Joseph Campanella testimony notes (Persico trial)

[chin_gigante]

Testimony of Joseph Campanella
US v Alphonse T. Persico, John J. DeRoss
US District Court, EDNY
November 15, 2007

Early Life

- Joseph Campanella was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Bensonhurst
- Both of his parents were Italian
- His father died in 1977
- Campanella went to New Utrecht High School and graduated from the 12th grade
- As a teenager, Campanella had a close friend group of about 10 to 15 guys including Robert Donofrio, Carl Russo, Frankie Grecco, and “Chuckie”
- Campanella was “very, very close friends” with Donofrio
- As a teenager, Campanella would steal cars, sell marijuana, and beat people up
- Campanella was arrested for assault in 1976 but the case was dismissed
- Growing up in Bensonhurst, Campanella knew of “the life” and was attracted to the money, cars, clothes, and power associated with it
- Campanella learned that Donofrio was an Associate
- Campanella started becoming associated with the Colombo Family himself around 1979 as he was graduating from high school
- Campanella got involved through the neighbourhood and through Donofrio
- It was around 1979 that Campanella first met William Cutolo
- Campanella knew Cutolo was feared and already had the nickname “Wild Bill”
- Campanella became close with Cutolo through Donofrio
- Cutolo was an Associate at the time
- “Eventually Jackie [DeRoss] was, if I remember correctly, might have been his [Cutolo’s] Acting Captain. I believe he was his Captain when Jackie was made and then Jackie became Captain. And then Wild Bill was underneath him”
- Cutolo owned the members-only Friendly Bocce Club on 63rd Street off 11th Avenue
- Campanella would see Cutolo at the club twice a week on Wednesday nights and Saturday afternoons
- Cutolo would enjoy having dinner at the club every Wednesday
- Campanella would sit next to Cutolo at the large dinner table in the club
- As they got closer, Campanella would go to Cutolo’s house in Staten Island and socialise with his family
- Cutolo had an interest in the Embassy Terrace catering hall on Avenue U
- Campanella believed Cutolo’s wife Peggy had some sort of job at the catering hall
- Cutolo had a job of his own at Local 400
- Through Donofrio, Campanella got involved in loan sharking with Cutolo around 1982
- Campanella borrowed money from Cutolo at two points and loaned it out at five
- Campanella, Donofrio, Joseph Russo, Vinny Hoak, Vinny Vassaro, and one or two others were involved in loan sharking with Cutolo
- As his own career developed, Campanella brought his brother Frank in as an Associate

Induction

- When Campanella was asked what Family he was a member of he replied, “The Colombo Family. Which is now known as the Persico Family”
- Cutolo proposed Campanella for membership in approximately 1989
- “He had told me that he’s going to sponsor me into the Family and there would be a ceremony about a week to two weeks later”
- Campanella was inducted approximately two weeks later in Long Island
- Campanella, Donofrio, Cutolo, and “two other Soldiers” rode to the ceremony together
- Those present at the ceremony were Victor Orena, Joseph Scopo, Pasquale Amato, and possibly Victor Orena, Jr. and John Orena
- Orena and Cutolo conducted the ceremony
- “You are told to sit in the basement and wait until your name is called. When your name is called, you go upstairs. And then at the table you meet maybe about six guys, and Wild Bill, who sponsored me. There would be a gun on the table, a knife, and a picture of a saint. And as the ceremony would be going on, they would burn the saint in your hands and proclaim yourself to the Family”
- Campanella was told to always come in when he was called, and that only his Captain and the Boss could call him in
- Campanella was told he could never strike or kill another member of the Family without permission
- Only the Boss could authorise killings
- Campanella was assigned to Cutolo, who by that point was a Captain
- Campanella, Donofrio, Joseph Colombo, Jr., Joseph Gambale, Joseph Iannaci, and Joe Gas were Soldiers in Cutolo’s crew

The Colombo War

- Campanella first learned of the Family’s internal war through Cutolo
- Cutolo told Campanella that there was an attempt to kill Orena that resulted in a split in the Family
- Cutolo told Campanella that the attempt on Orena happened because Alphonse Persico was coming home from prison and Orena would not step down as Acting Boss
- Campanella and Cutolo were with the Orena faction
- Right after the attempt on Orena’s life, Cutolo told Campanella to kill Gregory Scarpa, Sr.
- Campanella, Vincent DeMartino, Michael Spataro, Frank Iannaci, Gabriel Scianna, and Joseph Tolino tried to kill Scarpa
- Everyone involved was armed
- A van had been stolen the night before the attempt and was parked near Scarpa’s house
- There were crash cars on the scene and a getaway car was waiting for them when they abandoned the van
- “We waited for him to come out of his house one morning, and we pulled up with a stolen van. And we was just going to jump out as he got into his car, leaving his house. We were just going to shoot at him, kill him. […] As one of my friends jumped out of the van, Frankie Notch, his gun went off by accident. And Greg knew he was going to get killed, and he jumped into his car and drove away with a couple of his guys, so the plan was folded”
- Cutolo later instructed the same hit team to kill two or three of Scarpa’s guys in Brooklyn
- They had received information that the targets would be driving past Ralph Apache’s daughter’s house at a certain time
- Campanella couldn’t see who was in the car but thought it might have been Larry Sessa
- “We were waiting for him to come down the block, Joey’s gun, Joey Tolino’s gun, started to go off in the basement by accident, so we just cancelled it”
- During the war, Campanella was by Cutolo’s side every day
- Campanella, his brother Frank, Spataro, DeMartino, Russo, Frank Iannaci, Dominick Dionisio, and about four or five other guys served as Cutolo’s bodyguards
- Campanella and the other bodyguards would accompany Cutolo to locations such as his job at Local 400
- Cutolo would usually get his hair cut every Wednesday at Bruno’s on 21st Avenue off 86th Street
- Campanella shot Ronald Calder on 86th Street and 21st Avenue, across the street from Bruno’s barbershop
- Campanella and about 15 other guys were taking Cutolo to get his haircut at the time
- Calder survived his injuries
- In 1992 or 1993, a ceasefire was called
- “Everybody was getting indicted. In prison. Some guys were dead. Some guys were in prison”
- The two factions remained in place despite the ceasefire
- The Orena faction at that time was being run by a committee that included Cutolo
- When Cutolo was incarcerated for around 13 months, he left Campanella in charge of his crew
- Cutolo was incarcerated with Frank Campanella
- Campanella would go to visit his brother and see Cutolo at the same time to get messages
- While Cutolo was incarcerated, Campanella joined the committee to run the Orena faction
- The committee consisted of Campanella, Vincent Aloi, and Joel Cacace
- Campanella, Aloi, and Cacace were all Soldiers at the time
- By the time Cutolo was released from prison around 1994, everyone was taken down to the rank of Soldier
- “[Cutolo] just says after everything was going on, the Family is in such disarray that that’s where we’re at right now”

Rebuilding the Family

- In around 1995 or 1996, Cutolo told Campanella about a conversation he had with John DeRoss
- “Jack DeRoss asked him if he would be interested in putting the Family back together. And that there was a message from Allie Boy that Allie Boy would be our Captain, and we would all want to be with Allie Boy as our Captain”
- DeRoss and Persico had a good relationship
- A meeting was eventually held at Sally Winot’s residence on Bay Street in Staten Island
- Winot was an associate of DeRoss
- Campanella, Cutolo, Persico, DeRoss, Joseph Gambale, and Richard Capichano attended the meeting
- They discussed putting the Family back together and agreed to be in Persico’s crew
- At that point, the Soldiers in Persico’s crew were Campanella, Cutolo, DeRoss, Capichano, and Gambale
- There were about 15 or 20 associates in the crew, including Dominick Dionisio, Joseph Russo, Frank Iannaci, Joe Gas, Ronald Califano, and William Cutolo, Jr.
- At this time, there was no Acting Boss
- Campanella was unaware of who held administration positions while the Family was broken apart
- “When Allie was our Captain, there was really nobody that announced to me who was the Acting Boss or who was the Underboss or the Consigliere”
- At the time that the Family was being put back together, there was a group of Soldiers in Long Island who didn’t want to come in
- These members were referred to as the Long Island Guys
- Campanella barely knew Persico and never game him any money
- One Christmas, Campanella went to Romantique, a limousine service owned by Michael Persico, to drop off a present for Allie Boy
- Campanella and another individual (possibly Gambale) had got Persico a piece of jewellery and a sweater
- Around 1998, another meeting was held at the same location on Bay Street where Cutolo introduced Persico was the new Acting Boss
- Campanella, Cutolo, DeRoss, Persico, Gambale, Capichano, and Vincent DeMartino were present
- By that point, DeMartino was also a member of Persico’s crew
- They were also told that Cutolo would be the Acting Underboss and DeRoss would take over as Captain
- Campanella did not know who the official Underboss was while Cutolo was the Acting Underboss
- “This is what was told to me. The only official was Allie’s father. That was the only official spot that was there. So now somebody was acting, that somebody representing the Family as just an Acting Boss, somebody to represent us”
- Joel Cacace became the Consigliere when Persico became the Acting Boss
- DeRoss served as Campanella’s Captain until he was on house arrest
- Campanella would see DeRoss once or twice a week

Criminal Activity

- In addition to loan sharking, Campanella was involved in extortion, gambling, medical fraud, and counterfeiting tokens
- Campanella used prepaid phones to discuss criminal activity because he believed the FBI were tapping his home phone
- Beepers and pay phones were also used to communicate
- Campanella was committing medical fraud, extortion, and loan sharking through Savannah Medical Supply in Brooklyn on 17th Avenue
- Campanella was getting protection money from about 10 Russian-owned medical centres that were committing fraud
- Campanella first met two Russians who had Joker Poker machines, and they introduced him to their friends who had the medical centres
- Campanella was also involved Russian car services, and a couple of massage parlours
- Campanella once hit a Russian guy in Brooklyn with a shovel to “get [his] point across”
- Campanella was collecting between $2,000 and $5,000 per week
- Cutolo knew that Campanella was making money from the collections but didn’t ask for any

Cutolo Murder

- As Acting Underboss, Cutolo got “very, very busy” and his relationship with Campanella became distant
- One of the reasons for the distance between Campanella and Cutolo was because Campanella felt excluded from the stock fraud business Cutolo had with Dominick Dionisio
- Cutolo felt whatever was his was his and whatever was Campanella’s was his too
- Campanella had two families to support because he had a child with his wife and a child with his girlfriend Lisa
- Campanella felt he was entitled to some of the money Cutolo and Dionisio were making since they all went through the war together
- Campanella mentioned this to Cutolo, who told him, “This is not yours”
- Campanella borrowed the $300,000 from Cutolo around the time the war broke out for loan sharking
- There was no interest on the $300,000
- When Campanella bought a used Mercedes Benz, Cutolo sent word to DeRoss that he was going to break the car’s windows
- DeRoss told Campanella that Cutolo was offended he (Campanella) had bought the car when he owed $300,000
- Campanella told DeRoss he was offended and hurt over Cutolo’s message
- In 1999, Campanella ended up at a sit down over an affair with Rosalie Castellano
- Rosalie’s father-in-law was Paul Castellano
- The Gambino Family was represented by Carmine Scianna/ Capomayo (ph.) [Carmine Sciandra?], Frank Torminia, and Frank Castellano
- “Carmine was a Captain and Frank Torminia was a Soldier”
- Campanella attended with DeRoss
- Campanella met DeRoss near Top Tomato to go over the sit down
- At that meeting, DeRoss asked Campanella how he felt about killing Cutolo
- DeRoss’ demeanour was serious and Campanella was shocked
- Campanella was upset with Cutolo but didn’t want to kill him
- “I was – I was taken – I was taken down. I just put my head down, and I shook my head that he asked me something like that […] I was just shocked that he would ask me something like that”
- Sometime after that, Cutolo disappeared
- Cutolo went missing on a Wednesday and did not show up for dinner at the Friendly Bocce Club
- About 15 to 20 guys were at the club including Campanella, his brother, DeRoss, Cutolo, Jr., and Joe Snitch
- Everyone was on-edge and Cutolo, Jr. was very worried
- DeRoss instructed Cutolo, Jr. to try and reach his father
- The next day, Campanella and his brother went to Cutolo’s house
- Dionisio, Cutolo, Jr., and his mother Peggy were there
- Peggy Cutolo was very upset, nervous, and worried
- Cutolo, Jr. was very sad and knew something was wrong
- Campanella was “devastated” because he knew Cutolo was never coming home
- About a week later, DeRoss called Dionisio in
- Dionisio called Campanella worried and upset about the order to come in
- Dionisio asked Campanella to come with him
- Campanella followed Dionisio to the meeting and both men were armed
- Dionisio called Campanella later and told him he had met with Persico, DeRoss, and George Tropiano
- Dionisio was asked what he had going on in the street and about a phone business he was involved in with Cutolo
- About a week later, Campanella got a call from Richard Cappa, who had also been called in by DeRoss
- Cappa was on record with Cutolo but was also close with Campanella
- Cappa was called in early in the morning by DeRoss and Vincent DeMartino
- DeRoss and DeMartino threatened to kill Cappa if he didn’t tell them everything he had going on the street
- Campanella was surprised that DeRoss threatened Cappa because “Richie is an Associate, and Richie would have told Jack anything he wanted without going through that phase and getting threatened”
- Campanella went to DeRoss’ house in Staten Island
- Campanella talked with DeRoss in the backyard and asked why they had to threaten Cappa
- DeRoss told Campanella to forget everything and put Cappa with him
- Campanella then asked what was going on
- “Jackie just told me the situation with Wild Bill, that Bill had to go, he was getting too powerful. If, when Allie Boy went away on a gun charge, Bill would have took over the Family. And he would have never gave the Family back to Allie Boy. And that Bill had to go. He was too powerful. And Jackie was offended that Bill had too much going on. He was offended that Bill’s girlfriend had a bigger house than he did”
- About three weeks after Cutolo disappeared, Campanella met with DeRoss and Persico at a house in Brooklyn
- DeRoss did the talking at the meeting
- “[DeRoss] says that we’ll lie no more. Bill is gone. And he says it would be Family business as usual. And Jackie had told me that the money that I owed Bill was to be squashed, and not to pay it back”
- DeRoss asked how Campanella felt about DeMartino, and Campanella said he had no beef with him
- Campanella found it strange that DeRoss asked about his relationship with DeMartino at that meeting
- When Persico did end up going to prison, the Family was run by a panel consisting of DeRoss, Consigliere Joel Cacace, Benjamin Castellazzo, and Thomas Gioeli
- After the Cutolo murder, Campanella’s relationship with DeRoss changed
- “I really didn’t know who to trust and how to trust. And everything was very questionable”
- When DeRoss was indicted, he was released under house arrest
- Campanella would try to pass messages to DeRoss through his nephew Carmine
- Carmine DeRoss was an Associate
- Campanella would meet Carmine DeRoss at a delicatessen on Bay Street in Staten Island
- Carmine DeRoss had a plumbing business near there that had previously been used as a meeting place
- Campanella’s messages didn’t get through to DeRoss because Carmine told him he couldn’t reach him
- Michael Spataro was however getting messages to DeRoss
- One night at a bar, Campanella saw Spataro asking DeMartino and Joseph Anemone if they had any loan sharking money to pick up for DeRoss

Vincent DeMartino

- Campanella knew DeMartino since he (Campanella) was seven or eight years old
- As they grew up in the neighbourhood, they became friends
- In the 1980s, Campanella would pick up DeMartino’s daughter from school while he was in prison
- In the 1990s, Campanella got DeMartino’s daughter a job at one of the medical centres he was extorting
- DeMartino had previously had a dispute with Cutolo
- DeMartino lashed out and had an argument with Joseph Amato in front of people
- Cutolo had to make DeMartino understand that he couldn’t talk to a Captain like that in front of everyone
- Sometime after Cutolo was released from prison, DeMartino accused Campanella of sleeping with his (DeMartino’s) wife
- Campanella told Cutolo he had not slept with DeMartino’s wife and had no idea where that idea would come from
- After going to Cutolo with the accusation of the affair, DeMartino sent his brother to tell Persico
- Persico decided to let Cutolo handle it
- After Cutolo was murdered, associates Giovanni Cerbone, Giovanni Floridia, and possibly someone else were put with DeMartino

Shooting

- The Savannah Medical Supply that Campanella was involved in was searched by the FBI in early 2001
- Campanella told Michael Spataro about the search
- Campanella was then shot on July 16, 2001
- Campanella left a gym in Brooklyn at about 11am and noticed a green minivan with tinted windows following him
- Campanella drove for a while and saw the minivan was still tailing him
- Campanella went to the beach at Seagate in Coney Island until approximately 2pm and then pretended to make a call at a payphone on the boardwalk
- Despite having been to a sit down over the affair, Campanella met with Rosalie Castellano at the beach
- Campanella noticed the minivan across the street on Surf Avenue
- Campanella walked to his car and noticed the minivan coming towards him
- Campanella thought it was the FBI doing surveillance or coming to arrest him
- Once the minivan was about 12 feet from the car, Campanella saw that DeMartino was in the passenger seat and Giovanni Floridia was driving
- Campanella waved at them, but DeMartino pulled a gun and opened fire
- Campanella was hit in the left arm and foot
- Representatives of the government visited Campanella in the hospital and he initially lied about not knowing who shot him
- After a couple of days, Campanella was discharged and met with Joe Card (ph.) [Cacace?]
- Campanella was somewhat out of the loop after his shooting, though he was still committing crimes
- “After I got shot, I don’t know what was going on”
- A couple of months later, Campanella got together with a lawyer and met with the government again
- However, Campanella was not ready to cooperate and cut ties
- Campanella was indicted in November 2002 on racketeering, extortion, medical fraud, and loan sharking charges
- Campanella wanted to get out on bail but couldn’t make it
- Campanella expected his friends to help his family financially, but nothing came his way
- When Campanella was incarcerated, he had no contact with anyone, but he expected his guys to continue making collections
- At the time Campanella was arrested, his Associates were Richard Cappa, Thomas Cappa, Anthony Sayegh, Michael Derunian (ph.), and two guys he was incarcerated with
- Thomas Cappa had been incarcerated when Richie Cappa was put with Campanella, and was also placed with him when he got out
- Campanella agreed to cooperate after the holidays

[Pmac2]

theres so many colombo made guys who flipped and they never went on yotutube. it would be good to see them tqlking but they never have except the pool boy larry mazza who lied about getting made. i think it comes down to they were the smallest family yet the most murderous. all the guys who flipped where young and probaly rather let the past be the past then going on youtube for some shills

[Dave65827]

theres so many colombo made guys who flipped and they never went on yotutube. it would be good to see them tqlking but they never have except the pool boy larry mazza who lied about getting made. i think it comes down to they were the smallest family yet the most murderous. all the guys who flipped where young and probaly rather let the past be the past then going on youtube for some shills

Also terrible optics if I remember correctly the Giolie crew killed several civilians, a cop, one was having threesomes with the girlfriends of guys he had killed and Giolie himself had killed a nun during a botched hit

[Pogo The Clown]

- The Gambino Family was represented by Carmine Scianna/ Capomayo (ph.) [Carmine Sciandra?], Frank Torminia, and Frank Castellano
- “Carmine was a Captain and Frank Torminia was a Soldier”

Is there a Gambino member named Frank Torminia or was Campanella confused and refering to Colombo member Frank
Tormenia?


Interesting what he said s out the family not having a functioning administration or an Acting Boss for a few years in the mid/late 19990s. When did Andy Russo go to prison in the 1990s? He was indicted in September 1996 as the Acting Boss but I don't recall if he got bail. I recall reading that Cacace was Acting UB and Aloi the Consigliere During the post war time frame.


Pogo

[Antiliar]

Thanks again, chin. Great notes and an interesting story.

[Pmac2]

I was just reading Andy Russo was acting boss for some time in those years even went to a commission meeting. Barney bellomo tried to have him and aloi talk out there difference so that puts the year as 94 95.

[Pmac2]

Maybe Campanella wasn't privy to that info. Seems like carmine persico always tapped Andy Russo into a position

[chin_gigante]

Is there a Gambino member named Frank Torminia or was Campanella confused and refering to Colombo member Frank
Tormenia?

Here's the section of the testimony where it comes up:

Q. Who was at the sit-down?

A. It was myself, it was Jack DeRoss, it was Carmine Scianna (ph), Frank Torminia, Frank Castellano.

Q. Who was there for the Colombo crime family?

A. For the Colombo crime family was myself and Jack.

Q. Who was there for the Gambino crime family?

A. Frank Castellano and Carmine Capamayo (ph).

Q. What were their positions in the Gambino crime family?

A. Carmine was a captain and Frank Torminia was a soldier.

Q. What was your position, you and Jack DeRoss, in the Colombo crime family at that sit-down?

A. Jack was the captain and I was a soldier.

I think you're probably right about him maybe referring to Tormenia. It's a little confusing how he phrased it.

Also, I think it's 99.9% safe to assume this Carmine Scianna/ Carmine Capamayo is Carmine Sciandra. Scianna and Sciandra are quite similar names (don't know how to factor in "Capomayo") and he would have a stake in the sit down considering he's related to the Castellanos and took over Thomas Gambino's crew. Sciandra also ran Top Tomato, which is near where DeRoss and Campanella met prior to the sit down.

[JohnnyS]

Great stuff!

Yeah that's definitely Carmine Sciandra.

[chin_gigante]

When did Andy Russo go to prison in the 1990s? He was indicted in September 1996 as the Acting Boss but I don't recall if he got bail. I recall reading that Cacace was Acting UB and Aloi the Consigliere During the post war time frame.

Russo was held without bail after his September 1996 arrest. He was originally released in July 29, 1994, but he was on parole until 1999. He was offered $3 million bail in the '96 case and was in the process of proving his wife owned the property he wanted to post when the probation department hit him with a violation for meeting with Joel Cacace. So he would have got out on bail but the violation kept him behind bars. Seems there was no Acting Boss on the street between 1996 and 1998.

In January 1995, Jerry Capeci reported that Cacace had been made Acting Underboss as part of the settlement between the Persico and Orena factions. In January 1997, Capeci reported that Cacace was the Underboss and Vincent Aloi was the Consigliere.

[SonnyBlackstein]

So many rats created by the families themselves.
Camp did nothing wrong, showed loyalty, got fucked.
Cutolo the same. Gravano, Vitale, Chiodo, D'Arco, Pennisi, Mickey Scars.

You can't expect loyalty to be a one way street.

[Pogo The Clown]

Thanks for the additional info Chin.


Pogo

[newera_212]

$300,000 at no interest to loan out is a great deal. Plus Cutolo wasn't pressing him about money from most of the other shit he had going on.

I wonder how they got into the stock stuff, logistically. Dioniso and a friend of his were the official Colombo point people for certain Brokerages, until Dioniso was essentially running a site office of a large brokerage himself. It's a lot of work. Granted they were stealing everything but it's still not easy - they had to meet with these shitty companies and stock promoters, then front the money (millions) to buy all of the house stock, acquire hundreds of thousands of leads, manage and supervise a ton of cold callers, make sure the client never transferred the stock out of that brokerage to get rid of it, stay ahead of finra complaints etc... and then figure out how to turn everything into cash to steal. It seems like a ton of work, I wouldn't be surprised if Dioniso was working 12 hour days honestly. So I don't blame him or anyone for not wanting to share that

[Shellackhead]

So many rats created by the families themselves.
Camp did nothing wrong, showed loyalty, got fucked.
Cutolo the same. Gravano, Vitale, Chiodo, D'Arco, Pennisi, Mickey Scars.

You can't expect loyalty to be a one way street.

Cafaro

[Uforeality]

I guess the Colombo guys were right in wanting Campanella dead. They just didn't get him in time.