Gangland news 6th April

[Hailbritain]

By Jerry Capeci

Latest Mob Reality Show: Family With New York Blood On Their Hands Celebrates A New Life In The Grand Canyon State

Gang Land Exclusive!Richard CantarellaIn one way, Unprotected, a new so-called reality cable TV show that airs next week, is in the tradition of the late Joe Bonanno and his son Bill. That Godfather-and-Son duo relocated from Brooklyn to Arizona where they parlayed their wiseguy ways into a cottage industry with books and TV appearances. But the similarities end there. No question about it, this upcoming "docu-comedy" based on the murderous life-style of turncoat Bonanno capo Richard (Shellack Head) Cantarella and his mobster son Paul represents a new low in American Mafia history.

The show stars Cantarella, 73, as a wisecracking New York "tough" guy who flipped, and now runs his "first legitimate business" — a car wash in Scottsdale Arizona with his family. In the first episode, which Gang Land has seen, Shellack Head makes numerous references to his old life as a mobster as he chases down a "malcontent vegan" who posted nasty reviews of his car wash on "Yelp."

Cantarella's co-stars in Unprotected — which airs Tuesday on Oxygen Media, a Division of NBCUniversal — are his wife Lauretta, 70, and their son Paul, 46. In an unusual cross-generational mob case, all three were codefendants in a 2002 racketeering indictment, and the trio made a family decision to cooperate rather than spend long stretches behind bars.

Paul Cantarella"Ugh. Just what the world needs, another mob reality TV show," said Maria Laurino, author of The Italian Americans: A History. Due to "the bargain production costs of reality TV," Laurino said, "networks like Oxygen are making a last gasp effort to blow air into negative stereotypes of Italian-Americans and glorify thuggery and 'family values' in the same breath."

A woman who told Gang Land she "foolishly" got involved with "organized crime guys and lived to regret it" said it was "outrageous that a mobster who swore his allegiance to the Mafia and killed people is making jokes about tying a guy's dog to the bumper of his car and dragging him."

Another woman who voiced her anger about the show to Gang Land after seeing an online coming attraction, said it was "worse" than either Mob Wives, or Growing Up Gotti, which were "idiotic shows about women and children." She was particularly upset about Paul being cast as a "funnyman" because "he was involved in home invasions," she said.

Lauretta CantarellaA spokeswoman for Oxygen insisted the show has truly redeeming family values. "I understand the concerns that victims may have," said the spokeswoman, who asked not to be named, "but the show is really about them moving forward with their new life and making their legitimate business successful, and just being a family. That's the whole focus of the show."

Indeed, the show depicts multiple generations of the Cantarella clan — under their true name. Joining the three convicted members of the Cantarella family are Paul's wife Kim, their kids, Toni Ann and Richie, and Cantarella's outspoken daughter, Tracey Accardo, whose husband and two children are not on the show. "We were a mob family," Accardo chirped in the online trailer, "my father was a captain, my brother was a soldier."

Unprotected has been in the works since last year, when Paul Cantarella claimed he was broke and sought to reduce the $127,000 in restitution he had agreed to pay when he pleaded guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court. The official docket sheet states that the entire $127,000 was paid, but "the government settled for a much reduced amount" from his client, said his attorney Paul Rinaldo. His parents forfeited $400,000 that was seized from them when they were arrested.

Tracey AccardoRinaldo told Gang Land that Paul Cantarella told him when "we were wrapping up the restitution matter" that his family was going to be part of a reality show. "They're sitting ducks out there," said Rinaldo. "I hope they're getting a lot of money. Maybe I should have charged him more."

But at least in the inaugural episode, Shellack Head acts as if he doesn't have a care in the world. He appears to enjoy explaining that he cooperated with the government because "I didn't want to spend my life in jail" and that he dropped out of the Witness Protection Program and is living openly in Arizona. Cantarella spent five years in prison. Paul did a year. And Lauretta got a free pass.

"My name is Richard Cantarella," he tells the camera, slowly and clearly. "I want you to get that straight. Richard Cantarella. It's very important to me, my last name. I was born tough, still am tough. And I don't want nobody taking advantage of me or my family."

Richard & Lauretta CantarellaDuring several discussions with his wife as they try to locate the "malcontent vegan" all around the town, Shellack Head recalls the way he dealt with people who did him wrong when he was a mobster in New York.

"Messing with my business, or my family, that's a no-no," Cantarella declares. "I'm going to make it my business to track down the son of a bitch. Just like the old days. He's gonna be sorry he didn't come to speak to me mano a mano about his problems with my car wash."

Shellack Head's tough guy claims made one former resident of the Lower East Side apoplectic. "Richie was a make believe gangster who was scared of his own shadow," he said. "He was a parasite, and he lived off the reputation of his Uncle Al Walker (Bonanno soldier Al Embarrato.)"

The actual crimes of the Cantarella clan are left unmentioned — at least in the first episode. There is no mention that the transplanted wiseguy was involved in three mob rubouts, or that his son Paul was part of a plot to kill one of his father's victims, Robert Perrino, a former supervisor at The New York Post, where Shellack Head had an $800-a-week no-show job as a truck driver's helper for years.

The promo for the show accurately states that Cantarella was involved in many business ventures in New York. But it omits mention that he robbed $250,000 from one partner, which triggered the indictment that pushed all three to cooperate against Mafia Boss Joe Massino in 2002.

Cantarella Counts Car Wash CashAnd it's doubtful that viewers will learn during the eight episodes this year that Shellack Head instigated and carried out the murder in 1982 of another business partner, Enrico (Rick) Mazzeo, a crooked former New York City official who ran a newsstand business.

On the witness stand at Massino's trial, Cantarella stressed that he was the shooter, and the driving force in the plot to kill Mazzeo. He also described how his victim, whom Shellack Head feared might flip on him, was truly Unprotected when he gunned him down.

"I met Rick in (the) office," he testified. "I walked him to the garage area. I asked him what kind of car he was driving, he told me and I said, 'Let's take a look.' While he was walking down the stairs I shot him in the back of the head. He was laying on the floor all bloody."

That sure sounds like riveting TV to us. Curious to see if we hear anything about it in upcoming episodes.

One Man Crime Wave Now Plays For Team America

Gene BorrelloA 32-year old Bonanno associate whose rap sheet began at age 19 is the key witness in three major mob roundups pulled by the feds last month, Gang Land has learned. These include the automobile arson case against mob capo Vincent Asaro and John J. Gotti, grandson of the late Dapper Don. Another is The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight racketeering indictment against Asaro's wiseguy nephew, Ronald (Ronnie G) Giallanzo.

Sources say that turncoat Gene Borrello was the key player in torching the car of a motorist who cut off Asaro's car back in 2012, thus sparking an epic case of road rage. Borello was also the gunman in a murder plot that Giallanzo is charged with orchestrating in 2006 (Borrello managed to wing his victim). And in the third case, he helped plan a $250,000 home invasion in which two robbers tied up a woman and ripped her engagement ring off her finger in 2014.

Vincent AsaroBorrello himself is a one-man crime wave, which on occasion, spread to Florida. The only years he wasn't committing crimes since 2003, according to state and federal court records, was when he was locked up on various charges from September of 2007 until July of 2010.

According to a court filing in Asaro's case, Borrello, identified only as "Associate-1," drove to Broad Channel to eyeball the auto that had so offended the 83-year-old capo. Borrello then recruited Gotti and a buddy to carry out the arson assignment. On April 4, 2012, Borrello "doused the car with gasoline," while another defendant, Matthew (Fat Matt) Rullan, tossed the match.

Borrello was also involved in a plan by Gotti, Rullan, and another defendant, Michael Guidici, the 22 year-old son of Gambino soldier Frank Guidici, to rob a Maspeth, Queens bank on April 18, 2012, one that netted the three defendants a total of $5,941 they got from a teller.

Ronald GiallanzoThen there was the December of 2010 home invasion in which the robbers posed as United Parcel Service employees. According to court filings, Borrello recruited a robbery team for the job which he expected to yield "hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash." The robbery was allegedly ordered by Giallanzo's underlings, soldiers Michael Padavona and Michael Palmaccio, who provided weapons and UPS uniforms for the caper.

Also in Giallanzo's case, Borrello pegged a bullet (It missed.) at a deadbeat loanshark customer in late 2010 or early 2011. That was allegedly after Ronnie G's brother-in-law, codefendant Michael Hintze, 53, told Borrello that the imprisoned Giallanzo had ordered him to "address the situation," according to prosecutors.

Don't go anywhere, we are not done yet: From August of 2011 until May of 2012, Borrello was allegedly involved in three armed robberies that netted more than "$200,000 worth of merchandise" from jewelry stores in Franklin Square, LI with two defendants charged with racketeering in the third case, Darren Elliott, 30, and Matthew (Mack) Hattley, 34.

Michael Hintze(Reminder to readers, we are talking about the witness in these cases, not an alleged perp.)

And back in the spring of 2013, Borrello and Giallanzo dragged a deadbeat loanshark customer from the All American Deli — where Ronnie G was "employed" — to his car and "beat (him) until he soiled himself." The reason for said assault? The loan customer admitted making payments on his home mortgage instead of paying off his debt to Giallanzo, according to the court filings.

Continuing his own mob mayhem, in March of 2014, Borrello was involved in the planning of an alleged March 12, 2014 home invasion robbery in Howard Beach in which Hattley and co-defendant Christopher (Bald Chris) Boothby, 37, got "over $50,000 in cash and hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of jewelry, including high-end designer watches and a Cartier ring from Jane Doe's finger."

Michael PadavonaBorrello's most recent arrest, according to court records, was in September of 2014 for planning yet another home invasion robbery of a suspected drug dealer. In that June 5, 2014 escapade, Borrello allegedly teamed up with Frank Cipolla, his half-brother, according to police reports. Queens detectives who had been tipped about the plan by an informer, Frank Nunziata, pulled Cipolla over on his way to the victim's home. In the car, they found guns, a ski-mask, and plastic zip-ties.

After remaining behind bars from more than year — and writing a letter to Gang Land protesting his innocence and blaming all his troubles on "lies by Nunziata" — sources say Borrello began cooperating with a joint state and federal probe of home invasions and other racketeering crimes.

The charges against Borrello are now sealed. The charges against Cipolla are still pending. His attorney, Garnett Sullivan, told Gang Land he had "suspicions" about Borrello's disappearance from the case but declined to "speculate" about them.

Christopher BoothbyBut sources on both sides of the law say Borrello is cooperating and is expected to be a major witness in all three indictments that were obtained by the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's office last month.

In addition to Borrello's say so, prosecutors have emails that Giallanzo sent to his brother-in-law that establish the turncoat as a major player in Ronnie G's crew. On November 9, 2012, the incarcerated Giallanzo sent several emails to Hintze asking why Borrello wasn't being used to collect an overdue loanshark debt, according to a court filing.

The repeated emails by Giallanzo, according to the prosecution team, "clearly signifies his desire" for his crew members "to use Borrello, who was known for his willingness to use violence and threats of violence, to collect loanshark business."

Ask Andy: Home Sweet Home

Andy PetepiceLast week, federal prosecutors targeted the homes of four Bonanno mobsters who were indicted on racketeering charges going back to 1998. Losing your home to the feds is not a good thing. But it's a lot better than what happened over the years to quite a few mobsters in the supposed comfort of their own homes.

Back on November 10, 2010, Nicolo Rizzuto, who took over the Montreal faction of the Bonanno crime family more than three decades ago, was in the kitchen-dining room area of his home with his wife and daughter when a sniper ended his life by firing a single shot into his neck from the bushes behind his house in the Cartierville section of Montreal. His death came at the hand of former supporters who killed his grandson, son-in-law and various others before killing Rizzuto in a mob war that is still being waged north of the border.

It was a fitting payback for Rizzuto. On October 17, 1980, Sicilian gangsters led by Rizzuto completed their takeover of the Montreal faction by using a rooftop sniper to take out Rocco Violi, the third Italian-Canadian mobster from the province of Calabria as he relaxed at home with his wife and children. In the preceding months, with the support of Bonanno underboss Carmine (Lilo) Galante, the Rizzuto group had killed Rocco's brothers, Francesco and Paolo.

Violi's execution was the continuation of a mob tradition begun at least 50 years earlier.

Cesare LeMareAfter Cesare (Chet) LeMare had shot his way to the top of the Detroit throne by arranging the ambush murder of his boss, Gaspare Milazzo, on May 31, 1930, Lemare knew full well that he had a target on his back so he holed up at home. It did him no good.

On February 6, 1931, after his wife went out, two not-so-trustworthy underlings, Joe Amico and Elmir Maclin dropped by and did him in. One of them put a bullet into LeMare's head; the other into his body putting a quick end to his reign as Detroit Mafia boss.

Cops found fingerprints of both men near the body, but only Amico, who had beaten a murder rap on the Milazzo killing, was charged with LeMare's slaying. The prevailing wisdom is that Chet's rivals made Amico an offer he couldn't refuse and he turned on LeMare to save his own life. Acquitted at trial, he disappeared in 1937, and hasn't been seen since.

Joe Siragusa lasted two years as Pittsburgh boss when his end came about six months after LeMare's demise. He had been closely linked with New York power Salvatore Maranzano, in both business and mafia power politics, for some time. When Maranzano was taken out, on September 10, 1931, Siragusa was suddenly vulnerable.

Nicolo RizzutoThree days later, Siragusa was shaving in the basement of his large home in the east end of Pittsburgh when he was gunned down, in what was an inside job both literally and figuratively since Siragusa had surely taken extra precautions when he learned that Maranzano, his mentor and protector was whacked. No one was ever charged with the murder but suspicion has to fall on the mobster who took over, John Bazzano.

Two years later Mrs. Joseph Roma found her husband Joe, the Denver Mafia boss, full of lead and very dead, on February 18, 1933 when she returned home after a shopping trip. Eugene Smaldone and other men she had left with her husband were gone. As you might expect, those suspected in the hit grew in power. Smaldone and his brothers were major players in the now-defunct Denver mob for years.

[Adam]

Little side note, but I think we all know that Milazzo was not LeMare's boss in Detroit. I hate little errors like that.

[Chucky]

Good article this week, Giallanzo and his guys really liked to throw their weight around.

[TommyGambino]

https://www.instagram.com/geneboy666/?hl=en

[JCB1977]

LMAO. Cantarella is flagrantly waiving his middle finger to the entire NYC mafia, advertising where he is and egging them on. Goes to show where LCN is today.

[Chucky]

What's the benefit in killing him though? It's not like he's still testifying. Killing this asshole just means another murder indictment, with potentially another guy rolling and the process repeating itself. Just my take.

[Fughedaboutit]

https://www.instagram.com/geneboy666/?hl=en

lmao@his anti rat post

then he turns rat

piece of shit

https://www.instagram.com/p/sawA7bp1l3/ ... y666&hl=en

[TommyGambino]

https://www.instagram.com/geneboy666/?hl=en

lmao@his anti rat post

then he turns rat

piece of shit

https://www.instagram.com/p/sawA7bp1l3/ ... y666&hl=en

Fucking hell

[Pogo The Clown]

Borrello and Giallanzo dragged a deadbeat loanshark customer from the All American Deli — where Ronnie G was "employed" — to his car and "beat (him) until he soiled himself."

That was a really shitty thing to do.


Pogo

[Hailbritain]

Padavona

[AG777]

Borrello and Giallanzo dragged a deadbeat loanshark customer from the All American Deli — where Ronnie G was "employed" — to his car and "beat (him) until he soiled himself."

That was a really shitty thing to do.


Pogo

[Chaps]

Borrello and Giallanzo dragged a deadbeat loanshark customer from the All American Deli — where Ronnie G was "employed" — to his car and "beat (him) until he soiled himself."

That was a really shitty thing to do.


Pogo

Lol! Thanks Pogo! I needed that today.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Wiseguy]

Borrello and Giallanzo dragged a deadbeat loanshark customer from the All American Deli — where Ronnie G was "employed" — to his car and "beat (him) until he soiled himself."

That was a really shitty thing to do.


Pogo

I see what you did there, Pogo.

[BobbyPazzo]

https://www.instagram.com/geneboy666/?hl=en

lmao@his anti rat post

then he turns rat

piece of shit

https://www.instagram.com/p/sawA7bp1l3/ ... y666&hl=en

I saw that and threw up in my mouth

[Pogo The Clown]

I'm here all week guys. also is it just me or does Borrello look like a real mongoloid? I know pickings are slim but you'd figure a guy like Giallanzo wouldn't keep a guy like that so close to him. Then he doesn't come across as the sharpest knife in the drawer either.


Pogo