Members who opened up late in life

[B.]

Thinking about members who opened up in their later years. Not including any confirmed informants like Bill Bonanno and Nick Gentile on this... would put them in the same category as any informant / witness given they cooperated with authorities long before their later published material.

This is a list of guys who didn't outright cooperate but were more agreeable to the public before they died. Bonanno completely violated the mafia oath, while others basically just acknowledged their notoriety. Some are in between.

--

Joe Bonanno - The big one. Gave more inside info about Cosa Nostra in his book than most informants / witnesses could learn in a lifetime. Also did interviews and made movies about his life.

Calogero LoCicero - Surprisingly open in an interview with the FBI in the 1960s. Didn't cooperate, but acknowledged the organization and defended its rules / the way it operates . Also told the FBI when he came to America from Sicily in the 1920s he carried a gun and worked for the "mustaches" who he said were vicious men.

Sonny Franzese - Was surprised to see those Newsday interviews with him. He didn't share any mafia secrets but he was open with the interviewer about who he was in life.

Francesco Coppola - Did an interview with an Italian magazine in the early 1970s. This is the interview where he said Nick Gentile had been a good advisor who guys like Luciano, Capone, and Anastasia should have listened to. Not sure what else he shared, but seems he opened up quite a bit.

Tony Zerilli - Did interviews, talked about the Hoffa burial site, and was planning to write a book before he died.

Charlie Luciano - Allegedly opened up before he died, leading to the Last Testament book. A lot of that book has been contested, but did Luciano actually share info with the author and plan on releasing a book?

There must be a few more.

[Antiliar]

Read the Kefauver Hearing transcripts. There were a lot of guys who were surprisingly very open. Bosses. Jack Dragna, Paul Ricca, John Rosselli, Louis Campagna, Charles Gioe, Ralph Capone. Willie Moretti. Many others. Al Capone also did an interview or two before he went to prison.

[axx]

Tony Anastasio could also be added to that list.

Are Locicero's FBI interview transcripts available?

[B.]

Read the Kefauver Hearing transcripts. There were a lot of guys who were surprisingly very open. Bosses. Jack Dragna, Paul Ricca, John Rosselli, Louis Campagna, Charles Gioe, Ralph Capone. Willie Moretti. Many others. Al Capone also did an interview or two before he went to prison.

I've noticed that in some of the FBI's interviews as well. A lot of members and even leaders were surprisingly friendly and cooperative when the FBI contacted them at home or place of business.

--

Clyde Smaldone of Denver allowed his son to tape record interviews with him before he died. Those recordings were later given to an author who wrote a book about Smaldone that uses those interviews as some of the source material. He didn't share any inside info about the organization, but did talk about rackets and share general info. Might be a little different as he was talking to his son but I believe he knew his son was making the recordings so he knew they could be put to use.

[B.]

Are Locicero's FBI interview transcripts available?

It's in NARA files that are online but I don't know where that one is offhand.

Too bad he didn't mention the names of the "mustaches" he worked for in the 1920s... could have helped us with the Mineo/Profaci mystery.

[mike68]

Nicky Pari from the Patriarca's was dying from cancer and arrested for the final time for running a stolen goods ring from a flea market. He gave up the burial location of Joe 'Onions' Scanlon. Really good read about it from the NY Times. His partner in the murder had died earlier that year. He only gave up himself, nobody else.

https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/22/us/22land.htm

[Pogo The Clown]

Rochester member Loren Piccarretto recently gave an interview where he talked about the life.


Pogo

[PolackTony]

Mikey "Mags" Magnafichi, shelved/retired/deactivated Chicago member and son of Elmwood Park capo Eligio "Lee" Magnafichi. He started appearing like ~10 years ago on Joe Fosco's show/blog (ostensibly to talk about sports I think, at least at first), but then Fosco got spooked and allegedly thought Mags wanted to kill him (or something). They subsequently made up and Mags was open and forthcoming about a number of Outfit stories and figures from the past (Antiliar I know has also spoken with him).

Understandably, Mags was much less willing to discuss recent Outfit info, at least publicly. IIRC, one time on the Fosco show the subject of Albie Vena came up and Fosco and Mags looked like they saw a ghost and shut the conversation down.

[Patrickgold]

Frank Buccieri did interviews before he died but he had his face blacked out. People still knew it was him. Also Fred Pascente also started doing interviews on YouTube before he died

[PolackTony]

Frank Buccieri did interviews before he died but he had his face blacked out. People still knew it was him. Also Fred Pascente also started doing interviews on YouTube before he died

To be fair, Pascente was an associate. The YouTube clips were excerpts of him telling stories from his book (which incidentally I really enjoyed, with its “Madonn’! interjections and all).

I didn’t know about Frank Buccieri doing any interviews. Are these available anywhere?

[Patrickgold]

Frank Buccieri did interviews before he died but he had his face blacked out. People still knew it was him. Also Fred Pascente also started doing interviews on YouTube before he died

To be fair, Pascente was an associate. The YouTube clips were excerpts of him telling stories from his book (which incidentally I really enjoyed, with its “Madonn’! interjections and all).

I didn’t know about Frank Buccieri doing any interviews. Are these available anywhere?

He did the interviews in a documentary called Back Home Years Ago: The Real Casino. See the link below to see a clip of it. The first guy with the blacked out face is supposedly him. I always wondered if Frank Buccieri, who never did any serious jail time, was a Top Echelon Informant for the FEDs after finding out it was him giving the interviews

https://youtu.be/x-5ySY677XY

[Antiliar]

[quote=Patrickgold post_id=192480 time=1619486506 user_id=6577]
[quote=PolackTony post_id=192478 time=1619484706 user_id=6658]
[quote=Patrickgold post_id=192470 time=1619480856 user_id=6577]
Frank Buccieri did interviews before he died but he had his face blacked out. People still knew it was him. Also Fred Pascente also started doing interviews on YouTube before he died
[/quote]
To be fair, Pascente was an associate. The YouTube clips were excerpts of him telling stories from his book (which incidentally I really enjoyed, with its “Madonn’! interjections and all).

I didn’t know about Frank Buccieri doing any interviews. Are these available anywhere?
[/quote]

He did the interviews in a documentary called Back Home Years Ago: The Real Casino. See the link below to see a clip of it. The first guy with the blacked out face is supposedly him. I always wondered if Frank Buccieri, who never did any serious jail time, was a Top Echelon Informant for the FEDs after finding out it was him giving the interviews

https://youtu.be/x-5ySY677XY
[/quote]

It says on IMDB that it's him.

[Patrickgold]

All bios on the internet about him say that the commission appointed him to run West Coast operations in the 80s. How true is this? I have also read that he was running Milwaukee operations for the Outfit after Balistrieri went to prison. How true is any of this and where did this info come? The fact that he had one arrest in the 30s makes me to believe that he was possibly a TEI. The fact that he did these interviews before his death supports this possibility but obviously is not verified. Anyone have info on him?

[PolackTony]

All bios on the internet about him say that the commission appointed him to run West Coast operations in the 80s. How true is this? I have also read that he was running Milwaukee operations for the Outfit after Balistrieri went to prison. How true is any of this and where did this info come? The fact that he had one arrest in the 30s makes me to believe that he was possibly a TEI. The fact that he did these interviews before his death supports this possibility but obviously is not verified. Anyone have info on him?

Anyone ever checked into whether Frank the Horse could’ve been one of the two TEIs that the Feds claimed they had in the Outfit? There was one that they supposedly recruited in the 1980s. I don’t recall off the top of my head what year they admitted this but it seemed that this informant had died by that time? Frank of course died in 2004.

[Patrickgold]

All bios on the internet about him say that the commission appointed him to run West Coast operations in the 80s. How true is this? I have also read that he was running Milwaukee operations for the Outfit after Balistrieri went to prison. How true is any of this and where did this info come? The fact that he had one arrest in the 30s makes me to believe that he was possibly a TEI. The fact that he did these interviews before his death supports this possibility but obviously is not verified. Anyone have info on him?

Anyone ever checked into whether Frank the Horse could’ve been one of the two TEIs that the Feds claimed they had in the Outfit? There was one that they supposedly recruited in the 1980s. I don’t recall off the top of my head what year they admitted this but it seemed that this informant had died by that time? Frank of course died in 2004.

That is a possibility. If I remember correctly it stated one was a member that was recruited in 1994, more than likely Difronzo, the other was an associate that was recruited in the 80s. I don’t think it was ever verified that Frank Buccieri was a made member of the Outfit even though there is a high possibility that he was. He never really had any high profile positions that were verified by FBI documents or informants. I could be wrong by this. It had him listed under Spilotro in that early 80s chart.