Gangland news 14th sept 2017

[Hailbritain]

By Jerry Capeci

Pal Who Stepped Up To The Plate For Quiet Dom's Murdered Son Catches A Break

Gang Land Exclusive!Reynold AlbertiThe name of Dominick (Quiet Dom) Cirillo was never spoken, but the horrific decision that the powerful Genovese wiseguy allegedly made to okay his son's murder was the unspoken elephant in the room yesterday in Manhattan Federal Court at the sentencing of mob associate Reynold (Randy) Alberti.

A low-level mob associate with a gambling problem who was in the dock for two relatively minor crimes, Alberti walked out of court a free man. He was so close to the Cirillo family that he often referred to himself as Quiet Dom's son-in-law in taped talks during the government's long investigation into the Bronx-based Genovese crime family crew headed by capo Pasquale (Patsy) Parrello. But he wasn't Cirillo's son-in-law by any stretch of the imagination.

That story begins more than 13 years ago, soon after Cirillo, the then-acting family boss, sanctioned the Mother's Day murder in 2004 of his 41-year-old son Nicholas for disrespecting Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale and Vincent Basciano Jr. in a Bronx brouhaha, according to law enforcement officials, FBI records, and letters submitted to sentencing Judge Richard Sullivan,.

That's when Alberti, a close friend of the late Cirillo, whose remains have never been found, moved in with Cirillo's widow Gina and helped raise her two sons, Nicholas, who is 18 and just began his freshman year in college, and Sammy, 27, who is in the U.S. Navy, currently deployed in Iraq.

Dominick CirilloIn a handwritten letter seeking leniency for the 48-year-old Albert, Gina Cirillo, who was one of only three spectators, including Gang Land, in the courtroom, had stated: "Randy has been part of my life for the past 13 years."

"My husband went missing and Randy didn't hesitate as he took care of my two sons," she continued. "He became their father. Randy was their role model and took care of them as I worked two jobs. He helped them with homework, took them to practices, and cheered them on like he was their real father. He raised them to be remarkable men."

Her son Nicholas did not use the euphemistic "went missing" phrase in his plea for leniency. He stated clearly that his father was dead. But he made no mention of the likely, and long suspected, circumstances.

"Uncle Randy, as I call him," wrote Nicholas, "has been part of my family since before I was born. He became a father figure to me when my own father suddenly passed away when I was four years old. He stepped up to the plate, and never backed down."

Nicholas CirilloNicholas wrote that Alberti was "the reason" he was starting college because "my uncle would do homework with me every night and I couldn't leave the table until I understood everything. His famous saying is knowledge is power."

Law enforcement officials have known for many years — from FBI informers and a tape recorded discussion between turncoat Mafia boss Joseph Massino and his acting boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano in January of 2005 — that Quiet Dom had sanctioned the murder of his son.

During their taped jailhouse talk, Massino asked Basciano whether the Bonannos had whacked him. Vinny Gorgeous, who had been arrested six months after Nicholas Cirillo's murder, had no idea Massino had flipped, and assured the man he thought was still his Mafia boss, not an informer, that they hadn't.

"That came from Dom, that came from Dom," said Basciano.
"Did we have anything to do with that?" asked Massino.
"Absolutely not," said Basciano.

When Massino was asked about that discussion during his testimony at Basciano's trial in 2011, he said: "He's telling me that Quiet Dom killed his son."

John RubeoDespite possessing the knowledge that Dominick Cirillo had sanctioned his son's murder, and having what a law enforcement source labeled "good information" about the killing, the feds never developed the power to charge anyone with Nicholas Cirillo's murder.

During the five year investigation that snared Alberti, sources say he often referred to himself as Quiet Dom's son-in-law in conversations that were tape recorded by cooperating witness John (J.R.) Rubeo. In several talks, the sources say, Alberti said he had a good relationship with Cirillo, and that he was "happy" that Randy was "doing business" with Parrello's crew.

But sources say that Parrello checked with Cirillo, and told Rubeo to steer clear of Alberti, explaining that Quiet Dom had called Randy a "bullshit artist," and a "counterfeit bill." Cirillo, 88, was released from federal prison in 2008 after a 46 month stretch for extortion. He has had no trouble with the law since.

Sources say Alberti was the previously unidentified gambler whose tires Parrello had told Rubeo and crew members to puncture with an ice pick so they could corral him and threaten him to pay the $16,000 he owed.

Joseph Massino"Cut his fuckin' tire," Parrello said. "Give him a flat. Take the air out of the tire, whatever the fuck you got to do. Then you catch up with him because then he's there, ya know, he's got to get it fixed, he can't go nowhere, and then you surround the mother fucker."

When Sullivan took the bench, he acknowledged Gina Cirillo, thanked her for coming and for her letter, which he termed "very important."

At the outset, assistant U.S. Attorney Andrea Kramer stated that the government still believed the crimes Alberti committed were serious, but conceded that the government was somewhat remiss in its sentencing memo because it failed to note that Alberti was the victim of a violent extortionate threat by Parrello.

Alberti had pleaded guilty to cigarette buttlegging, and to agreeing to use a "skimmer" to steal credit card numbers — but he never used it, or gave it anyone else to use. His sentencing guidelines were zero to six months in prison, but the recommended sentence in his Pretrial Services Report was probation.

Vincent BascianoIn court papers, prosecutors said buttlegging was a lucrative business, noting that the FBI made $1.6 million by using Rubeo and an undercover agent to sell untaxed smokes to defendants and others during the probe. All told, based on the volume of sales, the lost city and state taxes totaled about $1.4 million on 600 cases that were bought, and resold.

But after questioning Kramer, defense lawyer Guy Oksendhendler, and Alberti about his purchase of two cases of cigarettes, the judge determined that in Alberti's case, there was no victim — except perhaps, for Gina Cirillo.

"The cigarettes were stale, and I threw them out," said Alberti, who doesn't smoke. "The only person who smoked them was Gina, and she got sick," he added, as she nodded her head up and down.

In the end, since there was no victims in either of Alberti's two crimes, Sullivan told Alberti that while he has "no problem" sending people to prison who commit crimes, he was giving him a break, and not imposing a prison term because of all the good things he had heard and read about him, and because he did not expect to ever see him again.

The judge sentenced him to "time-served," which in Alberti's case was a few hours. Sullivan also gave him two years of supervised release and a warning: "If you violate your supervised release, and I see you again, I will crush you."

Outside the courtroom, Alberti and Cirillo were hugging and kissing and had no interest in speaking to Gang Land.

Feds Play Hardball With Aging Mobster In Bizarre Murder-For-Hire Plot

Robert DeBelloThe brother of a key government witness in a 2014 mob murder conspiracy involving Crips gangstas was sentenced last month to "time served" for his role in the plot after the feds gave him a sweet plea deal. But the feds are playing hardball with an aging mobster and three associates who are still awaiting trial on racketeering charges and the bizarre murder-for-hire rubout plot.

In court papers, prosecutors sought permission to tell jurors about a slew of unrelated alleged crimes and other nefarious mob activity by wiseguy Robert (Old Man) DeBello going back to 1999, when the government claims he was inducted into the crime family by "high-ranking Genovese members" Lawrence (Little Larry) Dentico and Ernest Muscarella.

The feds dubbed their laundry list of old crimes as "enterprise evidence," insisting it was relevant to establish the mob ties and motives for the rubout attempt. Whatever its technical name, the tactic is a tough-guy legal maneuver aimed at painting DeBello as a mobster with the clout and the wherewithal to oversee a mob hit, even though the government has no tape recorded evidence linking the Old Man to it in its 24,000 hours of tapes.

Ryan EllisWhat prosecutors do have are pictures of DeBello allegedly discussing mob business in 2014 with co-defendants Salvatore (Fat Sal) Delligatti and Ryan (Baldy) Ellis at a Chinese restaurant in Queens and at an Italian eatery in New Hyde Park, L.I. But what they don't have are tape-recordings or witnesses to testify about what was said at the meetings.

In prior proceedings in the two-year-old case (the original indictment of Delligatti and three members of the Crips hit-team was filed in July of 2015) prosecutors disclosed that they have tape recorded talks and pictures linking Fat Sal to the aborted murder plot, but sources say that's it. There are no tapes linking other defendants to the scheme.

The prosecution's goal is to show that DeBello, along with fellow inductee Francis (Frankie Machines) DeMeo, conspired to assault a gangster for stealing a Rolex watch in 2001. They also hope to demonstrate that DeBello was still in the wiseguy business 14 years later. That evidence is a pair of tape recordings made in January, 2015 in which Debello and DeMeo were heard complaining about "various ruling and decisions" by powerful capo Peter (Petey Red) DiChiara.

Salvatore DelligattiProsecutors also seek to introduce other allegations unrelated to the murder plot against Ellis, a 300-pound convicted extortionist whose involvement in the murder conspiracy — like that of DeBello — has already been disputed by a potential government witness.

As Gang Land reported last fall, shortly after the government amended its original indictment to charge eight defendants in the plot to whack mob associate Joseph Bonelli, prosecutors interviewed a new witness who stated that three defendants, DeBello, Ellis and Bertram (Birdy) Duke — the brother of cooperating witness Kelvin Duke — "were not involved in the murder plot before it was foiled on June 8, 2014."

The identity of the witness is a closely guarded secret, which the government has stated it will disclose two weeks before the trial of DeBello, 75, Ellis, 35, Delligatti, 41, and Louis (Luigi Sunoco) Romano, 39. The trial is slated to begin in February.

The feds went along with their mystery witness's claim, and gave Birdy Duke a sweet plea that enabled him to get a time served sentence last month. But prosecutors have held fast in their plans to put DeBello and Ellis — along with Delligatti — on trial for racketeering, and murder conspiracy. Romano, who allegedly agreed to pay $5000 to the Crips hit team, faces only weapons and murder-for-hire charges. But like the others, he faces life in prison if convicted.

Luigi RomanoIn addition to being the money man in the case, prosecutors say Romano used his Queens car wash to clean a car the plotters had planned to use in the rubout attempt. He is also alleged to have allowed Genovese mobsters to use his gas station for meetings. In addition, the feds claim that Louie Sunoco conspired with Delligatti to assault one of his workers who quit to take a job with a competing gas station.

In the court filing, assistant U.S. attorneys Samson Enzer, Jordan Estes and Jason Swergold say that between 2012 and 2015 DeBello, Ellis and Delligatti took part in a "large-scale bookmaking and sports betting operation," and the 2014 extortion of a rooftop nightclub in a Queens hotel.

The prosecutors say that Ellis has been an active Genovese associate since 2006. They wrote that along with capo Conrad Ianniello, Baldy Ellis took part in a shakedown of a union official and ran a lucrative gambling club in Hicksville in 2008. He also ran an internet-based sports betting operation, and a poker game, out of a Bayside, Queens condo in 2010 and 2011, they wrote.

Bertram DukeAnd in 2013, prosecutors wrote that Ellis was involved in an embarrassing conspiracy when he tried to assault a bettor who was owed $40,000 with "a retractable police baton." It became embarrassing, the prosecutors wrote, when Joe Bonelli, whom Baldy Ellis is accused of plotting to kill a year later, unexpectedly showed up, "intervened, and seized the baton from Ellis."

Enzer, Estes and Swergold wrote that beginning in about 2013, Fat Sal Delligatti has been closely aligned with DeBello in numerous bookmaking, loansharking, and extortion schemes.

Before hooking up with DeBello, prosecutors wrote, Fat Sal ran with a Corona, Queens based crew run by capo Anthony (Rom) Romanello and operated a "high-stakes gambling business that catered to high-stakes bettors" including billionaire playboy art dealer Hillel (Hilly) Nahmad.

During the same time frame, from 2008 through 2010, Delligatti ran a prostitution business with Birdy Duke, who was a chauffeur for Nahmad, the prosecutors wrote.

Former Chief Mob Prosecutor Assigned To Defend Benny The Blade

Battista GeritanoIt's the most unusual pairing in Gang Land history: The defense attorney is a former Organized Crime Strike Force Chief who convicted a crew of serial killers in the longest and bloodiest federal mob murder trial in New York history. His client is a mob associate who is charged with threatening the trial lawyer who defended him when he was found guilty of a barroom stabbing.

The odd-couple — attorney Walter Mack and gangster Battista (Benny The Blade) Geritano — are slated to make their debut today before Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Sterling Johnson. They'll be there as the feds try — for the sixth time — to arraign the 44-year-old Geritano on an extortion indictment filed against him four months ago.

The indictment skimps on most of the details. In one brief paragraph, Geritano, who is already serving 12 years for a December 2012 stabbing in a Bay Ridge, Brooklyn nightclub, is charged with using the mails to threaten his now retired 83-year-old lawyer, Albert Brackley, in letters he sent from the upstate prison where he was doing his time. He's also charged with threatening a second person, whose identity has not been disclosed.

Walter MackThis is new territory for Mack, who has worked as a monitor of both the police and mob-dominated unions. The case that really made his reputation, however, was as lead prosecutor in a 16-month trial in which two mobsters were convicted in 1989 of 10 slayings as members of the infamous Roy DeMeo crew, a pack of blood-thirsty killers who were suspected of more than 75 mob murders in the 1970s and 80s. Mack also convicted another member of the DeMeo crew in the 1985-86 trial during which another infamous defendant — Mafia boss Big Paul Castellano — was gunned down outside a Midtown Manhattan steak house.

The horrific crimes committed by that trio — Henry Borelli, 69, who was sentenced to 150 years, and Joseph Testa, 62, and Anthony Senter, 62, each serving life terms — were detailed extensively in Murder Machine, a 1992 book by yours truly and Gene Mustain.

In the Geritano case, the feds have already suffered a good deal of frustration. Benny has twice refused to come to court at all. He also canned two other court-appointed lawyers in three appearances before two judges and says he wants to represent himself. But Mack told Gang Land he's optimistic that he and Geritano will hit it off.

"I know in the past he has not had a lot of pleasant interaction with his previous attorneys," said Mack. "I hope to reverse that trend, and do the best I can to represent him. I intend to speak to him and defend him to the best of my ability."

Sterling JohnsonFar be it for Gang Land to recommend any attorney to any defendant, but Geritano certainly could do worse than Mack, who also did a stint as an NYPD deputy commissioner for internal affairs, before moving into private practice where he is now a partner at the Manhattan firm of Doar Rieck DeVita Kaley & Mack.

After Geritano announced his intention to have himself as a lawyer, the judge — not unreasonably — ordered him to undergo a lengthy examination from a federal prison shrink to determine if he was competent to stand trial and make the decision to represent himself.

When Benny again refused to come to court, Judge Johnson signed a "force order" mandating authorities to bring him to court today so that he can be arraigned on the indictment — no matter what.

Whatever Geritano decides, he knows what he's doing, according to what prosecutors Lindsay Gerdes and Matthew Jacobs have told Judge Johnson.

"It is the professional opinion," of a prison psychologist that "Mr. Geritano is not currently suffering from a mental disease or defect which renders him unable to understand the nature and consequences of the proceedings against him, and/or to assist properly in his defense," the prosecutors wrote.

[Hailbritain]

Alberti

[Hailbritain]

QD

[Hailbritain]

Nick cirillo

[Eld]

Thanks for posting.

In court papers, prosecutors sought permission to tell jurors about a slew of unrelated alleged crimes and other nefarious mob activity by wiseguy Robert (Old Man) DeBello going back to 1999, when the government claims he was inducted into the crime family by "high-ranking Genovese members" Lawrence (Little Larry) Dentico and Ernest Muscarella.

In October 1999, the FBI secretly listened in as Genovese capo Salvatore "Sammy Meatballs" Aparo described Leo's role in a recent Mafia induction ceremony that included Aparo's son, Vincent, and 14 other inductees. Leo assisted Lawrence "Little Larry" Dentico and Ernest Muscarella.

http://www.nysun.com/new-york/meet-the- ... oss/44363/


So three of the 15 inductees (given that this is one and the same ceremony) was DeBello, Frank Demeo and Vincent Aparo. Do we know the names of the other twelve?

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post and the pics HB.

[Wiseguy]

That story begins more than 13 years ago, soon after Cirillo, the then-acting family boss, sanctioned the Mother's Day murder in 2004 of his 41-year-old son Nicholas for disrespecting Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale and Vincent Basciano Jr. in a Bronx brouhaha, according to law enforcement officials, FBI records, and letters submitted to sentencing Judge Richard Sullivan,.

I think this (and other parts of this article), despite the oft-proposed theories of the Bonannos doing it "on the sneak," pretty much settle the question of whether Cirillo gave the ok for the murder.

Before hooking up with DeBello, prosecutors wrote, Fat Sal ran with a Corona, Queens based crew run by capo Anthony (Rom) Romanello and operated a "high-stakes gambling business that catered to high-stakes bettors" including billionaire playboy art dealer Hillel (Hilly) Nahmad.

Some may recall Nahmad was involved in a 2015 bust that, among other things, involved high-stakes poker games. It was billed mainly as a Russian OC bust. I wonder if Nahmad attended different games run by the Russians and Italians?

Walter MackThis is new territory for Mack, who has worked as a monitor of both the police and mob-dominated unions. The case that really made his reputation, however, was as lead prosecutor in a 16-month trial in which two mobsters were convicted in 1989 of 10 slayings as members of the infamous Roy DeMeo crew, a pack of blood-thirsty killers who were suspected of more than 75 mob murders in the 1970s and 80s. Mack also convicted another member of the DeMeo crew in the 1985-86 trial during which another infamous defendant — Mafia boss Big Paul Castellano — was gunned down outside a Midtown Manhattan steak house.

I never understood how prosecutors could, at any point in their careers, do a total 180 and become a defense attorney. Knowing what they know, and seeing what they've seen, its the worst kind of hypocrisy.

[Cheech]

That story begins more than 13 years ago, soon after Cirillo, the then-acting family boss, sanctioned the Mother's Day murder in 2004 of his 41-year-old son Nicholas for disrespecting Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale and Vincent Basciano Jr. in a Bronx brouhaha, according to law enforcement officials, FBI records, and letters submitted to sentencing Judge Richard Sullivan,.
I think this (and other parts of this article), despite the oft-proposed theories of the Bonannos doing it "on the sneak," pretty much settle the question of whether Cirillo gave the ok for the murder.



I dont agree. doesnt put it to rest at all. its the same story. vinny told joe he didnt. its not like vinny was going to tell joe they did do it. i still believe it was vinny on the sneak and if you read cantarellas testimony it gives another perespective. i think it was Pizzolo and he was telling ppl and thats why he was killed.

[Fughedaboutit]

That story begins more than 13 years ago, soon after Cirillo, the then-acting family boss, sanctioned the Mother's Day murder in 2004 of his 41-year-old son Nicholas for disrespecting Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale and Vincent Basciano Jr. in a Bronx brouhaha, according to law enforcement officials, FBI records, and letters submitted to sentencing Judge Richard Sullivan,.
I think this (and other parts of this article), despite the oft-proposed theories of the Bonannos doing it "on the sneak," pretty much settle the question of whether Cirillo gave the ok for the murder.



I dont agree. doesnt put it to rest at all. its the same story. vinny told joe he didnt. its not like vinny was going to tell joe they did do it. i still believe it was vinny on the sneak and if you read cantarellas testimony it gives another perespective. i think it was Pizzolo and he was telling ppl and thats why he was killed.

Agreed. It's nothing new. He is going by the same info he always went off of, the taped convo by Massino with Basciano

[Hailbritain]

That story begins more than 13 years ago, soon after Cirillo, the then-acting family boss, sanctioned the Mother's Day murder in 2004 of his 41-year-old son Nicholas for disrespecting Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale and Vincent Basciano Jr. in a Bronx brouhaha, according to law enforcement officials, FBI records, and letters submitted to sentencing Judge Richard Sullivan,.
I think this (and other parts of this article), despite the oft-proposed theories of the Bonannos doing it "on the sneak," pretty much settle the question of whether Cirillo gave the ok for the murder.



I dont agree. doesnt put it to rest at all. its the same story. vinny told joe he didnt. its not like vinny was going to tell joe they did do it. i still believe it was vinny on the sneak and if you read cantarellas testimony it gives another perespective. i think it was Pizzolo and he was telling ppl and thats why he was killed.

Gotta say I agree cheech 100%

[joeycigars]

That story begins more than 13 years ago, soon after Cirillo, the then-acting family boss, sanctioned the Mother's Day murder in 2004 of his 41-year-old son Nicholas for disrespecting Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale and Vincent Basciano Jr. in a Bronx brouhaha, according to law enforcement officials, FBI records, and letters submitted to sentencing Judge Richard Sullivan,.
I think this (and other parts of this article), despite the oft-proposed theories of the Bonannos doing it "on the sneak," pretty much settle the question of whether Cirillo gave the ok for the murder.



I dont agree. doesnt put it to rest at all. its the same story. vinny told joe he didnt. its not like vinny was going to tell joe they did do it. i still believe it was vinny on the sneak and if you read cantarellas testimony it gives another perespective. i think it was Pizzolo and he was telling ppl and thats why he was killed.

Gotta say I agree cheech 100%

Jury is still out on this one ,

[Cheech]

That story begins more than 13 years ago, soon after Cirillo, the then-acting family boss, sanctioned the Mother's Day murder in 2004 of his 41-year-old son Nicholas for disrespecting Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale and Vincent Basciano Jr. in a Bronx brouhaha, according to law enforcement officials, FBI records, and letters submitted to sentencing Judge Richard Sullivan,.
I think this (and other parts of this article), despite the oft-proposed theories of the Bonannos doing it "on the sneak," pretty much settle the question of whether Cirillo gave the ok for the murder.



I dont agree. doesnt put it to rest at all. its the same story. vinny told joe he didnt. its not like vinny was going to tell joe they did do it. i still believe it was vinny on the sneak and if you read cantarellas testimony it gives another perespective. i think it was Pizzolo and he was telling ppl and thats why he was killed.

Gotta say I agree cheech 100%

Jury is still out on this one ,

right. that's my point. I don't think we automatically conclude it was QD. and it definitely doesn't settle anything like wiseguy has said.

[Stroccos]

That story begins more than 13 years ago, soon after Cirillo, the then-acting family boss, sanctioned the Mother's Day murder in 2004 of his 41-year-old son Nicholas for disrespecting Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale and Vincent Basciano Jr. in a Bronx brouhaha, according to law enforcement officials, FBI records, and letters submitted to sentencing Judge Richard Sullivan,.
I think this (and other parts of this article), despite the oft-proposed theories of the Bonannos doing it "on the sneak," pretty much settle the question of whether Cirillo gave the ok for the murder.



I dont agree. doesnt put it to rest at all. its the same story. vinny told joe he didnt. its not like vinny was going to tell joe they did do it. i still believe it was vinny on the sneak and if you read cantarellas testimony it gives another perespective. i think it was Pizzolo and he was telling ppl and thats why he was killed.

Gotta say I agree cheech 100%

Jury is still out on this one ,

right. that's my point. I don't think we automatically conclude it was QD. and it definitely doesn't settle anything like wiseguy has said.

I agree with Cheech as well, maybe more will come out

[Wiseguy]

If the feds and Capeci being convinced, and Massino confirming as much in court testimony, doesn't make you guys believe it, I'm not sure anything will.

It's almost like you don't want to believe it. At least that's the argument I've seen from many who question Cirillo's role in this. They think it's somehow unthinkable that he'd give the ok when all they're really doing is projecting their own viewpoint and morals onto him. That or they question it simply because Pizzaboy didn't believe it.

[Stroccos]

If the feds and Capeci being convinced, and Massino confirming as much in court testimony, doesn't make you guys believe it, I'm not sure anything will.

It's almost like you don't want to believe it. At least that's the argument I've seen from many who question Cirillo's role in this. They think it's somehow unthinkable that he'd give the ok when all they're really doing is projecting their own viewpoint and morals onto him. That or they question it simply because Pizzaboy didn't believe it.

So there is no chance basiacano lied to massino?