GL NEWS 3/12/2020

[Bklyn21]

This Week in Gang Land
By Jerry Capeci

This Mob Canary Remains In Danger, Says The Judge. But He's Proudly Singing From The Rooftops.
Gang Land Exclusive!Gene BorrelloSix days before a federal judge decided last week to keep the case of mob snitch Gene Borrello sealed for safety reasons, the home invasion specialist gave an hour long rap to to a podcaster about how he loved to "pistol-whip" and rob people and had a "real bad anger problem."

In full face and living color on the video tape, Borrello explained how he was locked up facing 35-40 years behind bars on state and federal charges in New York and Florida but talked his way out after serving 63 months.

During a February 29 podcast, Borrello. looking relaxed and happy to be the star of the show, casually described what he told the judge at his sentencing: "I talked about myself. I said, 'Your honor I'm sorry for everything I've done,' the whole nine yards. He said, 'Okay, I'm going to give you time served."

It was the second time he took to the social media airwaves last month to discuss his closed-courtroom sentencing that Gang Land first reported in December.

Gene Borrello's WatchDuring the animated hour-plus discussion, it was hard not to notice that Borrello, dressed all in black, was wearing what appeared to be a very expensive-looking Swiss watch. Swiss watches — other than those made by Swatch — are above Gang Land's pay grade. But the one on Borrello's left wrist, according to at least one of the 3200 plus viewers of the podcast, sure looked like a Rose Gold Royal Oak Audemars Piguet. That model timepiece, according to a quick internet search, costs from $45,000 to $60,000.

Since Borrello insists that he lost the spoils of all his crimes while jailed for 19 months before he agreed to cooperate in August of 2016, Gang Land assumes that the watch was a good knockoff — or maybe a gift. It could not possibly be something he picked up during one of his "hundreds of thousands of dollars" home invasion scores in Queens or the half-million dollar daytime jewelry store robbery on Long Island that he boasted about on the podcast.

Judge Frederick BlockWe have to take his word on that since his attorney, Nancy Ellis, and prosecutors Lindsey Gerdes and Keith Edelman each declined to answer any questions about Borrello's situation. On March 5, all three attorneys teamed up to help convince a suddenly gullible Brooklyn Federal Judge Frederick Block that Borrello's case still needed to remain sealed for at least three more months to keep him safe.

We'll get to the jewelry store heist and a major home invasion robbery he set up while he was hiding out in Florida – and didn't take part in, contrary to what Gang Land reported in December – after we fill in a few details about the "time-served" sentence he received back on December 11 that Borrello didn't mention.

John Alite & Gene BorrelloSources say that probation officials, who noted that Borrello's "cooperation was significant," also told Judge Block that since there were "no mitigating factors" in his "personal history," recommended a "sentence of 10 years" in prison because of his "far-ranging conduct" that included "attempted murder, arson, assault, extortion, illegal gambling and robbery."

They also recommended that when he is released from prison, Borrello should avoid "contact with the victims" of his crimes and not associate with any individual affiliated with any "organized crime groups" for five years. Block went along with those recommendations for three years.

Interestingly, Gambino associate turned-cooperating witness John Alite introduced Borrello to the college student host of the Where's This Going podcast, Felix Levine, a few days after he interviewed Alite, who now tells young kids not to follow in his footsteps as part of a Second Chance Program that he runs.

Whether his supervised release restrictions mean that Borrello, who's wearing the Audemars Piguet-looking watch in this photo with Alite that was posted on Borrello's Instagram account, is permitted to have contact with Alite, the reformed murderous gangster, is one of the many questions that the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's Office and Borrello's lawyer declined to discuss.

Borrello, 35, a nephew of the late Gambino mobster, Anthony (Fat Andy) Ruggiano, told Levine that he was always "in limbo" about the sentence he would receive. He said he was nervous about getting hammered until he ran into turncoat Colombo soldier Joseph (Joe Caves) Competiello in a secure prison unit that housed cooperating witnesses.

Anthony Ruggiano"When I got to the Witsec Unit, I ran into a guy named Joey Caves," he said. "Me and him became good friends. I said Joe, 'I think they're going to fuck me.' He says, 'I killed six people; I got 12 years.' He goes, 'Relax, you're gonna be alright,'" Borrello recalled with a chuckle.

Competiello turned out to be correct. But Borrello was still concerned until he heard Block say the magic words, "time served."

"You never know what you're gonna get," said Borrello, even though both his lawyer and the prosecutors recommended time served. "The judge can say anything. He could just wake up the wrong way, (thinking) 'I didn't get laid last night. You know what? I'm gonna give you an extra three years."

He agreed to cooperate in August of 2016, he said, after prosecutors visited him at Rikers Island where he was awaiting trial on home invasion charges, and his mother advised him that it was the best way to get out of prison and change his life around.

Gene Borrello"I was a bad guy," he said. He told Levine that after he was released from prison in 2004, at the age of 19, "I finally got with the Bonanno family. I started doing sports betting, loans, a little more drug dealing. I was still doing stickups. I really liked to rob," he laughed. "I did. I couldn't help myself. I was an armed robber."

How many robberies? "It's uncountable," he laughed. "Books full. It's uncountable. Robberies, I did over 100. Definitely. Shootings? I had a couple. Beatings? I had a bunch."

His best score, Borrello said, was a half-million dollar haul that he and two cohorts stole during the armed robbery of a Long Island jewelry store in broad daylight in 2011."Real cowboy stuff," he cackled, "I jumped over the counter, robbed the whole store, they don't expect us to come at nine in the morning. We were out of control."

Without naming the victim, Borrello said that one of his biggest home invasion scores was the March 12, 2014 robbery of the Howard Beach home of "a guy in our crew" who was a "pretty good friend of mine. I don't want to get into the details. It was fucked up."

In fact, as Gang Land first reported in 2015, the victim was Bonanno associate Robert (Bam) Cotrone, whose home was invaded by thugs who escaped with "over $50,000 in cash and hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of jewelry, including high-end designer watches," according to court filings in the case.

IRobert Cotronen general, Borrello explained, "you like to have three or four on a home invasion. I always like to have a guy outside, a scanner. Sometimes you want two in the house."

That gibes with court records about the invasion. Bonanno associate Christopher (Bald Chris) Boothby "remained outside during the robbery and acted as a lookout with the help of a police scanner." Mob associate Matthew Hattley was the inside man, who terrorized Cotrone's girlfriend, ripped a ring off her finger, and tied her up.

"I was in Florida," Borrello said. "I sent people in there. I was given the score. His (Cotrone's) good friend, another made guy, set him up, and that's how we did it. I wasn't in the house. They always say that Gene Borrello was behind the mask," he said, without noting at this point that it was a Gang Land faux pas. "I wasn't even in the house," he smiled, with a "can you believe that" grin on his face, with his hands outstretched, palms up. "I wasn't even there."

No he wasn't. Gang Land regrets writing that Borrello was behind the mask back on March 12, 2014, since all he did was dispatch the masked invader to rob his "pretty good friend." Since Borrello seems to enjoy setting the record straight, Gang Land wonders where he got the watch he was proudly wearing for all the world to see back on February 29.

NJ Guv Looks To Appoint Waterfront Commission Critic As Garden State Commissioner
Raymond LesniakIf he wanted to work as a longshoreman on the New Jersey docks, ex-state senator Raymond Lesniak might have a tough a time passing scrutiny by the watchdog agency tasked with keeping the mob off the New York and New Jersey waterfront. That's thanks to his own acknowledged association with convicted waterfront racketeers.

The ex-lawmaker also tried to put the 67-year-old watchdog agency out of business a few years ago, winning passage in the legislature of a law that called for New Jersey to pull out of the bi-state compact.

But despite that background, Lesniak is still the leading candidate to be New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy's pick as the Garden State's appointee to the commission.

Lawyers on both sides of the issue acknowledge that Lesniak's past association with top officials of the mob-tied Longshoremen's union present a major hurdle that could prevent him from laboring on the docks.

Albert CernadasLesniak publicly acknowledges that he used to be "good friends" with Albert (Bull) Cernadas, a former International Longshoremen's Association official who pleaded guilty in 2015 to shaking down ILA workers for "Christmastime tributes" to the late Genovese capo Tino Fiumara and his successor, Stephen Depiro, for years.

An unabashed, longtime supporter of the ILA and the New York Shipping Association, Lesniak's efforts to abolish the Waterfront Commission began in 2010, when he sponsored a bill to give the bi-state agency's police powers to the Port of New York and New Jersey.

A law finally passed the legislature that gave the Commission's police powers to New Jersey state police in 2018 and was signed by ex-Governor Christie on his way out the door, but was struck down last year by a federal judge. Her decision is currently under appeal.

"They just no longer have a reason to exist," Lesniak argued back in 2010. "The companies are not the same companies, the industry isn't the same industry as when Marlon Brando was a young man," he said, invoking the classic 1954 film, On The Waterfront, which came out a year after Congress created the Waterfront Commission.

Tino Fiumara At a hearing to make Lesniak's point, an ILA union president, Thomas (The Hook) Leonardis, who was indicted that same year on labor racketeering charges and would later plead guilty and spend 22 months in prison, testified at a senate hearing that the Commission was a dated and useless body that perpetuated mob stereotypes but was no longer needed.

Ironically, Lesniak, who retired in 2018 from the state senate after 35 years of service, authored a New Jersey law in 2005 that the Commission uses these days to reject prospective waterfront workers and oust ILA workers who've been found guilty of associating with wiseguys or mob associates following a hearing by an Administrative Law Judge.

"I am friendly with everyone," Lesniak told Gang Land, stating that his friendship with the 84-year-old Cernadas "going back 20 years" to when he was the president of ILA Local 1235 was a "red herring," noting that he was also "friendly" with "his son, a first assistant prosecutor for Union County."

In 2015, the elder Cernadas — who received a no-jail term in 2005 when he copped a plea deal to labor racketeering — had faced up to 41 months for extorting Local 1235 members from 1982 to 2011. But he received a non-prison term again. He was sentenced to a year's probation.

Stepehn DepiroLesniak, who is an attorney, said Waterfront Commission officials have "expanded the use of the word 'association' well beyond what the intention of the law was" and "have also expanded its application from the specific crimes that were outlined there" to apply "to any type of criminal activity in a way that precludes reentry into society by ex-offenders."

"That's one of the problems I have with the Waterfront Commission," he told reporter Ryan Hutchins, of ProPublica, the online muckraker that first reported Governor Murphy's intentions to nominate Lesniak as New Jersey's Commissioner on the bi-state agency. "If you've ever been in prison, you can't get a fucking job with them."

"And that's totally contrary to the public policy of the state of New Jersey," the former legislator stressed to Gang Land. "They've done a lot of things that are just not good public policy that I'm looking to straighten out if I get there."

Lesniak and Murphy both claim that the Waterfront Commission overdoes its mandate to root out corruption and invades the normal hiring practices of waterfront employers to such a degree that it's actually managing the daily operations of terminal operators, truckers and freight forwarders.

Thomas LeonardisAt this point, though, Murphy's decision to appoint Lesniak is on hold because of the Governor's concern that Lesniak might have to disqualify himself from important matters that might come up before the Commission.

"That's because I received a contribution during my campaign for governor (in 2017) from the Shipping Association," said Lesniak. "He's checking on whether I would have to recuse myself. I think his legal opinion is wrong. We have a legal opinion contrary to that from the Senate."

"We're waiting on that. But it's up to the governor, and we do not know what he plans to do," said Lesniak. But the outspoken, longtime critic of the Waterfront Commission, left no doubt that he'd love to get the $48,000 a year part time job.

"I hope it comes to pass," said Lesniak. "In my prepared testimony before the state judiciary committee, if I ever get there, I point out that 90 percent of the commerce goes to the state of New Jersey. And yet, we have one commissioner and New York has one commissioner. So I would have to do the work of nine commissioners to even that out, and I certainly believe that I am up to the task."

Frank Locascio's Lawyers Taking All Their Sweet Time For Their Ailing 87-Year Old Client
Frank LocascioYou'd think lawyers would be hot to trot after winning an unusual appeals court ruling that gives Frank (Frankie Loc) Locascio one last chance to try and convince his judge that he is innocent of the murder for which he's now serving the 30th year of a life sentence in a federal prison hospital.

Well maybe you didn't think that, but that's what Gang Land figured. After all, Locascio and his relatives would surely like to fight this last ditch appeal — based primarily on new evidence from former star government witness Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano — sooner rather than later.

Fresh from their impressive win in the 2d Circuit Court of Appeals on February 13, the Boston-based law firm of Fick & Marx LLP has proceeded as if they were representing a defendant who is out on bail awaiting trial, not a jailed, ailing 87-year-old client who has already outlived all the actuarial tables.

A month after Frankie Loc was given a second post-conviction chance to convince Brooklyn Federal Judge I. Leo Glasser that he is innocent of killing Gambino mobster Louis DiBono and should be released from prison before he dies there like Gambino boss John Gotti did, his lawyers are still 10 days away from filing their court papers known as a "2255 motion." It's due on March 23.

The law firm did not respond to a request for comment about its slow-footed approach for Locascio.

It's not like Glasser or prosecutors have made things difficult for the Beantown barristers. Lawyers William Fick and Amy Barsky, who will file the legal brief, and question Gravano at any hearing that Glasser allows, proposed the March 23 date, jointly with the prosecutors who will have until April 22 to respond to Locascio's 2255 motion.

Salvatore GravanoAnd Fick and Barsky don't have a lot of T's to cross or I's to dot for their motion that will mirror the filing they made to the appeals court last August. The case will rise or fall on Gravano's testimony, if Glasser agrees with the appeals court that Sammy Bull's information is newly discovered evidence and is also relevant to the main issue: Is Locascio guilty of the murder, or conspiracy to murder, mobster Louis DiBono in 1990.

In his affidavit, Sammy Bull wrote that "Locascio had no role in the planning of, nor did he participate in any way in the murder or conspiracy to murder DiBono," who was shot to death in a parking garage of the World Trade Center.

According to Gravano, Locascio, who was Gotti's underboss at the time, not only played no role in the murder, he tried to talk Gotti out of ordering the mobster's death for refusing to "come in when I called." That rare objection from his top lieutenant angered Gotti, and led him to reduce Locascio from underboss to consigliere, Gravano wrote.

Sammy Bull wrote that "it was clear" to him that "Frank's suggestion to Gotti about DiBono was one of the reasons why Gotti promoted" him to underboss and busted Locascio down to acting consigliere

[JohnnyS]

thank you for posting

[Griz23]

Haha at Capeci keeps mentioning the watch Borello was wearing in the interview. Good article I wasn’t aware of the stuff with Locascio.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post Brklyn.

[TwoPiece]

capeci sounding like he's trying to get the guy jammed up over having an AP

[Rocco]

That's sucks for Frankie. You get a life sentence and live to be 87 and still alive in prison. Guys like Gotti got lucky and died young only do ten yrs.

[bert]

]

But the one on Borrello's left wrist, according to at least one of the 3200 plus viewers of the podcast, sure looked like a Rose Gold Royal Oak Audemars Piguet. That model timepiece, according to a quick internet search, costs from $45,000 to $60,000.

Great catch by Capeci.

[Teddy Persico]

That's sucks for Frankie. You get a life sentence and live to be 87 and still alive in prison. Guys like Gotti got lucky and died young only do ten yrs.

He could always kill himself.

[bert]

Borrello, 35, a nephew of the late Gambino mobster, Anthony (Fat Andy) Ruggiano,

Wasn't Ruggiano's son a rat too? The guy must be spinning in his grave.



Capeci did a great job on Borrello, everything from his ties to Alite and if it is a violation of restrictions against him. I think all these guys going on Intagram, youtube, and anywhere else they can is eventually going to backfire.

[TommyNoto]

That's sucks for Frankie. You get a life sentence and live to be 87 and still alive in prison. Guys like Gotti got lucky and died young only do ten yrs.

He could always kill himself.

The corona virus might work out for some older inmates like Frank that have a secure home to stay,

I can see tons of old guys like him released

[NYNighthawk]

Gravano did describe Locascio as driving away from his club with the body of Louis Milito? after Carneglia shot him in the head. Perhaps Frankie Locs wants to tell where he took the body and help make a case against Johnny boy.

[TommyGambino]

Gravano did describe Locascio as driving away from his club with the body of Louis Milito? after Carneglia shot him in the head. Perhaps Frankie Locs wants to tell where he took the body and help make a case against Johnny boy.

Lol Locascio ain't flipping