Gangland News 12/3/20

[mafiastudent]

Glasser To Frankie Loc: You're Not Going Anywhere

Gang Land Exclusive!

Frank LocascioFrank (Frankie Loc) Locascio got a pre-holiday message from the Brooklyn Federal Judge hearing his application to have his murder conviction overturned. And it wasn't "Have a Happy Thanksgiving."

In a blistering 28-page ruling issued on November 24, Judge I. Leo Glasser upheld Locascio's conviction and told the 87-year-old Gambino wiseguy to expect the same fate that his late Mafia boss John Gotti suffered behind bars for the 1990 gangland-style slaying of mobster Louis (Louie) DiBono: He should expect to die in prison.

Glasser mocked the claim by Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano that Locascio was innocent of the murder as "disingenuous," and said his affidavit on Frankie Loc's behalf was belied by his trial testimony and the voluminous record in the case that began with the arrests of Gotti & Company 30 years ago next week. The judge said he disagreed with the 2d Circuit Court of Appeals that Gravano's "declaration" was "newly discovered evidence," but even if it was, it would not upset Locascio's murder conviction.

The so-called "newly discovered evidence," Glasser said, was merely a conveniently recovered memory that Sammy Bull "discovered" or "created" by somehow recalling what "Locascio was thinking more than 30 years ago on December 12, 1989." That day, Gotti told him: "He's gonna die because he refused to come in when I called" and added: "He's gonna get killed because he disobeyed coming (in.)"

I Leo Glasser"Remarkably," Glasser wrote, by "reading (Locascio's) mind or divine enlightenment," Gravano declared that "Frank tried to save DiBono's life and he did not agree with nor approve the decision to kill DiBono" even though he was not "a party to the conversation," and hadn't "heard the tone of voice or seen the visage of Locascio" or "ever discussed the conversation with him."

"Locascio's utter silence upon that stark pronouncement" that DiBono was going to be killed, Glasser wrote, "bespeaks a wordless assent" that was "a death sentence on DiBono, not because he committed a crime, but worse, only because he did not come in when called by John Gotti."

"That assent to murder, though voiceless and wordless, (was) echoed loudly" at the June 23, 1992 sentencing of both defendants, Glasser wrote, "when Locascio declared: 'If there was more men like John Gotti on this earth, we would have a better country.'"

The judge wrote that the taped talk between Gotti and Locascio was only a "speck" of the "circumstantial evidence" of Frankie Loc's guilt. Glasser noted that in affirming his conviction and life sentence the Second Circut had written that Locascio "was not convicted for his mere presence" during the taped talk, but for his "'presence under a particular set of circumstances' that indicate participation."

Savatore GravanoGlasser, who has handled the case since the trio of top Gambino family members were arrested and detained on December 11, 1990, noted the irony and hypocrisy of Frankie Loc trying to use Sammy Bull, whose face appeared on "the body of a rat" on flyers around the city during the trial, "as his savior" in his latest, and probably his last, effort to win his freedom.

Even though Gravano was "vilified in the harshest terms as a liar and every conceivable variation of that word," Glasser wrote, it appears that the death penalty that "Cosa Nostra makes mandatory for a rat, has a previously unknown exception for a rat who remembers a mind he read about more than 30 years ago in aid of a former mafia friend in prison."

As for Sammy Bull's "knowledge" of the "DiBono conversation," Glasser wrote that Gravano "had none." The judge stated that "a review of the transcript of his testimony over six days reveals" that "he was emphatic about his absence during that conversation and having no knowledge of what was said."

Louis DiBono"His claimed knowledge is what he read in Locascio's mind," the judge cracked, noting that Sammy Bull told prosecutor John Gleeson, as well as Locascio's lawyer Anthony Cardinale and Gotti's attorney Albert Krieger that he was "not present" during the "DiBono conversation."

"I don't know nothing about the conversation (Gotti) had with Frankie on December 12," Gravano told Krieger, adding, "I don't know exactly what was said until now," Glasser wrote.

And "to put it charitably," Glasser wrote, the trial record "create(s) doubt about the truthfulness of Gravano's" claim that Gotti told him that "he strongly resented Locascio's suggestion that he take the money ($50,000 from DiBono) and forget about killing DiBono." Gravano has asserted that was the reason why the Dapper Don promoted Sammy Bull to underboss and demoted Locascio to consigliere.

Gravano's trial testimony "will not reveal a line of that resentment as the reason for those changes of position," the judge wrote. He noted that three weeks later, on January 4, 1990, Gotti was tape-recorded telling Sammy Bull the reason why he was going to name him as family underboss.

It had nothing to do with the Dibono murder plot, Glasser wrote, but was Gotti's plan for the worst case scenario in case he was convicted of assault charges at the trial he was about to start four days later in Manhattan Supreme Court and sentenced to prison.

"Tomorrow," Gotti told Gravano in the same widow's apartment above the Ravenite Social Club where Gotti and Locascio were tape recorded, "I want to call our skippers in. I'm going to tell them, 'I'm the representante till I say different. As soon as anything happens to me, I'm off the streets, Sammy is the acting boss.'"

"So, I'm asking you how you feel," Gotti continued. "You want to stay as consigliere? Or do you want me to make you official underboss? Acting boss? How do you feel? What makes you feel better? It doesn't matter, Sam. This thing here, and I'm gonna make our skippers understand that. This is my wishes that if, if I'm in the can, this Family is gonna be run by Sammy."

"Making Gravano the underboss was important to Gotti because it avoided confusion as to who ran the family in the event he went to jail," Glasser wrote. He noted that Gotti added: "Just the fact that you're out there, that you can sneak out in the middle of the night and hit a guy in the head with a hatchet. You understand, Sammy?"

Nancy GertnerUnder questioning by Gleeson, the judge wrote, Gravano explained that Gotti wanted his underlings to know that "if anybody tried to go against John or disobey John" that he was the one who would "hit you in the head with an axe."

In the end, wrote Glasser, he saw "no newly discovered evidence at all," but just another effort by Locascio to "set aside" his conviction, this time based on the specious grounds that "he tried to prevent his murder — by a thought, an intent, he never expressed or conveyed by word or act."

Locascio's legal team, headed by retired Boston Federal Judge Nancy Gertner, is expected to appeal Glasser's denial — of the habeas corpus appeal known as a "2255 motion." To do so, Gertner will have to obtain permission from the 2d Circuit Court of Appeals, which granted Frankie Loc an unusual second habeas corpus motion based on the "newly discovered evidence" in Gravano's declaration.

Frankie Loc wasn't the only one getting bad news over the holiday: Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso, the 78-year-old imprisoned for life Luchese underboss who boasted how he put a shovel of dirt in the mouth of a wounded drug smuggler he was burying alive — one of 36 murder victims in his life of crime — learned over the Thanksgiving weekend that, like Locascio, he will die in prison while serving a life sentence.

"In light of the nature and extent of (his) criminal history," Judge Frederick Block denied a compassionate release motion by Casso, who tested positive for the COVID-19 virus last month. Even his severe medical conditions, the judge wrote, "do not justify early termination of his life sentence."

Chin Gigante's Crooked Grandson Lost His Slot As Liquor Union Boss, But He Wants Back On The Job

Vincent FyfeVincent Fyfe, who landed a sweet job running the union representing liquor industry salespersons, thanks to the help of his mob boss grandfather Vincent (Chin) Gigante, wants to return to the labor business despite a guilty plea to schemes that call for him to be barred from working "in any capacity for any labor organization" for 13 years.

In a November 19 filing with Judge Jed Rakoff, Fyfe, who was fired as President of Local 2D of the United Food & Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) in March, says he has been "rehabilitated" since the FBI arrested him in 2012 for selling out Local 2D members beginning in 2005, and can now "be trusted not to endanger" any labor organization that hires him.

His old union apparently heartily agrees: As his best and only reference, Fyfe cites David Young, the UFCW international vice president who was assigned as a trustee in March, and has been serving as an interim president of Local 2D. The Brooklyn-based local represents about 1600 workers in the liquor industry in the tristate area, Delaware and Washington D.C.

Judge Jed RakoffAs Gang Land disclosed in August, Fyfe, whose cooperation led to labor racketeering convictions for Gigante's son, Vincent Esposito — and two Genovese mobsters — managed to keep his $300,000 a year union job for two years longer than the feds wanted when the original judge in the case, Paul Crotty, rejected a government request to notify the UFCW of Fyfe's guilty plea in early 2018.

In an affidavit asking Judge Rakoff to waive the automatic bar to his employment in the labor industry, Fyfe wrote that even after he was fired, Young asked him to use the "institutional knowledge of the workings of Local 2D" that he acquired since taking over as Local 2D president in 2001 to assist him in the transition.

The union gig is apparently pretty complicated work.

Joseph Giaramita"I've prepared reports and reviewed proposals, interpreted and explained contract language, which is based upon past practice examples," Fyfe wrote. "I also give health, welfare and pension advice. I provide input into negotiation of COVID procedure and layoffs as well as collective bargaining agreement language for contract negotiating renewals."

For two months after he was fired, the union continued to pay Fyfe his monthly $29,000 salary. Although the paychecks stopped, the local is still paying for his medical coverage, according to Fyfe's attorney Joseph Giaramita.

Noting that Fyfe already has job offers for consultant work in the labor field, Giaramita asked Rakoff to "remove the automatic bar imposed" by the Labor Management Reporting and Disclosure Act (LMRDA) at a hearing next week, when Fyfe had been slated to be sentenced. That will be put off because all Manhattan Federal Court proceedings were postponed Tuesday until at least January 15 because of the increase in COVID-19 cases in the city.

Vincent EspositoAssistant U.S. attorneys Kimberly Ravener, Jared Lenow and Jason Swergold have not yet replied to Fyfe's motion. It's unclear whether the prosecutors, who were thwarted in their efforts to notify Local 2D that Fyfe had pleaded guilty to labor racketeering two years ago, will support his efforts to work for a labor organization.

But based on a quick reading of the LMRDA by Gang Land, the best Rakoff will be able to do for Fyfe is reduce the automatic 13 year ban to three years, which will begin when he completes whatever sentence he receives for his crimes. Fyfe hopes to receive a non-jail term in return for his cooperation.

Genovese wiseguy Frank (Frankie G) Giovinco, the only defendant who went to trial, began serving his four year sentence in September. The following month, mobster Steven (Mad Dog) Arena completed his year and a day prison term.

And last month, Fyfe's uncle Vincent, who was sentenced to two years behind bars for extorting $10,000 a year from his nephew Vincent for 15 years, was released from prison to a halfway house. Esposito's official release date is in February, but halfway house stays are often reduced due to the coronavirus.

He's Just 28, But This Kid Is Looking To Set A Record For Compassionate Release From Prison

Anthony CamisaIn 2016, Anthony (The Kid) Camisa was 24 years old when he set the record for Youngest Mob Associate arrested in a massive indictment of 45 defendants from five crime families. Camisa and his elders were snared in an FBI sting hatched in Pasquale's Rigoletto, the famed Bronx eatery on Arthur Avenue. Today, The Kid is four years older and somewhat wiser. His latest entry in the Gang Land Record Book is that he is now, at 28, the Youngest Gangster to Seek Compassionate Release from federal prison due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Camisa is technically eligible for a compassionate release. He has served four years of a 66 month sentence, nearly 80% of his prison term. He has not had any serious prison violations, and has earned a high school equivalency diploma while behind bars. Also, he's been turned down by his prison warden, which gives him the right to take his case to the courts. But getting from here to there won't be easy, to put it mildly.

To begin with, as prosecutor Abigail Kurland stated in her objection to Manhattan Federal Judge Richard Sullivan, Camisa is young and "healthy," and he "does not have any medical conditions that put him at a higher risk from COVID-19." And while there are 246 coronavirus-infected inmates at the New Jersey prison complex at Fort Dix, his unit is "COVID-free," Kurland wrote.

Judge Richard SullivanAlso, Camisa, who pleaded guilty to illegal gambling business and taking part in a gunpoint kidnapping of a deadbeat gambler, received a sentence from Judge Sullivan that was four months less than the recommended maximum prison term called for in his plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's office.

In addition, four months after Sullivan gave him a relatively lenient sentence (especially considering the fact that Camisa took part in two gunpoint extortions, including one when he was 21 years old in 2014), the judge stated he would have imposed a "higher sentence" if he had known Camisa was a full partner in a lucrative gambling operation run by a Luchese mobster, not just a collector for the wiseguy.

The judge expressed his angst about Camisa's prison term at the sentencing of his mob partner, who had contested the government's accusation that he deserved a heavy sentence because he was a supervisor in the bookmaking operation.

During the session, Sullivan left no doubt that he believed that The Kid's lawyer, Gerald McMahon, had put one over on him by finessing the judge into focusing on his client's youth, rather than the lucrative bookmaking business that Camisa had begun when he was still a teenager.

Gerald McMahonAfter McMahon told the judge that The Kid had "taught" the mobster the "bookmaking business" and stated that the duo were "partners" in an online bookmaking venture, Sullivan said he "absolutely would have" given Camisa "a higher sentence" if he had known back then what the attorney had just told him.

In his filing to Sullivan on behalf of The Kid, McMahon argued that there were many reasons to turn the key and set the young man free. For starters, there was Camisa's rehabilitation and the "severe" four years he had spent in prison as a "first-time-offender." Those facts, he wrote, "coupled with the deadly worldwide pandemic and major outbreak currently affecting FCI Fort Dix" made for an "extraordinary and compelling reason" for a compassionate release just nine months before his mandatory release.

Noting that under Bureau of Prisons protocol, Camisa has been eligible "for home confinement" since September 4, McMahon asked the judge to grant a compassionate release and order The Kid to serve the rest of his sentence under home detention. That would lessen the chance of contracting the COVID bug, but would still be punishment, not an "unjustified windfall," the lawyer wrote.

Gang Land is eager to see if The Kid can make it a trifecta and set one more record: Youngest Gangster Receiving Compassionate Release Amid COVID Epidemic.

[mafiastudent]

pics

[mafiastudent]

pics

[mafiastudent]

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[jimmi_beans8]

bet it takes the kid another 10 years bfore he gets made with WS

[StandUpGuy]

bet it takes the kid another 10 years bfore he gets made with WS

He’s with the Lucchese family.

[AnIrishGuy]

bet it takes the kid another 10 years bfore he gets made with WS

He’s with the Lucchese family.

Where's he from / based?

[StandUpGuy]

bet it takes the kid another 10 years bfore he gets made with WS

He’s with the Lucchese family.

Where's he from / based?

Sorry, got no idea. I suppose the Bronx faction..

[jimmi_beans8]

@STANDUP,,,+ THAT MADE EVEN MORE SENSE

[Cheech]

snoooooooooooooooooooooooze fest

[Bricktop]

How is Fyfe not in WitSec?

[SonnyBlackstein]

How is Fyfe not in WitSec?

I can’t stand this guy. Gifted a 300k job and all he has to do is kick up 10k a year instead, rolls on his cousin. 29k a month and he won’t even kick 10k A YEAR to the family which GAVE IT TO HIM.
I honestly hope the Westside do a number on this guy.

They have to be thinking about it. Triple slap in the face; to rat against Chins son, Espositios own cousin to rat which tarnished his blood family rep, and now this guy walking around barely two years after this goes down wanting back in to the industry, which is a massive middle finger to the Westside.

You’d think he has to get tuned up at the least.

Casso’s hyterical. 36 murders and he’s pushing for, compassionate, release.

[Pogo The Clown]

How is Fyfe not in WitSec?

Because they don't need to. It is not like the mob is killing informants these days. Plenty of informants have stayed or moved back to the area and nothing has happened to them. Several years back there was even a Genovese Associate in NJ who flipped and not only didn't he leave but he continued to run his bookmaking operation until he was busted by the Feds again.


Pogo

[Amershire_Ed]

How is Fyfe not in WitSec?

Because they don't need to. It is not like the mob is killing informants these days. Plenty of informants have stayed or moved back to the area and nothing has happened to them. Several years back there was even a Genovese Associate in NJ who flipped and not only didn't he leave but he continued to run his bookmaking operation until he was busted by the Feds again.


Pogo

Pennisi said in one of his interviews that the only way you will really see retaliation is if the person who snitched runs into a whole crew OR if they are rubbing the borgatas nose in it. For example he said Alite had started coming around a hotel in Jersey that he shouldn’t of been, and the Luke’s Jersey crew considered taking action. But Pennisi also said he personally ran into 2 Lucchese guys at a mall one day, after he cooperated, and they said hello like it was no big thing. He said he saw another made guy once and the guy pretended not to see him. But he said if they had been “crewed up” and saw him, they would’ve been forced to do something.

[Tonyd621]

How is Fyfe not in WitSec?

I can’t stand this guy. Gifted a 300k job and all he has to do is kick up 10k a year instead, rolls on his cousin. 29k a month and he won’t even kick 10k A YEAR to the family which GAVE IT TO HIM.
I honestly hope the Westside do a number on this guy.

They have to be thinking about it. Triple slap in the face; to rat against Chins son, Espositios own cousin to rat which tarnished his blood family rep, and now this guy walking around barely two years after this goes down wanting back in to the industry, which is a massive middle finger to the Westside.

You’d think he has to get tuned up at the least.

Casso’s hyterical. 36 murders and he’s pushing for, compassionate, release.

I was thinking the same thing. Everything he got was not earned. It was given to him by his family. This guy was the farthest thing from a victim. God, I would kick up 10k to earn even half that a year. I don't fully understand why he rolled in the first place. And they probably wouldn't of raided Espositos apartment and find all they did. They got to be stewing about that too. All this shit over not even 5%/yr.