Gangland:5/26/16

[Dellacroce]

May 26, 2016 This Week in Gang Land
By Jerry Capeci

Sally KO Lives To Fight Another Round, Against The Federal Bureau Of Prisons

Prison itself is supposed to be the punishment. But getting sick while behind bars can be a grueling sentence all its own.

Take the decidedly unpretty case of Genovese mobster Salvatore (Sally KO) Larca, currently incarcerated at the huge federal prison complex in Fort Dix, New Jersey.

Earlier this month, Larca, whose severe internal ailments were well-known to authorities even before he began his latest prison stretch, began bleeding from the rectum. "He was ashen gray, could hardly breathe, and had to be helped out of the unit by another inmate," a concerned family friend told Gang Land. "He'd been complaining for months that he was in a lot of pain, but they ignored him."

This time, correction officers finally agreed that the 47-year-old wiseguy needed to see a doctor. But instead of being placed in the motorized golf cart normally used for prisoner transport in such emergencies, Larca was made to walk to the prison infirmary, bleeding along the way.

"They made him walk, five steps at a time — he couldn't walk more than that without stopping — about a quarter mile to the infirmary," said the friend. "He was in terrible pain, and when he finally got there, he had to wait on line for someone to see him."

By the time he saw a doctor, Larca was in serious distress. Officials rushed him to a local hospital where sources say he underwent emergency surgery on May 2. While in the hospital, he developed a staff infection, one that is expected to keep him hospitalized for several more weeks.

In another layer of punishment, prison authorities allegedly never got around to informing Larca's family about his plight. Instead, his parents only learned about it from a fellow prisoner. And when they wanted to visit their ailing son at the hospital, officials refused to allow it based on "security reasons," according to the friend.

Arrested in a massive marijuana smuggling scheme, Larca began his current bid in April, 2013 when he was detained without bail. Last July, Larca was transferred to Fort Dix, according to the BOP. Constructed on the site of the former army base, the vast low security prison complex holds more than 4500 inmates. Larca brought with him a long and well-documented history of gastro intestinal ailments, one with which the federal Bureau of Prisons was all-too familiar.

In 2009, Larca's colon ruptured while serving a five-year sentence for labor racketeering and obstruction of justice at a federal lockup in Elkton, Ohio. According to his attorney, he developed so many infections and other problems during that episode that "his mother was called and literally asked, 'Where do you want us to ship the body?'"

"He was moved to Duke University Medical Center outside of Butner, and the family flew down there and they were under the assumption that he wasn't going to make it," lawyer Vincent Martinelli stated at Larca's sentencing in 2014.

Larca pulled through, but barely.

According to court papers filed in federal court in Ohio, Dr. Daniel H. Hunt, a specialist in colon and rectal surgery at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, declared that the BOP "failed to properly and promptly treat" Larca when he was felled by what was a severe colitis attack. He suffers from a clinical condition called Pseudomembranous colitis, according to Hunt.

Hunt was prepared to testify that a BOP "failure to properly and timely treat (Larca) or indicate him for timely surgery and/or appropriate medical management" caused him "irreparable harm" and "permanent problems in the future" including infections, diarrhea and additional surgeries, according to a pre-trial filing by Larca's attorneys.

Chief of Colon and Rectal Surgery at New York-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, Hunt reported that a seven and a half month delay between the original diagnosis in March of 2009 and his surgery that October "significantly degraded (Larca's) medical condition" and "led to the need for" three follow-up surgeries by Hunt, according to a filing by Larca's attorneys.

The lawsuit indicates that Larca's allegedly botched surgery was performed at the Salem Community Hospital in Salem, Ohio, and that Sally KO was subsequently confined to the prison hospital in Butner, North Carolina.

Martinelli told Gang Land that he detailed his client's medical problems to the court at the time of Larca's sentencing.

"I did everything possible as a lawyer to alert the BOP of his pre-existing condition and the continuing care and corrective surgery Sal would regularly need but after he got into the system, I received no information about the actions they took, or didn't take," said Martinelli.

The sentencing memo he filed, and the transcript of Sally KO's sentencing back up the lawyer's words. But apart from that, the BOP has officially known about Larca's medical problems since 2011, when he filed a medical malpractice suit against the BOP.

Two years later, Larca was snared along with three others in an FBI sting operation which used Anthony Zoccolillo, a drug dealer who had failed as a co-star of the short-lived reality TV show, Mamas Boys of the Bronx. But Zoccolillo was a star cooperating witness for the feds in 2013.

The following year, BOP paid $2500 to settle the lawsuit without admiting any wrongdoing in a "compromise settlement." But at Larca's sentencing that same year, prosecutor Rebecca Mermelstein conceded that the BOP may have borne some responsibility for Larca's "very serious medical issue while in prison." But she told Manhattan Federal Judge Richard Sullivan that Larca's "very serious medical issue was in a stable place" then and that there was "no indication that BOP can't handle it."

"He has raised PSAs and an extremely alarming susceptibility to prostate cancer," said attorney Martinelli. "He has kidney stones five to six times a year, Judge. He has them now. He has repeated hernias. He has two now. His lungs were depleted from pneumonia three times, the pneumonia being caused by his inability to fight infection from the loss of his colon. He has scarring to the lungs, Judge."

And in a pointed counter to the prosecutor's assertions that the BOP could now deal with Sally KO's documented ailments, Martinelli stated: "He's ill, and he will never be right ever again. Not only that, unless he receives very specific care, very, very, very pointed care, Judge, he quite possibly could die. If Mr. Larca develops an infection while in prison, he is not like the next inmate. He could die."

Larca was originally sentenced to nine and a half years. But Judge Sullivan, who called Larca a "decent man" at his sentencing, later reduced it to eight years and three months when the federal sentencing guidelines for all drug trafficking convictions were lowered last year. His release date, which had been in the fall of 2021, is now in June of 2020.

The lowered sentencing guidelines are no guarantee that a drug defendant's prison time will be lessened, as Larca codefendant Mitchell Engelson has learned several times in his failed efforts to reduce his sentence.

In a perverse ironic twist, though, Sally KO's sentence reduction may have contributed to Larca's current predicament.

Sources say that during a discussion with Larca, a Fort Dix medical staffer invoked a BOP rule that limits the distribution of prescription drugs that Larca had been taking before his incarceration to maintain his colitis and forestall any flare-ups only to inmates with more than five years remaining on their sentences.

"If you were going to be here for more than five years, we would get you the medications you're looking for, but since you have less than five years left we can't get you them because they're too expensive," the staffer said, according to a knowledgeable Gang Land source.

Feds: Gas Station Owner Fueled Genovese Rubout Plot

A reputed mob associate who owns and operates a flourishing gas station, mini-mart and car wash in the Whitestone section of Queens was the alleged money man behind a badly muffed assassination plot that is now the subject of a major murder conspiracy indictment, sources tell Gang Land.

The appropriately nicknamed Luigi (Louie Sunoco) Romano allegedly furnished $5,000 that the Genovese family used to hire a Bronx-based hit team of Crips gangsters who were assigned to carry out the hit, according to the sources.

If so, Louie Sunoco's money would've been better spent on some new spray nozzles for his car wash, or something similar. That's because the hired guns not only failed in two separate efforts to whack their target, they drew the attention of some sharp-eyed detectives whose investigation has led to a major indictment of Genovese family figures, including some who have managed to stay below the radar for years.

Thanks to the bumbling assassins, law enforcement officials say they have learned that Romano supplied the cash to Genovese associate Salvatore (Fat Sal) Delligatti. In turn, Fat Sal is alleged to have used the dough to hire the hit team to whack gangster rival Joseph Bonelli in June of 2014.

Romano, 38, is also alleged to have hosted a meeting among several members of the would-be murder plot at his gas station. The meeting occurred several days after the four-man hit team was arrested while making their second try to whack Bonelli at his home, which is just a few blocks from Romano's gas station.

Among those in attendance at the mini-mart sitdown were mobster Robert (Old Man) Debello, a venerable Genovese gangster who had managed to avoid serious trouble with the law for years.

The animated discussion took place at Romano's Exxon Gas Station and mini-mart at 150-65 Cross Island Parkway on June 12, 2014. (Ok, you are wondering why a guy nicknamed Louie Sunoco runs an Exxon outlet? Answer: Sunoco was the previous gasoline supplier. You can't make this stuff up!)

The meeting took place a few days after the hit team and Delligatti, a Debello crew member, were arrested by Nassau County detectives, according to the Manhattan U.S Attorney's office.

Sources say that Debello, mob enforcer Ryan (Baldy) Ellis, and former Debello crew member Robert Sowulski, who was arrested along with Delligatti but has agreed to testify for the government, was also at the gas station get-together.

Sources say that Sowulski has told the feds that Debello voiced anger at the meeting that Delligatti had gotten them all involved in a murder conspiracy case and advised everyone "to stay away from him."

Sources say Sowulski has also told authorities that during the gas station meeting, which was under surveillance by Nassau County detectives at the time, a very wary Debello opined that if the gas station was bugged, the "whole neighborhood is screwed."

As it happens, the gas station wasn't bugged, but two years later, eight members of an alleged plot to whack Bonelli are awaiting trial on murder conspiracy and related charges. The indictment, as Gang Land reported last week, is based in large measure on wire-tapped telephone calls among several members of the murder plot, the cooperation of Sowulski, and of a hoodlum-pal of Delligatti who put together the hit team, Kelvin Duke.

Romano is the only defendant charged in the murder plot who is not behind bars. Debello, Delligatti and Ellis, and the others, who include Bertram (Birdy) Duke, the brother of cooperating witness Kelvin Duke, and three members of the hit team, are all detained without bail.

Vinny TV Whips Heart Attack; Checks Out Banner Social Club

He looked pretty good this week as he sat in front of the old, semi-refurbished Banner Social Club in Bensonhurst, but Vinny TV, aka Vincent Badalamenti, the erstwhile acting street boss of the Bonanno crime family, had a few scary days just two short weeks ago.

No, nobody tried to whack the veteran and venerable Brooklyn mobster. But neighborhood sources say that on Friday the 13th, a bad omen if ever there was one, Vinny TV suffered a heart attack and was rushed to a local hospital. The emergency came just a few days before Badalamenti's three-year post-prison stretch of supervised release was due to end.

The lawyers who won Vinny TV a pretty good 18-month sentence were busy with other things, but they did manage to confirm during a brief chat that the 58-year-old Badalamenti had suffered a heart attack. But he's doing fine, they said, following surgery in which doctors inserted two stents to ease the blood flow to and from the wiseguy's heart.

Badalamenti was the main conquest of Hector (Junior) Pagan, the murderous ex-hubby of Mob Wives co-star Renee Graziano who wore a wire for the DEA and snared six gangsters in tape recorded conversations, including his ex-father-in-law, capo Anthony (TG) Graziano.

Rather than go to trial, Vinny TV copped a sweet plea deal calling for 21-to-27 months. He did even better than that when he showed up before Chief Judge Carol Amon who gave him 18 months. But Amon did squash a defense request, joined by the prosecutor, for only a year of supervised release, and gave him three years, which kept Badalamenti from officially visiting his old haunts at the Banner Social Club on 20th Avenue and 72d street until last week.

Gang Land is pretty certain that Vinny TV, who was knocked down a peg for getting snared on tape by Pagan, didn't make any unofficial visits to the legendary club, which was the site of many family Christmas parties, including one in which DEA agents raided in 2009 when they mistakenly believed there was a family induction ceremony going on.

The club, which Badalamenti inherited from the late Bonanno soldier John (Johnny Green) Faraci, was not only on his forbidden list. Sources say it was in need of refurbishing and a new air-conditioner and that Vinny TV was heard to say he wasn't going near the place until he had "fixed it up good."

[Pogo The Clown]

Good column this week. Thanks for posting it Dellacroce.


Pogo

[SonnyBlackstein]

The venerable Capeci offered a reasonable GLand this week.

1. Disgusting treatment of Sally KO. The guys in for dealing weed and gets treated like a kiddie fiddler. He should sue.

2. It appears the case against Debello is weak or at the least he should be able to mount a strong defence. The rat stated he was disgusted with the whole thing and wanted nothing to do with it. I hardly think that makes him a co-conspirator. Interested to see the case against him.

3. Interesting to see Vinny Tv got knocked down because of Pagan and that he's officially no longer a capo. I'm guessing that's also why TG was knocked down and not because of the TV show.

Thanks for posting Dell

[SonnyBlackstein]

I really miss the 'like' feature on the new forum.

[willychichi]

I really miss the 'like' feature on the new forum.

+1

[OlBlueEyesClub]

As someone who deals with chronic pain, fuck the BOP for treating Larca like that, that sort of carelessness is inhumane. And he definitely should sue.

The whole thing with the Genovese and hiring Crips to carry out a hit, is laughable. These guys couldn't do a hit if their lives depended on it. And I don't mean just picking up a gun, going out, seeing a guy and shooting aimlessly into a crowd. I mean the real planning, and ability to be able to follow or lure a guy someplace and killing him without innocents getting hurt. Most gang members, especially the NY gangs of today are totally incapable of such a thing, and these wise guys should've known that.

[brianwellbrock]

Didnt Basciano try to ask the Genovese for permission to whack Bonelli in 03-04? A cat with 9 lives.

[JerryB]

I really miss the 'like' feature on the new forum.

Me too!

[HairyKnuckles]

The whole thing with the Genovese and hiring Crips to carry out a hit, is laughable. These guys couldn't do a hit if their lives depended on it. And I don't mean just picking up a gun, going out, seeing a guy and shooting aimlessly into a crowd. I mean the real planning, and ability to be able to follow or lure a guy someplace and killing him without innocents getting hurt. Most gang members, especially the NY gangs of today are totally incapable of such a thing, and these wise guys should've known that.

Hiring somebody from the outside, like the Crips to do a hit, could mean that DeBello did not have the support from the higher ups to carry it out. So it was probably unsanctioned.

[Pogo The Clown]

Farming out a hit like this is not that unheard of. Let's not forgot that just last year the DeCavalcante's tried to hire some bikers to whack a made guy.


Pogo

[johnny_scootch]

The venerable Capeci offered a reasonable GLand this week.

3. Interesting to see Vinny Tv got knocked down because of Pagan and that he's officially no longer a capo.

Sonny if you read the first paragraph Capeci actually calls Badalamenti 'the erstwhile acting street boss of the Bonanno crime family'.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Apologies Johnny, I'm not sure your point?

I was referring to how Badalamenti was once a capo and is now a soldier.

[Snakes]

Erstwhile means former.

[Cheech]

liked