Gangland - 4/5/18

[Chucky]

This Week in Gang Land By Jerry Capeci

Feds Say Queens Bank Heist Is A $20 Million Lollapalooza

Gang Land Exclusive! A trio of mob-connected burglars scored a mindboggling $20 million dollars in cash, jewelry and other precious goods from the vault and safety deposit boxes in a heist at a Queens bank, Gang Land has learned.

The thieves were so excited at their immense score that they left $588,000 in cash scattered in the vault of the Maspeth Federal Savings Bank in Flushing, Queens following the May 2016 burglary, prosecutors have told the federal judge who is set to sentence Charles (Duke) Kerrigan, one of the burglars.

The $20 million figure is four times the already huge sum — $5 million — that the feds originally stated was the total haul that Kerrigan and his pals collected in two separate bank burglaries they carried out that year. The amount dwarfs the storied $6 million Lufthansa Airlines robbery portrayed in Goodfellas, and makes the Maspeth burglary the second largest bank job in U.S. history, after a $30 million heist from a Laguna Niguel, California bank in 1972, most of which was recovered.

Only "a small fraction" of the stolen loot from the Queens burglary has been recovered, prosecutors stated. And the total amount is still rising, according to sentencing documents that have been filed for Kerrigan, one of the burglars in both bank jobs, and for his brother Christopher, the crew's lookout and getaway driver. Duke Kerrigan, who technically faces up to 85 years in prison, is scheduled to be sentenced tomorrow.

His brother Christopher was sentenced to 90 months in prison last week at an unusual Good Friday/First Night of Passover proceeding which was attended by the daring bank-burglary trio who broke into both banks — Duke Kerrigan, Michael Mazzara, and Anthony Mascuzzio, who sat in the jury box.

Prosecutors Benet Kearney and David Denton told Manhattan Federal Court Judge Katherine Forrest that the bank "is still receiving claims from customers, and is continuing to update the Government regarding these claims." The prosecutors asked Forrest to wait until 90 days after sentencing to assess restitution amounts for the defendants.

The total may rise at Duke Kerrigan's sentencing, and again when the feds file papers regarding the role of Mazzara who is due to be sentenced next week. Mazzara, 45, the accused mastermind of the burglary crew, built a four-sided structure to conceal the burglars as they used grinding wheels and acetylene torches to cut through the roof of the bank on a long weekend from May 20 to May 22, 2016. Fellow burglar Mascuzzio, 38, faces the music next month.

Over the objections of prosecutors, both men were remanded in December when they each copped plea deals in which they agreed to return as much of the loot as they could.

The prosecutors wrote that in addition to "more than $20 million" in cash and valuables that the burglars took from the Maspeth bank's safety deposit boxes, they got $296,000 from the bank's vault. A month earlier, they stole another $330,000 from an HSBC Bank branch in Brooklyn and got more than $100,000 in cash and property from safety deposit boxes in that bank.

The burglars' celebration was short-lived. The FBI arrested the three-man burglary crew just two months after their big score. During search warrants executed on July 26, 2016, agents recovered jewelry and other valuables, including gold, silver, and baseball cards, and more than $2 million in cash. Agents found $1.4 million stuffed in a duffel bag in Mascuzzio's home.

Noting that Duke Kerrigan "has flat out refused" to help the feds retrieve the "priceless heirlooms and cherished keepsakes" that he stole from "hundreds of unsuspecting victims," prosecutors have asked for a prison term that is longer than the maximum 188 months (15 plus years) called for by their version of his "sentencing guidelines."

The prosecutors may suggest a specific increase at tomorrow's proceeding, but they didn't in the nine page sentencing memo.

But they did write that Kerrigan, 42, also warrants an "upward departure" for "punching and choking" his former girlfriend Heather Kornhaber. He has admitted that during a drunken rage, he threatened to kill her and her nine-year-old son for "ratting" against him last October 16, many months after he began accusing her — correctly, it turns out — of cooperating with authorities.

The prosecutors argue that even though Kerrigan's sentencing guidelines were enhanced because of his actions, the recommended increase "is the same as if the defendant had threatened her only verbally, or broken a window, or engaged in non-violent obstruction of justice" and "fails to take into consideration" that she was physically assaulted and hospitalized "with multiple injuries."

The current guidelines, the prosecutors argued, do not adequately consider the "bodily injury" that Kornhaber suffered and that "the assault continues to haunt her son," who "was able to call 911 and summon police" to arrest Kerrigan.

Kerrigan's lawyer, Patrick Parrotta, noted that his client pleaded guilty to all the charges against him "without a plea agreement with the government." The attorney asked Judge Forrest to sentence his client to nine years in prison.

Parrotta wrote that the correct sentencing guidelines for his client's crimes were 108 to 135 months. He argued that like the Probation Department, he believed that a prison term at the bottom of the sentencing guidelines "would be sufficient but not greater than necessary to serve justice in this case."

The lawyer conceded that Kerrigan's actions against Kornhaber were "inexcusable," but argued that Duke's sentencing guidelines enhancements were substantial, noting that "this conduct" caused them to "skyrocket from 70-87 months to 121-151 months in prison, a more than five- year increase." He noted that following Kerrigan's arrest by cops, the Brooklyn District Attorney's Office charged Duke with "misdemeanor" crimes carrying a year in prison.

He argued that guidelines (121 to 151 months) that probation officials gave the judge in their Pre Service Report were a lot fairer than the government's because the PSR gave Kerrigan credit for pleading guilty and accepting responsibility and cut them by three levels, as the law allows.

"I am in agreement with Probation's response to this objection," wrote Parrotta, "namely, that Kerrigan 'truthfully admitted to the conduct comprising the offenses of conviction; therefore, we believe that the defendant has accepted responsibility, and the three-level decrease is warranted.'"

The government declined to take that perspective, however, citing Kerrigan's assault on Kornhaber, as well as his refusal to return any stolen loot.

At last week's sentencing of Christopher Kerrigan, prosecutor Kearney reported that Maspeth Federal Savings had increased the losses claimed by its safety deposit box holders to $20,841,850.38, which brings the still climbing total of the Maspeth bank heist, including $296,000 of the bank's money, to a staggering $21,137,850.38.

"This is an extensive, serious and incredibly callous crime," Kearney said, pressing Forrest to sentence Kerrigan within the government's version of his sentencing guidelines, 87 to 108 months. "The guidelines here are based primarily on loss amount, which is in excess of $20 million, and that's a huge sum of money. That's a huge sum of money for anyone to have lost, for a bank to have lost. But for the victims who have submitted these claims, it's a staggering sum."

Joseph BenfanteIn addition to the "astronomical" monetary loss, said Kearney, the "heartbreak" of the victims "goes far beyond the monetary worth" because they lost "mementos from parents, from family members who are no longer with them" and "mementos that they wanted to pass onto children."

The prosecutor argued that the bank jobs were not crimes of opportunity but devious, well planned bank jobs that "were not motivated by simply a quick buck" but by a desire "to make several million dollars" and that "a serious sentence" was necessary to deter other thieves from planning and committing similar crimes.

"It's not helping his situation at the moment, but Chris Kerrigan was the least culpable" of all the defendants, said Kerrigan's attorney Joseph Benfante, noting that his 41-year-old client did not enter either bank. Benfante asked Forrest for a 70 month sentence, the prison term that the Probation Department had recommended for the first time offender, an habitual drug abuser.

"He certainly wasn't part of any knowledgeable planning or had any technical knowledge," said Benfante. "Nobody even wanted to trust him. As I pointed out in my brief, he was a last minute call up" and was dragged into the case by "his older brother, who he loves dearly."

"He was a bungler, and I'm explaining as best to my knowledge, Judge. The main people in this thing were not happy with him. He is substantially less culpable," said Benfante, noting that during the first burglary, Chris Kerrigan's car was "so old and dilapidated that he needed a jump start from a woman motorist at 3:00 a.m."

"His whole life, judge," continued Benfante, "this man is a man that never made more than $35,000 a year. He led and leads a humble life. This was out of character. This is somebody who had a mid-life decision and crisis that's worse than a tsunami taking over a small country in the Caribbean. This was a bad, bad nightmare."

The nightmare continued for Kerrigan when Forrest stated that no matter what, he "played an intentional and deliberate role" in the case and "it occurred more than once."

"You don't have to be the world's best criminal, who has a perfectly working car to, nonetheless, be the getaway driver," said Forrest. "The fact that you had a car that needed to be jump started at 3:00 a.m. does not mean that you weren't responsible for bringing the car to be present for the getaway. It just means that you didn't have a good car."

But it could have been a lot worse.

Forrest gave him seven and a half years, near the bottom of the government's idea of what the sentencing guidelines were. The judge, who has a well-earned reputation for handing out stiff prison terms and has had a couple of them reversed, did so, she said, "irrespective of the guidelines." No matter what a higher court may say later about the guidelines, "that would not change the Court's view that the right sentence here is 90 months."

Like Chris Kerrigan did in court last week, Mazzara expressed remorse for his crimes in a sentencing letter that seeks a prison term not much longer than the one that the bungling getaway driver received.

Lawyer Sanford Talkin has asked Forrest to sentence his client to a prison term within his version of the sentencing guidelines (97-to-121 months) because Mazzara had accepted responsibility for his crimes and done his best to "voluntarily return the fruits of his crimes" in an effort to ameliorate the "harm (he caused) to the victims" of his crimes.

Even though Judge Forrest's decision to remand him when he pleaded guilty caused "unanticipated logistical difficulties," wrote Talkin, "Mazzara kept his end of the bargain and returned the proceeds of his crime that remained in his possession. He surrendered $200,000.00 in cash" as well as a boat worth $80,000, a $40,000 watch, and a $45,000 diamond necklace that he used "stolen money" to purchase.

"Additionally," wrote the lawyer, "he returned a large amount of rare baseball cards that certainly carry a considerable monetary and sentimental value for a few of the victims."

Genovese Gangster Guilty Of Hiring Crips Gangstas In Failed Mob Rubout

Salvatore DelligattiIt took a Manhattan jury less than a day to find Genovese gangster Salvatore (Fat Sal) Delligatti guilty of hiring a hapless hit team of Crips gangstas who made three failed trips from the Bronx to Queens to whack a feared mob rival at his home back in 2014.

Delligatti, 42, was convicted last week on all counts involving the June 2014 rubout plot against mob associate Joseph Bonelli, a neighborhood "tough guy" from Whitestone, Queens. He was nailed as well on a racketeering conspiracy charge involving extortion and illegal gambling activity for the Genovese family from 2008 until 2016.

The guilty verdicts on charges of murder for hire, attempted murder, and murder conspiracy followed a three-week trial, and represented a clean sweep for prosecutors Samson Enser, Jordan Estes, and Jason Swergold.

Deligatti was first arrested on a state attempted murder charge shortly after Nassau County detectives arrested the hit team as it made its third and final trip to kill Bonelli. A year later, Fat Sal was indicted on federal murder for hire charges when Kelvin Duke, the middleman who selected the gunmen for the rubout plot, flipped and agreed to testify against Deligatti and the Crips hit team he hired.

The key evidence at the trial, which featured the surprise appearance of intended victim Bonelli during Duke's testimony, were tape recorded talks between Duke and Fat Sal that Nassau County detectives recorded during three successive days, including those on Sunday June 8, 2014, when they arrested the hit team in front of Bonelli's home.

The Delligatti verdict was also a clean sweep for the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office, which convicted all ten gangsters in the plot, including Duke, and a second cooperating witness, Robert Sowulski, a mob associate who provided the car that was used by the arrested hit team.

Luigi (Louie Sunoco) Romano, a Whitestone, Queens, gas station owner who offered Delligatti $5000 to kill Bonelli — allegedly because Bonelli had terrorized him for years — copped a sweet plea deal calling for a maximum of three years behind bars. Although the sentence was well below guidelines which called for 15 years on the charge, Romano, 40, has appealed his sentence as excessive.

Another mob scalp for the feds in the case was Genovese mobster Robert (Old Man) DeBello, who, according to testimony, gave Delligatti permission to whack Bonelli. DeBello, however, was unaware that Fat Sal contracted the murder out to the Crips, and detectives spotted him in an animated, finger-pointing exchange with Delligatti after the failed rubout. DeBello was sentenced to five years.

Crew member Ryan (Baldy) Ellis, 36, got a similar plea deal as the 76-year-old DeBello, and is expected to receive a similar prison term as his mob superior later this month.

Duke's brother, Bertram (Birdy) Duke, 50, served 15 months for helping Kelvin evade a federal arrest in 2015. But the mob's hired guns didn't do as well.

Hit team members Marcus Grant, 29, Tyrone (Ty) McCullum, 39, and Sharif (QB) Brown, 33, each got sentences between 11 and 13 years.

Technically, Fat Sal faces the rest of his life behind bars at his sentencing by Judge Katherine Forrest. He was convicted of a weapons charge carrying a mandatory five year term that must be added to whatever sentence he receives — he faces 20 years on one count, 10 years on each of three others, five years for illegal gambling, and five years for the weapons count.

Prosecutors, whose best offer to Delligatti before trial was 20 years, are expected to ask Judge Forrest to hammer Delligatti with at least that much time, plus the mandatory five years for the weapons count at his sentencing in August.

But Gang Land expects lawyers Jeremy Schneider and Peter Quijano, to cite a 2015 report by the U.S. Sentencing Commission that urges judges to avoid "sentencing disparities" for defendants "who have been found guilty of similar conduct" and seek a sentence similar to those received by Romano, who set the murder plot in motion, and the Crips hit team who tried to carry it out.

Ask Andy: Mafia Heists, Big And Bigger

There's a telling scene in the movie Donnie Brasco that shows gangsters robbing coins from a parking meter, the point being that no crime is too small for mob guys. Technically, stealing the coins was a burglary, but mobsters have been involved in more than a few major league heists over the years. Some, like the storied $6 million Lufthansa heist, were robberies. Others, like the $20 million New York bank heist in 2016, were burglaries.

The beautiful town of Brockville on the north bank of the St. Lawrence River in eastern Ontario was the scene of one of the most famous bank heists in Mafia history. On the first weekend of May in 1958, professional burglars broke into the bank and looted its safety deposit boxes of estimates between $4 and $10 million in cash, jewelry and bonds.

The heist was well planned and executed except for the fact that one of the thieves, Rene Martin, dropped his bank book on the floor. Police quickly apprehended him in Montreal with a small amount of the bonds in his possession. This mistake cost him 12 years in the slammer but he did not give up any of his accomplices.

Two years after the heist, in 1960, Peppe Cotroni, brother of Bonanno capo Vic Cotroni was convicted of possessing of some stolen bonds. He was sentenced to seven years. As unbelievable as it seems, Peppe was nabbed when he tried to use some of the stolen securities to pay a handyman who had done some work for him. Duh!

The case also showed connections that Canadian mobsters had with their American cohorts. In 1959, about $9000 worth of bonds were recovered in Chicago, in the desk of a chemical company office. In 1962, Sam Mannarino, a powerful Pittsburgh capo and a crony, were found guilty of possessing some of the stolen bonds. As time passed, some of the stolen securities began popping up in Europe. Whatever the amount stolen, very little of the loot was recovered.

Our next heist was a robbery and it took place in Buffalo on December 29, 1964. Two hoods robbed the City's Treasury Office of $299,130 in cash and non-negotiable checks. It was a brazen heist and it wasn't long before mobster Pasquale (Patty) Calabrese was identified as one of the armed robbers, and arrested.

Calabrese ended up with a five year sentence and was not a happy camper. After brooding about his fate, Patty decided to roll over if the good guys could protect him, his wife, and three children. Since Calabrese promised to give up two high profile Buffalo wiseguys, the good guys, a newly minted Organized Crime Strike Force in Buffalo, cobbled together a protection plan.

Calabrese was the prime prosecution witness when five Buffalo hoods were brought to trial for conspiracy to commit to armed robberies in Beverly Hills in February of 1965. Even though no robberies ever took place, Buffalo underboss Federico (Freddie The Wolf) Randaccio, capo Pasquale Natarelli, and three others were convicted. Natarelli, Randacio, and a third defendant, Steve Cino received 20 years. Two got 10 year terms. It was a big win for the new federal Strike Force.

The feds lived up to their promise, and whisked Calabrese, his wife, and her three children from a prior marriage into hiding. The wife's former husband was not told where his kids were, and began a long quest to hook up with them again. His odyssey was told in the excellent book (1967) and movie, Hide in Plain Sight. The father was finally reunited with his kids but many years later. This ordeal helped lead to a formal Witness Protection Program which has its flaws but was a huge improvement over the initial unorganized attempt to protect witnesses.

Calabrese was an adrenalin junkie and spent many years doing undercover work as a private detective. One of the highlights was when he was hired by the Canadian Broadcasting Company to infiltrate the Toronto operations of Buffalo mobster Paul Volpe. Patty succeeded in luring an unaware Volpe in front of hidden TV cameras. The CBC Connections show was a huge hit and a great embarrassment to Volpe.

The Calabrese story puts the lie to the argument that a powerful mobster like Colombo capo John (Sonny) Franzese would never get involved in masterminding a series of bank robberies in 1965. But whether or not Franzese did that is still up for grabs. Four participants rolled on him and a jury convicted him in 1967. Sonny got 50 years, and did it all, in various stretches, winning his release last year. His son Michael, and others, note that the witnesses retracted their story about Sonny's involvement in the bank robberies, and claim that Franzese was framed.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for posting Chucky.

[Stroccos]

Thanks for posting. Was hoping Capeci would write something on phili , but he probably has nothing new until more info comes out

[aleksandrored]

Thanks for posting, it is even interesting to see a $ 20 million robbery these days, in which the Mafia is more hidden, and look how a few months I had been asking if she was still involved with bank robbery kkkkk.

[Teddy Persico]

Thanks for posting. Was hoping Capeci would write something on phili , but he probably has nothing new until more info comes out

Capeci usually doesn’t do Philly articles though. The Merlino trial was an exception because he was indicted with Genovese guys and was put on trial in nyc.

[jimmy_beans8]

20 mill? And. Hits for 5k?.....

[gohnjotti]

$20 million dollars is insane. And it seems to have been a well-executed heist, until his girlfriend ratted him out.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for posting. Was hoping Capeci would write something on phili , but he probably has nothing new until more info comes out

Capeci usually doesn’t do Philly articles though. The Merlino trial was an exception because he was indicted with Genovese guys and was put on trial in nyc.

Not personally but he regularly has Anastasia write columns for him.

[SonnyBlackstein]

$20 million dollars is insane. And it seems to have been a well-executed heist, until his girlfriend ratted him out.

How did LE find/suspect them do we know?

[newera_212]

the failed whitestone crew / Bonelli hit is one of the dumbest things ever, for a multitude of reasons. unnecessary and shameful

at the end of the day, about 9 different people were involved in the planning and (failed) execution of killing one guy - and the guy who set everything off, the guy with the initial beef that got the plan in motion, ends up getting the least amount of jail time. 2 people, one who may very well die behind bars, got hit with 5'ish years by basicallt hearing about the plan in passing, second hand

on top of that..if this louis sunoco guy was offering $5k to the guy Delligatti to hit Bonelli, how much could the actual triggermen (the "crips gangstas" as Capeci likes to call them) get? you know that fat sal was taking a cut of that $5k...

"real" sanctioned LCN hits traditionally arent done for a fee...they're just planned and done. which makes me think the involvement from the only actual & reputed LCN member in this whole case (DeBello) was minimal, and its safe to say he got railroaded here

to summarize: the gas station owner offers $5k to "his guy" to kill Bonelli. his guy is an un-made associate in DeBellos crew. he gets permission from DeBello, via another crew member Eliis, as a conduit, to kill Bonelli. DeBello tells Ellis to tell him "sure, i dont care. just be careful" he then farms it out to 2 middle-aged Crips from the Bronx, who farm it out to 3 of their own young shooters to do the dirty work. those shooters, who didnt end up shooting anything, and were probably in need of this elusive $5,000 more than anyone else mentioned, get hit with the most time. a fairly powerful & wealthy old low-key mobster from "the ivy league of organized crime" has his name placed firmly at the top of this fail-pyramid, and now risks dying in prison ...and for what?

this is probably one of the dumbest hits in LCN history. ironic, coming from the Genovese

[Wiseguy]

the failed whitestone crew / Bonelli hit is one of the dumbest things ever, for a multitude of reasons. unnecessary and shameful

at the end of the day, about 9 different people were involved in the planning and (failed) execution of killing one guy - and the guy who set everything off, the guy with the initial beef that got the plan in motion, ends up getting the least amount of jail time. 2 people, one who may very well die behind bars, got hit with 5'ish years by basicallt hearing about the plan in passing, second hand

on top of that..if this louis sunoco guy was offering $5k to the guy Delligatti to hit Bonelli, how much could the actual triggermen (the "crips gangstas" as Capeci likes to call them) get? you know that fat sal was taking a cut of that $5k...

"real" sanctioned LCN hits traditionally arent done for a fee...they're just planned and done. which makes me think the involvement from the only actual & reputed LCN member in this whole case (DeBello) was minimal, and its safe to say he got railroaded here

to summarize: the gas station owner offers $5k to "his guy" to kill Bonelli. his guy is an un-made associate in DeBellos crew. he gets permission from DeBello, via another crew member Eliis, as a conduit, to kill Bonelli. DeBello tells Ellis to tell him "sure, i dont care. just be careful" he then farms it out to 2 middle-aged Crips from the Bronx, who farm it out to 3 of their own young shooters to do the dirty work. those shooters, who didnt end up shooting anything, and were probably in need of this elusive $5,000 more than anyone else mentioned, get hit with the most time. a fairly powerful & wealthy old low-key mobster from "the ivy league of organized crime" has his name placed firmly at the top of this fail-pyramid, and now risks dying in prison ...and for what?

this is probably one of the dumbest hits in LCN history. ironic, coming from the Genovese

In an article a few years ago one law enforcement official talked about how the Genovese tend to keep their hit teams small. Definitely went away from the playbook here, though it appears that was Delligatti and Sawulski rather than DeBello making that call.

When you farm out hits to gang members or guys like Frankie Roache up in Springfield, you're obviously asking for trouble. It wouldn't surprise me if the Ralph Coppola, Larry Ricci, and Rudy Izzi hits were all "in house."

"You can't get anybody good anymore. They're all on fucking drugs, or they're compromised with the law, or they're young and they don't listen to orders." - Tony Soprano

[TommyNoto]

This hit very likely wasn’t sanctioned so they had to go off the reservation. Definitely not a west side hit, this was some other shit .

A west side sanctioned hit today IMO leaves no body. I see them being very patient and disciplined if they had to hit someone .

With the Lucchese bust it seems the murder game is still in play with today’s beefs . Obviously not nearly as prevelant but still has a place in this biz

[newera_212]

the failed whitestone crew / Bonelli hit is one of the dumbest things ever, for a multitude of reasons. unnecessary and shameful

at the end of the day, about 9 different people were involved in the planning and (failed) execution of killing one guy - and the guy who set everything off, the guy with the initial beef that got the plan in motion, ends up getting the least amount of jail time. 2 people, one who may very well die behind bars, got hit with 5'ish years by basicallt hearing about the plan in passing, second hand

on top of that..if this louis sunoco guy was offering $5k to the guy Delligatti to hit Bonelli, how much could the actual triggermen (the "crips gangstas" as Capeci likes to call them) get? you know that fat sal was taking a cut of that $5k...

"real" sanctioned LCN hits traditionally arent done for a fee...they're just planned and done. which makes me think the involvement from the only actual & reputed LCN member in this whole case (DeBello) was minimal, and its safe to say he got railroaded here

to summarize: the gas station owner offers $5k to "his guy" to kill Bonelli. his guy is an un-made associate in DeBellos crew. he gets permission from DeBello, via another crew member Eliis, as a conduit, to kill Bonelli. DeBello tells Ellis to tell him "sure, i dont care. just be careful" he then farms it out to 2 middle-aged Crips from the Bronx, who farm it out to 3 of their own young shooters to do the dirty work. those shooters, who didnt end up shooting anything, and were probably in need of this elusive $5,000 more than anyone else mentioned, get hit with the most time. a fairly powerful & wealthy old low-key mobster from "the ivy league of organized crime" has his name placed firmly at the top of this fail-pyramid, and now risks dying in prison ...and for what?

this is probably one of the dumbest hits in LCN history. ironic, coming from the Genovese

In an article a few years ago one law enforcement official talked about how the Genovese tend to keep their hit teams small. Definitely went away from the playbook here, though it appears that was Delligatti and Sawulski rather than DeBello making that call.

When you farm out hits to gang members or guys like Frankie Roache up in Springfield, you're obviously asking for trouble. It wouldn't surprise me if the Ralph Coppola, Larry Ricci, and Rudy Izzi hits were all "in house."

"You can't get anybody good anymore. They're all on fucking drugs, or they're compromised with the law, or they're young and they don't listen to orders." - Tony Soprano

yeah, you nailed it exactly. compare the springfield hit on bruno and this failed attempt on bonelli to some of their recent "real" hits and its worlds apart. Ralph Coppola is a good example. that'll probably be unsolved forever. the bruno hit was NY sanctioned, but I guess it was Nigro's fault for trusting the other members of the Springfield crew, thinking they'd keep it more 'traditional' versus them outsourcing it two times over. its kind of amazing to see one failed hit (executed or not) literally bring down an entire crew. springfield, fred weiss, and now this whitestone crew

i really think debello got railroaded here. the sunoco guy and delligatti should have gotten the most time

another thing, and ive asked this before in another thread about this whitestone caper: what do we know about Joseph Bonelli? hes been referred to as a Genovese associate for over 12 or 13 years, since he was in his early 20s. Even Basciano was talking about him to Massino in those recorded jailhouse tapes and that was around 2004; said "this kid Bonelli around the West Side is causing mayhem."

who was Bonelli under? i know hes from whitestone or flushing and DeBellos always been the man up there, whos protecting Bonelli? is it possible he was a former DeBello crew member who ultimately fell out with these guys and became rivals?

[yatescj7781]

If I was part of the Life, there is no way I'd be farming out hits to non members. The only safe way to do it would be do it yourself with a high powered rifle if you can't get close to the guy. Not even ask your capo, just do it on the sneak. If you absolutely had to have a driver you would have to get a blood relative who has been close to you all your life. And then whack the relative after it's done. Bout the only foolproof way to prevent splashback imo.

[SonnyBlackstein]

And then whack the relative after it's done.

With a high powered rifle? Get another relative to be the getaway driver??