National underworld? Has such a thing ever existed? Maybe during the 1950's or so, but even then, if a guy ratted or worked undercover in NY and went to Dallas, would the local boss have phoned up all the other bosses across the country to check on the new guy in town?

Most NY mobsters have never been outside of the NY/NJ area except maybe to Florida. Other than knowing how to run the rackets, deal drugs, and steal, these aren't exactly the most worldly people.

What youve never heard of the national underworld inquirer , they send out press releases and newsletters to criminals and wiseguys all over the country every week...

PB you said,"Did he fool Mario? Did he fool Louie? Did he fool Nicky? Did he fool Angelo? Did he fool the guy who was babysitting Tore's crew at the time? Do you even know the guy who was babysitting Tore's crew at the time?

My point is, it wasn't just Greg who wasn't the same at that point. It was the fact that the crew that he worked with for twenty years wasn't there anymore (and like I said, the few guys who were kept him at arm's length)"

So how come in Garcia's case they took down Arnold Squittieri and Tony Megale from the sdministration along with 30 some odd guys? So much for arms length.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/21/nyregion/21mob.html?_r=0Guilty Plea Is New Blow to the Once-Feared Gambinos
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By JULIA PRESTON
Published: April 21, 2006
A graying 70-year-old defendant who federal prosecutors said was the acting boss of the Gambino crime family pleaded guilty yesterday to racketeering, a new turn in the spiraling decline of what was once one of the most feared criminal organizations in New York.


John Marshall Mantel for The New York Times
Arnold Squitieri pleaded guilty to four racketeering charges Thursday.
The defendant, Arnold Squitieri, entered guilty pleas in Federal District Court in Manhattan to four counts of racketeering and extortion, saying he had used threats of violence to exact payments from construction companies in Westchester County and Mineola, N.Y., and from a New Jersey trucking company.

"I know it was wrong," Mr. Squitieri said, reading a written statement to a magistrate judge, Michael H. Dolinger. Mr. Squitieri also told tearful relatives that he had made the plea for them.

In a 53-count indictment brought in March 2005, prosecutors charged that Mr. Squitieri took command as the acting boss of the Gambino organization in June 2002 after the former boss, Peter Gotti, was arrested on racketeering charges.

But Mr. Squitieri refused to acknowledge that he was a member of the Gambino organization. He admitted to taking part in an "enterprise," but told the magistrate judge he would agree to a plea only "with the Gambino name out of it."

Gerald Shargel, Mr. Squitieri's lawyer, said he had entered a "straightforward arm's-length plea agreement" and had not agreed to cooperate with the government. Prosecutors recommended a sentence range for Mr. Squitieri of as little as seven years and three months to a maximum of nine years, less than half the sentence that he might have faced if he were convicted in a trial.

The trial of Mr. Squitieri and an accused Gambino capo, Gregory DePalma, had been set to begin on May 8. With his plea, Mr. Squitieri has a chance of getting out of prison before he is 80.

Mr. Squitieri appeared lively and spoke in a strong voice. But at one point, when the judge asked him during which years he had committed his crimes, he became confused.

"I can't remember too good, your honor," he said. "I'm getting up in age."

At the end of the hearing, Mr. Squitieri turned to point at his wife, Marie, a slim woman with flowing blond hair, who was sitting with a group of his relatives. "I did it for you," he said. "I pleaded guilty because of you."

The arrest of Mr. Squitieri and 31 other accused Gambino members was a result of a three-year investigation in which an F.B.I. undercover agent infiltrated Mr. DePalma's crew. F.B.I. officials have compared the agent to Joe Pistone, an agent who, under the name Donnie Brasco, infiltrated the Bonanno crime family two decades ago in an operation that became law enforcement legend as well as a Hollywood movie.

This undercover operation involving Mr. Squitieri also appeared to have some theatrical elements.

At one point during the operation, the undercover agent gave flat-screen televisions to Mr. Squitieri and to Mr. DePalma, saying they were stolen, a law enforcement official recounted. One evening Mr. Squitieri was watching an episode of "The Sopranos." In it, a mobster was watching his own stolen flat-screen set when his parole officer visited and promptly arrested him for possessing stolen property.

That episode made Mr. Squitieri, who was himself on supervised release, nervous about the gift, the law enforcement official said. He got rid of the set, the official said, concerned that this "could be life imitating art."

On March 31, Anthony Megale, accused as the acting underboss and street operator for Mr. Squitieri, pleaded guilty to racketeering charges. Two men who admitted they were "street bosses" for Mr. Squitieri, Alphonse Sisca and Louis Filippelli, also pleaded guilty then.

Good points, my only question is they start dealing deep with a guy who shows up out of nowhere? Greed was making decisions at that point I presume.

Did you miss the part of my post where I mentioned Tony in parentheses?

Because you didn't quote that part in your reply. Here it is:



The Tony I was referring to was Tony Megale. And there WERE exigent circumstances there. Tony's a Fairfield guy, but he got off with Louie over here in Morris Park.

As far as Arnold, it was guilt by association through Tony. And he's not a Bronx guy anyway. I went to great lengths to point out that the BRONX CREW that Greg left behind kept him at arm's length when he came home. I even mentioned a few of the guys, and I probably shouldn't have. But I stand by that statement and my assertion.

And I'm no cop hater. I gave Garcia his due as an agent. When wiseguys die in prison I don't lose a wink of sleep. You kill people, you belong in fucking jail. Period. But the truth is, you're trying to tell me about a guy I knew from when I was 16 years old until the day he died a few years ago. He was a fucking shell when he got out because of what happened to Craig. And believe me, I hate going there. Which is why we'll continue this in a pm. So watch for the blinking light, buddy .

Another question PB, wasn't the reason that no one wanted anything to do with Greg when he got out after the Scores case was because his attempted hit on Nicky Lasorsa (a bronx guy and the one he sponsored for induction) that was supposedly not snctioned?
http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/killer-pegs-mob-hit-article-1.497851


KILLER PEGS MOB IN HIT
BY ROBERT GEARTY NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Friday, July 26, 2002, 12:00 AM A A A
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As two aging mobsters listened in wheelchairs, a self-confessed killer druglord took the witness stand yesterday and implicated them in a murder-for-hire plot. Sitting steely-eyed in Manhattan Federal Court, Gambino capo Gregory DePalma, 69, and Sam (Fat Man) Cagnina, 66, listened as Jose Reyes said he was recruited to kill a Bronx car dealer while the pair were confined to a federal prison hospital in Missouri. Reyes, 32 - who also uses a wheelchair after a gunshot from a drug rival left him paralyzed in 1992 - testified he went to the authorities after DePalma and Cagnina asked if he could find someone to kill the car dealer, Nicky LaSorsa. Prosecutors said DePalma wanted LaSorsa dead because LaSorsa had muscled in on one of his rackets: the collection of $2,500 a week in protection money from a businessman. Seat cushion wired "He was the reason Nicky was a made guy - and this was the way Nicky was paying him," Reyes testified. Reyes - who is serving a life sentence for his role in seven killings and who pleaded guilty last week to five more - allowed the feds to plant a microphone in the seat cushion of his wheelchair to record conversations with DePalma and Cagnina, who were arrested in September. "When I left he was so . . . jealous, of me, of everything I did. . . . He was nobody. I brought him all around, I gave him a name, this . . .," DePalma said of LaSorsa in one tape. LaSorsa declined to comment yesterday. DePalma's attorney, Robert Ellis, said Reyes made up the murder-for-hire account to reduce his sentence. Cagnina and DePalma are both in federal prison; DePalma is serving a 70-month sentence on federal charges of racketeering, gambling and other crimes.

I think I mentioned a Nicky, didn't I?


That was blown out of proportion by the media. No one was getting killed over a fucking table at Rao's. Greg was a talker. Don't get me wrong, he was a very dangerous guy. But he was a screamer, if you know what I mean .

And Greg's isolation was due to the Scores case and the rats around his son Craig. People STILL resent him, and he's dead going on five years now.

As usual PB, thank you!

He's still the biggest bullshitter

Was Greg a capo during Gottis reign? Didnt gotti make gregs son?

I thought he was more of a white collar mobster back in the day who was close with the admin! I suppose i am basing that theory from that infamous photo with sinatra and carlo, and how he built that famous theartre! Didnt gotti jr tell him to take the plea on the scores case?

Yes.


Craig got made right around the time Gotti was indicted for the last time. A month or so after the famous pinch at the Ravenite, if I remember correctly. But Gotti would have definitely given the okay.


He got off as a jewel thief. And he lived a very white collar life up in Scarsdale. But he was a blue collar street guy to his core.


They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But that's bullshit. I know for a fact that there were Westside guys at the concert that night who turned down that "photo-op."


Well, the order probably came from the administration collectively. But yes, and Greg took it. Say what you want about him, but he followed his marching orders.

Found an article about another undercover agent in Patsy Parello's crew who was apparently also proposed membership. That seems bullshit to me.

http://nypost.com/2001/12/06/mob-takes-a-hit-undercover-cop-nails-73-wiseguys/

Agreed. This guy Big Frankie never sat down with any made guys. He only hung around low level guys. He did an undercover case out in Las Vegas about Boxing and after spending millions of dollars nobody even went to jail. Patsy is a very cautious guy and no way he would meet with this guy! Here is the Vegas case


BIG FRANKIE'S VEGAS STING Cop posed as wiseguy to probe fight-fixing
BY MICHELE MCPHEE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS Tuesday, January 13, 2004, 12:00 AM A A A
http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news...rticle-1.574495


In Las Vegas boxing circles, he was known as Big Frankie, a wiseguy from New York trying to unload stolen swag. He schmoozed with fighters and promoters, sitting ringside as he handed out business cards from his firm, YGJ & Company. And each time he gave a card out, Big Frankie Manzione couldn't help but smirk at the irony: YGJ stood for "You're Going to Jail.

" As a result of a 20-month probe dubbed Operation Match Book, at least a dozen Las Vegas fighters and promoters may be indicted as early as May on charges they fixed fights, forged boxers' medical records and bribed officials, several law enforcement sources told the Daily News. The probe was spearheaded by an undercover NYPD detective working with an FBI special agent. That detective, Big Frankie, moved with the swagger of a made member of the mob, and talked with the heavy-as-cement Brooklyn accent he said he acquired as a kid in Red Hook. But the raven-haired 34-year-old was really a decorated NYPD cop from Staten Island whose past undercover success made him an obvious choice when the FBI was looking for some help. Big Frankie was pulled out of Las Vegas last week, his cover blown after FBI agents stormed the office of Top Rank last Tuesday, seizing computers, medical documents, financial records, and tapes of professional bouts. "He's a very gutsy guy. He's terrific. He did an excellent job," Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said yesterday. "They know who he is now, though.

" It was a far different story when he blew into town 20 months ago. The first anyone in Vegas saw of Big Frankie was when he began making the rounds with his "cousin," Joey Torres. Torres, 42, had served 23 years in jail for killing his former boxing manager in 1979, a slaying he maintains he committed in self-defense during a cocaine-fueled fury. While in prison, Torres was credited with saving the life of a female prison guard. Then he won temporary freedom on Jan. 6, 2002, on a technicality that vacated his murder charge. He tried to resurrect his boxing career, pleading with Top Rank's head Bob Arum. Arum was won over, hooking Torres up with a trainer, a cell phone and a hotel room - even as California prosecutors refiled the murder charges, allowing Torres to be free on $100,000 bail. "Here was this kid who looked like he needed a break and been screwed out of 20 years of his life," Arum told reporters after signing Torres. "He deserved a shot at a fight.

" Torres' debut fight in April 2002 was as shady as his past. A crowd in Anaheim, Calif., booed after Torres knocked down fighter Perry Williams, whose performance was so listless that the fight's judges temporarily withheld his purse. With Torres usually at his side, Big Frankie soon began running with Top Rank employees, becoming a regular at the posh Charlie Palmer's Steakhouse at the Four Seasons and in the private nightclub Foundation Room in Mandalay Bay. Big Frankie also was a fixture in Top Rank's offices and had even been offered a job as a cornerman, several law enforcement sources said. Big Frankie and the FBI agent, who posed as his driver, accumulated evidence as the probe grew. Then things nearly blew up. In a murder retrial last year, Torres was found guilty and ordered to appear in a Los Angeles courtroom to resume his 25 years-to-life sentence. Instead, he jumped bail and threatened to blow Big Frankie's cover before fleeing, furious that his work in Operation Match Book didn't earn him a reprieve from prison, said a high-ranking law enforcement official with knowledge of the case. "He was saying he was going to tell Bob Arum that he was cooperating with the FBI," the source said. "He put the investigators in a lot of danger.

" Torres is still at large. Yesterday, Top Rank officials refused to comment on the case or discuss the undercover investigators who infiltrated their company. "We will not comment on rumors," said Top Rank spokesman Patrick Smith. GRAPHIC: Before Operation Match Book, Big Frankie's biggest undercover takedown wiped out the Genovese family: PROBE: Operation Steel Fences MISSION: Infiltrate Genovese crime family. THE "SET": Big Frankie posed as a crooked businessman who ran a Virginia trucking company that trafficked in swag and bootleg cigarettes. RESULTS: 72 Genovese capos, soldiers and associates were either convicted or pleaded guilty to charges including loansharking, extortion, embezzlement, labor racketeering, credit card fraud, bank fraud and gambling. Among those locked up were ­capos Pasquale (Patsy) Parello, owner of Patsy's restaurant on Arthur Ave. in the Bronx, and Rosario (Ross) Gangi.

Oh, please .

That asshole makes Jack Garcia look like J. Edgar Hoover.

PB, I couldn't wait for your response! LOL!

If the guy was such a bigshot he would wrote a book about like all the others. Nypost never gets it right

In all fairness, Patsy, Ross and Little Joe did end up taking pleas in that case, and each of them did a fair amount of time. But that was basically to get rid of the case quickly and without all of the media attention that's associated with undercover agents testifying. That family was way ahead of the curve when it comes to plea bargains. I personally think Little Joe would have beaten it, but from what I remember they wanted a global plea.

Is it true what that article says about Patsy holding meetings at his restaurant though Pizza Boy? Other than a few conversations here and there I thought that place was completely legit.

I've discussed this at length here before, so I'll be brief .

That place is Patsy's pride and joy. And as much as it means to him, it means even more to his lovely wife, and they'd never do anything to jeopardize it.

Now I'm not sugarcoating the man's life. It's a matter of public record at this point. But that place is generally off limits to street business and everyone knows it. And that little bit of conversation that got picked up by bugs a dozen years ago insured that it will never, ever happen again.

Awesome thanks!

Dominic Montiglio always spouts the same old crap on documentaries

How can we have forgotten Mike Russell, the Undercover cop!!!!!

This guy Mike Russell has been on several Documentaries and had his own that is on youtube.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/08...nt_hold_up.html

Tell-all book on infiltrating the mob may have some bullet-sized holes in it
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on August 25, 2013 at 7:30 AM, updated August 25, 2013 at 4:21 PM



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Mike Russell writes that he helped take down wiseguy Vincent 'The Chin' Gigante, who is pictured here. Russell is not in this photograph.
Star-Ledger file photo

As an undercover New Jersey state trooper, Mike Russell says he infiltrated the mob and brought down dozens of wiseguys, all after taking a .32-caliber bullet to the head. It is quite the tale told in “Undercover Cop: How I Brought Down the Real-Life Sopranos,” which was released Aug. 6.

Publisher’s Weekly gave it a glowing review, writing, “This tell-all page-turner is all the better for being true.”

Except it’s not entirely true. Some important facts are at best stretched, at worst fabricated.

Mike Russell was never employed as a New Jersey state trooper, according to State Police Sgt. Brian Polite.

That isn’t to say he didn’t work with, or for, the State Police, but he was never a trooper as he claims on Page 3.
Nor was he ever a Newark cop, according to Newark Sgt. Ron Glover, as Russell claims to have been on Page 86.

Russell, in a phone interview from his home in Florida, acknowledged the error.

“The titles were bouncing all over the place,” he said, but he maintained the crux of the story is about him and the mob, not the agency he worked for.

Speaking of titles, the book refers to Russell’s State Police contact James “Big Jim” Sweeney as a Master Sergeant — a rank that does not exist in the New Jersey State Police.

The crux of the story, if not the details, appears to be accurate. Russell, who says he was known as “Mikey Ga-Ga,” was indeed influential in helping take down major figures in organized crime, said retired State Police Capt. Nick Oriolo, whose name is misspelled in the book.

Oriolo was his handler and described Russell’s role as more akin to a confidential informant than a trooper. That doesn’t diminish his importance in the case, the retired trooper said.

Russell did infiltrate the mob and did pass on valuable information, Oriolo said. But Oriolo estimates that only about 20 percent of the book is true. He does not recall Russell being shot in the head, which the book describes as a very emotional moment for the State Police sergeant, who was “blubbering” at Russell’s bedside.

Oriolo remembers the scene differently. He remembers Russell being beat up almost beyond recognition, but not shot in the head.

“I never talked to (Russell’s) wife about being shot,” Oriolo said. “Real-life Sopranos? This reads more like his real-life fantasy.”

Russell writes that the bullet, fired at point-blank range, did relatively little damage, entering his skull, bouncing off bone and exiting an inch above the entrance wound.

“Note to would be hitmen,” he writes. “If you’re going to whack someone, use a round that can kill.”

The book is published by Thomas Dunne Books, an imprint of St. Martin’s Press, a division of Macmillan, and the publisher is standing by the story.

Mike Russell was shot in the head, said Joe Rinaldi, associate director of publicity at St. Martin’s Press.

“Mike Russell’s publisher has every reason to believe ‘Undercover Cop’ is substantially accurate,” Rinaldi said in an e-mail. “According to Mike Russell’s account, which is consistent with the 1988 HBO documentary, Mike was a New Jersey cop who worked undercover for the New Jersey State Police. The main focus of his book is an undercover operation that resulted in numerous mobsters pleading guilty and doing jail time.”

Inconsistencies

Except — in many places — the book is not consistent with the HBO documentary in which Russell said he was a truck driver before his undercover work began, not a Newark cop. The movie, which can be found on YouTube, finds Russell saying he received 60 stitches because of the bullet wound he suffered in 1980. In the book, it’s down to 28 stitches and though the year isn’t mentioned, it is implied that it is the mid '80s.

In the documentary, Russell says he was an East Orange cop before trying something else with his life. That part checks out. He was, in fact, an East Orange cop, though his stint with that local department is never mentioned in the book.

There are other inconsistencies between the documentary and the book as well. Talking to HBO cameras, Russell says he made contact with Andy Gerardo, a top man in the Genovese crime family, after coming upon him at the scene of an auto accident where he was being attacked by “two black guys.”

In the book, the two black men are mugging Gerardo when Russell intervenes. In the documentary, this is the genesis of the undercover work. In the book, Russell has been on the job for months, looking for a way to infiltrate the mob.

Was Joseph Pistone really Italian? He was adopted by Italian-Americans, and he claims Pistone is a Sicilian last name when it's both a Sicilian, Neapolitian, and Calabrian last name depending on where the people live in Italy.

But it's like how Ray Liotta claims to be "Italian" even though he's not and was just adopted by people who are Italian-American.