Gangland February 20th 2025

[Dr031718]

Ex-Federal Mob Prosecutors Agree; Trump's Push to Drop Corruption Charges Against Mayor Adams Should Be Squashed

Former Manhattan federal prosecutors Nick Akerman and Hagan Scotten have never met. Their careers were decades apart, but both men convicted powerful Mafia leaders on racketeering charges and they agree that the Trump Administration's push to dismiss the federal bribery and corruption charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams should be squashed, Gang Land has learned.

Akerman convicted acting Genovese boss Frank (Funzi) Tieri on racketeering charges back in 1980. Scotten convicted acting Luchese boss Matthew Madonna and underboss Steven (Stevie Wonder) Crea of racketeering and the murder of ex-Purple Gang leader Michael Meldish in 2019. They are both Harvard Law grads. And their convictions came after hotly contested trials.

Scotten quit last week after ten years as an assistant U.S. attorney rather than move to dump the case as ordered by his newly appointed superiors at the Department of Justice, and has no say anymore in the case. But Akerman, who resigned in 1983, after seven years as an AUSA, is trying to have one. He has filed a motion on behalf of city residents asking the judge to block the dismissal of the Adams case.

In his filing, Akerman, a member of the New York Chapter of Common Cause, wrote that there was "overwhelming evidence from DOJ's own internal documents showing that the dismissal of the Adams indictment is not in the public interest and is part of a corrupt quid pro quo between Mayor Adams and the Trump administration."

The attorney argued that DOJ's requested dismissal "without prejudice" would leave "a sword of Damocles hanging over Adams" to ensure that "Adams follows the administration's marching orders" and was "not based on the proper grounds of innocence or lack of evidence." He asked Judge Dale Ho to deny the DOJ's motion and conduct a hearing on the matter.

Similar arguments were made in a court filing by former US Attorneys John Martin of New York, Deidre Daly of Connecticut, and Edward Cleary of New Jersey. They wrote that "the vast majority of men and women" who "served as federal prosecutors" believe the DOJ "should not make criminal charging decisions based on political associations, political activities, or personal allegiances" and that "these values have been tested by the recent actions of the leadership of the DOJ in this case."

Edward McDonald, former Chief of the Organized Crime Strike Force in Brooklyn, told Gang Land that the DOJ move to dismiss the Adams case was "beyond extraordinary," unlike anything he had ever encountered in his two decades as a federal prosecutor. He said the DOJ's move to dismiss the case was more like a request to adjourn it until the DOJ decided to pursue it again.

The filings are yet to be ruled upon but they have got the attention of the media as well as the judge. Judge Ho ordered the Mayor to "consent in writing" to the DOJ motion on Tuesday, and yesterday, he quizzed lawyers for Adams and the DOJ about the dismissal that they both want and wondered aloud whether he should appoint an attorney to argue against the move.

He reserved decision but indicated he would render one soon. He said he was "not going to shoot from the hip" from the bench but noted that it was "not in anyone's interest for this to drag on."

Gang Land wondered what defense lawyers in the 19-defendant Madonna-Crea case thought about the actions by prosecutor Scotten, who was Gang Land's Prosecutor of the Year in 2019 for his work in that case as well as a racketeering case against Luchese mobster Eugene (Boobsie) Castelle.

He pulled out all the stops to convict Crea. He got the trial judge to tell jurors they could find any defendant guilty of the Meldish murder even if prosecutors didn't prove his specific role in the rubout, if they found that other Luchese gangsters had committed the murder because all family members should have "reasonably foreseen" that possibility.

Scotten drove that point home at the end of his closing argument, telling jurors they "could still hold Crea liable" for the murder "even if Crea had not personally been part of the murder." Those comments prompted Stevie Wonder to earn an admonishment from the judge for "bad behavior" when he was caught directing "an ill-disguised middle finger" at the prosecutor.

"Scotten did the right thing" by resigning, said Gerald McMahon. The defense lawyer said Scotten "has the most incredible resume that I have ever seen." He noted that Scotten had earned two Bronze Stars while serving three tours in Iraq as a U.S. Army officer in the Fifth Special Forces Group, and had clerked for two of the nine Judges of the U.S. Supreme Court.

"His resignation has gotten a great deal of praise," he said. "I agree 100 per cent (with that.) The guy was so arrogant when I met him seven years ago that I predicted that Hagan Scotten was going to be President one day. He's gotten a huge amount of positive publicity with his email resignation. And he's on track for POTUS. He's six foot three, handsome and well spoken."

"Unfortunately (for defense lawyers)," McMahon continued, "he has a great deal of talent, works extremely hard, and during the Castelle trial, (which ended in a partial conviction and a heavy sentence for Boobsie) it's fair to say we hated each other. He was good, though, I did get an acquittal on the bribery counts."

"He's brusque, impatient, and straight up honest," said another lawyer who insisted on anonymity. "He was blunt about what he was doing, and about the resolution he was looking for," the attorney continued. "I have nothing but respect for the guy.

"He doesn't have a great reputation among the defense bar because he's a law and order type," the lawyer continued. "He's a very principled guy; he's a staunch Republican. I hate people like him," the attorney cracked. "They make normal lawyers like me feel very inferior."

Two other defense attorneys also described Scotten as talented, hard working and "principled," but that opinion wasn't shared by all the lawyers who spoke to Gang Land. Anthony DiPietro, who had many hotly contentious square offs with Scotten during the Steve Crea trial, had this to say in a prepared statement:

"The DOJ's agreement with Adams is a joke compared to the repugnant deals that prosecutors and the FBI routinely make with violent, lying cooperators to win cases, such as the pathetic deal the SDNY struck with a psychopathic jailhouse snitch to convict Crea of murder," said DiPietro, referring to a witness who never met or spoke to Crea but linked him to the Meldish murder.

"Rather than throw a tantrum about the President's dealings in the Mayor's case," DiPietro stated, "I would have hoped that the prosecutors who resigned would have been similarly concerned about Americans serving life in prison based on suspect cooperator testimony by violent misfits that have routinely been let back into our community." (A Scotten co-prosecutor against Crea, Celia Cohen, and two other Adams prosecutors, Derek Wikstrom and Andrew Rohrbach, also withdrew from the case rather than follow the DOJ's order to dismiss it. Sources say they are suspended with pay, but spokesman Nick Biase declined to comment on their status.)

"It is hypocrisy for any prosecutor to act appalled by the Adams case outcome," DiPietro continued, "when the USAO and FBI routinely dangle the carrot of money and freedom to sign up cooperators, while line prosecutors are permitted to pretend before juries that the cooperators are there without any knowledge of what their outcome will be."

"Unfortunately," DiPietro wrote, "that type of repugnant quid pro quo dealing has yet to cause any resignations or reform, even though that is what truly makes a mockery of a 'system of ordered liberty,' and many innocent Americans and their families have greatly suffered as a result."

Akerman, who used several turncoats, including Aladena (Jimmy The Weasel) Fratianno to convict Funzi Tieri, didn't address the specifics of DiPietro's arguments, which the trial judge and the Court of Appeals have rejected. But he told Gang Land there's a big difference between a crook getting a pass for testimony against another crook than for what the Mayor would be getting from Trump, and vice versa.

"When you give a defendant immunity to testify against somebody, you're not going out there for political gain, to try and get somebody to basically give you the keys to the city of New York in return for dropping a prosecution against him," he told Gang Land. "This is the Executive branch using the DOJ for political purposes. This is more like a shakedown or a bribe."

"It's outrageous to use the criminal justice system for political ends like this," the ex-prosecutor said. "By dismissing it without prejudice they really have Adams on a tenterhook because they can just pull it at any time if he doesn't do what they ask him to do, and prosecute him," he continued. "This is why almost every former assistant is up in arms. It's created a firestorm. And rightly so."

Editor's Note: If you missed former Strike Force Chief Ed McDonald give Tom Robbins his take Monday on the DOJ’s move to dismiss the Mayor Adams corruption case on Deadline NYC on WBAI radio, you can use this link to hear McDonald talk about that as well as his own dealings with the DOJ during the administrations of three former Presidents.

Feds To Unveil Two Turncoat Bonanno Gangsters At Obstruction Of Justice Trial Of Ex-Detective Hector Rosario

Eight years after they flipped, a pair of turncoat Bonnano gangsters will make their debut at the trial of former Nassau County Detective Hector Rosario that starts next week and testify that the ex-cop took part in a slew of crimes with them over the years, Gang Land has learned. That's despite the fact that Rosario isn't charged with committing any crimes with any Bonanno family members or associates.

Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Vitaliano has ruled that mobster Damiano (Danny) Zummo can testify that Rosario warned him he was "potentially under criminal investigation," and that mob associate Salvatore Russo can tell the jury that the detective agreed to "move large quantities of marijuana" for him. The testimony is intended to help convince jurors that the former lawman obstructed a grand jury probe and lied to the FBI.

The Judge agreed that testimony by the duo was "admissible as direct evidence to explain the 'depth of friendship' between (Rosario) and the cooperating witnesses and his loyalty to them." Vitaliano wrote that it "tends to show his motive in attempting to obstruct the grand jury investigation in 2020," and "of lying to FBI agents" who questioned him in January 2020.

Prosecutors Anna Karamigios, Sophia Suarez and Sean Sherman have stated they plan to present testimony by Zummo and Russo that Rosario conducted a raid on a rival Genovese gambling parlor for the Bonannos. The judge's pre-trial ruling doesn't specifically approve that planned testimony, but the door will be open once the ex-Bonannos take the stand.

Defense lawyer Louis Freeman had asked the judge to block the testimony about any organized crime links, but Vitaliano declined, handing the government a potential win.

"The defendant's argument that the government could make out its case without reference to organized crime falls flat," Vitaliano wrote. "Evidence of Rosario's knowledge and participation in illegal gambling operations is essential direct evidence illuminating the investigation Rosario allegedly sought to obstruct, and to showing motive and proving the element of corrupt action," the judge wrote.

In addition, Vitaliano wrote that "evidence of other corrupt acts can be admitted to establish a relationship of trust between" Rosario and the cooperating witnesses, "even when a defendant did not contest the existence of this relationship."

Sources say Zummo, 51, and Russo, 52, each agreed to cooperate with the FBI shortly after they were indicted in November of 2017 and charged with selling a kilogram of coke to an undercover operative for $38,000 in a Manhattan ice cream parlor. Both men will be testifying for the first time. Sources say the FBI used the duo to investigate illegal gambling parlors that the Genovese and Bonanno crime families operated in Queens and Long Island from 2020 to 2022.

When the duo was indicted, Zummo was identified as an acting capo who had presided over a video-taped Bonanno crime family induction of a confidential informer for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in a hotel room in Hamilton Canada in 2015.

Their status as cooperating witnesses has never been publicly confirmed by federal authorities. But they are each included in the list of names of witnesses and others who will come up during the trial that will be given to potential jurors during jury selection on Monday.

Vitaliano rejected the argument by defense lawyer Freeman to keep jurors from knowing about the companion indictment of Genovese crime family rivals who operated gambling parlors. He noted that Rosario's "alleged knowledge of Sal's Shoe Repair," the place that was allegedly raided by the detective, was "admissible as evidence of [his] false statements" to the FBI.

"The existence of other related indictments or charges does not require the government to try this case with an arm tied behind its back," he wrote. "The government is entitled to explain to the jury in this case why competing gambling parlors became targets of the cooperating witnesses and how their membership in rival crime families informed this intimidation scheme."

Sliwa: Before They Became Deadly Killers, The Gemini Twins Loved To Play Stickball

Curtis Sliwa, the busy Republican candidate for Mayor recently took time out from his campaign and the court battle over the current Mayor's corruption indictment to talk to Gang Land. He didn't want to talk about the mayoral race, or even Gang Land's item last week about soldier Joseph (Little Joe) D'Angelo, the taxi driver from hell who was behind the wheel when Sliwa was shot in 1992. No. He wanted to talk about stickball.

In the kind of fascinating tale that the radio veteran has long mastered, Sliwa talked about how he had taught the Gemini Twins, Anthony Senter and Joseph Testa — two mob killers he thought would die behind bars — how to play stickball back when they were teenagers living in Canarsie.

"Those guys were right on my block on (East) 89th Street and (Avenue) J in Canarsie," Sliwa said the other day, when Gang Land called to chat with the Guardian Angels founder-turned politician about the upcoming Mayoral race. But Sliwa wasn't interested in that.

He blurted out: "I see the guys I taught how to play stickball, Joey Testa and Anthony Senter got out. I never thought they'd see the light of day. I thought they would never get out."

Gang Land was obviously familiar with the names Sliwa threw out. They were members of the Roy DeMeo crew that Gene Mustain and yours truly wrote about in our book, Murder Machine. They were each convicted of racketeering and 10 murders in 1988 and sentenced to life plus 20 years. And last year, Gang Land wrote about their release from federal prison after 35 years behind bars.

But Gang Land was thrown for a loop by the "stickball" reference, and said; "Huh? Stickball?"

"Those guys, I taught to play stickball," Sliwa said. "We all used to hang out there" at East 89th Street and Avenue J in Canarsie in the early 1970s, from about 1970 to '72. "Everybody would come on the block from the surrounding area. We would play stickball."

"Stickball was always my game," he said. "Remember during Rudy's time and Bloomberg's time (the 1990s and 2000s) I was the stickball commissioner of New York City. That was my game."

Sliwa, who will be 71 next month, recalled being a year or two older than Testa, 70, and Senter, 69, when he hung out with them, a block away from Canarsie Cemetery. "And I would teach them stickball," he said.

Sliwa said he also taught Joey Testa's younger brother, Patty, who was shot and killed in 1992, allegedly on orders from former Luchese underboss Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso. "The Testa boys, Patty and Joey; they could have been models," Sliwa said. "They were ladies’ men."

Sliwa recalled that Senter and the Testa brothers, who would be indicted in 1984 as members of the Roy DeMeo crew of car thieves who stole hundreds of gas guzzling cars and shipped them to Kuwait, had already begun stealing cars when they were playing stickball on the streets of Canarsie.

"All of a sudden," Sliwa said, "they realized that instead of hotwiring cars for joy rides which they were very good at, they'd get money for certain makes and models" and they began using cocaine. "That's when they became totally different personalities" and "they hooked up with Roy DeMeo."

Actually, Sliwa said he did get an occasional sense that something was amiss, at least with Senter.

"Unfortunately," he said, "Anthony Senter would usually have some anger management issues and would try to hit someone in the head with the stickball bat, and I would have to give him a therapeutic back massage to calm him down. That guy was out of his mind."

[MoLarryCurly]

Can you post last weeks article if possible. Ty!

[OcSleeper]

Thanks for posting

@Mo it not getting posted last week was doing us a favour

[MoLarryCurly]

Thanks for posting

@Mo it not getting posted last week was doing us a favour

I wanted to see why spanky Cutaia was back in the hospital!

[furiofromnaples]

Thanks for posting

@Mo it not getting posted last week was doing us a favour

I wanted to see why spanky Cutaia was back in the hospital!

Brief synopsis from GLNews ([www.ganglandnews.com](http://www.ganglandnews.com))

 \--Joseph Cutaia, aged 46, is back in the hospital, where per his attorney he will be for an ‘indefinite’ period of time undergoing rehabilitation (he also had a recent back surgery and it is unclear from the reporting whether this is physical rehabilitation, or rehabilitation for substance use). GLNews also reports that Cutaia has run short on money and is relying on a court-appointed attorney.

[MoLarryCurly]

Thanks for posting

@Mo it not getting posted last week was doing us a favour

I wanted to see why spanky Cutaia was back in the hospital!

Brief synopsis from GLNews ([www.ganglandnews.com](http://www.ganglandnews.com))

 \--Joseph Cutaia, aged 46, is back in the hospital, where per his attorney he will be for an ‘indefinite’ period of time undergoing rehabilitation (he also had a recent back surgery and it is unclear from the reporting whether this is physical rehabilitation, or rehabilitation for substance use). GLNews also reports that Cutaia has run short on money and is relying on a court-appointed attorney.

Grazie amici

[Pmac2]

Thanks for posting. Jerry's the gold standard still

[Pogo The Clown]

Joseph Cutaia, aged 46, is back in the hospital, where per his attorney he will be for an ‘indefinite’ period of time undergoing rehabilitation

Another toothpick.


Pogo

[MoLarryCurly]

Joseph Cutaia, aged 46, is back in the hospital, where per his attorney he will be for an ‘indefinite’ period of time undergoing rehabilitation

Another toothpick.


Pogo

Wonder if when he “sobers” up he has a change of heart like Mean Gene and flips

[SonnyBlackstein]

https://nypost.com/2025/02/25/us-news/c ... -genovese/

[Nurzhamba]

https://nypost.com/2025/02/25/us-news/c ... -genovese/

Thanks!

[Laughmatics]

Mobsters testifying against corrupt cops, broke mob associates with court-appointed attorneys, Families fighting over gambling dens and having to turn to corrupt cops for muscle, informants being inducted into LCN in a motel room, this is the mob nowadays folks. I wish it was all just a bad dream. Pathetic.