Genovese Bust Today 1/10

[SonnyBlackstein]

So now even Captains are front men.

Anyone say.... Polito?

[chin_gigante]

The March 22, 2000 conversation:
Thomas Cafaro = Cafaro; Michael D'Urso = CW

CAFARO: I can't believe they didn't make, when he had his, when he went in for the surgery and when he had the heat, I'm surprised they didn't pull him out then.
CW: Who's gonna pull him out? Who's gonna pull him?
CAFARO: [U/I]
CW: You gotta be around to actually do something like that, I mean? You know what's gonna happen?
CAFARO: How'd they put him in?
CW: What? You don't think your friend put him there?
CAFARO: Well, so they send him word. [U/I] put somebody else, who do you want?
CW: Yeah who do you want? Who's gonna take it? Who's gonna take it?
CAFARO: Somebody will do him a favor if they ask him.
CW: Chuck don't want it.
CAFARO: If the other guy asked him.
CW: You know fuckin' Dom don't want it.
CAFARO: No — but I said, uh.
CW: Ernie will take it.
CAFARO: Yeah. What do you call it?
CW: He wouldn't be bad there.
CAFARO: No—
CW: from what I hear about him.
CAFARO: You know who would have been good too, but he don't want it? Is Tony from Corona.
CW: Oh, he don't want it either?
CAFARO: Nah. He has a ton of money.

id like to see one of the smart guys break this down

This section appears to me to be D'Urso and Cafaro discussing why Frank Serpico hasn't been taken down from his position. Serpico was indicted on a state gambling case in Queens in September 1999 and released on bail (he was identified in that indictment as 'a member and soldier' in the Genovese family). Serpico had also undergone surgery at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in Manhattan three days prior to his arrest in that case. So those two events (the state indictment and the hospital visit) must be the surgery and 'the heat' that Cafaro was referencing.

I think when D'Urso and Cafaro reference Tuzzo, Cirillo, and Federici not wanting 'it' they're referring to Serpico's acting boss position, and when D'Urso says, 'Ernie will take it', he's saying Muscarella will accept the position.

When D'Urso says, 'You don't think your friend put him there?' I think he's surmising that it was Bellomo (my best guess as to who Cafaro's 'friend' is) who put Serpico in his position. If this is what D'Urso is implying in this conversation, I don't think he knows for sure at this point how Serpico got the position. We know from other reports that D'Urso had a conversation with Alan Longo in October 2000 where Longo told him some things about how Serpico moved up. Longo specifically stated, 'When Mario [Gigante] went to jail, they put Farby there. That's how he got there.'

Court records show Mario Gigante was out on bail in an indictment in the SDNY when he pleaded guilty 30 September 1997. He was still at liberty when he was sentenced in April 1998 and instructed to surrender to custody by 8 June 1998. If Longo's statement about Serpico moving up because of Gigante's legal problems is correct, he'd probably have to have moved up closer to when Gigante pleaded guilty rather than when he actually surrendered. This is because D'Urso first identifies Serpico as acting boss when he got into his argument with him over the phone. We also know this happened prior to D'Urso's first proffer session with the government, which he testified took place in late 1997 or early 1998. This is also interesting because, either way, it puts Serpico serving as acting boss almost certainly before Cirillo suffered his heart attack in May 1998.

[Cheech]

Ya. I agree. I always love how there is a “they”

CW: What? You don't think your friend put him there?

Right. Referring to Barney.

CAFARO: Well, so they send him word. [U/I] put somebody else, who do you want?

The admin (they) sends word to barney to pick someone else.

[Wiseguy]

Pne thing that came out of this convo I could tell was that Tuzzo and Federici were close, and both of them were close with Generoso. Obviously Federici stepped away from the day to day of running his rackets and gave everything to Rom.

Both Federici and Tuzzo came from Generoso, if I'm not mistaken.

[Blunts]

Thanks for posting these transcripts Cheech. It gives and interesting insight to the mindset of some of these powerful guys. The fact several of the "don't want it" and "got tonnes of money" vs guys who will take that position no matter what the outcome. Just to insert their name in to the oral history of their family as having reached an admin position now matter how brief it was. Those other guys want to die free and don't want the stresses and LE heat and the rank means nothing to them in the long run.

[Philly d]

What happened to Tommy Cafaro? He is on like 65.

[Tonyd621]

https://nypost.com/2000/08/10/queens-cl ... r-mob-war/

Tough Tony had a son. Idk that. Is he still around?

[Buster123]

https://nypost.com/2000/08/10/queens-cl ... r-mob-war/

Tough Tony had a son. Idk that. Is he still around?

Yes. He now runs the restaurant with his mother

[Pmac2]

Tommy cafaro was really close to barney. I'd be very surprised if he isn't made today. Like this guy cookie says he could have been made back then 20yrs ago. I wonder why he didn't want it. He did alot of bids for the family to. Chin supposedly said he couldn't be held accountable for the sins of his father