Gangland news 1st June 2017

[Hailbritain]

By Jerry Capeci

Feds Take Down Luchese Crime Family Leaders On Racketeering And Murder Charges

Gang Land Exclusive!Steven Crea Sr.In a sweeping roundup, the feds arrested 19 members and associates of the Luchese crime family yesterday, including its top three wiseguys, and one of their sons, hitting them with a slew of racketeering charges including the gangland-style slaying of a major drug dealer, and three attempted mob rubouts in the past five years.

In the blockbuster indictment, the family "street boss," Matthew (Matty) Madonna, its underboss Steven (Stevie Wonder) Crea, and his son, Steven (Stevie Junior) Crea Jr. are charged with ordering the 2013 murder of Michael Meldish, leader of the Purple Gang, a rogue crew of heroin dealers and hit men. Madonna, 81, is already behind bars in New Jersey on gambling charges. The elder Crea, 69, of Crestwood, and Crea Jr., 45, of New Rochelle, were detained without bail.

As Gang Land reported three months ago, the murder charge against Madonna and the Creas stems from a three-year grand jury investigation by the White Plains Division of the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office that led to the February indictment of the alleged hit team in the Meldish slaying — wiseguy Christopher Londonio and associate Terrence (T) Caldwell.

In addition to the administration of the crime family, the amended indictment charges a dozen inducted wiseguys, including four captains, with racketeering conspiracy. In an indication that violence and fear are still key mob tools, 17 of the defendants allegedly used or brandished guns while committing crimes, charges that carry a possible life sentence, and a mandatory minimum prison term of 10 years behind bars.

Matthew Madonna"Cosa Nostra remains alive and active in New York," said acting U.S. Attorney Joon Kim, who noted that the accused Luchese family gangsters "allegedly used violence and threats of violence, as the mob always has, to make illegal money, to enforce discipline in the ranks, and to silence witnesses."

The other alleged racketeering crimes include a laundry list of criminal activity including murder conspiracy, extortion, loansharking, assault, mail fraud, gambling, selling untaxed cigarettes, money laundering and drug trafficking — importing and distributing heroin, cocaine, marijuana, and oxycodone. All took place between 2000 and this year.

If convicted of the Meldish murder, the five accused gangsters face a mandatory minimum of life in prison. It is unlikely, but the quintet could face the death penalty if capital punishment is approved by Justice Department, which still hasn't decided that issue for Londonio and Caldwell.

Steven Crea Jr.In court papers, prosecutors Jacqueline Kelly, Hagan Scotten, and Scott Hartman, state that the government has evidence that "Londonio was commissioned to commit the murder of Meldish by the leadership of the Luchese Family and that Londonio recruited Caldwell, a longtime mob associate, to help him carry out the hit." Londonio, 43, and Caldwell, 59, have been detained since their arrests.

Sources say Madonna, Crea Sr., and his son, Stevie Junior, a capo identified by prosecutors as Londonio's mob superior, are the Luchese leaders who approved and sanctioned the murder of the 62-year-old Meldish.

No motive for the murder is provided in the nine count indictment, but sources say that the longtime Luchese associate, who had been an enforcer and loanshark collector for Madonna, was marked for death earlier in 2013 when he voiced his "disrespect" for Madonna.

Because of that, "Matty was badmouthing Meldish for months," said one knowledgeable Gang Land source. "It was common knowledge that he was with Matty, doing some collecting and other stuff for him, (and that) he did something that pissed Matty off," said the source.

Terrence Caldwell"Matty sent word for Meldish to smarten up, but he didn't, and he paid with his life," said a law enforcement source. Meldish's response, which he uttered several times, said the official, was crystal clear, and sealed the gangster's fate.

"He told him to go screw himself, which is definitely not something you should be saying to someone who's in the family hierarchy," said the law enforcement official.

Stevie Wonder, a former boxer previously linked to violence but never before charged with murder, is also charged with dispatching soldier Joseph (Joey Glasses) Datello to New Hampshire "to find, assault and kill" a cooperating witness last October. Datello, 66, of Staten Island, was unsuccessful in murdering the turncoat, who had provided information about mob doings to both state and federal officials.

Stevie Junior and his father, to whom the feds gave a new nickname in the current indictment, Wonder Boy, also sent two underlings, soldier Paul (Paulie Roast Beef) Cassano and associate Vincent Bruno, to whack a Bonanno associate for a "showing of disrespect," according to the indictment.

Paul CassanoIn late 2012, under orders from the Creas, Cassano, 38, of Yonkers, and Bruno, 33, who is currently serving time for a 2013 drug conviction, traveled to the Bonanno gangster's "home, armed with a gun with the intent to shoot and kill (him)," according to the indictment.

Caldwell, the alleged triggerman in the Meldish murder, is charged with the third failed rubout listed in the indictment. As Gang Land reported last year, that took place on May 29, 2013 when Caldwell shot and wounded Bonanno soldier Enzo (The Baker) Stagno in East Harlem. It's unclear who ordered the hit, but Caldwell allegedly carried out the assignment to maintain his standing his good standing with the crime family.

In addition to capo Steven Crea Jr., captains John (Big John) Castellucci, 57, Dominic Truscello, 83, and Tindaro (Tino) Corso, 56, all of Staten Island, and consigliere Joseph DiNapoli, 81, of the Bronx, were also hit with racketeering conspiracy charges. Each was charged with extortion, loansharking, as well as the weapons charges that carry a possible life sentence.

The other indicted soldiers who face possible life terms for weapons charges are Joseph Venice, 56, of Yonkers, and James (Jimmy the Jew) Maffucci, 69, of Manhattan. The additional indicted family associates in the same fix are Brian Vaughan, 51, of Matawan, NJ, Carmine (Spanish Carmine) Garcia, 65, of Hawthorne, NJ, and Richard O'Connor, 63, of Staten Island.

John CastelucciCharged only with racketeering, loansharking and extortion, and facing up to 20 years if convicted are associates Robert Camilli, 60, of Briarcliff Manor, NY, and John Incatasciato, 42, of Elmsford, NY.

Along with the Creas, Datello, Cassano, Vaughan, Garcia, and O'Connor were held over for detention hearings, perhaps as early as today, following their arraignments yesterday in White Plains Federal Court. The others were all released on bonds ranging from $200,000 to $1 million.

In a news release, Kim praised the FBI, NYPD, Homeland Security and Waterfront Commission for their "outstanding investigative work." He also thanked the Bronx, Queens and Manhattan District Attorney's offices, as well as the Chesterfield County, Virginia Police Department, and Guardia Civil in Spain for their help in the case.

Snitch Spins Hard To Swallow Yarn That Dumbfella Plotted To Whack Prosecutor

Vincent AsaroTwo years ago Bonanno capo Vincent Asaro scored a major upset over the feds when he won acquittal of charges stemming from the storied $6 million Lufthansa Airlines heist depicted in Goodfellas. Asaro's lucky streak ended in March though, when he was arrested for the decidedly dumb, un-wiseguy-like crime of ordering the car of a Queens man torched four days after a road rage incident.

But is Asaro such a sore loser that he would talk openly in a federal lockup about whacking the prosecutor responsible for both cases?

No, insists his lawyer Elizabeth Macedonio who says Asaro "adamantly denies" the "preposterous" allegation that her client ever discussed rubbing out Nicole Argentieri, the Brooklyn federal prosecutor in question. Moreover, Macedonio claims that the FBI and prison officials each found the allegation to be unfounded. Whatever nasty words her client may have uttered behind bars, says the attorney, they are merely the ravings of "an angry, 82-year-old man" following his arrest by the same prosecutors he bested in 2015.

As far as the car torch episode goes, that's something a jury will decide in August. But the alleged plot to kill Argentieri requires a lot more faith in jail house snitches than past practice seems to allow.

Nicole ArgentieriAccording to the government, an informer at the Metropolitan Detention Center reported that twice he heard the Bonanno capo tell an associate that Asaro wanted to kill Argentieri. The sharp-eared snitch also claims to have heard Vinny say he wanted to whack the government's key witness at his Lufthansa trial, his "rat cousin," Gaspare (Gary) Valenti, for showing the feds where the body of a murder victim was buried decades ago.

Asaro "threatened that if he ever saw his cousin again, he would kill him," wrote assistant U.S. attorneys Lindsay Gerdes, Keith Edelman, and Argentieri, the lead prosecutor, who is also the Chief of the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's Public Integrity Unit.

The government lawyers wrote that "over the course of a few days" the informer says he heard Asaro also make "numerous threats" against Argentieri. On two occasions he heard Asaro tell a "loyal associate with an incentive to please him and the means to carry out such a heinous crime" that he wanted to kill Argentieri.

On one occasion, according to the government filing, the informer heard Asaro tell a Bonanno associate charged with racketeering in another case being handled by Argentieri: "We need to handle this and do something about this bitch [a reference to the prosecutor.]"

Elizabeth MacedonioAnother time, the prosecutors wrote, the informer overheard Asaro stating: "We need to do something about this bitch, and not fuck it up like Vinny. We need to handle this." The "Vinny" in question here, prosecutors say, refers to former acting Bonanno boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano, whom the feds allege plotted to whack former assistant U.S. attorney Greg Andres back in 2004.

It's very possible, even likely, that Asaro, who has been tape recorded threatening to kill a number of folks, including his former mob boss, Thomas (Tommy D) DiFiore, said something about wanting to kill his cousin Gary if he saw him. But that's a hollow threat since it's unlikely Vinny will ever again see his cousin who has been whisked into witness protection.

More doubt creeps in when it is recalled that many folks never bought the notion that Basciano plotted to kill a prosecutor back in 2004. Doubters include some law enforcement officials who believe that turncoat boss Joe Massino made up the story in order to get himself a deal after the feds had rejected his advances for months.

Joseph MassinoAs Gang Land has reported, Massino failed not one, but two lie detector tests on the subject. And the trial judge who listened to the taped talks between Massino and Basciano about the alleged plot, ruled that the conversations were inconclusive regarding whether Vinny Gorgeous had previously voiced a "desire to harm the prosecutor."

In a 2005 opinion, Brooklyn Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis wrote that the tapes "do not reveal whether it was Basciano who harbored that desire, whether it was discussed seriously or in jest, whether Basciano agreed to go along with the plan, or disavowed it from the beginning."

At Massino's sentencing, Garaufis said Massino "might be the most important" mob turncoat as he cut Massino's life sentence to less than 11 years. But the judge appeared to hedge his bets as far as the assassination plot was concerned, stating that Massino gave authorities "critical information" about "a possible murder plot against a federal prosecutor."

John J. GottiMacedonio noted in her court papers that prosecutors didn't publicly allege the murder plot until after the lawyer sought bail for him last month. She also pointed out that, by that time, the BOP and FBI had already placed Asaro in a Special Housing Unit (SHU), searched her client's cell, his telephone calls and visitor logs, and interviewed the "loyal associate" about the allegations in a "thorough investigation."

If authorities had uncovered any evidence that "a plan to murder a federal prosecutor was underway by the Bonanno crime family," wrote Macedonio, prison officials surely would have kept Asaro in the SHU. Instead, she wrote, "Mr. Asarao was released from the SHU and placed back into general population with alleged members and associates of the Bonanno crime family."

Judge Allyne Ross ruled that Asaro is a danger to the community, and he is still detained without bail. John J. Gotti, the namesake son of the late Mafia boss, is also behind bars, serving eight years for drug dealing. The third defendant, Matthew (Fat Matt) Rullan, who allegedly lit the gasoline doused car back on April 4, 2012, was released on $1 million bond last week. Trial is set for August 21.

Ask Andy: Good Intentions; Bad Results

Andy PetepieceJoe Colombo became a quasi-civil rights leader and created the Italian American Civil Rights League (IACRL) to protest the FBI's arrest of his son Joe Jr. for melting down silver coins in 1970. Four years earlier, a similar group with a more altruistic and noble purpose was founded by other Italian Americans, and supported by elected officials and popular entertainers, including Frank Sinatra. But like Colombo's organization, the American-Italian Anti-Defamation League was snake bit by the ogre of organized crime.

In March of 1966, Civil Court Judge Ross J. DiLorenzo incorporated the League, which later changed its name to Americans of Italian Descent (AID.) Its purpose was to protect and record the contributions of Americans of Italian ancestry. It promised to combat discrimination, defamation and slurs against Italian Americans, reasonable and commendable goals.

In one of his first moves, DiLorenzo fired off a protest to Ford Motor Company, which was sponsoring The FBI TV show. He was particularly incensed about a two part episode, The Executioners, which focused on Italian American criminals. Ford eliminated that episode from summer reruns. This success spurred DiLorenzo and the League on.

Sinatra AID PosterOn April 19, 1967, AID named Frank Sinatra as its National Chairman. At first glance this was a great move. Sinatra was an Italian American who was recognized around the world and who was also adored by many. He had the drawing power to attract huge audiences which would help fill the League's coffers. But Sinatra also came with a ton of baggage, as The New York Times pointed out.

In a May 4, 1967 article, it noted that 20 years earlier, Sinatra had met with notorious mafia boss Lucky Luciano in Cuba. Former NYPD detective Ralph Salerno chimed in. He slammed the selection of Sinatra because of his long association with mafia hoods, including Chicago outfit boss Sam Giancana.

In September, AID got more negative publicity about its choice of Sinatra as National Chairman when Old Blue Eyes got into a very heated and personal dispute with the Sands Hotel/Casino that escalated into a physical confrontation with the casino manager, who punched Sinatra and knocked out a tooth cap. Sinatra then went on a rampage with a golf cart and smashed up the pool area.

But a month later, Madison Square Garden was packed for a fund-raising concert headlined by Sinatra. Sammy Davis Jr. hosted the show. Former New York City Mayor Vincent Impellitteri urged the crowd to boycott sponsors of shows which made hard-working Italian Americans look like buffoons, or worse, like criminals. Sinatra wowed the crowd and the show was a resounding success. It filled AID's bank account.

This was the organization's high point.

Then things started to go south. One of the directors of AID, Daniel Motto, was arrested in a municipal corruption scandal involving NYC water commissioner James Marcus and Anthony (Tony Ducks) Corallo. Also involved was political power Carmine DeSapio, another director of the League. The trio eventually went off to prison.

Making matter worse was the disclosure that another director, Anthony Scotto, was a Gambino Family capo and a power on the docks. Years later he would be convicted on bribery charges and sentenced to five years in prison. Later, the FBI labelled Director Dr. Mario Tagliagambe as a Bonanno soldier.

Early in 1968, AID decided to accentuate the positive rather than try to eliminate the negative. It ended its campaign against slurs in movies, books and on TV. Instead it championed the numerous contributions of Italian Americans in sports, entertainment and government.

A year later, AID held a second concert-fundraiser at Madison Square Garden at which it honored Italian American sports stars, including Joe DiMaggio, Vince Lombardi, Rocky Marciano, golfer Gene Sarazen and jockey Eddie Accaro. Old Blue Eyes wasn't there but the fundraiser, which featured Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, and Martha Ray was a success.

AID was suddenly overshadowed and rarely heard from after April of 1970, when Colombo formed the Italian American Civil Rights League. Even after June of 1971, when Colombo was gunned down in Columbus Circle, which for all intents and purposes was the end of his so-called civil rights organization, AID never achieved the status and influence its founders had hoped for. The AID organization soldiered on in obscurity for a few more years before fading away.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks HB.
Could you kindly post the pics.
madonna, Crea, Crea Jnr, Paul Cassano, John Castelucci.

Cheers

[Hailbritain]

Crea

[Hailbritain]

Crea jnr

[Hailbritain]

Cassano

[Hailbritain]

Big John

[SonnyBlackstein]

Cheers HB.

[TommyGambino]

Crea's kid looks just like him

[TommyGambino]

Pretty sure Capeci reported not long ago that Joey Lubrano was demoted because Londonio, a member of his crew fucked up the hit and got caught, now he's saying Crea Jr was his capo....

[Pogo The Clown]

Pretty sure that forum fresh street talk. No surprise that it was wrong again.


Pogo

[Chucky]

Can we assume that Stagno was also the Bonanno targeted in the failed attempt by Cassano & Bruno?

[Hailbritain]

Does anyone know why Joseph caridi lost his position as consigliere ?? Maybe he was only ever acting consigliere for dinapoli ??

[Fughedaboutit]

Pretty sure that forum fresh street talk. No surprise that it was wrong again.


Pogo

You have repeated yourself so many times you have a problem spelling it. lol

Just copy and paste to your clip board and hit ctrl + v

Save you some time.

[Pogo The Clown]

Does anyone know why Joseph caridi lost his position as consigliere ?? Maybe he was only ever acting consigliere for dinapoli ??

Don't know why Caridi was demoted but DiNapoli was IDed as a Capo during the time Caridi was Consiglieri.


BTW, thanks for posting today's column and pictures.


Pogo

[TommyGambino]

Pretty sure that forum fresh street talk. No surprise that it was wrong again.


Pogo

Nope, Capeci definitely mentioned something along those lines