Gangland May 29th 2025

[Dr031718]

Gemini Twins Implicated In Mysterious Unsolved Killing Of Capo Jimmy Rotondo

A long-ignored investigation into a mob rubout dating back decades probably deserves a fresh look-see.

Luchese family serial killers Joseph Testa and Anthony Senter, sprung last year from their life sentences for 10 mob murders, were fingered by a turncoat gangster as participants in the 37-year-old unsolved execution of DeCavalcante capo Vincent (Jimmy) Rotondo, Gang Land has learned.

The so-called Gemini Twins allegedly took part in the gangland-style slaying of Rotondo, killed behind the wheel of his Lincoln Continental outside his Brooklyn home in January of 1988 — a month before their trial in the case that earned them life sentences was later reduced to 35-years behind bars, according to court testimony obtained by Gang Land.

The killing of Rotondo, 58, was quickly branded as an unsanctioned "sneak job" based on the response from Mafia boss John Gotti. The Dapper Don publicly paid his respects to Rotondo by attending the wiseguy's wake along with New Jersey boss John Riggi and several Gambino members, including consigliere Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano and Little Italy capo Joseph (Joe Butch) Corrao.

"There will be retribution when they find out who did it," a knowledgeable law enforcement official told Gang Land back then, noting that Rotondo — who was tabbed as a family underboss by some — and Riggi had attended a meeting with Gotti shortly after he took over the Gambinos.

But until now, and despite the court testimony fingering Testa and Senter, their alleged involvement has remained an open secret.

Even Rotondo's mobster son, Anthony, who flipped in 2001 and testified at the same trial as turncoat Victor DiChiara (and later in another six prosecutions) had no idea. Anthony Rotondo, who died two months ago, had wondered, he told his brother shortly before his death, if the then-retired in Florida patriarch of the crime family, Simone (Sam the Plumber) DeCavalcante, had ordered the execution.

The previously unreported testimony about Rotondo's murder came at the racketeering-murder trial of three top members of the New Jersey-based DeCavalcante family in 2003. Informant DiChiara testified that Testa and Senter admitted to him their roles in the murder of Rotondo, who was shot numerous times in the face on January 4, 1988.

DiChiara's account about the slaying consumed 15 lines of the official court transcript, less than one page of the 368 pages that it took the court reporter to transcribe the turncoat's three days on the stand against consigliere Stefano Vitabile and capos Giuseppe (Pino) Schifillitti and Philip Abramo.

They were found guilty and sentenced to life, but after their convictions were reversed in 2008, they all copped guilty pleas and have since been released.

The murder allegation against the Gemini Twins came soon after DiChiara, then-38, took the stand on May 12, 2003. He stated that he'd grown up in Canarsie — which was also home turf to Testa and Senter — and testified that he began "robbing cars" as a teenager and "operated a stolen car ring out of Canarsie" with other cohorts "from the neighborhood."

Testa and Senter were charter members of the mob crew headed by Gambino mobster Roy DeMeo and based at the infamous Gemini Lounge in Flatlands. They stole cars, dealt drugs and killed 79 people, mostly New Yorkers, during the 1970s and '80s, according to ex-NYPD detective Frank Pergola. The duo was convicted in June of 1989, and were by then four years into their life sentences.

Then-assistant U.S. attorney Miriam Rocah — the current Westchester District Attorney — used the following questions and answers about the capo's killing on Monday January 4, 1988, as a transition to testimony she was going to bring out about Rotondo's mobster son Anthony:

Q. What if anything happened in January 1988 with respect to Anthony Rotondo?
A. His father was killed in front of his home.
Gemini LoungeQ. What happened after his father was killed, involving you, if anything?
A. Number one, as far as myself, I was told by the killers who had participated in the father's murder.
Q. Who told you that?
A. Joey Testa and Anthony Senter.
Q. Who are they?
A. They are soldiers in the Gambino family.
Q. They told you that they had participated in the murder?
A. Yes.

The matter was not brought up again by Rocah or raised by any of the defense lawyers during DiChiara's testimony.

Gang Land was unable to get any prosecutors, agents or defense lawyers in the DeCavalcante case, or task force members in the Testa and Senter case, to discuss whether the duo had ever been suspected in the Rotondo rubout, or if they knew that the gangsters were fingered by a cooperating witness who has been relocated in the Witness Security Program

Pergola, a key task force member, has told Gang Land that Gambino boss Paul (Big Paul) Castellano released the duo to the Lucheses in a deal he made with then-capo Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso after Big Paul was unable to get Gotti or any other Gambino mobsters to whack DeMeo. The lethal mob boss finally had DeMeo killed in January of 1983.

Underworld sources don't agree entirely with Pergola's assertion, but they concur that by 1988, Testa and Senter were aligned with the Luchese crime family and pals of Gaspipe Casso.

For decades, the killing of Jimmy Rotondo outside his home on a quiet tree-lined Bergen Beach street at about 3:30 in the afternoon has puzzled authorities, wiseguys, and the Rotondo family members, according to Rotondo's son, Vincent, who told Gang Land that he found his father shot to death and told his brother-in-law to call 911 while he comforted his mom.

"I was in the house, laying down that day," he recalled. "I wasn't feeling well. I asked my mother, 'Dad come home yet?' She said, 'No.' I looked out the window. I seen the car. I went out. He was dead in the car."

Vinny Rotondo said he was surprised that "nothing has ever come out about" his father's murder. He recalled that his dad, who was a member of Local 1814 of the International Longshoremen's Association for decades, "was friendly with Gotti, who made a big splash" at his dad's wake, and also "friends with Chin's (Genovese family) people" and with "the Bonannos."

Reached yesterday, and told that Testa and Senter were fingered in court testimony, Rotondo said: "Those guys. From what I know about them, they would kill their mother. So if it was those guys, I guess it came from Gaspipe." Told that DiChiara testified that Joey and Anthony had told him they had killed his father, Rotondo said he had been "friends" with DiChiara, and added: "He knew those guys because he grew up in Canarsie.

In any event, since DiChiara's allegation was never acted on — or even known by most law enforcers for more than 22 years, there's no reason why Testa and Senter, both 70, should be concerned these days.

But if DiChiara's allegation is accurate, and the Gemini Twins weren't pulling his leg sometime after Rotondo's killing and before they were convicted on June 29, 1989, and remanded to await sentencing, there are several scenarios that could have brought them to 2356 Royce Street in Bergen Beach on the afternoon of his death.

One possible motive for the killing, law enforcement officials told yours truly and Daily News reporter Bill Farrell a few days after the murder, was that "Rotondo may have been killed as punishment for giving" mob entrée to a friend and loanshark partner named Jesse (Doc) Hyman, who flipped after he was convicted and sentenced to 30 years in prison.

"Authorities are investigating whether the scheduled appearance at an upcoming mob trial" by Hyman "is related to the killing," we wrote, noting that Hyman was slated to testify at the trial beginning on February 22, 1988 of capo Anthony (Nino) Gaggi and nine other associates of Castellano, who was slain outside a Manhattan steak house during the first trial of the case in 1985.

The Daily News story doesn't mention that Testa and Senter were two of the nine codefendants slated for trial, but Gang Land likes to think that we included the info in there — but it was trimmed out by an editor.

Another plausible motive comes from information obtained from sources on both sides of the law.

Shortly before Rotondo was killed, the sources say, the Lucheses formally objected to the DeCavalcantes bringing a concrete company into Coney Island. A sit-down between Casso and Rotondo, who often handled labor rackets for the New Jersey family, was scheduled to resolve the matter.

Gotti was fond of both Rotondo and Riggi, a Dapper Don ally whose New Jersey members would whack a Staten Island businessman on his behalf in 1989. He ordered Gravano to attend the sit-down on behalf of the DeCavalcantes, as The Bull handled labor issues for the Gambinos, and controlled Teamsters Local 282, whose drivers deliver concrete to job sites.

At the sitdown, where might usually trumps right, sources say Sammy Bull prevailed even though Gaspipe argued that mob protocol forbade the DeCavalcantes from inducting New Yorkers or infringing on the Five Families' New York rackets.

Casso also argued the Gambinos had no business speaking for "him," pointing to Rotondo. Gravano argued that the Jersey-controlled company located in Coney Island, would not be going into "the city," meaning Manhattan, and told him to give it up.

EDITOR'S NOTE — The days are getting longer. The unofficial start of summer began this past Monday on Memorial Day. And Gang Land is announcing a less-work, more play summer schedule that begins today – much like the one that the gangsters and their law enforcer pursuers seem to enjoy all year long.

We are taking a slide next week, June 5, and every other week between now and Labor Day, the unofficial end of summer in the U.S. As a wise old editor told us many moons ago, "The devil's in the details," so here's Gang Land's official summer schedule for 2025. There will be columns on June 12, June 26, July 10, July 24, August 7, August 21, and September 4, when we'll announce Gang Land's schedule for the rest of the year, and beyond that.

Our subscription rates will not be lowered, and don't even think about asking for a refund, if you opt to cancel. The monthly, six-month, and yearly costs will remain the same as they have been since 2008, when we became a paid subscription site WITH NO ANNOYING POP-UP ADS, even though all our costs have risen dramatically since then. As always, subscriptions will be renewed automatically, UNLESS you email us at support@ganglandnews.com and cancel.

We'll be back at you with another column about "real stuff about organized crime" on June 12.

Feds: The Assault On His Ex-Wife's Lover Was Personal, And A Federal Crime Calling For Seven Years

The feds have panned Tommy Manzo's reverse "Godfather" defense: This mob-connected beatdown was personal, not business.

The conviction of the mob-tied restaurateur for arranging an assault on his ex-wife’s fiancé should be upheld because a "jury reached a 'common sense' conclusion" in finding him guilty of federal racketeering charges in the bloody assault of David Cantin back in 2015, prosecutors say in recent court filings.

That's because the Newark Federal Court jury heard lots of evidence that Manzo was guilty of "aiding and abetting an assault in aid of racketeering" committed by gangsters John Perna and Lorenzo Tripodi to bump up their status inside the Luchese crime family, New Jersey federal prosecutor Mark Coyne argued in his filing with the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

Manzo’s attorneys, in their appeal of his conviction and seven-year prison term, argued his "sole motive" to assault the boyfriend of his Reality TV star ex-wife Dina Manzo "was entirely personal" — and that he had no idea the violent actions by Perna and Tripodi would be a racketeering act committed under the auspices of the Luchese crime family.

In the government reply, Coyne wrote that Manzo "was no babe-in-the-woods who merely had seen a Mob movie or TV show like THE GODFATHER or THE SOPRANOS" but was "more involved in the Mafia world 'than any other resident in northern New Jersey,'" as his lawyers had claimed.

The panel heard testimony that Manzo had compared himself to a character in the mob movie classic A Bronx Tale, Coyne wrote. Manzo had stated he was like the youth played in the film starring actor-turned-ex-con Lillo Brancato, the kid at the card games "serving the cold cuts to gamblers at games run by his father," the prosecutor wrote.

His ex-wife Dina testified, Coyne wrote, "that when they first began dating, Manzo told her that, although he himself wasn't 'in the Mafia,' he 'knew people' who were."

The jury also learned, Coyne wrote, that years before he gave Perna a free wedding party at his New Jersey restaurant, The Brownstown, for more than 300 guests — including acting mob boss Matthew Madonna —– Manzo hosted several parties for wiseguys in the venue, including "a 2006 Christmas party attended by the Family's bosses" and a "going away party" for an associate about to begin a prison term.

Manzo was well-schooled in mob protocol and "knew exactly what he was getting when he hired the Mob to assault his ex-wife's paramour," Coyne wrote. He was "someone whose father had been murdered by the Mob, who had rubbed shoulders with the Mob his entire life, who had mobster friends sit at his office desk regularly, and whose catering hall held events for the Mob."

Manzo, who rejected a plea deal calling for a maximum of 14 months before trial, also argued that his seven-year prison term was excessive, noting that Perna, who bashed Cantin over the head with a slapjack about 15 times and inflicted a gash in his head that required 11 staples to close, was sentenced to 30 months.

Coyne wrote that Manzo's sentencing guidelines, compiled after his trial, called for a prison term up to 10 years in prison and argued the seven-year sentence was not excessive, but an appropriate one for the crime.

Judge's Ruling Saves New Jersey-Based Wiseguy Lots Of Time And Travel Costs

Gambino mobster Diego (Danny) Tantillo won't have to drive to midtown Manhattan to prepare for his racketeering trial in November, Gang Land has learned.

Over the objections of federal prosecutors, Brooklyn Federal Judge Frederic Block yesterday relaxed the bail condition that had required all the computers and other devices that the wiseguy uses that have internet access to be monitored by the Pretrial Services agency.

Removing that condition, his lawyer Alan Futerfas successfully argued, will enable Tantillo to have secure "attorney-client privileged meetings" to review "sensitive discovery material" with his newly retained lawyers without having to travel for "well over an hour" each way from his home in Freehold, New Jersey to Futerfas's midtown Manhattan offices.

So-called "sensitive discovery material" cannot be copied and defendants are only permitted to see it in the presence of their attorneys.

Prosecutors wrote that the travel time was "far from unduly burdensome" and stated that the wiseguy's "moderate distance from his counsel is a situation of his own making. They noted that since his arrest in November of 2023, the Garden State resident has had three lawyers, "all of whom had offices in midtown Manhattan."

"If Tantillo were truly concerned that the 'well over an hour' it takes to travel to his attorneys' offices would cut into 'his dwindling time to prepare for trial,' he could have chosen counsel with a presence closer to his home," wrote prosecutors Anna Karamigios, Andrew Roddin and Elias Laris.

They argued that the "computer monitoring condition" is "important to protect the public" from Tantillo who "used electronic devices to coordinate and carry out the charged offenses" and to communicate with codefendants in the racketeering indictment who are charged with committing crimes of violence that include extortion and assault.

"For example," the prosecutors wrote, "Tantillo often called and texted (brothers James, Joseph and Michael Marrone, the owners of the Waldorf Demolition Company) he sought to extort, about being bought out of the company, and at times, his communications were aggressive."

"And minutes after a brutal assault on an employee of that company," they wrote, "Tantillo's co-defendant Kyle Johnson texted Tantillo three thumbs-up emojis followed by 'work today.'"

"Giving Pretrial Services limited visibility into Tantillo's use of electronic devices is therefore necessary — although, the government submits, not sufficient — to protect the public from his continued use of such devices to carry out extortions, fraud, and other crimes."

To no avail, they noted that at a 2023 bail hearing, Block stated that the "computer monitoring condition is one of several 'stringent requirements' that are important to protect the public from the serious danger that Tantillo poses."

Block sided with Tantillo, and "encouraged" both sides to agree on the wording, which they did. Pretrial Services can still "inspect any computer or devices with internet access belonging to the defendant and install computer monitoring software" that is appropriate "with the exception of a single computer to be used only to communicate with his counsel."

[AntComello]

Thanks for posting. Jerry is getting closer and closer to full blown retirement.

[Tonyd621]

Thanks for posting. Jerry is getting closer and closer to full blown retirement.

He doesnt even "report" anything new anymore. Its always something we already know, he just adds some minutiae to it.

[Tonyd621]

Appreciate the members who are still subscribed and post it every week. I wouldn't blame you if you canceled.
The last article is about how some guy can now use his Mac book without court supervision.

[dack2001]

Interesting column, especially on the Gemini twins. Wonder if the feds won't take a shot at them for one of these old murders. Of course, two Trump terms and Biden's four year disaster have really changed how the feds make cases. Not sure the AUSA have the same power they used to have to bring those cases.

[AntComello]

Thanks for posting. Jerry is getting closer and closer to full blown retirement.

He doesnt even "report" anything new anymore. Its always something we already know, he just adds some minutiae to it.

He pretty much says in this article that he don’t give a fuck if you unsubscribe and that no one’s getting refunds guy is a legend but definitely near the end of the Capeci era. Now all we have is the over intelligent Pennisi, Lord of the Rings Nadu, and Dom “VODKER” Cicale. Not looking good for us Mob fans smh

[Nick Prango]

Thanks for posting. Jerry is getting closer and closer to full blown retirement.

He doesnt even "report" anything new anymore. Its always something we already know, he just adds some minutiae to it.

He pretty much says in this article that he don’t give a fuck if you unsubscribe and that no one’s getting refunds guy is a legend but definitely near the end of the Capeci era. Now all we have is the over intelligent Pennisi, Lord of the Rings Nadu, and Dom “VODKER” Cicale. Not looking good for us Mob fans smh

[Nick Prango]

Thanks for posting. Jerry is getting closer and closer to full blown retirement.

He doesnt even "report" anything new anymore. Its always something we already know, he just adds some minutiae to it.

He pretty much says in this article that he don’t give a fuck if you unsubscribe and that no one’s getting refunds guy is a legend but definitely near the end of the Capeci era. Now all we have is the over intelligent Pennisi, Lord of the Rings Nadu, and Dom “VODKER” Cicale. Not looking good for us Mob fans smh

LOL. Pennisi is unintentionally hilarious. Pure comedy

[AntComello]

Thanks for posting. Jerry is getting closer and closer to full blown retirement.

He doesnt even "report" anything new anymore. Its always something we already know, he just adds some minutiae to it.

He pretty much says in this article that he don’t give a fuck if you unsubscribe and that no one’s getting refunds guy is a legend but definitely near the end of the Capeci era. Now all we have is the over intelligent Pennisi, Lord of the Rings Nadu, and Dom “VODKER” Cicale. Not looking good for us Mob fans smh

LOL. Pennisi is unintentionally hilarious. Pure comedy

Fucking pure comedy dude. I know it sounds like I hate on him but I just can not take him serious with the petty comments and shit he does. That being said I know he is a reliable source and has brought us a lot of good info. But come on the guys a little off….for the intelligent people in the room. It’s like listening to a 12 year old girl break down the mob life for us

[Nick Prango]

Thanks for posting. Jerry is getting closer and closer to full blown retirement.

He doesnt even "report" anything new anymore. Its always something we already know, he just adds some minutiae to it.

He pretty much says in this article that he don’t give a fuck if you unsubscribe and that no one’s getting refunds guy is a legend but definitely near the end of the Capeci era. Now all we have is the over intelligent Pennisi, Lord of the Rings Nadu, and Dom “VODKER” Cicale. Not looking good for us Mob fans smh

LOL. Pennisi is unintentionally hilarious. Pure comedy

Fucking pure comedy dude. I know it sounds like I hate on him but I just can not take him serious with the petty comments and shit he does. That being said I know he is a reliable source and has brought us a lot of good info. But come on the guys a little off….for the intelligent people in the room. It’s like listening to a 12 year old girl break down the mob life for us

Yeah. He is extremely petty guy

[Pmac2]

why wouldn't gaspipe tell tge feds about the murder. we need gaspipes 302s real bad. all of them

[chin_gigante]

Capeci slowing down with the articles seemed inevitable. He is in his 80s now after all. Hopefully it just means less articles about retiring lawyers.

[AntComello]

Capeci slowing down with the articles seemed inevitable. He is in his 80s now after all. Hopefully it just means less articles about retiring lawyers.

Seems his street sources have either dried up or they just really isn’t anything interesting going on in the modern day mob. I think it’s a combo of both. Jerry is still a legend and best to ever do it so I’ll take what I can get from him.

[Camo]

Capeci slowing down with the articles seemed inevitable. He is in his 80s now after all. Hopefully it just means less articles about retiring lawyers.

Seems his street sources have either dried up or they just really isn’t anything interesting going on in the modern day mob. I think it’s a combo of both. Jerry is still a legend and best to ever do it so I’ll take what I can get from him.

You must be forgetting about all the blood feuds and firebombings happening between the NY Families that somehow the media hasn't picked up on.

[Wiseguy]

Capeci slowing down with the articles seemed inevitable. He is in his 80s now after all. Hopefully it just means less articles about retiring lawyers.

Seems his street sources have either dried up or they just really isn’t anything interesting going on in the modern day mob. I think it’s a combo of both. Jerry is still a legend and best to ever do it so I’ll take what I can get from him.

Nowadays the best stuff from Capeci, aside from the rare big story that comes maybe once every year or two, is when he identifies people in the hierarchies as part of his articles. He's from the generation of reporters that cared more about being accurate than being first.