Gangland news 23rd nov 2017

[Hailbritain]

By Jerry Capeci

Benny The Blade Blows Up, Accuses His Judge Of Bias; His Lawyer Backs Him Up

Battista GeritanoGang Land Exclusive!Six months ago, the judge in his case sent mob associate Battista (Benny The Blade) Geritano to get his head examined. First, Geritano wouldn't come to court. Then, when he did come, he acted out. Then he wanted to represent himself on charges of sending a threatening letter to the 83-year-old lawyer who had defended him at his 2013 trial for a barroom stabbing in Brooklyn.

The prison psychologist determined that Benny was "not suffering from a mental disease or defect." But it turns out that what Geritano really needed was anger management counseling.

Last week, at a pre-trial conference, Geritano blew his stack at Brooklyn Federal Judge Sterling Johnson and called him "biased," causing Benny to be led out of court by a deputy U.S. marshal. Benny's explosion came right after the judge signed a "force order" giving the FBI the right to take a DNA sample and a palm print from him as part of the government's continuing investigation.

This situation developed when defense lawyer Walter Mack argued that the requests were nothing more than "harassment" since the FBI had his client's DNA and fingerprints. That's when Benny couldn't restrain himself any longer. He stood up and said, "They've taken my DNA five times, judge. Is there some new scientific study that says DNA changes?"

Sterling JohnsonAs Mack tried unsuccessfully to shush his client, Johnson announced that he agreed with the government request, and signed the order compelling the DNA test. As Geritano was being led out of the courtroom, he looked toward Johnson and shouted: "You're biased against me judge. You're never going to give me a fair hearing."

It's understandable that Benny The Blade is upset. His situation these days is even worse than it was back in May, when he was indicted for threatening Brooklyn barrister Albert Brackley. The 45-year old Geritano was already doing 12 years in state prison for his stabbing rap, and he doesn't max out until 2026. The new charges could mean 20 more years.

To make matter worse, Benny's known for months that the feds are still on his case, and have gone so far as to issue grand jury subpoenas to lawyers who have represented him, other than Brackley. Sources say Brackley, who has since retired, doesn't need a subpoena and is a willing witness against his former client.

Walter MackProsecutors Lindsay Gerdes and Matthew Jacobs have already obtained some records from one lawyer, Domenick Napoletano. According to court papers, however, whatever material they gather must be screened by a fellow federal prosecutor who serves as a "firewall" to make sure the materials they receive don't violate Benny's right-to-counsel.

The prosecutors apparently adopted that course in an effort to satisfy Mack — and the judge — that they weren't violating his client's rights after the lawyer complained forcefully that the government's actions were very likely to do just that.

It's unclear if the records that the prosecutors have received from Napoletano include any additional alleged crimes by Geritano. But there is no doubt that the prosecutors believe they have gotten evidence of alleged criminal activity from somewhere — and that they are looking for more. And this development likely had quite a lot to do with Benny's outburst.

While the lawyers were still discussing the DNA issue, Gerdes mentioned that they are planning to file a superseding indictment against Geritano. But even after the defendant had been escorted out of the room to provide that DNA sample and his palm prints, the prosecutors refused to give any information about the timing of the new indictment, or the additional charges.

Lindsay GerdesBut it's very likely, considering Benny's very outspoken ways, along with the many hours of tape recorded prison telephone calls that the government recently turned over to the defense, that Benny will be charged with threatening someone with bodily injury or worse.

Mack — a Harvard-educated, former assistant U.S. attorney in Manhattan who was a U.S. Marine Corps Captain during the Vietnam War — is the ultimate personification of proper decorum in court. He managed to make clear he was not happy about his client's actions, but also that he intends to fight tooth and nail for Benny The Blade Geritano.

After noting politely that he had "known the Court for more than 20 years and it troubles me to do this," Mack said that he would be filing a motion to recuse Johnson from presiding over Geritano's case.

He noted that when Johnson had sentenced Geritano for a violation of supervised release (VOSR) based on his arrest for the Brooklyn stabbing, he had dubbed the defendant "a danger to the community." The judge had also opted to "upwardly depart" from the recommended (VOSR) sentence and made it consecutive to any prison term Benny might receive if convicted of the same crime in state court. In doing so, the judge added: "I think he is really a threat to the community."

Judge Margo BrodieThe lawyer argued that the totality of the situation required the judge to recuse himself. Johnson said he wouldn't rule until both sides had filed papers on the issue.

Mack also questioned whether the government had hand-picked Johnson, who had given Geritano 71 months for a 2004 bank robbery conviction, to handle the case. Gerdes replied that Johnson was randomly selected from the more that 20 judges who handle criminal trials.

But Mack countered that the selection, even if it was random, was improper because they had kept Judge Margo Brodie, a former assistant U.S. attorney in Brooklyn, out of the selection process. Mack contends that since Brodie left the office in February of 2012, she should have been included because she was out of the office long before the allegations in this case (early 2017) took place, and even before the related alleged stabbing occurred, in December of 2012.

Geritano, the opposing lawyers, and Judge Johnson, hopefully after they and the rest of Gang Land have enjoyed a Happy Thanksgiving with all the trimmings, will gather again in Brooklyn in three weeks for the next chapter in the ongoing trials and tribulations of Benny The Blade Geritano.

John Gambino; Cousin Of Carlo, Capo For John Gotti, Dies At 77

John GambinoJohn Gambino, a longtime member of the Sicilian faction of the Gambino crime family and a powerful capo during the reign of the late John Gotti, died last week of natural causes. He was 77.

A distant cousin of Carlo Gambino, the crime family's namesake, John Gambino's most notorious Gang Land moment — and his costliest one — was in 1992, when he jumped $2 million bail after learning that turncoat underboss Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano had fingered him for a rubout ordered by the Dapper Don.

But it didn't last long: After 17 days on the lam, Gambino and his mobster brother Joseph were nabbed in Florida, allegedly en route to South America. They later took 15-year-plea deals for drug trafficking when jurors found them guilty of bail jumping, but hung 11-1 for conviction on murder and drug charges.

Their trial, in Manhattan Federal Court, earned them a few other Gang Land history footnotes. For one thing, it was the only time Gravano testified in the Southern District of New York. It was also one of Sammy Bull's few misses: Gravano, who was released from prison in September, testified that the Gambino brothers and a co-defendant, Lorenzo Mannino, had taken part in the 1988 murder of Queens-based gangster Francesco Oliveri, one of Sammy Bull's 19 mob rubouts.

Francesco MannoiaThe jury likewise wasn't convinced by the testimony of Sicilian Mafia pentito Francesco (The Chemist) Mannoia who tied the trio to heroin trafficking from Sicily to New York. That was also the only time that Mannoia, who admitted taking part in 25 murders in Italy, took the witness stand in the U.S.

Sources say for months after the mistrial, even after the three defendants pleaded guilty in January of 1994, the FBI and Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office suspected jury tampering — as the feds invariably do whenever there's a single holdout in a mob trial — but were never able to substantiate it.

Following his release from prison in 2006, John Gambino was on a panel of top mobsters that ran the crime family for several years, according to mob watchers on both sides of the law enforcement divide.

Although he managed to stay mostly below the radar, in 2010, Gambino was spotted attending two high-level get-togethers with acting Philadelphia boss Joseph (Uncle Joe) Ligambi and several of his top underlings in New Jersey. The confabs were allegedly to iron out several issues the Philadelphia family was having with the Luchese and DeCavalcante crime families.

Among those who accompanied Gambino to the New Jersey meetings were his brother Joseph, and Mannino, a capo who also pled guilty and agreed to his own 15-year term in the drug case, according to court records.

There's another historical note from the controversial trial. It was memorialized in 2013 when President Obama used it to announce that former Manhattan U.S. Attorney James Comey was his selection for FBI Director. Obama noted that then-prosecutor Comey had won a Bar Association award in the middle of the trial and that, the President declared, had earned Comey the "respect" of everyone in the case — including "an alleged hitman named Lorenzo."

President ObamaThe day after the award was announced, Obama said, "a note was passed down from the defendant's table, across the aisle to the prosecutor's table." It read: "Dear Jim, congratulations on your award. No one deserves it more than you. You're a true professional. Sincerely, Lorenzo."

The Presidential crack caused a bit of a controversy in Bensonhurst, when Mannino, through his lawyer, Charles Carnesi, emphatically denied writing the note. The FBI, through a spokesman, insisted that the President's account was accurate.

Gambino, who survived open heart surgery behind bars, had been hobbled by neurological difficulties in recent years. But law enforcement officials still viewed him as an influential wiseguy and key advisor to Domenico (Italian Dom) Cefalu, the crime family's Sicilian-born boss.

Among those attending a jam-packed one-day wake at the Colonial Funeral Home on Staten Island on Friday were a slew of top Gambino family wiseguys, including Mannino and capos Daniel Marino and George Lombardozzi. Also present were numerous friends, neighbors and relatives who turned out to pay their respects to Gambino and express their regrets to his wife Vittoria, his brother Joseph, and other relatives.

Lorenzo ManninoIn addition to his widow, and brother Joseph, Gambino is survived by his son Tommy, and several other children and grandchildren.

Following a funeral mass at the Holy Child Church in Staten Island on Saturday, Gambino was laid to rest at the Calvary Cemetery in Cherry Hill, N.J.

Unconfirmed reports from Italy say that Mannoia, who was given a new identity under the U.S. Witness Security Program but returned to Sicily years ago, also died last week at the age of 66. No details could be obtained about his reported death, but The Chemist tried to commit suicide with a drug overdose in 2011, but was saved by doctors when his wife rushed him to a hospital.

So far, though, the only recent news reports out of Italy have Mannoia saying good riddance to one of his former bosses, Salvatore (The Beast) Riina, of Corleone, who died in prison last week at the age of 87.

Two Snared By Canadian Turncoat Home For Thanksgiving; Two Behind Bars

Vincenzo MorenaA judge refused to set bail for the Bonanno wiseguy who conducted the videotaped induction ceremony in Canada of mob informer Vincent (Enzo) Morena, but the lawyer for the Gambino soldier whom Moreno stung on loansharking charges convinced two judges that his client wasn't a danger to the community and could be released on bail while he awaits trial.

As a result, Thanksgiving Day will be a lot different today for Damiano Zummo, the acting capo who was heard telling Morena in November of 2015 that he was "an official member of the Bonanno family," than it is for Gambino mobster Paul Semplice, who was heard telling Enzo in October of 2016 that he had "$200,000 on the street" and was "banking $7000 a month."

Zummo, who is charged with a multi-kilogram cocaine trafficking conspiracy and with selling a kilo of coke for $38,000 at a Manhattan gelato store in September, is at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn instead of celebrating Thanksgiving Day at the $1 million Roslyn Heights home he shares with his wife, two children, and his in-laws.

At his bail hearing last week, Brooklyn Magistrate Judge James Orenstein ruled that Zummo, 44, who is also charged with money laundering and faces a life sentence if convicted, was a "risk of flight and a danger to the community," and ordered him detained while he awaits trial.

Alllen FrankelThe next day, prosecutors and lawyers for Zummo and his codefendant, mob associate Salvatore Russo, 45, of Bellmore, appeared before Brooklyn Federal Judge Eric Vitaliano and disclosed that they are involved in plea discussions to resolve the charges. Russo, whom Zummo called his "cousin" in a taped talk involving coke trafficking, was released on a $500,000 bond.

Zummo's lawyers have appealed his detention. A bail hearing is scheduled before Judge Vitaliano on December 1.

Unlike Zummo, with whom he spent a dozen nights at the MDC following his arrest, Paul Semplice was released on Tuesday and will celebrate Thanksgiving Day today at the $1 million home that he shares with his wife, his two children, his parents and his in-laws in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

Magistrate Judge Lois Bloom set bail at $1.25 million for Semplice, after attorney Allen Frankel convincingly argued that his 54-year-old client, who had no prior arrests, and had been gainfully employed by the same asphalt company for 35 years, and lived in the same home with nine family members, was neither a danger to the community or a risk to run away.

Tanya HajjarFrankel conceded that the charges were "serious" but asserted, without contradiction, that prosecutors had presented no evidence that his client had ever harmed anyone. The lawyer argued that to deny bail because of reputed mob ties would be "plainly unjust" since many "noteworthy defendants charged with very serious crimes" have been "granted bail" in organized crime cases.

Bloom agreed with Frankel, but prosecutors Tanya Hajjar and Drew Rolle didn't. They appealed the Magistrate's decision to Judge Margo Brodie, who affirmed the lower court ruling. After he was fitted for an ankle bracelet monitor, and his parents and in-laws posted properties to secure his bond, Semplice began his Thanksgiving Day celebration two days early.

Meanwhile, the fourth defendant Morena snared, Bonanno associate Paul Ragusa, who is charged with purchasing a cache of assault weapons including three machineguns, is at the MDC with Zummo. Ragusa, 46, has not yet contested the government's contention that he is a danger to the community and should be held without bail while awaiting trial.

[willychichi]

The Feds still have Cefalu as Boss am reading that right?

[Hailbritain]

The Feds still have Cefalu as Boss am reading that right?

Yeah that’s what capeci seems to be saying

[willychichi]

The Feds still have Cefalu as Boss am reading that right?

Yeah that’s what capeci seems to be saying

Thanks HB and thanks for posting this week's Gangland

[Pogo The Clown]

So Gambino was never the Boss. No mention of him having cancer either. Making the fresh street talk wrong yet again. Shocker I know. Not that I expect anyone to actually learn from this. I'm sure this will soon fall into the memory hole and people will be ready to swallow the next round of bullshit.


Thanks for posting this weeks column.


Pogo

[SonnyBlackstein]

So Gambino was never the Boss. No mention of him having cancer either. Making the fresh street talk wrong yet again. Shocker I know. Not that I expect anyone to actually learn from this. I'm sure this will soon fall into the memory hole and people will be ready to swallow the next round of bullshit.

So Cali was never the boss.

Hasn't Capeci been reporting Cali as the boss for several years now?
I noticed you omitted that tidbit in your post above.

Didnt Capeci also report Crea was the boss too?

Damn Capeci and his fresh street talk.

Fact is no ones infallible and its mostly speculation. So you shitting on bronx on one hand whilst preaching the infallibility of Capeci on the other is kind of ridiculous.
Stupid to have teams in a guessing game. You take the best info you have across the board and come to a conclusion with an open mind.

Not that this post will change anything.

[Pogo The Clown]

Capeci never said Cali was the Boss. That was a local press article. And when he is wrong he at least gets the guy right if not the exact title. It is also ridculous to compare Capeci to bronx. Capeci has built his reputation and credibility for 40 years and has dcumentaed contacts with various E and underworld sources.


bronx on the other hand is a nameless, faceless poster on an annonymous message board who not only has been proven wrong on several occasions but has also been cought lifting info he read on MF and Gravanos book and passing it off as things "he heard/was told". Not to mention him claiming things he can't possibly know like John Gotti's personal thoughts on various people or motives behind murders from 90 years ago.


Pogo

[bronx]

capeci forgot he had another brother and sister, how does he forget rosario.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Capeci never said Cali was the Boss.

Article dated Sept 2015:

'Last month esteemed writer and author Jerry Capeci reported that Gambino crime family godfather Domenico Cefalù had been replaced by his underboss, the savvy and highly respected mobster Franky Boy Cali......Capeci’s story set off a chain reaction in the world media with many publications reporting that Franky Boy was the new godfather.'



Thoughts?

[Pogo The Clown]

OK but that doesn't show he was wrong. Perhapes Cali did replace Cefalu in 2015 and Cefalu got the spot back in recent times. It happens. At least Capeci has credibility and backs up his claims with actual sources.


It is also funny that people point to the handful of times that Capeci or the feds got something wrong or may have gotten something wrong as a reason to take the fresh street talkers seriously when they are always wrong.


Pogo

[Lupara]

I also remember it was Capeci who made that revelation.

[SonnyBlackstein]

OK but that doesn't show he was wrong. Perhapes Cali did replace Cefalu in 2015 and Cefalu got the spot back in recent times. It happens. At least Capeci has credibility and backs up his claims with actual sources.


It is also funny that people point to the handful of times that Capeci or the feds got something wrong or may have gotten something wrong as a reason to take the fresh street talkers seriously when they are always wrong.

So Capeci's not wrong when he's wrong.
And bronx is wrong even when he's right.

Uh-huh.

[Pogo The Clown]

Yeah sure that is exactly what I said. Hey go on believing what and who you want. Hell you were one of the ones argiung that Crea was the real Boss and Mancuso wasn't the Boss. But don't piss on my leg and tell me its raining.


Pogo

[bronx]

Sonny you are a sharp guy, cefelu was an up front guy for john..just like salerno was for chin. ect. funzuale was for lombardo

[Frank]

Actually he wrote that Cali replaced Cefalu in 2013 also. Then it came out that Cali turned down the job. But in all fairness he really didn't come out and say Cali was never the boss in the current article about Gambino's death. Maybe Gambino was an advisor to Cefalu and was not to Cali. Maybe since he's been sick he was retired.