Ed Scarpo's Blog, page 6

When the Mafia Took A&P Supermarket to War

Jerry Catena

One of the many myths of the Mafia is that it doesn't kill civilians, meaning "regular people" with no mob ties.
In fact, there are many occasions when the mob has killed, or tried to kill innocent people. Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso ordered the murder of a civilian in a case of mistaken identity. Gaspipe also ordered the murder of another citizen in an attempt to convince Peter "Fat Pete Chiodo not to testify; Luchese gunmen, who first tried and failed to kill Fat Pete himself, next t...

New Yorker: "Mafia Decline" Caused by Ineffective Communications

This was published on Aug. 18 by the New Yorker magazine under its Daily Shouts rubric with the headline: FBI Report on Mafia Decline Caused by Group Text and E-mail Chains:

INTERNAL/CLASSIFIED A fter extensive investigation, our specialized team, the F.B.I. New-Media Task Force, has determined that organized-crime syndicates are being increasingly hampered by an inability to communicate effectively through text messages and e-mails. Agents have found that the Mafia and other large cri...

Travolta's Gotti Biopic Started Filming -- in Cincinnati

John Travolta as John Gotti.Filming for The Life and Death of John Gotti, starring John Travolta, reportedly started this month, with the first scene shot on Stone Barn Road in Indian Hill, Fox19 reported.

Travolta's wife, Kelly Preston, plays Gotti's wife in the film. Kevin Connolly, who portrays manager Eric Murphy on Entourage, is directing the film, which has been on and off for years. 
As for the surprise filming in Ohio, the Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky Film Commission ha...

Longtime Luchese Capo Accepts Plea Deal

Turns out, an alleged longtime Luchese capo decided he didn't really want to go to trial this month on an extortion beef, so he copped to a plea agreement this past Friday.

Alleged skipper Carmine Avellino (pic above) loses credit, one point, for indecisiveness. Because he made the Fed's wait by not copping sooner, he faces around four more months in prison as per sentencing guidelines.

Avellino, 72, admitted to conspiring with alleged Luchese associates Daniel and Michael Capra to th...

What So-called "East Coast Crime Syndicate" Case Really Is About

Liborio Bellomo, left, Mickey Dimino.
The result of the years-long, multi-state probe was indictments charging 46 alleged mobsters for committing a seemingly prodigious grab-bag of crimes.

But there is a startling absence of factors common in most Mafia indictments. The case lacks specifics, as defense attorneys have noted. Also missing are traditional mob crimes, such as murder and major narcotics trafficking (the pain-alleviating compound lotion is presented as evidence of healthcare fra...

Italy "Ends" Sicily's Corleone Municipality

The town apparently doesn't suffer amateur buglers  either.
The municipality of Corleone, Sicily, is no more. And it's the Mafia's fault, the Italian government proclaimed.
Other local administrations tied to the Camorra and Ndrangheta -- Arzano, near Naples, and Calabria's Bovalino and Tropea -- also were done away with.
The towns will be administered by a government-appointed commissioner until new elections are held, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's government revealed on August 1...

Philly, Bloody, Philly: from Docile Don Bruno to Little Nicky Scarfo

Little Nicky Scarfo, violent former mob boss of Philly Cosa Nostra
Follow-up to recent story. Detailed account of the Machiavellian maneuvering that occurred prior to Little Nicky Scarfo's reign, plus book excerpt.



The volatility for which the Philadelphia Mafia is historically so well-known didn't begin with Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo.

The violence only reached its crescendo during Scarfo's blood-soaked reign as boss of the Cosa Nostra.
Perhaps the greatest irony here is that the crime...

Philly, Bloody, Philly: from Docile Don to Little Nicky

Little Nicky Scarfo, violent former mob boss of Philly Cosa Nostra
Since I am still amazed at the high level of interest in the latest Scarfo story, I offer you this: a detailed account of what happened prior to Little Nicky's reign, then an excerpt from a book that is mandatory reading for all with an interest in the Mafia in Philadelphia.


The volatility for which the Philadelphia Mafia is historically so well-known didn't begin with Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo.

The violence only...

"Cadillac Frank" Yanked from Witness Protection, Arrested for Murder

"Cadillac Frank" during 1995 arrest.

REVISED, EXPANDED
Francis “Cadillac Frank” Salemme, a former top-level member of the New England Mafia who flipped to testify against notorious Irish mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger, was yanked out of Witness Protection and arrested today, having been charged with murdering a witness.

Salemme is to appear today at 3 p.m. before a Boston-based U.S. District Court, U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz’s office said.

Salemme is charged with the May 10, 1993 mur...

Nicky Scarfo, 87, Will Walk Out of Prison, Retired Prison Guard Quips

Nicky Scarfo walks out of a federal prison in El Paso, Texas in 1984.
Steve Bouye recently retired from his post as a decorated corrections officer who worked at the federal penitentiary in Atlanta.
The father of Houston Texans cornerback A.J. Bouye served in that role for 25 years.

In a recent interview with The Chronicle , he noted that he'd guarded, as well as transported, two mob bosses: Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo and John A. "Junior" Gotti, among a host of high-profile celebrity cr...