Gambino Crime Family, John "Junior" Gotti

He's gone from the most-wanted list to the dean's list.
Mob scion John "Junior" Gotti racked up an impressive 3.5 grade point average while taking college classes behind bars, court papers reveal. The Gambino family heir excelled in courses from Kaplan's College for Professional Studies while doing five years at the Ray Brook federal prison for a 1999 racketeering conviction, his lawyers wrote.
Attorneys Charles Carnesi and John Meringolo cited the sterling report cards as part of new bid to get the reputed mobster -- who claims he quit the Mafia -- sprung on bail while he awaits his September racketeering retrial.
It wasn't clear what Junior's major was

Patriarca crime family Nick Bianco mafia

Nicky Bianco

Meet Nicholas Bianco aka “Nicky” aka “ Nicky B” Nicky Bianco was a Gallo Gang shooter before he became a member of the Patriarca Crime Family

Nicky was like Joey Gallo, he was a warrior..His ethos was.”I was born a man, I will die a man”. Unlike the flamboyant Crazy Joey, Nicky was low-key, and level headed.
In a finger snap, he would kill for Raymond “RayPat” Patriarca Sr. Raymond loved his composure, and courage, and he moved Nicky up the leader ladder to a spot in the Patriarca high command. Nicky was Raymond’s acting boss while he was in the slammer
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I knew Nicky and I will go into greater detail in my new book . But here is a tasty tidbit
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Nicky had a ton of heat on him from a beef he had in Providence.. He went west to Hollywood to hide out until things cooled off back home. Nicky stayed with a friend of mine. .While he was with my pal, he knifed a guy . I had occasion to meet with Nicky years later. . I mentioned this incident to Nicky,
and it knocked him for a loop. Anthony Fiato

Bonanno crime family, Carmine Galante Hit

Carmine "Lilo" Galante, a capo in the Bonanno family shown with a cigar in his mouth, was murdered in the backyard garden of Joe & Mary's Restaurant in Bushwick, Brooklyn on July 12, 1979. The hit was orchestrated by rival Philip "Rusty" Rastelli. Galente had been fighting for the top spot in the Crime Family

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.



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Rats! Mob informants

SALVATORE 'SAMMY THE BULL' GRAVANO—Underboss of the Gambino crime family, Gravano agreed to cooperate with police in October, 1991, becoming a key to the conviction six months later of his boss, John “Dapper Don” Gotti. He admitted to involvement in 19 murders, but served only 5 years due to his assistance in catching his former boss
After entering the witness protection program, Gravano moved to Phoenix, Arizona and earned hundreds of thousands of dollars from this book, “Underboss.” He then started up an Ecstasy ring with his family, was caught, and will likely die in prison.

http://cftaf1234.wordpress.com/prime-time-ratfellas/

'PROTECTION' | 'Sopranos' actor Vincent says 'groups should have a better sense of humor'

Actor Frank Vincent from the former HBO mobster hit "The Sopranos" thinks his fellow Italian-Americans need to lighten up. The same, in his opinion, goes for brewing giant MillerCoors.

Vincent found out that the Miller Lite “Protection” ad campaign in which he stars was being pulled because of complaints from the Italian-American community when he received a Google alert about Wednesday’s exclusive Sun-Times story. He said he had not heard from either MillerCoors or DraftFCB about the decision

The axed Miller Lite campaign features Vincent as a mafioso thug trying to strong-arm a young clerk in a convenience store in one TV spot and do the same to a bartender in a bar in two other TV commercials, as well as in a number of radio spots. Vincent’s character in the commercials embodies many of the stereotypical tough-guy traits familiar from countless mafia portrayals in film and television, though in the Miller Lite commercials Vincent’s performance comes off as more of a spoof.

On Wednesday afternoon, Vincent said he was “absolutely surprised” by Italian Americans’ strong objections to his portrayal and by MillerCoors’ decision to pull the campaign so quickly.
After complaining to MillerCoors about the ads, Lou Rago, founder of the Italian American Human Relations Foundation of Chicago and Anthony Baratta, the Chicago-based national chairperson for the Commission for Social Justice, on Tuesday threatened to organize a boycott of MillerCoors by Italian Americans. By Tuesday afternoon, MillerCoors agreed to pull the campaign immediately, which would mean all ads will be gone from the air within a week.

“I think both of these groups should have a better sense of humor,” said Vincent, who has played a number of mafia characters over the years. He said he didn’t hesitate at all in taking on the role in the Miller Lite “Protection” campaign.

“The humor is there in the commercials, and a lot of people were enjoying the work,” added Vincent, who also said MillerCoors and its ad agency DraftFCB/Chicago spent “a lot of money” on the television and radio ad campaign that was slated to run at least through the summer.

The “Protection” campaign was the first big Miller Lite campaign to come out of DraftFCB since MillerCoors handed the agency the major account two months ago. DraftFCB also handles advertising for the “competing” Coors Light brand.

Mickey Cohen

Mickey Cohen
birth place: Brownville, New York, USA

Mickey Cohen was Ben “Bugsy” Seigel’s darker half. While Bugsy dined with Hollywood’s royalty and bedded the stars, Mickey emptied their safes and broke their bones.

Mickey was a born hustler. His mother moved the family out of their Brooklyn slum to Los Angeles before Mickey was six years old. The Cohen’s ran a pharmacy and this being the time of Prohibition, Mickey’s brother ran one of the small gin-mills in the district. Mickey’s job was to deliver the moonshine.

Boxing became a practical passion for preteen Mickey, who often needed to defend his deliveries with his fists. At 15 he was a champion and,lying to his mother, he headed east to become a prize fighter.

In New York, Mickey met some of the city’s’ toughest crime bosses and, when he was beaten senseless in the ring and decided to change his career, there were plenty of outfits willing to hire his tough fists.

Mickey moved to Chicago, met Al Capone and worked for the Mafia’s gambling rackets. One day, walking down the street in his favourite camel hair coat, a mob hitman tried to assassinate Mickey. He survived unscathed, as did his coat, though the threat was enough for the ex-boxer to move back to LA to work with Bugsy.

Together, Mickey and Bugsy were an effective extension of the East Coast Syndicate on the West Coast. They changed organised crime in the West from a backwater operation into a multimillion dollar industry, that controlled narcotics, gambling, unions, and politics. After Bugsy was killed, Mickey was the mob's West muscle.

In 1961, Mickey was charged with tax evasion and sentenced to 15 years in Alcatraz. Two years into his sentence an inmate clobbered Mickey with a lead pipe, partially parallelizing the mobster. On his release in 1972, Mickey returned to live a quiet life with his old friends and follow the fights in LA.

Mob-made: Retired FBI agent shares story for Hollywood

NEWTOWN -- Not many people get to meet a mobster in a friendly situation, let alone hear a ranking member of New York City's Gambino crime family, with the title "made man," describe his daily tasks.

But that was one of the surprise perks members of the Newtown Citizen Police Academy got this year.

Standing 6-feet-4 inches tall and weighting almost 400 pounds, 56-year-old Joaquin "Jack" Garcia certainly fits the stereotype of an Italian gangster, which is one of the many reasons he was the undercover agent the FBI chose to infiltrate the family.

Over the 26 years Garcia was an agent, he had more than 100 different identities, but his most intense stint was the three years he spent as Jack Falcone, a third-generation Sicilian, whose parents were buried in Florida.

Starting in 2002, Garcia was able to infiltrate the Gambino family -- one of the top five crime families in New York City. He was made to look like an investor in a strip club that the Gambinos, and Greg DePalma, a family capo, provided security for.

To play the part, he needed a fancy car, Rolex watch, a 3-carat diamond pinky ring, a cross necklace and a few Italian suits.To gain trust, he used watches and other items that had been confiscated by police during drug arrests, telling members of the family he would give them a good price for them. Or he would buy a TV and offer it, claiming it fell off a truck, to gain the respect of the group.

If something's hot, they'd rather get that -- to know they got away with it," he said.

He continued to gain the trust of the higher-ups, and was invited to join La Cosa Nostra and named a "made-man," someone who has mobsters working directly for him.

He maintained this persona, using wiretaps and helping organize video surveillance, until he aroused suspicion by not participating in a gang beating in a Bloomingdale's store.

The FBI pulled him from the job before he was found out. But despite his urgent removal, the agency was able to put 32 members of the Gambino family behind bars on charges of racketeering, extortion and violence.

Now retired, Garcia wrote a book, "Making Jack Falcone: An Undercover FBI Agent Takes Down a Mafia Family," which became a New York Times bestseller soon after it was released in October 2008.

Garcia subsequently appeared on "60 Minutes" and other news broadcasts, as well as many news publications.

What was the scariest part of being an undercover mobster? That is the most common question he gets


He said he hoped if he was found out he "could be made (out as) an agent, because the fate of an informant is a death sentence."

Mobsters know better than to kill an FBI agent, he said.

Garcia explained that in his experience mob families were run exactly as they are portrayed in "The Godfather" movie.

"With the mob you eat 24-7. It's like you're on a cruise ship with the mob," he joked. He gained 80 of his 390 pounds in his three years as a gangster.

But he did not have to kill anyone, or do anything illegal to harm someone.

"(They) used to have people whack someone, to get their hands dirty so they couldn't turn and be a rat, (but) the mob has changed ... You could be called upon to whack someone, but it wasn't a prerequisite.

He said as long as he was making the money for the family, they were happy to have him on board.

Garcia recently sold the rights to his story to a movie producer, and is hopeful someday soon someone impersonating him will tell his story.

mob Busted Suitcase

Tony "Toothless Tony" Sposado started his non -stellar crime career as a whipping boy for a browbeating old-school mobster named Mike Marquese. Mike had Tony lugging coca-cola cases and vending machines off of vending trucks..Nothing criminal about that, if the trucks had belonged to Mike
Marquese but they didn't..

Sposado made crumbs from the capers ---while Marquese made a pretty penny using the stolen swag to stock-up his own vending business. Sposado's downfall came when he met up with a punch-drunk stew bum named Ronnie Rome.

Rome had been in the vending business with Boston's Angiulo mob, but he became a fence jumper when he flaked out on a mob hit.The two flat-tires became fast friends by putting in many nights of booze riddled banter in mob owned barrooms. Rome filled Tony's head with full-of-shit-stories and empty promises that Sposado sucked up like Monica Lewinsky

. Tony then quit on Mike Marquese for what he thought would be a big time vending venture with Ronnie Rome--but it went bust when Ronnie fleeced him like a turnpike sucker at a carnival.Tony started dealing drugs and he got busted and did a long stretch in the can. He came out a broke and useless, toothless, busted suitcase.

Another true Hollywood Story

Mad Crazy Joey Gallo

Joe Gallo catapulted to mob fame while sitting before a panel of U.S. senators and their charismatic general counsel, Robert Kennedy.
An Italian-American dressed in black and sunglasses, Gallo gleamed as a rebel for the TV-watching public in 1959.
He made wisecracks, dropped an ash tray and generally played to the cameras, which broadcast Gallo's testimony, or lack thereof, on the lucrative mob stronghold of jukebox vending.
"Gangsters were fascinating stuff ... and they were really being bad boys," writer Tom Folsom said of Gallo and his brothers, Lawrence and Albert, who also testified. "That kind of national attention was really kind of their breakthrough moment."
But that's just what took place in front of the cameras.
Behind the lens, Gallo painted, killed people, studied philosophy and launched a revolution against the Profacis, the New York crime family that employed him.
The character-driven saga is fit for the 1960s and perfect for Folsom's brand of made-for-Hollywood storytelling, complete with a true "to the mattresses" scene later adopted by "The Godfather" author Mario Puzo.
"It's really this kind of world that they've created. That's the kind of thing you see in the movies," Folsom said of Gallo and his brothers. "They definitely blurred fantasy and fiction."
Folsom, a University of Georgia graduate and New York resident, chronicles the Gallo story in his latest book, "The Mad Ones: Crazy Joe Gallo and the Revolution at the Edge of the Underworld," which Weinstein Books published and optioned for movie and television.
He learned quite a bit about Gallo, nicknamed "Crazy Joe," during lengthy interviews with Leroy "Nicky" Barnes.
Barnes was a high-powered heroin dealer in Harlem, N.Y., who led his own Mafia-like operation during the 1960s and 1970s. He later testified as a federal witness and entered protective custody.
Folsom co-wrote Barnes' story, "Mr. Untouchable: My Crimes and Punishments," with him in 2007, learning all about Barnes' prison time with Gallo, who plotted their takeover of New York's drug underworld.
"Joe predicted one day the Mafia would have to start aligning with the black heroin dealers," Folsom said. "He wanted to take over the Mafia. He thought that Nicky Barnes would be a really strong ally of that. ... They were preparing for the revolution."
The time and place is as much a part of the Gallo story as the man himself. He and his brothers grew up in the rough Red Hook neighborhood on Brooklyn's industrial waterfront, learning quickly it's better to take as a mobster than be taken by one.
But they did not settle for their otherwise small-time scores.
Inspired by the spirit of the 1960s and its countercultures, Gallo portrayed himself as an outsider, mixed with various members of high and low society and even mingled among Greenwich Village's intellectuals and artists. (After Gallo's death, singer-songwriter Bob Dylan wrote a romantic tribute to "Joey.")
"This guy had this real thirst for knowledge. He wanted to learn," Folsom said of Gallo. Yet, he also killed. "These were the two forces that were pulling him apart. ... They essentially destroyed him."
True mobsters shunned attention of any kind, Folsom explained. But the Gallos, led by Joe, invited it.
Folsom said even during their war with the Profacis, FBI agents tasked with surveillance were granted unusual access.
"This is like the boys in the mailroom taking over IBM. They're completely in over their heads. They get 20 mattresses, right on the Red Hook waterfront in their grandmother's tenement," Folsom said, describing the mobsters at war.
During their years-long camp-outs together, they enjoyed family gatherings and even invited the FBI to share meals. Since the agents could neither arrest nor evict them, the lawmen accepted.
"(Their attitude was) if we're both going to be here, we might as well enjoy our jobs. When the Gallos' father would cook these big pots of spaghetti, the cops would hang out, and they'd all have dinner together," Folsom said. "It's one of the more unique aspects of the story that you don't get from a lot of other cops-and-robbers tales."
As a result, the FBI sensed what the gang was like behind the scenes and recorded a lot of what transpired in detailed reports Folsom researched for his book.
Additionally, the writer interviewed former FBI agents and Barnes. He also scoured news accounts highlighting Gallo's actions, right up until his shooting death weeks after the release of "The Godfather" in 1972, a movie that incorporated several aspects of Gallo's story.
"Rather than duck for cover, he flaunted himself out in the public. Some people actually think - I think - he was courting death. ... Joey thought he could fight the system," Folsom said. "The moral of the book is, you can't fight the system. It doesn't mean you can't fight against the system, but the paradox is the system will always win