Need info on some Stanfa-era hits

[chin_gigante]

Larry Scoloveno:
- Associate of Genovese soldier Joseph Polverino
- Shot to death Dec 1991 in the parking lot of a Rickel's Home Center
- Scoloveno was a bookmaker who stiffed Casale on a payoff
- When Casale started cooperating, he only told the FBI about the Gantz and Sodano murders
- When Caprio flipped, he told the FBI about Casale's involvement in the Scoloveno, Shear, and Matonis murders
- Casale admitted the three additional murders but said Caprio authorised them
- Casale said Caprio was in the car with him the night Scoloveno was killed
- Caprio denied authorising or having anything to do with the Scoloveno, Shear, or Matonis murders beyond knowing Casale committed them

Robert Matonis:
- Owned a wholesale merchandise warehouse in Harrison
- Shot twice in the head at the warehouse in Oct 1997
- Matonis was an associate and was believed to keep $50,000 to $100,000 in cash at the warehouse
- Casale killed him but only found $1,500 in Matonis' wallet
- Again, Casale retroactively claimed Caprio approved this murder, but Caprio denied it

Harry Serio:
- Secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 478
- Found shot dead at the Local headquarters in Union in Oct 1989
- Rumoured to be considering challenging Joseph A Uzzolino for the presidency of the Local
- Uzzolino became the president after his father Joseph P Uzzolino was convicted of embezzlement and taking kickbacks in 1980
- Casale admitted to participation in the Serio murder when interviewed for witness protection
- Casale conspired with others to kill Serio in exchange for money from the Bonanno family

---

So, in summary:

- Casale, with others, participated in the 1989 murder of Harry Serio on behalf of the Bonanno family
- Casale killed Larry Scoloveno in 1991 over a gambling payoff
- Casale killed William Shear in 1993 because he believed he was an informant
- Casale killed William Gantz in 1994, with Caprio's approval, because they believed Gantz would try to kill Casale first
- Caprio, acting on orders from Natale and Merlino, recruited Casale to kill Joseph Sodano in 1996
- Casale killed Robert Matonis in 1997 in a botched robbery

[Ivan]

Chin this is great stuff, very illuminating.

Can you tell me any more details about these two other than what's already on the thread? (That's all I need now; I promise I will leave you alone after this. )

Leon "Yonnie" Lanzilotta (1993) - associate; wounded
Michael Forte (1993) - associate; wounded

[chin_gigante]

15 Sep 1993 - Leon Lanzilotta, 45; Michael Forte, 53:
- Lanzilotta was a bookmaker and Forte a convicted drug dealer
- Both were collecting street tax on behalf of Stanfa
- Lanzilotta and Forte had just left the Scioli Turco Post 593 VFW on 8th Street near St Albans
- Ambushed on a street corner by three or four men in ski masks
- The hit vehicle was a stolen 1991 Oldsmobile Ciera
- Another car was idling on St Albans
- Two members of the hit team opened fire with 9mm pistols
- One shooter got out of the Oldsmobile and fired two shots, another remained in the car and fired three shots
- Lanzilotta was shot once in the face and was taken to hospital in critical condition but survived
- Forte tripped as he tried to run away and broke his nose on the pavement
- The Oldsmobile was found a few blocks away with the engine still running
- Mazzone told Natale that they believed Lanzilotta was a lookout for the hit team that killed Michael Ciancaglini
- [I don't know whether the above is true, I haven't seen anything to indicate Lanzilotta was on the hit team with Veasey and Colletti]
- Mazzone and Lancellotti were on the hit team, and Mazzone was the one who shot Lanzilotta in the face

[davidf1989]

I need to amend my previous comments about the murders Casale and Caprio carried out in the 1990s. I was using The Last Gangster as a reference, but after looking back at more newspaper articles and other notes it seems GA paints a bit of an oversimplified version of the Casale-Caprio murder story. Here's what I've got from checking my other notes:

- When Casale began cooperating in late 1999 he told the FBI about how he killed Gantz and Sodano on Caprio's orders
- Casale recorded Caprio, leading to his indictment in March 2000
- Caprio flips a couple of months later and tells the FBI that he knows Casale committed the murders of Scoloveno, Shear, and Matonis
- Caprio also tells the FBI about the murder of Edward Snee in 1975
- Casale admits the murders and, when later interviewed for the Witness Protection Program, admits killing Harry Serio as well
- However, Casale tells the FBI that Caprio authorised the Scoloveno, Shear, and Matonis murders
- Caprio denies authorising the three additional murders
- The government tears up Casale's agreement and he's never called to testify
- Caprio never pleads guilty to or admits the Scoloveno, Shear or Matonis murders
- On the stand, Edwin Jacobs questions Caprio about Casale's statements
- Caprio says they're lies and he never authorised Shear, Matonis or Scoloveno's killings
- Caprio points out how he admitted the Snee murder and says he would have admitted 20 homicides if that was the amount he had committed
- Casale is given the maximum 20 years for his original plea that included the Gantz and Sodano murders
- Casale eventually pleads guilty to the Scoloveno, Shear, Matonis, and Serio murders and receives an additional 10 years
- Caprio is ultimately sentenced to 75 months and gets out in 2006

I have never followed the Philly stuff in great detail. But this stuff here allowing these guys to testify I just shake my head bc Idk what to say.. instead of flipping the bad to catch the worst the govt imo is flipping the worst to catch the bad.

I think that Pete the Crumb Caprio would end up testifying against Merlino, Ligambi and others in the Philly mob.

https://www.inquirer.com/philly/news/ho ... mafia.html