Gangland:1/21/16

[Dellacroce]

Bonannos Have A New Boss, With Help From The NYPD And FBI

The feds rounded up and jailed a bunch of Bonannos last week. And the state put another imprisoned bunch of them on trial this week. But don't count Joe Bonanno's old gang out yet: There's a bold, brazen new big banana trying to turn things around for his much-battered borghata. He's Joseph (Joe Saunders Jr.) Cammarano, and he got to the top with more than a little help from the NYPD and the FBI.

Cammarano's promotion became possible after capo John Palazzolo was sent back to prison last year for violating his supervised release restrictions (VOSR) after a 10-year-stretch behind bars for racketeering and murder conspiracy. Palazzolo had been first choice of imprisoned boss Michael (Mikey Nose) Mancuso. With Palazzolo behind bars, Mancuso tapped Cammarano as the family's "official" underboss and its "acting street boss," law enforcement officials say.

Palazzolo, 77, was sentenced to a year and a day after Organized Crime Investigative Division (OCID) detectives spotted him meeting with Mancuso emissary Frank Salerno and several other wiseguys four times during a six day stretch last March, according to court papers.

At the time, wrote Probation Department officer Robert Anton, "an internecine war was brewing" between factions loyal to Palazzolo and Cammarano for control of the family. "As a result of Palazzolo's incarceration," wrote Anton, the threat of violence dissipated and Cammarano, 56, "assumed control of the Family's day to day criminal activities."

Citing intelligence information obtained by OCID detectives and FBI agents, Anton wrote that Mancuso had "selected Palazzolo to be his acting street boss" but Cammarano had his sights on the top spot too. And he "garner(ed) support" for that at a March 22 meeting of 15 mobsters that included consigliere Anthony (Fat Anthony) Rabito, seven capos and five acting captains.

And last week, three of the seven capos were charged by the feds with violating their post-prison release restrictions by associating with other mobsters at two so-called "captains meetings," one in March and another in September. Two of the captains also are accused of attending a family Christmas party that Cammarano hosted at a Staten Island restaurant last month.

If nothing else, Cammarano can't be sent back to prison unless he is charged with a real crime. He completed a 27-month jaunt for extortion in 2009, and his supervised release ended in 2012.

The three capos arrested and jailed last week, Joseph (Joe Desi) DeSimone, 81, Ronald Giallanzo, 45, and Anthony (Little Anthony) Pipitone, 43, all attended the March gathering at a two-story private home in Glendale Queens, according to the VOSR charges Anton lodged against Pipitone.

The trio also attended the largest of the three Bonanno family gatherings that were detailed in the filing against Pipitone — an early Sunday morning session at a Staten Island barbershop. It took place at Pucho's Barber Shop at 136 Fingerboard Rd in the Rosebank section. The comings and goings were observed by Anton and FBI agents Robert Ypelaar and Adam Minnini.

DeSimone was with his mobster grandson Steven DeSimone, 43 who was behind the wheel of his car when the feds tailed them from the brownstone in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn where they both live, Anton wrote. After "driving a few blocks," Anton stated, Steven "pulled over for a few minutes" in a "counter-surveillance" move, one that obviously did not fool the veteran officer and his colleagues.

The DeSimones got to the barbershop at about 8:30, wrote Anton, noting that Pipitone and Giallanzo, a nephew of capo Vincent Asaro, arrived a few minutes later, according to a copy of the report that was obtained by Gang Land.

The Feds speculate that the meeting was called by Cammarano, who was the last of 19 Bonanno mobsters to leave Pucho's, about half an hour behind the others who departed one or two at a time. Cammarano's father-in-law, Vito Grimaldi, and his brother-in-law, Joseph Grimaldi, both capos, departed at 10:40. Cammarano left the barbershop at 10:56 sharp with capo Joseph Sabella, according to Anton.

The crime family's "mandatory/Administration" Christmas party took place on the second floor dining area of Bocelli's Restaurant at 1250 Hylan Blvd. in the Grasmere section from 11 AM until 5 PM on December 16, Anton wrote. OCID detectives, FBI agents and Anton identified 18 mobsters, including Cammarano and the 81 year-old Rabito, the family's longtime consigliere, at the six-hour affair, according to the charges lodged by Anton.

Little Anthony Pipitone and Ronnie Giallanzo were at the party, although the third arrested capo, Joe Desi DeSimone, skipped the event. DeSimone's wiseguy grandson Steven did attend, but it's unclear if authorities followed Steven there or if they learned about the not-so-private party from other sources.

Sentencing guidelines for such "association" violations usually call for between four and 10 months behind bars, but the Probation Department has asked Brooklyn Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis to impose the maximum two years in prison for each of the capos.

"A sentence of two years will send a strong message of deterrence to any ranking organized crime offender that this type of blatant disregard for Court-imposed conditions will not be tolerated," wrote Anton, calling the current case, "the most egregious association violation involving organized crime members" that he has seen in 25 years on the mob beat.

Pipitone's attorney, James Kousouros, agrees that the allegations are "serious" but argued that his client is not a danger to the community or a flight risk and should be granted bail while he contests them. In his filing, he noted that Pipitone has worked 10 hours a day as a laborer since his release from prison in 2013, information that has been verified by probation officials.

Kousouros essentially conceded that Pipitone will be judged guilty of association — since the feds have pictures of him meeting with mobsters — but proposed a $500,000 secured bond, with home confinement, except for his client's work day, so he can provide for his wife and three young children while he contests the severity of the charges before his sentence is imposed.

DeSimone's attorney, James Neville, has not yet sought bail but reserved the right to do so today, at a scheduled bail hearing for the trio. Giallanzo's attorney has not filed any papers.

Meanwhile, Bonanno capo Nicholas (Nicky Mouth) Santora, and wiseguys Vito Badamo, Ernest Aiello, and Anthony (Skinny) Santoro went to trial in Manhattan Supreme Court Tuesday on state racketeering charges involving extortion, grand larceny, gambling and loansharking from March of 2010 until 2012.

Santoro is also charged with weapons possession. All four mobsters, who have been have held without bail since their 2013 indictment, face up to 25 years behind bars if convicted. Jury selection continues today, with trial testimony expected to begin next week.

Badamo's brother-in-law, Nicholas Bernhard, former president of Teamsters Local 917 pleaded guilty to racketeering and perjury charges last year and was sentenced in October to a maximum of seven years.

Feds Want Anonymous Jury At Young Gun's Murder Trial

Federal prosecutors want an anonymous jury at the racketeering and murder of Gambino associate Gennaro (Jerry) Bruno. They have three excellent reasons: Because he hired an attorney to represent a witness in 2009; because he knocked over a soda machine 14 years ago; and because a corrupt juror was seated at John Gotti's first racketeering trial back in 1986 when Bruno was 13 years old.

Okay, maybe not so excellent.

Nevertheless, citing those reasons, and alleged jury tampering at seven other trials involving Gotti, his brother Gene and other Gambino mobsters in New York and Florida over the last 30 years, prosecutors are pushing hard for an anonymous and partially sequestered jury for Bruno's trial for racketeering charges that include the 2002 execution murder of Martin Bosshart, a rival hoodlum.

In a controversial case, Bruno, 43, is charged with the slaying and many other crimes as a member of the Corozzo faction of the Gambino family from 2000 until 2014. As it happens, Bruno was behind bars for racketeering activity from 2003 until 2013 for many of those crimes, most of which were perpetrated by a Gambino family farm team known as the Young Guns.

Prosecutors Krisin Mace, Nadia Shihata and Mathew Miller say that Bruno poses a "serious threat to juror safety" because of the Gambino family's long history of jury tampering and due to obstruction of justice charges he has pleaded guilty to in the past and those he is currently charged with. Never mind that Bruno is broke, has a court-appointed attorney, and has been behind bars for the past 15 months. He is a threat.

Defense attorney Thomas Nooter concedes that murder is a very serious crime but argues that neither the 14-year-old charge of violence against him, nor the alleged jury tampering by others while Bruno was a teenager, has any bearing whatsoever on whether an anonymous jury should be empaneled at the upcoming trial.

In court papers, Nooter wrote there was no rational reason to infer that his client poses a threat to jurors because he "apparently assaulted a soda machine," more than a decade ago. The notion that Bruno decided "to hire a lawyer" for a grand jury witness may involve "obstruction of justice" was, "quite frankly, frivolous," stated Nooter.

"There is a serious question as to whether obtaining a lawyer for someone constitutes obstruction of justice," wrote Nooter, stating that lawyers, including those who "oppose the government's meritless motion" for an anonymous jury, are "generally part of the justice process," and not involved in obstruction of justice.

Nooter also took issue with the government's argument that media coverage about the upcoming trial was yet another reason why Brooklyn Federal Judge Willam Kuntz should empanel an anonymous jury. Prosecutors cited two newspaper articles and four items by Gang Land as evidence that the Bruno case was big news.

Gang Land agrees with Nooter on that score. Judges can always dismiss jurors who are tainted by what they learn from the media. But we are compelled to correct Nooter's somewhat disparaging description of Gang Land as a "random internet blog." There is nothing random about a weekly online column about organized crime that has been published regularly, once a week, on Thursdays, since 1996. Harrumph, harrumph and harrumph again.

Gang Land also notes that while Nooter has obtained court approval to pay his son, Daniel, an attorney, for 50 hours of work, at $127 an hour, to assist him with legal research, he still has yet to hire a private investigator to investigate the other 10 suspects in the Bosshart murder. Gang Land, the non-random internet column, knows all about this because we identified them back on July 16, 2015, citing suspects taken directly from a government list.

Rocky Start, Smooth Finish For Mob Prince's First Meeting With New Judge

It didn't start out very smoothly. But mob prince Michael Persico's first appearance Tuesday before Brooklyn Federal Judge Dora Irizarry, who was recently assigned to sentence him for loansharking charges that he admitted back in 2012, went as well as he could've expected this week.

During a brief 11 AM session in the six-year-old racketeering case, Irizzary stated that she saw no need for a special sentencing hearing that neither the government nor the defense lawyers had wanted but which the original judge in the case, Sandra Townes, had requested. But Irizarry said she would make a final decision on that after both sides had briefed the issue with her.

The judge scheduled dates next month and in March for prosecutor Allon Lifshitz and defense lawyer Marc Fernich to file their legal briefs on that and other sentencing issues. She ordered all parties to appear for a final status conference before sentencing on April 11 at 10 AM — not 11 AM, the time that Tuesday's conference began.

She had good reason to be specific about the time.

On Tuesday, during the hour between 10 and 11, Irizarry issued a bench warrant for Persico and stated she was considering sanctions against all the attorneys for their unexcused absence as she waited for them to appear for the start of the conference at 10 AM.

As the judge sat drumming her fingers, the missing attorneys and defendant filtered into the courtroom. And it turned out that Persico and the opposing lawyers were right, and Judge Irizarry was an hour off on the time. The somewhat embarrassed judge canceled the warrant for Persico's arrest, forgot about the lawyer sanctions, apologized for the mix-up, and sent the parties on their way, joking that she had been afflicted with a cold-weather brain freeze.

[TommyGambino]

One of Capeci's better articles recently

[Pogo The Clown]

Great column this week. Lots of new info on the Bonannos.


Pogo

[Chucky]

I think it was in the Asaro detention memo where Asaro mentioned meeting with DiFiore about demoting a bunch of capos, I think this article shows who got the spots.

[123JoeSchmo]

First good article by Capeci in awhile

[Wiseguy]

So does anyone want to attempt to line up these most recent names with the pre-existing crews?

I count 14 captains mentioned in the article and/or memo:

Jerry Chilli
Louis Civello
Joseph DeSimone
Ronald Giallanzo
Joseph Grimaldi
Vito Grimaldi
Peter Lovaglio
John Palazzolo
Anthony Pipitone
Joseph Sabella
Nicholas Santora
John Scrirememmano
John Zancocchio
George Tropiano

I assume some of the acting captains mentioned - Anthony Fasitta, Vincenzo Masi, Natale Mule, Al Armetta, Michael Padavona, and Vincent Caroleo - are for those above?

Edit: Looks like Pogo and JD have already done a lot of this in the chart section.

[Pogo The Clown]

Padavona is Acting for Jerry Asaro. Thanks JD.


I suspect the others are acting for the imprisoned Capos like Tommy DiFiore, John Palazzolo, Anthony Frascone and Nicky Santora. I believe Peter Lovaglio was also imprisoned during this time frame as well so he may be another one. The numbers seem to match up. No idea who goes with who though.


Pogo

[Wiseguy]

I notice 17 captains on the chart currently. Relatively speaking, seems like a lot for one of the smaller families.

[123JoeSchmo]

The Bonnanos seem like a clusterfuck right now

[Wiseguy]

The Bonnanos seem like a clusterfuck right now

Having so many high level guys meet at the same time and place? Right out of the John Gotti handbook.

[Mukremin]

what could be the reason they do it so public? Do we have anything like this in the past 10 years? Except maybe the meeting of Philly and the NY families?