Ronnie One Arm opening statement 2006

[johnny_scootch]

https://www.cosanostranews.com/2019/02/ ... ening.html


Gambino Capo Ronnie One-Arm's Complete Opening Statement From His October 2006 Trial In Miami
By Ed Scarpo Sunday, February 17, 2019

"It's omerta."
--The father of a woman murdered by the Young Guns, aka The Ozone Park Boys

Ronald Trucchio, a capo in the Gambino crime family, could spot talent, an innate ability that helped him put together a crew in Ozone Park, Queens, that pulled in tens of millions of dollars a year and that, in time, also operated in Florida committing just about every crime in the book. So alleged law enforcement.

When Trucchio, known as Ronnie One-Arm because of a childhood accident that deformed his left arm, went on trial in Miami in 2006, he represented himself, giving the opening statement, which is reproduced in its entirety below. Saying he meant no disrespect, Trucchio asked to go it alone in his racketeering and extortion trial, at least for a few days. New York lawyer Joseph Corozzo Jr. was supposed to represent him, but was stuck in a trial up north.

So, minutes before jury selection began, an alleged Gambino crime family capo announced unexpectedly that he would represent himself until his lawyer arrived.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's not my lawyer," Trucchio said, referring to replacement counsel George Vila.

"I'm not going to speak to him, and I'm going to defend myself."

Vila, a Miami lawyer, admitted to the court that he had not read through all the case files since U.S. District Judge Susan Bucklew refused earlier this month to postpone the trial.

The judge said Vila had been assigned as the case's local attorney for a year and should have been prepared for what could be an eight-week trial.

"Might as well take me out in the yard and shoot me," Trucchio responded. "I believe we're being sandbagged once again by the government."

Trucchio at that time was already serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for similar crimes in South Florida.


Trucchio was initiated into the Gambino family in 1978, according to authorities in Queens. By the time he reached his 50s, he was a capo running a number of crews and kicking up a share of their criminal earnings as "tribute" to the family's highest echelon.

Cruising the streets of his Ozone Park neighborhood in a silver Cadillac clad in $5,000 suits with a thick roll of cash in his pocket,Trucchio sought recruits. He was later described as a walking billboard for "the life." One Queens investigator once likened him to a modern-day Fagin, the Dickens character who headed a gang of thieving street urchins.

His crew -- known as The Young Guns aka the Ozone Park Boys -- brought their criminal operation south to Florida in the mid-1990s.

"The Government wrote a good movie and a good script for a TV show, very impressive, but in the Sopranos. But this is real life, and things don't go just one, two, three...."

Trucchio's "Young Guns" operated out of an apartment in Deerfield Beach during the mid-to-late-1990s. They announced their arrival in Florida with a literal bang: three bullet-riddled bodies were found in one weekend in October 1995. Nightclub bouncer Vincent D’Angola, 27, and his ex-girlfriend, Jami Schneider, 24, were both shot to death at D’Angola’s Fort Lauderdale apartment, and D’Angola's friend, Little League coach Mark Rizzuto, 26, met the same fate in his Boca Raton apartment.

The crew was suspected of running an extensive credit-card fraud scheme, and robbing jewelry stores, armored cars, and supermarkets in both New York and Florida, according to federal and local law enforcement officials.

Crew leader Martin Bosshart, who was whacked in 2002, once ran a block-sized chop shop operation in Queens and kept the apartment in Deerfield Beach where crew members from Ozone Park would come for a few months, commit crimes, then return, to be replaced by other crew members. Bosshart also worked as a promoter at the Crystal Palace nightclub in Oakland Park and used the aliases Marty Scireca and Marty Ryan in Florida, according to Fort Lauderdale police.

Fear prevented anyone from cooperating with authorities against Ronnie One-Arm and his crew. As an apparent warning, two of D'Angola's friends were stabbed after his wake .

"It's omerta," said Mitch Schneider, Jami's father, referring to the Mafia's oath of secrecy, the violation of which is a death sentence.

The triple slayings led to the creation of a joint state and federal task force that hunted The Young Guns all the way back to Queens, where they found that Trucchio, the Gambino capo, was the one giving the orders. In time the taskforce investigation resulted in the indictments of Trucchio and 11 crew members.

Several cases converged at once on Ronnie One-Arm.

The Gambino capo was facing City and State charges when the Department of Justice indicted him and nine others on racketeering charges that put him on the path to the life sentence he's now serving at Lewisburg USP. Arrested with him was a group of young mobsters from Queens and Long Island including Darren Sirrota, Frank Roccaforte, Kevin Antinuche, Gennaro Bruno, Edward Callegari, Robert Bucholz, Joseph Kondrotos, Valentino Nucci and Dave Prevete.

Trucchio was charged with being the capo-regime who organized and planned many of the crimes, and mediated disputes. He was also accused of intimidating government witnesses during trials.

Trucchio had pleaded guilty to his role in a $30 million gambling ring that operated out of two Ozone Park locations. The operation allegedly netted over $600,000 per week in sports bets. The indictment also alleged that Trucchio had conspired to engage in racketeering, murder, robbery, arson, extortion, kidnapping, drug trafficking, tampering with witnesses, retaliating against witnesses, credit card fraud, intrastate travel in aid of racketeering activity, interference with commerce by threats and violence, interstate transportation of stolen property, and thefts from interstate shipments.

Authorities alleged that Trucchio had been running this crew since 1986.

As the man at the top, the boss who took "tribute," a cut of the criminal proceeds, and passed along the rest to his mob bosses, Trucchio was legally accountable for the crimes of his underlings, according to the indictment.

The court papers offer a motive behind the long-standing triple-murder mystery. Federal prosecutors said that the two men were slain to silence them during a credit card fraud investigation. The woman was at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Trucchio also is named with another of his crews in a second indictment unsealed in Tampa. There, his crew was accused of trying to gain control of the city's valet parking businesses.That is the case involving John Alite, who was in a Brazil prison when Ronnie One-Arm gave his opening statement.

"I'm in Brazil until 2007," John Alite said today in an interview. "In 2005, Corozzo and Ronnie One-Arm sent me paperwork," some of the details of which were written up in stories by The Daily News and New York Post, as well as Gang Land News.

"I don't testify until 2009," Alite added.


The Miami trial was positioned as the latest chapter in the decades-long history of the Mafia in South Florida. The region is considered open territory for mobsters, and over the years, such criminal icons as Al Capone, Johnny Roselli, Meyer Lansky and others have taken up residence here to capitalize on the beaches, the bars, the horse racing, the gambling and seemingly limitless ways to make an easy buck.

Prosecutors charged that some of the indicted mobsters made weapons behind bars and planned to attack prosecutors and witnesses at a court hearing. No attack took place.

At a court hearing, prosecutors introduced a jailhouse letter as proof of Ronnie One-Arm's state of mind. The two-page note -- written by co-defendant Edward "Crazy Eddie" Callegari and intended for Joseph "Baby Face" Kondrotos -- was turned over as part of a cooperation deal.

Referring to Trucchio, Callegari noted, "That [expletive] over there is always crying that he don't know why he's down here." Callegari further complained that it was easy enough for Trucchio and other Gambino family members to accept the cash, if not the risk.

"All they want is to get the money and keep it for themselves," he wrote.

Callegari vowed that if he were freed, "I'm stepping up to the four families and telling them I'm the new guy in charge and I'm even renaming the [Gambino] family."

Callegari pleaded guilty to a racketeering conspiracy charge and was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison. Eight other crew members also pleaded guilty as the trial approached.

The U.S. attorney for South Florida, Marcos Daniel Jimenez, said the crew's home base was in Ozone Park but that they moved freely between Florida and New York.

Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said the group turned Interstate 95, which connects New York and Florida, into a virtual crime highway. He said that they “(broke) the law with impunity, terrorized law abiding citizens and raked in millions of dollars of tax free criminal proceeds.”

State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer previously filed charges against Trucchio accusing him of insurance fraud. Spitzer said that Trucchio had claimed to have no income on his December 9, 1999, application for Social Security Insurance disability benefits that allowed him to receive more than $100,000 between 2000 and 2003 in disability benefits. The attorney general also noted that in Trucchio's application to buy a 2002 Cadillac DeVille, Trucchio had noted having an annual salary of $72,000 from Aldo’s Restaurant.




Click the link to get the opening statement it's quite long so I didn't bother to copy and paste it.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Good post, thanks johnny.

[bronx]

ronnie ratted on two rats

[Bklyn21]

ronnie ratted on two rats

This was before they ratted, John Alite was still in Brazil and this is what pushed him to become a rat ! Was Jr. Outted yet with that proffer session ? Mr.One Arm shoots his mouth off all over the place, Holyyyyy Christtttttt !!! He talks about OC , Vinny Assaro, Jr., Alite "The "FOUNDATION" ladies n Gentleman, Dont forget about the "HOUSE" , THE "FOUNDATION" is what this is all about here John Alite and Jr. ! Not me, I dont why im here ? He throws everyone under the "CEMETERY" forget the bus , And he sounds like a fool, OMFGGGG!! These jurors were probably like Wtf is this guy talking about ?? He starts going into stories, I gave the jewelry back plus the 150 dollars, I gave it back, I dont know how they got shot a day later ? Joey T, Mike malone blah blah blah, John Alite is a Drug lord, The boss, A thug , It was all John Jr. And Alite running the show, Taking over the Valet biz, Controlling the Drug Biz, They put me in it, I said no no no, Please Mr.Alite and Mr.Gotti !! Smh.... Your in alotta trouble Ronnie, No no no your in very big trouble Vinny, They said your name 126 times and mine only 119 so your in trouble Vinny, I counted ! The police used to come over and say Ronnie, Whats going on here ? These kids are going crazy insane Ronnie , Whats up with that Ronnie?? Ok I says, If you make me an honorary Deputy , Deputize me and promise not to arrest me i'll police this neighborhood and turn all these law breakers in to you guys . He says Vinny Assaro is a Captain with another family, Bonnano ! Holy christ im dying laughing over here ! Maybe that was the Strategy, Leave this guy alone with no defense lawyer and let him sink himself and everyone within 4,000 miles ! A mind really is a terrible thing to waste

[bronx]

So this opening statement made alite a rat? jr was a rat already ,now ronnie is ratting on alite who in turn rats on guys because ronnie ratted on him in an opening address? i get that right?. my guess is if ronnie does not do this alite never rats? what about the other rats in that case ,they don't rat on alite? i could use the help on all this ratting

[bronx]

now jr rats on guys who did not commit murders because he did not like them? so that makes him a lying rat in my opinion. jr thinks he did not rat because lied about putting guys on murders they did not do and was only kidding the feds by saying that to trick them into thinking he quit the mafia..so he rats but really didnt rat because he tricked the G..seems like ronnie alite and jr really are not rats to me.glad i cleared that up.

[Stroccos]

now jr rats on guys who did not commit murders because he did not like them? so that makes him a lying rat in my opinion. jr thinks he did not rat because lied about putting guys on murders they did not do and was only kidding the feds by saying that to trick them into thinking he quit the mafia..so he rats but really didnt rat because he tricked the G..seems like ronnie alite and jr really are not rats to me.glad i cleared that up.

I agree Bronx , I remember the old saying you can’t rat on a rat !

[Hellboy]

Um, I'm confused. You got me all fucked up. So bronx, you're saying they aren't rats? I mean to me, they are. I think all the question marks screwed me up.

[Hellboy]

Ratting is ratting. Doesn't matter who you rat on. You still a rat. At least where I'm from

[Bklyn21]

So this opening statement made alite a rat? jr was a rat already ,now ronnie is ratting on alite who in turn rats on guys because ronnie ratted on him in an opening address? i get that right?. my guess is if ronnie does not do this alite never rats? what about the other rats in that case ,they don't rat on alite? i could use the help on all this ratting

I have no clue ? , Anything is possible ! I never saw that opening statement, Heard about it but now that I finally got to read it im shocked ! Ronnie made a huge spectacle of himself and threw everyone under the bus , He got exactly what he deserved ...Theyre all Rats

[bronx]

hellboy,exactly what im saying ronnie ratted...but in todays mob times when guys admit they are members and point blame at others ,it is not ratting..i read something that alite was an informer or ratting way back in the street, early 90's. bklyn surprised me also about ronnie..

[Fughedaboutit]

hellboy,exactly what im saying ronnie ratted...but in todays mob times when guys admit they are members and point blame at others ,it is not ratting..i read something that alite was an informer or ratting way back in the street, early 90's. bklyn surprised me also about ronnie..

I can agree with giving a pass to admitting membership, The Genovese have been doing it forever. But since when is pointing blame at others in a court of law not ratting? lol

[JCB1977]

That’s the difference between today’s mobsters and the previous generations. Doing the allocution, that’s a big no-no in the old days. Just goes to show how times have changed and how the mafia has lost a huge portion of their power, especially nationwide. Couldn’t imagine Carlo or Accardo telling one of their guys that it’s okay to admit membership of this thing.

[slimshady_007]

That’s the difference between today’s mobsters and the previous generations. Doing the allocution, that’s a big no-no in the old days. Just goes to show how times have changed and how the mafia has lost a huge portion of their power, especially nationwide. Couldn’t imagine Carlo or Accardo telling one of their guys that it’s okay to admit membership of this thing.

The mafia has to adapt to the changing times. If ur facing 20 years in prison, and prosecutors offer u an 18 month plea deal that requires u to admit ur a member of lcn, u would be stupid not to plead out. Nowadays everyone already knows the mafia exists, so admitting ur a member isnt that big of a deal. This isn’t the 40’s. Plus going to trial attracts too much attention from the media and prosecutors may reveal some sensitive shit at trial.

[B.]

It's common for defense lawyers to make similar statements that put the blame on other defendants in mafia cases, especially when their client's case is severed. This has gone on for many decades and sometimes defense lawyers will mention ranks, crimes, etc. and both directly and indirectly attribute them to other defendants. What makes this stand out is it isn't filtered through a lawyer but coming direct from Trucchio. Whether it makes a difference coming from him directly vs. the usual "legal representative" is another subject, but this sort of blame isn't uncommon at all when it comes to defense strategies for otherwise "stand up" guys.