JUDGE SENTENCES 8 MAFIA LEADERS TO PRISON TERMS


By ARNOLD H. LUBASCH


Published: January 14, 1987



Prison sentences of 40 to 100 years were imposed yesterday on eight men convicted as top leaders and key associates of the ''commission'' that ruled the Mafia in the United States.

Prison sentences of 40 to 100 years were imposed yesterday on eight men convicted as top leaders and key associates of the ''commission'' that ruled the Mafia in the United States.

In imposing the stringent sentences in a crowded courtroom of Federal District Court in Manhattan, Judge Richard Owen castigated the defendants as ruthless racketeers who operated the Mafia's ''board of directors.''

Judge Owen gave 100-year sentences to seven defendants convicted of numerous charges and a 40-year sentence to the other defendant, who was convicted of two charges that carried a maximum of 20 years each. 'Prejudiced From the First Day'

Among those receiving 100-year sentences were three men convicted as the bosses of major Mafia families - Anthony (Fat Tony) Salerno, 75 years old, of the Genovese group, Anthony (Tony Ducks) Corallo, 73, of the Lucchese group and Carmine (Junior) Persico, 53, of the Colombo group.

Mr. Persico, who served as his own lawyer, told the judge that the defendants had been deprived of a fair trial because of ''this Mafia mania that was flying around.''

''This case was prejudiced from the first day,'' Mr. Persico said, complaining about publicity the case received. He urged the judge to focus on a defense accusation of prosecutorial misconduct instead of trying to ''satisfy the public that he's sending Mafia people to jail for 100 years.'' Murder, Extortion and Payoffs

Judge Owen, who also imposed maximum fines of $50,000 to $250,000, noted that the defendants would be eligible for parole after 10 years under Federal law, but he recommended that they be denied parole.

The defendants were convicted Nov. 19 of conducting the affairs of ''the commission of La Cosa Nostra'' in a racketeering pattern that included murders, loan-sharking, labor payoffs and extortion in the concrete industry in New York City.

The one defendant sentenced to 40 years was Anthony (Bruno) Indelicato, 39, a member of the Bonanno family. He was convicted of taking part in the 1979 murder of the family's boss, Carmine Galante, and two associates. A Light Moment

Another defendant, Gennaro (Gerry Lang) Langella, 48, was convicted as Mr. Persico's second-in-command in the Colombo family. Last November, both men were sentenced in a different racketeering case, with prison terms of 39 years for Mr. Persico and 65 years for Mr. Langella.

In one of the few light moments at the sentencing yesterday, a defense lawyer, Frank A. Lopez, told the judge that Mr. Langella was already serving such a long sentence that he could not give much more time to his country.

The comment drew a smile from Judge Owen, who said Mr. Persico and Mr. Langella could serve the sentences concurrently.

Another defendant sentenced as a member of the Colombo family in the commission case was Ralph Scopo, 58, a former president of the District Council of Cement and Concrete Workers.

Two others, Salvatore (Tom Mix) Santoro, 72, and Christopher (Christie Tick) Furnari, 62, were sentenced as the Lucchese underboss and counselor, respectively. 'You're Doing a Good Job'

Directing sarcastic remarks at the judge, Mr. Santoro said as he was being sentenced, ''You're in the driver's seat, Your Honor.''

When the judge said he was just doing his job, Mr. Santoro retorted bitterly, ''And you're doing a good job.''

For the most part, however, the defendants displayed little emotion as the judge announced the sentences in the hushed courtroom. Defense lawyers said they would appeal the convictions.

Each of the main charges carried a maximum 20-year sentence, which could have amounted to 300 years for most of the defendants. The judge imposed the maximum for most of the charges, but he made some of the terms concurrent.

Addressing Mr. Salerno as the sentencing began, the judge said, ''You have essentially spent a lifetime terrorizing this community to your financial advantage.''

Mr. Indelicato and Mr. Scopo were convicted of carrying out orders of the commission leaders. Mr. Indelicato was the only one named in murders authorized by the commission.

According to a 58-page sentencing memorandum by the prosecutors, Michael Chertoff, John F. Savarese and John Gilmore Childers, the trial showed that the commission was ''the national ruling body of La Cosa Nostra, or the Mafia, in the United States.''

The prosecutors said the commission coordinated criminal activities, resolved disputes and sometimes ordered ''the execution of family bosses.'' Team Effort Praised

After the sentencing, United States Attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani conducted a news conference at his Manhattan office with Federal, state and local law-enforcement officials who praised the team effort in the case.

Mr. Giuliani said the defendants ''richly deserved'' long sentences.

Some bosses, including Mr. Persico, have previously run Mafia families from prison by using trusted aides and couriers, according to the authorities. They said the convicted commission leaders had already appointed acting bosses and were unlikely to retain power, particularly in light of their long sentences.

The commission case and other recent convictions have been described by the authorities as devastating blows that could create turmoil in the Mafia and make it more dangerous for new leaders to run the organization.

Besides the men convicted in the trial, two other bosses were originally charged in the case. They were Paul Castellano of the Gambino group, who was killed in 1985, and Philip Rastelli of the Bonanno group, who was convicted in a separate case last year.

John Gotti, accused of being the new Gambino boss, is a defendant in a racketeering trial in Brooklyn.



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REPUTED MOB FIGURE FATALLY SHOT IN BROOKLYN CLUB


By TODD S. PURDUM

Published: January 16, 1987



A reputed organized-crime figure was killed in a Brooklyn social club late Wednesday by one of five armed men who forced several patrons to lie on the floor while they robbed them of money and jewelry, the police said yesterday.

A reputed organized-crime figure was killed in a Brooklyn social club late Wednesday by one of five armed men who forced several patrons to lie on the floor while they robbed them of money and jewelry, the police said yesterday.

Investigators said they were trying to determine whether the slaying might be linked to the murder of a retired city police officer, who was found shot to death an hour later in a stolen van on a street about two miles away. They said the gunmen in the first attack had reportedly fled in a van.

The first victim, Salvatore Scarpa, 56 years old, was shot at least once in the head in the club at 1275 74th Street in the Dyker Heights section about 11:50 P.M., the police said. He was taken to Maimonides Medical Center and pronounced dead shortly after 2 A.M.

Mr. Scarpa has been identified as a sworn ''soldier'' in the Colombo organized-crime family. His brother, Gregory, has been identified as a captain in the family. A Fight for Control

Local and Federal law-enforcement officials said they were investigating the possibility that he was slain as part of a fight for control of the family in the wake of the conviction last year of its leader, Carmine Persico, on racketeering charges.

Mr. Persico, 53, was sentenced Tuesday to 100 years in prison, along with several other men convicted of being the leaders of the ''commission'' that rules the Mafia in the United States.

One of the gunmen was masked, but the police said they did not know which man shot Mr. Scarpa. They said his assailant spoke with him before he fired, and that the gunmen may have robbed the other people in the club to disguise the attack on him. Mr. Scarpa's watch, a gold pendant and his wallet containing $313 in cash were found beside his body, the police said.

The four gunmen not wearing masks were all black, and investigators said one of them used the words ''Howard Beach'' before fleeing the club, a storefront with a sign identifying it as the offices of European Imports Ceramic Tiles. But the police said they did not regard the incident as racially motivated. Scarpa Was Free on Bail

At the time of his death, Mr. Scarpa, who the police said lived at 7401 Shore Road in Bay Ridge, was free on bail awaiting trial on a cocaine possession charge from last September, said a spokesman for the Brooklyn District Attorney's office, Linda Sachs.

In the other murder, Carlo Antonino, 45, a police officer who retired on a disability pension in 1977 after receiving numerous commendations in 11 years on the force, was found in a red Dodge van parked on Homecrest Avenue at the Shore Parkway in Sheepshead Bay about 12:55 A.M. He had been shot at least three times in the head.

The police said Mr. Antonino, who lived in West Islip, L.I., and worked occasionally for a construction concern in Freeport, L.I., had last been in touch with his son Wednesday afternoon by telephone. He said he was ''going to get a bite to eat,'' said Capt. John V. Ricci of the Brooklyn detective command.

Captain Ricci said Mr. Antonino was found after a man called the 61st Precinct to say he had heard shots and seen ''three males'' running away from the van, which was reported stolen on Tuesday in Brooklyn.



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FORMER COURT CLERK ADMITS GIVING INFORMATION TO MOB


By LEONARD BUDER


Published: May 30, 1987



A 67-year-old former court clerk pleaded guilty yesterday to charges that she had passed confidential information about organized-crime cases to members of the Gambino crime family while she was working in the United States Court House in Manhattan.

A 67-year-old former court clerk pleaded guilty yesterday to charges that she had passed confidential information about organized-crime cases to members of the Gambino crime family while she was working in the United States Court House in Manhattan.

As the former clerk, Mildred Russo, twice said ''guilty'' when asked for her plea to counts of obstruction of justice, members of her family, including two daughters and a son, sat solemly in the spectators' section of the courtroom, their heads bowed.

The proceedings took place before Judge Jack B. Weinstein in Federal District Court in Brooklyn, where Mrs. Russo and two other defendants had been scheduled to stand trial starting Monday on racketeering and other charges. The trial of the other two is still to begin Monday.

As part of a plea arrangement with prosecutors, the Government will dismiss a more serious racketeering charge against her. One of 16 Indicted

Mrs. Russo faces a possible maximum prison term of five years and a possible fine of $10,000 at her sentencing on July 30. She could have faced a maximum prison term of 20 years on the racketeering charge.

She was one of 16 people accused last June in a racketeering and conspiracy indictment and in a related indictment. The indictments said that, over 20 years, members of the group took part in murders, extortion, robbery, labor-racketeering and other crimes. Federal law-enforcement authorities said those indicted included a number of members of what they described as ''the ruling hierarchy of the Gambino organized-crime family.''

Among those indicted and still awaiting a trial date is Joseph N. Gallo, who was identified as the counselor in the Gambino family, which the Justice Department has publicly described as the largest and most powerful Mafia group in the country. John Gotti, the reputed boss of the family, was not named in the indictment.

The racketeering indictment charged that Mrs. Russo conspired from 1975 to 1983 - when she worked in the criminal division of the court - with Gambino family leaders, including the late boss of the family, Paul Castellano, to obtain and pass on information about secret grand jury matters and other criminal proceedings. The information helped organized-crime members flee to avoid arrest and prosecution, the indictment asserted.

In the two counts to which she pleaded guilty, Mrs. Russo was charged with conspiring to obstruct justice with her son-in-law, Augustus Sclafani, who has been identified as being associated with the Gambino group. He is listed as a fugitive, but law-enforcement agents say they believe he is dead.

One of the counts said Mrs. Russo provided information in April 1983 about a sealed grand jury indictment against Alphonse (Junior) Persico, the son of Carmine Persico, who the authorities say is the head of Colombo organized-crime group in the city. She Came Under Suspicion

The other said that, in September 1983, she passed on information about another sealed indictment. But that indictment, according to two prosecutors, Douglas E. Grover and Laura A. Ward, was ''specious'' and had been drawn up to test the honesty of Mrs. Russo, who had come under suspicion.

In both instances, according to the charges, she gave the confidential information to Joseph Corrao, a reputed Gambino captain, who is one of those scheduled for trial Monday.

At yesterday's session, Mrs. Russo, who was earning $23,000 a year when she was indicted, told Judge Weinstein that she was retired from the court position. Judge Weinstein said her guilty plea could affect her pension.

After her plea was accepted, Judge Weinstein allowed her to remain free on $50,000 bail.




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2 Convicted of Racketeering In Mafia Construction Case

By ARNOLD H. LUBASCH

Published: July 18, 1987



LEAD: A jury convicted two men yesterday of racketeering charges involving the Mafia's systematic extortion of payoffs in the construction industry of New York City.

A jury convicted two men yesterday of racketeering charges involving the Mafia's systematic extortion of payoffs in the construction industry of New York City.

One of the defendants was Ralph Scopo, a former construction union leader already serving a 100-year prison sentence for his conviction last year in a related case that involved the ruling ''commission'' of the Mafia.

The other defendant is Dominic (Donny Shacks) Montemarano, identified in the indictment as a captain in ''the Colombo organized-crime family of La Cosa Nostra.'' He was arrested in 1985 with Carmine (Junior) Persico, the boss of the crime family.

The jury reached its verdict, on the third day of deliberations, convicting Mr. Scopo and Mr. Montemarano of all the charges against them in the 11-week trial in Federal District Court in Manhattan. Sentencing on Sept. 15

Both men were found guilty of two main racketeering charges and several related extortion charges, each carrying a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. Judge John F. Keenan said he would sentence them on Sept. 15.

The prosecutor, Peter M. Lieb, presented dozens of witnesses and secretly taped conversations as evidence that the two defendants took part in an extensive extortion scheme to obtain cash payoffs from concrete companies in exchange for major contracts.

Mr. Scopo was portrayed as having controlled a key construction union group in the city for the Colombo family. He was a Colombo family member as well as president of the union organization, the District Council of Cement and Concrete Workers.

Much of the evidence in the case was also presented last year in two related racketeering trials, one focusing on the Colombo crime family and the other on the Mafia commission. Part of Colombo Case

Mr. Scopo and Mr. Montemarano were originally defendants in the Colombo case. The family's boss, Mr. Persico, and eight others were convicted in June 1986.

But Mr. Scopo and Mr. Montemarano were severed from the original trial because of illness. They went to trial together on the charges that were pending from the original case, resulting in yesterday's conviction.

The conviction was described by Rudolph W. Giuliani, the United States Attorney in Manhattan, as ''a significant victory.''

The two previous trials, as well as the trial of Mr. Scopo and Mr. Montemarano, included racketeering charges involving extortion in the city's construction industry. A Mafia 'Club'

The Government presented evidence that the Mafia had operated a ''club'' composed of several concrete companies, that it allocated contracts for work on many major buildings and that it extorted cash payments for the controlling crime families.

Mr. Montemarano, who is 49 years old and lives in Brooklyn, was remanded to jail yesterday to await his sentencing with Mr. Scopo, 58, of Queens. Their lawyers, Harold J. Boreanaz and Austin V. Campriello, said they intended to appeal.

An appeal is also pending on Mr. Scopo's conviction in the commission case.

In yesterday's verdict, the jury convicted Mr. Scopo of 11 counts and Mr. Montemarano of 13 counts. The additional counts against Mr. Montemarano included a bribery scheme to obtain favorable treatment for Mr. Persico in prison.

The verdict was reached by a jury of only 11 members after one juror was excused because of a serious family illness after the deliberations began. The judge ordered the deliberations to continue with the 11-member jury despite defense objections.

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2 Mob Figures Slain by Gunman in Brooklyn


Published: September 4, 1987



Two men described by the police as members of the Colombo organized-crime family were slain in Brooklyn yesterday by one or two gunmen who strode up to them on a quiet sidewalk, opened fire, leaped into a car driven by an accomplice and sped away.

Two men described by the police as members of the Colombo organized-crime family were slain in Brooklyn yesterday by one or two gunmen who strode up to them on a quiet sidewalk, opened fire, leaped into a car driven by an accomplice and sped away.

The motive for the slayings was unclear, but the police said they appeared to be gangland assassinations. Investigators last night were checking the background of both victims for clues in the attack.

The victims were identified as Frank Santora, 51 years old, of 2134 79th Street in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn, and Carmine Varielle, 31, of 18 Allen Court, in Port Richmond, Staten Island. Both were described by authorities as members of the crime family named for the late Joseph Colombo, one of the smallest of the five organized crime groups in New York City.

Detectives in the Police Department's intelligence division said Mr. Santora had emerged from Federal prison last year after serving about six years for involvment in the swindling of more than $11 million from the estate of Frederick Lundy, a millionaire Brooklyn restaurant owner who died in 1977. The police said Mr. Santora and Mr. Varielle were shot at 4:22 P.M. outside a dry cleaning shop at 1508 Bath Avenue, near Bay 10th Street, in Brooklyn's Bath Beach section, a middle-class, predominately Italian neighborhood of well-kept homes and small shops on quiet, tree-lined streets.

No weapon was found, but investigators said they believed a .38 caliber revolver had been used.

A telephone paging device and an unspecified amount of cash was found on one victim - the police did not say which one - and the police ruled out robbery as a motive. Neither man carried identity papers, but identifications were made from papers found in vehicles they had left nearby.

''We don't have any witnesses who saw the shooting,'' Deputy Inspector Charles R. Prestia, commander of Brooklyn North detectives, said last night at a news conference at the scene of the shootings.

But he said that some residents had heard shouts and a series of gunshots, and he added, ''My guess would be that it was an organized-crime assassination.''

The police said one or two gunman had apparently approached the victims on foot and had fired at close range. Mr. Varielle was shot in the back of the head, in the right chest and in the right shoulder. He fell dead on the sidewalk in front of the Bath Avenue Dry Cleaning and Tailoring Shop, the police said. Dark Blue Car Speeds Away

As the assailant or assailants leaped into a dark blue car and sped southwest on Bath Avenue, the police said, Mr. Santora, who had been shot twice in the body, staggered next door to the entry of a grocery store, G & T Salumeria, at 1510 Bath Avenue. But patrons and employees inside said he did not go in.

Instead, bleeding profusely, he staggered back along the sidewalk to an alley between the grocery and the dry cleaners and collapsed there beside a fence. Local residents called the police and an Emergency Medical Service ambulance rushed Mr. Santora to Victory Memorial Hospital, 12 blocks away at 92d Street and Seventh Avenue.

Medical assistance was given to Mr. Santora in the ambulance and by a team of three doctors and three nurses led by Dr. Ahmed Nafif, the director of the emergency room at Victory Memorial, but the measures were unable to save him. Mr. Santora was pronounced dead about 5 P.M., 40 minutes after the shooting.

Though there was no hard evidence to indicate that the shootings were mob-related, the background of the victims and the methods employed by the gunmen, the police said, suggested that they were contract killings set up by the underworld.

The number of assailants was unclear, the police said, but one investigator said a witness saw a blue car speed southwest on Bath Avenue immediately after the shootings.


An earlier report said an anonymous caller had told the police the getaway car was a blue Chevrolet Malibu with the New York license plate KFC 260, but the police said that the license number could not be verified and that the account could not be confirmed.

Sgt. Maurice Howard, a police spokesman, said last night that members of the Police Department's intelligence division had identified Mr. Santora and Mr. Varielle as members of the Colombo family. The group has been headed in recent years by Carmine (Junior) Persico, who was convicted last year with other organized-crime leaders as members of a ''commission'' that directed criminal activities. Victim Jailed in Scheme in 1980

The Colombo family, according to police intelligence officials, has about 115 ''made'' members, and 500 associates; the group is based in Brooklyn and Staten Island. Only the Lucchese group, with 110 members, is said to be smaller. The largest is the Gambino family, with 250 members and 500 associates.

The police had no background information last night on Mr. Varielle, other than to say that he was associated with the Colombo group. They said, however, that Mr. Santora was one of seven men who received prison terms in 1980 for a swindle that systematicaly pillaged an estate of more than $11 million in stocks, bonds, real estate and other assets.

The police did not provide details about Mr. Santora's role in the swindle, and other information on his involvement was not available last night. News accounts of the case from 1979 and 1980 did not mention Mr. Santora's name.

News accounts of the time detailed a swindle against the estate of Frederick Lundy, the eccentric recluse who owned Lundy's seafood restaurant in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn. The swindle, according to prosecutors, began eight months before Mr. Lundy died in 1977 at the age of 82 and continued long after his death.

One of the men convicted in the case was Ciro Autorino, who had served as Mr. Lundy's manservant.

Eugene Gold, the Brooklyn District Attorney who took part in the investigation, called it one of the most complex cases he had ever seen, indicating that it involved plans to buy a slaughterhouse and meat-packing plant in Uruguay, impersonation of Mr. Lundy, the transfer of large sums of money to South America and Europe and exchanges of real estate and paintings by such masters as Raphael and Goya.




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Federal Agents Arrest Fugitive In Connecticut


By JOHN T. MCQUISTON

Published: November 10, 1987



Alphonse (Ollie Boy) Persico, a former head of the Colombo organized crime family who has been a fugitive since 1980, was arrested yesterday by Federal officers in West Hartford, Conn., the authorities announced.

Alphonse (Ollie Boy) Persico, a former head of the Colombo organized crime family who has been a fugitive since 1980, was arrested yesterday by Federal officers in West Hartford, Conn., the authorities announced.

Mr. Persico had been in hiding since June 1980, when he failed to appear for a pre-sentencing hearing before Chief Judge Jack B. Weinstein in Federal District Court in Brooklyn on a loan sharking conviction for which he faced up to 60 years in prison.

He was arrested yesterday about 5:30 P.M. by seven deputy United States marshals at an apartment building on Highland Street in West Hartford, according to Stephen Boyle, chief of congressional public affairs for the Federal marshals office, who announced the arrest last night in Washington.

Mr. Boyle said the Federal agents followed ''a trail of phony identification and aliases'' to the apartment, where they found Mr. Persico, who had $7,000 in cash when he was taken into custody. Combed City's Streets

He said Federal law-enforcement officials had learned of several aliases the 57-year-old fugitive was using and heard from ''tipsters'' that he was in West Hartford.

Carrying photographs of Mr. Persico, deputy marshals canvassed an area of West Hartford until they met several people who ''thought they recognized him,'' Mr. Boyle said.

They traced him to the apartment building and ''quickly made the arrest before he could be tipped off,'' he said. Mr. Persico was alone at the time of his arrest.

Although considered armed and dangerous, and known to travel with armed guards, Mr. Persico did not resist his arrest yesterday and was not armed, officials said.

Mr. Boyle said it did not appear that Mr. Persico had ''any kind of a job'' to account for the $7,000 in cash. Financial Support Structure

''That of course will be part of the continuing investigation,'' he said, ''to determine what the support structure is that allowed him to stay free and have spending money.''

Mr. Persico was convicted on May 1, 1980, of using force and the threat of force to collect $10,000 lent at the rate of 2 percent a week.

By failing to appear for the pre-sentencing hearing in June 1980, he forfeited $250,000 in bail. It meant that the homes of Mr. Persico and his brother, Carmine, in the Dyker Heights section of Brooklyn, became Government property.

Carmine Persico, 54, was publicly identified then as the boss of the Colombo crime family. In January, he was sentenced to 100 years in prison following his conviction along with seven other men with operating a ''commission'' that ruled the Mafia throughout the United States.

Alphonse Persico was previously convicted in 1951 of murdering Steve Bove, a longshoreman, He served 17 years of a 20-year sentence. His criminal record dates to 1949 and includes charges of assault, murder, fraud, false statements on bank loans, firearms violations, extortion and possession of stolen property, officials said.

Mr. Persico, who was being held overnight in a jail in Hartford, was to be taken before a Federal judge this morning, then moved to Brooklyn, from where he fled more than seven years ago.



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Colombo Figure Given 25 Years On '80 Charges


By LEONARD BUDER


Published: December 19, 1987



Alphonse (Allie Boy) Persico, a former leader of the Colombo organized-crime family who had been a fugitive seven years, until his arrest last month, was sentenced yesterday to 25 years in prison for a 1980 conviction on extortion charges.

Alphonse (Allie Boy) Persico, a former leader of the Colombo organized-crime family who had been a fugitive seven years, until his arrest last month, was sentenced yesterday to 25 years in prison for a 1980 conviction on extortion charges.

''This sentence I'm getting now is a death sentence for me,'' Mr. Persico, 58 years old, told Judge Thomas C. Platt in Federal District Court in Brooklyn.

Mr. Persico, who was also fined $30,000, was convicted in May 1980 of using force and the threat of force to collect $10,000 lent at the rate of 2 percent a week. He could have received a maximum of 60 years in prison.

Seven weeks later, he failed to appear at a presentencing hearing - forfeiting bail of $250,000 - and was a fugitive until Nov. 9, when Federal marshals apprehended him in West Hartford, Conn., where he was living under an alias. Relationship With Brother

Before the sentence was announced, the head of the Justice Department Organized Crime Strike Force in Brooklyn, Edward A. McDonald, said Mr. Persico had emerged in the 1970's as the leader of the Colombo family, which he described as ''one of the most violent crime families.''

During his trial, Mr. Persico was described as the group's underboss, who had been acting boss while his brother, Carmine (Junior), now 54, was in prison. Carmine Persico is serving a 100-year term on a conviction last year in Federal District Court in Manhattan, along with seven other defendants, for operating a ''commission'' that ruled the Mafia throughout the country.

Referring to Alphonse Persico's trial, Mr. McDonald said, ''He actually threatened a Government witness and engaged in a physical beating against him.''

Mr. Persico's lawyer, Frank Lopez, asked Judge Platt to take into consideration his client's poor health - he said Mr. Persico had a heart condition, cirrhosis of the liver and emphysema -and that he had led an exemplary life while a fugitive.

Judge Platt observed that the defendant had ''put on an extraordinary face'' while hiding out. But, he added, Mr. Persico had ''a very serious prior record'' and had ''displayed utter contempt for the judicial process'' by becoming a fugitive.



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Prosecutors Tell of Colombo Family Murder Plot



By ARNOLD H. LUBASCH
Published: September 1, 1991



Victor Orena, reputedly the acting boss of the Colombo crime family, has narrowly escaped an assassination plot, according to a court document.

The plot stemmed from a power struggle between Mr. Orena and a group loyal to Carmine Persico, the convicted Colombo boss now serving a long prison sentence, the document said. It noted that the information about the alleged murder plot came from confidential informants.

Federal prosecutors submitted the document last week at a detention hearing for a defendant, Robert Zambardi, in a loansharking case in Federal District Court in Brooklyn. The document identified Mr. Zambardi as a Colombo crime family soldier who reports directly to Carmine Sessa, identified as the family's counselor. Aborted Plot

"Five confidential sources have informed agents of the F.B.I. that members of the Colombo family close to Persico and concerned that Orena wanted to take over complete control of the family, ordered Orena's murder," the document said.

"On June 20, 1991," it continued, "Carmine Sessa, Robert Zambardi and two other men went to Orena's residence intending to murder Orena. The plan failed because Orena arrived home prematurely before the conspirators were ready."

A prosecutor, Laura A. Ward, added at the hearing that Mr. Orena was alerted to trouble when he saw the four men near his home and that they quickly left, aborting the planned assassination.

Although no further incidents have been reported in the dispute, law-enforcement authorities said the danger of warfare within the Colombo organization persists.

The court document, which Ms. Ward submitted for United States Attorney Andrew J. Maloney, urged a Federal magistrate to detain Mr. Zambardi in jail pending his trial. They said he engaged in violent loansharking activities, as well as the alleged murder plot, and posed a "danger to the community."

A defense lawyer, Frank Lopez, argued that the Government was presenting stale information from anonymous sources and that Mr. Zambardi, who has been working as a car salesman, should be released on bail. Released on Bail

After hearing the arguments, Magistrate John L. Caden said the Government's contentention that Mr. Zambardi was a danger to the community "doesn't measure up to clear and convincing evidence." He then released Mr. Zambardi on $500,000 bail.

Mr. Zambardi, who is 51 years old and lives on Staten Island, was the only defendant the Government tried to detain without bail in the loansharking investigation. Five others, accused of links to the Gambino crime family, were indicted on separate loansharking charges and were released on $250,000 bail each.

The other defendants were Joseph Bilotti, 58, of Staten Island; Vincent D'Antoni, 48, of Staten Island; Joseph Seggio, 54, of Brooklyn; Peter Sgarlato, 56, of Edison, N.J., and Michael Murdocco, 48, of Staten Island.

Mr. Bilotti was identified as a brother of Thomas Bilotti, who was killed with Paul Castellano, who reputedly headed the Gambino family. They were shot to death on Dec. 16, 1985. Their murders are among the charges against John Gotti in a racketeering trial scheduled for early next year.

In the case of Mr. Zambardi, who was on probation for a bank burglary scheme, the prosecution said it was prepared to prove that he lent several thousand dollars to a businessman, Ernest Benfante, who was beaten up last year when he failed to make weekly interest payments.

"Following the beating, Benfante contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation," the court document said. "Wearing a tape-recording device, Benfante met with Zambardi on Nov. 11, 1990. During the course of the recorded conversation, Zambardi acknowledged the loan and authorizing the beating of Benfante."



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Killing in Brooklyn Social Club Is Linked to Mob Power Struggle


GEORGE JAMES


Published: December 6, 1991



A 79-year-old man was killed in a social club in Brooklyn early yesterday, in what law enforcement officials say is a bloody struggle for control within the Colombo organized crime family that has left three dead in six shootings since June.

Earlier this week, the police said, a 78-year-old man who was a member of of the Genovese crime family was killed by a bullet meant for a Colombo family member who was wounded in the attack.

In yesterday's killing, Rosario Nastasi of 1429 Shore Parkway was shot about 1 A.M. as he played cards in the Belvedere Social Athletic Association clubhouse at 985 63d Street in Bensonhurt, the police said.

A law-enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the shooting was part of a struggle for control of the 100-member Colombo family that has been raging since June between Carmine Persico and Victor Orena, who has been its acting head while Mr. Persico serves a Federal prison term.

Mr. Nastasi was a bookmaker and longtime Colombo family member affiliated with the Persico faction, the official said.

Neither Police Commissioner Lee P. Brown nor Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes would classify the shootings as a part of mob war yesterday. But Mr. Brown said the targets in the six incidents had links to organized crime.

The law enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that Mr. Orena, 57, had been marked for death after making moves to become the permanent leader. He was recently named boss by the commission of New York's five families, the official said. The police say the attempt on Mr. Orena's life occurred near his home on Long Island on June 20.

Then, on Nov. 18, a carload of men fired at a car driven by a man described by the police as a capo aligned with Mr. Persico, Gregory Scarpa Sr. Mr. Scarpa and men with him in another car engaged in a gun battle with the assailants. No one was injured, the police said. Shot as He Sat in His Car

On Nov. 24, Henry Smurra, who the authorities say is a soldier affiliated with the Persico faction, was shot in the head and killed as he sat in his car in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, the police said.

Five days later, Larry Sessa, a Colombo associate who is the nephew of Carmine Sessa, a consigliere for Mr. Persico, escaped injury after being chased down 86th Street in Brooklyn by a group of gunmen, the police said. He jumped into a car driven by an acquaintance, who was shot in the shoulder and the hand.

Then, Tuesday morning, a gunman opened fire outside a social club at 2284 McDonald Avenue in Gravesend, killing Gaetano Amato, 78, who the police say is a soldier in the Genovese family, and wounding Joseph Tolino, 38, who the police say is a Colombo associate. He was shot in the left foot. The law enforcement official said the killing of Mr. Amato was a mistake and the target was Mr. Tolino, the nephew of Nicholas Grancio, a capo aligned with Mr. Orena.

In yesterday's shooting, a bystander, Kay Duggan, 47, described as Mr. Nastasi girlfriend, received a superficial chest wound and was treated at Maimonides Medical Center and released.




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BROOKLYN SLAYING TIED TO MOB FEUD

By LEE A. DANIELS

Published: December 8, 1991



A 30-year-old man was shot in the back of the head as hung a Christmas garland on the door of his Brooklyn home Friday -- the latest victim of a struggle for control of the Colombo crime family, law-enforcement officials said yesterday.

The man, Vincent Fusaro, was shot once in the head at 3:55 P.M. as he hung the garland on the door of his home at 310 Bay 11th Street in the Bath Beach section of Brooklyn, where he lived with his mother and grandmother. So far, the police have not identified any suspects in the case, said Lieut. Timothy Dowd, head of the detective squad at the 62d Precinct in Brooklyn.

Lieutenant Dowd also refused to classify the slaying as an organized crime matter yesterday. But other law-enforcement officials said the Fusaro killing indicated that the struggle among factions within the Colombo crime family has not abated. Three deaths in six shootings have been tied to the struggle, which investigators say has also involved the Genovese and Gambino crime families.

Mr. Fusaro was the night manager of the Venus Diner at 9316 Fourth Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, a place that law-enforcement authorities, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said was frequented by organized-crime figures. Third Death in a Week

The police said that Mr. Fusaro had no criminal record, but one law-enforcement official said that he was believed to be a member of the Colombo family.

Mr. Fusaro's is the fourth known death -- and the third last week -- since the shooting war among the families erupted in June. During the week, a 79-year-old man, Rosario Nastasi, and a 78-year-old man, Gaetano Amato, were killed in separate incidents in Brooklyn.

Law officials said the struggle stemmed from the attempt of Victor Orena to dethrone Carmine Persico as head of the Colombo family. Mr. Persico, 59, convicted of racketeering charges in 1986, is serving a 100-year sentence in Federal prison. He named Mr. Orena, 57, as the family's temporary chieftain, apparently to await the release of his son, Alphonse Persico, from prison for a racketeering charge conviction.

The authorities say Mr. Orena has decided to take the family over for himself, an action that has divided the Colombo organization and brought other families into the action.

The police said that Mr. Nastari was a longtime Colombo family associate affiliated with the Persico faction. They said Mr. Amato, a soldier in the Genovese crime family, was killed by mistake. The killers were really after Joseph Tollino, 38, a Colombo associate, who was sitting with Mr. Amato when Mr. Amato was slain, the authorities said. Mr. Tollino is the nephew of Nicholas Grancio, a Colombo family captain aligned with Mr. Orena. A Pledge of Action

Yesterday, most residents near Mr. Fusaro's home would not discuss the shooting. "In this neighborhood, mum's the word," said one man who would speak but refused to be identified.

Earlier this week, while saying that the targets of the shootings had links to organized crime, New York City's Police Commissioner, Lee P. Brown, and Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes refused to characterize the violence as a mob war.

But Mr. Hynes said then that many people did not realize the extent of danger in organized-crime activity and that the killings and attempted murders that occurred among the family members have involved innocent bystanders as well.

Yesterday Mr. Hynes said through his spokesman, Patrick Clark, that he would continue to work with police officials "to respond to this threat to public safety."




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Killing Is Tied To Mafia War In Brooklyn


By GEORGE JAMES





The broadening civil war for control of the Colombo organized-crime family yesterday claimed the life of an innocent victim, an 18-year-old youth working in a Brooklyn bagel shop who the police said was shot to death when he was mistaken for someone else.

About 20 minutes earlier, the 21-year-old son of a reputed Colombo soldier was dropped off at Coney Island Hospital with a gunshot wound to his chest. The police were looking into the possibility the two incidents were linked.

The slain 18-year-old, Matteo Speranza, was the fourth person to be killed within six days in the bloody squabble that began six months ago and has taken a total of five lives and left others wounded.

But at 18, Mr. Speranza was the youngest person and the first innocent bystander to die, the police said. Several bystanders have been injured in the feud, including a murder victim's girlfriend who was struck by a bullet last week and three pedestrians, including a 4-year-old girl, who were hit by a car whose occupants were fleeing from an assassination attempt by gunmen last month. Struggle Between Factions

Law-enforcement officials have described the Colombo family in recent years as crumbling, shrinking to barely 100 members, weakened by prosecutions and internal strife. Then, since June, a violent struggle has been waged between factions loyal to the jailed boss, Carmine Persico, 59 years old, who is serving a long Federal prison term, and Victor Orena, 57, originally the acting head of the crime family who has been solidifying his control. Since an attempt was made on Mr. Orena's life in June, there have been eight shooting incidents, including the two yesterday, in southern Brooklyn linked to the Colombo family.

Before dawn yesterday, Matteo Speranza, who lived with his family in Bensonhurst, walked into a war zone without realizing it when he opened the Wanna Bagel shop, at 8905 Third Avenue near 89th Street in Bay Ridge.

The bagel shop is owned by two men with links to organized crime, said Deputy Chief Emil A. Ciccotelli, commander of Brooklyn Detectives. And it has links to the Colombo crime family specifically, said Capt. William Plackenmeyer, commander of 11th Division detectives in Brooklyn.

Mr. Speranza had only been working in the nondescript storefront in a three-story, red-brick building for two months while he pursued a graduate equivalancy diploma. He had not been scheduled to work yesterday morning but had agreed to fill in at the last moment for someone else.

"He had received a call at home the night before because the person who normally opened up the store couldn't be there," said Captain Plackenmeyer.

Mr. Speranza had got the job with the help of his mother, who knew the mother of one of the owners, Anthony Ferrara, a blessing that later turned out to be what Captain Plackenmeyer called "a fatal mistake."

Chief Ciccotelli said that Mr. Ferrara had five previous arrests on grand larceny and robbery charges and that his partner, Frank Guerra, also had a number of arrests, including one on Nov. 6 on a charge of grand larceny involving an automobile.

At about 9:22 A.M., one or more men walked from the avenue of specialty shops, restaurants and bars under the yellow canopy with the store's name on it and into the bagel shop where Mr. Speranza was working. They shot him numerous times in the head and the body, Chief Ciccotelli said.

Captain Plackenmeyer would not say if the person Mr. Speranza replaced was the intended target of the shooting, only that Mr. Speranza was mistaken for someone else. "Our guess is that they anticipated someone affiliated with people they were looking for," he said.

As for Mr. Speranza, Captain Plackenmeyer said, "We believe him to be an innocent victim."

Chief Ciccotelli, speaking at a news conference at the 68th Precinct station house yesterday, said Mr. Speranza had no criminal record and was not engaged in any criminal activity. "Nor do we have any indication that he has anything to do with organized crime," he added.

The family came from Florida about a year ago, the police and acquaintances said. The youth's father was said to be the manager of a Burger King restaurant.

Earlier yesterday, at 9 A.M., an unidentified man dropped off another man with a gunshot wound to the chest at Coney Island Hospital and then disappeared. The victim, listed in stable condition, was identified as James Malpiso, 21, of Bay Ridge. The police said he was being uncooperative, refusing to say when and where he was shot and other details.

Chief Ciccotelli said Mr. Malpiso had no criminal record and added that his father, Louis, was reputed to be a soldier in the Colombo family.



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Brooklyn Slaying May Be 6th In Mob Families' 2-Month Feud


By LEE A. DANIELS
Published: January 8, 1992



One man was gunned down and another wounded yesterday in Brooklyn in what New York City law-enforcement officials described as the continuation of a feud between two organized-crime families.

The police identified the dead man as Nicholas P. Grancio, 62 years old, of 1756 East 23d Street in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. A law-enforcement official who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that Mr. Grancio was shot in the head as he sat in a car at the intersection of McDonald Avenue and Avenue U in Gravesend. He was also known as Nicky Black, and was believed to be a captain in the Colombo crime family, the official said.

The police identified the wounded man as Anthony Bianco, 26, whose address was not available. He was taken to Coney Island Hospital with a slight bullet wound to the head. A hospital spokesman said he was in stable condition. Sgt. Peter Berry, a police spokesman, said the police did not know whether Mr. Bianco was involved with organized crime.

Mr. Grancio's killing is thought to be the latest outburst of gangland violence in Brooklyn in a series of slayings that began in November. The shootings have now left six dead and seven wounded. The police say they believe one of the dead and three of the injured were bystanders. Colombo Power Struggle

Law-enforcement officials have called the shootings a result of a struggle for control of the Colombo crime family. They said that on one side are those in the Colombo and other crime families allied with Carmine Persico, 59, the imprisoned Colombo leader. On the other side are those allied with Victor J. Orena, 57. Authorities say that Mr. Persico chose Mr. Orena, a close friend, to run the family while he was in prison. The violence broke out when Mr. Orena tried to run the gang in his own right, officials say.

A law-enforcement official said yesterday that Mr. Grancio, who was said to have sided with the Orena faction, was the uncle of Joseph Tolino, another Colombo family member. Mr. Tolino, 38, was wounded in the foot Dec. 3 during a shooting that killed Gaetano Amato, 78, a reputed soldier in the Genovese crime family.



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Slaying of a Restaurant Owner Is Tied to Crime Family Warfare


By LEE A. DANIELS

Published: March 19, 1992



The body of a man who the police said was a member of the Bonanno crime family was found in the trunk of a stolen car yesterday, and officials were investigating whether the shooting was tied to a struggle for control of the Colombo crime family.

The man, Sebastiano (Sam) DiFalco, 47 years old, of 161-51 85th Street, in the Howard Beach section of Queens, was the owner of Giannini's Restaurant, at 60-12 Eliot Avenue, in Maspeth, Queens, which the police said is frequented by members of the Bonnano family.

Officer Andrew McInnis, a police spokesman, said the car in which Mr. DiFalco's body was found, a 1986 BMW, had been reported stolen on Feb. 29. It was found yesterday parked near the intersection of Calyer Street and McGuinness Boulevard in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, by a radio patrol car, Officer McInnis said. A private company under city contract towed the car to its lot in Queens, where the man's body was discovered yesterday when the car's trunk was opened, the officer said.

The killing of Mr. DiFalco comes after a more than a dozen shootings in the past year that have been tied to a struggle for control of the Colombo crime family, and the police said last night they were investigating whether the killing is related to that power struggle. The shootings have left six people dead in Brooklyn since November, and one of the dead and three of the injured were bystanders, the police said.

One faction of the crime family is allied with Carmine Persico, 59, the imprisoned Colombo leader, investigators said, while the other faction is composed of those allied with Victor J. Orena, 57. Authorities say that Mr. Persico chose Mr. Orena, a close friend, to run the family while he was in prison. The violence began when Mr. Orena tried to run the gang in his own right, officials say.

The violence has spilled into other crime families. On Dec. 3, Gaetano Amato, 79, who the police said was a soldier in the Genovese crime family, was shot and killed as he sat talking in a Brooklyn social club with a member of the Colombo family who had sided with Mr. Orena. Police said Mr. Amato was was known to be aligned with the Orena faction.



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Man Accused as Colombo Chief Is Held in Slaying of Ex-Member

By MARY B. W. TABOR

Published: April 2, 1992


As jurors considered testimony in the murder and racketeering trial of John Gotti, the reputed boss of the Gambino crime family, Federal officials announced yesterday that they had arrested two leaders of the Colombo crime family.

Victor J. Orena, described as the acting boss of the Colombo family, and Pasquale Amato, a high-ranking family member, were arrested and charged with the murder of a former Colombo soldier, Thomas C. Ocera, said Andrew J. Maloney, the Federal prosecutor in Brooklyn.

He said Mr. Orena was a central figure in an internecine power struggle that had crippled the Colombo family in recent months, with one faction loyal to Mr. Orena and the other to the group's boss, Carmine Persico, who is in prison.

With leaders of four of the five dominant New York crime families now under indictment, yesterday's arrests mark "a significant further step in the efforts of Federal law enforcement to dismantle and disable the organized-crime families operating in New York," Mr. Maloney said at a news conference at the United States District Court in Brooklyn. Pleas of Not Guilty

At their arraignment, Mr. Orena and Mr. Amato each pleaded not guilty to charges of murder and conspiracy to murder in the killing of Mr. Ocera. Mr. Amato also pleaded not guilty to a charge of criminal possession of a firearm. Prosecutors say the two men sought to enhance their positions in the Colombo family by having Mr. Ocera killed in 1989.

According to the indictment, they conspired to kill Mr. Ocera, who the authorities say was strangled by Giachino Leale, another family member, for skimming money off a family-controlled sanitation company. Three other family members were convicted in January in connection with the murder. Mr. Leale was shot to death before he could stand trial.

Judge I. Leo Glasser, who has also presided over the Gotti trial, set a detention hearing for Monday at 10 A.M. The two men are being held at the Metropolitan Correction Center.

James M. Fox, an assistant director in the F.B.I.'s New York office, said the 57-year-old Mr. Orena was arrested yesterday at 9:30 A.M. in Valley Stream, L.I., at the home of Gina Reale, the daughter of Salvatore Reale, an imprisoned Gambino associate. Twelve firearms, including four loaded shotguns and two assault rifles, were seized at the site.

Mr. Amato, also 57, who lives in Merrick, L.I., later turned himself in.

Mr. Maloney said the arrests were made after electronic surveillance and with the help of an informant. In Mr. Gotti's trial, the testimony of Salvatore Gravano has been crucial to the prosecution's case. Informants' Aid Cited

"Our cup runneth over" with informants, Mr. Maloney said, referring to Mr. Gravano and the increasing number of crime family associates who have come forward with information, in part because of increasingly strict racketeering laws.

The authorities say Mr. Persico, 52, who is serving a life sentence in prison in California for racketeering, chose Mr. Orena, a close friend, to run the organization while he is in prison. The violence within the Colombo group, which has spread to the other families and has resulted in more than a dozen shootings in the last year, began when Mr. Orena tried to run the gang in his own right.

The shootings have killed six people in Brooklyn since November, and one of the dead and three of the injured were bystanders, the police said. Mr. Maloney declined to say whether either Mr. Orena or Mr. Amato, whom the authorities describe as a family captain, were connected directly with those killings. Growing List of Indictments

The captains, or "capos," supervise the criminal activities of other family associates and provide them with support and protection. The bosses or acting bosses are responsible for setting policy, resolving disputes among members and other criminal organizations, and approving all significant actions by members of the family, including murder.

The other crime family leaders now under indictment include Mr. Gotti, of the Gambino family, Vittorio Amuso, the reputed acting boss of the Lucchese crime family and Vincent Giganti, the reputed boss of the Genovese family. Mr. Amuso and Mr. Giganti are awaiting trial on racketeering charges.


The fifth crime family, the Bonanno family, has been much less active than the others in recent years and is no longer considered a major player in organized crime in the city.





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Men Slain in Brooklyn Said to Have Ties to Mob


By JONATHAN RABINOVITZ

Published: October 19, 1992



Two men were found shot to death early yesterday morning in a parked car in Brooklyn, and a police investigator said the victims appeared to have been affiliated with the Colombo organized-crime family.

Detective Sgt. Tony Celano, who is directing the investigation, said Vincent DePippo, 42 years old, and Neil Mastro, 21, both of Brooklyn, were each shot once in the head and discovered dead about 2 A.M. in a car near the corner of Bay Seventh Street and Cropsey Avenue. A motive for the killings has not been determined, he said.

Sergeant Celano described the two men as "associates of the Colombo family," but declined to discuss their suspected involvement in the organization.

Other law-enforcement officials said they could not confirm the men's ties to the crime group.

But in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of brick homes and neatly trimmed lawns where the bodies were found, residents greeted the news with fear that this was a mob hit and was a sign of more violence to come.

For the last few months, the southern neighborhoods of Brooklyn have been relatively free of the Mafia violence that plagued them at the start of the year. In November, a civil war within the Colombo family riddled the streets of Sheepshead Bay, Bay Ridge and other Brooklyn neighborhoods with more than a dozen shootings and had many residents fearing for their lives.

The authorities said at least six people were shot to death and about 23 people injured from November through January in the Colombo family's internecine power struggles. One of the fatalities and several of those injured were bystanders who had no connection to the crime family, officials said.

After at least six months without any Mafia-related deaths reported in Brooklyn, the calm was broken two weeks ago with a shooting in Bensonhurst, law-enforcement officials said.

According to court papers filed by Federal prosecutors in Brooklyn, Steven Mancusi, 36, a Colombo family associate, was killed on Oct. 7 because of the internal war. Sergeant Celano said Mr. Mancusi was found with gunshots in his body that afternoon in a vehicle parked near the intersection of West Seventh Street and Avenue O. 'Any One of 100 Reasons'

Sergeant Celano said there is no evidence that yesterday's killing was related to Mr. Mancusi's death or last winter's shootings.

"When you're dealing with an associate level, it could be any one of 100 reasons why these guys get killed," Sergeant Celano said. "You never know what kind of business they're in and who might be mad at them."

And he cautioned: "It's not like John Gotti got killed. It's just that it appears to be that there are associations with the Colombo crime family."

Still, residents of the neighborhood yesterday said they could not help but feel concerned.

"Now, I'm worried," said one middle-aged man, who lives near where the bodies were found and who refused to give his name out of fear that his comments would anger mobsters. He added: "You don't know who they're going to hit next. They may not intend it for you, but you might get it anyway."

The Colombo group is the second-smallest of the five organized-crime families in the New York area. It is believed to have about 100 members, as well as hundreds of associates, who operate largely in Brooklyn and on Long Island. It has a reputation among law-enforcement officials for erratic behavior and a penchant for infighting.

Law-enforcement officials said the spate of killings that began last year stemmed from a dispute between the family's imprisoned boss, Carmine Persico, 59, who is serving a 100-year sentence in California for racketeering, and the leader he appointed temporarily to run the family, Victor Orena, 58. The officials said the fighting between supporters of the two began shortly after Mr. Orena refused to yield power in the future to Mr. Persico's son, who is in prison and is to be released next year.


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