GL NEWS 6/3/2020

[Bklyn21]

This Week in Gang Land
By Jerry Capeci

A Howard Beach Wake — COVID-19 Style
Frank RoccaforteGang Land Exclusive!His grieving family was unable to give Gambino associate Frank Roccaforte a proper wake or a funeral mass thanks to the miserable COVID19 pandemic. But scores of his friends and family members paid their respects to him last week at a prayer reading in the parking lot of Saint Helen Church in Howard Beach, Gang Land has learned.

More than 100 mourners, most wearing masks as well as sunglasses — a few Gambino wiseguys among them — did their best to maintain proper social distancing as they strained to hear Father Francis Colamaria, the Saint Helen pastor, conduct a somber prayer service for Roccaforte, who died two weeks ago at the age of 39.

At the conclusion of the brief service, which was similar to a gravesite ceremony known as a Rite of Committal, the pastor sprinkled holy water on the casket that sat in the back of a hearse and blessed it. Then the mourners, led by Roccaforte's mother Joyce, slowly passed by the casket and whispered their final goodbyes.

Ftaher Francis ColamariaSources say the prayer service followed a two-hour wake at the Brooklyn Funeral Home And Cremation Service in the East New York section. None of the folks Gang Land spoke to there would discuss the wake, or Roccaforte's final resting place. The manager, who was said to be someone named Anthony, did not respond to messages left for him.

If the wake was conducted with due respect for the safety of mourners during the COVID-19 crisis, no more than 10 persons would have been permitted in the viewing room at any one time, and all would have been wearing masks and remained six feet away from each other, according to two funeral home officials who spoke to Gang Land.

Sources tell Gang Land that in addition to Roccaforte's mobster brother Michael, Gambino soldier Caesar Gurino, an old pal of the late family boss, John Gotti and his brother Gene, and capo Thomas (Tommy Sneakers) Cacciopoli, a onetime pal of the erstwhile Junior Don, John A. (Junior) Gotti, were among the mourners who attended the prayer service.

Frank Roccaforte, whose rap sheet goes back to 2002, was last arrested with his brother Michael, and their mob supervisor, capo Alphonse Trucchio, along with 124 other mob-connected defendants who were rounded up by the feds on Mafia Takedown Day in January of 2011.

Hit with a laundry list of racketeering crimes, including drug dealing, gambling, and assault, Frank Roccaforte was sentenced to a 46 month prison term as part of a plea bargain to assault charges he took eight months later. The deal included a mandatory post-prison drug monitoring plan due to problems he had with alcohol and drugs, including cocaine, Xanax and oxycodone.

In addition to gambling and drug dealing, Roccaforte admitted his involvement in assisting a wannabe wiseguy in a 2007 beer bottle assault of a victim in a Queens bar "in order to help (an unnamed gangster) increase his position in the Gambino family."

At his sentencing, federal prosecutor Elie Honig echoed a heartfelt letter for leniency that Joyce Roccaforte submitted on her son's behalf in which she wrote that her son loved his late father so much he followed him into the world of organized crime. Honig called Roccaforte "a follower" who "grew up surrounded by the mob" and stayed close enough to it all his life to get into lots of trouble.

Alphonse TrucchioWhile Roccaforte opted against being inducted into the mob, Honig stated that he was tape recorded "weighing the pros and cons of being a wiseguy" and was then heard "saying there are some things that would be good about it but some things I don't like about it. He doesn't say I don't want any part of the mob."

Following his release from prison in 2015, Roccaforte had no further problems with the law. He did have a minor issue with oxycodone during his drug monitoring, but he completed it satisfactorily and his sentencing judge ended his post-prison supervised release a year early, in 2017.

Even though Roccaforte was only an associate who dismissed the idea of becoming a made man, he was an important member of the Trucchio crew in the years preceding the 2001 indictment of 22 defendants.

In the eight months before he pleaded guilty and was remanded, Frank handled a lot of important chores for his brother Michael, and for Trucchio, who were both found to be dangers to the community and detained without bail in the Metropolitan Correctional Center as they awaited trial, according to Honig.

Frank Roccaforte was tasked with making sure the families of Trucchio and his brother were surviving the loss of the breadwinners of the two families, Honig stated at a court proceeding.

Thomnas Cacciopoli & John A. Gotti"He was involved in collecting" money that was owed to his brother Michael and Trucchio "while he was on bail," said Honig. "He wasn't walking it physically into the MCC and handing it to Mr. Roccaforte and Alphonse Trucchio, but it was still being delivered to their families."

Father Colamaria told Gang Land that during the coronavirus pandemic, he has conducted several Rites of Committal in the church parking lot "because of the restriction on indoor gatherings of more than 10 people during the COVID crisis" that prevented churches from conducting funeral masses.

"It's similar to a service we would perform at the cemetery" during normal times, the priest said. "We basically do a gravesite service right there in the parking lot."

The priest said he wasn't told the circumstances of Roccaforte's death, and didn't know his family. "All I know is that I administered to them," said Colamaria. "They seem to be a very nice family. The first time I met them was in the parking lot," he said, noting that parish workers had scheduled the Rite Of Committal.

Colamaria, who has been the pastor of Saint Helen for five years, said he did not know that the deceased was a mob associate but stated that he would have conducted the prayer service even if he had. He said that unless the Bishop decides to bar one because it would be "a notable public scandal," all Catholics are entitled to a Catholic funeral service.

The priest said he is well aware that "many of my parishioners" are reputed members or associates of organized crime.

"You have to know your people," he said. "I know my people quite well. I've served south Queens for 19 years now. I'm here about five years now. I've learned a lot about the people I serve. They're a very earthy type," he chuckled, just a bit.

Caesar GurinoBack in 2015, when Colamaria was officially installed as the pastor of Saint Helen, he told a personal story that both endeared him to everyone in the church, and also let them know that he knew where he was and that he liked being the pastor of Saint Helen Church.

Toward the end of the ceremony, Colamaria told the gathering, according to a Queens Chronicle account by reporter Mark Lord, that a "family friend" had asked him why he was being installed then, since he had "already served the parish for five or six months.":

"I tried to explain that this is the formal installation ceremony ... the official ceremony," Colamaria recalled.
"So, he looked at me, and in perfect Howard Beach English he said, 'So, you're being made, right?'" Colamaria continued.
"Today," the pastor told the congregation, "I'm a made man. I'm a made man because of my faith and the people in my life."

Asked about that anecdote, Colamaria said: "I thought they'd appreciate that at the time. Sometimes a little light humor in a formal ceremony doesn't hurt."

Gang Land was unable to reach anyone from the Roccaforte family, and no member of the family responded to a message left at the Brooklyn Funeral Home.

"Frank is a good person," Joyce Roccaforte stated back in 2011 "As a young boy, he played football, baseball and basketball. He was a 99 average student in school. All teachers and coaches always loved my son. He received many awards and trophies growing up."

In addition to his mother, and his brother Michael, Roccaforte is survived by a brother Salvatore and a sister, Virginia

Feds Dun Steve Crea $2.4 Million For His Guilty Verdict In The Michael Meldish Rubout
Steven CreaThe feds convicted Steven (Stevie Wonder) Crea of the rubout of former Purple gang leader Michael Meldish thanks to his high level position as Luchese crime family underboss. The jury heard no evidence that Crea gave the order or took part in the planning. Now they want to bill him $2.4 million as he spends the rest of his life behind bars.

Federal prosecutors have lodged a post-verdict forfeiture claim of $2.4 million against the powerful wiseguy for extending a perfectly legal loan to a shady general contractor. The contractor, in turn, used Crea's loan to help win a $26.5 million building project from Bronx Lebanon Hospital. The builder then went on to earn another $1 million or so in thefts from the hospital via inflated and phony invoices.

The government wants Crea to fork over $1.1 million in interest he got from builder Randolph Silverstein as well as the $1.3 million principal the wiseguy laid out. Uncle Sam is entitled to it, they say, even though the money was not tainted and the loan, with an annual interest rate of 16%, was below the usury limit of 25%. Silverstein also testified that he didn't funnel any of his stolen money from the city hospital back to Stevie Wonder.

The government first sought the $2.4 million forfeiture in a filing with White Plains Federal Judge Cathy Seibel on March 28. That was two weeks after Crea and codefendants Matthew Madonna, Christopher Londonio and Terrence Caldwell were first slated to be sentenced. The sentencing, which had been set long before the COVID-19 virus reared its ugly head, is now slated to take place next month.

Randolph SilversteinIn a two-page filing, prosecutors Hagan Scotten, Celia Cohen and Alexandra Rothman asked Seibel to approve a preliminary forfeiture that also included an additional $188,000 that Stevie Wonder allegedly extorted from mobster Joseph (Joey Glasses) Datello during the 17-year-long racketeering conspiracy.

Defense attorneys Robert Franklin, Anthony DiPietro and Brendan White objected, asking for a hearing. They argued that not only had Scotten acknowledged that the loan was legal and that "Crea even paid taxes" on it in his summation, but that the money came from joint accounts that their client maintained with his wife Diane and four children, who weren't defendants in the case.

Noting that the "Government's own witnesses" had testified that the loan was legal and that the surprise request came four "months after the November guilty verdict," the lawyers asked Seibel for 45 days to contest the forfeit, citing problems stemming from the then-burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic in discussing the matter with their imprisoned client.

The judge agreed. She also gave the government two weeks to reply to Crea's arguments.

Joseph Datello In their expanded objection, the defense lawyers argued that "neither the facts (of the case) nor the law" supported the dual proposition that the loan "was property" that gave Crea "a source of influence over the enterprise." They also insisted there was no evidence offered that the interest on the loan was money "received by the defendant from racketeering activity."

Essentially, the lawyers argued that whatever scams Silverstein ran after winning the hospital contract had nothing to do with Crea. Prosecutors, they argued, had failed "to cite a single case for its theory" that the loan gave Crea "influence" over the racketeering scheme.

In addition, the veteran mobster's lawyers pointed out that FBI forensic accountant Stephen Gorozdi had testified that the loan was legitimate; that Silverstein stated he not been threatened by Crea or anyone else about late payments or anything else, and that the builder testified he had not funneled any stolen loot to Stevie Wonder.

If the feds really had a case to make for the forfeiture, they insist, they would have sought it long ago, instead of with a late arriving and "barebones filing" against their client. They argued that if the claim "truly satisfied the standard for forfeiture, it follows that forfeiture would have been timely asserted long ago and applied equally" to other defendants in the case.

Joseph VeniceThey noted that the feds had not sought any forfeiture from consigliere Joseph (Big Joe) DiNapoli, who allegedly "received 'millions' in proceeds as a result of his position," or from mobster Joseph Venice, who was "directly connected to Silverstein's" crimes and who received work at Bronx Lebanon Hospital for agreeing to go along with Silverstein's inflated billing scheme.

In response, prosecutors said even if those points are correct it doesn't matter. Crea's loan might not have been usurious, and he might not have extorted or threatened Silverstein, or shared in any of the stolen funds. But in the big scheme of things, they said, those claims were "irrelevant" because Stevie Wonder was convicted under the broad legal umbrella of a racketeering conspiracy which makes virtually all of his mob-based earnings fair game for the government.

The 50-year-old racketeering law, prosecutors wrote, "has a unique imperative to be interpreted broadly in order to accomplish its purpose of 'providing enhanced sanctions and new remedies to deal with the unlawful activities'" of Mafia families. According to the statute, any proceeds "obtained, directly or indirectly, from racketeering activity," they maintained, "are subject to forfeiture."

Cathy Seibel"The trial evidence made clear that the proceeds of the loan were profits from racketeering activity," the prosecutors wrote, and that "Silverstein, Venice, and others involved with Crea committed fraud in order to repay the exorbitant interest" and that "the interest Crea received from this loan plainly derived, directly and indirectly, from his racketeering activity."

Crea's attorneys dispute virtually everything that the government lawyers say on that subject. Where Seibel will come down on the issue is anybody's guess. But the judge has plenty of time to make her decision. The sentencing of all four defendants is now scheduled for July 27.

What Gang Land is most curious about — which neither the prosecutors nor Crea's lawyers mentioned in their filings — was whether the jury considered Silverstein's testimony, or any of the evidence about his ripoff of Bronx Lebanon Hospital, in reaching its verdict against Steve Crea. They might have, but then again they might not have, or rejected it, since he was found guilty of the same racketeering conspiracy charge as his three codefendants.

To find out, Judge Seibel would have to bring them back to court and question them. The jurors were only asked to explain on the verdict sheet whether they believed that each defendant had agreed that a murder could result from their participation in the racketeering conspiracy.

Frankie Loc Looking For Compassion
Frank LocascioFrank (Frankie Loc) Locascio is still hoping to get a Brooklyn federal judge to let his lawyers explain how he was wrongfully convicted of murder alongside his late Gambino boss, John Gotti. But he and his family also have a backup plan: Compassionate release.

Five days after his lawyers asked the judge who sentenced the Gambino wiseguy to die in prison to grant them a hearing so they could argue against his conviction, they took another tack last week on behalf of the ailing 87-year-old mobster: They petitioned the jurist to grant their client freedom based on his age and frail health.

In their filing with Brooklyn Judge I. Leo Glasser, the lawyers wrote that Locascio, who has acquired a long list of debilitating ailments while serving nearly 30 years of a life sentence for murder, has most likely developed lung cancer and is seeking his release under the First Step Act of 2018.

The attorneys asserted that Frankie Loc's "chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), coronary artery disease, heart failure, stage three chronic kidney disease" when combined with the discovery of "a lung mass that appears 'most consistent with bronchogenic carcinoma,'" are "extraordinary and compelling reasons" that qualify him to be released from prison.

Given his poor health and advanced age, lawyers said, Locascio "will almost certainly die" if infected with the COVID-19 virus that "is sweeping through prisons across the U.S." The lawyers asked Judge Glasser to release him to live with his daughter or a nephew, who are both willing to care for him and pay for any medical costs that aren't covered by Medicare.

Judge I. Leo GlasserLocascio, his lawyers wrote, suffers from "progressive and debilitating" medical conditions "that leave him in chronic pain, dependent on oxygen, and confined to a wheelchair." They argue that he deserves a "compassionate release from" the prison hospital in Ayer Massachusetts where he's been housed for years.

Efforts to persuade Locascio's warden, however, have been unsuccessful. The prison boss has twice turned Frankie Loc down, once in November before COVID was an issue, and again last month.

The lawyers note that Locascio "was convicted of very serious crimes in one of the most notorious prosecutions in the history of this District." But they argue that by spending nearly 30 years behind bars, "he has already paid a heavy price. His punishment has served its deterrent purpose, (and) he no longer poses any danger to the public."

The four-lawyer-team, led by former Boston Federal Judge Nancy Gertner, wrote that Locascio has not yet had a biopsy to determine whether he has "small cell lung cancer" or "non-small cell lung cancer" (NSCLC). But they state that the "median survival range" for small cell lung cancer is "15 to 20 months" while for "patients with extensive-stage disease, the median survival is 8 to 13 months."

Nancy GertnerGertner wrote that she fears the worst for her client. Noting that "poor performance status and weight loss are associated with shortened survival in patients diagnosed with NSCLC," she wrote that Locascio has "lost 22 pounds, which is over 10% of his body weight, between February 2019 and February 2020."

"Locascio's age and medical conditions meet the criteria for compassionate release," wrote Gertner. "They are terminal conditions, render him unable to care for himself in a correctional setting, and represent a serious deterioration in his physical health due to age."

"Despite his conviction for extremely serious crimes," she wrote, "Locascio's age and health conditions would warrant compassionate release even in ordinary times" for an inmate who has been behind bars for nearly 30 years.

"But these are not ordinary times," Gertner wrote. "The unprecedented pandemic renders Mr. Locascio extremely vulnerable to severe infection, acute hospitalization, and death from COVID-19."

Keith EdelmanLocascio's daughter Lisa underscored her father's plight, saying his "chronic conditions of COPD and congestive heart failure mark him as extremely vulnerable" to die if he contracted the coronavirus. Her dad's release would also be a godsend for her 88-year-old mother, she wrote in a personal plea to Glasser.

Lisa told the judge that Caroline Locascio, Frankie Loc's s wife of 61 years, "asks for him often and cries to have him here at home with her. Her diagnosed condition of progressive dementia has become worse lately and seeing her husband again would be a great benefit to her rapidly declining memory."

Gang Land expects the Brooklyn U.S. Attorney's Office, which has pulled out all the stops in opposing Frankie Loc's claim that he was wrongly convicted of a 1990 murder ordered by Gotti, to do the same with this motion for a compassionate release.

Glasser had originally ordered the government to file its response by tomorrow, but assistant U.S. attorneys Keith Edelman and Kevin Trowel prevailed on the judge to give them until Tuesday to file their reply. It's doubtful they would have needed more time if they were going to agree to let Locascio go home.

[JohnnyS]

[JohnnyS]

[Bklyn21]

Thanks for posting the pics JohnnyS , For whatever reason it's hard to post pics on this new phone

[SonnyBlackstein]

Thanks for the post Bklyn.

[Pmac2]

Sounds like capeci is on the fence about crea's murder. Sounds like he's saying crea was rail roaded. Hes knows the lawyers on both sides and the agents read his stuff

[Pmac2]

Crea's murder conviction

[Tonyd621]

I mean Creas loan sounds similar to what Narducci out of philly did when he had his wife create a loan document and he only got a year or less and Narducci had tossed the guy around a bit. Here you have the guy who rec. the loan testifying on behalf of Crea.

[Bklyn21]

It's all BS ! As long as your connected to OC/Lcn your getting blasted with an assholes worth of time no matter what you did or didn't do ! What's the deal with Usurious loans if your way under the 25% threshold . His name is Crea and he's part of Lcn so no rules apply , Everything is out the window ! If your connected to OC forget it . It really makes absolutely any sense whatsoever to be connected in any way . Last weeks GL article with Mikey Spataro it was the same story , They have 100% proof and evidence that he was with an insurance adjuster between the times of 9:32 am and 10:45 when the supposed meeting and crime occurred but he remains locked up behind bars on a 24 year conviction that is not being vacated and shouldn't of been prosecuted to begin with . The 2007 Frankie Roc beer bottle bar incident ! Lmfao , What a joke ! And a funny incident ! Clowns

[Fughedaboutit]

"Federal prosecutors have lodged a post-verdict forfeiture claim of $2.4 million against the powerful wiseguy for extending a perfectly legal loan to a shady general contractor. The contractor, in turn, used Crea's loan to help win a $26.5 million building project from Bronx Lebanon Hospital. The builder then went on to earn another $1 million or so in thefts from the hospital via inflated and phony invoices."

Feds trying to take money from a legal loan..I wonder which one of them needs a new boat or shore house. lol

[queensnyer]

rip frank roc...I usually don't give a fuck if some mobster dies, I know nothing about...but Ive had conversations and been around frank in the past. he was a decent dude at least to me and people in the neighborhood

[gohnjotti]

It's all BS ! As long as your connected to OC/Lcn your getting blasted with an assholes worth of time no matter what you did or didn't do ! What's the deal with Usurious loans if your way under the 25% threshold . His name is Crea and he's part of Lcn so no rules apply , Everything is out the window ! If your connected to OC forget it . It really makes absolutely any sense whatsoever to be connected in any way . Last weeks GL article with Mikey Spataro it was the same story , They have 100% proof and evidence that he was with an insurance adjuster between the times of 9:32 am and 10:45 when the supposed meeting and crime occurred but he remains locked up behind bars on a 24 year conviction that is not being vacated and shouldn't of been prosecuted to begin with . The 2007 Frankie Roc beer bottle bar incident ! Lmfao , What a joke ! And a funny incident ! Clowns

I hate to be that asshole, especially because I personally don’t think the evidence was enough to convict Spataro. With that being said, Spataro’s use of Lisa Ida as a Defense witness to testify that she was with Spataro at his body shop at the time of the shooting is not really a big deal in the grand scheme of the case. Nobody is saying Spataro shot Campanella. In fact, Floridia himself wasn’t confident that Spataro dropped of DeMartino to the murder scene on the day. Spataro’s conviction mainly hinged on the fact that Floridia testified extensively that Spataro was somewhat involved in the planning of the hit and passing messages from John DeRoss down the chain of command, as well as the fact that DeMartino made a flurry of calls to Spataro moments after the hit, with Floridia testifying that DeMartino was heard over the phone saying “Mike, we missed.”

Is Spataro guilty of murder conspiracy? Ehhhh, I think a more accurate crime would be misprision of a felony, which is what Barney Bellomo pleaded guilty to back in the day. It essentially means you knew a felony was going to be committed but did nothing to stop it or report it to authorities. In Spataro’s case, just like in Bellomo’s case, the felony in question was murder.

[SonnyBlackstein]

Gohn with the slam dunk.

I think a big point missed in this column was that Junior G attended a wake of an associate with known Wiseguy’s in attendance. Not that anything would happen to him but I think this casts a little shade that he’s perceived as an out and out rat.

[Ed]

The priest said he is well aware that "many of my parishioners" are reputed members or associates of organized crime.
"You have to know your people," he said. "I know my people quite well. I've served south Queens for 19 years now. I'm here about five years now. I've learned a lot about the people I serve. They're a very earthy type," he chuckled, just a bit.

The padre is in a tough spot. He handled that very diplomatically, with a touch of humour.

[queensnyer]

Gohn with the slam dunk.

I think a big point missed in this column was that Junior G attended a wake of an associate with known Wiseguy’s in attendance. Not that anything would happen to him but I think this casts a little shade that he’s perceived as an out and out rat.

junior was not there....it only mentions him as being a friend of tommy sneakers... although you are right nothing would happen to him if he came around