Buffalo/Ontario Mob Acitivity

[antimafia]

^^^^
Thanks. I’m not sure either about the Joe Catroppa allegedly murdered in Mexico, but an online obituary for a Joseph Catroppa Jr. was published earlier today — here’s the link:

https://memorials.vesciofuneralhome.com ... h/4350555/

In this article by Peter Edwards that was published online today, his reporting appears to confirm what Moscone65 wrote about Catroppa. Excerpt from the article (the first two paras.):

Pat Musitano was a brash, loud mob boss, but his funeral was so low key it went almost entirely unnoticed after he was murdered by a gunman in a Burlington parking lot this summer in the midst of the global pandemic.

When his associate, Joseph Catroppa, was shot dead outside a hotel in Cancun, Mexico, in September, his funeral service in Woodbridge was also a private, quiet affair, marked publicly by only an online announcement.
Link in case the article is behind a paywall: https://outline.com/AmqRR8

Original link:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/1 ... demic.html

[NickleCity]

Does the recent indictment of Bongiovanni and Masecchia indicate Peter Gerace, Jr. is coconspirator 1 and a “member” of the Buffalo mob or another Italian Organized Crime family? The indictment reads:

“It was part of the conspiracy that Coconspirator 1, who is also a member and associate of IOC, paid defendant BONGIOVANNI cash bribes on a recurring basis to protect Coconspirator 1, and Coconspirator 1’s business, from federal narcotics investigations.”
“On a date unknown to the Grand Jury, in response to a telephone call from Coconspirator 1 after a stripper overdosed on drugs at a gentlemen’s club operated by Coconspirator 1 in Cheektowaga, New York, the defendant BONGIOVANNI advised Coconspirator 1 to “get her out” of the gentlemen’s club.”

What does it mean to be a member and associate of IOC?

The Buffalo News suggests coconspirator 1 could be Peter Gerace, Jr. Phil Fairbanks writes:

“If you buy the argument that former DEA agent Joseph Bongiovanni is tied to the Buffalo mafia, it might be because of his boyhood relationship with Peter Gerace.
Gerace is the operator of Pharaoh's, the Cheektowaga strip club raided by federal agents Thursday, and the nephew of Joseph Todaro Jr.
For years, the FBI maintained the Todaro family – Todaro and his late father, Joseph Todaro Sr. – headed the local mob, but investigators never proved that allegation.”

Here is a link to the articleL https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crim ... 6061f.html

In another article Fairbanks writes:

“Noted criminal defense attorney Paul J. Cambria Jr. is withdrawing from the case and blaming his early departure on false conflict of interest claims by the government.
Prosecutors say Cambria once represented one of Bongiovanni's co-conspirators and that one of his law partners currently represents potential witnesses in the case.”
“Homeland Security agents raided Pharaoh’s Gentlemen’s Club in Cheektowaga in December as part of their investigation into Bongiovanni, a source familiar with the raid told The News at the time.
The court-ordered search of the Aero Drive strip club came just weeks after Bongiovanni was indicted.”

See: https://buffalonews.com/news/local/crim ... 999fa.html

Gerace was involved in a telemarketing scam going back to the early to mid 90’s. Again, telemarketing has been a long time scam involving members and associates of the Buffalo crime family as outlined in posts above. Here is what the Buffalo News wrote in 2000:

“Peter G. Gerace Jr., 32, of West Phalinger Road, Clarence, and Michael Geiger, 32, of Colonial Drive, City of Tonawanda, each were charged with a single count of conspiring to commit wire fraud.
According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony M. Bruce, the two were owners of Advanced Distributing, 3109 Delaware Ave., Kenmore, which operated from late 1992 to February 1995. They're accused of of overseeing an operation that defrauded customers by trying to get them to participate in a non-existent "promotion" and falsely leading victims to believe they were in line to receive a new car or cash if they participated in the promotions.”

See: https://buffalonews.com/news/two-indict ... 5783c.html

The following is some actual text from the case US vs. Gerace:

Sometime prior to December 2, 1993, a Buffalo Telemarketing Task Force ("Task Force") was created for the purpose of investigating and assisting in the prosecution of telemarketing companies engaging in fraudulent telemarketing practices. This Task Force is composed of representatives from various law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, Secret Service, United States Postal Authorities, and the New York State Police. The members of the Task Force work collaboratively with the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York in carrying out their responsibilities. T. 20. For purposes of this Report and Recommendation, the principal members of the Task Force are Special Agent Elizabeth R. Rios of the FBI and State Investigator Thomas Flechsenhaar of the New York State Police.
References to "T" are to the transcript of the hearing conducted by the Court on December 27, 2000.
One of the techniques utilized by telemarketing companies engaged in fraudulent telemarketing is described as either a "one in four" or a "one-in-five" sweepstakes wherein and whereby a victim is telephonically advised that he or she has won one of four, or one of five, valuable prizes such as a large-screen television or a pre-paid vacation. However, in order to be able to claim this prize, the victim must first purchase a particular product such as a water filtering system from the company at a purchase price of $600 or some other highly inflated price over the true value of the product in question. Elderly adults are the usual targets of this practice. T 24, 28-29, 32-33.
Advanced Distributing ("Advanced"), the assumed business name for PPG Enterprices, Inc. of which the defendants Geiger and Gerace are alleged to be the sole shareholders and officers, is located at 3109 Delaware Avenue, Kenmore, New York and is engaged in a telemarketing business. On or about December 2, 1993, a telemarketing fraud file on Advanced ("Advanced File") was opened by the Task Force as a result of a complaint having been filed by an alleged victim with the FBI. Thereafter, in 1994, numerous individual and law enforcement complaints against Advanced were noted in the file, which complaints were received from various locations in New York and New Jersey. T. 21-23, 40. Basically, these complaints indicated that customers of Advanced had not received the prizes that had been promised to them. Special Agent Rios became the case agent on the Advanced File in October, 1994, and at that time, she reviewed the file. Based on her experience in investigating telemarketing fraud, she concluded from this review that Advanced was engaged in a "one-in-four" or "one-in-five" scheme in carrying on its business activities. T. 24, 51-52.

See: https://casetext.com/case/us-v-gerace-4

As you can see in the following link Paul Cambria was Peter Gerace Jr.’s attorney with activity in the case recorded thru 2009 and therefore could have had a conflict of interest representing Bongiovanni. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/47 ... -v-gerace/

^^^^
Peter Gerace is suing his stripper ex-wife, Katrina Nigro, for libel in NYS Supreme Court, Erie County. According to his suit his she is an alcoholic, drug addict, emotionally and mentally unstable, and habitual liar. According to Gerace, Katrina has falsely claimed to be an FBI Agent and and a CI on sex trafficking for the FBI among numerous other things. In 2016 he alleges she lied on Facebook saying:

“...he [Plaintiffj did pay off police . . . [h]e [Plaintiffj pays everyone off . . . [h]e [Plaintiffj paid off former chiefs of police
including Danny Derenda along with so many others. He [Plaintiff] gave me [Defendant Katrina] traumatic brain injury after kicking me [Defendant Katrina] in the head multiple times and paid the [C]heektowaga [P]olice off for a clam bake and an office[r] who had cancer . . .[Plaintiff is] a drug dealer, sex trafficker, domestic abuser and psychopath . . . I'm [Defendant Katrina is] sick of death threats . . . [a]nd hookers who [Defendant Katrina] can list but [Defendant Katrina is] not, using him for 200 and blow . . . ."

He alleges she lied in family court saying:

“...Peter [Plaintiffj has threaten to kill me [Defendant Katrina], naming people who are in the mafia that he [Plaintiffj knows who could kill me [Defendant Katrina]. He's [Plaintiff has] said 'you know what I can do.'”

“According to the suit, his ex-wife made numerous patently false claims about him to the Amherst Police. The suit reads:

After repeated false reports to the Amherst Police against Plaintiff, after investigations were undertaken and shown to be palpably and objectively false, the Town of Amherst Court issued a two (2) year restraining order against Defendant Katrina.”

As to the other defendant, Phlycia Hunt, a former employee of Gerace (stripper?), was accused of stealing his Rolex. The suit reads:

“Upon information and belief, Defendant Phlycia provided the FBI with false information alleging that Plaintiff was involved with criminal activity of a state and federal nature, conjured up details to entice prosecutors and law enforcement agencies, all with the intent to obtain more lenient disposition for her own criminal wrongdoing in connection to her theft and conversion of Plaintiff's wristwatch.”

The Gerace libel suit raises the fallowing questions:

1. Is Peter Gerace telling the truth? Has he been wrongly accused by Katrina and Phlycia and therefore wrongly alleged to be coconspirator 1, which is called “a member and associate of IOC,” in the Masecchia/Bongiovanni indictment.
2. Is the a legal maneuver to discredit Katrina or Phlycia if one of them happens to be a witness and/or the stripper who OD’ed in the Bongiovanni indictment.
3. Is the a legal maneuver to discredit Phlycia and Katrina to prevent a future indictment?
4. Or could this be an attempt to intimidate Katrina and/or Phylicia from becoming witnesses for the prosecution in the Masecchia/Bongiovanni case or future indictment?

Here is a link where you can get the complaint and summons: https://www.docketalarm.com/cases/New_Y ... gro_et_al/

[Moscone65]

^^^^
Thanks. I’m not sure either about the Joe Catroppa allegedly murdered in Mexico, but an online obituary for a Joseph Catroppa Jr. was published earlier today — here’s the link:

https://memorials.vesciofuneralhome.com ... h/4350555/

In this article by Peter Edwards that was published online today, his reporting appears to confirm what Moscone65 wrote about Catroppa. Excerpt from the article (the first two paras.):

Pat Musitano was a brash, loud mob boss, but his funeral was so low key it went almost entirely unnoticed after he was murdered by a gunman in a Burlington parking lot this summer in the midst of the global pandemic.

When his associate, Joseph Catroppa, was shot dead outside a hotel in Cancun, Mexico, in September, his funeral service in Woodbridge was also a private, quiet affair, marked publicly by only an online announcement.
Link in case the article is behind a paywall: https://outline.com/AmqRR8

Original link:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/1 ... demic.html

Catroppa was part of the musitanos eastern expansion, trying to push into Toronto. However he was involved with coke not gambling. He was not related to blood to the musitanos and was likely friends with Ang, through high school friends back in Hamilton. (Catroppa lived in Oakville which is basically Toronto but very close to Hamilton too).

[OcSleeper]

Regarding the Musitanos: They are often labelled as 'Ndrangheta but how accurate is that label?

I read that the Barbaro 'ndrina is where the Musitanos and Papalias roots come from. There is about 10 different families all intermarried to eachother. That make up that Ndrina

[CabriniGreen]

Regarding the Musitanos: They are often labelled as 'Ndrangheta but how accurate is that label?

I read that the Barbaro 'ndrina is where the Musitanos and Papalias roots come from. There is about 10 different families all intermarried to eachother. That make up that Ndrina

Correct there.....

[B.]

LCNBios' article about Connecticut 'ndrangheta member Cosmo Sandalo (who appears to have been later inducted into the Gambino family) says he was from Oppido Mamertina, Calabria and was in close contact with 'ndrangheta figures in Toronto and Montreal.

I was re-reading that article and it dawned on me that the Luppinos are from Oppido Mamertina as well. Highly likely that the Luppino-Violis were among Sandalo's Canadian friends. Interesting, too, that like the Luppino-Violis he was made into a US family.

Sandalo's nephew was the Gambino CT leader Tony Megale, who is now dead. A CI described Canadians figures coming to a Sandalo relative's wedding in Connecticut in 1970, so Megale appears to have had opportunities to meet some of the Canadians. I wonder if he maintained ties there.

[Tonyd621]

LCNBios' article about Connecticut 'ndrangheta member Cosmo Sandalo (who appears to have been later inducted into the Gambino family) says he was from Oppido Mamertina, Calabria and was in close contact with 'ndrangheta figures in Toronto and Montreal.

I was re-reading that article and it dawned on me that the Luppinos are from Oppido Mamertina as well. Highly likely that the Luppino-Violis were among Sandalo's Canadian friends. Interesting, too, that like the Luppino-Violis he was made into a US family.

Sandalo's nephew was the Gambino CT leader Tony Megale, who is now dead. A CI described Canadians figures coming to a Sandalo relative's wedding in Connecticut in 1970, so Megale appears to have had opportunities to meet some of the Canadians. I wonder if he maintained ties there.

Being from and living in CT.impressive research skills.

[Moscone65]

A lot of Toronto ties to conneticut

[BobbyBacala]

A gambling den got busted yesterday I think it's the commissos http://torontopolice.on.ca/newsreleases/48703

[antimafia]

^^^^
Do you know whether he’s related to a Domenic(o) Mazzei, who if alive would be 69 or 70 years old? Send me a PM if you’d rather not reply in this thread.

[scagghiuni]

LCNBios' article about Connecticut 'ndrangheta member Cosmo Sandalo (who appears to have been later inducted into the Gambino family) says he was from Oppido Mamertina, Calabria and was in close contact with 'ndrangheta figures in Toronto and Montreal.

I was re-reading that article and it dawned on me that the Luppinos are from Oppido Mamertina as well. Highly likely that the Luppino-Violis were among Sandalo's Canadian friends. Interesting, too, that like the Luppino-Violis he was made into a US family.

Sandalo's nephew was the Gambino CT leader Tony Megale, who is now dead. A CI described Canadians figures coming to a Sandalo relative's wedding in Connecticut in 1970, so Megale appears to have had opportunities to meet some of the Canadians. I wonder if he maintained ties there.

in some parts of north italy several sicilians and neapolitans are members of the ndrangheta, it depends who is the stronger in that territory, in the us cosa nostra is by far the strongest among italian oc groups so it's normal than even ndranghetisti can be made into us families

[B.]

LCNBios' article about Connecticut 'ndrangheta member Cosmo Sandalo (who appears to have been later inducted into the Gambino family) says he was from Oppido Mamertina, Calabria and was in close contact with 'ndrangheta figures in Toronto and Montreal.

I was re-reading that article and it dawned on me that the Luppinos are from Oppido Mamertina as well. Highly likely that the Luppino-Violis were among Sandalo's Canadian friends. Interesting, too, that like the Luppino-Violis he was made into a US family.

Sandalo's nephew was the Gambino CT leader Tony Megale, who is now dead. A CI described Canadians figures coming to a Sandalo relative's wedding in Connecticut in 1970, so Megale appears to have had opportunities to meet some of the Canadians. I wonder if he maintained ties there.

in some parts of north italy several sicilians and neapolitans are members of the ndrangheta, it depends who is the stronger in that territory, in the us cosa nostra is by far the strongest among italian oc groups so it's normal than even ndranghetisti can be made into us families

In LCNBios' write-up, the evidence on Sandalo seems to shift toward him being a made member of the Gambino family after the 1970s when the books opened up. I suspect they inducted him at that time like other new members, as a transfer is not possible between the 'ndrangheta and mafia like it is between the Sicilian and US mafia.

It's like Pennisi talked about in the recent interview, how they don't officially recognize the 'ndrangheta but they intuitively "know" what they are and there is comradery. When it comes to the rules, it looks like 'ndrangheta members have to be inducted like any associate.

You have to wonder if someone who is made into the 'ndrangheta and the mafia, like Sandalo or probably Giacomo Luppino, would try to make a formal introduction between the groups. I don't think they'd allow it even with a middleman who was a member of both, as they aren't the "same thing". It would be like trying to put a Sega Genesis game into a Super Nintendo... they are both video games, but the Super Nintendo is not designed to "recognize" Genesis games. Sometimes, though, you have the same game licensed by both Sega and Nintendo so it comes out for both systems. You can play it on both Genesis and Nintendo, but you can't use the same cartridge to do it. That's what guys like Sandalo and Luppino are like, video games licensed for two different gaming systems haha.

[scagghiuni]

In LCNBios' write-up, the evidence on Sandalo seems to shift toward him being a made member of the Gambino family after the 1970s when the books opened up. I suspect they inducted him at that time like other new members, as a transfer is not possible between the 'ndrangheta and mafia like it is between the Sicilian and US mafia.

transfer is not possible between ndrangheta and us cosa nostra unlike sicilian mafia , but in italy for example a ndrangheta member, even a very powerful one can be inducted into cosa nostra and a a sicilian (not usually a boss anyway) can be made a member of ndrangheta

[NickleCity]

Michael Masecchia changing his plea: https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17 ... er_by=desc

[thesociety 89]

Nickle City....any idea who these 30 members are fella?