Resolving the Colombo War.

[gohnjotti]

I have compiled this using Salvatore Vitale's testimony. I can post the full transcript if you want, this is not Vitale's actual words but is written based off what he said.

The Colombo Family war was officially resolved at a Commission meeting in a Manhattan hotel. Vitale first testified the meeting was in "approximately '98" but later in his testimony, he admitted he didn't know when the meeting was, only that it was after the 1993 murder of Joey Scopo. This was not addressing at the trial, but the meeting could not have been in 1998 because attendee Andrew Russo was imprisoned in 1996 and denied bail due to violating the terms of his supervised release.

Those attending the meeting were;
Colombo family:
Andrew Russo, representing the Colombo family's Persico faction.
Vinny Aloi, representing the Colombo family's Orena faction.

Bonanno family:
Salvatore Vitale, Bonanno family underboss.
Tony 'TG' Graziano, "Captain with the Bonanno family".
George "Sasha" (probably George Sciascia), "Captain with the Bonanno family".

Gambino family:
Peter Gotti, "from the Gambinos."
Nickie Carraso (probably Nicholas Corozzo) "from the Gambinos."

Genovese family:
"Barnie T"/"Barnie Bullamos" (probably Liborio Bellomo), "I think he was acting boss." Vitale notes; "At the time I think he was acting boss. The West Side changes every week. They could be acting boss today, next week they'll be consiglieri, the next week they'll be - be underboss. Whatever suits them that week."
"Mikey DeMeano" (probably Mickey Generoso), "consiglieri of the West Side at the time."

Lucchese family:
"Joe DeFitti" (probably Joseph DeFede).
"Stevie Carillo" (probably Steven Crea?).

When the meeting was convened, Barney did "most of the talking," and told the two Colombos;
"It has to stop. You have to resolve your differences. Go into the other room, resolve your differences. When you come out, we want it resolved."
When they came out, it wasn't resolved. They were both agitated, both annoyed with each other and both left. At that point, the Commission took a vote and put the weight behind Carmine 'Junior' Persico, since the Commission realized they were on a "road to nowhere" and they were not going to be able to resolve their differences. The Commission figured that if they handed it to the Persicos, the other faction would fall into line because they would realize the Commission was no longer neutral toward them.
Then, the Commission agreed that each family, including the Persico faction of the Colombos, would be able to induct five new members each. "Not Vinnie Aloi's side," however.

[Pogo The Clown]

Great stuff. Thanks for posting this.


Pogo

[gohnjotti]

Great stuff. Thanks for posting this.


Pogo

No problem Pogo.

I don't want to post too much at the moment, because I still want to release a lot of the testimony exclusively through my biographies. Start a website at some point. Yada yada.

[Ivan]

This is really good gohnjotti. I like how Vitale butchered pretty much everyone's name.

[slimshady_007]

Awesome work gohn.

[B.]

Great information on how the situation was specifically resolved in the end. Sciascia is pronounced phonetically "Sasha" so that would definitely be him. He was reported to be part of a ruling panel under Massino at one point so it isn't surprising he attended an administrative meeting like this.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Amazing post Gohn.

This is the first time to my knowledge how the resolution of the Colombo war played out.

Brilliant mate. You’re a stud

[Pogo The Clown]

Vinny Aloi was promoted to Consigliere soon after this. Probably as a way to bing the Orena guys back into the fold.


Pogo

[TommyNoto]

Wow that is awesome

I’m actually surprised Barney did all the talking as he looks more like the quiet and always observing / listening type. I wish we had more first hand accounts on his style

Peter Gotti is a stand up guy but having him as the strategy man is pretty laughable.

[newera_212]

Great stuff. Seems like Massino sat it out lol. I wonder (doubt) if the meeting was new news to the FBI when Vitale gave up the info. Its gotta be probable that at least half of these guys were being surveilled at the time.

Why the commission didnt just pick one side 6 years earlier and force the other side to fall into line is beyond me - but the families had their own problems at the time. If Gotti was the one sitting comission member propping up Orena, he was locker up by 92 when the war was really popping up. The other families could have ended it

[Wiseguy]

Wow that is awesome

I’m actually surprised Barney did all the talking as he looks more like the quiet and always observing / listening type. I wish we had more first hand accounts on his style

"Definitely the most important guy in this room."

[Mason_dixon]

Wise guy ... I guess you are right but wasn’t Peter Gotti official boss at this point? And also we should consider how powerful the bonnanos were at this point. I’d say they were as strong as any family in the room around 98 save maybe the Genovese.

[gohnjotti]

This is really good gohnjotti. I like how Vitale butchered pretty much everyone's name.

It woulda been the court transcriber that butchered everyone’s name, probably just going of phonetics.

Vinny Aloi was promoted to Consigliere soon after this. Probably as a way to bing the Orena guys back into the fold.


Pogo

Do you know if he ever served any time for after the war? I can’t remember him doing so... that’s crazy that he was just about the only guy to retire unscathed after maintaining such a high position in the family during the war.

Great stuff. Seems like Massino sat it out lol. I wonder (doubt) if the meeting was new news to the FBI when Vitale gave up the info. Its gotta be probable that at least half of these guys were being surveilled at the time.

Why the commission didnt just pick one side 6 years earlier and force the other side to fall into line is beyond me - but the families had their own problems at the time. If Gotti was the one sitting comission member propping up Orena, he was locker up by 92 when the war was really popping up. The other families could have ended it

It most likely wasn’t surveilled since it wasn’t cited by the probation department when Andrew Russo was locked up. You gotta assume that these guys made damn sure to lose any tails during these Commission meetings in the 1990s, I don’t think any full-scale meetings were watched during this time.

Wise guy ... I guess you are right but wasn’t Peter Gotti official boss at this point? And also we should consider how powerful the bonnanos were at this point. I’d say they were as strong as any family in the room around 98 save maybe the Genovese.

John Gotti was still alive at this point, so Pete was still acting.


Thank you for the feedback guys, definitely an awesome find that was overlooked by the media during Allies trial. Is it just me, or is it kind of comical that Barney Bellomo had to tell Russo and Aloi to go into the other room and make up, like they’re two school kids who got into a fight on the playground? Especially when you consider that Barney is at least 20 years younger than both of these guys. I don’t know, I just imagine him scolding the two like a fed-up teacher.

[johnny_scootch]

Awesome stuff gohnjotti, cant wait to read more.

[slimshady_007]

This is really good gohnjotti. I like how Vitale butchered pretty much everyone's name.

It woulda been the court transcriber that butchered everyone’s name, probably just going of phonetics.

Vinny Aloi was promoted to Consigliere soon after this. Probably as a way to bing the Orena guys back into the fold.


Pogo

Do you know if he ever served any time for after the war? I can’t remember him doing so... that’s crazy that he was just about the only guy to retire unscathed after maintaining such a high position in the family during the war.

Great stuff. Seems like Massino sat it out lol. I wonder (doubt) if the meeting was new news to the FBI when Vitale gave up the info. Its gotta be probable that at least half of these guys were being surveilled at the time.

Why the commission didnt just pick one side 6 years earlier and force the other side to fall into line is beyond me - but the families had their own problems at the time. If Gotti was the one sitting comission member propping up Orena, he was locker up by 92 when the war was really popping up. The other families could have ended it

It most likely wasn’t surveilled since it wasn’t cited by the probation department when Andrew Russo was locked up. You gotta assume that these guys made damn sure to lose any tails during these Commission meetings in the 1990s, I don’t think any full-scale meetings were watched during this time.

Wise guy ... I guess you are right but wasn’t Peter Gotti official boss at this point? And also we should consider how powerful the bonnanos were at this point. I’d say they were as strong as any family in the room around 98 save maybe the Genovese.

John Gotti was still alive at this point, so Pete was still acting.


Thank you for the feedback guys, definitely an awesome find that was overlooked by the media during Allies trial. Is it just me, or is it kind of comical that Barney Bellomo had to tell Russo and Aloi to go into the other room and make up, like they’re two school kids who got into a fight on the playground? Especially when you consider that Barney is at least 20 years younger than both of these guys. I don’t know, I just imagine him scolding the two like a fed-up teacher.

The fact that they listened to barney rly shows how much respect barney has.