GL News 04/07/2022

[AnIrishGuy]

Oldest Living Gambino Wiseguy Checks Out At Age 101 With His Rap Sheet Still Clean

When he passed away last month, mobster Joseph (Joe Brewster) Delmonico set a new Gang Land record. Not for longevity – that mark is still held by John (Sonny) Franzese, the legendary Colombo family mobster who died at 103 in 2020. But unlike Franzese, who spent decades behind bars, Gambino soldier Delmonico managed to live his century-plus without ever spending a day behind bars.

Delmonico, who died three weeks ago at the ripe old age of 101, lived largely below law enforcement's radar in a career that goes back to Gambino crime family patriarch, Carlo Gambino, Gang Land has learned.

Not that he wasn't active: Court records show that Delmonico had financial interests in both a construction company and a waste hauling business. He was involved in labor racketeering with former Gambino underboss Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano. Sources also say that Joe Brewster served as bodyguard-chauffeur for capo James (Jimmy Brown) Failla, who had filled that same post for Don Carlo back in his day.

At birth, Delmonico was born Joseph DeDomenico. But he later changed his name in a bid to protect his family from certain unpleasantness, detailed below. But DeDomenico was his name in 1942 when he registered for the draft and when he worked for the scandal-tarred Brewster Aeronautical Corporation, a firm known to have built poorly assembled fighter planes for the U.S. Navy in WWII and where he may have picked up his nickname.
He was also a close pal of Paul (Big Paul) Castellano, who took over the Gambino family after Don Carlo's death in 1976. In fact, Big Paul lived around the corner from Joe Brewster in Brooklyn until he moved to the mansion called the White House on Todt Hill in Staten Island that was bugged years later by the FBI.

Sources say Delmonico earned his Gambino family button during Castellano's reign in 1984, a year before Big Paul was shot to death outside Sparks Steak House in the bloody takeover of the crime family by John Gotti. The bespectacled Delmonico, who stands between Castellano and his murdered key aide Thomas Bilotti in this classic photo along with the traitorous Frank DeCicco, (second from right) and four other Big Paul pals, remained a key player during Gotti's reign. The others, from left to right, are Thomas Gambino, Joseph (Joe Butch) Corrao, Frank (Frankie Dap) D'Apolito, and Failla. With Gotti's blessing, Delmonico, who had never been a union official before was "elected" in 1987 as "business organizer" of Local 23 of the Mason and Tenders, a union that was controlled by the Gambinos and whose president was convicted of labor racketeering in 1986. Joe Brewster promptly appointed five relatives and friends of Gambino mobsters as shop stewards. The appointees included Gotti's brother, Vincent, a nephew of Sammy Bull Gravano, the relatives of two other Gambino mobsters and Norman Dupont, the caretaker of the Ravenite Social Club that had become Gotti's base of operations, according to a Manhattan Federal Court ruling in a civil racketeering suit against the union.

Gravano stated in a deposition that through Delmonico, and the mob-controlled shop stewards, the Gambinos maintained their control over the union even after its president, Louis Giardina, who had been overheard on an FBI bug in Castellano's home and was convicted of paying bribes to Big Paul, was sentenced to five years in prison. That happened, Gravano stated, after he and Giardina agreed to elevate Delmonico from a non-working shop steward into a business organizer and give him his marching orders. "Shop stewards exert power over union members" because they decide which workers to choose for "openings at a job site" and they also can create and "control 'no-show' jobs" for favored workers, Gravano stated. In addition to overseeing the stewards, Joe Brewster would also "serve as a delegate to the District Council" that oversaw the activities of ten Mason Tender locals, the turncoat underboss stated. The decision to legally change his name to Delmonico came after his son and namesake, who carried the same "Joe Brewster" monicker as his dad, had several arrests in the 1970s. Sources say Delmonico wanted to spare his wife and daughters from the public embarrassment that accompanied his son's run-ins with the law. "The son was getting in the papers for robberies and the father was protecting the rest of them from bad press," recalled one knowledgeable source. In addition, according to another source, the son was also shot several times in the late 1960s or early 1970s. The father-son rift "wasn't so much that he (the father) didn't do the same things himself," this source told Gang Land. "He did the same thing back in his day. He was a thief in the '50s and '60, but he always managed to get away with it."
The scrapes with the law didn't hurt Joe Jr. with the mob, however: Joseph (Joe Brewster) DeDomenico was later inducted into the Colombo family.
In September 1987, Joe Brewster Jr. was killed on orders from his Colombo family skipper, Gregory Scarpa. The execution came after Scarpa, known for a fearsome paranoia, learned that DeDomenico had "found God" and had decided to go straight. Scarpa feared that his soldier Joe Brewster could become a rat.

Sources say that by then, the father and son had made peace with each other. Joe Brewster Sr. had wanted to seek vengeance, but his request was rejected by his Gambino family superiors who said it was an internal Colombo family matter.

The father's low-key labor scheming continued: In the early 1990s, after Gravano defected and before the federal government used a civil racketeering suit to dismantle all ten Mason Tender locals and place all the union members into a new local, Local 79, Delmonico continued serving as the Gambino crime family's man in Local 23, according to then capo Michael (Mikey Scars) DiLeonardo.

"He handled the construction with me," DiLeonardo testified at the racketeering trial of late boss Peter Gotti, stating that Delmonico was his "cousin" as well as a mob "soldier" under him. "He was in charge of it, of that local, one of the fellows in charge of making sure we get our money."
Contacted by Gang Land, DiLeonardo, the capo-turned cooperating witness, said Delmonico was related to him on his mother's side, and that his grandfather, Vincenzo (Mr. Jimmy) DiLeonardo, who was an influential skipper under Don Carlo, "had brought Joe around back then."
"Joe was a good guy, a well-respected guy in the life," he said. "We were close in our day. His idol was George Raft," DiLeonardo continued. "He was an impeccable dresser like Raft was. They were about the same height, five-six, five-seven. He always worked out, was always in good shape, always looked good."

DiLeonardo, who told Gang Land that he had thought his cousin had died years ago, expressed his condolences to Delmonico's daughters, Joanne, Beatrice and Dina, for the deaths of their father, and their mom Milli, who died two years ago, according to a memorial service that was held Saturday at the Marine Park Funeral Home.

Delmonico was cremated, and his funeral service was private. Family members declined to respond to a message left for them at the funeral home.
Joe Brewster spent many hours at the Veterans and Friends Club on 86th street in Bensonhurst after he was inducted into the crime family, and sources say he was there in 1992 when the place was robbed by Thomas and Rosemarie Uva, the Bonnie & Clyde duo who had a short-lived career hitting mob social clubs until they were killed that Christmas Eve.

Back in the 1970s, Joe Brewster had his own social club, a couple miles away, where he "kept in shape," DiLeonardo recalled. "He was a workout freak, he used the club to lift weights, hit the heavy bag. He was very good at it. Like I said, he always worked out. He was in great shape."
When Delmonico had his fallout with his son, "Joe just walked away from the club," DiLeonardo recalled. That's when Greg Scarpa took over the storefront at 7506 13th Avenue and it became the Wimpy Boys Social Club. It remained Scarpa's headquarters until the murderous mobster who "loved the smell of gunpowder," and who doubled as a top echelon FBI informer for decades, died of AIDS in 1994.

RIP For Joe Ponzi, One Of The Best There Ever Was At Nabbing The Bad Guys

Joseph Ponzi, the son of a New York City cop who played a crucial role in bringing down the so-called Mafia Cops, the most corrupt NYPD detectives who ever carried a shield, and who was one of the most admired figures in local law enforcement, died this week at the age of 65.
Ponzi retired eight years ago as the Chief Investigator for the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office after working there for 37 years in the only job he ever held. He was renowned for his amazing ability at solving the toughest cases, making it look easy as he arrested a slew of bad guys over his career. Even the killers he arrested had a hard time getting mad at him. Joe also had the self-assurance and the restraint to be able to bite his tongue and not rip someone who had wronged him, even when he had good reason to do so.

Back in 2009, he was squeezed into the last row of the courtroom for the sentencing of rogue Mafia Cops Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, not in a special pew that had been set aside for law enforcement officials. He wasn't mentioned in connection with the case, even though he had been most responsible for convincing the key witness in the case to testify, a decade after the FBI, DEA and federal prosecutors had failed to do so.
But during the summer of 2004, after years of rejecting all efforts to flip him, convicted drug dealer Burton Kaplan agreed to cooperate after Ponzi visited Kaplan at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn along with an investigator for the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office.
"There were probably a few things working that day," a federal law enforcement source told Gang Land at the time, before adding, "But Burt liked Joe and there's no question that his influence helped convince Burt to cooperate."

At the time, however, there was still bad blood between the U.S. Attorney's Office and the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office over who, and which agency, had leaked the 2005 arrests of the crooked cops to 60 Minutes. A press release issued by the U.S. Attorney's office on the convictions praised each agency that had worked on the case, except Ponzi and his colleagues at the DA's office.
When Gang Land buttonholed Ponzi after the sentencing, and showed him the press release that lauded everyone but him for bringing the Mafia Cops to justice, Ponzi bit his tongue. Eventually, after an elevator ride down to the lobby of the courthouse, his colleague, Patrick Lanigan smiled and said: "We don't need any pats on the back. We got paid to do a job, and we did it as best as we could. And we're glad that Louie and Steve will be in prison for the rest of their lives."

Years later, when Gang Land bugged Ponzi about that, and asked him why he kept quiet, and left it for Lanigan to respond, Ponzi said: "I wasn't going to lie about it, and I was afraid I'd say what I really felt, so I decided the best thing to do was keep my mouth shut."
Asked, "So how did you really feel," Joe smiled, shook his head, and kept his mouth shut.
His death left a lot of tough cops and prosecutors choked up. Ex-ADA George Farkas says Ponzi proved that once in a while, "the best looking guy in the place" isn't "the most self-possessed, snobbish, opinionated pain to be around. He was humble yet forceful, expressing his point of view on cases on which we worked. He changed his mind on issues when satisfied that another approach was better, and he changed the minds of others when he convinced them that his approach made more sense. As he rose through the ranks, the wonderful person that was Joe only grew in stature as a good human being and a great person to be around and to work with."

"Joe was empathetic, smart, and fair, qualities that made him an exceptionally effective investigator," said former ADA Eric Seidel. "He had an almost magical ability to make criminals want to talk to him. He was the 'go to' closer in many a homicide investigation."

"Joe Ponzi was a cop's cop with all that implies: tough and street savvy, to be sure but with a quiet confidence that enabled him to relate to hardened wiseguys and street kids alike," said ex-ADA Bruce Maffeo. "But he was more than that: he had a heart of gold and an enduring sense of personal integrity and loyalty that endeared him to countless generations of ADAs whom he mentored. He was one of a kind, the likes of whom we'll never see again. End of Watch." "Joe was the most decent human being I ever met," said former NYPD detective Thomas Dades. "It was an honor to have had him as a friend for so many years. He will be missed by thousands who knew him and his passing has broken 10,000 hearts. I love him very much. Rest In Peace my friend."

Ponzi, whose favorite past times were drinking scotch, smoking a cigar and listening to Frank Sinatra, will be waked tomorrow, from 4 PM to 9 PM at the Matthew Funeral Home at 2508 Victory Boulevard. He'll be buried Saturday at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, a few blocks from where he was born, after a funeral mass at Our Lady of Pita R.C. Church at 1616 Richmond Avenue in Staten Island. He is survived by his wife, Lisa, his daughters, Laura and Jennifer, and his seven grandchildren who called him "Papa," Ava, Jason, Joseph, Michael, Sienna, Italia and Liana.

The Long Journey Is Over For Mafia Boss Andrew Russo; He Was 87

Andrew (Mush) Russo, the aging and ailing leader of the embattled Colombo crime family, has beaten the case, but not the way he wanted.
Russo died Monday at Huntington Hospital on Long Island — a fate that was not unexpected for the ailing mob boss whose own lawyer acknowledged he suffered numerous serious ailments as well as extreme dementia.

Still, the case the 87-year-old Russo was fighting at the time of his death remains and Mush is still the accused leader of a gaggle of mobsters and associates charged in the blockbuster labor racketeering and extortion case with shaking down the president of a construction workers union for 20 years.

The hospital stated only that Russo, who was brought there last weekend, had been discharged. But his attorney Jeffrey Lichtman told Gang Land yesterday that his client had passed away Monday, at a local hospital, "thankfully in the company of his loved ones and not locked up" behind bars as a danger to the community as prosecutors have maintained he was since his arrest in September.

Russo, who served as acting boss for the imprisoned Colombo boss Carmine (Junior) Persico several times during the 34 years he served of the 100 year sentence he received for his conviction in the historic Commission case, took over as official boss after Persico died in 2019.

Federal prosecutors tabbed Russo, who was convicted of racketeering with Persico in 1986, as the family's official boss in September when he and 13 others were hit with racketeering, extortion, money laundering and a slew of other charges as part of a 20-year-long racketeering conspiracy.
At his arraignment, prosecutors were able to detain him as a danger to the community by stating that Russo was overheard during the investigation telling a cohort, "I don't hesitate, I've never hesitated" to use violence against any associate who "stepped out of line."

A month later, though, after Lichtman stated that Russo was suffering from a litany of ailments including Alzheimer's Disease, and stated that Mush couldn't remember the names of his attorneys "or even that we visited him a few days prior," a judge agreed to release him from custody and confine him to his home in Glen Head on a $10 million bond secured by $7 million in property.

Since then, several other indicted mobsters and associates, including underboss Benjamin, (The Claw) Castellazzo and consigliere Ralph DeMatteo, have been released on bail.

But Russo, who had been slated to undergo mental testing to determine whether he understood the charges against him and was competent to stand trial, has been hospitalized several times, and sources on both sides of the law have told Gang Land that the longtime mobster was close to death.
That happened Monday, two days after he was brought to an area hospital, for the last time.
Russo will be waked tomorrow, from 2 PM to 4 PM, and again from 6 PM to 8 PM, at the Fairchild Sons Funeral Chapel on Northern Boulevard in Manhasset. He will be buried Saturday at St. John's Cemetery in Middle Village following a funeral mass at Our Lady of Peace Church on Carroll Street in Brooklyn.

[AnIrishGuy]

[AnIrishGuy]

I don't normally post pics from GL, but this is a very good one. I marked the reference to it in bold in the article above.

Also - I accidentally put the wrong date on this thread, should obviously be 04/22/2022. Can admin or someone change it please? I can't see how.

[Ivan]

I thought Delmonico died like 30 years ago haha.

He's the only guy in that photo who isn't captain or higher. Thanks for posting.

[Amershire_Ed]

Thanks for posting

[Cheech]

Good obituary

[Ivan]

Good obituary

...and there's plenty more where that came from! The 2020s and 2030s are going to be an absolute apocalypse of aging Italian-American hoods dying off. Going to be a very different New York underworld in 2050.

[Southshore88]

Thanks for posting

[Cheech]

Good obituary

...and there's plenty more where that came from! The 2020s and 2030s are going to be an absolute apocalypse of aging Italian-American hoods dying off. Going to be a very different New York underworld in 2050.

yup, if there even is one

[Ivan]

Good obituary

...and there's plenty more where that came from! The 2020s and 2030s are going to be an absolute apocalypse of aging Italian-American hoods dying off. Going to be a very different New York underworld in 2050.

yup, if there even is one

I wonder if Barney will still be in charge? He's a Genovese guy and will be in his 90s then, and hey it's not without precedent in that family.

Also, WRT "if there even is one", there will still be a lot of criminals obviously, but I wouldn't be shocked if when the American Cosa Nostra fades away, nothing replaces it. I.e., there will still be criminal gangs, but you won't have the big structured entity with the organization and legit world infiltration.

[Amershire_Ed]

I thought Jack Garcia made some interesting points on a pod he was on recently. He thinks the Feds have really dropped the ball over the last ten years or so on the mob. He thinks all the families are much stronger now than they are publicly given credit for and the Feds only have enough manpower—from an investigative standpoint— to go after a handful of crews at any given time. The rest can just fly under the radar.

He made a point to say the reduction in violence is the main reason the Feds have backed off (combined with cartels and terrorism taking up all the oxygen), BUT he also thinks the reduction in violence is not something the mob can sustain long term. Unless they morph into straight white collar crime, the lack of violence will ultimately reduce their stature and power. And so while he thinks it’s an effective strategy now, and it’s given them some breathing room, he doesn’t think it can last.

[Pogo The Clown]

Good obituary

...and there's plenty more where that came from! The 2020s and 2030s are going to be an absolute apocalypse of aging Italian-American hoods dying off. Going to be a very different New York underworld in 2050.

The Gambinos alone have lost like 20 members in the last 3 years. That is over 10% of their total membership. This will only speed up in the coming years as LCN as a whole continues to age out.


Pogo

[Dave65827]

Jesus can’t satisfy any of you guys

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post.

[Ivan]

Good obituary

...and there's plenty more where that came from! The 2020s and 2030s are going to be an absolute apocalypse of aging Italian-American hoods dying off. Going to be a very different New York underworld in 2050.

The Gambinos alone have lost like 20 members in the last 3 years. That is over 10% of their total membership. This will only speed up in the coming years as LCN as a whole continues to age out.

They're supposed to replace guys as they die, right? Is that still even a thing?

When the guys born before 1980 are gone, that's when the Five Families will become irrelevant to the NY underworld IMHO. That's why I always go with 2050 as the End Times, when the youngest of that cohort will be 70.

Well, maybe not, they might adapt somehow. But they'll be at least half as small as they are now.

I thought Jack Garcia made some interesting points on a pod he was on recently. He thinks the Feds have really dropped the ball over the last ten years or so on the mob. He thinks all the families are much stronger now than they are publicly given credit for and the Feds only have enough manpower—from an investigative standpoint— to go after a handful of crews at any given time. The rest can just fly under the radar.

He made a point to say the reduction in violence is the main reason the Feds have backed off (combined with cartels and terrorism taking up all the oxygen), BUT he also thinks the reduction in violence is not something the mob can sustain long term. Unless they morph into straight white collar crime, the lack of violence will ultimately reduce their stature and power. And so while he thinks it’s an effective strategy now, and it’s given them some breathing room, he doesn’t think it can last.

That's interesting. You got a link to this?