Gangland news 11th may 2017

[Hailbritain]

By George Anastasia

Genco Olive Oil Is A Big Score For Danny Pro

Gang Land Exclusive!daniel provenzanoThe Tribeca Film Festival ended last month with a screening of Godfather I and Godfather II. The tribute was a way to mark the 45th anniversary of the release of The Godfather.

Even before the film festival began, however, New Jersey mob figure Daniel (Danny Pro) Provenzano was raising a toast to the big-screen mob classics. Provenzano, whose great uncle was the legendary Genovese capo Anthony (Tony Pro) Provenzano, has turned his fascination with those films and some astute foresight into a significant payday.

A movie buff who has acted, directed and written scripts, Provenzano, 55, has always been a fan of the Mario Puzo-Francis Ford Coppolla classics. Shortly before he went to prison on a New Jersey racketeering charge in 2003, Provenzano inquired about the availability of various business trademarks linked to the Godfather phenomenon. He was particularly interested in Genco Olive Oil. Genco, you may recall, was the company Don Corleone set up in New York to legitimize his business operations.

Paramount had the trademark. But after Provenzano was released from prison in 2007, he learned that the trademark license had expired and was available. He bought it.

"I think I paid $1,600," Provenzano said with a laugh.

Anthony ProvenzanoLast year, MJ Licensing, a company that is already marketing Don Corleone Vodka in a deal with Paramount, decided it wanted to get into the olive oil business and inquired about the availability of the Genco brand. That, apparently, is when Paramount learned that it no longer had the trademark.

MJ Licensing negotiated a deal with Provenzano instead.

"He was a nice guy and easy to deal with," said Jeffrey Dash, the CEO of Don Corleone Vodka and part of MJ Licensing team.

Dash called the Godfather brand "iconic" and said his company hopes to roll out its Genco Olive Oil brand in the near future. Look for it at a supermarket near you. But he politely declined to discuss specifics of the deal with Danny Pro, nor would he say how much his company had paid for the trademark.

Brando as Don CorleoneProvenzano isn't saying much about that either, but he was smiling broadly over dinner recently at Angelo Lutz's Kitchen Consigliere Café in Collingswood, NJ, where between courses he happily reported the deal has given him some financial breathing room and a chance to pursue other projects.

Provenzano has had his ups and downs since returning home nearly a decade ago from Northern State Prison, one of the toughest in the Garden State. He wrote, directed and starred in a movie called This Thing of Ours that was released shortly before he went away. In a move that typified his bravado, part of that script came directly from the racketeering indictment the New Jersey Attorney General's Office had brought against him.

James Caan, Frank Vincent and Vincent Pastore had roles in the film, which won some local film festival awards but quickly went to video.

Danny Prvenzano & Frank VincentProvenzano had a recurring role in one season of the Housewives of New Jersey after coming home from Northern State. He has also been actively involved in bare knuckles boxing, promoting that illicit fight game for an avid underground following. Matches, staged in obscure locations and touted by word of mouth, were often "sponsored" by Provenzano's Genco Olive Oil company.

(Full disclosure: I've written pieces of three scripts for projects Provenzano has tried to develop, thus far without success. These include a television comedy drama called Manhattan Kansas and a Simpsons-like cartoon called Wiseguys and Whack Jobs. Provenzano is currently suing Pastore in a dispute involving a Manhattan Kansas shoot. Danny Pro says Pastore agreed to take part in the project, but failed to show up for the filming. Pastore says he balked at the deal after learning it wasn't an approved Screen Actors Guild project. )

How lucrative was Provenzano's deal with MJ Licensing for the Genco trademark?

George AnastasiaDanny Pro's not saying. But the case of Don Corleone vodka that was thrown in to sweeten the package — retail value of $900 — didn't begin to scratch the surface. The payout was a six-figure deal, Gang Land has learned. It was somewhere south of $500,000 but still in a very nice neighborhood for a trademark that cost him less than two Gs.

Provenzano will also have a small percentage interest in the sale of the olive oil and he says he has retained the right to use the Genco name in promoting several of his other ventures.

"Everyone knows The Godfather," he said of the movie. "People also know products associated with the movie. Nine out of ten people can tell you what Genco Olive Oil is. That's what I was thinking when I asked about the trademark. I never thought it would be available, but if you don't ask…"

Skinny Joey Hangs Tough; His Onetime Driver Doesn't

Bradley SirkinBrad Sirkin has folded his cards.

The prolific, enterprising mob associate and sometime driver for Philadelphia Mafia boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino has agreed to cop a guilty plea in that sweeping but flawed racketeering conspiracy indictment in Manhattan Federal Court, and also to conspiracy to commit health care fraud in a more pointed and apparently airtight case against him and seven co-defendants in federal court in Tampa.

In a plea agreement filed April 17 in Florida, Sirkin admitted his role in what authorities have alleged was a $157 million insurance fraud scheme that included kickbacks to doctors and pharmacist who knowingly wrote and filled bogus prescriptions for what authorities said were "compound medications, chiefly pain creams and scar creams, irrespective of medical necessity."

Joseph MerlinoSources said insurance companies were billed from $500 to $1,000 for a tube of the bogus cream with many prescriptions written with up to 10 refills. The mob was late arriving to the scam involving compound creams which have been described by insurance company investigators as the "snake oil of the 21st century" and which have, according to early investigations, generated tens of millions of dollars in fraudulent insurance reimbursements.

Sirkin, 54, who has a 1992 federal conviction for conspiracy and wire fraud, faces a maximum 10-year sentence in the Florida case and up to 20 years in New York. Under terms of the plea, the sentences are to run concurrently. But based on sentencing guidelines, Sirkin is probably facing from four to five years in prison.

He has also been ordered to pay $2,552,309 in restitution.

Four other defendants, including a doctor and pharmacist who are now cooperating with authorities, have pleaded guilty in the Tampa case. Another defendant, Wayne Kreisberg, is also scheduled to plead guilty in Florida and in Manhattan, according to court documents.

Wayne KreisbergKreisberg and Sirkin were each named along with Merlino and six of the 46 defendants in a vague, one-paragraph description that was included in the racketeering conspiracy charge in the Southern District of New York (SDNY).

The fact that Merlino was indicted in Manhattan rather than Tampa and the fact that the New York case appears to be unraveling has lent support to law enforcement officials in Florida and Philadelphia who have complained about the way the SDNY handled the investigation.

"That's why they're called the Sovereign District of New York," one Philadelphia area law enforcement official said after the indictments were handed up back in August. That's when many investigators in Miami and Philadelphia learned for the first time the extent of the probe.

"They don't share with anyone," said the disgruntled Philadelphia source. "They have their own set of rules."

John RubeoBoth jurisdictions were largely kept in the dark about the racketeering case and the fact that a cooperating witness wearing a wire was actively recording meetings with Merlino and others in Florida, New York, and New Jersey.

Sirkin and Kreisberg were businessmen who lived and operated in the Boca Raton area, as did Merlino. The SDNY indictment charges Skinny Joey with insurance fraud and gambling offenses based in large part on recordings made by mob informant John (JR) Rubeo.

Rubeo also interacted with Sirkin, according to one source, and may have met with Kreisberg.

But the handling of recordings made by the cooperator and the lack of supervision while Rubeo was on the streets in Florida have raised serious questions about whether the feds would be able to use much of that evidence in court. More than one observer has said that Merlino would have a more serious problem had he been indicted in Tampa for what appears to be the same medical fraud charges he is facing in New York.

Pasquale ParrelloAs previously reported by Gang Land, two FBI agents and their supervisor are facing potential disciplinary action because of the Rubeo fiasco. What's more, as Gang Land has reported, federal prosecutors are now offering sweetened plea deals in which the racketeering conspiracy charge would be dropped in exchange for guilty pleas to the related gambling, extortion, weapons and assault charges that make up the case against most of the New York gangsters.

Last week prosecutors notified Manhattan Federal Judge Richard Sullivan that a "global or near global" plea agreement has been worked out with a "substantial" number of the defendants.

No particulars were provided about the deals but prosecutors said the defendants had a May 19 deadline to accept the offers. Sources have said that Merlino has balked at any plea deal and intends to go to trial.

Eugene O'NofrioMerlino is described in the indictment as one of the leaders in what the feds have called "The East Coast LCN Enterprise," a designation that applies to an organization that exists only on paper and in the minds of some federal prosecutors. Mob capos Pasquale (Patsy) Parello and Eugene (Rooster) O'Nofrio share top billing with Skinny Joey.

Sources say that Parrello is considering a deal that will carry a sentence of about five years. Sources say O'Nofrio has declined to even consider a plea offer. Sources say Merlino rejected a deal that would carry a two-year sentence.

Sirkin, meanwhile, was due in court this week to formally change his plea to guilty in both the Tampa and New York cases.

He also has an ongoing problem with the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation which has cited him for illegally operating a landfill in Palmyra, NJ, just outside of Philadelphia.

In a scheme that the commission said underscored loopholes in New Jersey's landfill licensing process, Sirkin was able to run an operation that took in tons of construction debris and potentially carcinogenic materials instead of the grass clippings, weeds and branches that were supposed to be turned into mulch for garden ground covers under the recycling license he was using.

The operation began in 2012, about the same time authorities say Sirkin was wheeling and dealing in medical insurance fraud in Florida. He abandoned the landfill 18 months later after the SCI launched its investigation.

Peter LovaglioAmong other things, the state agency linked Sirkin to an unnamed Bonanno mob capo — identified by sources as Peter (Pug) Lovaglio — who was described in an SCI report as a partner in the Palymra business. Lovaglio, a violent and volatile mobster, was sentenced to eight years in prison earlier this year for assaulting the owner of a sushi lounge on Staten Island. The restaurateur, an ex-New York City police officer, was blinded in one eye after Lovaglio smashed a cocktail glass into his face.

Sources say Lovaglio has been a "secret snitch" for several years, cooperating with the NYPD and federal authorities. As Gang Land noted last week, Lovaglio , now a protected inmate in federal custody, has begun to provide the SDNY details in several investigations, including at least one unsolved murder.

In addition to his ties to Merlino and Lovaglio, Sirkin is related through marriage to a soldier in the Luchese crime family, according to the SCI report.

Fakenews; The Last Word From The Last Don Standing

Ralph NataleRalph Natale always talked a better game than he played.

And that apparently hasn't changed.

The one-time Philadelphia mob boss who turned government witness and testified against Joey Merlino and his crew back in 2001 is now living in another part of the country. But he made two telephonic TV appearances in Philadelphia recently to tout the book Last Don Standing that details his life of crime.

Natale used the media moments to blast Merlino and the guys around him as "punks" and claim the only reason he turned informant was because Merlino had reneged on a promise to take care of Natale's wife Lucy in the event he went to prison. No mention of Natale's then girlfriend Ruthann who was also left high and dry when he was arrested but who doesn't get mentioned in the life story he is now telling.

Angelo BrunoNatale, 82, was jailed on a parole violation in 1998 and began cooperating in 1999 after being charged with narcotics trafficking. With prior convictions for drug dealing and arson for which he had served nearly 16 years, Natale was looking at life in prison when he cut his deal and headed for the witness stand.

The book, written by veteran New York Daily News reporter Larry McShane and entertainment industry producer Dan Pearson, offers Natale's take on Jimmy Hoffa, Angelo Bruno and the 1964 Sonny Liston-Cassius Clay fight which, Natale claims, turned into a big payday for mobsters who had inside information about Liston and bet heavily on the upstart heavyweight who would soon become Muhammad Ali.

It was "the biggest legitimate score the mob every made," Natale told Philadelphia's Fox 29 crime reporter Dave Schratwieser in an interview that aired last month.

Natale also gave an interview, again via the phone, to NBC10's Rosemary Connors, telling her that he met with Hoffa shortly before he disappeared and knew he was going to be killed.

Carlo GambinoWaxing poetically, Natale said of his meeting with the Teamster boss, "I could smell … the dirt of the grave when I looked at him."

Equally poetic was Natale's description of how he was formally initiated into the mob by not one, but two mob bosses. Philadelphia's Angelo Bruno and New York's Carlo Gambino did the honors, he said. He claimed all three of them pricked their fingers and mingled their blood. That anecdote is almost as preposterous as the very tall tale the late Bill Bonanno told about his mob induction, one he said in his book was attended by the bosses of all Five Familes as well as the bosses of the Milwaukee, Buffalo, Philadelphia and Chicago clans.

"I never felt stronger in my life," Natale told Fox 29.

That version of his making ceremony, however, conflicts with what he told a jury back in 2001 when he testified against Merlino and company. Under oath, he said that he had declined Bruno's offer to become a "made man" because he didn't trust the people Bruno had around him. He said he believed they would end up killing him or he would have to kill them.

Bill BonannoNatale later explained that he made himself after being released from prison in 1994 and aligning with Merlino in a war against then Philadelphia mob boss John Stanfa.

Asked on the witness stand if that were possible, Natale replied, "if you have the cojones."

He also told Fox 29 that joining forces with Merlino was "one of the biggest mistakes I ever made in my life," calling Skinny Joey "a liar and a coward." Schratwieser juxtaposed that comment with an interview Natale gave him back in the mid 1990s in which he described Merlino as a fine young men and the kind of person he would be happy to have with him in a "foxhole."

John StanfaNatale's new version of events has clearly rankled some of his former mob associates, especially those close to Merlino who were in a position to know what really happened.

"Ralph was always a bullshitter," said one. But what has gotten under their skin the most is his claim that he only began cooperating after Merlino reneged on a handshake agreement to support Natale's wife should Natale ever be arrested.

Wiseguys say it was the other way around.

They recall an FBI agent testifying that within a week of his arrest in 1998 for his parole violation Ralph tried to cooperate, offering to wear a wire for the feds. The feds turned down that offer but a year later worked out an agreement.

In fact, say several Merlino associates, Natale's wife — and his girlfriend — did receive cash from the organization. That stopped after word on the street that was that Natale was trying to cut a deal with the feds.

Natale's rewrite of his life story has wiseguys and some law enforcement officials shaking their heads.

"Fakenews" is the word coming out of a mob clubhouse in South Philadelphia.

[Hailbritain]

Jerry couldn't be bothered writing a bore fest this week , so he got George Anastasia to write one instead

[Kash]

I'm sure sharing post from gbb is frowned upon but Serp posted he talked to Skinny and saw him go in his lawyers office. Speculated a plea. He seems like a legit poster so I'm interested to see if he ends up being right.

[Pogo The Clown]

That guy is full of shit.


Pogo

[Hailbritain]

That guy is full of shit.


Pogo

+1

[Snakes]

Did he get "outed" at some point? I've never trusted his "intel." PHL Mob and Chucky are the only guys I listen to when it comes to Philly.

[tmarotta]

If I remember correctly, I believe one of the long time members of this forum, I think it was Cheech, caught Serpiente in a lie (do not remember what it was). When Serp was confronted he claimed that one of his friends in the bar took his phone and made the alleged claims. It is funny how the idiots on the moron board believe all his shit.

[Cheech]

If I remember correctly, I believe one of the long time members of this forum, I think it was Cheech, caught Serpiente in a lie (do not remember what it was). When Serp was confronted he claimed that one of his friends in the bar took his phone and made the alleged claims. It is funny how the idiots on the moron board believe all his shit.

thats exactly what happened.

[Cheech]

Rooster and Skinny not taking a plea. they must know its soft.

[Kash]

Wasn't trying to start some big thing. Thousand pardons

[tmarotta]

Wasn't trying to start some big thing. Thousand pardons

I wasn't trying to infer that you were an idiot Kash. I meant no offense. That board just pisses me off because there are certain people over there who tell bullshit stories, they edit sites such as wikipedia to include their bullshit, and the next thing you know the bullshit of these people becomes "common knowledge." There are people on that board who are great posters, many are also on this board, but my personal problem with the bullshit artists is that they misinform people who are noobs to the subject, which means more bullshit being spread over the Internet. If you need an example look at the wikipedia page for the Buffalo Mafia. They claim Anthony Lupino Todaro is the boss and that he also runs the Sicilian mafia and he secretly owns the Buffalo Bills and the Buffalo Sabres. That is why I love this forum because bull shit artists get called out and banned. Sorry for the rant.

[johnny_scootch]

That anecdote is almost as preposterous as the very tall tale the late Bill Bonanno told about his mob induction, one he said in his book was attended by the bosses of all Five Familes as well as the bosses of the Milwaukee, Buffalo, Philadelphia and Chicago clans.

From what I can remember reading Bill Bonanno only said 4 bosses were at his induction and while I've never heard of another situation even close to that I didn't find it totally preposterous being that at the time Joe Bonanno was the preeminent mafioso in North America.

[Wiseguy]

That anecdote is almost as preposterous as the very tall tale the late Bill Bonanno told about his mob induction, one he said in his book was attended by the bosses of all Five Familes as well as the bosses of the Milwaukee, Buffalo, Philadelphia and Chicago clans.

From what I can remember reading Bill Bonanno only said 4 bosses were at his induction and while I've never heard of another situation even close to that I didn't find it totally preposterous being that at the time Joe Bonanno was the preeminent mafioso in North America.

The rule is no outsiders at a family initiation. Only members of the family involved can attend. So whether it was just the other NY bosses, or ones from other cities as well, Bill Bonanno is as full of crap as Natale.

Did he get "outed" at some point? I've never trusted his "intel." PHL Mob and Chucky are the only guys I listen to when it comes to Philly.

Wait, who are we talking about?

[SonnyBlackstein]

Did he get "outed" at some point? I've never trusted his "intel." PHL Mob and Chucky are the only guys I listen to when it comes to Philly.

Wait, who are we talking about?

Serpiente

[Wiseguy]

Did he get "outed" at some point? I've never trusted his "intel." PHL Mob and Chucky are the only guys I listen to when it comes to Philly.

Wait, who are we talking about?

Serpiente

Ah, thank you.