop." This means Gotti will get credit for his solitary time in jail toward his sentence if convicted.


 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on October 01, 2016 09:36

September 29, 2016

A Real Mobster Tells "Untold Story"

[image error]


"I was part of the criminal underworld for... three decades, since my early teens, in Brooklyn, New York.

More specifically I was an associate of the Gambino Crime Family with blood ties to Cosa Nostra in Sicily. I’m speaking in the past tense because those days are long behind me. I made a decision to turn my back on the Mafia.

I betrayed the unspoken oath I had taken as a teenage criminal on the rough and tumble streets of Brooklyn, to never rat out anyone, not even your enemy.

The government...
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 29, 2016 16:57

Did a Real Mobster Tell This "Untold Story"?

[image error]


"I was part of the criminal underworld for... three decades, since my early teens, in Brooklyn, New York.

More specifically I was an associate of the Gambino Crime Family with blood ties to Cosa Nostra in Sicily. I’m speaking in the past tense because those days are long behind me. I made a decision to turn my back on the Mafia.

I betrayed the unspoken oath I had taken as a teenage criminal on the rough and tumble streets of Brooklyn, to never rat out anyone, not even your enemy.

The government...
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 29, 2016 16:57

Did a Mobster Tell This "Untold Story"?

[image error]




"I was part of the criminal underworld for... three decades, since my early teens, in Brooklyn, New York.

More specifically I was an associate of the Gambino Crime Family with blood ties to Cosa Nostra in Sicily. I’m speaking in the past tense because those days are long behind me. I made a decision to turn my back on the Mafia.

I betrayed the unspoken oath I had taken as a teenage criminal on the rough and tumble streets of Brooklyn, to never rat out anyone, not even your enemy.

The government...
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 29, 2016 16:57

Did Philadelphia Mafia Dodge a Bullet?

According to the indictment, Joey Merlino and two Genovese crime family capos ran the East Coast LCN Enterprise Merlino faces up to 20 years -- but the Philly guys may have been spared -- from this case.
Info added toward end
George Anastasia, writing this week's Gangland News column, reports that "in a strange twist ... federal authorities in New York who hit Skinny Joey last month with racketeering charges that carry up to 20 years in prison seem to have done a much bigger favor for Merlino's Philadelphia mob crew."

Last month's"East Coast LCN Enterprise" indictment named members and associates of four...
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 29, 2016 08:49

Did Philadelphia Cosa Nostra Dodge a Bullet?

According to the indictment, Joey Merlino and two Genovese crime family capos ran the East Coast LCN Enterprise Merlino faces up to 20 years -- but the Philly guys may have been spared -- from this case.

George Anastasia, writing this week's Gangland News column, reports that "in a strange twist ... federal authorities in New York who hit Skinny Joey last month with racketeering charges that carry up to 20 years in prison seem to have done a much bigger favor for Merlino's Philadelphia mob crew."

Last month's"East Coast LCN Enterprise" indictment named members and associates of four of New York's five cr...
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 29, 2016 08:49

September 28, 2016

DeCavalcante Associate Gets 2-Plus Years for Cocaine Distribution

Charles Stango has yet to be charged following
the DeCavalcante bust of March 2015. 

A DeCavalcante crime family associate was sentenced to 30 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, for selling more than a half-kilo of cocaine to an undercover FBI agent.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman noted this yesterday, when U.S. District Judge William H. Walls imposed the sentence in Newark federal court. (Press release is here.)

Last December, John "Johnny Balls" Capozzi...
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 28, 2016 13:29

DeCavalcante Associate Gets Sentence of Two-Plus Years

Charles Stango has yet to be charged following
the DeCavalcante bust of March 2015. 

A DeCavalcante crime family associate was sentenced to 30 months in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, for selling more than a half-kilo of cocaine to an undercover FBI agent.

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman noted this yesterday, when U.S. District Judge William H. Walls imposed the sentence in Newark federal court. (Press release is here.)

Last December, John "Johnny Balls" Capozzi...
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 28, 2016 13:29

September 27, 2016

Book Spotlights Gangster's Grizzly Hollywood Slaying

Lana Turner's daughter Cheryl Crane whacked Stompanato in 1958 Mickey Cohen's goodbye to Stompanato
This article first appeared in the Dec. 24, 2015 issue of Smashpipe; re-blogged via Tony's website of collected writings.


By Tony Sokol

Lana Turner, the daughter of a bootlegger, was discovered at a soda shop in Hollywood after she left home in the wake of her father’s gangland execution. The “Sweater Girl Judy” pinup girl became a Tinseltown legend, paired onscreen with the likes of John Garfield in the classic noir film The Postman Always Rings Twice, and o...
 •  0 comments  •  flag
Share on Twitter
Published on September 27, 2016 11:15