Gangland news 23rd April 2020

[Hailbritain]

By Jerry Capeci

The Next Colombo Family Boss? Two Candidates Are Now At The Same Brooklyn Halfway House

Gang Land Exclusive!Theodore PersicoIn a fashionable corner of downtown Brooklyn they call DUMBO there is a halfway house for federal prisoners who are awaiting release. And as luck would have it, among the current residents there, Gang Land has learned, passing each other regularly in the hallways and lavatories, are a pair of top contenders for boss of the Colombo crime family.

Contender Number One is Theodore (Skinny) Persico, 56, nephew of the legendary Carmine (Junior) Persico, who died last year after serving just over a third of the 100 year sentence he received in the historic Mafia Commission case.

By virtue of both his mob lineage and his prison-hardened experiences, Skinny Persico is viewed by many mob busters as his uncle Carmine's most likely successor atop the Colombo crime family, Gang Land is told.

Persico can argue he has the experience: Back in March, 2010, when Teddy Persico was arrested and jailed, he was already serving as the crime family's underboss. He can also point to his accomplishments: He is now finishing up a 12-year prison term after copping a plea deal for ordering the 1993 murder of rival capo Joseph Scopo. That was the killing that propelled the Persico loyalists to victory in the bloody 1990s family civil war and enabled the late Mafia boss to maintain control of the crime family.

Joel CacaceContender Number Two, however, is also a strong candidate: He's Joel (Joe Waverly) Cacace, a leading member of the rebel faction in the Colombo civil war who is now completing a 20-year-bid for murder. Cacace, 79, has his own impressive resume: He once served as acting boss for the late Carmine Persico. Sources say Joe Waverly is also a viable contender for the top spot — if he wants it.

Under the Bureau of Prisons rules that they live by, the wiseguys are permitted to speak to each other while they are at the 132 bed facility Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass. And since they have each been there since mid-December, it's reasonable to assume that they have done so at least once or twice in the past three months.

Neither could be reached by Gang Land, and it's doubtful that either of the two wiseguys with aggressive personalities would discuss his future plans with us. But perhaps imprisonment has calmed their respective nerves and will enable them to help establish a peaceful future for the crime family in the coming months and years.

Carmine PersicoYou'd think that Cacace, who has survived three shootouts in his long career — including one back in 1976 and two with Greg Scarpa Sr. during the 1991-1993 war — would be eager to spend the autumn of his years at home with his family. That's what attorney Susan Kellman said Joe Waverly was most happy about when she spoke to Gang Land in January about his release from prison.

The Cacace family feud over the million dollar estate of his son Joel Jr., who died of a heart attack in 2015, is still unsettled. But that's small potatoes compared to being shot in the chest in front of the Party Room Social Club in Sheepshead Bay which is where Scarpa plugged him on February 23, 1992. Cacace underwent emergency surgery at King's County Hospital and pulled through.

Then again, you never know. Joe Waverly "is not really a go-along kind-of guy," said one knowledgeable Gang Land source, pointing to his alleged order to whack police officer Ralph Dols in 1997 for marrying his ex-wife, the crime for which Cacace was acquitted at trial.

The same source noted that in January of 2003, years before he would be charged with the Dols murder, arresting agents who nabbed him for ordering four 1987 mob murders taunted him about being considered a cop-killer by the law as well as his neighbors. "I don't give a fuck," Joe Waverly is said to have replied.

After the bloody two-year feud, Junior Persico made peace with Joe Waverly and named him as acting family boss. That lasted until Cacace's 2003 arrest for the 1987 murders that included the mistaken slaying of George Aronwald whose father William was a former federal prosecutor and the person whom Persico had asked Joe Waverly to whack.

Most Gang Land sources, however, see Skinny Teddy Persico as the likeliest to rise to the top of the crime family.

Alphonse Persico"I think that's been in the cards ever since Allie went down for Cutolo's killing," said one law enforcement source, referring to the 2007 conviction of former acting boss Alphonse Persico, Carmine's son, for the 1999 murder of former underboss William (Wild Bill) Cutolo. "We got word in 2008 that Teddy was being pushed as underboss," the source continued.

"Teddy's got the inside track," agreed a knowledgeable underworld source. "People who know him say he's not the hothead, or crazed mean-spirited guy that the feds say he is, or was. They say he's level-headed and loyal. Granted, he's going to have to learn how to stay out of prison."

Theodore Persico Sr., a family capo, died in 2017 while Teddy Jr. was behind bars on his current stretch. But he was plugged into the family's hierarchy as early as 1993, when he was serving a 20-to-life state prison sentence for drug dealing, according to court filings.

During a court-approved furlough attending the wake of his maternal grandmother, Skinny Teddy passed the orders to crew members Anthony (Big Anthony) Russo and Francis (BF) Guerra to kill Scopo, who was shot to death in front of his Queens home on October 20, 1993.

Anthony RussoIn seeking to detain Skinny Teddy without bail in the case that led to his conviction for Scopo's murder, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn wrote that a codefendant was tape-recorded on July 15, 2009 stating that Teddy Persico Jr. "had been made underboss of the Colombo family."

A year earlier, the prosecutors wrote, Teddy Persico, who was tape-recorded numerous times during the three year probe, had confirmed his own status as a plugged-in and high-ranked wiseguy on tape. Agents listened as the up and coming gangster correctly named the crime family's newly anointed acting boss and consigliere as Benjamin (The Claw) Castellazzo and Richard (Richie Nerves) Fusco.

If Skinny Teddy manages to get to the top, and wants to avoid ending up like his uncle Carmine, or his cousin Alphonse, who is serving a life sentence for Cutolo's murder, he'll have to avoid saying out loud many of the things that he was tape-recorded saying back in 2008 and 2009.

"If it was up to me," Skinny Teddy said about a dispute he was having with Gambino family mobsters, "I'd go get a gun and shoot them, or stab them, or beat them up when I seen them."

At another point, Persico, who has spent more years in prison than Joe Waverly, explained that he had a different lifestyle than a longtime crook who despite years of illegal dealings, was a hard-working family man.

Andrew Russo"You're not me," he said. "You're a guy who wants to work and make a living, I think. I got nothing. They can't fuck with me because I got nothing to lose and they got everything to lose. You can't fuck with them because you've got everything to lose and nothing to gain by getting physical. I can get physical all day long."

"I got nothing to lose, I can get crazy. I don't give a fuck; what are you going to do, put me in jail? What am I going to lose? My wife, my kids, my house that I own, my $2 million house that I own, or my car? I don't own nothing. I got no wife, I got no kids. I can act like a fool."

Whenever his halfway house stint is over — and because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it could end before its scheduled end on May 29 — Skinny Teddy will have three years of post-prison supervised release to convince his peers, and the law, that he's not a fool.

Meanwhile, sources say that 85-year-old Andrew (Mush) Russo, a longtime pal of the family's late boss, is serving his third, or perhaps his fourth stint, as acting Colombo family boss.

COVID-19 Claims 'The Least Violent Mobster In The Five Families'

Ronald CarlucciLongtime Bonanno soldier Ronald (Ronnie Mozzarella) Carlucci, the third known wiseguy to be felled by the deadly COVID-19 virus, was a rare bird in the world of organized crime. At the time of his death last Thursday at the age of 77, the veteran mobster had no convictions — or, for that matter, any arrests for a serious crime.

At the same time, he was a major earner for the Bonanno family as he worked for 30-plus years in the cheese business, according to court filings in Brooklyn Federal Court.

Not everyone in his family did as well. His uncle was a Genovese mobster with a long rap sheet. And two of his nephews are Luchese associates who spent long stretches behind bars for the murder of the son of a feared Colombo mobster.

But Carlucci, a former dock worker, managed to stay out of trouble despite a long life in organized crime.

Joseph MassinoAs you likely surmised, Ronnie Mozzarella was a big wheel in the mozzarella business. He was the owner of Lioni Latticini, of Union, NJ, according to court filings. The company states proudly on its website that it is "the largest importer of 100% grass-fed buffalo milk" from the Campania region of Italy.

Lioni began as a small store a few blocks from Carlucci's Bensonhurst home. It was incorporated in New York in 1984. And, by all accounts, the company was legitimately operated, generating enough money over the years to enable Ronnie Mozzarella to dutifully funnel enough cash up the ladder to keep his mob superiors happy.

In 1998, according to an FBI report obtained by Gang Land, Bonanno boss Joseph Massino transferred Carlucci from one capo to a crew headed by the late Joseph (Joe Saunders) Cammarano, a former underboss, because he "did not have enough earners in his crew."

Lioni produces its prize winning Bufala Fresca and other mouthwatering cheeses in its Garden State plant and now uses its old Brooklyn location as a wholesale warehouse. The company distributes mozzarella and other products to more than 35 states, including Hawaii, according to the company's website.

Neither Massino nor any of the Bonanno turncoats who brought the Mafia boss down, ever told the feds that Ronnie Mozzarella had engaged in any violent activity. But he was said in one FBI report to have been part of a failed mission with a few other Bonannos to find and whack a dumbfella gangster who had badmouthed the mother of their crew chief in 1992.

joseph Cammarano His late uncle, Genovese soldier Dominick (Swaggy) Carlucci supervised the gangland-style slaying of Gerard Pappa in 1980 for family boss Vincent (Chin) Gigante. Carlucci's nephews, Ronald and Russell Carlucci, took part in the 1995 execution murder of Joseph Schiro Scarpa, the son of Greg Scarpa Sr., the Colombo mobster who was a top echelon FBI informer for decades.

Despite his rich Mafia lineage, Ronnie Mozzarella remained an anonymous wiseguy until December of 2005. That was when he had the misfortune to be at Top Tomato in Staten Island, the mob-controlled produce store, when a close pal who happened to be a former cop, began arguing with Gambino capo Carmine Sciandra, who ran the market along with his brother Salvatore.

The ex-cop pulled a gun and shot Sciandra, seriously wounding him. The shooting was big news: Even The New York Times jumped on the story, with a takeout by award-winning columnist Dan Barry.

The law, as well as the Gambino family, determined that Ronnie Mozzarella was blameless in the assault, and was actually trying to be a peacemaker. As a law enforcement source told Gang Land at the time: "Ronnie Mozzarella is probably the least violent mobster in the five families."

John MeringoloFive years later, Carlucci made the news again, and court filings, after Bonanno soldier Armando Rea, an old pal and former crew member, was charged with the Pappa murder, which was allegedly supervised by Carlucci's late uncle Dominick.

That happened after an FBI agent spotted lawyer John Meringolo's car, a blue Maserati, parked in front of Carlucci's home a few nights before a scheduled court session and told prosecutors about it. They asked the Judge to inquire whether Ronnie Mozzarella was paying Rea's legal fees, arguing there might be a conflict of interest there somewhere.

Nothing came of that. The problem disappeared when Meringolo told the court that he was simply visiting a friend from his old neighborhood. "I am not being paid by Mr. Carlucci. I know Ronnie since I was ten years old," the lawyer told Gang Land at the time.

A spokeswoman for Lioni declined to comment about his passing. His surviving family members — two sons, a daughter and several grandchildren — did not respond to a Gang Land message for details about Carlucci's life and death.

Meringolo dismissed all the negative stuff in court filings and FBI documents about Carlucci as "fake news," adding: "Anyone who knew Ronnie, knows he was one of the greatest guys ever. He will be sorely missed."

Rooster Gets Out Of His Cage Today

Eugene OnofrioGenovese capo Eugene (Rooster) Onofrio will leave his prison hospital today a few weeks before a scheduled "compassionate release" that had been granted by prison officials. The move comes after his sentencing judge pointedly RECOMMENDED that the gangster be released as soon as possible because he "was particularly vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus."

Prison officials moved Onofrio's release up from May 4 after Manhattan Federal Judge Richard Sullivan noted his non-binding recommendation in CAPITAL letters. Sullivan stated that the law did not allow him to order the Bureau of Prisons to release the ailing gangster — even though all parties agreed that the 77-year-old mobster should be sprung as soon as possible.

Rooster, however, still wasn't crowing. He was especially unhappy that the BOP insisted that he first had to be placed in Segregated Housing Unit for 14 days "to protect the public and the inmate from the coronavirus pandemic." He noted that the SHU is "solitary confinement" meted out as punishment. He argued that a quarantine at home with his girlfriend would also protect the public, and asked for an immediate release.

Richard SullivanSullivan wrote he saw "no reason to second-guess" the BOP decision on the 14-day quarantine at his prison hospital in Massachusetts, and let Onofrio's release date remain April 23. That is still a little better than May 4, and a lot better than his original release date, October 4.

Onofrio joins Vincent Asaro, the 85-year-old Bonanno soldier who managed to get himself jailed for an arson road rage after winning an astounding acquittal for the storied Lufthansa Airlines heist portrayed in Goodfellas. Ditto Colombo mobster Daniel (The Wig) Capaldo, another New York area wiseguy for whom the coronavirus pandemic has been a get-out-of-jail card.

Asaro, 85, was released from the medical facility in Springfield Monday, following a ruling by Brooklyn Federal Judge Alynne Ross that the aging gangster was to be released because his age, combined with his "deteriorating health," and the dangers of death from the COVID-19 virus "constitutes an extraordinary and compelling reason for his release." Asaro, who suffered a stroke in October, had been slated for release in May, 2022.

Several weeks ago, Capaldo, 55, was released from the Metropolitan Detention Center where he was awaiting trial on racketeering charges. The move came after Judge Brooklyn Judge Margo Brodie ruled that the COVID-19 pandemic increased the possibility that Capaldo, who has asthma and "a history of pneumonia and scarring on his lungs" would die if he were infected.

Not so lucky were four other wiseguys who are either awaiting trial or serving prison terms. Motions for release based on the COVID-19 pandemic filed by Colombo mobsters Joseph Amato, Thomas (The Plumber) Scorcia, and Vito (The Mask) DiFalco, and Luchese soldier Joseph Venice, were all turned down by their respective judges. So were similar motions by mob associates Vincent Terraciano, Salvatore DiSano and Richard O'Connor.

Meanwhile, Gambino mobster John (Johnny Boy) Ambrosio, 77, and associate Antony Saladino, 70, are slated for hearings in Central Islip Federal Court today on their motions for early release from sentences they're serving for racketeering and other charges.

[Stroccos]

Thanks for posting , they should let everyone out who has a year or less on there sentence

[gohnjotti]

James Bombino was also caught on tape saying that Teddy Persico Jr. served as street boss following his 2008 release from prison, which was shortly after the arrests of Tommy Gioeli. Persico Jr. himself was caught on tape shortly after the Gioeli arrest saying that Ben Castellazzo was serving as acting boss.

Also, confirmation that Andy Russo is serving, once again, as acting boss. I give him credit for his persistence.

[chin_gigante]

Great Gang Land this week. Did we know about Teddy Persico being underboss before this?

[JohnnyS]

Good article this week. Thanks for posting.

[gohnjotti]

Great Gang Land this week. Did we know about Teddy Persico being underboss before this?

It was in his 2010 detention memo, and I think the Daily News picked it up at some point.

[Bklyn21]

James Bombino was also caught on tape saying that Teddy Persico Jr. served as street boss following his 2008 release from prison, which was shortly after the arrests of Tommy Gioeli. Persico Jr. himself was caught on tape shortly after the Gioeli arrest saying that Ben Castellazzo was serving as acting boss.

Also, confirmation that Andy Russo is serving, once again, as acting boss. I give him credit for his persistence.

Can't wait for the next column Gohn ! Right up your alley with this week's Gangland

[mlm0047]

Great read thanks !

[Wiseguy]

At least up to this point, it seems the conventional thinking was that Allie would be official boss from prison (like Carmine), with Teddy or whoever being acting boss on the street. It would be interesting if Teddy or whoever took over as official boss on the outside. When was the last time we saw an official Colombo boss on the street? LOL.

[Griz23]

It would make sense that Teddy Persico takes over the Colombos. I would doubt Cacace would want to become boss and have the heat on him at 79 after just doing 20 years in prison.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thank for the post HB.

Interesting to see if Cacace takes a spot in the admin. Castellazzo and Russo as well.

And Rooster has a girlfriend. At 77. LMAO.
Healthcare worker "Eugene do you need anything else before I go?"
"Nah, mah girlfriends coming over later to hang out."

[slimshady_007]

Great Gangland. Seems most likely that Teddy P is on going to ascend to the boss position. I can see him violating his parole within a year however.

[JohnnyS]

It's the right thing. It's inevitable.

[Wiseguy]

Whaddya mean "We'll see?" You're next in line!

[Bklyn21]

Thank for the post HB.

Interesting to see if Cacace takes a spot in the admin. Castellazzo and Russo as well.

And Rooster has a girlfriend. At 77. LMAO.
Healthcare worker "Eugene do you need anything else before I go?"
"Nah, mah girlfriends coming over later to hang out."

lmao as well