John Pennisi Sighting / Sit Down News

[SonnyBlackstein]

Yeah I couldnt care less whether Pennisi had rackets and was a big earner or not. He’s a straight shooter. He has been on like 40 hours worth of podcasts/YT shows and I’ve heard him brag exactly one time. And that was when LaVecchia asked him about the recruiting process. And Pennisi said he was in a social club one day with a bunch of made guys—DeSantis was there—and they were ruminating over the fact that the family had such a small recruiting base. Apparently one of the guys asked “who is the future of this family?”. And Pennisi said that Mikey DeSantis pointed at him and said “he’s part of the future”. Maybe I’m a sucker but I actually believe that story. Because if Pennisi was going to make that up, he’d have made a bunch of other shit up too. And I just don’t think that’s the case. Would I love for an ex wiseguy to come forward that was part of several rackets bringing in millions? Sure. But Pennisi is *super* explicit about when he’s talking about something he knows first hand, and when he’s talking about something he’s heard 2nd or 3rd hand. And nearly every other ex wiseguy doing press doesn’t make that distinction...OR they exaggerate like crazy.

Good post.
Im conflicted on Pennisi.

I agree with everything you said, and have been impressed with his humility.

But. The Johnny Sideburns posts on his site, about Cerella making jokes about Vic's dead wife, if there's anything which could get a guy clipped in this day and age it would be that. And he has nothing to gain by relating that one tiny piece of info. nothing. Except, to get Cerella clipped.

So where does that leave us?

I guess Pennisi is like anyone else, with good and bad points. He's not above malice, and he's not prone to lying. He's, like us, somewhere in the middle.

[chubby]

The more I listen to these podcasts the only one who seems honest and who’s story doesn’t change is pennisi.... the more I listen to hooties stuff the more confused I am about him... one minute he’s been with one arm since he was 14, then says he was like brothers with Al’s crew.. then will say that he has no idea why he got indicted with them cause he was never on record with any lcn guy?? And did he flip or not? All he will say is he didn’t go along with the global plea. But I would find it hard got someone who didn’t rat, to hangout around alite, gene, etc... also his name isn’t Anthony Russo.. when you google that all you get is the Colombo guy... his name is actually Anthino “hootie” Russo, if you google that, then the gambino indictments show up..

[JohnnyS]

Hootie is all over the place hard to follow what he's saying half the time.

[Amershire_Ed]

I think Hootie’s interview with Vlad lays out the clearest timeline. I was confused at first because he was jumping all over the place. He’s also filled in the blanks on some stories that seemed kinda incomplete.

[chubby]

Hootie is all over the place hard to follow what he's saying half the time.

I agree, with each new podcast he does, the more confusing his story becomes...

[newera_212]

The more I listen to these podcasts the only one who seems honest and who’s story doesn’t change is pennisi.... the more I listen to hooties stuff the more confused I am about him... one minute he’s been with one arm since he was 14, then says he was like brothers with Al’s crew.. then will say that he has no idea why he got indicted with them cause he was never on record with any lcn guy?? And did he flip or not? All he will say is he didn’t go along with the global plea. But I would find it hard got someone who didn’t rat, to hangout around alite, gene, etc... also his name isn’t Anthony Russo.. when you google that all you get is the Colombo guy... his name is actually Anthino “hootie” Russo, if you google that, then the gambino indictments show up..

Right. There's also another Russo on that very same indictment. Hootie mentioned once that he has a brother who was a 'knockaround guy' but 'not a street guy' and not 'in the life' - I'm wondering who this other Russo is and whether or not it's his brother. It'd be strange if his own brother was on that indictment and an integral part of that crew but out of all the stories he's told, he's never once mentioned him.

Hootie's also let it slip that Todd LaBarca is his brother-in-law, and that "they" (not sure if he meant the Government, or people in his crew) were trying to tie him into the murder that LaBarca went down for, along with the tragic murder of the old pizzeria owner which resulted from a botched robbery attempted set up by a young pot dealer loosely affiliated with the Truccio crew (who I'm almost positive Hootie knows). Gene said he was 'with' Todd at one point too collecting money for those guys.

I don't think the lines are as clear as we make them out to be. With someone like Pennisi who was actually made, it's a little bit more cut and dry, but for guys like Hootie and Gene who were in the neighborhood - which legitimately does have a lot of activity - they were running around all over the place piecing together money however they could, under the wing of whoever they could gain from at the time, compounded with the fact that they're probably being selectively honest, stretching stories out, etc.

[mafiastudent]

The more I listen to these podcasts the only one who seems honest and who’s story doesn’t change is pennisi.... the more I listen to hooties stuff the more confused I am about him... one minute he’s been with one arm since he was 14, then says he was like brothers with Al’s crew.. then will say that he has no idea why he got indicted with them cause he was never on record with any lcn guy?? And did he flip or not? All he will say is he didn’t go along with the global plea. But I would find it hard got someone who didn’t rat, to hangout around alite, gene, etc... also his name isn’t Anthony Russo.. when you google that all you get is the Colombo guy... his name is actually Anthino “hootie” Russo, if you google that, then the gambino indictments show up..

He also told Vlad he served five years. Which is truth per se but not complete. When he was sentenced after he became whatever it is they're all trying to rebrand themselves as - he was given time served and put on five years supervised release which was lifted early because of model behavior (and that's genuine - he was working two jobs and whatever else).

[chubby]

The more I listen to these podcasts the only one who seems honest and who’s story doesn’t change is pennisi.... the more I listen to hooties stuff the more confused I am about him... one minute he’s been with one arm since he was 14, then says he was like brothers with Al’s crew.. then will say that he has no idea why he got indicted with them cause he was never on record with any lcn guy?? And did he flip or not? All he will say is he didn’t go along with the global plea. But I would find it hard got someone who didn’t rat, to hangout around alite, gene, etc... also his name isn’t Anthony Russo.. when you google that all you get is the Colombo guy... his name is actually Anthino “hootie” Russo, if you google that, then the gambino indictments show up..

Right. There's also another Russo on that very same indictment. Hootie mentioned once that he has a brother who was a 'knockaround guy' but 'not a street guy' and not 'in the life' - I'm wondering who this other Russo is and whether or not it's his brother. It'd be strange if his own brother was on that indictment and an integral part of that crew but out of all the stories he's told, he's never once mentioned him.

Hootie's also let it slip that Todd LaBarca is his brother-in-law, and that "they" (not sure if he meant the Government, or people in his crew) were trying to tie him into the murder that LaBarca went down for, along with the tragic murder of the old pizzeria owner which resulted from a botched robbery attempted set up by a young pot dealer loosely affiliated with the Truccio crew (who I'm almost positive Hootie knows). Gene said he was 'with' Todd at one point too collecting money for those guys.

I don't think the lines are as clear as we make them out to be. With someone like Pennisi who was actually made, it's a little bit more cut and dry, but for guys like Hootie and Gene who were in the neighborhood - which legitimately does have a lot of activity - they were running around all over the place piecing together money however they could, under the wing of whoever they could gain from at the time, compounded with the fact that they're probably being selectively honest, stretching stories out, etc.

So that’s Todd labarca he was talking about when he said the pill dealer who was cooperating and showed up at hooties house and handed him 5,000 Vicodin in a bag and then a minute later law enforcement stormed his house with an arrest warrant? And he was saying my brother in law was over, who shouldn’t have beeen there cause I don’t like him, then he tried to say that labarca started crying about how he was on parole and didn’t want this affecting him, and hootie made it seem like labarca saying this is what got him fucked cause he had the pills hidden under his neighbors trash can or something , and after labarca said that, then the cops threatened to charge like everyone in the house including hooties wife, so hootie said fine and went and grabbed the pills and handed them to the cops, but he made it seem like if labarca didn’t start talking about his parole then hootie wouldn’t have got busted for the pills.
Like I said his whole stories are just all over the place..

[Jbravo]

Hootie is a bullshit artist and acts like half a moulignan...disgrace these guys today.

[Amershire_Ed]

Hootie is a bullshit artist and acts like half a moulignan...disgrace these guys today.

I don’t think that’s fair—the bullshit artist part. I will concede he definitely dresses like a 24 year old rapper. And I’m pretty sure he has some kinda pill addiction.

But If you watch Hootie’s interview with Vlad it’s pretty easy to keep up with his timeline. He was definitely all over the place in some of his other interviews.

[Amershire_Ed]

The more I listen to these podcasts the only one who seems honest and who’s story doesn’t change is pennisi.... the more I listen to hooties stuff the more confused I am about him... one minute he’s been with one arm since he was 14, then says he was like brothers with Al’s crew.. then will say that he has no idea why he got indicted with them cause he was never on record with any lcn guy?? And did he flip or not? All he will say is he didn’t go along with the global plea. But I would find it hard got someone who didn’t rat, to hangout around alite, gene, etc... also his name isn’t Anthony Russo.. when you google that all you get is the Colombo guy... his name is actually Anthino “hootie” Russo, if you google that, then the gambino indictments show up..

Right. There's also another Russo on that very same indictment. Hootie mentioned once that he has a brother who was a 'knockaround guy' but 'not a street guy' and not 'in the life' - I'm wondering who this other Russo is and whether or not it's his brother. It'd be strange if his own brother was on that indictment and an integral part of that crew but out of all the stories he's told, he's never once mentioned him.

Hootie's also let it slip that Todd LaBarca is his brother-in-law, and that "they" (not sure if he meant the Government, or people in his crew) were trying to tie him into the murder that LaBarca went down for, along with the tragic murder of the old pizzeria owner which resulted from a botched robbery attempted set up by a young pot dealer loosely affiliated with the Truccio crew (who I'm almost positive Hootie knows). Gene said he was 'with' Todd at one point too collecting money for those guys.

I don't think the lines are as clear as we make them out to be. With someone like Pennisi who was actually made, it's a little bit more cut and dry, but for guys like Hootie and Gene who were in the neighborhood - which legitimately does have a lot of activity - they were running around all over the place piecing together money however they could, under the wing of whoever they could gain from at the time, compounded with the fact that they're probably being selectively honest, stretching stories out, etc.

So that’s Todd labarca he was talking about when he said the pill dealer who was cooperating and showed up at hooties house and handed him 5,000 Vicodin in a bag and then a minute later law enforcement stormed his house with an arrest warrant? And he was saying my brother in law was over, who shouldn’t have beeen there cause I don’t like him, then he tried to say that labarca started crying about how he was on parole and didn’t want this affecting him, and hootie made it seem like labarca saying this is what got him fucked cause he had the pills hidden under his neighbors trash can or something , and after labarca said that, then the cops threatened to charge like everyone in the house including hooties wife, so hootie said fine and went and grabbed the pills and handed them to the cops, but he made it seem like if labarca didn’t start talking about his parole then hootie wouldn’t have got busted for the pills.
Like I said his whole stories are just all over the place..

Maybe it’s just me but that seems like a pretty simple story to follow.

I don’t get where the gaps in the story are supposed to be.

[chubby]

The more I listen to these podcasts the only one who seems honest and who’s story doesn’t change is pennisi.... the more I listen to hooties stuff the more confused I am about him... one minute he’s been with one arm since he was 14, then says he was like brothers with Al’s crew.. then will say that he has no idea why he got indicted with them cause he was never on record with any lcn guy?? And did he flip or not? All he will say is he didn’t go along with the global plea. But I would find it hard got someone who didn’t rat, to hangout around alite, gene, etc... also his name isn’t Anthony Russo.. when you google that all you get is the Colombo guy... his name is actually Anthino “hootie” Russo, if you google that, then the gambino indictments show up..

Right. There's also another Russo on that very same indictment. Hootie mentioned once that he has a brother who was a 'knockaround guy' but 'not a street guy' and not 'in the life' - I'm wondering who this other Russo is and whether or not it's his brother. It'd be strange if his own brother was on that indictment and an integral part of that crew but out of all the stories he's told, he's never once mentioned him.

Hootie's also let it slip that Todd LaBarca is his brother-in-law, and that "they" (not sure if he meant the Government, or people in his crew) were trying to tie him into the murder that LaBarca went down for, along with the tragic murder of the old pizzeria owner which resulted from a botched robbery attempted set up by a young pot dealer loosely affiliated with the Truccio crew (who I'm almost positive Hootie knows). Gene said he was 'with' Todd at one point too collecting money for those guys.

I don't think the lines are as clear as we make them out to be. With someone like Pennisi who was actually made, it's a little bit more cut and dry, but for guys like Hootie and Gene who were in the neighborhood - which legitimately does have a lot of activity - they were running around all over the place piecing together money however they could, under the wing of whoever they could gain from at the time, compounded with the fact that they're probably being selectively honest, stretching stories out, etc.

So that’s Todd labarca he was talking about when he said the pill dealer who was cooperating and showed up at hooties house and handed him 5,000 Vicodin in a bag and then a minute later law enforcement stormed his house with an arrest warrant? And he was saying my brother in law was over, who shouldn’t have beeen there cause I don’t like him, then he tried to say that labarca started crying about how he was on parole and didn’t want this affecting him, and hootie made it seem like labarca saying this is what got him fucked cause he had the pills hidden under his neighbors trash can or something , and after labarca said that, then the cops threatened to charge like everyone in the house including hooties wife, so hootie said fine and went and grabbed the pills and handed them to the cops, but he made it seem like if labarca didn’t start talking about his parole then hootie wouldn’t have got busted for the pills.
Like I said his whole stories are just all over the place..

Maybe it’s just me but that seems like a pretty simple story to follow.

I don’t get where the gaps in the story are supposed to be.

You’re referring to hootie and his story??? Cause that’s what I’m talking about and maybe you haven’t heard how much he flip flops maybe cause you haven’t listened to enough of the different podcasts he’s been on? I’m only guessing.... I’ve listened to pretty much every hootie interview on YouTube that I could come across including when he was on mba and the button man and vladtv..

He goes from saying he was around the life and around Ronnie one arm since he was a child.. then will say he was never on record or under Ronnie ever.. then he says how he met his son al and mike roc and that whole crew and how the plan was for them to all enter the life and get made one by one, so hootie stops selling drugs and goes to work at their bookmaking office... says he was put up to be made 3 times... then again will say that he wasn’t on record or a part of Al’s crew cause he sold drugs (they all sold drugs). Who’s never on record or with someone yet is sponsored and put up to be made 3 times??? Also how you get indicted with a crew that you claim you were never a part of???
Just like him talking about his dealings with the feds, he says he rejected the global plea, dropped his lawyer, got a public defender and cooperated with the fbi.. then goes on to say that he never said a word or mentioned crimes that anyone else did, he only admitted to the fbi about crimes he was involved in, and his dealing with the feds have never led to anyone ever being locked up and that he gave no info on anyone... that’s just someone in denial... if you stated that you “cooperated” with the feds, that means that you had to have given people up, or else there would be no point for them to even speak to you.. everyone knows with the fbi it’s a double sided relationship... they need information on crimes that they don’t know about from you, and you need to tell the feds these things so that they can make sure you get a favorable deal when sentencing day comes.. he says he got 60 months. He didn’t do 60 months. He got like 5 years probation...

[funkster]

Interesting in this last button man podcast discussing Amato he says something about not buying when associate says the Colombos are a shit show...how would an associate know about a borgata..would have to assume he's referring to Borello?

[Jbravo]

Hootie def a bullshit artist...JP was definitely referring to borello who is also another clown

[Amershire_Ed]

Arilotta on with Pennisi and LaVecchia https://youtu.be/eDLAg7U7Q2s