The FBI Files: "Boss of Bosses" Carlo Gambino

For decades the FBI largely ignored Carlo Gambino but after local cops busted a meeting among the nation's Mafia leaders on November 14, 1957 in upstate Apalachin, NY, the G-men finally decided to take a closer look at the hook-nosed gangster according to Bureau files.

By early 1962 the FBI had understood the importance of Gambino on the nine-member Mafia Commission which governed the 26 crime families throughout the United States, and a May 29, 1962 memo reflects the investigative priority he was given by the New York Field

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Wise Guys Exposed In The Mob And The City

There's an awful lot of myths about mobsters:  they keep their mouths shut, they don't deal drugs and they like the ladies.  However, in his new book The Mob and the City Alex Hortis exposes these and other myths about the life with detailed references to the historical record.
For example, the Mafia not only invented modern gay urban culture but some of the tough guys got down and dirty with the scene, and Hortis writes:

Even in its formative decades, the Cosa Nostra had some members who engaged in forms of same-sex acts or transgender dressing. According to FBI informants, David Petillo "in his early teens was reputed to be a 'fairy,'" and "dressed as a woman" to disguise himself while executing hits. (Petillo was convicted with Charles Luciano for compulsory prostitution in 1936). Similarly, Charles Gagliodotto reportedly wore dresses and carried his gun in a purse so often he was known in the Genovese Family as the "fag hit-man." Later, the wiseguy operator of the Stonewall Inn, whose father was a prominent mafioso, had male lovers. Mobster Joseph "Crazy Joey" Gallo talked about how "normal, natural and unremarkable" homosexuality was in prison. Gallo held interests in gay bars including the Purple http://bitterqueen.typepad.com/friends_of_ours/2014/05/wise-guys-exposed-in-the-mob-and-the-city.htmlOnion and Washington Square.

Feds say man fled Mass. to Idaho to duck charges in mob hit

An alleged mob associate accused of trying to kill a Massachusetts mob boss tried to "reinvent" himself as a "self-styled cattle rancher" in Idaho, a federal prosecutor told a jury during opening statements at his racketeering trial Wednesday. Enrico Ponzo was an associate of the Patriarca crime family who fled Massachusetts in 1994 to avoid charges of extortion and attempted murder, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Karen Beausey. "All of that he was ... trying to flee and leave behind when he went on the lam in 1994," Beausey said. Ponzo is accused of being among a group of men who attempted to kill Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme in 1989 during a war between rival factions of the crime family. But Ponzo's lawyer, John Cunha, told the jury that Ponzo fled because he was afraid he would be killed by a member of the Mafia. He urged the jury to challenge the credibility of government witnesses who struck deals with prosecutors for shorter sentences and agreed to testify against Ponzo. "As you listen to these people, keep in mind the powerful tool that the government has to elicit testimony that it wants," Cunha said. Ponzo was captured in 2011 in Marsing, Idaho, a rural community near Boise. Prosecutors said he had been living quietly under an alias there for more than a decade. http://www.kboi2.com/news/local/Feds-say-man-fled-Mass-to-Idaho-to-duck-charges-in-mob-hit--227161211.html http://www.kboi2.com/news/local/Feds-say-man-fled-Mass-to-Idaho-to-duck-charges-in-mob-hit--

Reputed Mobster Enrico Ponzo Goes To Trial After Years On The Lam

Reputed Mobster Enrico Ponzo Goes To Trial After Years On The Lam Enrico Ponzo goes to trial this week in a Boston federal court. The reputed Patriarca associate was living on the lam as cattle rancher Jay Shaw in Marsing, ID for sixteen years until his apprehension in 2011, and now he finally will face mob charges including his alleged role in the 1989 murder attempt against the power hungry Francis P. “Cadillac Frank” Salemme during a family squabble as reported by Milton J. Valencia for The Boston Globe: “when authorities raided his Idaho home after his arrest by US marshals in February 2011, they found $100,000 in cash, and $65,000 in gold coins, as well as 22 rifles, eight handguns, and 34,000 rounds of ammunition, according to court records.” Among the government witnesses slated to testify according to court records is Mark Rossetti “who was unmasked as a longtime FBI informant during his state trial on drug and racketeering charges last year” as reported by Michele McPhee for ABC News.

Goodfella - Hollywood Elsewhere

Thanks to the kindness of Hollywood Reporter contributor and screenwriter Jordan Mintzer, I’m In Like Flynn< regarding all Paris press screenings and all the names and emails of all the publicists...the whole magilla. But the only major film I'll be seeing prior to my return to NYC on 6.20 is World War Z (which screens next Tuesday). White House Down opens on 6.28 in France, but there are no screenings listed on the sheet. The Internship opens in the States today, but I won’t see it here until 6.19. Many thanks to Jordan & perhaps I can someday return the favorhttp://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/2013/06/goodfella-2/

Reputed Mobsters Charged With Parole Violations

Hey, hey, the gang's all here!



The feds allegedly spotted Gerald Chilli and Peter Lovaglio meeting together which has "created legal problems for both [reputed Bonanno] capos, officials say, because they're barred from consorting with organized crime figures while on probation"as reported by Mitchel Maddux for the New York Post



Now what kind of men have so little respect for the criminal justice system that they would take advantage of probation by violating its terms?

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Merv Adelson On His Life And Times= Friend of ours

One-time Hollywood mogul Merv Adelson now lives in a one-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica, CA, and the 83-year-old Lorimar founder reflects on his rollercoaster life including the early years as a real estate development partner -called Godfather of Las Vegas Moe Dalitz who is credited by some with developing the casino skim   Friends of Ours ... Merv Adelson On His Life And Times ...


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Report: Russian Mafia In Hollywood Card Games-Friend of ours

Friendsof ours The Russian mafia may have participated  in high stake card games which supposedly included A-list Hollywood celebrities, and the gambling http://bitterqueen.typepad.com/friends_of_ours/2011/06/report-russian-mafia-in-hollywood-card-games.html

Yakuza mafia cashed in on Fukushima cleanup: Voice of Russia

Yakuza mafia cashed in on Fukushima cleanup: Voice of Russia

The Mafia Princer next door

My name is Philip Leonetti, or I should I say that was my name.

For the last twenty years I have lived under a different name since my defection from the mob, or as we called it, La Cosa Nostra, which means this thing of ours in Italian.

My decision in 1989 to become the highest ranking member of La Cosa Nostra to break the sacred vow of omerta, the mafia's code of silence, has made me a marked man for the rest of my life.

As I write this, there is a reported $500,000 bounty on my head to anyone who can find me and kill me.

Today I am 59 years old and living far away from the Atlantic City Boardwalk I once controlled with my uncle, a man named Nicodemo Scarfo.

Back then they called us "Little Nicky" and "Crazy Phil."

Murder, loan-sharking, extortion, beatings, illegal gambling, you name it, we did it all.

We were the real Boardwalk Empire. Movies like The Godfather, Goodfellas, A Bronx Tale and Casino and television shows like The Sopranos have offered dramatic interpretations of our life, but my life wasn't a movie, or a TV show; it was the real thing.


One time, my uncle used me as a decoy to help him following a murder that he had just committed.

As we were driving in the pick-up truck that had just been used to transport the dead man's body to a freshly dug hole in the woods where he was buried, my uncle told me what he had done and why he had done it. read more    http://.com/philip-leonetti/mafia-prince-next-door_b_2280929.htmlwww.huffingtonpost