Gangland - 7/5/18

[Chucky]

This Week in Gang Land
By Jerry Capeci

Reefer Mechanic Kicked Off The Waterfront For Genovese Family Ties

Gang Land Exclusive!The Waterfront Commission bounced a $355,000 a year longshoreman off the New Jersey docks last week for his longtime associations with two Genovese wiseguys and with Andrew Gigante, who was convicted as a labor racketeer in the same modern-day On The Waterfront case as his father, the late Mafia boss, Vincent (Chin) Gigante.

Following a three-year-long investigation, the Commission found that Frank (Cheech) Ferrara, a so-called reefer mechanic for the Port Newark Maintenance & Repair Company, had detrimental or "inimical associations" with Andrew Gigante, and with longtime Genovese mobsters Pasquale (Patty) Falcetti and Carmine Della Cava.

Ferrara, 64, is a longtime friend of all three men. He began working on the docks in 1975 as a management employee for Universal Marine Service in Brooklyn. He resigned in 1988, but returned as a longshoreman and member of Local 1804-1 of the International Longshoremen's Association in 2002. Cheech, who supervised "refrigerated containers containing valuable cargo," had an important "special package" position with automatic built-in overtime, the Commission stated.

The ouster for mob ties is the first since a Newark Federal Judge blocked New Jersey from kicking the Commission out of the Garden State, and the first since former federal prosecutor Paul Weinstein was confirmed as New York's new Commissioner on the bi-state agency.

In ordering the "immediate revocation" of Ferrara's waterfront privileges, the Commission adopted the findings of an Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) that Frankie Cheech was guilty of "inimical associations" with Andrew Gigante and Falcetti, who was also convicted of labor racketeering in the same 2003 case as the elder Gigante and several other Genovese mobsters.

Andrew Gigante, 61, served a two year sentence and has not had any further problems with the law. But the ALJ found that Andrew had "helped his father exploit workers at the piers" and that there was an "undeniable personal bond between Ferrara and Andrew Gigante" that was not controverted or denied by Frankie Cheech.

"A reasonable objective observer could believe that the association with Andrew Gigante, and his blood ties to the crime family and its waterfront criminal domain could influence (Ferrara) in his capacity as a registered longshoreman," wrote Judge Michael Zidonik.

Falcetti, 59, got seven years for embezzling ILA benefit funds in 2003. He also served 30 months in prison for loansharking in 2014. Zidonik wrote that FBI-tapped phone calls between Falcetti and Ferrara, coupled with tape-recorded jailhouse calls between Falcetti and his son about Frankie Cheech, "reveals two men with sincere regard to each other" that warrant Ferrara's expulsion from the piers.

Because Ferrara "remained good friends with this soldier of organized crime," wrote Zidonik, "a reasonable objective person may question (Ferrara's) loyalty to his work as opposed to Falcetti, a made member of an organized crime family closely associate with waterfront corruption."

In its ruling, the Commission went one better than Judge Zidonik. The ALJ ruled that Ferrara's longtime friendship with Della Cava, a successful building developer these days whose last conviction for labor racketeering was in 1986, had nothing to do with corrupt activities on the docks and was therefore not an "inimical association."

Noting that Della Cava was not on a list of barred mobsters, and that he had no "waterfront history," Zidonik ruled that he hadn't been presented "sufficient evidence" to back up allegations that Ferrara's association with Della Cava falls under the 1953 Waterfront Commission Act policies aimed at keeping mobsters off the docks.

Gang Land was a bit surprised by the Commission's decision to trump the ALJ on Della Cava, since an "inimical association" with either Gigante or Falcetti would have been enough to oust Ferrara. We asked executive director, Walter Arsenault, about that, and whether new Commissioner Weinstein was instrumental in overruling the ALJ on Della Cava.

"The ALJs make recommendations to the Commissioners" who are "free to accept, reject or modify the judges' recommendations," said Arsenault. "While the Commissioners usually accept, it's not that unusual for them to modify their recommendations," added Arsenault, declining to discuss Weinstein's input in the Commission's final decision.

Attorney Gerald McMahon, a veteran of several Commission hearings, disagreed, telling Gang Land that it was "not unusual" for the Commission to bigfoot an ALJ's decision, insisting that Weinstein was just a new player in the same old game.

"ALJ findings are 100 per cent overruled by the Commission when they don't go their way," said McMahon. "It's a complete kangaroo court and the ALJ is like window dressing. You rule their way, it's like Putin, 'Okay, good.' If you rule my way it's, 'We overturn that.' It's a Gulag, the Gulag of 39 Broadway," said McMahon, throwing out the agency's downtown address.

But the outspoken attorney's comments may have been a bit over the top.

For instance, Zidonik also ruled that Ferrara's meetings with current Genovese boss Liborio (Barney) Bellomo, and mobsters Dominick (Quiet Dom) Cirillo, Paul Geraci, Robert Milano and Paul Rogina at weddings, bakeries and elsewhere over the years were fine, since they also didn't violate the 65-year-old act. In its ruling, the Commission left those findings alone even though Bellomo was described as deeply involved in waterfront activities by the late Genovese songbird and ILA official, George Barone.

But in the end, it wouldn't have mattered much if Zidonik had ruled that those meetings were also "inimical associations" since Frankie Cheech only had one very nice job to lose.

One good thing for Ferrara. He earned his full $355K yearly salary during the three years that the Waterfront Commission was working to prove their potpourri of charges that cost him his job On The Waterfront.

On Tuesday, Ferrara's attorney, Peter Till, asked a New Jersey state appeals court to stay the Waterfront Commission's decision pending the outcome of the appeal that Till is preparing and will soon file in the hope that Frankie Cheech can keep working, and earn his $6820 a week salary — at least for the foreseeable future.

Feds Seeking Heavier Sentence For All American Bookie Convicted Of Sexual Assault

Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn are planning to use the words of two Howard Beach women to rebut the letter of praise and support for convicted mob bookie Robert (Rob) Pisani that Queens City Councilman Erich Ulrich and 86 relatives and friends have sent to his sentencing judge.

One woman, a former Pisani employee, testified last week that he grabbed her buttocks, unsnapped her bra, and forced her hand onto his exposed penis in the office of a bagel store he owned in April of last year. Her account convinced a Queens jury that the All American Deli owner was guilty of misdemeanor sexual assault charges.

The other woman is Patricia Adams, the former publisher of The Forum, a Howard Beach newspaper. Adams had initially been charged with witness tampering in the sex abuse case, but pleaded guilty last week in Brooklyn Federal Court to failing to report witness tampering in the case by other unidentified persons in May of last year.

In a filing with Chief Judge Dora Irizarry, prosecutors stated they had "newly obtained evidence" linking Pisani to witness tampering in "an alleged sexual assault that the defendant committed while on pre-trial release" that supports raising his recommended maximum prison term from 21 months to 30 months.

Pisani's plea agreement currently calls for 15-to-21 months but if prosecutors get their way, his sentencing guidelines would increase to 24-to-30 months.

Noting that the government, Pisani, the Probation Department and the court needed "adequate time to review this evidence and its implications," prosecutors Lindsay Gerdes and Keith Edelman sought — and obtained — an adjournment of Pisani's sentencing day until July 24.

As Gang Land disclosed last month, in a letter to Judge Irizarry on his official City Council stationary, Ulrich praised Pisani as "a good guy," and a "friend" he'd known "for seven years" who is "a kind person, devoted family man and a selfless individual."

Last week, Ulrich backtracked a bit about his friendship during Pisani's sex assault trial, telling the Queens Chronicle that he wrote the letter for "a constituent" about "the federal trial, not the sexual assault trial. Clearly I did not write the letter last week asking for any special treatment for the (sex assault) trial."

In the sex abuse case, Pisani, 45, was found guilty of forcible touching and harassment following a day and a half of deliberations. He is slated for sentencing in August. He faces up to a year behind bars on the sex assault conviction, and remains free on bail in both cases.

Pisani's attorney, Seth Ginsberg, was on vacation and couldn't be reached, but the lawyer told The Daily News last week that Pisani "continues to maintain his innocence," and indicated that he was likely to appeal the verdict and object to any increase in Pisani's sentencing guidelines stemming from Adams's guilty plea.

"Any suggestion (that Pisani) was involved in any witness tampering or obstruction of justice is absolutely false," Ginsberg told The News.

According to her plea deal, prosecutors agreed to drop charges against Adams that she had tampered with a witness — the victim's father — in the sex abuse case. In return for her guilty plea to misprision of a felony — that is, knowing that a crime took place but failing to report it — Adams, 59, faces a maximum sentence of three years. But her guidelines call for a maximum of six months.

In court filings, Adams is described as a card-playing Bonanno family associate who frequents a social club game in Ozone Park and has close ties to Pisani and his longtime friend and mob superior, capo Ronald (Ronnie G) Giallanzo, who also awaits sentencing for his guilty plea.

In her arrest complaint, in which she is charged with witness tampering from May 14 to May 27 of last year, FBI agent Andrew Campbell wrote that Adams was tape-recorded several times pressing the victim's father to convince his daughter not to follow through on her sex abuse complaint.

The agent noted that Adams had published favorable articles about Pisani and his All American Deli in Broad Channel in The Forum, and wrote that she threatened the victim's father that his daughter would "hurt herself" in The Forum if she took the case to trial. Ronald Giallanzo

"That's the truth," Adams said. "I'm going to hurt her. You know, I gotta put out what I have to put out. . . . And then everybody is going to come on the fucking bandwagon."

At another point, Campbell wrote, Adams tried to convince the man to press his daughter to drop the case, allegedly stating that even if Pisani did sexually abuse her, she would still lose out in the end.

"It's one big malicious circus, that is what it is, and there are no winners, least of all her," Adams said, according to an excerpt in the complaint. "She could be 100% right. He could have unsnapped her bra, tried to push her head down, whatever, she can't win. There are no winners. It's a winless situation, whichever way you choose."

These days, it looks like a winless situation for Rob Pisani as he awaits sentencing later this month in Brooklyn Federal Court, and the following month in Queens Criminal Court.

Ask Andy: Godfathers And Sons

Just like John A. (Junior) Gotti, many mobsters have succeeded their fathers as leaders of their crime families. This week Gang Land takes a look at two cases where no movie biopic starring John Travolta was made about those fathers and sons.

Francesco Lanza, who is the first known boss of the San Francisco crime family, emerged as the leader of the small Cosa Nostra borghata in 1932 after a four year war between rival factions. Unfortunately for Lanza, ill health brought about his death in 1937.

His son, James, first came to national prominence in November of 1957, when he was one of more than 50 mobsters identified as attendees of the infamous Apalachin, New York convention of Mafia bigwigs. At the time he was most likely the family underboss representing boss Michael Abate. Lanza took over when Abate was deported in 1961.

James Lanza made every effort to keep a low profile and the family began a slow deterioration. James was able to avoid jail time even though the FBI installed an illegal bug in his office and listened in for more than six years, from 1959 to July of 1965.

One of the revelations involved New York boss Joe Bonanno, who was in hiding after plotting to kill two rival members of the Mafia's Commission. Lanza was ordered to query a Bonanno relative as to his whereabouts. Then, after the Commission voted to oust Bonanno and banish him to Arizona, it instructed Lanza to inform the San Jose and Dallas families of this decision.

His tenure as boss of the San Francisco crime family — it lasted more than two decades — would have to be rated as a failure. He feared being arrested, kept a very low profile, and avoided most family meetings. He did not rejuvenate the family by inducting new members. Under his reign, the family began a long, slow, steady decline. Lanza passed away of natural causes on June 19, 1989.

But from a personal point of view, as far as his wife and children were concerned, Lanza's reign was a smashing success. He avoided jail time and for all intents and purposes was able to retire from The Life in the mid-1970s.

New England's Raymond Patriarca Jr. also succeeded his father, who ruled the organization with an iron hand from 1954 till his death in July of 1984. Surprisingly, due to his less than strong personality, Ray Jr. was elected family boss and received the Commission's blessing.

It turned out to be a poor fit for the New England family, which was based in Providence, but always had a Boston member in the Administration. That changed when Gennaro Anguilo, the underboss, was arrested in 1983.

In short order, the core of the Boston crew, which was also facing indictment, began to believe that if they were jailed, they would lose all their rackets. Their fears intensified in 1988 when Frank (Cadillac Frank) Salemme was released from prison, and allied himself with Patriarca. (That's the same Salemme who was convicted last month of a 25-year-old murder.) The Boston crew decided to strike first.

Underboss William Grasso was killed on June 13, 1989. Three days later, the Boston crew tried to whack Salemme but missed, and the family was in turmoil.

Before an all-out war began, Gambino boss John Gotti, who was at the height of his power, intervened, and the shooting stopped. Gotti and the other New York bosses decided that the adverse publicity of a gang war in New England would be bad for business. As a result, a peace meeting was held between the Patriarca loyalists and the rebels. Disaster soon followed.

As part of the peace process Patriarca agreed to induct some Boston associates into the crime family and formally recognize Joseph (J.R.) Russo as familys consigliere. Unfortunately for them, an informant gave away the day and place of the induction ceremony, and it was secretly taped by the FBI on October 29, 1989. Before long, most of the mobsters were indicted and did jail time.

Patriarca stepped down as boss, copped a plea deal, took a 10 year sentence, and was released on December 11, 1998. Since then, by all accounts, Junior Patriarca has stayed clear of organized crime and has been selling real estate to earn a living.

During their reigns, both James Lanza and Ray Patriarca Jr. must have, at some point, wished they never followed their fathers to the top of a Mafia family. However, all things considered, like Junior Gotti, they were quite lucky to avoid life sentences, and they both enjoyed freedom when their Mafia days were over.

[Rocco]

"reefer mechanic "
Sounds like this guys is just rolling joints on the docks...lol

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post Chuck.

[slimshady_007]

Seems like the feds have rly been at the genoveses lately. Wonder if an upcoming indictment could target barney and the waterfront. Time will tell.

[Wiseguy]

A list of ILA workers who have been kicked out by the Waterfront Commission over the last 15 years or so for mob association and related things.


Vincent Aulisi
Edward Aulisi
Ralph Esposito
John Nicaretta
Roy Maglori
John Santore
Nicholas Bergamotto
Anthony Furina
Nicholas Furina
Stephen Bracco
William Vitale
Michael Trueba
Margaret Dillon
Robert Ruiz
Michael Nicolosi
Leonard Moravek
Pasquale Pontoriero
Albert Attanasio
Francis Mangano Jr.
Virgilio Maldonado
Jason Picinich
Dino Picinich
Domenick Mirkovic
Ronald Galosic
Rocco Ferrandino
Eduardo Cangione
Michael Natoli
William Vitale
Seth Dolled
Dominick DiNapoli
Peter Boragi
Salvatore Gregorio
Angelo Ruggiero
Mark Caruso
Anthony Battaglia
Samuel Manganella
Joseph Ferdico
Amedeo Mancusi
Steven Zeni
Patrick Cicalese
Frank Ferrara

[UTC]

"card-playing Bonanno family associate" lol.

I wouldn't be surprised if Ferrara never owned a wrench.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Good post WG

[SonnyBlackstein]

"card-playing Bonanno family associate" lol.

I wouldn't be surprised if Ferrara never owned a wrench.

I love a good UTC carpet bombing of BH.

[aleksandrored]

About Rob Pisani, I thought the Mafia was not involved in sexual scandals...

[JohnnyS]

About Rob Pisani, I thought the Mafia was not involved in sexual scandals...

Danny Marino and his crew were busted for pimping out an underage girl a few years ago.

[gohnjotti]

About Rob Pisani, I thought the Mafia was not involved in sexual scandals...

Danny Marino and his crew were busted for pimping out an underage girl a few years ago.

Danny Marino wasn't never charged or implicated in that sexploitation scheme, just member(s) of his crew.

[SonnyBlackstein]

About Rob Pisani, I thought the Mafia was not involved in sexual scandals...

Danny Marino and his crew were busted for pimping out an underage girl a few years ago.

Danny Marino wasn't never charged or implicated in that sexploitation scheme, just member(s) of his crew.

Stickler

[aleksandrored]

Prostitute underage girl shows that the Mafia is more "liberal" in relation to illicit activities, I wonder if in the future they will get involved with the traffic of guns and people.

[gohnjotti]

Prostitute underage girl shows that the Mafia is more "liberal" in relation to illicit activities, I wonder if in the future they will get involved with the traffic of guns and people.

I think trafficking guns is already something that wiseguys do among each other. I believe someone was charged for selling guns in the East Coast LCN Bust.

[aleksandrored]

Prostitute underage girl shows that the Mafia is more "liberal" in relation to illicit activities, I wonder if in the future they will get involved with the traffic of guns and people.

I think trafficking guns is already something that wiseguys do among each other. I believe someone was charged for selling guns in the East Coast LCN Bust.

Then little by little LCN is becoming like the Russian Mafia.