JOSEPH MASSINO--Bonanno crime family

--Massino became the first sitting boss in Mafia history to turn informant. The longtime head of the Bonnano family, Massino was notoriously security conscious, instructing his subordinates to refer to him merely by tugging on their earlobe.
Things started to go bad for Joe when his brother-in-law and underboss, Salvatore “Good Looking Sal” Vitale, testified against him. Shortly after his 2004 conviction on racketeering charges that would have put him in prison for life, Massino decided to become an informant. He taped his underlings in prison threatening to kill a prosecutor.Read more:

Mobster Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano is threatening to play lawyer at his own death penalty murder trial - possibly cross-

Ralph Natale Philly Mob

Philadelphia Crime Family boss Ralph Natale, was the highest ranking American Mafia figure to become a mob rat. . Natale took the stand for 14 grueling days. He gave testimony against other high ranking Mobster Skinny Joey Merlino and crew. Natale was a dismal failure as a witness He got hammered on tough cross examination and folded under the pressure.

Colombo crime family, CARMINE SESSA Mob Rat

CARMINE SESSA—The one-time consigliere of the Colombo crime family surrendered to the FBI on the steps of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1993, giving law enforcement an insider’s look at a raging internal family war that was dropping bodies all over Brooklyn.

Freed from prison after only seven years, Sessa delivered an extraordinary apologia during his 2000 sentencing, deriding the Mafia life he’d led and watched in theaters. “The movie ‘Goodfellas’ explains it well—meaning everybody gets killed by a bunch of animals or so-called friends.” In the witness protection program, he was later arrested for beating up his wife.

Pictured: Carmine Sessa, in black jacket.



Read more:

Jack Lo Cicero Hollywood Mafia

Giacomo ”Jack” Lo Cicero was made in the Los Angeles Mafia by Nick Licata, Jack rose in rank to consigliare in the Crime Family under new boss Dominic Brooklier.Jack drove the getaway car for hitman Tommy R icciardi when Ricciardi whacked out mob rat Frank Bompansiero in a phone booth in San Diego

'JUNIOR' TAKES A BIG HIT

In a taste of trouble to come for John "Junior" Gotti, a Mafia turncoat fingered the mob scion for a legendary hit on a Gambino soldier who refused to come running when his father, John "Dapper Don" Gotti, called.

On the witness stand for a second day at the trial of accused hit man Charles Carneglia, former capo Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo recounted how another wiseguy had told him that the younger Gotti orchestrated the 1990 murder of Louis DiBono.

"It was the first time I learned John Jr. was involved in a hit," DiLeonardo, 53, said.

DiLeonardo testified that he got the damning bit of information from Edward Garafola, brother-in-law to infamous mob canary Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano, once the underboss of the Gambino crime family.

"Eddie told me John Jr. was in on a hit," DiLeonardo testified as he explained how Gravano never implicated the Mafia don's son in the murder during his cooperation with the feds due to a stunning secret agreement with the Dapper Don.

"It was a son-for-a-son deal," DiLeonardo said, adding that Gravano agreed to protect Junior as long as Gotti agreed not to harm the turncoat's son, Gerard "Baby Bull" Gravano.

"There were guys going away [to prison] for a long time, and others were being left out. It was a mystery," DiLeonardo said.

The younger Gotti is currently behind bars awaiting trial for three murders, including the DiBono slaying, and a host of other racketeering charges.

DiLeonardo testified against Junior Gotti at three previous mistrials, but the earlier cases did not include any murder charges.

Carneglia, 62, allegedly reported to Junior Gotti in the 1990s and is charged with shooting DiBono.

On Dec. 12, 1989, the feds taped the elder Gotti in a conversation with Frank Locascio about the DiBono hit: "I took Sammy's word. Louie DiBono. And I sat with this guy. I saw the papers and everything. He didn't rob nothin'.


"You know why he's dying? He's gonna die because he refused to come in when I called. He didn't do nothing else wrong."

Prosecutors yesterday also showed the jury some old videotapes, recorded outside the elder Gotti's Ravenite Social Club headquarters, of Carneglia skulking around and kissing John and his brother Peter Gotti.

Prosecutors claim the hit team tracked DiBono to a World Trade Center parking garage after he failed to show up at a meeting.

Another mobster, Bobby Boriello, was acting as lookout and contacted Carneglia by radio once he spotted DiBono.

When DiBono tried to get out of his car, Carneglia allegedly shot him seven times, including four times in the head.

This slaying is one of five murder charges Carneglia faces at his racketeering trial in Brooklyn federal court.

Word of DiBono's death was welcomed by Gravano, who had a longstanding vendetta against him stemming from a dispute over a construction company they controlled together, DiLeonardo said.

DiBono had previously sought permission from mob higher-ups to have Gravano whacked over this falling out, but the request was denied.


kati.cornell@nypost.com

Winter Hill Mob rat through and through

The ratings for last night's edition of "60 Minutes" will no doubt be boffo. They had a football playoff game lead-in. They had a segment with Roger Clemens, professional baseball player, denying he took steroids. And they had Johnny Martorano, professional murderer, waxing philosophic about the art of blowing people's brains out.

more stories like thisYou'll have to forgive Emily Connors for not tuning in. Johnny Martorano helped murder her husband 33 years ago, as Ed Connors stood in a phone booth in Dorchester.

"You know what?" Emily Connors said of Martorano's schtick. "It's getting old."

She got that right. It would almost be bearable to watch this stuff if we knew it would be over and done with. But it's pretty obvious Martorano's appearance was the launch of another attempt to capitalize on the very marketable concept of the sensitive sociopath. After Martorano wraps up his government-witness obligations, which allowed him to trade the 20 human lives he took for 12 years in prison, there will be another kill-and-tell book. Another movie treatment. Some clueless Hollywood type will be snookered by all this tough-but-thoughtful hit-man jive, and we'll have to endure an endless string of breathless whispers about scripts, stars, and on-location shoots in Southie and Winter Hill.

Liesguys Lit is a lucrative genre. It's revisionist history for murderers, allowing them to imbue their venality with a sense of nobility that is otherwise missing from the brutal act of shooting someone in cold blood. And the best part for the purveyors of this junk is that almost everyone who can dispute its authenticity is either dead or not talking.

It's just as well Emily Connors didn't watch last night, because Martorano's performance was far more offensive to his victims than anything he said in court some years back when he got the sweetheart deal that allowed him to walk out of prison last year.

Johnny told Steve Kroft he didn't enjoy killing, but that he did it for his family and friends.

What a guy.

"You could never pay me to kill anybody," said Johnny, who, by job description, was paid to kill people.

"I didn't enjoy risking my life," Johnny said, "but if the cause was right I would."

He never got around to identifying these causes. Perhaps it was to free Tibet, or maybe help the nuns pay off the mortgage at an orphanage. Oh, and even though Johnny is a government witness he is not a rat because he's testifying against those who ratted before he ratted.

Got that?

Like all these criminals who trade their infamy for a few bucks, Johnny Martorano comes across as a guy who is sorry only that he got caught.

Paul Rico, the disgraced, and now dead, former FBI agent who helped Johnny kill people also helped frame a guy named Joe Salvati. Asked how he felt about Salvati doing 30 years for a murder he didn't commit, Rico replied, "What do you want, tears?"

Well, yeah, actually, we do. It would be refreshing to see one of these guys look into a camera and say, "I can't make up for my past. But I don't want to talk about it, either, because all it will do is hurt the families I already hurt."

Don't hold your breath waiting for that one.

There were a lot of names thrown around on "60 Minutes" last night. Whitey Bulger. Stevie Flemmi. They mentioned Martorano's first victim, Robert Palladino, and his last two, Roger Wheeler and John Callahan.

Kevin Cullen is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at cullen@globe.c

Mob Hitman gets contract in Hollywood

By Patriot Ledger staff
The Patriot Ledger
Posted Dec 16, 2008 @ 09:27 AM
Last update Dec 16, 2008 @ 10:06 AM
Winter Hill Gang hit man John Martorano has signed over the rights to his life story to a Hollywood filmmaker, according to published reports.
The Hollywood trade publication Variety is reporting that Martorano, 67, signed a deal with Graham King’s company, GK Films.
The Milton native and former Quincy resident pleaded guilty to murdering 20 people when he was a hit man for James “Whitey” Bulger. He served a little more than 12 years in prison for the murders in exchange for his testimony against other gangsters and corrupt FBI agents including John Connolly, who was convicted last month for his role in the 1982 slaying of former World Jai-Alai President John Callahan. Martorano testified he shot Callahan based on a tip from Connolly, who was an agent in Boston.
Martorano was released from prison in March 2007. At the time, his younger brother, James Martorano of West Quincy, said John had turned down an offer for witness protection and had moved back “near his roots.”
King, the film company owner, told Variety: “When I first met (Martorano), I was struck by his unyielding sense of loyalty to those close to him. John has had a complicated life and it will be a fascinating story to tell the world.”
Variety said King met Martorano through Thomas B. Duffy, a former State Police detective who was technical consultant on two movies filmed in Boston, “The Departed” and “Edge of Darkness.”

Louie Dragna Hollywood Mafia

Louis Tom Dragna aka Lou Allen aka "Louie longlegs" was at one time the acting boss of the Los Angeles crime family . He has an arrest record dating back to 1946. Louie Dragna was one of the top earners in the history of the LA mob. He made a ton of gelt in the garment business. Dragna participated in the murder of "Russian" Louie Strauss. He was convicted along with Mobster's,Joe "JS" Sica , Frankie Carbo, and Blinky Palermo , of extorting welterweight boxing champion Don Jordan's manager for a piece og Jordans contract . His last conviction came in 1980 when It came out in the Forex extortion Mafia trial that Louie Dragna admitted to his membership in the Mafia, and that he betrayed the membership structure of the Los Angeles mob to FBI agent Jack Barron in 1976

Barboza Hit

My mentor's in the Mafia always told me,” when it came to payback, no matter how long it takes,

Just like the “turtle”, we always get there”. Nothing illustrates this boast better than the

execution of Joe "The Animal" Barboza, courtesy of my good friend, and Mafia Cohort,. JR Russo--Anthony Fiato





In 1954 with the backing of New York crime lord Vito Genovese, Raymond Patriarca took control of

the New England mafia.. It became known as the Patriarca crime family. Possessing the same traits as his pal Vito; cunning and violence, Patriarca dominated the rackets in his territory with a vengeance from his headquarters in Providence R I . In a world where tough guys only listen to tougher guys, Patriarca was the undisputed boss. The most lucrative rackets were in Boston where Patriarca skipper, Gennaro “Jerry“. Angiulo, and his” North End” gang, locked down all the rackets in the Boston underworld. Anybody operating in numbers,. bookmaking,, loan sharking ,,and any other criminal racket that turned a buck had to go through Angiulo and pay for “permission” to operate. . Without “permission” you needed protection from Angiulo’s enforcers…All the men that kicked into Angiulo were referred to as "connected" guys, meaning they had the protection of the Patriarca family.. If you bothered a “connected” guy you were defying Raymond Patriarca and that was lethal.



For Joe Barboza killing came as easy as breathing. In the early sixties Dodge City atmosphere of the Boston underworld, when it came to murder, the thirty year old Portuguese hit man was the top slugger in the city.. Barboza and his pals Chico Amico and Nicky Femmia operated a leg breaking and gun- for-hire business out of East Boston. Always the thinker, Jerry Angiulo used Barboza to go into certain nightclubs throughout the Boston area and bust them up. The owners of these places were terrified, and immediately reached out to Angiulo to get rid of their Barboza problem. And, Angiulo did, for part ownership in the clubs.. .In the mob we call this create and alleviate.. Barboza so impressed Angiulo’s bosses Patriarca, and Henry Tomeleo, that they started using Barboza and his crew for all the hardcore enforcing that was bringing “heat” to Angiulo’s men.. In exchange Patriarca let Barboza operate in the rackets without paying tribute



The head of the “Winter hill” mob, Buddy McLean, was well liked by Patriarca..The baby faced Irish mobster's gang dominated all the Irish mobs. McLean brought big money deals from race fixing; to high jacking , to his pal Patriarca.. Patriarca made so much money from brokering these deals that he let McLean operate without the standard tribute .



McLean’s Winter Hill gang was the most powerful of all the Irish mobs . In the “South End,” the Harlem section of Boston, you had the Bennet brothers, a faction of the winter hill mob whose enforcers included Frank Salemme and the Flemmi brothers Stevie, and Vinny "The Bear" , who were all friendly with Joe Barboza-- and they were jockeying for a position with Patriarca ‘s most murderous Capo, Larry Bione. George McLaughlin broke away from Mclean and started a renegade faction of his own, and started a war in the Boston Underworld that included holding up the Italian mob’s card games, and shaking down their bookies..



This threw a monkey wrench into the Patriarca money machine so he gave Barboza and his crew marching orders to wipe out the McLaughlin gang under the tutelage of Bione. True to his rep, Barboza and company whacked out over twenty men to restore order for the Patriarca family.. Raymond avoided the heat but Barboza was hotter than a firecracker and he was being tailed by tons of law wherever he went. The cops busted an armed Barboza, and he was held on fifty grand bail.. Joe sent his crew of killers to shake down the Patriarca mob for bail money figuring he had it coming for all the” work” he had done for them. Raymond didn't take kindly to a hothead threatening him, so he had all of Barboza’s crew whacked out...

.


Joe then turned rat, and with his treacherous testimony. he put Raymond and some of his capo’s in jail, some of them for life.. In spite of the hundred thousand dollar bounty Patriarca had put on his head, Barboza managed to elude Raymond’s vengeance for almost eight years, until his luck ran out on the streets of San Francisco. Acting on a tip, and some help from the L.A.Mob, my friend, and Patriarca soldier, JR Russo,.blasted Barboza to bits with a shotgun from the back of a white van, hitting him with five bullets while he was leaving an apartment.. Some say Barboza barked, “YOU FUCKERS”, then he died like a dog... JR was upped to the rank of Capo for the hit..... By Anthony Fiato .. .

MOB MOLE ACE IN THE HOLE FOR FEDS

Joseph "Joe" Houser was a fabulous fabricator with high caliber connections to Washington lobbyists' .. Houser made big bucks running bogus insurance scams out of L.A.. .Joe got
busted for Federal white collar crimes --and was ready to
do his time -- when FBI agents approached Houser with a way out, of the jam he was in.. Houser agreed to play ball with

the Feds, and duke a couple of undercover agents into Louisiana

Mob Boss , Carlos Marcello --who was also a friend, of a friend, of Housers. Through his chum, Houser hooked-up the Feds with Marcello-- which ultimitly led to the Don's downfall ......Years later , Houser's turncoat treachery was still on the lips of Hollywood., Mafia boss, Pete Milano in a mob meet, talking to two of his men, Anthony Fiato , and Luigi Gelfuso, saying, " I want you both to be carefull.." guys like that rat Joe Houser , are all around us.".. Fiatos' body recorder captured the conversation clearly

Another true Holltwood Story