Gangland news 1st march 2018

[Hailbritain]

By Jerry Capeci

Feds Fumble Efforts To Flip Suspect Against Chin Gigante's Son

Vincent EspositoGang Land Exclusive!On January 8, at about 2:10 in the afternoon, Frank Cognetta, the secretary treasurer of Local 1D, a major branch of the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, (UFCW) walked out of a popular diner on Hylan Boulevard in Staten Island, where he was immediately arrested by FBI agents. He was hit with a slew of fraud and bribery crimes he had allegedly committed between 2011 and 2017 — all stemming from his work as union official.

Cognetta didn't know it as soon as it happened, but he soon learned that the FBI really wasn't all that interested in his crimes. What they were attempting — in a classic, sometimes successful law enforcement strategy — was to flip a lower level defendant to beef up a planned case against a higher-ranked defendant.

Their true target, in a racketeering case unsealed on January 10, was Vincent Esposito, the son of legendary Mafia boss Vincent (Chin) Gigante. The tactic is one the FBI and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn and Manhattan have used for decades. But the way that the New York FBI and the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office executed the move this time made them look like rank amateurs in the government's diminished war against the mob.

No one in either agency would talk to Gang Land about the ins and outs of the charges the feds filed against Esposito and four codefendants in January. But based on court filings, and talks with several current and former prosecutors and agents, here's how the bumbling effort to land a cooperating witness played out:

Vincent GiganteIt's unclear exactly what the agents told Cognetta, but as Gang Land reported in its first account of the case three days later, they pushed him to cooperate. Sources say they explained they had lots of damning evidence against him and wondered if he wanted to help himself. If so, he could save himself a lot of prison time — and not even spend a night behind bars waiting for his arraignment — if he would just cooperate.

Sources say Cognetta, 42, of Staten Island, had just had lunch with an insurance agent with whom he was allegedly involved in several schemes involving union funds, and was caught by surprise by the agents who wanted a quick answer to their offer.

There were certainly a lot of intimidating-sounding accusations: The 12-page arrest complaint by FBI agent Gregory Madden lists eight specific counts involving an "Annuity Scheme," a "Medical Plan Scheme," an "Employee Benefit Plan Scheme," and a "Disability Plan Scheme." In the disability scheme alone, the feds alleged that Cognetta received 15 separate kickbacks From 2015 until last year, totaling $44,398.

But it didn't take Cognetta long to think it over. Nothing doing, he told them. He then quickly called his lawyer.

Joseph CorozzoAnd so, later that evening, as his arresting agents brought Cognetta to his federal lockup, other agents, armed with a warrant, "executed a search warrant at Cognetta's office," according to a court filing last week by attorney Joseph Corozzo. He filed the papers to rebut a prosecution claim that the lawyer had filed an invalid subpoena for his client's records. We'll get to that below, but first, here's what knowledgeable Gang Land sources say about the government tactics cited above.

"I can't think of a worse place to arrest a guy you're looking to turn than outside a diner in Staten Island in the middle of the day in 2018," said a former FBI mob squad supervisor. "It has more mobsters and wannabes per square mile than anyplace else in the city who might see it go down.

"And you want to give the guy time to think," the source continued. "The longer he has to think about it, quietly, the more likely you can pull it off. If he has to make a quick decision, he's gonna take the safer, easy way out."

The current and former mob busters include FBI agents who had different styles and who focused on wiseguys from several crime families, and federal prosecutors from Brooklyn and Manhattan who were not privy to details about the Esposito case. But all agreed that arresting Cognetta in the middle of the day in Staten Island was the wrong way to go.

Frank Cognetta"It's ridiculous," said one. "Makes no effing sense," said a second. "What the hell were they thinking," said a third.

Whether to arrest the potential turncoat in the morning at his home, or after he left his home would depend on whether he were married or living with someone, or single, the officials said.

"If the guy wasn't going to be missed," said one official, "I'd arrest him at night, and give him time to think about it while he spent the night behind bars."

"If the guy's married, you wouldn't want to arrest him at home in the morning and have his wife and kids worrying about it all day," said another.

In that type of situation, said another source, "I'd follow him and pull him over in a quiet secluded spot, or better yet, put a GPS on his car and ask the cops to pull him over, and then move in to make my pitch. It's not rocket science, just common sense."

And even if you plan it out well, there's no guarantee that you'll flip the target, as the FBI and Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office learned in racketeering cases they made against Genovese mobsters in 2008 and against Gambino mobsters in 2010. In 2008, they nabbed mobster Felice (Phil) Masullo hoping to flip him against acting boss Daniel (The Lion) Leo; in 2010 they arrested mob associate Onofrio (Noel) Modica in a push against capo Daniel Marino.

Vincent FyfeNeither defendant cooperated, and each ended up copping a plea deal that was similar to those that their codefendants received.

But at least they "had half a chance" those times, said one source. "They had no chance in the Esposito case."

In Corozzo's court papers, the lawyer notes that he was "physically present" when agents seized documents from his client's union office on January 8, and indicates that he learned two days later what Gang Land exclusively reported two weeks later: that Chin Gigante's nephew Vincent Fyfe, the president of Local 2D of the UFCW, was the key cooperating witness in the case.

That's because at his January 10 arraignment on the indictment, prosecutors insisted that his client stay out of his Local 1D office because of a "need to prevent Cognetta from having contact with the cooperating witness" whose office was located in the same building, Corozzo wrote. The UFCW offices of Local 1D and 2D are each located at 8402 18th avenue in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

Contacted by Gang Land, Corozzo declined to confirm that Fyfe is the union official referred to in his papers, but he wouldn't dispute it either.

Elizabeth MacedonioIn his papers, Corozzo stated that the government's allegation that he submitted an improper subpoena to get his client's work product from the union had no merit. He wrote that not only did the government prevent his client from getting them after he was released on bail by forcing him to stay out of the union office.

The government also had no standing to contest the subpoena, he wrote, since it was to the union, which had agreed to accept it via email from the lawyer, and had already begun to furnish the records Cognetta had an absolute right to possess.

After docketing Corozzo's detailed response, including emails between him and the government, as well as between him and the union, that back up his claims, Manhattan Federal Judge Victor Marrero has not scheduled any further action on the matter.

Meanwhile, Esposito's motion for bail, which was put off last week, is set for tomorrow. His third lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, chimed in this week with a 174-page filing that stated essentially what his second attorney, Elizabeth Macedonio, had argued in person and in her papers: Esposito is not a danger to the community and not a flight risk, and should be released on the $6 million bail that was set two days after Frank Cognetta declined to cooperate against him.

Carroll Gardens Stalwart Who Ran With Crazy Joe Gallo Bites The Dust

Stephen BorrielloStephen Borriello, a charter member of Crazy Joe Gallo's gang of Colombo crime family rebels in the 1960s, has lost a battle with kidney disease. He was 70.

Along with his older brother Bartholomew (Bobby), Borriello later hooked up with John Gotti's Gambino family. But despite his decades of mob involvement, he avoided serious problems with the law — and the mob — while toiling under both Mafia icons.

Borriello was shot and wounded on President Street in February of 1976 — four years after Crazy Joe was killed — in the last known violence between warring Colombo family factions that began shooting at each other in the early 1960s.

Borriello was hit in the cheek as he walked into a social club operated by Gallo gangster Rosario (Roy Roy) Musico. Brother Bobby was not one of the three crew members in the club. The shooting spurred then-Genovese capo Vincent (Chin) Gigante, who had helped broker a truce a few months earlier that put the remaining Gallos under him, to demand retaliation from the Colombos against the offending gangsters who had shattered the uneasy peace.

Joe GalloIt took two killings, but before the year was over, peace was restored. It came after the wiseguys behind the shooting, John (Mooney) Cutrone and Gennaro (Jerry) Basciano, both former Crazy Joe disciples, were whacked in separate rubouts as they dined in their favorite Brooklyn eateries. The duo had fumed over the way younger brother Albert (Kid Blast) Gallo and Frank (Punchy) Illiano, who would later be inducted into the Genovese family, were running things.

Unlike Illiano, who died in 2014, and 87-year-old Albert Gallo, who has been on several committees that ran the Genovese family over the years, Steve and Bobby Borriello gravitated to the Gambino family. Bobby became a trusted Gotti lieutenant, who was assigned to protect then-capo John (Junior) Gotti while Steve was placed in the crew of the budding acting boss.

The Dapper Don's plans went awry when he was indicted for the murder of Paul Castellano in December, 1990, and Luchese mobsters, in a secret pact with then-Genovese boss Gigante, shot and killed Bobby Borriello in April of 1991. The hit made brother Bobby the third close Dapper Don crony to pay the price for Gotti's Cosa Nostra crime of murdering his own boss.

Frank IllianoAt the time, though, according to turncoat capo Michael (Mikey Scars) DiLeonardo, the Gambinos believed that rival Genovese gangster Preston Geritano had done the deed. As a result, Steve Borriello was given the go-ahead to avenge Bobby's death if he wanted to, even though the Genoveses insisted in several sitdowns that Geritano had nothing to do with the killing.

Geritano, who would later be killed by his own brother-in-law in 2004, had been feuding with Bobby Borriello for years, DiLeonardo testified, and Steve was a driving force in seeking "revenge" for his brother's murder.

Along with other Gambino members, Junior was "very upset" about Bobby's assassination, DiLeonardo said on the witness stand. As a result, Gotti gave Steve Boriello the go-ahead to take revenge.

But Steve, who had only minor arrests by the FBI and the NYPD in 1988 and 1992, and spent little time behind bars, never exacted revenge against Geritano, or any of the other mobsters whom turncoat Luchese underboss Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso identified in 1994 as members as the hit team that killed his brother.

Bartholemew BorrielloA longtime Carroll Gardens stalwart, Borriello, like many other Brooklyn residents, relocated in recent years to Staten Island, where he was laid to rest in Resurrection Cemetery on February 15. His burial followed a funeral mass at St. Joseph and St. Thomas Church, where his late brother's daughter, Stephanie, delivered the eulogy. He is survived by his wife, Jackie, and son, Stephen.

His two day wake at the Martin Hughes Funeral Home in Staten Island was well attended by relatives and a diverse group of friends, including some who still call Carroll Gardens home, and some who don't. The latter included Vincent Racugglia, the legendary proprietor of Raccuglia & Son Funeral Home. The funeral home, which laid generations of wiseguys and their loved ones to rest from its longtime location at 321 Court Street, is no more.

After 40 plus years of honoring the dearly departed by placing their childhood monikers and nicknames on a board outside, "so everyone knows who you are," Raccuglia closed the funeral parlor last year. He still serves the needs of current and former residents of the old neighborhood who call them, his son Philip told Gang Land, but when they do, they rent space from a funeral home that works best for the grieving family.

Lawyer Says Judge Is Biased Against Benny The Blade; Judge Says Let's Go To Trial

Battista GeritanoBack in November, veteran attorney Walter Mack promised to file a motion asking Brooklyn Federal Judge Sterling Johnson to recuse himself from hearing the case against his volatile client, Battista (Benny the Blade) Geritano. Mack, who is usually pretty soft-spoken himself, made his vow after Geritano was removed from the courtroom for blowing his stack at the judge.

Last week, Johnson indicated loudly and clearly that he would very likely deny Mack's recusal motion — along with all of the other defense motions filed by the attorney. The judge also said he would set a trial date a week from today, on March 8. As he spoke, Geritano kept his cool — and behaved like a gentleman.

So did Mack, even though he and his client got hammered.

In his filing seeking Johnson's recusal, Mack cited a "string of harsh and adverse rulings" by the judge against Geritano in a prior case, as well as in the current one. In the case now before Johnson, Benny the Blade is charged with yet another hot-headed explosion for having allegedly threatened injury to three lawyers in two letters he mailed from state prison last year.

Since the charges were filed, prosecutors have upped the ante, claiming in papers filed in court last month that Benny the Blade had threatened to kill — not just injure as the indictment states — his former lawyers if they did not supply him "false affidavits" that he could use to appeal his conviction. Geritano's alleged targets were Al Brackley, his lawyer at his 2013 trial, along with Brackley's law-partner son Patrick, as well as his appellate attorney Domenick Napoletano.

Walter MackGeritano denies that allegation. Meanwhile, his lawyer has focused on getting a new judge for the case. Among his complaints, Mack cited Johnson's ruling in a prior case that Geritano was "a danger to the community." He also noted that the judge has refused to assign a private investigator — one that Mack said Benny is entitled to have under the Criminal Justice Act — as an additional reason why a new judge should be assigned.

"More troubling," wrote Mack, "is that Judge Johnson is presiding over a grand jury in which another defense counsel for Mr. Geritano has been subpoenaed to testify, and that (lawyer's) files have been ordered to be turned over to the prosecutor. Based upon these circumstances, to any objective, disinterested observer, Judge Johnson's impartiality is clearly at issue."

At the outset of last week's session, Johnson noted that he had not seen any response to Mack's motion by the government's prosecutors, Lindsay Gerdes and Matthew Jacobs. Gerdes pointed out that their reply was been filed back on February 7. At that point, Mack asked for permission to respond in court to "important matters" in the feds' papers that the attorney described as "misleading."

Sterling Johnson"No," said Johnson, "You filed your motion, they responded, I'm going to decide it." The judge repeated that position five more times as Mack pressed the point, with the judge stressing that he wouldn't rule until after he read the government's papers, and that if need be, he would permit Mack to reply.

"I'm not going to make a ruling on that (yet) because I haven't seen the government's papers," he said at one point. "I'll look at the government's papers and if I think you need a reply I'll let you do it," the judge told Mack at another point. Johnson's last words on the subject were, "I'll look at that," before pointedly asking, "Now, what's next."

Mack brought up a request, on which the government had taken no position, to have Geritano examined to determine if he suffers from posttraumatic stress or bipolar disorder. That would back up a defense position that he was undergoing "high stress" at the time — serving 12 years for a stabbing — and "did not intend to threaten anyone" when he mailed the two letters he wrote.

Lindsay GerdesJohnson didn't want to hear or read anything further on that subject from Mack either. "I'll do it on the papers," said Johnson. "If I need you to speak on it, I'll let you know."

On Mack's request for a court-appointed investigator, Johnson stated four times that he thought he had denied that, but Mack disagreed, stating that while the judge hadn't denied the motion, that "in effect, it's been denied because it's been pending for three months."

"I'm going to look at it again," said the judge, adding that he didn't need to hear or read anything further on that topic, or any other subject that the attorney tried to bring up, including whether allegedly "false affidavits" that Geritano tried to get from his former lawyers were really "things of value," as defined in the extortion statute under which his client was indicted.

"Let's put this down for two weeks, and then I'm going to set a trial date," said Johnson.

"Thank you," said Mack.

If Geritano beats the federal charges, he won't max out of his state prison sentence until 2026, although he'll be eligible for parole on May 25, 2024.

[cdc]

Thanks for posting.

Anyone know how is Fyfe related to Gigante ?

[don-shunter]

Isn't fyfe chins sister's daughters husband. Like a nephew in law

[Hailbritain]

Thanks for posting.

Anyone know how is Fyfe related to Gigante ?

Fyfe is the chins sisters son

[SILENT PARTNERZ]

https://www.ganglandnews.com/images/pic ... -bobby.jpg
https://www.ganglandnews.com/images/pic ... -frank.jpg

[SILENT PARTNERZ]

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post HB.

Thanks for the pics SP.

Interesting Gallo served on ruling panels. Anyone know when?

[Camo]

Thanks for the post HB.

Thanks for the pics SP.

Interesting Gallo served on ruling panels. Anyone know when?

He must have been on the rotating ruling panels mentioned in 2010 i think, unless it was earlier. I also didn't know it was Gigante who brokered the truce and that Illiano, Albert Gallo and possibly others were in his crew at one point.

Thanks for posting, Halibritain.

[yatescj7781]

Thanks for the post HB.

Thanks for the pics SP.

Interesting Gallo served on ruling panels. Anyone know when?

He must have been on the rotating ruling panels mentioned in 2010 i think, unless it was earlier. I also didn't know it was Gigante who brokered the truce and that Illiano, Albert Gallo and possibly others were in his crew at one point.

Thanks for posting, Halibritain.

Gigante and the Gallo's were very friendly as early as the 50s through Tony Bender. The Genovese always remained on good terms with enemies of their rivals. Profaci was aligned with bonanno so they supported Gallo's. Colombo was propped up by Gambino they supported Gallo's. Gambino was great friends with Bruno they pretend to back Caponigro and back Scarfo. Bonanno boss rastelli and massino are close to Castellano they supported Sonny reds faction. When crazy Joe was in prison and after Larry died kid blast wanted to transfer over to the Genovese Greenwich village crew but Joey wouldn't go for it even though he was tight with that crew going back many years. In the mid70s the Genovese took in kid blast and punchy and a few other Gallo's stalwarts. A couple were released to the Gambino's and a couple stayed with colombos

[Camo]

Thanks for the post HB.

Thanks for the pics SP.

Interesting Gallo served on ruling panels. Anyone know when?

He must have been on the rotating ruling panels mentioned in 2010 i think, unless it was earlier. I also didn't know it was Gigante who brokered the truce and that Illiano, Albert Gallo and possibly others were in his crew at one point.

Thanks for posting, Halibritain.

Gigante and the Gallo's were very friendly as early as the 50s through Tony Bender. The Genovese always remained on good terms with enemies of their rivals. Profaci was aligned with bonanno so they supported Gallo's. Colombo was propped up by Gambino they supported Gallo's. Gambino was great friends with Bruno they pretend to back Caponigro and back Scarfo. Bonanno boss rastelli and massino are close to Castellano they supported Sonny reds faction. When crazy Joe was in prison and after Larry died kid blast wanted to transfer over to the Genovese Greenwich village crew but Joey wouldn't go for it even though he was tight with that crew going back many years. In the mid70s the Genovese took in kid blast and punchy and a few other Gallo's stalwarts. A couple were released to the Gambino's and a couple stayed with colombos

Thanks yates. I knew Carlo and Tommy were backing the Gallo's but i didn't know the Genovese were. Makes sense, always thought it was quite odd that they were the only NY Family to stay neutral during all of that. Can i ask where the info that Albert wanted to join the Greenwich Village Crew and Joey Gallo prevented it comes from? Thanks.

[Doobeez]

Gotti had support from Massino, and he also pushed for the same support from Orena by wanting him named Colombo boss.

Scarpa mentions that while the Genovese were unofficially supporting Persico, they were officially not backing either side.

[Doobeez]

Oops..and thanks for this week's column, HB..

[yatescj7781]

Thanks for the post HB.

Thanks for the pics SP.

Interesting Gallo served on ruling panels. Anyone know when?

He must have been on the rotating ruling panels mentioned in 2010 i think, unless it was earlier. I also didn't know it was Gigante who brokered the truce and that Illiano, Albert Gallo and possibly others were in his crew at one point.

Thanks for posting, Halibritain.

Gigante and the Gallo's were very friendly as early as the 50s through Tony Bender. The Genovese always remained on good terms with enemies of their rivals. Profaci was aligned with bonanno so they supported Gallo's. Colombo was propped up by Gambino they supported Gallo's. Gambino was great friends with Bruno they pretend to back Caponigro and back Scarfo. Bonanno boss rastelli and massino are close to Castellano they supported Sonny reds faction. When crazy Joe was in prison and after Larry died kid blast wanted to transfer over to the Genovese Greenwich village crew but Joey wouldn't go for it even though he was tight with that crew going back many years. In the mid70s the Genovese took in kid blast and punchy and a few other Gallo's stalwarts. A couple were released to the Gambino's and a couple stayed with colombos

Thanks yates. I knew Carlo and Tommy were backing the Gallo's but i didn't know the Genovese were. Makes sense, always thought it was quite odd that they were the only NY Family to stay neutral during all of that. Can i ask where the info that Albert wanted to join the Greenwich Village Crew and Joey Gallo prevented it comes from? Thanks.

Pete the Greeks book The Sixth Family.