Notes on Sal Vitale testimony (Asaro trial)

[B.]

A lot of the "common knowledge" info that we have on the Bonanno family came from Sal Vitale's cooperation, as many articles and books were written before info from Massino's cooperation filtered out (side note: check out the FBI files section for Massino's testimony). Many of the main beats in their accounts match up, but there was a little bit of "controversy" over differences, especially the motivations behind certain murders.

Anyway, I thought it was interesting to see Vitale's recollection around a decade after his initial cooperation. I was also curious to see how his recollection may have changed or what new details might have emerged.

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Background with the Bonanno Family

- In the early 1970s Vitale began working for his brother-in-law Joe Massino in the catering business. Around this time, Vitale and someone named Paulie DeFeo began committing crimes on their own, including breaking and entering. Massino reached out to Vitale and told him he was embarrassing him (Massino) in front of his boss, Rastelli. Massino told Vitale if he was going to commit robberies, they should do them together and from this point on Vitale was on record with the Bonanno family. Vitale would also begin handling numbers work for Massino while working the catering trucks.

- After Vitale became a Bonanno associate, he began splitting all of his scores 50/50 with Massino. Vitale didn't have to do this given Massino himself was still an associate, but Vitale gave him half of his earnings as a sign of respect because of their relation and Massino bringing him into the life.

- Vitale says he never kept track of the total money he earned during his association with the Bonanno family but guesses he made a "couple million." Later it's clarified that this refers to his entire time with the Bonannos, from associate to underboss. Vitale believes over 30 years with the Bonanno family, he made between two and three million dollars total. When asked if he made roughly $100,000 per year, Vitale says there were years where he definitely made less than that.

General Protocol

- Says when a member of any rank is shelved, it is for a certain period of time and when the boss feels enough time has passed he can decide to take him off the shelf. We know of other examples of members being shelved and brought back (Philly shelved a couple of members for ten years then took them off; Joe Indelicato of the Gambinos was also shelved temporarily), but I'm curious if most "shelvings" are intended to be temporary as Vitale implies.

- Vitale says when a member is shelved, he doesn't necessarily lose his rank. He says that when a shelved member is brought back in, he can keep the same position he had beforehand. He says this is different from "breaking" a ranking member, which is equivalent to demotion. Very interesting, as he is saying that someone can be on the shelf and still, for example, be a captain or consigliere, then resume their previous position when they are taken off the shelf. The only example of this I can think of offhand is Ignazio Denaro in Philadelphia, who had his underboss duties stripped but he kept the title.

- Vitale says it is the consigliere who must officially nominate a candidate for boss. Anthony Spero nominated Massino for boss when Rastelli died and captain Louie Tartaglione "seconded" it. I believe when Gotti was elected, it was Joe N. Gallo who formally nominated him (someone correct me if I'm wrong), so maybe there is something to this.

- When asked about how many soldiers could be assigned to a captain, Vitale said in the "old system" you had ten members per captain, but that the boss could now decided to have any number of members in a given crew. Vitale says a member can have an "unlimited" number of associates under him.

- An associate doesn't necessarily kick up part of his scores to the soldier he was with. He says it is "nice of him" to do it, but some do it while others don't.

- An associate can settle a problem with another associate on his own, but if it involves a member the associate must be represented by the member he is with. Not sure about this one, as I thought a member was required to settle issues between associates.

- Vitale confirms what other sources have reported about promotions, where a captain or administration member has to be re-introduced "all over again" by another member who has already been introduced to him with the new position. Like with membership itself, a captain or admin member isn't supposed to tell someone their rank and a third party is required to communicate this to another member. Vitale says this has to happen every time a member is promoted. So in short, a new underboss can't go up to a member (even if he already knows him as a member) and say "Hey, I'm the new underboss." Someone else who has already been introduced to him as underboss has to step in and say, "Hey Frank, I'd like you to meet Sal, he's the underboss." I assume this rule is commonly broken but I have seen other member sources mention it.

- After Massino became boss, Vitale says Massino changed protocol for attending funerals. Previously most members would attend the funeral of a member, but under Massino each captain was told to send one representative from their crew. Like Massino's own testimony, Vitale says one of the concerns was that the FBI would be able to identify new members from funerals.

- Vitale says when a captain or member is a loanshark, their customers belong to them individually and not to the Bonanno family. He says members who had their own loansharking businesses were not required to kick up except at Christmas or on the boss's birthday. However, Vitale doesn't know what arrangements Massino may have had directly with the captains, only what he himself saw.

- When King Catering was facing extortion from the Lucchese family, Joe Massino attended a meeting on Prince Street and falsely claimed the business belonged to a cousin in order to get the Lucchese family off their back. This is a common tactic, where a mafioso claims that someone belongs to him after the fact.

- In addition to collecting family-wide Christmas tribute, Vitale says Massino set up a legal "kitty" fund where everyone in the family who ran a joker poker machine kicked up 10% of their earnings to the fund. Vitale says if a member committed a crime on their own, they were on their own for legal money, but if a member committed a crime on behalf of the family, the fund would be used to help him. As an example, he says if the underboss tells someone to commit a murder and the member gets caught, the underboss would have to take care of the member's financial obligations.

- Not formal protocol, but he says the term "mad hatter" was used to to refer to someone who gets involved in too many problems with other people and behaves unpredictably so he has to be watched closely. He says this person could still follow the rules and get permission before doing scores, but is still someone to watch.

Induction Protocol / Membership Lists

- When a member is proposed in the Bonanno family, Vitale says he would ask the captain for the proposed member's name and the borough he was born in and write it down. Vitale would then consult with the boss to get the proposed member approved, after which he would put them on a list. When the list of proposed members got to five names, Vitale would type out a list of the proposed members and the deceased members being replaced, including the boroughs they were from and years they died, and make four copies, one for each of the other families.

- When Vitale created proposed member lists, he typed them out so they wouldn't be in his own handwriting should LE come into possession of it.

- When Vinny Basciano was proposed for membership in the early 1990s, the Colombo family put a beef in, claiming they had murdered Basciano's father Gennaro. Basciano's captain Patty DeFilippo challenged this, saying he had recently visited Basciano's father, who was very much alive. Despite having the same name, Vincent's father Gennaro Basciano was not the same Gennaro Basciano previously murdered by the Colombo family so Vincent Basciano was ultimately approved and inducted.

- When Vitale was underboss, he began keeping an ongoing master list of the proposed/deceased members for each family. He said this was done because the mafia (including the Bonanno family) would "cheat" and use the same deceased member multiple times to replace members, as it was too difficult for them to remember every name. Vitale would compare this master list to new proposed/deceased lists from other families to make sure they weren't replacing the same deceased member more than once. Vitale also kept one of these master lists for the Bonanno family's internal purposes.

- The above master lists were turned over to the government when Sal Vitale testified. With that in mind, the FBI has lists of proposed/deceased members in each family during the period Vitale was underboss. Would be great if those were made public, though no doubt the info has been worked into the FBI's knowledge base.

- Vitale says there were times where he copied names out of the phone book to use as deceased members so that the Bonanno family could increase its size.

- Referring to a Genovese list shown as evidence, Vitale points out that only three of the five proposed members were replacing deceased members. He says the other two members were being added as extras, what we've referred to as the "plus two" rule that allowed the five families to induct two extra members beyond the cap each year. Vitale said he was at a "Commission" meeting where this rule was decided because the different families all agreed they needed new members. This would imply all of the families were more or less at their cap.

- Reference is made to a Bonanno list that included two men proposed by captain Joe Saunders Cammarano. These proposed members were Anthony Valenti and John Colucci. Vitale clarifies however that this was not the "formal" induction list, only names he wrote down for inclusion on a future "formal" list.

- Another list is shown, this time a "formal" list, that includes proposed members Jack Bonventre, John Spirito Sr., and Alfred Altadonna. One of the deceased was Al Walker Embarrato. Vitale says Embarrato attained the rank of captain for a time but doesn't specify when.

- Yet another Bonanno list includes proposed members John Lacanna (ph. Licata?), Gino Galestro (proposed by Cantarella), and "Little Anthony" (proposed by Patty DeFilippo; Seccafico? Donato?).

Induction Ceremonies

- Vitale and Louie Tartaglione were inducted in a private home in Brooklyn, either owned by or connected to Frank Lino. The ceremony was performed by consigliere Steve Cannone.

- The preference of inducting five members at a time seems to come from Massino. After approving a group of five members, Massino would have Vitale find a location, either a private home or a hotel, with a big table. Vitale would have the proposed member and sponsor wait on the corner of 101st Avenue and Rockaway Boulevard where they would be picked up by Vitale and taken to a hotel, where they were instructed on which room to go to. Once all ten sponsors/proposed members were in the room, Vitale would arrive and start the "meeting" with Joe Massino's permission. Vitale would give a short speech then ask each proposed member if they wanted to join the family.

- After the inductees agreed to join, the attendees would stand and lock hands while Vitale said, "In the name of the Bonanno family, we lock this network in secrecy." Vitale told them that this meant nobody could ask them about anything that transpired during the ceremony except Joe Massino, as he is the boss.

- Along with the typical rules, Vitale says he instructed new inductees that they couldn't deal in "junk" (heroin), but they could deal in "pot". Never seen this mentioned as a rule, but here we have the Bonanno underboss at induction ceremonies saying he told new members they could sell marijuana.

- Vitale also said new members were instructed that if they were at a restaurant (for example) and another member is "in trouble", they are obligated to help him.

- Vitale also says new inductees were instructed they can't lie, "because then we wouldn't really know what's going on." Massino also mentioned the lying rule and we know from Sicilian pentiti that generations of Sicilian mafiosi were instructed during their induction that they couldn't lie to other members. I've also found another US member source who mentions this rule.

- Vitale says another rule is that members aren't too friendly with law enforcement. They aren't supposed to antagonize LE, but are told simply to walk away from them. He says a member can be killed for meeting with any kind of LE. From Massino's testimony, we know captain Gabe Infanti was killed in part for being too friendly with FBI agents.


Bonanno Leadership

- Vitale says Rastelli didn't really want to remain boss between 1987 - 1991, but they left him there as a figurehead and Massino was essentially calling the shots in the family. Vitale says he (Vitale) and consigliere Anthony Spero ran the family for Massino.

- Vitale was promoted to underboss after Massino returned home. The promotion took place at soldier Chubby Bono's home and Vitale says it was important for Massino to do the promotion in front of a witness. This probably relates to the aforementioned rule about a third party needing to re-introduce a newly promoted member to other members.

- Vitale says he didn't want to become underboss as he was already so close to Massino, but he felt he had to take the promotion. Vitale said he didn't think he was capable of being underboss and was frustrated with "the life" after running the family for five years with Spero.

- Vitale says that a family leadership position doesn't automatically receive money. He says most of the money family leaders make is through their own operations and businesses (legal and illegal) and that they only occasionally receive a cut from scores that gets kicked up. He says "it's not all trumped up" like outsiders would believe.

- In addition to Spero, Vitale says the other leaders who helped him run the family over the years were Frank Coppa, Gerlando Sciascia, and Louie Attanasio. From Massino's testimony, we know Sciascia was on a ruling panel in both the early 1980s and and late 1990s, possibly among other periods in the interrim. Attanasio was part of the panel that helped Spero and Vitale run the family before Massino returned home. Can't remember where Coppa fits in, probably the committee/panel from the late 1990s/early 2000s.

- When Massino got home from prison, he gradually took away Vitale's ability to earn by getting rid of their shylock operation, catering business, and not passing along Christmas tribute to Vitale. He also instructed Vitale to stay on Long Island and badmouthed Vitale to family captains. Vitale says he was not officially shelved but was more or less shelved by default through this ostracization. However, Vitale still met with leaders from other families and attended "Commission" meetings. Vitale felt this was in case one of the meetings was bugged, Massino wouldn't be directly implicated only Vitale.

- Vitale says after the three captain murders that "many captains" went to Massino asking him to take over as boss of the family. Massino however wanted Rastelli to stay boss as it took the heat off of him (Massino) and Massino already had the power, prestige, and money of a boss following the triple murder.

Experiences with Vincent Asaro

- Vitale first met Vinny Asaro around 1975. Vitale needed someone to build a fence for his home and Massino told him he had a fence guy, who turned out to be Vinny Asaro. Asaro built the fence for Vitale's home and Vitale felt he did an "outstanding job" and still had the fence at his home when he cooperated. Vitale's wife upset him as she told Asaro they would pay him from the "numbers money", meaning they would deduct money from a numbers operation Asaro and Vitale were involved in. Asaro reassured Vitale after his wife's comment, saying it was fine given they were both so close to Joe Massino.

- This is well-known, but Vitale says he was told by Massino that Vincent Asaro's father and grandfather had been made members of the Bonanno family (and many other relatives, past and present, as we know). After Massino was promoted to captain, Vitale says Asaro and Jimmy Galante were placed in his crew.

- Vitale knew Colombo associate Jimmy Burke through Joe Massino, who took Vitale to Burke's HQ Robert's Lounge in the 1970s. This was brought up of course because Asaro and Burke were virtually inseparable during this period.

- In the 1980s, Vinny Asaro had an associate named Joe Marsala who had an auto shop. Marsala contacted Vitale and asked for help, as he felt Asaro was going to kill him. Vitale visited Massino who was on the lam in the Poconos and Massino instructed Vitale to tell Asaro to wait until Massino was back before doing anything. When Vitale informed Asaro of Massino's instruction, Asaro argued that Marsala was loaning money on Crossbay Boulevard without Asaro's knowledge/approval and causing other issues.

- Shortly after the meeting with Asaro, Vitale was summoned to McCarran Park in Greenpoint by boss Phil Rastelli who was back on the streets. Rastelli thanked Vitale for helping with the "1981 situation" (three captain murders) and for helping Rastelli's brothers out. Rastelli brought up the Asaro issue and Vitale pointed out that he himself wasn't having a dispute with Asaro, only carrying a message from Massino. Rastelli told Vitale that he (Vitale) was going to be straightened out and that Asaro was already straightened out. Rastelli pointed out that after being made, Vitale would "be with Vinny (Asaro)" for the rest of his life. Vitale clarifies that Rastelli was telling him to get along with Asaro, as they would both be made members of the same family soon. At the end of the meeting, Rastelli told Vitale to take word to Asaro that he (Rastelli) said to leave Joe Marsala alone until Massino returned.

- Vitale pulled up to a diner on Crossbay Boulevard to tell Asaro what Rastelli said, but Asaro flew off the handle and was screaming at Vitale. Asaro was upset because he (Asaro) was a "goodfella" (made member) while Vitale wasn't. Vitale told Asaro he respected his position, but clarified that he was sent by Rastelli. When Asaro heard that, he told Vitale that he should have said that sooner and was more receptive.

- Vitale says Asaro only rarely came to Massino and Vitale's J&S Cake Social Club, though he was a member of Massino's crew. Massino pointed out to Vitale that Asaro always came to the club with someone else who waited in the car, as apparently Asaro was worried Massino and Vitale were going to kill him. Vitale said Asaro was "paranoid".

- At one point, Asaro took out a $50,000 loan from Massino and Vitale's lonasharking operation. Massino told Vitale he believed Asaro took out the loan as insurance on his life, as if he owed money they would be less likely to kill him.

- Vitale was promoted to captain within six months to a year of his induction. During this time, Asaro was a soldier in Vitale's crew and at one point Asaro had a dispute that needed to be mediated. Vitale told Asaro he would handle it on behalf of Asaro due to Asaro's tendency to become hostile. In fact, at this meeting Vitale says Asaro became so hostile about Vitale's concerns about Asaro's hostility that Vitale simply got up and left.

- Vitale believes Asaro was promoted to captain in the early 1990s after Joe Massino got home from prison. Vitale says "a few" of the people in Asaro's crew were Jerry Asaro, "Na Na" (Antonio Bonventre), "Jack" (Bonventre), and Anthony Elmont Mannone. The only Asaro associates Vitale could remember were "Johnny One Arm" TNU and Gasper "Gary" Valenti.

- Vitale says Sally Ferrugia was a captain in the Bonanno family for "a period, maybe two weeks." He says Ferrugia "ran the family" and was a bookmaker on Long Island. Ferrugia had a large bookmaking operation on Long Island run by someone called "Stretch" TNU. When Ferrugia died in the early 1990s, Asaro reached out to Vitale and told him about the operation, as it should go under Vitale's control given Ferrugia had been a soldier under Vitale when he died. Vitale and Massino absorbed the operation and assigned Asaro to "service" the operation. This was while Vitale was still a captain and before Massino was released from prison.

- After Vinny Asaro went to prison, his son Jerry took over "Stretch" and the former Ferrugia bookmaking operation. Jerry Asaro was at this time a made member who had been previously sponsored into the family by his father.

- Anthony Mannone, a soldier in Vincent Asaro's crew told Vitale that Asaro owed him money and wanted to settle it by making Mannone a partner in Asaro's restaurant. Mannone however did not want to go into the restaurant business.

- Vitale described Tony Green Urso and Vincent Asaro being "very close" and they hung out together in Ozone Park and a nightclub in Garden City. Tapped phone calls from the 1990s confirm this, showing that Urso and Asaro were close friends, along with both men being regularly surveilled at the same clubs.

- He says Nicky Santora was Asaro's captain at some point but doesn't specify when. Unless he meant Asaro was Santora's captain, would this have been in the early 2000s?

Info on Misc. Murders

- When Boots Tomasulo died, his son Anthony talked to Mickey Bats Cardello outside of Vincent Asaro's club and told Cardello that the slot machine operation belonging to Boots would go to him (Anthony, the son) and not the Bonanno family, who rightfully had claim over it. Tomasulo also threatened Vitale to Cardello. After Cardello reported this to Vitale, Vitale consulted with consigliere Spero, who told Vitale that kids like Tomasulo were unpredictible due to cocaine and he could "cop a sneak" and kill Vitale. Spero felt this was especially significant as Vitale was the only contact the family had with Joe Massino in prison and as a result Vitale needed to be protected. For these reasons, the contract was given to Mickey Cardello, who was at the time an associate, and Cardello shot Tomasulo to death at Joe Saunders Cammarano's club. Cammarano also conspired in the murder.

- As has been mentioned elsewhere, Jerry Asaro was able to destroy or dispose of vehicles. He disposed of Vitale's wife's car as part of an insurance scam and also disposed of the vehicle used in the Gerlando Sciascia murder. Vitale was upset with Massino, though, as Massino personally contacted Asaro to think him for disposing of the murder vehicle. Vitale felt it was unnecessary and risky for the boss to thank someone and therefore implicate himself in a murder.

- The only one of the three captains who Vitale knew before the murder was Phil Giaccone.

- He says Nicky Santora lied about participating the three captain murders. I assume he grouped himself in with the other Napolitano crew members who cleaned up the murder scene.

- Vitale describes Vito Rizzuto and "Emanuel"(Ragusa) from Canada as the shooters who killed Giaccone and Trinchera. The "old man" (possibly Gaspare Bonventre) had a shotgun he brought himself, while the others were given their weapons and tested them at the club where the murders would take place. Vitale says the old man was guarding a door and shot Indelicato with the shotgun when Indelicato tried to run. He says Sciascia then shot Indelicato with a .38 he pulled out (we know from Massino that this gun was dropped by Francesco Navarra, who Vitale doesn't mention).

- Vitale describes the other participants at the scene of the murder as the "Italian captains." When asked to clarify, he says this referred to Gerlando Sciascia, "Giovone" (ph. Probably Giovanni Ligammari), and "Nick the Bat". He says these men are what could be called "zips". Strange he includes Nick the Battler DeStefano in with this "zip" group, though we know he was there. When asked what the term "zip" means, Vitale says it means that they just "zipped across the ocean" to get to the United States. When asked if it refers to how quickly they speak, Vitale says no.

- The three captains murder was part of a staged "administration meeting" according to Vitale. This fits with Massino saying it was a "captains meeting". Vitale says the hit was only going to take place if Indelicato showed up, which is why Sciascia ran his hand through his hair to signal to the shooters, and if Indelicato didn't show up they were going to go ahead with the meeting as if nothing was amiss.

- After the three captains murders, the club where it took place was burned down. Not sure the timeline on this but I don't remember hearing it before.

- Vitale's only role in the Sonny Black murder was driving Joe Massino and Gerlando Sciascia to the house where the murder took place. As Massino reported, Massino and Sciascia were on the family's ruling panel at this time.

- Cesare Bonventre believed he was being taken to a meeting with Phil Rastelli when he was killed. Along the lines of the three captains murder, Massino told Vitale to have Rastelli stationed at a diner in case the murder didn't pan out so that Bonventre could meet Rastelli and they could act like nothing was amiss.

- Vitale says he barely knew Bonventre, only "hello" and "goodbye". He also says he didn't know the reason for the murder. I think we can throw out the story about Bonventre being killed for disrespecting Massino when he was on the lam in the Poconos -- Vitale says he didn't know the reason, while Massino gave a very detailed and plausible explanation for the murder (Bonventre had ripped off drug dealers associated with family leaders and disrespected Rastelli by abruptly leaving a sitdown with Rastelli over the matter).

- Vitale says Gabe Infante was killed for messing up "three missions". Among these were the Bonventre disposal and a murder contract on a union official where Infante's associate Stevie Blue LoCurto accidentally killed the wrong victim. They don't mention the other failed "mission". Either Vitale confused the second murder with another one or he was mistakenly referring to another hit where Infante's hit team shot the intended victim but failed to kill him, as reported by Massino. Massino instructed Vitale to work with Anthony Spero to have Infante killed. Spero was upset and disagreed with this, as he felt Massino was purposely giving Infante missions he knew he would fail at in order to get him killed. Ultimately Spero consented and they killed Infante. Infante was shot by someone named "Ronnie".

- Vitale says Russell Mauro was killed for robbing a Bonanno family captain, taking a $10,000 Rolex watch from the captain. Anthony Spero also felt Mauro was doing cocaine and "weak" enough to be talking to law enforcement. Mauro was shot by Peter Cosoleto. Note that Massino says Mauro was killed for shooting up a Gambino member's bar, being warned, then shooting it up again.

- With regard to the Bobby Perrino murder, Vitale says Richard Cantarella came to him while Al Walker Embarrato went to Anthony Spero, both to bring up concerns over Perrino at the Post. Vitale says it was Spero, Cantarella, and Embarrato who wanted Perrino killed and Vitale simply went along with it.

- Like with Bonventre, Vitale says he barely knew Perrino and Mauro, only having a few words on limited occasions. He believes he only met Mauro once or twice.

- Not an actual murder, but Vitale says he decided to flip when the FBI told him there was a tape recording of Joe Massino and Vincent Basciano talking about murdering Vitale. Massino himself testified that this discussion did take place shortly before he was arrested, where Basciano volunteered to kill Vitale due to fears of Vitale ratting.

- When asked about the Joe LoPresti murder, Vitale couldn't recall offhand who that was. This should bring into question his general memory of the murder (i.e. Sciascia doing it without permission, which I now believe Vitale confused with the Cotroni murder).

Vitale and Gerlando Sciascia

- Vitale was very fond of Gerlando Sciascia and says he would have made a good boss.

- Vitale says that he (Vitale) and Sciascia were "servicing" the family's captains leading up to Sciascia's murder. Vitale was of the opinion himself that Tony Graziano was on drugs every time they met him, as Graziano slurred his words and his eyes were glassy. Vitale reported this to Massino, who denied it and said Graziano was "sick" and on stomach medication. Vitale however continued to insist Graziano was "stoned" and that he should be demoted as captain but Massino resisted. Vitale says Sciascia was not part of these conversations with Massino. Note, but Michael DiLeonardo has also said he believed Graziano appeared to be on drugs during this time.

- Eventually Vitale says he gave up the Graziano beef and "smiled and went along with" Massino, but Sciascia met up with Massino later and continued to press the Graziano issue. When Anthony Spero went to prison, Vitale says Massino was going to put Graziano in as consigliere but Sciascia registered a beef about it and challenged Massino's decision, saying Graziano is a "junky". I know Vitale has previously said Sciascia raised an issue with Graziano, but this is the first time I have seen it specifically stated that Sciascia opposed Graziano taking the consigliere position.

- Vitale says he believes the above led to Sciascia's murder, but he admits he doesn't know for sure why Massino ordered the murder. He adds that there could have been an underlying reason for the murder and is just going by what he was told. He also says he doesn't believe some things that Massino told him. This definitely lends itself to Massino's reason for the Sciascia murder (retaliation for murdering Frank Cotroni's son), as Vitale says clearly he's not sure what the "underlying reason" for the Sciascia murder was.

- In addition to Vitale, captains Patty DeFilippo and Tony Urso met with Massino prior to the Sciascia murder and were included in the plot. Urso provided the weapon that was used in the murder.

- When asked if Massino staged the Sciascia murder as an unsanctioned drug-related murder due to fear of "backlash" from the Canadian Bonanno members, Vitale says he believes the murder was staged at least in part so that the FBI wouldn't be able to figure it out. When asked to clarify, he says it was staged both because of law enforcement and because Sciascia was "very powerful up there" in Canada and "had some really serious individuals." Vitale feels Massino sent all of the captains and many members to the funeral (which went against his usual funeral rules) as a showing to the FBI that the Bonannos didn't sanction the murder.

- Vitale doesn't know what kind of an earner Sciascia was, as he says he never received money from Sciascia.

[Amershire_Ed]

This is great stuff.

Vitale telling Asaro he had a bad temper and that maybe Vitale should represent him at a sitdown resulting in Asaro losing his temper and getting so angry that Vitale just got up and left the room is high comedy.

[Flushing]

Great stuff!

For the "induction ceremonies" section, I would guess that 101st Avenue and Rockford Blvd. is actually 101st Avenue and Rockaway Blvd. Just a guess.

Interesting but not surprising that Massino had his new recruits inducted near there.

[B.]

I'm sure that was my mistake -- it would def be Rockaway.

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I also want to use this thread to break down the Sciascia, LoPresti, and Cotroni situation a little bit more.

- Vitale couldn't remember offhand who Joe LoPresti was by the time of the Asaro trial. Remember that Vitale previously claimed to believe that Gerlando Sciascia killed LoPresti on the sneak and asked permission after the fact. While Vitale has gotten older since he provided that info, he doesn't come across mentally deficient and his inability to recall LoPresti (someone he personally knew) suggests to me that his earlier memory of the LoPresti murder was shaky.

- Massino acknowledged the LoPresti murder in his own testimony like any other murder conspiracy. Nothing was said to suggest there was anything out of the ordinary and they didn't go into detail on the subject. In contrast, murders that were controversial or unique were discussed with more elaboration and context. Massino seems to have been preoccupied with protocol during his reign, so if he felt Sciascia had committed the LoPresti murder without prior approval, I believe he would have not only mentioned this when the LoPresti murder came up but I also believe he would have referenced this as another justification for the Sciascia murder alongside Paolo Cotroni's unsanctioned murder.

- While Vitale tells the well-known story of Sciascia complaining about Graziano to Massino, Vitale says himself that he may not know the actual motivation for the Sciascia murder and feels that Massino often kept things from him. This admission, which I have not seen from him before, certainly puts the ball in Massino's court. Vitale openly acknowledges that Massino may have had another motivation for the Sciascia killing and sure enough Massino has one to offer.

- Both Massino and Vitale make it clear that murders were to be discussed as little as possible, as a rule. At Massino's induction he was told there was a rule against discussing murders and Massino took this very seriously with few exceptions. Massino vs. other CWs differing motivations for murders may be a product of Massino not fully discussing the murders with his underlings, or he could have given different justifications to protect himself (i.e. if someone cooperates their account will be inconsistent with other accounts).

- While he is sharp in many ways, Vitale is terrible at recalling the exact years certain events happened. The LoPresti murder happened around six years before the Cotroni murder. Based on his memory of other events (including his own induction and other dates of personal importance), I wouldn't put it past Vitale to confuse two events involving Sciascia and Canada that happened six years apart. He remembers that George Sciascia may have killed someone in Canada without approval, who he believed to be LoPresti. We have Massino also saying that Sciascia killed someone in Canada without approval, but it was not LoPresti, rather it was the son of another Bonanno member. Vitale very well might have confused the LoPresti and Cotroni murders when he said Sciascia committed a murder without approval.

- Another possibility is that because Sciascia got away with one unsanctioned murder, he felt comfortable doing another. There was a similar protocol violation related to an NYC murder, where Sciascia recruited Baldo Amato as a shooter without getting permission from Amato's captain. Maybe he did kill LoPresti on the sneak before getting permission and maybe he did the same with Cotroni. As I said, though, Massino didn't say anything of interest when they brought the LoPresti murder up. Maybe in his 302s he elaborated on it, so it really comes down to what he told the FBI.

- Not sure what to say about the Cotroni murder itself, as I don't know much. Some of the Canadian experts on here have mentioned that it was carried out by bikers for reasons that allegedly don't directly connect to Sciascia or the Bonanno family. However, Sciascia is alleged to have ordered this murder "on the sneak", as they say, so it would make sense that he contracted it out to bikers and that they themselves may not have known the true motivation. Would be interesting to know who was suspected with carrying out the LoPresti hit.

- Massino wasn't on the internet in 1998 looking for the latest news in Montreal. It's also unlikely that when Massino started cooperating, the FBI put him in front of a computer and let him look up old news articles so that he could invent justifications for murders he was already convicted of and admitted to. Whatever Massino told the FBI in his initial 302s is likely close to what he said on the stand -- as we know, defense attorneys are eager to jump on those kinds of inconsistencies. Massino was putting his entire cooperation agreement in jeopardy, knowing that his account differed from the earlier CWs, yet he insisted that he killed Sciascia for the Cotroni murder.

- The other angle is -- if Sciascia did have Cotroni killed, it seems likely the Rizzutos would have known this. If Sciascia killed the son of an important Montreal mafioso like Cotroni, this could have easily resulted in factional warfare between Cotroni supporters and the Rizzuto group, not unlike what happened a decade later. Given his close relationship to the Sicilian soldiers in Montreal, it would seem Sciascia gave them a "heads up" he was going to kill a top figure's son. Sciascia must have not only cleared it with his friends there, but it would seem they participated in orchestrating the murder given Sciascia himself couldn't travel to Canada. If this is the case, the Rizzuto faction knew Sciascia killed the son of a made member without approval, so how surprised and outraged could they truly be when Sciascia was murdered? While the Massino regime was doing a song and dance to convince everyone they weren't involved, maybe the Rizzutos were doing their own song and dance, pretending to be surprised in order to hide their own involvement in the Cotroni issue.

Conclusion:
Whether Sciascia was responsible for the Cotroni murder or not, someone convinced Massino that he was. Massino has given that as the primary reason for the murder. Vitale's hazy memory recalled that Sciascia may have killed someone without approval and he admits he may not have known the true reason for Sciascia's murder. I now believe it's possible that Vitale confused the protocol violation of the Cotroni murder with the LoPresti murder. Other testimony or some new source could easily set the record straight or give an entirely different story, but this is where I'm at with the info I've seen.

[chin_gigante]

Great stuff, B.

[CabriniGreen]

Really good work...

Does any of this change your stance on Sciascia, that maybe he was made in Sicily?

Do you think it possible another family, like the Gambinos hit LoPresti? He was doing business with the Gotti crew, heroin deals. I always though he was either skimming, or doing unauthorized deals, it seemed to be an "in-house" murder amongst the Canadians to me. kinda think its possible.....

Also, Even though Montagna replaced him as the messenger, it doesnt seem like he replaced LoPresti as the " Maker of marriages", coordinating the deals with the crews. I have never seen anything about Montagna and drugs really.


Given how they responded, do you think the Rizzutos
may have considered the Cotronis, I dont know exactly how to phrase it; their business, an in house matter? Like they didnt need permission to kill their own guys up there?

Massino didnt seem comfortable with strong capos or soldiers....

[CabriniGreen]

The whole thing with the list makes the whole Canadian angle strange.....

So they DID or DIDNT know all the guys up there?
No, but they keep a master list of members? Somethings off.....

Who in Canada reached out to NY about Cotronis son? They didnt update NY on the Canadian crew? Montagna never gave a rundown of the crew to, anyone else in NY?

[CabriniGreen]

Maybe Massino just told Vitale nothing about the Canadian guys?

[CabriniGreen]

I'm also a little slow on the fact that, Massino couldnt tell the NY capos Sciascia hit a made guys son? I dont get the smokescreen? Why was it neccessary to do that? The deflection?

No capo in NY would have slapped Massinos wrist for that, right? Disciplining a capo for an unauthorized murder?

It seems something gwas brewing, maybe a conflict was inevitable....

[CabriniGreen]

Does it say who informed Massino about the Cotroni hit?

[B.]

Sciascia could have been made in Sicily and transferred. He would be a strong candidate for what Felice posted about, re: NYC families bringing in Sicilian mafiosi in the 1970s.

Massino and Vitale have both testified that the LoPresti murder was a Bonanno affair. LoPresti was a Bonanno soldier, killed on the orders of a Bonanno captain, and the contract was acknowledged by the Bonanno leadership. The only discrepancy is Vitale's earlier testimony about "feeling" like Sciascia had LoPresti killed before asking permission, however here is Vitale's later testimony from the Asaro trial:

Q. And the same is true with regard to Joe LoPresti?
A. Who?
Q. Joe LoPresti.
A. The name sounds familiar. I don't recall him.
Q. You authorized Joe LoPresti's homicide; do you remember that?
A. No.
Q. But you didn't have to plead guilty to it; do you remember that?
A. Yes.

So he doesn't remember offhand who that is or that he admitted authorizing it. I'm not bringing this up to question Vitale's integrity, only pointing out that his memory is inconsistent when it comes to LoPresti's identity and murder.

Here is Massino's testimony from the Basciano trial:

Q. Staying in the time frame where you were incarcerated in the late 1980s to the early 1990s, did you discuss an individual named Joseph LoPresti with Sal Vitale?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. What did you discuss with Mr. Vitale?
A. George from Canada was his best friend, and he says that he's always stoned, he snorting coke and he's very disrespectful to him. He said, you're not my friend, you're my captain. Otherwise, I wouldn't talk to you. You want to -- he wanted the okay to kill him. I gave him the permission.
Q. When you spoke to Sal Vitale, what was your position?
A. I was the underboss then.
Q. What was Sal Vitale's role?
A. Captain.
Q. Did you later learn that the murder was, in fact, carried out?
A. Yes, it was.
Q. Were you personally there?
A. No, I wasn't. I was incarcerated.
Q. Were you ever prosecuted for the murder of Joseph LoPresti?
A. No, I wasn't.
Q. But you told the government about it as part of your prosecution?
A. Yes, I did.

Not only did Massino volunteer to the FBI that he participated in the conspiracy to murder Joe LoPresti even though he was off the street and wasn't charged with it, Massino says he gave explicit permission and confirms that it was later carried out. The way he was asked about the murder during cross gave Massino plenty of opportunities to say that Sciascia took initiative to do it on his own. He could have also said that Vitale/Spero authorized it without his knowledge, as Massino says when he was in prison during that period he gave Vitale/Spero the authority to order murders as long as they (and Attanasio) agreed.

Massino discusses it as he would any contract he authorized. If Sciascia had carried it out without approval, Massino wouldn't have voluntarily admitted to being a conspirator. He readily admits that the contract was brought to him and he authorized it himself, not the street bosses or anyone else.

Massino referred to Frank Cotroni no differently than he would any Bonanno member, so the rules would apply to the situation with his son just like they would if a NYC member's son was killed. Someone killed a Bonanno member's son, so the organization punished the person believed to be responsible. It's hard to speculate on the Rizzuto's perspective given the lack of inside sources on the Canadian side of the border, but here is what the boss of the family said:

Q. At the time the information came to your attention regarding George from Canada, what was George from Canada's position in organized crime?
A. He was a captain in Montreal, Canada.
Q .What information came to your attention?
A. He come and he told me that Frank Cotroni's son beat up his nephew and that he killed him. I said, "You what?" He said, "I killed him."
Q. Who had, who did George from Canada admit killing?
A. Frank Cotroni's son.
Q. Who was Frank Cotroni?
A. Frank Cotroni was a wiseguy in the Bonanno Family.
Q. How did you react when you learned that George from Canada had killed a wiseguy's son?
A. I knew once he did that, that I was going to kill him.
Q. What, if anything did you do to effect the murder?
A. I gave the contract to Patty DeFilippo in the Bronx. I said, you get a shot, kill him. It don't have to be tomorrow, take your time. It ain't an emergency, but kill him.
Q Was George ultimately killed?
A. Yes, he was.

I forgot to mention the important bit about Sciascia confessing the Cotroni murder to Massino himself after the fact. So it wasn't that other Montreal members sent word to Massino, Sciascia admitted it to Massino directly. That lends itself even more to the idea that Vitale confused the LoPresti and Cotroni murders, as it sounds like Sciascia told Massino about the Cotroni murder after the fact as a sort of belated attempt to get approval.

As Antimafia pointed out once, the nephew referred to by Sciascia may have been Joe Renda, who was likely already a made member at the time. If Paolo Cotroni (associate) laid a hand on Renda (member), that very well could have resulted in a death sentence for Cotroni. Sciascia may have felt justified in ordering the murder for that reason, but he clearly made a mistake by not getting prior approval. It could have been another nephew, too, of course.

All anyone could really say as an argument to Massino's testimony is that Massino lied about Sciascia's confession. But someone still had to tell Massino about Cotroni's murder, which aligns with the timeline of the Sciascia murder, and Massino gets very specific about the situation. I can't imagine Massino would feel the need to invent this story to explain a murder he'd already been convicted of and admitted to. With Vitale now admitting that he didn't necessarily know the motivation for the Sciascia murder, I think the standard explanation for the Sciascia murder should now be Massino's.

For those interested in notes on Massino's testimony, there are more here:
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=6098&start=10#p149079

[CabriniGreen]

Sciascia could have been made in Sicily and transferred. He would be a strong candidate for what Felice posted about, re: NYC families bringing in Sicilian mafiosi in the 1970s.

Massino and Vitale have both testified that the LoPresti murder was a Bonanno affair. LoPresti was a Bonanno soldier, killed on the orders of a Bonanno captain, and the contract was acknowledged by the Bonanno leadership. The only discrepancy is Vitale's earlier testimony about "feeling" like Sciascia had LoPresti killed before asking permission, however here is Vitale's later testimony from the Asaro trial:

Q. And the same is true with regard to Joe LoPresti?
A. Who?
Q. Joe LoPresti.
A. The name sounds familiar. I don't recall him.
Q. You authorized Joe LoPresti's homicide; do you remember that?
A. No.
Q. But you didn't have to plead guilty to it; do you remember that?
A. Yes.

So he doesn't remember offhand who that is or that he admitted authorizing it. I'm not bringing this up to question Vitale's integrity, only pointing out that his memory is inconsistent when it comes to LoPresti's identity and murder.

Here is Massino's testimony from the Basciano trial:

Q. Staying in the time frame where you were incarcerated in the late 1980s to the early 1990s, did you discuss an individual named Joseph LoPresti with Sal Vitale?
A. Yes, I did.
Q. What did you discuss with Mr. Vitale?
A. George from Canada was his best friend, and he says that he's always stoned, he snorting coke and he's very disrespectful to him. He said, you're not my friend, you're my captain. Otherwise, I wouldn't talk to you. You want to -- he wanted the okay to kill him. I gave him the permission.
Q. When you spoke to Sal Vitale, what was your position?
A. I was the underboss then.
Q. What was Sal Vitale's role?
A. Captain.
Q. Did you later learn that the murder was, in fact, carried out?
A. Yes, it was.
Q. Were you personally there?
A. No, I wasn't. I was incarcerated.
Q. Were you ever prosecuted for the murder of Joseph LoPresti?
A. No, I wasn't.
Q. But you told the government about it as part of your prosecution?
A. Yes, I did.

Not only did Massino volunteer to the FBI that he participated in the conspiracy to murder Joe LoPresti even though he was off the street and wasn't charged with it, Massino says he gave explicit permission and confirms that it was later carried out. The way he was asked about the murder during cross gave Massino plenty of opportunities to say that Sciascia took initiative to do it on his own. He could have also said that Vitale/Spero authorized it without his knowledge, as Massino says when he was in prison during that period he gave Vitale/Spero the authority to order murders as long as they (and Attanasio) agreed.

Massino discusses it as he would any contract he authorized. If Sciascia had carried it out without approval, Massino wouldn't have voluntarily admitted to being a conspirator. He readily admits that the contract was brought to him and he authorized it himself, not the street bosses or anyone else.

Massino referred to Frank Cotroni no differently than he would any Bonanno member, so the rules would apply to the situation with his son just like they would if a NYC member's son was killed. Someone killed a Bonanno member's son, so the organization punished the person believed to be responsible. It's hard to speculate on the Rizzuto's perspective given the lack of inside sources on the Canadian side of the border, but here is what the boss of the family said:

Q. At the time the information came to your attention regarding George from Canada, what was George from Canada's position in organized crime?
A. He was a captain in Montreal, Canada.
Q .What information came to your attention?
A. He come and he told me that Frank Cotroni's son beat up his nephew and that he killed him. I said, "You what?" He said, "I killed him."
Q. Who had, who did George from Canada admit killing?
A. Frank Cotroni's son.
Q. Who was Frank Cotroni?
A. Frank Cotroni was a wiseguy in the Bonanno Family.
Q. How did you react when you learned that George from Canada had killed a wiseguy's son?
A. I knew once he did that, that I was going to kill him.
Q. What, if anything did you do to effect the murder?
A. I gave the contract to Patty DeFilippo in the Bronx. I said, you get a shot, kill him. It don't have to be tomorrow, take your time. It ain't an emergency, but kill him.
Q Was George ultimately killed?
A. Yes, he was.

I forgot to mention the important bit about Sciascia confessing the Cotroni murder to Massino himself after the fact. So it wasn't that other Montreal members sent word to Massino, Sciascia admitted it to Massino directly. That lends itself even more to the idea that Vitale confused the LoPresti and Cotroni murders, as it sounds like Sciascia told Massino about the Cotroni murder after the fact as a sort of belated attempt to get approval.

As Antimafia pointed out once, the nephew referred to by Sciascia may have been Joe Renda, who was likely already a made member at the time. If Paolo Cotroni (associate) laid a hand on Renda (member), that very well could have resulted in a death sentence for Cotroni. Sciascia may have felt justified in ordering the murder for that reason, but he clearly made a mistake by not getting prior approval. It could have been another nephew, too, of course.

All anyone could really say as an argument to Massino's testimony is that Massino lied about Sciascia's confession. But someone still had to tell Massino about Cotroni's murder, which aligns with the timeline of the Sciascia murder, and Massino gets very specific about the situation. I can't imagine Massino would feel the need to invent this story to explain a murder he'd already been convicted of and admitted to. With Vitale now admitting that he didn't necessarily know the motivation for the Sciascia murder, I think the standard explanation for the Sciascia murder should now be Massino's.

For those interested in notes on Massino's testimony, there are more here:
viewtopic.php?f=44&t=6098&start=10#p149079

Again, great stuff, GREAT clarfications..

And I gotta say, if Sciascia hit this guy, then brazenly admitted it like that, well.... he was asking for it frankly...

I mean, if it's a scuffle, why KILL the guy?

[motorfab]

Awesome stuff B.

[Laurentian]

I would like to come back to the case of the murder of Paul Cotroni in August 1998.

For those who are not aware, Paul Cotroni was someone who believed himself invincible and infallible, only because he bore the name of Cotroni. On the scene of organized crime, Paul Cotroni was a small fry, without special status, apart from being a drug dealer. In addition, he was a fighter, drinker, and like to punch at people in nightclubs. He also often draw the attention of the police to him. On many occasions, he had received several warnings to control his "battlesman's impulses", if I can say so. During the biker wars, in the late 1990s, he sided with the Hells Angels, as he saw that the Hell were to win the war against the Rock Machines, and started selling drugs for them. Johnny Plescio, a senior member of the Rock Machine, had warned him to stop selling drugs for the Hells Angels. But Cotroni continued as if nothing had happened. Note that Plescio was himself later a victim of the biker wars.

The Sûreté du Québec's investigation shows that Plescio, under pressure from Raymond Desfossés, a prominent member of the West End Gang, ordered the murder of Cotroni. The contract is entrusted to Gérald Gallant, a contract killer, and another man, a certain Gérard Hubert acted as an accomplice. The two will be arrested later and Gallant will confess to having killed Cotroni for the sum of $ 20,000.

At the time of Cotroni’s murder, the Cotroni clan, led by Frank Cotroni, maintained good relations with the Rizzuto clan and recognized the latters as the rulers of Montréal Mafia. There was no retaliation to the murder of Frank's son. Cotroni's funeral was organized by the Loreto Funeral Complex, belonging to the Rizzutos ...

So, I'm still wondering what Massino and Sciascia were doing in an internal matter that involved a "trouble maker", be it the son of an elder member of the Montreal mafia?

Here is a link to Gérald Gallant's multiple murders confessions. https://www1.journaldemontreal.com/2014 ... jour4.html

[CabriniGreen]

I would like to come back to the case of the murder of Paul Cotroni in August 1998.

For those who are not aware, Paul Cotroni was someone who believed himself invincible and infallible, only because he bore the name of Cotroni. On the scene of organized crime, Paul Cotroni was a small fry, without special status, apart from being a drug dealer. In addition, he was a fighter, drinker, and like to punch at people in nightclubs. He also often draw the attention of the police to him. On many occasions, he had received several warnings to control his "battlesman's impulses", if I can say so. During the biker wars, in the late 1990s, he sided with the Hells Angels, as he saw that the Hell were to win the war against the Rock Machines, and started selling drugs for them. Johnny Plescio, a senior member of the Rock Machine, had warned him to stop selling drugs for the Hells Angels. But Cotroni continued as if nothing had happened. Note that Plescio was himself later a victim of the biker wars.

The Sûreté du Québec's investigation shows that Plescio, under pressure from Raymond Desfossés, a prominent member of the West End Gang, ordered the murder of Cotroni. The contract is entrusted to Gérald Gallant, a contract killer, and another man, a certain Gérard Hubert acted as an accomplice. The two will be arrested later and Gallant will confess to having killed Cotroni for the sum of $ 20,000.

At the time of Cotroni’s murder, the Cotroni clan, led by Frank Cotroni, maintained good relations with the Rizzuto clan and recognized the latters as the rulers of Montréal Mafia. There was no retaliation to the murder of Frank's son. Cotroni's funeral was organized by the Loreto Funeral Complex, belonging to the Rizzutos ...

So, I'm still wondering what Massino and Sciascia were doing in an internal matter that involved a "trouble maker", be it the son of an elder member of the Montreal mafia?

Here is a link to Gérald Gallant's multiple murders confessions. https://www1.journaldemontreal.com/2014 ... jour4.html

Shit, the plot thickens..... this is going to be a great thread.... AntiMafia, come out! Lupara? All my Canada watchers, we got a good one here....