Greater Springfield mob: Whatever happened to...?

[Wiseguy]

Whatever happened to the Greater Springfield mob following death of Adolfo 'Big Al' Bruno?
By Stephanie Barry
July 20, 2015


Editor's note: In the years following murder, death by natural causes and a string of successful criminal prosecutions that markedly changed the mob landscape in Greater Springfield there has been much speculation as to what has become of organized crime in the area.

Reporter Stephanie Barry, who has covered the local mob beat for several years, will
publish a series of vignettes in the coming weeks on former and current players in "Greater Springfield mob figures: What ever happened to ...?"


Adolfo "Big Al" Bruno

Age: Deceased

Hometown: Agawam

Last rank held: Capo, made member of Genovese crime family who was later placed on the so-called "pay no mind list" by New York mob bosses in the final months of his life.

Criminal history: Gambling convictions in 1981 and 1984; twice accused and twice cleared in connection with a bungled Mafia shooting behind his brother's barn. However, organized crime members nicknamed the colorful gangster "PC" in the 1990s, shorthand for "piece of the city," recognizing Bruno shared in the profits of illegal ventures from Greater Springfield to Connecticut and beyond. Bruno was set to face illegal gaming and loan-sharking charges in 2003, but was murdered days before a grand jury issued an indictment targeting nine organized crime figures.

Status: Bruno was fatally ambushed by a paid gunman on Nov. 23, 2003 outside the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Social Club, exiting his regular Sunday night card game. It was the eve of his 58th birthday. Trial testimony showed that Bruno was a wily target and rivals had to stalk him for months before he was gunned down "cowboy style" in the parking lot. A series of state and federal criminal prosecutions revealed that Bruno's long-time protege, Anthony Arillotta, plotted against him with New York mobsters with whom Bruno had friction.

In trials in New York City in 2011 and 2012, a string of mob turncoats testified about Bruno's downfall, due in part to a cigarette exporting deal he partnered in with other mobsters.

South Florida gangster Mitchell Weissman told jurors Bruno and others fronted $250,000 to get a license, but lost their investment. Then-acting Genovese boss Arthur "Artie" Nigro ruled during a "sit-down" that Bruno was out of luck. Bruno was later heard complaining about the edict, a strict no-no in the mob world.

"How common was that for someone to second-guess a decision (made by a boss) in the mob?" Assistant U.S. Attorney Elie Honig asked Weissman.

"That's not too common?" Weissman responded.

"Why not?" Honig asked.

"Because he's the boss, and that's the way it is," Weissman testified.

The witness testified he was instructed by Nigro that Bruno could no longer put "money on the street" in Florida and was generally blackballed in the Sunshine State. Similar treatment trickled up to Massachusetts when Arillotta began undermining him here, later testimony showed.

Miscellaneous: Bruno wore over-sized eyeglasses and favored Hawaiian shirts and cigars, and liked to highlight his charitable efforts such as bringing toys to the Shriners Hospital for children at Christmas ... He rubbed elbows with politicians and played racquetball with the late Hampden County District Attorney Matthew "Matty" Ryan ... Punctuated many sentences with the essentially rhetorical question: "Am I right or wrong?"

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/ ... bruno.html





Greater Springfield mob: Whatever happened to Anthony Delevo?
By Stephanie Barry
on July 22, 2015

Editor's note: In the years following murder, death by natural causes and a string of successful criminal prosecutions that markedly changed the mob landscape in Greater Springfield there has been much speculation as to what has become of organized crime in the area.

Reporter Stephanie Barry, who has covered the local mob beat for several years, will
publish a series of vignettes in the coming weeks on former and current players in "Greater Springfield mob: Whatever happened to ...?"


Anthony Delevo

Age: Deceased

Hometown: Westfield

Last rank held: Capo; Delevo juggled the No. 1 and No. 2 spots in the local rackets after the 2000 death of then-boss Francesco "Skyball" Scibelli of natural causes. Delevo won out until he was later indicted for federal racketeering crimes in late 2000.

Criminal history: In 1980, police in Connecticut stopped a car carrying Delevo and two other organized crime figures, plus two shotguns, two handguns and betting slips. He received a suspended sentence and paid $1,000 fine.

During a state police raid in 1985 at a strip club in South Hadley, investigators found Delevo in a back room embroiled in a blackjack game; he forfeited $2,150 and paid $65 in fines. Delevo pleaded guilty to running an illegal gambling business in 1989; was labeled in 1991 as an unindicted co-conspirator in the botched attempted hit on Joseph Maruca; and in 2003 pleaded guilty to federal racketeering and loan-sharking crimes.

Status: Died in prison of an illness in 2005; he was 65.

Miscellaneous: Delevo sold fast food and concessions at local fairs ... He kept as low a public profile as Bruno's was high ... After Delevo's death, a former organized crime investigator remarked: "You didn't see this guy driving around in a Cadillac." A federal prosecutor told a judge at Delevo's final sentencing that he "ruled the local street numbers game with an iron fist." Publicity over his sentencing was largely eclipsed by rival Bruno's murder; Bruno was shot to death one day earlier.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/ ... ry_package

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks Ivy. Interesting.

Delevo was Westside?

[Wiseguy]

Thanks Ivy. Interesting.

Delevo was Westside?

I believe so.



Greater Springfield mob: Whatever happened to Anthony Arillotta?
By Stephanie Barry
on July 24, 2015


Anthony Arillotta, a.k.a. "Bingy" a.k.a "The Little Guy"

Age: 47

Hometown: Springfield

Last rank held: Soldier-turned-captain-turned-FBI informant

Criminal history: Arillotta has an early history of assaults, including beating a man with a sawhorse at a hot dog stand outside a Worthington Street bar in 1989. He was ordered to pay restitution in that case. He was charged in a 1993 home invasion in Springfield when he, Gerald Daniele, Ralph Santaniello and James Murty charged into a house with broom handles and other weapons and beat one of the residents. Charges against Arillotta were dropped in that case.

Arillotta beat a drug case in the 1990s, but it raised Bruno's ire and caused the higher-up to temporarily banish Arillotta from his circles. As Arillotta became more central to Greater Springfield's rackets, his profile increased as did his criminal prosecutions. In the 2000's, Arillotta was charged simultaneously in state and federal courts with loan-sharking and gambling crimes, and received about 3 1/2 years in prison. That cluster of cases signaled Arillotta's upward mobility in the "Springfield Crew" of the New York-based Genovese Crime Family. He also beat an extortion case along with onetime enforcers Freddy and Ty Geas in Hampden Superior Court in 2008. Jurors acquitted the trio despite Arillotta being caught on a recording threatening to run over a potential witness against him "85 times with a car."

He was arrested in connection with the Bruno killing in 2010 and immediately flipped on his co-conspirators, according to federal investigators. He has been behind bars since.

Testimony showed he was convinced to cooperate after New York gangster and co-defendant John Bologna, who had been operating simultaneously as an FBI informant and criminal for years, recorded conversations between them - although the recordings amounted to not a whole lot.

The most revealing look at Arillotta's criminal history came from his own mouth during two trials in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. He told jurors he had been running drugs, guns, scams, committing murders and other misdeeds virtually his entire life. He was sentenced to 99 months in federal prison in exchange for his testimony after pleading guilty to the murders of Bruno, Gary Westerman (his brother-in-law) and other crimes.

Status: Serving the balance of his sentence in an undisclosed prison, a member of the U.S. Witness Protection program after testifying in two Mafia murder trials in 2011 and 2012 in federal court in Manhattan. Arillotta shot to the top of the local mob, first as a brawler in his teens and 20s, then as an "earner" for higher-ups, then as a made member of the Genovese family after graduating to murder. Rumors abound that Arillotta plans to return to Greater Springfield after he concludes his sentence next year. Street sources say the city's so-called "new regime" has reconciled his potential return because Arillotta's testimony didn't cause trouble for any of them, and that Arillotta was backed into a corner by federal investigators.

Miscellaneous: Former friends say Arillotta was "obsessed" with gangster movies including "Scarface" and Italian Mafia movies and books as a youngster ... He testified at the 2011 trial in New York that after ambushing a New York City labor boss Frank Dadabo and filling him with bullets, that then-acting Genovese boss Arthur "Artie" Nigro advised him "to get better at head shots" when Dadabo survived ... Arillotta also told jurors that he stripped down to nothing but a robe in a Bronx apartment to get formally inducted into the crime family in 2003, following the Dadabo shooting ... Federal prosecutors in New York labeled Arillotta "one of the best Mafia informants ever" at his sentencing last year.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/ ... igure.html

[Wiseguy]

Rumors abound that Arillotta plans to return to Greater Springfield after he concludes his sentence next year. Street sources say the city's so-called "new regime" has reconciled his potential return because Arillotta's testimony didn't cause trouble for any of them, and that Arillotta was backed into a corner by federal investigators.

Interesting....

[JCB1977]

Rumors abound that Arillotta plans to return to Greater Springfield after he concludes his sentence next year. Street sources say the city's so-called "new regime" has reconciled his potential return because Arillotta's testimony didn't cause trouble for any of them, and that Arillotta was backed into a corner by federal investigators.

Interesting....

That's an incredible story...if it's factual. It's hard for me to believe that after cooperating and reading guilty...that they'd welcome him back with open arms.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post Ivy.

Regards Arilotta's return sanctioned/reconciled?
Utter bullshit.

[Wiseguy]

I don't believe it either but someone will inevitably bring up others who have returned to their old stomping grounds. But it's a stretch, even today, to think he'd be welcomed back.

[Hailbritain]

Arillota put acting Genovese boss arite nigro in prison for life , and there gonna welcome him bak with open arms . Yeah right , course they r

[mike68]

Is it possible that they want to trick him into coming back? It's not like he's the sharpest blade in the drawer.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Is it possible that they want to trick him into coming back? It's not like he's the sharpest blade in the drawer.

I dont think that'd be the case either Mike.

The Westside dont want the Bureau breathing hell for leather down their necks chasing a govt witness murder in aid of. No way.

They wouldnt want the grief of hitting him, but they sure as hell wouldnt be cleaning the slate either.

[mike68]

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/ ... ry_package

Here's the newest one that may answer the question posed earlier, Albert Calvanese is the new Springfield crew boss according to law enforcement sources.

Status: Calvanese was released from prison in 2011. Law enforcements sources speaking on condition of anonymity have said Calvanese has emerged as the leader of the "Springfield Crew" in the wake of Anthony Arillotta's prosecution and cooperation with federal investigators. Calvanese faces no new charges.

Miscellaneous: According to multiple sources, Calvanese was recently involved in an clash at Tony's Famous barbershop in Springfield's South End that pitted him and others against convicted loan shark and barber Carmine Manzi. The incident spilled out onto the sidewalk in broad daylight, witnesses said. No charges or police reports have been filed.

I think somebody on here had mentioned Manzi as being the potential boss, but maybe there is a conflict there?

[JCB1977]

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/ ... ry_package

Here's the newest one that may answer the question posed earlier, Albert Calvanese is the new Springfield crew boss according to law enforcement sources.

Status: Calvanese was released from prison in 2011. Law enforcements sources speaking on condition of anonymity have said Calvanese has emerged as the leader of the "Springfield Crew" in the wake of Anthony Arillotta's prosecution and cooperation with federal investigators. Calvanese faces no new charges.

Miscellaneous: According to multiple sources, Calvanese was recently involved in an clash at Tony's Famous barbershop in Springfield's South End that pitted him and others against convicted loan shark and barber Carmine Manzi. The incident spilled out onto the sidewalk in broad daylight, witnesses said. No charges or police reports have been filed.

I think somebody on here had mentioned Manzi as being the potential boss, but maybe there is a conflict there?

How many made guys does the Springfield crew have?

[Rocco]

https://af11.wordpress.com/2011/05/20/s ... ime-cases/

[Wiseguy]

Greater Springfield mob: Whatever happened to Frank Depergola?
By Stephanie Barry
on July 29, 2015


Frank Depergola

Age: 58

Hometown: Springfield

Last rank held: soldier, earner for slain mob boss Adolfo Bruno, member of "Springfield Crew"

Criminal history: Depergola was a longtime restaurateur and "earner" for Bruno before Bruno was gunned down in the parking lot of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society on Nov. 23, 2003. Depergola, Bruno's frequent companion, was the only eyewitness of record aside from convicted shooter-for-hire Frankie Roche. Depergola told authorities at the time he could not make a positive identification of the shooter. He was never implicated in the case; nor was he called as a witness during two trials in 2011 and 2012 over Bruno's gangland-style hit.

However, Depergola was caught up in the onslaught of criminal prosecutions of local gangsters in the wake of Bruno's death - part of a squeeze on the underworld. He pleaded guilty in 2006 to loan-sharking charges. Depergola admitted he had been involved in collections on behalf of Bruno from a Westfield pizza shop owner. That debtor, Leo Daniele, was a government witness and the interactions were caught on videotape.

"I'm not going to say the devil made me do it; the only person responsible is me," Depergola told a judge at sentencing.

Depergola previously worked at the former city-run job training center, MCDI, until his layoff in 2001 amid an organized crime probe. Questions arose at that time about his connections to political figures. Depergola's onetime restaurant and bar in Springfield's South End, Angelina's, was a frequent venue for political fund-raisers.

Status: Depergola was released from prison in 2008. He has faced no subsequent prosecutions but may have been a victim of an attempted crime last year, according to police records. On Feb. 28, Depergola was paid a visit as his home by two men, police said, one masked and one unmasked. He told police two men rapped at his door, threatened him with a "fish hook like weapon," called him by name, and said 'Give us the $10,000.'"

No charges were filed in that investigation.

Miscellaneous: Contacted by a reporter after the alleged incident at his home, Depergola said he had no idea who the men were, and had reconsidered whether or not they had called him by name. He did add: "These aren't your regular street criminals."

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/ ... rt_m-rpt-1



Here's an article on Depergola's indictment back in 2005 -

http://www.masslive.com/springfield/cor ... ption.html

[Wiseguy]

Fotios "Freddy" and Ty Geas

Ages: 48 and 43, respectively

Hometown: West Springfield

Last ranks held: enforcers, trusted advisors to Anthony Arillotta; held no official rank in the Italian Mafia because the brothers are Greek.

Criminal histories: Both have lifelong criminal histories dating back to their teens. Ty Geas picked up his first Superior Court conviction in 1989 at age 17. The younger Geas was sentenced to a year in jail after firing an assault weapon into the air during a brawl after a high school hockey game. The elder Geas, then 22, pleaded guilty to threatening to murder a witness in that case. Freddy Geas also pleaded guilty that year to smashing a classic car during a bar fight at a former nightclub in Stearns Square called Sh-Booms.

The brothers racked up criminal convictions throughout their 20s and 30s, amassing 75 adult convictions each by the mid-2000s. Freddy Geas was convicted of a truck heist in the late 1990s and was jailed again for a pair of baseball bat beatings in the city's entertainment district in 2004. Ty Geas received a one-year jail sentence in 2006 for a separate beating at the Mardi Gras strip club. When the brothers were briefly free at the same time in the early 2000s, they rose to the top of the local rackets as recognized "muscle" for Arillotta.

They joined Arillotta in a 2008 acquittal on extortion charges in connection with the alleged shake-down of illegal poker machine proprietors Carlo and Genarro Sarno.

Freddy Geas was the second to be charged federally in the Adolfo Bruno murder. He was headed to trial in U.S. District Court in Springfield solo in 2009 when federal investigators in New York brought the case to that district. They charged eight co-conspirators in a wide-ranging conspiracy to violently unseat Bruno from power to pave the way for Arillotta. They also were charged with myriad other mob-related crimes inclluding the 2003 murder of Gary D. Westerman, a rival drug dealer and Arillotta's brother-in-law. Westerman's body was discovered in an eight-foot grave in a wooded lot in Agawam after Arillotta flipped on his former cohorts.

The Geas brothers and onetime acting Genovese crime family boss Arthur "Artie" Nigro stood trial in 2011. All were convicted and sentenced to life in prison. During the trial, prosecutors presented as evidence recorded jail conversations between the brothers. They showed Ty Geas' apparent resignation over being charged in the Westerman murder after Arillotta decided to cooperate with the government.

"So I guess my time is short here," Ty Geas said to his older brother, referring to the dig for Westerman's body in 2010. Stories in The Republican at the time chronicled the dig to unearth Westerman's remains. "It said they only dug one hole," Ty Geas said of one article.

Arillotta testified that Freddy Geas shot Westerman twice in the head, but Westerman began to struggle as the brothers dragged him toward the grave they dug. Arillotta said he and co-defendant Emilio Fusco began bludgeoning Westerman with shovels to finish the job. He said Freddy Geas later marveled at the teamwork involved in the hit. Freddy Geas recruited the paid shooter in the Bruno murder, Frankie Roche, whom he referred to as his "crash dummy" prison buddy.

Arillotta also told jurors Ty Geas lamented shortly before Bruno and Westerman's murders that they had hatched several plans to take out rivals with no results.

"No one was getting killed! We're about nothin'. We're weak. No one's dying!" Arillotta recounted of Ty Geas' frustration.

The brothers professed their innocence at their sentencings before U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel.

Statuses: The Geases were originally sentenced to serve their life bids at the same federal prison. However, they were separated and transferred to separate high-security penitentiaries after reportedly assaulting another inmate. Ty Geas is serving life at Victorville U.S. Penitentiary in California. His older brother is behind bars at Hazelton U.S. Penitentiary in West Virginia. They lost initial appeals of their convictions but have filed pending motions to vacate their sentences.

Miscellaneous: The brothers' startling rise to power with Arillotta led one Massachusetts State Police investigator in 2006 to wonder: "How do two Greek kids suddenly rise to the top of the pile?" ... Freddy Geas apparently maintains his sense of humor in prison. In 2013, he sent out hand-drawn Christmas cards featuring one snowman in a bandit's mask holding up another snowman with a hair dryer.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/ ... ed_stories




Carmine Manzi, a.k.a. "The barber"

Age: 66

Hometown: East Longmeadow

Last rank held: rogue loan-shark, bookmaker, community barber, fringe player, not part of "Springfield Crew"

Criminal history: Manzi was one of 15 caught up in a sweeping racketeering, loan-sharking and gambling indictment by federal authorities in 2000 and 2001. The longtime barber at Tony's Famous Barbershop in Springfield's South End was one of a handful arrested days before Christmas in 2000, and among nine indicted the day after the holiday. Six more defendants were added in a subsequent indictment.

Manzi's co-defendants included his son, Giuseppe, "Little Joe" Manzi; the late Anthony Delevo, who was the head of the local rackets at the time; Emilio Fusco, later implicated in the 2003 murders of Adolfo Bruno and Gary Westerman, now serving a 25-year-sentence for racketeering in a separate case; and the late Albert "Baba" Scibelli, who had been entrenched in the Greater Springfield mob for decades.

Investigators said the wide-reaching schemes were all controlled by the New York City-based Genovese crime family, which has had its grip on Springfield for a century.

State police and federal agents recovered nearly $800,000 in cash from Manzi's home and a safe deposit box at a bank during a state police raid in the summer of 2000; he later forfeited the cash in the criminal case. Manzi and his son were charged with gambling and loan-sharking offenses, plus conspiracy to distribute marijuana. The found cash, however, created problems for Carmine Manzi in the underworld, investigators said, as he hadn't handed up any of the required "tribute" to mob higher-ups including Bruno and Fusco.

Debtors told investigators at the time they often went to the popular barbershop to make payments on gambling and loan-sharking debts. Manzi and his son pleaded guilty to the charges in 2003 and both received 3 1/2 year prison sentences. Little Joe Manzi's bail was revoked when he bludgeoned a man with a golf club in a bar parking lot in the spring of that year. The younger Manzi received a separate, three-year sentence for the beating in 2004, which was tacked on top of his federal sentence.

At the elder Manzi's sentencing, many people including a Massachusetts Trial Court employee, another state worker, a school department employee and a Smith College staffer submitted fawning letters about Manzi's sweet nature and flair for hair.

"In a world soiled by selfishness, boasting and small-minded concerns, he stands large as a man of quiet compassion and unrecognized generosity," English professor Robert E. Hosmer wrote.

Status: Carmine Manzi was released from prison in 2007. He still works long hours at the barbershop, six days a week. Law enforcement sources say Manzi still has money on the street while others close to Manzi say he is "retired."

Miscellaneous: Manzi is known to entertain his clients with nonstop, profane and colorful chatter, which has spawned some spoof voice mail messages that have circulated throughout the city. In a recent dust-up with Albert Calvanese and some of his allies in broad daylight at the shop, witnesses say Manzi held his own.

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/ ... ed_stories




Amedeo Santaniello

Age: 76

Hometowns: Longmeadow and Florida

Last rank held: Once a wingman for Adolfo Bruno, banished in the 1990s, retreated to Florida, reemerged to front pole position after Bruno's death and in the subsequent vacuum created by death and prosecution; elder statesman for "Springfield Crew," according to law enforcement sources

Criminal history: Dust it off. Santaniello received an 18-month federal prison sentence in 1989 for his role in running a numbers operation in upstate New York for Bruno. Then-special prosecutor for the New England Organized Strike Force (now Springfield Assistant U.S. Attorney) Todd Newhouse described Santaniello's role as to "watch out for Bruno's interests" while six others played various roles in the enterprise.

Bruno was identified as "second-in-command" of the Springfield rackets at the time and was serving a prison stint in a separate case.

Late Judge Frank Freedman dismissed Santaniello's version at sentencing that he was caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"I've never been in trouble before," Amedeo Santaniello told Freedman. "If I can get a break, I'd really appreciate it."

Freedman said he agreed with the government's characterization of Amedeo Santaniello.

"I do see you as the Number 1 man in this conspiracy," the judge said.

Santaniello was released from federal prison in 1990. While imprisoned, he was acquitted of attempting to pay off a woman with $300 who his son, Ralph, allegedly assaulted.

In 1993, government witness John "Sonny" Castagna told a federal jury that Amedeo Santaniello stashed his jewelry and identification cards at his restaurant in the early 1980s while Bruno and others went to fatally shoot Joseph Maruca in a barn in Agawam: a contract hit that failed since Maruca survived. Bruno was acquitted of attempted murder and Amedeo Santaniello was never charged.

Amedeo Santaniello and Bruno had a nuclear falling out in the 1990s and the alliance was shattered. It remained so 'til after Bruno's death.

Status: Has faced no new charges; was a target in the 2005 prosecution of his son and wife, court records show, but was never charged.

Miscellaneous: Scratch golfer, excellent bocce player

http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/ ... tev_2.html