THE BLACK HAND FORUM

Tonyd621 wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 10:39 am

chin_gigante wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 10:10 am I need to amend my previous comments about the murders Casale and Caprio carried out in the 1990s. I was using The Last Gangster as a reference, but after looking back at more newspaper articles and other notes it seems GA paints a bit of an oversimplified version of the Casale-Caprio murder story. Here's what I've got from checking my other notes:

- When Casale began cooperating in late 1999 he told the FBI about how he killed Gantz and Sodano on Caprio's orders
- Casale recorded Caprio, leading to his indictment in March 2000
- Caprio flips a couple of months later and tells the FBI that he knows Casale committed the murders of Scoloveno, Shear, and Matonis
- Caprio also tells the FBI about the murder of Edward Snee in 1975
- Casale admits the murders and, when later interviewed for the Witness Protection Program, admits killing Harry Serio as well
- However, Casale tells the FBI that Caprio authorised the Scoloveno, Shear, and Matonis murders
- Caprio denies authorising the three additional murders
- The government tears up Casale's agreement and he's never called to testify
- Caprio never pleads guilty to or admits the Scoloveno, Shear or Matonis murders
- On the stand, Edwin Jacobs questions Caprio about Casale's statements
- Caprio says they're lies and he never authorised Shear, Matonis or Scoloveno's killings
- Caprio points out how he admitted the Snee murder and says he would have admitted 20 homicides if that was the amount he had committed
- Casale is given the maximum 20 years for his original plea that included the Gantz and Sodano murders
- Casale eventually pleads guilty to the Scoloveno, Shear, Matonis, and Serio murders and receives an additional 10 years
- Caprio is ultimately sentenced to 75 months and gets out in 2006

I have never followed the Philly stuff in great detail. But this stuff here allowing these guys to testify I just shake my head bc Idk what to say.. instead of flipping the bad to catch the worst the govt imo is flipping the worst to catch the bad.

chin_gigante wrote: ↑Sat Jul 03, 2021 10:10 am I need to amend my previous comments about the murders Casale and Caprio carried out in the 1990s. I was using The Last Gangster as a reference, but after looking back at more newspaper articles and other notes it seems GA paints a bit of an oversimplified version of the Casale-Caprio murder story. Here's what I've got from checking my other notes:

- When Casale began cooperating in late 1999 he told the FBI about how he killed Gantz and Sodano on Caprio's orders
- Casale recorded Caprio, leading to his indictment in March 2000
- Caprio flips a couple of months later and tells the FBI that he knows Casale committed the murders of Scoloveno, Shear, and Matonis
- Caprio also tells the FBI about the murder of Edward Snee in 1975
- Casale admits the murders and, when later interviewed for the Witness Protection Program, admits killing Harry Serio as well
- However, Casale tells the FBI that Caprio authorised the Scoloveno, Shear, and Matonis murders
- Caprio denies authorising the three additional murders
- The government tears up Casale's agreement and he's never called to testify
- Caprio never pleads guilty to or admits the Scoloveno, Shear or Matonis murders
- On the stand, Edwin Jacobs questions Caprio about Casale's statements
- Caprio says they're lies and he never authorised Shear, Matonis or Scoloveno's killings
- Caprio points out how he admitted the Snee murder and says he would have admitted 20 homicides if that was the amount he had committed
- Casale is given the maximum 20 years for his original plea that included the Gantz and Sodano murders
- Casale eventually pleads guilty to the Scoloveno, Shear, Matonis, and Serio murders and receives an additional 10 years
- Caprio is ultimately sentenced to 75 months and gets out in 2006

Caprio, in turn, recruited one of his top associates, a guy named Philip “Philly Fay” Casale. He and Caprio had been involved in at least four other murders. Usually the target was somebody who had money and who had crossed the mob.
Whether the transgression was real, or simply fabricated by Caprio and Casale to justify the murder-robbery that would follow, remains an open question. What is clear is that at least four individuals were killed by Casale on Caprio’s orders before Sodano’s murder.
The four victims were each shot at close range; three as they sat behind the wheels of their cars meeting with Casale. None suspected what was coming. Casale and Caprio were masters of the setup, cheap-shot artists. Both would later become government witnesses and offer graphically brutal accounts of that classic underworld move—the double cross that ends in murder.
Cold and callous, they joked about each hit. In 1991, for example, Casale was lying in wait for his target. They were supposed to meet in a deserted parking lot in Newark. Bored, Caprio started eating potato chips. He had several bags in the car with him that night. After polishing off a fourth bag, and with still no sign of the target, Casale called Caprio and asked what he should do.
“Eat more chips,” Pete the Crumb replied. Two years later, Caprio tapped Casale for another murder. This time the target was a guy named Billy Shear, a mob associate who was suspected of cooperating with authorities. Caprio described Shear as a “cancer,” and told Casale something had to be done “to stop it before it spreads.”
Then, with a sly smile, he said, “I think it’s potato chip time.” A few days later, after Casale had set up a meeting with Shear to discuss a drug deal, Casale told Caprio, “Tonight’s potato chip night.”
Both hits went off as planned. In each case, the target was relieved of his cash and jewelry. Casale and Caprio split the proceeds, although not always evenly. Billy Shear had a thousand dollars in his pocket the night Casale popped him, according to an FBI report. Casale was sitting in the passenger seat of Shear’s car when he pulled out a gun and shot Shear once in the head at point-blank range. When Shear began to moan, Casale shot him again. Then, with Shear silenced and slumped over the steering wheel, Casale calmly went through his pockets. He later gave Caprio two hundred dollars, claiming it was half of what Shear had on him that night.
In 1994 Casale used the same MO when he popped Willie Gantz, a Sodano associate suspected of stealing money from the mob. Sodano was in prison at the time; if he’d been around, Gantz would most likely still be alive. Casale’s fourth victim was a businessman shot in a warehouse where Caprio and Casale thought the victim had a stash of more than a hundred thousand dollars. They never found the money.