Gangland:11/12/15

[Dellacroce]

November 12, 2015 This Week in Gang Land
By Jerry Capeci

A Mob Family Feuds As Granddaughter Accuses Grandma Of Hijacking Dad's Will

Her only connection to the mob is that she was once married to a top gangster. But a 73-year-old Long Island grandma is being accused by her own granddaughter of pulling a bust-out like stunt that would make most Mafia Dons proud.

Dina Marie Cacace, 18, claims in court filings that her grandmother — the ex-wife of imprisoned Colombo consigliere Joel (Joe Waverly) Cacace — is scheming to hijack the $400,000 estate of her late father, Joel (JoJo) Cacace Jr., who died of a heart attack at age 44 on New Year's Day.

The teenager is contesting what her grandma, VitaRose Cacace, states is the "last will and testament" of Dina Marie's dad. The will, dated less than three months before Joel Jr. died suddenly, names his daughter as sole beneficiary. But it puts the assets in a trust controlled by VitaRose for years, with the granddaughter not gaining full access until she is 31. In the meantime, any investments and related expenses are in grandma's hands. The will also has a poison pill provision that smacks more of white collar-style crime than the Mafia: It precludes Dina Marie from inheriting anything if she files, and loses, a legal challenge to the will.

As for the Last Will and Testament itself? Well, suffice it to say the instrument misspells the name of the deceased several times and includes several dates that have been crossed out and rewritten — the kind of thing that might raise legitimate questions even if the mob had nothing to do with it.

The original type-written date appears to be May, 2015. It is crossed out and hand-written as October 7, 2014 in four places. And the dead man's name is misspelled four times as Cacase. But whether it's fraudulent is up for debate. That will be decided in the coming months by Suffolk County Surrogate John Czygier.

Joel Junior never followed his old man into the Colombo family. But he did use his dad's mob ties to obtain a no-show job for three years as a member of Local 14 of the International Union of Operating Engineers from 1999-to 2002. That earned JoJo a prison stretch from 2004 to 2006. He was also a loyal supporter of his father, appearing as a daily spectator at Joe Waverly's 2013 trial for the murder of police officer Ralph Dols. (Joe Waverly was acquitted, but the alleged motivation for that crime, prosecutors said, stemmed from a different kind of family feud: He was said to be furious at Dols for having dared to marry another ex-wife, Kim Kennaugh.)

But until his unexpected death 11 months ago, JoJo had no further problems with the law. And at the time of his fatal heart attack he was living with Dina Marie at his Deer Park, L.I. home, which is the guts of his estate.

None of the attorneys involved would talk about the case. Neither would Dina Marie, who did not respond to a request for comment about her legal claim. Her mother, Laura Meyer, who was separated from JoJo, declined to discuss the matter. But she clearly believes that the Cacace family is trying to take her daughter to the cleaners.

"What's happening is a shame," she said. "And unethical. It's a shame that her father can't rest in peace. It's not what he would have wanted, and expected for his daughter, from his family."

Meyer declined to elaborate until the legal issues are resolved, but on her Facebook page, she has asserted that following JoJo's death, the Cacace family showed a "total lack of respect for Dina Marie's feelings" and kicked her out of the house she had shared with her father. According to the court filings, Dina Marie currently resides in North Babylon.

Next month, according to court papers, the two listed witnesses on the will, Marie Scaglione of Syosset, L.I. and James Jackson, of West Islip, will be quizzed by the attorneys for both sides about the circumstances under which they were asked to sign. They could not be reached by Gang Land. Neither could VitaRose Cacace.

For the record, according to the court papers, Dina Marie's attorney is Stephen Bilkis, of Baldwin. Vita Rose's attorney is Edwin Black, of Huntington. Black replaced her original lawyer, Erica Yitzhak, last month. Yitzhak, of Great Neck, also notarized the will, and could be a witness regarding the circumstances surrounding the event.

Gang Land is closely familiar with most court rooms, but fortunately, so far surrogate's court is foreign territory. But experts told us that the key issue that the Court has to determine is whether Joel Jr.'s will was properly executed according to New York State law. For the will to be valid, Cacace and the witnesses had to be present when it was signed, and they had to know they were witnessing the signing of his will.

"The testator, that's Cacace, had to tell them that this was his will," said one probate expert, who asked not to be identified. "They didn't have to read the will, or have a clue about what it states, but they must have been informed that they were witnesses to the signing of a will."

Most of the circumstances about the signing, including the time and place, and Cacace's health on the day in question, are fair game during the questioning, said the expert.

"They will certainly be questioned about what they know about the crossed out dates, and whether the testator was sick or infirm at the time," the expert said.

The witnesses are scheduled to be quizzed about the signing at the Suffolk County Surrogate's Court in Riverhead on December 2. The parties are scheduled to appear for final arguments before Judge Czygier on January 5.

If the will is invalidated, Dina Marie, as Joel Junior's only child, would be in line to inherit her father's estate.

While Dina Marie's specific reasons for contesting the will are unstated in her court filing, one key one would seem to revolve around the next seven years. During that stretch, all assets would be maintained in a "Testamentary Trust" for which her grandmother would be the sole trustee. The will provides for Dina Marie to receive a third of the trust when she is 25, another third when she is 28, and whatever is left when she is 31.

During that 13 year stretch, until Dina Marie's 31st birthday, the trustee would have to pay all the fees and expenses required to maintain the trust, according to the will.

As trustee, Vita Rose would have the "discretion," the will states, "to invest and reinvest trust funds in any kind of real or personal property and any kind of investment." While the will cautions the trustee to act with "care, skill, prudence and diligence," it notes that "no bond or other security of any kind will be required" of the trustee.

In the field of endeavor chosen by Vita Rose's ex-husband, those clauses would be viewed as giant loop holes for what is commonly called a "bust out situation" that would leave Dina Marie with little when she was 25, and most likely nothing by time she was 31.

Feds Zero In On Top Wiseguy For Murder Of Purple Gang Leader

The FBI and Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office have linked a top Luchese crime family gangster to the murder of Purple Gang leader Michael Meldish as part of an ongoing probe of the 2013 gangland-style slaying, Gang Land has learned.

Law enforcement sources say the feds are zeroing in on Luchese wiseguy Matthew (Matty) Madonna, an aging but still influential Bronx-based mobster for ordering the execution slaying of Meldish, who was killed with a single shot to the head as he sat in the driver's seat of his car in front of his home in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx on November 15, 2013.

The sources say the feds are hoping to include Madonna in a federal murder case that would also include two other Luchese gangsters, soldier Christopher Londonio and associate Terrence Caldwell. Both men were hit with state murder charges by the Bronx District Attorney's office in June.

All three are currently cooling their heels behind bars. Londonio, 42, and Caldwell, 57, are detained without bail on the Bronx murder indictment. Madonna, 80, began serving a five year state prison stretch in New Jersey for bookmaking in September.

Sources say Meldish, a longtime Luchese associate, earned Madonna's ire about eight months before he was killed for voicing his "disrespect" for the aging mobster, who at the time was serving as the family's "street boss" for acting Luchese boss Steven (Stevie Wonder) Crea.

"Matty sent word for Meldish to smarten up, but he didn't, and he paid with his life," said one law enforcement source, who declined to describe the specifics of Madonna's beef with his underling, a reputed enforcer and loanshark collector. But Meldish's response, which he uttered several times, said the official, was crystal clear, and sealed his fate.

"He told him to go screw himself, which is definitely not something you should be saying to someone who's in the family hierarchy," said the law enforcement official.

Meldish was suspected — but never charged — in about a dozen murders in the 1970s and 80s while running with the Purple Gang, a violent crew of drug dealers from The Bronx and East Harlem. The gang was a powerful criminal enterprise with close ties to both the Luchese and Genovese crime families. He was 62 when he was killed.

The Meldish murder probe began with a flurry of activity in May and June, when the NYPD arrested Caldwell, and the feds hit Londonio with federal gun charges in order to detain him until he could be indicted for murder by a Bronx grand jury. The federal gun charges mirror state weapons possession allegations against Londonio and two others who were spotted by cops sitting in a car in a high-crime area of the Bronx with guns in plain sight, according to an affidavit by veteran G-man Theodore Otto, the FBI agent heading the federal investigation.

Since then, however, the case has stalled in both courts as the Bronx DA's office waits for the feds to take over the case — to the consternation of defense attorney Charles Carnesi. The veteran barrister got into the case in September when lawyer Robert Blossner, who represents Madonna, bowed out after prosecutors told him he had a conflict of interest that prevented him from defending Londonio.

Last month, Carnesi picked up a small victory when Bronx prosecutors agreed to dismiss the state weapons possession charges that have been pending since November of 2014. But that's small consolation for Londonio. He's still detained without bail, and is likely to remain behind bars through the Christmas holidays. His next court appearance, in the state murder indictment, is in January.

Meanwhile, attorney Blossner, who is no longer in the case, told Gang Land he's not interested in getting back into it, as Madonna's lawyer.

"What do they want from this old man?" said Blossner. "It's time for them to forget about him. He's yesterday's news, and he certainly didn't have anything to do with any homicide."

Actually, yesterday's news was front page stuff at the time: Madonna supplied heroin to legendary Harlem drug kingpin Leroy (Nicky) Barnes and served 20 years after being convicted as one of the city's biggest heroin suppliers.

Mikey P Was Not My Boyfriend!

With jurors in the early stages of their deliberations regarding the fate of Bonanno capo Vincent Asaro, Gang Land takes a break from the Lufthansa Airlines robbery trial to update last week's report about Genovese gangster Michael (Mike P) Palazzolo, who is back where he and the feds say he belongs today — behind bars.

As ordered, Palazzolo, who pleaded guilty last month to racketeering charges involving several violent extortion attempts in recent years, surrendered Tuesday to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, where he will remain until he is sentenced in February by Manhattan Federal Judge Ronnie Abrams.

As part of the plea deal he reached with the feds, prosecutors dropped allegations that Mikey P plotted with three cohorts to beat up a former "girlfriend" after she scolded him and called him a "rat" for talking to the FBI about a severe beating he suffered in a barroom brawl in October of 2010.

Citing information from two cooperating witnesses, prosecutors wrote that Palazzolo's cohorts planned three specific assaults, including one at her home, which all failed.

The woman in question, whose name Gang Land has declined to publish, reached out last week to give a different version of events from that of the feds: She said she has never been Palazzolo's "girlfriend," and that she "never scolded him" about any discussion he had with the FBI. Not only had she not scolded him about dallying with the FBI, she "never spoke to him" in 2010 or in early 2011, when the assaults were being planned.

She contacted Gang Land about this, she explained, because several readers, who know that she and Palazzolo have been "friends" for more than 30 years, have questioned her about her role in the reported allegations.

She added that she also does not believe that Mikey P would have done such a dastardly cowardly thing as engage in a plot to hurt any woman, let alone her, and wishes him well in the future.

When subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury investigating Palazzolo, she said she invoked her Fifth Amendment rights, and refused to testify before the panel.

[TommyGambino]

Good stuff. Waverly must be fuming. Will be interesting to see if anyone starts talking about the Meldish hit.

[Pogo The Clown]

Thanks for posting this weeks column Dellacroce.


Pogo

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post.

Lets see how tall Londonio stands.

[Rocco]

good right up about Madonna on the Meldish murder. He is toast. Doenst look like he will be getting out of prison if he survives the NJ state sentence.