Ed Scarpo's Blog, page 39

Story With a Twist: This Ex-Mob Associate DIDN'T Flip

Stevie Newell
Stephen Newell was a low-level mob associate. That's the thumbnail description.

He was born and bred in Bushwick, Brooklyn. From the age of 10 he lived in Queens and much later moved to Staten Island. His uncle, Saverio "Sammy" Galosso, was a member of the Genovese crime family under Vincent "The Chin" Gigante. He died in 1986.
Stevie, earlier in his life, worked under John Gotti's son-in-law, Carmine Agnello, after Carmine became a member of the Gambino crime family. (Carmine is living somewhere in Ohio today, we've heard.) Agnello was married to Victoria Gotti at the time.

Newell does not fit the cliched definition of the opportunistic street guy as is usually portrayed in movies, books and newspapers.

He was arrested, held without bail and formally charged with the murder of Bruce Gotterup, who himself had been convicted by the mob of not using common sense and repeatedly disrupting the business of a Mafia-connected bar in Queens. In 1991, Gotterup was shot five times in the back of his head while taking a leak on the boardwalk in the Rockaway Peninsula, aka The Rockaways or Rockaway, in Queens, New York.

In  1995, Newell took a gamble not many "lowly" associates probably would take, we'd wager. 
The feds were more than ready, willing and able to hand him a get-out-of-jail-free card, if only he'd roll and wear a wire, not against anyone in particular. They wanted him to wear a wire on the entire mob, everyone with whom he spoke on a daily basis, a retinue that included but was in no way limited to Carmine Agnello, Ronald Joseph Trucchio -- aka Ronnie One-Arm, the Johns (Burke, Gebert, Alite and Junior Gotti), Charles Carneglia and others.
"No one knows you're here," he was told. "You can walk right out the door...."
The noted Walter Mack was in the room for part of the meeting. Maybe he thought they were reeling in a big fish. 

They wanted him to wear a wire on the entire mob...

Our source was a former criminal cohort of Newell's. He was willing to speak with us provided we kept his name out of this.

Flashback to 1994. Stevie was the object of a tug of war -- with John Junior Gotti and Carmine Agnello on one side, and John "The Sheriff" Alite (his then-nickname) on the other. Newell didn't get to choose who his boss was. (Newell once he was really rocking and rolling in the drug business working out of a bar called  Jagermeister was easily pocketing around $3,000 to $4,000 a week -- close to $16 grand a month -- not bad for a "lowly associate.")

Stevie thought everything was cool that day when Carmine told him: "You're with me now and the Sheriff isn't gonna be bothering you no more."

Two months passed.

Turns out, things weren't so cool after all. For Stevie Newell, things were decidedly uncool. He was talking on a payphone when John Alite shot him in the leg.

Newell, strangely not bleeding from his wound, hobbled to a friend's house. "I gotta use your bathroom." Behind a closed door he examined his wound, the bullet had gone through and fell out of his inner thigh. It's a good thing Alite hadn't gotten too close and personal or Newell would've lost his nuts.

Not long afterward, Agnello had a proposition for Newell. He asked the wounded street guy if he'd like to take out The Sheriff. Kill him. Shoot him in the head with a large caliber bullet.

Said our source: "Newell was suppose to be the shooter in retaliation for Alite shooting him but Carmine also had an ongoing dispute with Alite."
Newell wasn't interested, in either case and told Agnello as much.

Agnello didn't give up so easily. Soon he was offering Newell cash, his own business to run, etc.

"If Stevie were to accept, I can tell you he wouldn't be doing that kind of work for any kind of money," said our source.

Apparently things were left dangling when, quite suddenly, it was known that a couple of FBI agents had paid Alite a visit to warn him that some people had talked about certain potential actions, etcetera, that would not be beneficial to him.

Law enforcement had learned about the "planned hit," though technically it was more like a series of enthusiastic discussions not necessarily terminating with a specific arrangement.

One of the guys was wired. Not Newell. Still Stevie was Carmine's suspect, or at least one of them.

"I know Stevie voluntarily stripped for Carmine to show he wasn't wearing a wire."

Newell just kept his head down and followed orders -- unless he didn't. "Then he'd just tell you: No."

Then he was pinched for the 1991 Gotterup hit.

"Brucey didn't fucking listen," our source said. "Stevie and him were friends, and Stevie tried warning Brucey. He told him to cut the crap and reel it in."

Walter Mack and the rest of them were ultimately disappointed because Newell told them he wouldn't wear a wire. When they pressured him, showing him papers of him supposedly talking about others, he said: "Call my lawyer."

They threatened to release the paperwork on him.

"Get my lawyer," he answered again.

Newell was held without bail for two years. He went to trial and was found not guilty.

"He came home after facing 25 to 50. The feds used every trick in the book to get him to flip. And he didn't."

Newell found himself faced with the silent treatment from none other than Carmine Agnello, his boss.

"This guy Ricky Red started calling Stevie a rat for some reason. Ricky Red, as I recall, was a stone-cold junkie."

Still, Newell had to drive to the Bronx a couple of times to talk about this Ricky Red situation. Agnello wasn't around so his brother Mike told Stevie he had to whack Ricky Red.

"He just beat a murder charge at trial. He gets home. Now he's gotta kill this Ricky Red. He's driving to the Bronx and they're telling him he's got to kill Ricky Red...."

Two weeks later, it was called off. Ricky Red, it was later learned, was wearing the wire. He brought Carmine down, ultimately.

Now flash forward to 2009:

Five Families of New York City: Witness: Brother-in-law got Gotti's OK for hit: "A former drug dealer called as a defense witness by John "Junior" Gotti distanced the Gambino family mob heir from one murder but, unexpectedly, tied him more closely to a different murder conspiracy in testimony Thursday in federal court in Manhattan.

The witness, Stephen Newell, a former associate in the Queens drug-peddling ring of star prosecution informant John Alite, provided helpful testimony to Gotti on the murder of Bruce John Gotterup, a Queens man killed in 1991 after making trouble at a mob-connected bar."....

Asaro Slammed With New Charges from Old Evidence

De Niro as Burke, left, Ray Liotta as Henry Hill. No Vinny Asaro character
was in Goodfellas, though he certainly was mentioned in the book.

We now return to our regularly scheduled programming....
Prosecutors blasted reputed Bonanno capo Vincent Asaro, 79, with new charges based on a superseding indictment, as reported last week.

The charges have not been revealed yet because evidence recorded on tape needs to be digitized, prosecutors said.

Described as looking gaunt, Asaro seemed to be suffering from involuntary shivering at the proceeding last week in which his lawyer attempted to push back the date of Asaro's racketeering trial slated for July in Brooklyn Federal Court..



Afterward, his lawyer told the press that Asaro was shivering simply because of the cold temperature of the courtroom, adding that Asaro suffers from medical problems.

An "all-star" lineup of turncoats has been assembled by the feds. Ex-Bonanno boss Joseph Massino, ex-underboss Salvatore Vitale and Asaro's cousin Gaspar Valenti all are slated to testify against the elderly, volatile Mafioso.

Part of the plot of the film "Goodfellas" hinged on the fictional reenactment of the Lufthansa robbery and its consequences: the deaths of many people.
Jimmy the Gent
Asaro already is charged with the murder of mob associate Paul Katz, a hit supposedly carried out as a favor to once powerful legendary Luchese associate James "Jimmy the Gent" Burke.

Asaro's son Jerome pleaded guilty last year to excavating and moving Katz's remains in the 1980s.

About a year ago, news of the arrests put the notorious Lufthansa robbery back in the media's glare.

Heretofore, only a Lufthansa airlines cargo agent has been prosecuted for the robbery. Louis Werner, struggling under the weight of $20,000 in gambling debts, used his knowledge of the incoming cash and jewelry to formulate an idea for a robbery he swiftly passed on to his bookmaker, Marty Krugman, who in turn told Luchese associate Henry Hill.

Werner was indicted in March 1979, within four months of the robbery. 
He was lucky. Most of the men who directly committed the job are dead or are presumed dead.

Vincent Asaro has the distinction of being the first made member of organized crime to ever be charged in the heist, which netter about $6 million ($21.4 million when adjusted for inflation.)

Asaro is known to have been the Bonanno capo in charge of the airport at the time of the robbery. Court papers say he took part in “several planning meetings” with Burke.

Asaro and Burke also had ties through a club they co-owned, Robert's Lounge, according to court papers. The late Henry Hill described it as Burke's private cemetery.

"Jimmy buried over a dozen bodies ... under the bocce courts," Hill wrote in "A Goodfella's Guide to New York."

Prosecutors believe that Asaro was paid off following the Lufthansa heist with some stolen jewelry.
Asaro allegedly admitted his involvement in the Lufthansa heist to Massino while he was still the Last Don.

Asaro as recently as 2011 was recorded complaining about the amount he netted from the historic heist.

“We never got our right money, what we were supposed to get, we got fucked all around. Got fucked around. That ­fucking Jimmy [Burke] kept everything... "

Alite: "Once Junior Went In, I Couldn't Flip Fast Enough"

John A. "Junior" Gotti

EXCLUSIVE

We assume it's in the book, what John "Junior" Gotti revealed today.

You may have read the story, EXCLUSIVE: John (Junior) Gotti brags he lied to feds - NY Daily News: "When the mob scion sat down with federal prosecutors in 2005 to discuss crimes of fellow mobsters, he planned to give them bad information and useless leads, Gotti and his lawyer revealed in an interview with the Daily News. 'No one suffered but me,' he said of the decision."
Joe "The German" Watts and Danny Marino might disagree. And some other guys who brawled in a Queens bar one evening in the 1980s may also disagree.

Cosa Nostra NewsJohn Alite certainly disagrees.

No doubt some "suckers" would not. (Suckers is what mob guys call citizens. Suckers.)
Do we really need anyone to tell us what John Gotti Senior would've done if one of his guys even made an appointment to see a prosecutor? We'll deploy a quote used elsewhere on this blog to make our point as clear as possible: "Guys died for a lot less" than what John Junior did.
And the fact the he's bragging that he lied to the feds is not the brightest of moves, either. One need only examine the case of... well, John Gotti Senior, who refused to duck. Famously.

First, he said he never talked to the feds; then he said that he did talk to the feds but he didn't say anything to hurt anyone except for himself, if you choose to believe him. There's actually a technical term used in the mob for guys who use Uncle Sam to take care of their enemies: RAT.
If you can quote the rules....

This blog is called "Cosa Nostra News." What do you expect to read on here?
We spoke with Gotti's former pal, John Alite (that people are even debating whether those two were thicker than thieves, quite literally in this case, is laughable to anyone who knew either of them on the street).

Alite was at no loss for words in parsing Junior's latest needless effort to bring the wrath of the federal government down on his own head. (As Paulie Walnuts might have said: Junior, do yourself a favor, pal. Shut the fuck up.)
"What would be the benefit of the Cennamo murder in his proffer session unless he wants to get the murder off his back?" Alite asked us, being as specific as possible, as usual, seizing one of the many details that Junior revealed today in that Daily News exclusive.
"He tried to clear himself of the Silva murder and put it on other suspects that were in the bar, so he's putting somebody that was in that bar -- it's an open murder investigation -- on the hook for a murder he did.
"He insults the world's intelligence by lying, continuously lying. He's like Joe Pesci, not Goodfellas' Joe Pesci, but Joe Pesci from the Lethal Weapon movies." 
As for the "Cennamo murder," as noted in a New York Daily News report, Cops: Witness fingered Junior Gotti and wound up dead: "The NYPD didn't question John A. (Junior) Gotti in a barroom slaying despite an identification from a witness who was soon found hanging from a tree, two cops testified.

Within hours of the March 1983 slaying in the Silver Fox, witness John Cennamo was in Jamaica Hospital shouting at police that Gotti fatally stabbed Daniel Silva, retired Detective James McKinley testified. ...

An earlier witness in Gotti's racketeering trial testified that Junior's notorious father, John Gotti Sr., shut down the murder probe with a $10,000 bribe to an NYPD detective. 

... Fourteen months after the killing, Cennamo, 22, was found dead - a white sweater wrapped around his neck - from a low-hanging tree, prosecution witness Joseph Stillitano said. 

The retired cop said the death had the look of a homicide, since the victim was "hanging too low." Cennamo's knees were almost touching the ground behind the Linden Blvd., Queens, laundromat, he recalled. 

Prosecutors claimed Gotti was responsible for the Cennamo death, saying he bragged about the killing.

Alite added: "He knows the rules of the mob. Once you walk into the room of a prosecutor's office, you're a cooperator. Once you make the appointment you're a cooperator."
Alite's comments were echoed by one of our sources, who knew of Alite but did not know him or Junior personally.
"They made it sound like Alite was the guy who just made the coffee," said our source, an inducted member of one of  New York's Cosa Nostra crime families who never flipped (or proffered). "Everyone knows he was John Junior's right hand man."
As for the article, he added, "It's a joke. The fact that Junior admits he tried to get Danny Marino and Joe Watts jammed up with the feds says it all: He's actually admitting he's a rat, plain and simple." John Alite
Alite has nothing to hide -- in fact it's difficult to shut him up. And the funny thing is, with Alite, the facts never change. He's been telling us all this since the beginning, nearly word for word.
"I was a worker, meaning I shot tons of guys," Alite told us. "Gotti said I shot 50 guys. Probably. I never denied that. The difference between me and a lot of these guys is I walk around by myself. Always did. These guys are all full of shit.
"I don't want kids to waste their life believing in something that's garbage like I did."
Alite in fact believes Gotti did far more than proffer.
"He's been cooperating as a CI in my opinion on his own or through attorneys since, I believe, in '97 when I went into solitary confinement."
What does his having been thrown in the hole have to do with anything?
"No one can find out why I was in solitary," he said. "They put me on another tier. No one but a captain or up was even allowed there."
He was placed in solitary "because I was Gotti's guy. Gotti probably never had another guy shot or killed after i wasn't around."
The relationship started souring between the two in 1994, Alite said. "I was still working for him but not staying around him. I still believed in the life and I would do anything that was asked, even for a guy I couldn't stand because I believed in the life and our family.
"And he was my boss. There is enough proof among guys that were in the mob for them to understand that John Gotti Junior ratted."
This is a tough sell, but only in New York. In most of the rest of the Western World where there is an interest in the mob, the 302 story has generated headlines.
"There is no indictment over 302s," Alite clarified, correctly. "A 302 opens up an investigation against people.
"He opened up the door not for one or two people it's probably over a dozen people that he's implicating. That is just one 302.
"The question is how long has he been going on the sneak? Just because Carnesi [Charles Carnesi is John Junior's attorney] gave up one 302 because it involved his good friend and client Danny Marino doesn't mean there aren't more."
"He was my direct boss -- and once I knew he went in when he went in, I couldn't flip fast enough.
"He's dumb when it comes to street smarts, but he's not dumb when it comes to being a weasel."
As for Junior's claim that the 302 was phony and that he was simply "gaming" the feds, Alite says:
"John Junior wouldn't give a fuck where those 302s came from if they were fake.
"And if they are fake papers he should be happy because i helped him prove what he says now.
"So what is his argument? Why'd he get on 60 minutes and swear to the world that he didn't go to a prosecutor's office?
"These are all questions nobody is asking."
We ask John Junior here and now: Why?
"One of the biggest questions I have for him is what would your father have done if he knew you met with a prosecutor?
"What would your father have done? And I know what the answer is and I'm not speaking from the beyond. John Gotti ordered the deaths of suspected
turncoats....
"You know how I know? When Carmine Agnello [Junior's brother in law] went in to take the heat on a jury tampering case, his father went off and said he's a rat for going in and he didn't care what his reasons were."
Senior, in fact, routinely, ordered the extermination of anyone even suspected of ratting, including businessmen with Gambino ties. As we noted in a previous story, There's More to Junior's Sinatra Story, Of Course....: "Frederick Weiss [one example] was whacked on Gotti’s orders after the former Gambino boss suspected Weiss had become in informant. According to prosecutor Steve Kwok, an armed Watts ["The German," as mentioned previously] was waiting for Weiss to be lured to a Staten Island garage that had been lined with plastic to catch the blood and potential brain matter splatter. Weiss never showed up and was killed by a hit team led by the New Jersey crime family the next day. "
Alite has one final point:
"Let's get this straight: I didn't cooperate against John Gotti Junior.
"I testified against him but he was already a rat."

Alite added: "I know him better than anybody. He's a coward. I have seen him walk away from dozens of fights. He never raised his hands unless he knew the guy wasn't gonna swing back.

"He is a stone cold coward and a sociopath."
"I'll use the words he used for me: he's a punk and a dog and a miscreant.
"He just doesn't know how to get attention. He's gonna find himself in a jail cell with a lot of attention."

Alite: "Once Junior Went in I Couldn't Flip Fast Enough"

John A. "Junior" Gotti

EXCLUSIVE

We assume it's in the book, what John "Junior" Gotti revealed today.

You may have read the story, EXCLUSIVE: John (Junior) Gotti brags he lied to feds - NY Daily News: "When the mob scion sat down with federal prosecutors in 2005 to discuss crimes of fellow mobsters, he planned to give them bad information and useless leads, Gotti and his lawyer revealed in an interview with the Daily News. 'No one suffered but me,' he said of the decision."
Joe "The German" Watts and Danny Marino might disagree. And some other guys who brawled in a Queens bar one evening in the 1980s may also disagree.

John Alite certainly disagrees.

No doubt some "suckers" would not. (Suckers is what mob guys call citizens. Suckers.)
Do we really need anyone to tell us what John Gotti Senior would've done if one of his guys even made an appointment to see a prosecutor? We'll deploy a quote used elsewhere on this blog to make our point as clear as possible: "Guys died for a lot less" than what John Junior did.
And the fact the he's bragging that he lied to the feds is not the brightest of moves, either. One need only examine the case of... well, John Gotti Senior, who refused to duck. Famously.

First, he said he never talked to the feds; then he said that he did talk to the feds but he didn't say anything to hurt anyone except for himself, if you choose to believe him. There's actually a technical term used in the mob for guys who use Uncle Sam to take care of their enemies: RAT.
If you can quote the rules....

This blog is called "Cosa Nostra News." What do you expect to read about here?
We spoke with Gotti's former pal, John Alite (that people are even debating those two were thicker than thieves, quite literally in this case, is laughable to anyone who knew either of them on the street).

Alite was at no loss for words in parsing Junior's latest needless effort to bring down the wrath of the federal government on his own head. (As Paulie Walnuts might have said: Junior, do yourself a favor, pal. Shut the fuck up.)
"What would be the benefit of the Cennamo murder in his proffer session unless he wants to get the murder off his back?" Alite asked us, being as specific as possible, as usual, seizing one of the many details that Junior revealed today in that Daily News exclusive.
"He tried to clear himself of the Silva murder and put it on other suspects that were in the bar, so he's putting somebody that was in that bar -- it's an open murder investigation -- on the hook for a murder he did.
"He insults the world's intelligence by lying, continuously lying. He's like Joe Pesci, not Goodfellas' Joe Pesci, but Joe Pesci from the Lethal Weapon movies." 
As for the "Cennamo murder," as noted in a New York Daily News report, Cops: Witness fingered Junior Gotti and wound up dead: "The NYPD didn't question John A. (Junior) Gotti in a barroom slaying despite an identification from a witness who was soon found hanging from a tree, two cops testified.

Within hours of the March 1983 slaying in the Silver Fox, witness John Cennamo was in Jamaica Hospital shouting at police that Gotti fatally stabbed Daniel Silva, retired Detective James McKinley testified. ...

An earlier witness in Gotti's racketeering trial testified that Junior's notorious father, John Gotti Sr., shut down the murder probe with a $10,000 bribe to an NYPD detective. 

... Fourteen months after the killing, Cennamo, 22, was found dead - a white sweater wrapped around his neck - from a low-hanging tree, prosecution witness Joseph Stillitano said. 

The retired cop said the death had the look of a homicide, since the victim was "hanging too low." Cennamo's knees were almost touching the ground behind the Linden Blvd., Queens, laundromat, he recalled. 

Prosecutors claimed Gotti was responsible for the Cennamo death, saying he bragged about the killing.

Alite added: "He knows the rules of the mob. Once you walk into the room of a prosecutor's office, you're a cooperator. Once you make the appointment you're a cooperator."
Alite's comments were echoed by one of our sources, who knew of Alite but did not know him or Junior personally.
"They made it sound like Alite was the guy who just made the coffee," said our source, an inducted member of one of  New York's Cosa Nostra crime families who never flipped (or proffered). "Everyone knows he was John Junior's right hand man."
As for the article, he added, "It's a joke. The fact that Junior admits he tried to get Danny Marino and Joe Watts jammed up with the feds says it all: He's actually admitting he's a rat, plain and simple." John Alite
Alite has nothing to hide -- in fact it's difficult to shut him up. And the funny thing is, with Alite, the facts never change. He's been telling us all this since the beginning, nearly word for word.
"I was a worker, meaning I shot tons of guys," Alite told us. "Gotti said I shot 50 guys. Probably. I never denied that. The difference between me and a lot of these guys is I walk around by myself. Always did. These guys are all full of shit.
"I don't want kids to waste their life believing in something that's garbage like I did."
Alite in fact believes Gotti did far more than proffer.
"He's been cooperating as a CI in my opinion on his own or through attorneys since, I believe, in '97 when I went into solitary confinement."
What does his having been thrown in the hole have to do with anything?
"No one can find out why I was in solitary," he said. "They put me on another tier. No one but a captain or up was even allowed there."
He was placed in solitary "because I was Gotti's guy. Gotti probably never had another guy shot or killed after i wasn't around."
The relationship started souring between the two in 1994, Alite said. "I was still working for him but not staying around him. I still believed in the life and I would do anything that was asked, even for a guy I couldn't stand because I believed in the life and our family.
"And he was my boss. There is enough proof among guys that were in the mob for them to understand that John Gotti Junior ratted."
This is a tough sell, but only in New York. In most of the rest of the Western World where there is an interest in the mob, the 302 story has generated headlines.
"There is no indictment over 302s," Alite clarified, correctly. "A 302 opens up an investigation against people.
"He opened up the door not for one or two people it's probably over a dozen people that he's implicating. That is just one 302.
"The question is how long has he been going on the sneak? Just because Carnesi [Charles Carnesi is John Junior's attorney] gave up one 302 because it involved his good friend and client Danny Marino doesn't mean there aren't more."
"He was my direct boss -- and once I knew he went in when he went in, I couldn't flip fast enough.
"He's dumb when it comes to street smarts, but he's not dumb when it comes to being a weasel."
As for Junior's claim that the 302 was phony and that he was simply "gaming" the feds, Alite says:
"John Junior wouldn't give a fuck where those 302s came from if they were fake.
"And if they are fake papers he should be happy because i helped him prove what he says now.
"So what is his argument? Why'd he get on 60 minutes and swear to the world that he didn't go to a prosecutor's office?
"These are all questions nobody is asking."
We ask John Junior here and now: Why?
"One of the biggest questions I have for him is what would your father have done if he knew you met with a prosecutor?
"What would your father have done? And I know what the answer is and I'm not speaking from the beyond. John Gotti ordered the deaths of suspected
turncoats....
"You know how I know? When Carmine Agnello [Junior's brother in law] went in to take the heat on a jury tampering case, his father went off and said he's a rat for going in and he didn't care what his reasons were."
Senior, in fact, routinely, ordered the extermination of anyone even suspected of ratting, including businessmen with Gambino ties such as Fred Weiss, who the Decavalcante crime family killed for him.
Alite has one final point:
"Let's get this straight: I didn't cooperate against John Gotti Junior.
"I testified against him but he was already a rat."

Alite added: "I know him better than anybody. He's a coward. I have seen him walk away from dozens of fights. He never raised his hands unless he knew the guy wasn't gonna swing back.

"He is a stone cold coward and a sociopath."
"I'll use the words he used for me: he's a punk and a dog and a miscreant.
"He just doesn't know how to get attention. He's gonna find himself in a jail cell with a lot of attention."

Why Junior Gotti Wrote "Shadow of My Father"

John A. GottiIn a YouTube video posted on his website, John A. "Junior" Gotti blasted the notion that his book, Shadow of My Father, was an immediate response to Gotti's Rules: The Story of John Alite, Junior Gotti, and the Demise of the American Mafia, written by 30-year veteran journalist George Anastasia.

Speaking with his lawyer, Charles Carnesi, by his side, ostensibly being interviewed by someone off camera, Gotti relayed the fact that he "actually" had written 375 pages "some four years ago," but "decided to put it on the shelf for peace of mind. To keep my family happy."

"There is always that fear factor that the government would come after me again and harass me," he added. "Don't preen like a peacock, don't be like your father, just pull it back."

He acknowledged that, initially, he had been seeking to produce a film (which had resulted in widely covered media events that included John Travolta, as well as mention of such Hollywood luminaries as Al Pacino and Joe Pesci, among others, all of whom were associated with the film at one time or another).
Ultimately, Gotti said he decided to shelve the book, noting that with the medium of film, it is easier to blend fact and fiction, while a book is a "little bit more closer to the vest and that can become problematic."
So he "dashed" the book, "killed it." (As for the film, it appears to be on the shelf, at least for now.)
The former acting boss of the Gambino crime family said that he changed his mind about publishing a book when he heard, upon returning from vacation last August, that a "totally discredited witness" who testified at his fourth RICO trial was writing a book. (Alite is not the author of Gotti's Rules; George Anastasia is. And while Anastasia didn't attempt to interview anyone from the Gotti camp in order to avoid turning the book into a he-said, she-said nightmare scenario, emphasis on nightmare, he did consult his own sources, as well as FBI reports and court documents.)

"Gotti's Rules is Alite's side of the story. Take it or leave it, believe it or not," as Philly.com noted in a recent story called 'Gotti's Rules' tells a Mafia enforcer's story.

This witness had zero credibility based on what Gotti said he'd heard from nine jurors who "stood around to answer questions" after the trial was over. Two voted guilty, seven voted not guilty on one of the charges, six voted not guilty on all of the charges. "But two definitely voted guilty."
He added: "All had said he was the most uncredible witness. None of them liked him. They said he was a liar, he lied through his teeth. Now for me to hear that this guy was writing a book."
Alite is "a guy claiming to know it all; to know my family so well."
Gotti then noted the voluminous number of books and television shows about the Gotti name that have already been consumed by the public. Most were primarily focused on John Gotti Senior, jolting Junior to quip: "Me? I'm nothing."

Junior said he finally decided "enough," and told his family members of his decision.
The bottom line, for Junior, was that the thought of Alite writing a book was simply beyond his comprehension. "You want me to pull my pants down? What's next?" he noted.
The interviewer then asked about his relationship to Alite, whom the government described as being Gotti's "right-hand man," which caused Junior to quip: "Didn't they say that about Mikey Scars?"
"How many right hands do I have? I am running out of right hands!"

Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo was a capo in the Gambino crime family. 
DiLeonardo was inducted into the crime family on December 24, 1988, along with Junior Gotti. Held in Manhattan on Christmas Eve, the ceremony was conducted by Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, then consiglieri.
Gotti Senior wasn't there because he "did not want to show he's forcing his family into the life," recalled DiLeonardo.
DiLeonardo plead guilty in 2003 and agreed to testify against the younger Gotti.

Breakshot Blog Spills Family Secrets: Frank Calabrese Sr.

Visiting room surveillance. Calabrese on right.
From Kenny "Kenji" Gallo's excellent Breakshot Blog:

Frank Calabrese Sr was such a good manipulator that he was able to convince a Roman Catholic priest to help him continue his criminal activity. If you know Frank’s background then this will come as no surprise.

Frank spent his whole life manipulating others for his own gain. Frank brought his brother Nicholas into his juice loan business. Nicholas had served in the Navy for two years during the Vietnam conflict, and he worked as an Ironworker after he returned home. Nicholas had then worked as a court security officer for 11 years in Maywood, Illinois. Nicholas was not afraid to hold a real job and work hard. In the mid 1970s he also joined his brother Frank in his loan business and worked a double life. He had no idea it was a lifetime commitment. Frank was not above using money and threats to keep his brother in the business. Nicholas would end up taking part in over 14 murders for the Chicago Outfit during his time working with his brother.

Frank was not content to just use his brother in the family business. Frank would break an unwritten rule in the Chicago Outfit and bring his sons into the family business. Frank would control every aspect of his son Frank Jr’s life as he grew up. He would alternate between using physical threats and generosity to keep Frank Jr under his control. He would parcel out cash to Frank Jr so he could control what he did. He would push him so far that one day Frank Jr would have to turn on his father to stop the evil cycle.

Frank Sr would be found guilty in the Family Secrets trial in Chicago that took down the administration of the Outfit. He was given a life sentence for his part in 13 murders. Frank Sr would mouth “You are a fucking dead man” to AUSA T.Markus Funk after he was sentenced. This earned Frank Sr Special Administrative Measures or SAMs which meant he would have no contact with anyone but his lawyer and certain family members under strict supervision of Federal authorities. Each year Frank Sr was given a copy of the SAMs that would be implemented and he was informed of their continuation for the year. In March 2009 Frank was transported to the United States Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri where he would serve his life sentence. Eugene Klein was a Roman Catholic Priest who had served the Bureau of Prisons for over 20 years. He would provide religious services to the worst that the Federal System had to offer and Frank Calabrese Sr was one of them. Before he started speaking to Frank Sr he was given the SAMs package on Frank Sr. He also read about his crimes in the Electronic Posted Picture System, a database that the Bureau of Prison uses. Klein was fully aware of the crimes that Frank Sr had committed. Klein started giving Frank Sr Communion and other religious instructions soon after he took in all the information. Frank Sr was locked in a cell with a small slot in which Klein was able to pass material to Frank Sr. While talking with Frank Sr Klein learned of a hidden violin that Frank Sr claimed was an 18th-century Stradivarius that was likely worth millions of dollars.

The real story of the violin was this...

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John Junior Gotti Debuts Website, Series of Interviews

John A. Gotti - Shadow of My father: "These are the preview videos to the interview with John A. Gotti, Charles Carnesi & Frank Morano. The full interview will be posted soon. The interview goes in depth about John's book "Shadow of My Father" as well as many other topics pertaining to John's life."

We're not sure when the site launched but we became aware of it today.




In the interest of fair play, we will promote his website and YouTube video(s)... He's got a whole series of them, all of which we believe are previews.

Probably about as close as we'd ever get to interviewing John Junior (and his lawyer, Mr. Carnesi; seems they are truly a package deal).... We don't really want to have to talk to Charlie, though....

Junior is a blogger now as well...Welcome...

NY Daily News: Lewis Kasman Busted in Florida

Lewis Kasman, 58

We once spoke with a guy who said he was Kasman's agent. It was weird because, right from the start, we were pretty certain we were talking to Kasman himself...  (We knew what his voice sounded like because we heard him talk on the radio a few times). That was among the most bizarre conversation we've ever had... and that says a lot...

NY Daily News: "Lewis Kasman, 58, moved to South Florida after ratting on the mob, but still can't stay out of trouble, getting arrested in January on felony fraud and theft charges.

A Mafia snitch who went down on federal racketeering and fraud charges years ago in Brooklyn now faces legal troubles in Florida, where cops say he stole a check from his lawyer and cashed it. Lewis Kasman, better known as John Gotti’s turncoat “adopted son,” was arrested last month in West Palm Beach, Fla., for swiping $5,300 from his very own lawyer.



The 58-year-old, who moved to South Florida after flipping on the mob, avoided doing jail time in New York after he ratted out much of the Gambino crime family -- including the son of the late “Dapper Don,” John A. (Junior) Gotti. Kasman faces felony grand theft and fraud charges after cops discovered he took the check in November from the Coconut Creek office of Nicholas Steffens and cashed it in at a Boca Raton bank.

“Mr. Kasman is specifically known to me due to the fact that he had reported an assault case to me in September of 2014 and had previously pled guilty in the federal system to money laundering charges,” a Palm County Sheriff’s Office detective wrote in an arrest report obtained by the Daily News.

But Kasman said the charges are bunk."

READ REST OF STORY

"Disgusted" by Mob Wives, Boston Producers Launch Own

Mob Niece starting to cast new show called "Mob Wives."
Who'd have thunk it'd be this easy?

From Boston.com: Are you a woman with a personality that pops and a connection to Boston’s criminal underworld?

Boston Mob Wives, a new reality show in production, could be your big break. The first casting call is scheduled to take place at 5 p.m. on Sunday, February 22 at the Four Points Sheraton in Revere.

Henry “Nacho” Laun, Jenna DeRose, and Timothy Baker are looking to cast the new Boston-based reality show. Laun is a former member of Mark Wahlberg’s original real-life entourage. He has had bit parts in numerous Wahlberg films, including The Departed, The Fighter, Ted, and Ted 2. He plays himself on Wahlburgers.

DeRose is a mom of two who lives in Revere. Her husband, Timothy Baker, is also involved in the project. 

The original Mob Wives series first aired on VH1 in 2011, but DeRose wasn’t a fan of the original. 

“I was disgusted. They don’t act classy. The women I know from Boston who have ties to the mob act way classier than that,” she said. 

You don’t need to have a current connection to organized crime in Boston, nor do you need to be a wife, DeRose told Boston.com. 

“If their personality pops and they have mob ties from the past—their grandfather or great uncle—that works,” she said. “I don’t want anyone to think it’s about the mob that’s going on now. It’s about peoples stories from the past.” 

DeRose said the people she grew up with who were involved in organized crime were “good guys just trying to make a living.” 

“When you say ‘mafia’ to me I think of guys trying to protect their city,” DeRose said. “If they left the mafia alone, Boston would be a safer city.” 

DeRose made several claims to her mob pedigree. 

“Whitey [Bulger] actually taught me how to ride a bike. I grew up around this,” she said.
Bulger was convicted in November 2013 for multiple murders, drug trafficking, racketeering and other charges. 

DeRose also told Boston.com she’s the niece of Bernard “Bennie” Zinna, was involved in organized crime. 

Zinna was charged in the 1966 gangland murder of boxer Rocco DiSeglio, but was later acquitted. In 1969, he died after being shot multiple times in his Cadillac. His body was found in Revere, just two miles from where the casting call is set to take place.

Junior Gotti Punked Out in the Pod, Says Co-Defendant

"He abused everybody in his past. He didn't give anybody
a break in any realm."
COSA NOSTRA NEWS EXCLUSIVE
In 1998, John A. "Junior" Gotti III was slapped with a wide-ranging RICO indictment (the "Christmas Tree RICO," so named because it includes people allegedly involved in different crimes packaged together for procedural purposes under the top name on the indictment. In this case, it was Junior.)

This was the "Scores Case," which occurred prior to the sweeping indictment linking him to three mob-related hits and a host of other felonies, initiated in Florida, that led to Junior's four RICO trials.

It also occurred prior to Junior's proffer session with the Feds, documented in an FBI 302. That meeting occurred at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in lower Manhattan on January 18, 2005.


The Scores indictment included a grab bag of crimes. Junior was charged with being the acting boss of the Gambino crime family. Various counts for crimes such as loansharking, bookmaking and extortion were included.

On April 6, when jury selection was to begin, Gotti surprised everyone near him when he agreed to accept a government offer to serve 77 months for extortion, loansharking, gambling, mortgage fraud and tax evasion. He also forfeited $1.5 million in cash and property.

Earlier though, he was arrested and placed in Valhalla, where he remained until he was allowed to post bail.
The Westchester County Jail in Valhalla, New York, is a maximum security facility that houses inmates ranging from low-level offenders to alleged murderers.

We recently spoke with one of the co-defendants in the Scores case who served time with Junior at Valhalla. He requested anonymity.
He was not among those surprised when Junior took a plea. (Since John Alite was not a co-defendant in the case, please note our source cannot be him. Although the media has many thinking there is a back-and-forth between John Alite and John Junior Gotti over George Anastasia's book Gotti's Rules (Junior leaped into the fray by publishing an ebook around two weeks before Anastasia's book, published by a division of HarperCollins) in gangland (or whatever you want to call it) the facts line up behind Alite, not Junior.)
In fact, there are guys who have had dealings with him in the past out there today who not only dislike Junior, but have a deep well of anger for him.

"He is the biggest phony there is," our source said of Junior. "He abused everybody in his past. He didn't give anybody a break in any realm."

Our source spoke about the events leading up to the Scores indictment, carefully delineating Junior's role. He also told us about interesting things that happened in Valhalla.

"He's a lying manipulative rat; nothing more or less. That is a bullshit maneuver," said our source, who also copped a plea, as did everyone on the indictment, including Greg DePalma. DePalma always, always took them to trial, but as we noted in a previous story, he accepted a plea in the Scores case.

From the very beginning, all the guys in the Scores case were told: "'The boss of this family says no one is taking a plea.' That was Junior's opening statement to everyone in the case," our source told us.

Please note, as previously written, Gotti did take a plea. It's the one he visited his father to discuss, all of which was filmed and presented as evidence.

So what this means is: While he was meeting with his father and a barrage of attorneys to discuss copping a plea, he had previously ordered all the other guys in the indictment not to accept a plea. Not accepting a plea was in fact an order handed down by the acting boss of the Gambino crime family.

"He's a lying manipulative rat; nothing more or less. That is a bullshit maneuver," said our source, who also copped a plea, as did everyone on the indictment, including Greg DePalma. DePalma always, always took them to trial, but as we noted in a previous story, he accepted a plea in the Scores case.

The source was intimately involved in the Scores case and carefully parsed Junior's role. "There was a single payment to him of $100,000," he said. The payment, he said, was the result of something that had happened a year earlier. A friend of John Gotti's was thrown out of the upscale strip club. Eventually, the guy found Junior and there was Junior's ticket to a payoff... "You threw one of my friends out of the club!!"
Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo handled the payment for Junior, including the actual handing over of the cash. Junior Gotti promptly handed back $10,000 for Mikey Scars to pocket. It didn't stay in his pocket for long, however. "Junior makes up a bullshit story and Mikey Scars hands back the $10,000. Junior had the money back within the hour" of it being given to him in the first place.

But it was in Valhalla that John Junior truly lost his guys, at least those indicted and held without bail at Valhalla.

The scene is the weight room. There was one of those Universal weight-lifting machines. One morning in January of 1998, Junior had words with another inmate, a black man. (We only note his race because many of you undoubtedly understand that in jail or prison, race plays a key role. A person stays with those of his own race.)

"It was a 'who is next?' kind of thing. And they had words." Eventually, the black guy said, "There's nothing between us but air... "

Seeing Gotti balk, the other inmate knew a brawl wasn't looming. "Now it doesn't matter," the black guy said and began using the machine.

"You know what Junior is supposed to do, right? He's supposed to take a 50 pound weight and split the guy's head open. He totally and utterly dogged it. I was standing right there. 'Hit him,' I said. 'I'll help you.'

"He says, 'No. I'm not doing that. It'll be in the Daily News and make it worse.'"
Asked if a lot of the guys indicted in the Scores case and held there without bail were present in the weight room when this happened, our source said, "There were enough guys there for it to be a major embarrassment for all of us."

Junior also was playing a game with all the guys under him as to the charges in the indictment, he added. "He's playing everyone against each other. He's trying to get some people to take some of the weight off of him. He was playing everyone against each other."

While Junior apparently didn't want to fight a stranger in the weight room, he had no problem with getting nasty with his own guys, who tended not to argue back. There was always a fear factor there, our source noted. Junior was acting boss and his father, a different story entirely, was still alive in Marion and the official boss of the crime family.

Meanwhile, Junior was paying off guards to smuggle in Rogaine.

"That's his priority," our source told us.

"He ends up bringing a battery of attorneys. He made it so much worse. There were news stories almost every single day."

Asked about John Alite, our source said, "Alite was John Junior's guy. Alite was doing all the work for Junior.

"Junior was full of shit. He was a manipulating brat. He was debriefing -- he's right up there with all the other phonies in the mob."

He further noted: "Anybody who tells you differently is lying."

Our source mentioned Peter Gotti, who was made acting boss in 1998. "The guy sat on a jury trial. The person was indicted for beating up a cop."

"Not to mention he was a functioning illiterate," the source added.

"He was a made guy. As soon as he's a made guy and a story goes around that he sat in a jury and put a guy away, and the story is then verified, he's supposed to be killed.

"Guys died for a lot less" than what Peter Gotti was guilty of, the source said.

What makes this all the more incredible is the fact that John Gotti Senior "was a hardcore gangster.

"If you got out of line, you got killed."

Apparently unless Gotti is your last name.