Gangland news 9th nov 2017

[Hailbritain]

By Jerry Capeci

Feds Use Turncoat Capo's Tapes But Leave Him High And Dry

Gang Land Exclusive!Peter LovaglioPoor Peter (Pug) Lovaglio. For months, the turncoat capo wore a wire for the feds, making tapes that prosecutors say provided excellent intelligence against mobsters with several crime families, Gang Land has learned. But the one conversation Lovaglio wants to hear — the one where a mob-busting NYPD detective allegedly told him, "Don't worry" about pleading guilty to a vicious 2015 barroom assault — lies buried in a pile of tapes he made, and the feds are in no rush to dig it out.

We know Lovaglio wore the wire because Gang Land has obtained a sealed March 15, 2017 letter in which prosecutors disclosed that Pug made many "audio recordings." The letter goes on to state that those recordings "may include conversations" Lovaglio had with Organized Crime Investigation Division detective Joshua Vanderpool. But prosecutors added that they hadn't listened to them yet, and are not "aware of the substance of any recordings" made between the mobster and the detective.

There's also a second letter, also dated March 15, the day before Pug was sentenced to eight years for assault on the owner of a Staten Island sushi bar. In that one, prosecutors wrote that Lovaglio had provided "valuable and extensive assistance" to the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office since the Spring of 2016 even though he did not have a cooperation agreement with the government.

Judge William GarnettPug is not a sympathetic figure. The hard-drinking, violence-prone gangster blinded the sushi bar owner when he hit him in the eye with a cocktail glass on November 1, 2015. At his sentencing, he told the judge that "three or four days" after the incident, he confessed to Vanderpool and told him he wanted to take a five year plea deal. According to Pug, the detective urged him not to. Instead, Lovaglio told Judge William Garnett, Vanderpool assured him he could "work the sentence down" if he cooperated.

The U.S. Attorney's Office and the NYPD declined to discuss the case, including whether the tapes back up Lovaglio's claim. But there's no question that Lovaglio wore a wire for the feds and that his cooperation was significant, according to letters federal prosecutors wrote to his then-lawyer, Patrick Parrotta, and Staten Island assistant district attorney (ADA) Natalie Barros.

"At the direction of law enforcement officers, he has made consensual recordings of, and proactively interacted with and gathered information from, individuals whom this Office believes to be violent," wrote federal prosecutors Max Nicholas and Elizabeth Hanft, noting that "his assistance has directly resulted in a significant law enforcement seizure of weapons in Staten Island."

Patrick Parrotta"Lovaglio has also participated in debriefings with this Office during which he has provided historical information and investigative leads into past, recent and ongoing criminal activities committed by specific individuals, including activities that involve violence, corruption, and fraud affecting Staten Island and (other) communities," the prosecutors wrote.

"In his debriefings with this Office," Nicholas and Hanft wrote, "Lovaglio provided information in a detailed and clear manner on a wide range of topics" which "has allowed this Office to initiate several significant investigations and to obtain material information on existing investigative targets."

In addition, the prosecutors wrote, Lovaglio's continued help "would potentially enable law enforcement officers to arrest members of a large criminal organization, (the Bonanno crime family) for crimes ranging from violence to corruption."

Nichaolas and Hanft detailed Lovaglio's cooperation with the feds, they wrote, at the request of Lovaglio's federally appointed attorney, Richard H. Rosenberg, of Manhattan, in an effort to help Pug mitigate the sentence he was facing for assault.

The letters cite no specific crimes or gangsters whom the prosecutors have in their sights.

Anthony SeccaficoBut as Gang Land reported exclusively in May, sources say Lovaglio has given the feds info about dealings he's had with Frank Camuso, a Gambino capo based in the Tottenville section of Staten Island, and the 2009 murder of Bonanno soldier Anthony (Little Anthony) Seccafico. Seccafico, 46, was shot to death at a stop for an express bus he took to a Manhattan job site each day.

As the investigation by Nicholas and Hanft continues, investigative sources say that numerous New York wiseguys, especially those who live and/or work in Staten Island, are looking over their shoulders and, fearful of bugs and wiretaps, are "whispering in each other's ears" when they feel it's necessary to communicate.

On the other hand, their former old pal Lovaglio is broke, behind bars in a secure prison unit, and going nowhere fast. He's been reduced to filing mostly handwritten pro se motions to the Staten Island Supreme Court and the Appellate Division in Brooklyn about the alleged royal screwing he got from his "NYPD handler."

In an April filing with the Supreme Court, an angry Lovaglio also ripped former lawyer Parrotta for not filing a notice of appeal, and asked the court to appoint Rosenberg, his federal case attorney, to represent him. Pug has apparently had as much difficulty as Gang Land in reaching either attorney. They have not responded to numerous calls or emails about the case.

Frank CamusoDespite additional filings to the Appellate Division, in which he described himself as a "C.I. (confidential informer) for NYPD and Homeland Security," Lovaglio's requests for a court-appointed lawyer, a stay of his sentence, and bail pending appeal, have all been denied.

In an October 3 reply to Lovaglio, Staten Island ADA Barros wrote that it was "curious that he waited nearly six months to seek relief." The prosecutor also noted that he is "in the middle of cooperating with federal authorities" and that she was "concerned" that if granted bail "he will make himself unavailable" after he "has completed his cooperation" with the feds.

On October 27, Lovaglio wrote he took "six months" because he "is pro se and was not afforded the schooling and expertise (as) Ms. Barros." Moreover, the ADA's fear that he would "make himself unavailable" if he was released on bail, he wrote, was "insulting."

Gunman In Execution Murder Of NYPD Cop Rewarded For Fingering Mob Higher Ups

Dino CalabroDino (Big Dino) Calabro, the triggerman in the only known execution murder of a New York City cop by the American Mafia, was rewarded for his cooperation with an 11 year sentence last Friday. He will soon rejoin his family in the federal Witness Protection Program — if he hasn't done so already.

Calabro pleaded guilty to killing police officer Ralph Dols in front of his Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn apartment on August 25, 1997 at 11:30 PM just after Dols had completed his shift at a Coney Island housing project. The hit, Calabro testified, was carried out under orders from his mob superiors.

Big Dino, 51, has been behind bars since June of 2008. Under standard federal prison sentencing calculations, his 11-year prison term translates to nine years and three months, a stretch the turncoat capo has already served. But the feds declined to discuss when the ex-mobster would be released.

Ralph DolsThe sentencing memos in Calabro's proceeding were filed under seal, contrary to a U.S. Department of Justice policy of openness in the court system. They were later unsealed after Newsday reporter John Riley complained about the secrecy to Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Brian Cogan.

Prosecutors who had previously written that publicly filing the sentencing memos would jeopardize the safety of Big Dino and his family, agreed to unseal a good portion of the Calabro filings after Judge Cogan ordered them to. The U.S. Attorney's office was mum when asked whether the court papers should have been sealed in the first place.

Calabro, who admitted taking part in eight mob murders, received the "time-served" prison sentence for fingering and testifying against the two Colombo family higher-ups whom the feds prosecuted for ordering the murder of Dols — then-street boss Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli and consigliere Joel (Joe Waverly) Cacace.

Dols was allegedly killed because he married Joe Waverly's ex-wife, which the gangster saw as a major embarrassment — his ex being married to a cop and all. Despite the testimony, Gioeli and Cacace were each acquitted of the murder. Cogan, who handled both trials, appreciated the effort and stated at the sentencing Friday that Calabro was the most important mob turncoat he had seen since his appointment to the federal bench in 2006.

Joel Cacace"The cooperation exceeds anything I have seen," said Cogan, noting that he would have given Calabro a life sentence "but for the cooperation" he gave the feds. The judge also "vividly" recalled the very visible "level of hostility" that Big Dino faced from the defendants at both trials. "I have never seen anything like it before or since," said Cogan.

Calabro was arrested on murder charges along with Tommy Shots Gioeli, his Farmingdale, L.I. neighbor and longtime mob mentor. On the stand, Calabro testified that he killed Dols after stalking him for several days with two other Colombo hoods after Gioeli and Cacace had assigned him to whack Dols. What he didn't know, he swore, was that his intended victim was a cop.

From the witness stand, Big Dino insisted that Gioeli had said Dols was a Mexican immigrant who worked in a Queens social club. After he and his accomplices, Dino (Little Dino) Saracino, and Joseph (Joe Caves) Competiello learned that they had gunned down an officer of the law, Calabro said he complained to Tommy Shots the next day. Killing a cop, he griped, was against mob protocol.

But even if he knew whom he was executing, it's likely Calabro, who was also the triggerman in the 1999 slaying of underboss William (Wild Bill) Cutolo, would have gone along.

Thomas GioeliAs he testified at Cacace's trial in 2013, he was getting pressure from Joe Waverly and Tommy Shots to get the job done and he was worried that he would pay the ultimate price if he didn't.

"You never know," he testified. "You back out of it, and three, four years from now you get killed, and not for that reason; they'll just make up another reason for it and you're dead."

In court, Calabro apologized to the family members of all his victims, saying that while he knew "the words just don't exist to heal the wounds" he had inflicted, he had been at the time a loyal soldier "intoxicated by the greed and power that comes with Cosa Nostra life."

Maria Dols, who saw Calabro testify about her son's murder at two trials, and was in court for his sentencing, told Newsday's Riley she was disappointed with his sentence. "Who would be happy for 11 years for all the people he killed?" she said.

Calabro's sentencing closes the book on the Dols slaying. Saracino, 45, who was also acquitted of the murder, got 50 years for racketeering and other charges. He'll be behind bars until 2052. Gioeli, 65, got 18 years for racketeering, and is due out in 2024. Cacace, 76, is serving 20 years for four 1987 slayings, and due out in 2020. Competiello, 45, was the first participant to plead guilty and cooperate. He got 12 years and is set for release next year.

Ask Andy: 50 Years of National Mafia Meetings

Andy PetepieceSixty years ago next week, on November 14, 1957, four inquisitive law enforcement officers set up a roadblock on the only road to the estate of Joseph Barbara in Apalachin, NY. By sheer luck they happened on an emergency Cosa Nostra National Meeting. After detaining and identifying more than 50 men of Italian extraction, it was clear that mobsters from around the nation had attended a major meeting. It was a shocking revelation that remains a watershed moment in the history of the American Mafia.

We now know from Joe Bonanno (and other evidence) that the well-publicized conclave — to discuss drug trafficking, the attempted murder of Frank Costello, and the barber shop slaying of Albert Anastasia a month earlier — was called a year after a regularly scheduled Cosa Nostra national meeting at the same country home of Barbara, the boss of a small northeast Pennsylvania family.

Bonanno, who took over as a Mafia boss after Salvatore Maranzano was killed in September of 1931, wrote in A Man of Honor that every five years, from late 1931 until 1956, he and other so-called Men of Honor attended "national conferences" to make important policy decisions, including the selection of Commission members.

According to Bonanno, there were two national gatherings in 1931, a tumultuous year during the final days of the violence-crazed Prohibition era, which saw both Maranzano, and his New York rival, Boss of Bosses Joe Masseria both shot to death.

Joseph BonannoThe first gathering, according to Bonanno, was hosted by Al Capone in Chicago in April of 1931, after Maranzano, with the help of Lucky Luciano and Capone, orchestrated the murder of Masseria, the leader of what is now the Genovese crime family. At this get together, Maranzano was elected for his very short tenure as the new Boss of Bosses.

Things changed quickly after Maranzano was murdered. With two Boss of Bosses whacked in a six-month stretch, the mob leaders decided at a national meeting in Chicago that Boss of Bosses was a very unhealthy position to hold. They eliminated the post, and established a ruling body, the Commission, which had seven members, to decide major Cosa Nostra matters.

According to Bonanno, they decided to hold a "national conference" every five years to elect members of the Commission, and deal with emerging issues. These meetings took place in 1936, 1941, 1946, 1951, and 1956.

Prior to the 1931 formation of the Commission, national conventions of Cosa Nostra were called on an "as needed" basis rather than being scheduled every five years.

Al CaponeIn his writings in the early 1960s, Nicola (Nick) Gentile, a Sicilian-born gangster, described his tumultuous life in Cosa Nostra between 1903 and 1937, when he fled to Sicily after he was arrested for drug trafficking. He wrote there was constant conflict, and many national gatherings of mob leaders called "general assemblies" were held to settle disputes.

Gentile claimed a general assembly was called in 1910, to elect a successor (Toto D'Aquila) to then-Boss of Bosses Giuseppe (The Clutch Hand) Morello, who was convicted of counterfeiting and given a long prison sentence. Gentile is silent about it, but it is reasonable to conclude that Morello was elected at a previous gathering.

At a general assembly in 1920, after Morello was released, D'Aquila won the support of delegates to whack out The Clutch Hand and 11 associates.

A general assembly was called a few years later to settle an internal dispute in the Pueblo, Colorado crime family because the rebels had the backing of the Kansas City family. (The Commission played a similar role in the late 1980s, when Colombo family rebels had the support of John Gotti's Gambino family in their move on boss Carmine Persico.)

By 1929, the famous Castellammarese War had broken out. In the simplest of terms, it came down to a battle between Masseria and Maranzano, a war that took both their lives.

Joe MasseriaIn the hopes of ending the conflict, a general assembly was held in Boston, in December of 1930, according to Gentile. There were approximately 500 Mafiosi in attendance, with New England Boss Gaspare Messina chairing the session. But this effort failed to resolve the feud.

Subsequently, Gentile claimed Maranzano dominated a gathering of 300 men at a resort outside New York early in 1931, and demanded that the Bosses vote to whack out Masseria. The matter was tabled.

Not long afterwards, Maranzano tried and failed to sway a general assembly of 500 men in New York to approve a death sentence for Masseria. A "peace committee" was formed, but it didn't succeed.

There were probably other general assemblies during the early 1900s that we don't know about. Common sense tells us that many "regional gatherings" must also have taken place to resolve the many conflicts that were taking place during Prohibition.

Whether you call them "national conferences," or "general assemblies," or "regional gatherings," the days of large Mafia conclaves ended when the New York State Police rolled up on Joe Barbara's estate on November 14, 1957.

[Pogo The Clown]

Hopefully we get some Bonanno indictments from Lovaglio's cooperation and tapes.


Pogo

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post HB.

Can anyone kindly post the pics of Seccafico and Frank Camuso?
Cheers

[gohnjotti]

Thanks for the post HB.

Can anyone kindly post the pics of Seccafico and Frank Camuso?
Cheers

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post HB.

Can anyone kindly post the pics of Seccafico and Frank Camuso?
Cheers

Much appreciated Gohn.

[Hailbritain]

Thanks for the post HB.

Can anyone kindly post the pics of Seccafico and Frank Camuso?
Cheers

I posted the pic of camuso in the gambino mugshots section

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post HB.

Can anyone kindly post the pics of Seccafico and Frank Camuso?
Cheers

I posted the pic of camuso in the gambino mugshots section

Cheers mate

[JeremyTheJew]

kinda goes along with the worchester meeting we were discussing

[Rocco]

Hopefully we get some Bonanno indictments from Lovaglio's cooperation and tapes.


Pogo

I wonder who they pick up for Little Anthony's murder...........?

[Attaboi 1]

Hopefully we get some Bonanno indictments from Lovaglio's cooperation and tapes.


Pogo

I wonder who they pick up for Little Anthony's murder...........?

Who is Little Anthony?

[Pogo The Clown]

Anthony Seccafico. A Bonanno Soldier who was killed in 2009.


Pogo

[Attaboi 1]

Thanks

[Cheech]

Hopefully we get some Bonanno indictments from Lovaglio's cooperation and tapes.


Pogo

I wonder who they pick up for Little Anthony's murder...........?

was johnny joe on the street then?

[gohnjotti]

Hopefully we get some Bonanno indictments from Lovaglio's cooperation and tapes.


Pogo

I wonder who they pick up for Little Anthony's murder...........?

was johnny joe on the street then?

No, John Spirito Sr. was was locked up in the summer of 2003. Little Anthony Seccafico's job was to make sure Spirito's wife was getting the correct payments that she was supposed to while Spirito was inside. She wasn't, according to Spirito's son, whose now a soldier. Spirito Jr. confronted him and Seccafico slapped him around, which is one of the possible reasons why Seccafico was whacked.

[Cheech]

thanks for the info