Gang Land News 15 Oct 2020

[chin_gigante]

Mob Hitman Joe Watts, The Last Of The Big Time Spenders, Is Coming Back To Town

Longtime Gambino family associate Joseph Watts, a millionaire businessman-loanshark who served as a hitman for three Mafia bosses over the years and was a greatly underrated gangster according to his old colleagues, expects to be home soon, Gang Land has learned.

If so, Watts, will have survived a serious mistake he made back in 2011 by waiting too long to accept a plea offer of eight years for plotting to whack a Staten Island businessman for John Gotti back in 1989.

By the time Watts, then 69, finally agreed to take the deal — the intended victim, Fred Weiss, a former city editor of the Staten Island Advance, was actually killed by DeCavalcante mobsters — the eight year deal was off the table. Instead, he had to accept 13 years or else go to trial and likely be convicted and hammered with a life sentence.

Watts is currently serving that sentence at a federal prison in Cumberland, Maryland, but he's slated to be back in his hometown before Christmas, sources say.

It turns out that Watts — he was described yesterday as "the most underrated guy in the history of the mob" and "the classiest guy" that turncoat capo Michael (Mikey Scars) DiLeonardo ever met in "the life" — expects to celebrate his 79th birthday on December 8 in a New York halfway house where the Bureau of Prisons is planning to place him that day.

Watts has had only about three years of freedom since late 1995, when he was jailed for his role in the 1988 murder of mobster Thomas (Tommy Sparrow) Spinelli for Gotti. He's been behind bars since 2009, when he was charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan with being part of the Gambino family plot to kill Weiss, even though he had been given "coverage" for that by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn when he pleaded guilty to taking part in the Spinelli murder.

In addition, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office hit Watts with racketeering and loansharking charges and then got approval from Judge Colleen McMahon to introduce evidence of many other murders for which he had gotten coverage by the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office. After hanging tough until shortly before trial was set to begin in January of 2011, Watts copped a plea deal calling for a maximum of 13 years.

"I'm very happy he's getting out," said retired lawyer Joel Winograd, who represented Watts in the Weiss case along with also retired Gerald Shargel. "It's way overdue," added Winograd.

John McNally, the celebrated NYPD detective who nabbed jewel thief Jack (Murf the Surf) Murphy for the 1964 Museum of Natural History theft of the Star of India sapphire, and who worked as a private investigator for Watts on several cases, echoed Winograd. "And it's about time," said the retired private eye.

Sources say that the expected testimony of Mikey Scars DiLeonardo, who gushed effusive praise about Watts to Gang Land yesterday, was the reason why Watts, who had hung tough for nearly two years after his indictment in February of 2009, decided to plead guilty rather than take his chances at trial.

Sources say that "for some reason," Watts didn't think DiLeonardo would testify at his trial, even though Mikey Scars had been part of the Weiss plot, and had flipped in 2002. The sources say Watts believed that only turncoat mobster Dominic (Fat Dom) Borghese, whose testimony had failed to convince a state court jury that Watts was guilty of a 1987 murder in a 1997 trial, would be pointing a finger at him from the witness stand.

"He didn't think Fat Dom could hurt him, but he knew Mikey Scars could," the source said.

DiLeonardo confirmed to Gang Land that he was going to be a witness against Watts, and would have implicated him in the Weiss plot and several other murders. According to court records, Watts was involved in killings for family patriarch Carlo Gambino, his successor Paul (Big Paul) Castellano, as well as Gotti.

"They were definitely going to use me," said DiLeonardo. "Weiss; we were on that together. I knew about some other murders, not firsthand, but I had heard about [them] from him and others."

But Scars said he had no idea why Joe decided to plead guilty. He laughed when Gang Land mentioned Borghese as a possible witness in the Weiss case.

"Fat Dom was mad at the government for years," DiLeonardo said. "He wasn't going to testify against Watts; he was going to testify against me. If I had known that back then, I wouldn't have cooperated."

DiLeonardo recalled meeting Watts "in the middle of '75 or '76 when Paul opened the club on 86th street," a reference to the Veteran and Friends Social Club. It became part of American mob history in April of 1986 when Gotti's first underboss, Frank DeCicco, was blown up after leaving it in a revenge murder plot by the Luchese and Genovese crime families for the December 1985 assassination of Castellano.

"Joe Watts is the classiest guy I ever met in the life, said DiLeonardo. "The biggest sport. One of the sharpest guys you'll ever meet in your life, in that life. He taught John Gotti how to dress. John didn't know how to dress before he met Joe Watts."

And as Gang Land detailed back in 2013, when Watts was contesting a $36,000 overcharge of a $140,000 fine for a 1993 conviction; Watts is the last of the big time spenders, who never lets anyone pay for a check.

"I never had (to pay for) a check in my whole life, whenever I was out with Joe Watts," said Mikey Scars. "And I was a nobody when I was 21 years old," when they met in the mid-1970s. "Joe Watts and I got along very, very, very well. He was a big sponsor of me throughout that life. And my rise in that life."

"Joe Watts is the classiest guy I ever met — in that life," DiLeonardo repeated for the third time. "A sport. For sharpness. His dress. Funny. There are lots of stories about his antics."

But when it came to his prowess as a gangster, Mikey Scars continued, there was no one better — or more feared — than him.

"He's a killer, as serious as anyone could be in the street. He was the most underrated guy in the history of the mob," said DiLeonardo, who opined that Watts was a lot like Benjamin (Bugsy) Siegel, the not-so-silent owner of The Flamingo, the Las Vegas hotel-casino who was famously shot to death on June 20, 1947.

"He was like the Bugsy Siegel of today," said DiLeonado. "He has that flamboyant, that charismatic attitude. Everyone thinks about John (Gotti) being charismatic. So was Joe Watts."

DiLeonardo sounded pleased to learn that his old Gambino family pal, who would surely feel a lot different about Mikey Scars if Watts were to speak truthfully to Gang Land about him, was slated to be released from prison in less than two months.

"He's very strong," said DiLeonardo. "Intestinal fortitude, he has that," he continued, then chuckled and said: "And it's hard to kill the devil."

Gang Land expects that Watts, whose maximum release date is December 7, 2021, will likely spend six months in a halfway house, and then be permitted to serve the balance of his prison term at home, which is the normal BOP protocol when an inmate is assigned to a halfway house a year before his maximum release date.

He's not finished with the feds though.

When he completes his sentence, he will be on strict post prison supervised release for three years. And if he makes it that long — and Mikey Scars is betting he will — three months before that ends, he's required to forfeit $250,000 to the government.

Feds Seize $10.4 Million Of $100 Million In Stolen Lottery Winners Loot

Federal prosecutors have seized $10.4 million from four defendants charged with swindling $100 million from Lottery winners, including $7.5 million from Genovese soldier Christopher Chierchio. But the quirky quartet has spent or squirreled away most of the other $90 million or so that they allegedly stole from their three victims over an 18-month period.

Despite those disappearing losses, Chierchio is now arguing that the $7.5 million the feds have snatched, along with the "widespread negative publicity" about the case has had a "devastating financial" impact on him. As a result, he can no longer afford his $11,000 a month East Side apartment. Things are so bad that last month he asked the judge to allow him to live upstate at his ex-wife's home in the Catskills "rent-free" so he could reduce his monthly expenses.

It's "a matter of financial necessity," according to lawyer Gerald McMahon. In a court filing, Chierchio cited severe losses by his contracting firm, RCI Plumbing, which normally has "$30 million in annual revenues," and a new venture he had just begun — selling Personal Protective Equipment to several customers, including the state of California, which had, but has since canceled, a $900 million purchase order.

But Chierchio, who had upwards of $24 million of Lottery winners' loot funneled to him, according to a government filing, is optimistic that he'll be getting his cash back — with interest — when he finally gets his chance to confront the allegations in court, McMahon told Gang Land.

"The more I listen to my client," said the outspoken lawyer, "the more I believe that he's innocent, and that we're going to beat this case. And I don't mean with a plea, but with an acquittal or a dismissal."

McMahon said he still has lots of voluminous discovery that the feds had turned over to go through — prosecutors say it includes 7000 taped phone calls totaling about 480 hours of talks, plus information gleaned from 35 "pieces of electronic evidence" including multiple servers, cell phones and computers that were seized — but he liked what he had heard and seen so far.

So far though, Chierchio has had an up and down roller coaster ride of pre-trial rulings from Brooklyn Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis since the 52-year-old gangster was charged in the massive fraud scheme back in August along with the self-described Lottery Lawyer Jason (Jay) Kurland, and two others.

After Chierchio was released on a $3 million bond with permission to travel within New York and its suburbs, Garaufis summarily denied his first motion to permit him to live at his ex-wife's home in East Durham, NY. He reversed himself last month after Chierchio asserted that the move would allow him "to commute to work" in New York and "earn money for both living and legal expenses."

But last week Garaufis rescinded that decision when pretrial services informed him that Chierchio "has no immediate intention to relocate" to the Catskills. In a brief ruling, the judge wrote he would reconsider a later request by Chierchio "to modify the conditions of his bail" if the defendant were to change his mind.

Pressed about his client's change of heart after getting the judge to change his mind the second time around, McMahon, who had noted in his filing that Chierchio had rented his new Manhattan digs "shortly before his arrest in mid-August," said simply: "Sometimes it's not that easy to break a lease."

In addition to the $10.4 million in cash, the feds have also seized two Boston Whaler speedboats, one owned by Frangesco (Frankie) Russo, the jailed grandson of acting Colombo boss Andrew (Mush) Russo, and a second one belonging to his cohort in several alleged extortion attempts, former securities broker Francis Smookler.

In their filing about the seized cash and boats, prosecutors Andrey Spektor and Lindsay Gerdes indicated that FBI agents are still searching for additional assets they can seize and attach as fruits of the defendants' alleged plunder. Sources say that's unlikely. But if agents did find any more loot, said one source, it wouldn't be "much to write about."

Failed College Hoops Fixer His Own Worst Enemy

Benjamin Bifalco should have his head examined for playing a dangerous game and boasting to a mob associate that he had fixed an NCAA college basketball game when he actually had done no such thing. Now, his lawyer is asking for a no-jail sentence, arguing that Bifalco has suffered more than enough already and doesn't deserve to go to prison since he is the only victim of his crime.

The request delicately sidesteps his client's harebrained venture with a Colombo crime family associate, along with the potentially perilous aspects of his conduct which could have caused some serious trouble.

Bifalco, 25, is slated to be sentenced next week by Brooklyn Federal Court Judge I. Leo Glasser for attempted bribery for trying to fix the December 16, 2018 basketball game between Wagner College and St. John's University while he was a senior at the small Staten Island college.

His client did not fix the game, and no one bet on it because of his actions, wrote lawyer Vincent Martinelli. Instead, Bifalco lost his "low-level" job for Assemblywoman Nicole Malliotakos on the day of his arrest, and his felony conviction "will haunt him for his whole life," the attorney wrote, noting that "he would already be enrolled" in law school but for his current situation.

Probation "would provide just punishment" for Bifalco, wrote Martinelli, because numerous local and national news stories about his arrest, including a front page story in The New York Post, did not only "cause harm to Mr. Bifalco's reputation" but they also serve as a "tremendous deterrent" that will keep him from breaking the law in the future.

His crime, Martinelli wrote, consisted only of "three different telephone conversations with Joseph Amato Jr." during which Bifalco "bragg(ed) about his ability to fix a basketball game" four days before it was played. On the day of the game, the lawyer wrote, Bifalco voiced "doubt" about the fix to Amato, who in turn "immediately re-iterated the doubt" about his client's abilities to "fix the game to a third party."

As Gang Land reported in August, Colombo family associate Amato, a childhood friend, had questioned Bifalco's claim that he had paid $7500 to three starters on Wagner's team that he'd known since their freshmen year and that they had agreed to lose by more than 20 points and that Bifalco was going to bet $50,000 on the game.

In the days leading up to the game, Amato had mentioned Bifalco's claim to have fixed the game to mobster Thomas (The Plumber) Scorcia, the "third party" whom Martinelli referred to. In his filing, the lawyer doesn't mention Amato Jr.'s status as a mob associate or that the taped talks stemmed from an FBI investigation that focused on the doings of Joseph Sr., a family capo.

In his sentencing memo to Glasser, Martinelli wrote that while Bifalco had researched point spreads and was guilty of attempted bribery, he wrongly thought Wagner was so bad it would lose by more than 17 points "whether (his players) shaved points or not" and that "they would all win money" by betting on St. John's.

"Any fair analysis," Martinelli wrote, "could also lead to the conclusion that (Bifalco) was also attempting to induce Mr. Amato, Jr. to bet $50,000 on the game, believing that the game would be a 'winning bet', regardless of whether the bribery was in place, or never in place, and that they would profit from the winning bet, regardless of the scheme or not."

Luckily, for all parties, particularly Bifalco — according to a Gang Land analysis — he was unable to convince Amato that the fix was in and neither he nor Scorcia or any other mobster plunked down 50K on St. John's, which won easily 73-58, but didn't cover the 17 point spread.

In his plea for leniency, Martinelli wrote that "a sentence of probation and a $100 mandatory special assessment" was an appropriate one for Bifalco who survived the "half-hearted and hare-brained" scheme he foolishly tried to pull off in his senior year of college because his street-wise childhood buddy Joseph Amato Jr. never acted on Bifalco's foolhardy plan.

[StandUpGuy]

Seriously there are hundreds of made guys and you got tons of associates and you have the same old stories every week about the same guys. Gangland news has really lost it...

[mlm0047]

Seriously there are hundreds of made guys and you got tons of associates and you have the same old stories every week about the same guys. Gangland news has really lost it...

The joe watts and Mikey scars input was fantastic, great week IMO

[CTamg65]

Besides the thing about Bifalco I thought it was a decent write up

[JohnnyS]

Thanks for posting.

[Angelo Santino]

Thank you for posting, Chin!

[TommyNoto]

I thought it was an excellent week lol

RCI plumbing did $30m in sales which reinforces the assumption the Westside does major contracting work in the area. They have so many big time construction guys, Cava was doing over $100m in sales, who knows how big Figgys construction business is. It goes on and on with them, still building skyscrapers

They also pulled off a $100M heist with a $24M haul for a soldier over an 18 mo period. That’s probably one of the biggest scores in mob history ? But the mafia is a bunch of brokesters today lol

Leave it to the Westside to be doing business like it’s the 80s and then some. This crew alone generated close to $150M in sales / income , what other crews coupd ever do that ? I wonder how big their loan book was , must have been multi millions as well

Would be interesting to know where CC stands with Barney

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post.

[Tonyd621]

DiLeonardos just a little smitten with Watts. He will testify against you, get you convicted then jerk you off in the tube sock and after hes done he will make grilled cheese off the radiator.

[Bklyn21]

Seriously there are hundreds of made guys and you got tons of associates and you have the same old stories every week about the same guys. Gangland news has really lost it...

I dunno if there's anything or anyone to report on recently, There's not much Street activity and no one is being indicted or arrested for anything . It's really a dark time for LCN , They really have went underground the last few years

[Bklyn21]

I thought it was an excellent week lol

RCI plumbing did $30m in sales which reinforces the assumption the Westside does major contracting work in the area. They have so many big time construction guys, Cava was doing over $100m in sales, who knows how big Figgys construction business is. It goes on and on with them, still building skyscrapers

They also pulled off a $100M heist with a $24M haul for a soldier over an 18 mo period. That’s probably one of the biggest scores in mob history ? But the mafia is a bunch of brokesters today lol

Leave it to the Westside to be doing business like it’s the 80s and then some. This crew alone generated close to $150M in sales / income , what other crews coupd ever do that ? I wonder how big their loan book was , must have been multi millions as well

Would be interesting to know where CC stands with Barney

I agree , I think Lcn as a whole is geared more towards white collar activity and operates as a white collar business enterprise today . I think Lcn is making alot more money today than people think

[Shellackhead]

Seriously there are hundreds of made guys and you got tons of associates and you have the same old stories every week about the same guys. Gangland news has really lost it...

I dunno if there's anything or anyone to report on recently, There's not much Street activity and no one is being indicted or arrested for anything . It's really a dark time for LCN , They really have went underground the last few years

Exactly all of the families learned that being lowkey is the way to go in todays day and age.

[Chopper]

Seriously there are hundreds of made guys and you got tons of associates and you have the same old stories every week about the same guys. Gangland news has really lost it...

I dunno if there's anything or anyone to report on recently, There's not much Street activity and no one is being indicted or arrested for anything . It's really a dark time for LCN , They really have went underground the last few years

Actually there's a lot to report on, a lot is being reported, also by Capeci, who's actually having a good run the last couple of years.

And to say that LCN has gone underground the last few years, well, that's kind of the point of being LCN, isn't it?

To say there are no arrests and indictments, well, that just means either you are blind or straight up trolling.

[Adam]

Does anyone have a complete list of the murders Watts was involved in in the 70s and 80s and maybe 90s?

[Adam]

Does anyone have a complete list of the murders Watts was involved in in the 70s and 80s and maybe 90s?

Yeah I'm answering part of my own question. I found these listed in "Gotti's Boys" by DeStefano(it was okay). But I'm wondering if there are others I'm missing:

197?: Anthony Miano
1982: Miachel and Nicolina Lizak
1984: John Cennamo
1985: Paul Castellano, Thomas Bilotti
1986: Augustus Sclafani
1987: William Ciccone
1989: Fred Weiss
1989: Thomas Spinelli

Damn that looks like a lot. Am I missing any? Or should some not be there? The Cennamo one is pretty sketchy. Even if that was an actual murder, not sure that Watts would have done that with the Gotti crew at that time.