Gangland August 17th 2023

[Dr031718]

Bonanno Mobster Who Conducted A Videotaped Induction Ceremony In Canada Has Been A Secret Government Snitch For Five Years

More than five years after an acting Bonanno capo was arrested on kingpin drug charges and accused of conducting a much ballyhooed videotaped induction ceremony in Canada, he has spent a scant two months behind bars and is a cooperating witness who has done quite well for himself and his family since his arrest in November of 2017, Gang Land has learned.

Sources say Damiano (Danny) Zummo, and the snitch he inducted into the Bonanno clan back in November of 2015, have each tape recorded conversations with Bonanno and Genovese crime family gangsters who were charged last year with running a "lucrative illegal gambling operation" out of a Lynbrook ice cream parlor for 10 years.

Zummo, who was released on bail in January of 2018 two months after his arrest, can be seen conducting the induction ceremony in a Hamilton Ontario hotel room that could pass for a morning-after a wild Spring Break snapshot in an official Royal Canadian Mounted Police photo that was obtained by Gang Land.

The face of the inducted RCMP informer, Vincent (Enzo) Morena, is blocked out, but you can see the balding Zummo's left hand on Morena's shoulder and the forehead of the mysterious Bonanno soldier named "John" facing Zummo as he administers the oath of omerta in the decidedly no-frills ceremony that took place on November 21, 2015, according to court filings.

Sources say that at thet time, Zummo was serving as an acting capo for Anthony (Little Anthony) Pipitone. His name was blacked out of the brief transcript of the session that was included in the detention memo that prosecutors filed in seeking to jail Zummo without bail as a danger to the community. Gang Land has included Pipitone in the excerpt below:

"The reason why we're here is from this day forward," Zummo told Morena, is that "you’re gonna be an official member of the Bonanno family. It's already (decided and approved) from this guy, this guy, this guy, everybody approved it, so from this day forward, you're a member of the Bonanno family. Congratulations."
Morena: "Thank you."
Zummo: And now I want to introduce you to John. John, friend of ours with the Bonanno. John, (Vincenzo) friend of ours with the Bonanno. Now, your captain is (Anthony Pipitone.)
Morena: Okay.
Zummo: He's our skipper.
Morena: Okay.
Zummo: You're gonna be in our regime.
Morena: Okay.
Zummo: Official is (Anthony.) You only answer to the Bonanno family.

According to Stephen Metelsky, a former Halton, Ontario cop who worked with the RCMP during the investigation that led to arrests of Zummo and three other gangsters in New York, and more than a dozen in Canada, Morena was "greeted with hugs and a ceremonial kiss on each cheek" from Zummo and John LNU (Last Name Unknown) when they entered the room about 12:40 PM on November 21, 2015.

Following the brief no-frills ceremony — there was no pin pricking or burning of a holy card, Metelsky told Gang Land — the two New York "mobsters shook (Morena's) hand, kissed him on each cheek and promptly returned to New York," Metelsky wrote in an account of the induction that appeared on the Inside Halton website last week.

"For two guys to drive eight or nine hours non stop from New York for a 15 minute session to take care of business and get it done and then drive back to New York was viewed here as a very critical and significant event," said Metelsky.

"He became the eyes and ears of the RCMP for a couple of years and helped them arrest quite a few guys who all pleaded guilty," said Metelsky, who is a professor in the Business School at Mohawk College in Hamilton.

That is similar to what happened in Brooklyn, where Zummo and his cousin, Salvatore Russo, were arrested and pleaded guilty to major drug trafficking charge, and Gambino mobster Paul Semplice and mob associate Paul Ragusa each pleaded guilty, and completed their prison terms, Semplice for loansharking and Ragusa for weapons charges.

As a bonus to the guilty pleas by all four defendants indicted in 2017, albeit a limited one that hasn't reaped any convictions or major indictments, the sources say that in addition to Morena, Zummo, as well as Russo, agreed to cooperate with the feds.

Zummo and Russo, each copped plea deals to kingpin drug charges carrying maximum prison terms of 40 years in prison for conspiring to distribute multi-kilogram loads of cocaine in New York between July and October of 2017, according to their publicly filed plea agreements.

Russo's agreement, signed by his lawyer and federal prosecutors Tanja Hajjar and Drew Rolle and supervising AUSA Nadia Shihata in September of 2019 calls for sentencing guidelines between 87 and 108 months and a mandatory minimum prison term of five years. Zummo's plea agreement signed by his lawyer and the same two prosecutors, and approved by supervising AUSA Kristin Mace in December of 2018, calls for a fixed prison term of five years in prison. Both are awaiting sentencing according to court filings in their case. Gang land expects that those plea agreements will be superseded by later ones, if they haven't been already.

Lawyers for Zummo, who was released on a $2 million bond, and his cousin Salvatore, who was released on a $500,000, as well as the government, declined to discuss their cases with Gang Land.

But they are each doing quite well for themselves as they await sentencing for drug trafficking and money laundering charges before Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Eric Vitaliano, according to court filings in case, especially Zummo.

With the agreement of the government, he no longer wears an ankle bracelet monitor and last year, Judge Vitaliano granted Zummo, who has long been involved in the construction industry, permission to travel to Florida "for the purpose of investing in and developing property" in the Sunshine State.

Sources say that both Morena and Zummo have each provided intelligence and tape recorded conversation with several of the nine defendants who were arrested and charged a year ago with racketeering and running gambling rings run by two crime families at the Gran Caffe in Lynbrook between 2012 and 2022.

The indicted mobsters include Bonanno capo Anthony Pipitone, whom Zummo identified as Morena's skipper during the induction ceremony and his brother Vito Pipitone, who are charged with an associate of running four illegal gambling businesses, including the one they shared with the Genoveses in Lynbrook. A former Nassau County detective is charged with obstruction of justice for agreeing to arrange police raid on competing gambling operations.

In a separate indictment, Genovese wiseguys Carmelo (Carmine Pizza) Polito and Joseph (Joe Fish) Macario and three associates are charged with operating four gambling rings, including the one they shared with the Bonannos at the Gran Caffe.

Plea negotiations are ongoing in both cases, although at the last status confernce, the attorney for Polito and Macario has asked Judge Vitaliano, who is handling both Gran Caffe cases, to schedule a trial date in the year old case. Vitaliano declined, ruling that the case was not ready for trial.

Mafia Boss Vic Amuso Created Much Too Much Bloodshed To Warrant Compassion

A Brooklyn Federal Judge decreed last week that ailing 88-year-old Mafia boss Vittorio (Vic) Amuso, who had requested compassionate release, will die behind bars, where he's been for 32 years. Reason? He was found guilty of ordering the murders of too many people, 14 in all during his bloody five-year long reign over the Luchese crime family that ended in his arrest in 1991.

"Murder was a tool in Amuso's arsenal, and one he used" much too often to deserve compassion, Judge Frederic Block declared. In his grimly detailed decision, the judge described three of the nine killings that Luchese family gunmen carried out for Amuso, as well as the circumstances surrounding three victims who survived murderous assaults by his assigned assassins.

"One was bludgeoned to death in a bagel shop before being shot in the head," Block wrote. Another "who was killed . . . by a shot to the head was also shot in the groin because Amuso had heard a rumor that the man was bisexual," the judge wrote. And Amuso's "killers placed a dead canary in (the) mouth" of a third victim "as a warning sign to potential informants," Block wrote.

Block, however, refused to consider the 2019 testimony by John Pennisi, a controversial turncoat Luchese mobster who told the FBI that Amuso, was still calling the shots for the Luchese clan. Pennisi has been called delusional by defense lawyers for claiming to have received literally earth-shaking messages from his deceased grandparents telling him to talk to the FBI. Amuso is still carried by the FBI as the crime family's "official" boss.

"Amuso vigorously denies this assertion" Block wrote. He also noted that the Bureau of Prisons states the longtime inmate has a "flawless incident report" and is a "minimal recidivist risk." Asuming that to be true, Block wrote that his "analysis of Amuso’s offense conduct" makes clear that "his reign of the Luchese Family was replete with bloodshed" and that "a reduced sentence would not be appropriate."

Block didn't name any of Amuso's victims in his 12-page ruling, but the grisly details contained in court filings speak to his rationale for deciding against Amuso.

In addition to mobster Michael Pappadio, who was killed in a Howard Beach bagel shop on May 13, 1989, and Al Visconti, the suspected bisexual gangster who was shot in the groin on March 26. 1991, and soldier Bruno Facciola, who was found with a dead canary stuffed in his mouth when he was killed on August 24, 1990, Amuso also snuffed out the lives of six other men.

Larry Taylor, a close friend of Facciola who discussed seeking revenge, was shot to death on February 5, 1991, while sitting in his car in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn; Sorecho (Sammy the Arab) Nalo, who ran a rival gambling business, was shot to death in an Astoria travel agency on October 25, 1988.

Thomas Gilmore, a Luchese associate whom Amuso believed was an informant was shot to death in an alley behind his home on February 6, 1989; John Petrucelli, a soldier who refused to kill gangster Costabile (Gus) Farace as Amuso had ordered was shot to death outside his Yonkers apartment on September 13, 1989.

John Morrissey, a shop steward in an iron workers union was killed and buried in a secluded area of New Jersey on September 17, 1989 to make sure he didn't cooperate in the Windows Case; capo Michael Salerno, a Bronx faction member and potential Amuso rival was found dead in the trunk of his Jaguar parked in Baychester, on June 9, 1990, about a week after he was killed.

Block wrote that one intended victim, mobster Joseph LaMorte "survived his attempted execution only by driving himself to a medical facility after having been shot in the neck and shoulder" outside his Florida home on November 10, 1989.

The judge wrote that another intended victim, contractor Joseph Martinelli, "survived because the gun that was held up to his head misfired" when Martinelli, who had threatened to stop paying kickbacks to Amuso, was lured in early 1990 to a video store parking lot in Staten Island, where his would-be killers planned to shoot him, according to court testimony.

And in May 1990, Judge Block wrote, Amuso ordered the murder of capo Peter (Fat Pete) Chiodo, who survived the rubout attempt in Staten Island even though he was "shot 12 times at a gas station because Amuso feared that he might testify against him."

As prosecutor Elias Laris noted in opposing any compassion for the imprisoned for life mob boss, "The effects of Amuso's actions are long-standing, as the families of those slain at his command will never be able to obtain the relief that Amuso himself now seeks."

In his filing, Laris wrote it was "both ironic and compelling" that Amuso had sought compassion "in part, because he relies at times on a wheelchair to navigate his (prison hospital) facility" since his actions had left the 40-year-old Chiodo "partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair" for 25 years, until he died in 2016.

"Given the depth and breadth of Amuso's role in the Luchese Family, and the harm exacted on both individuals and the community, the Court cannot in good conscience reduce his sentence," Block wrote. "His conduct was simply too serious, too disrespectful of the law, and too destructive to the fabric of society to warrant anything other than a life sentence."

The Feds Say The Cousin Of A Colombo Capo Is Liable For $624,000 In Extortion Payoffs That The Capo Received During His 20-Year-Long Shakedown

The feds have known for years that Domenick Ricciardo was basically a "go-fer" for his older cousin, Vincent (Vinny Unions) Ricciardo, the Colombo capo who orchestrated the extortion of a union president for 20 years. But that didn't stop prosecutors from playing hardball with him at his sentencing, and they did it again last week when they argued that he is liable for $624,000 in payoffs that Vinny Unions got from 2001 to 2021.

Under his initial plea agreement, Domenick, 58, was facing a prison term of 30-to-37 months. But at his sentencing in June, prosecutors asked Brooklyn Federal Judge Hector Gonzalez to sentence him to 42 months behind bars, stating that the defendant had collected many payoffs from a union official and had threatened the official both in person and in telephone calls.

The feds lost that round, however, when Domenick's attorney, Robert Caliendo, made a compelling plea for leniency, arguing that the feds' own evidence had shown that Domenick didn't get a cut of the money.

Moreover, Caliendo argued that the evidence showed that Domenick and the crime victim were "friends," and that the 21 months Domenick had been detained in Brooklyn warranted a "time served" sentence. Those arguments proved so persuasive that Gonzalez gave Ricciardo just 28 months, two months less than what the Probation Department recommended.

Based on sentencing protocol concerning good time, Ricciardo will be released next month.

In his filings, and in court, Caliendo effectively made the case that Domenick picked up money from the union official and passed it on to his cousin Vincent, 77, merely to "to help his relative, not to advance himself in any organization."

Caliendo wrote that his client "helped" Vinny Unions "by picking up cash" from the official but "was a 'stand-in' to 'collect' the money with no cut for himself," according to the Pre-Sentence Report in the case. The PSR stated, he wrote, that "law enforcement" saw "Domenick retrieve money left at a pizzeria" and then travel to another restaurant where he "dropped off the money."

"With regard to the extortion," Caliendo stated at Domenick's sentencing, his client had "no financial incentive" in picking up "the money" the few times he did. "He's not doing it to make money" or "doing it to impress people or to climb the ladder," the lawyer said. "He's doing it as a favor to another person he felt obligated to do that favor. And I don't mean obligated in a mob sense, I mean obligated in a human sense."

And Caliendo told Gonzalez that his client had a "real relationship" with Andrew Talamo, the president of Local 621 of the United Construction Trades & Industrial Employees Union, and denied that Domenick had ever threatened the official, who was referred to only as "John Doe," both in court and in the filings in the case.

The lawyer spelled out the relationship in his filing, which was not contested during the sentencing by prosecutor James McDonald.

The men had met 30 years earlier, Caliendo wrote, when Talamo ran "an auto-glass repair shop and he fixed Domenick's car window," and they had been friends ever since.

"They ate countless meals together at their homes" and they shared activities that "included cooking, fishing, hunting and golf," the lawyer wrote. "They went on vacations to Saratoga to watch horse races" and "they made a YouTube cooking video together at Domenick's house called Field to the Fork," the lawyer wrote.

When Domenick was overcome by "substance abuse" in 2006 and had "expressed suicidal ideation" when his "mother was trying to evict him," it was Talamo and his mother who "intervened" and removed his hunting rifles from Domenick's home "to prevent self harm," Caliendo wrote

"And it was (Talamo) who later took the defendant to Coney Island Hospital when he was depressed" and who "picked him up from a homeless shelter one year and took Domenick to (Talamo's) parents' house for Christmas Eve dinner," the lawyer wrote. "More recently, when Domenick moved," he continued, "it was (Talamo) who helped him move."

Caliendo also cited the awful conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center where Ricciardo was housed since September of 2021 — except for four months due to "indifference" to his many ailments by MDC jailers that led to him being hospitalized, which included 12 days in intensive care, suffering from double pneumonia and the COVID virus.

The lawyer noted that Ricciardo, who takes more than a dozen medications and suffers a host of ailments including heart disease, COPD, and rheumatoid arthritis, "was on a ventilator" and was treated at "two different hospitals and ultimately a physical therapy facility" before he was "returned to the MDC four months later."

Things are still terrible at the MDC, Caliendo insisted on sentencing day. "He didn't even get a shower this morning," the lawyer told Gonzalez.

But none of that soft-soap stuff registered with the feds.

Last week, AUSA McDonald and his co-prosecutors asked Gonzalez to dun Domenick Ricciardo for $624,000 in restitution for the extortion payments that Talamo had paid since January 1, 2001.

They argue that bank records from 2011 to 2021 showing a "loss of $280,890" plus an additional estimated loss of $327,600 based on prior monthly extortion payments of $2600 for 126 months totals $608,490. That tally, they said, is close enough to Talamo's statement that he paid $624,000 in extortion payment for the judge to make a finding that is the amount of money he should receive.

Even though the "loss" provided by Tamalo is greater than the "loss used by the government and defense in their plea agreement" with Ricciardo, that "should not be held against John Doe" and Ricciardo should be held liable for the entire amount of $624,000, the prosecutors wrote.

Caliendo told Gang Land he thinks otherwise and he expects to file his objections next week.

[JohnnyS]

Good GL this week. Thanks for posting.

[outfit guy]

So another 2 rats living right out in the open. Kingpin statute but yet out on bail and no sentencing for 5 years. Duhhhhhhhhh! Maybe if you acknowledged it, you'd have to do something about it - or Not, obviously.

[Southshore88]

Thanks for posting. Interesting that no one found or figured out that Zummo was awaiting sentencing for so long on those Coke charges

[OcSleeper]

Thanks for posting.

So is the 3rd man in the induction photos this John LNU or Paul Semplice?

Stephen Metelsky wrote this in the PT 2 article series he's doing.

Damiano Zummo, an acting Bonanno captain, was accompanied by Paul Semplice, another New York mobster. The police agent was greeted with hugs and the ceremonial mob kiss on each cheek. They quickly got down to business after the sound of the television was turned up — a mob tactic to drown out possible recording devices. Yet, the RCMP were tuned in loud and clear.

He's also previously stated the 3rd man in the room was Semplice. Here's what he said on the Game of Crimes podcast.

He (Morena) reports to the RCMP that these two guys from the Bonannos, one was actually from the Gambinos. Uh Damiano Zummo was the main guy, he was an Acting Captain in the Bonannos

To give you some context, these two guys, uh Paul Semplice was the other guy. They drove from NYC to Hamilton which is about a 9 hour drive on a no traffic day. They came into the hotel room, cameras were rolling, audio was rolling and one of the first things that happened was the tv was put on nice and loud. They stand right by the tv the two of them and basically Damiano Zummo is running the show and he says its been approved by this guy and approved by this guy.

Murphy: well wait a minute, you also said they had the Gambinos there right?

Metelsky: There was a guy from the Gambino Family.

[Little_Al1991]

Thanks for posting.
It seems as if Amuso won’t break Persico’s record of being the longest reigning boss of one of the Five Families.
Barney possibly could…

[TommyGambino]

Thanks for posting.
It seems as if Amuso won’t break Persico’s record of being the longest reigning boss of one of the Five Families.
Barney possibly could…

Barney would have to live to about 100

[johnny_scootch]

Thanks for posting.

So is the 3rd man in the induction photos this John LNU or Paul Semplice?

Stephen Metelsky wrote this in the PT 2 article series he's doing.

Damiano Zummo, an acting Bonanno captain, was accompanied by Paul Semplice, another New York mobster. The police agent was greeted with hugs and the ceremonial mob kiss on each cheek. They quickly got down to business after the sound of the television was turned up — a mob tactic to drown out possible recording devices. Yet, the RCMP were tuned in loud and clear.

He's also previously stated the 3rd man in the room was Semplice. Here's what he said on the Game of Crimes podcast.

He (Morena) reports to the RCMP that these two guys from the Bonannos, one was actually from the Gambinos. Uh Damiano Zummo was the main guy, he was an Acting Captain in the Bonannos

To give you some context, these two guys, uh Paul Semplice was the other guy. They drove from NYC to Hamilton which is about a 9 hour drive on a no traffic day. They came into the hotel room, cameras were rolling, audio was rolling and one of the first things that happened was the tv was put on nice and loud. They stand right by the tv the two of them and basically Damiano Zummo is running the show and he says its been approved by this guy and approved by this guy.

Murphy: well wait a minute, you also said they had the Gambinos there right?

Metelsky: There was a guy from the Gambino Family.

Wasn't it said at some point early on that Dom Violi was there also?


For two guys to drive eight or nine hours non stop from New York for a 15 minute session to take care of business and get it done and then drive back to New York was viewed here as a very critical and significant event," said Metelsky.

This part doesn't make sense they would have had to meet with at least one other mafia member up there so Morena could get introduced around town as a member. They couldn't have just driven up made Morena and got right in the car drove back like this statement makes it seem. Add the fact that Zummo or this John LNU would have to have been previously introduced to whoever they introduced Morena to.

[chin_gigante]

Thanks for posting.
It seems as if Amuso won’t break Persico’s record of being the longest reigning boss of one of the Five Families.
Barney possibly could…

Amuso's only a couple of years off Persico's tenure. Persico was official boss from 1980 to his death in 2019, about 38 1/2 years. Amuso has been official boss of the Lucchese family since October 1986, giving him a current tenture of almost 37 years.

[Ivan]

Not in New York, but if Joey Merlino remains as boss and lives to be 95 like a lot of these guys do for some reason he might set some kind of boss longevity record.

[SonnyBlackstein]

I dont want to be 'that guy' but I recall posting years ago about Zummo.
At the time I was baffled he got only 5 years, unbelievably small for; moving Kilos of coke, being a leading OC figure etc etc. I thought it baffling at the time.
I post this because if yours truly smelt it, those 'in the street' must have straight up known years ago that Zummo was a rat.
HUGE news here (to some ) but I would say the family wouldve known years ago.
Thanks for the post!

[SonnyBlackstein]

Amuso's only a couple of years off Persico's tenure. Persico was official boss from 1980 to his death in 2019, about 38 1/2 years. Amuso has been official boss of the Lucchese family since October 1986, giving him a current tenture of almost 37 years.

39.5?

[NYNighthawk]

Could Mr. Capeci check to see if any of these fines are paid at all? I believe that these fines ar enothing more than a media ploy by the govt.

[furiofromnaples]

Thanks for posting.
It seems as if Amuso won’t break Persico’s record of being the longest reigning boss of one of the Five Families.
Barney possibly could…

Barney have the record of longest reigning boss on the street of one of the Five Families.
Until 2008 he was never arrested.

[Little_Al1991]

Thanks for posting.
It seems as if Amuso won’t break Persico’s record of being the longest reigning boss of one of the Five Families.
Barney possibly could…

Barney would have to live to about 100

Now how did that slip my mind?? Ur right.