There's a rumor that Richard Ferrara, captain in the Colombo Family, is cooperating, although I seen someone on Instagram already reporting it as fact, which pisses me off.

His lawyer was asked why no sentencing memo was submitted: no answer! A decades old murder is now under investigation (at Fusion nightclub) after he requested an associate recount details - out of the blue - and allegedly while recording; the associate arrested alongside another suspect after this alleged conversation.

Who know if Ferrara risk to be killed for a rumour or only to be shelved.

Sources Say Colombo Capo Is A Snitch; His Lawyer Says No Way

The feds have their first turncoat Colombo wiseguy in more than a decade, Gang Land has learned. Sources say he's a 61-year-old capo named Richard Ferrara, and that he decided to start working for his Uncle Sam following his indictment in the blockbuster racketeering case that charges him, late Mafia boss Andrew (Mush) Russo and the hierarchy of the crime family with a 20-year-long shakedown of a Queens-based construction workers union.

Ferrara, who was released on a $10 million bond 15 months ago, copped a plea deal to racketeering charges in December. At the time of the plea deal there was no indication that the veteran mobster had agreed to cooperate. Defense lawyer David Kirby, who has represented Ferrara, denied the assertion that Ferrara is cooperating with the feds.

In emails and a telephone discussion, Kirby insisted that Gang Land's assertion that Ferrara was cooperating was wrong. He said Ferrara's bail restrictions were modified on several occasions to enable him to leave his Brooklyn home and travel to Florida for "doctor's appointments" with heart specialists and "to rebuild his home" that had been dalamged in Hurricane Ian, as he stated in court filings.

"You have to be very careful about that," said Kirby, noting that "people's lives are in jeopardy if (the assertion that Ferrara is cooperating) is true, or even if it's not true."

It's unclear when Ferrara, who pleaded guilty to racketeering charges that include the extortion of Local 621 of the United Construction Trades International Union in December in a plea deal calling for a recommended prison term between 51 and 63 months, broke his vow of omerta and began cooperating.

But the sources say the feds' newest wiseguy recruit has already been productive: He allegedly helped federal prosecutors in Brooklyn arrest a longtime mob associate last month. The associate has been charged with lying to the FBI about the June of 2009 cold case killing of an inebriated Russian immigrant by a bouncer at a Russian nightclub in Sheepshead Bay.

The mobster's longtime pal, Dimitri Bediner, 58, was also charged with obstruction of justice for allegedly stymieing a federal grand jury investigation of the 14-year-old killing of 39-year-old Ilder Gazizouline at the now-defunct Fusion Night Club, allegedly by one of the club's bouncers, according to court filings in the case.

In the early morning hours of Sunday June 21, 2009, according to the court filings, Bediner and others transported the dead man's corpse to a wooded area in Sullivan County and buried it near property that he owned.

The former bouncer, Dmitri Prus, a who had a background in "mixed martial arts," had knocked Gazizouline out and used a choke hold to drag him "to the rear of the nightclub," and left him on a bench "unconscious or dead," where he was later found dead, according to the filings.

Sources say that Bediner's indictment stems from tape recorded admissions that he made to a wired-up Ferrara about Gazizouline's death and its aftermath two months ago. The sources say Ferrara quizzed Bediner about the killing several days before Bediner allegedly lied about his knowledge of the Fusion club killing, as well as his role in burying the body, to FBI agent Joseph Costello.

The sources say that armed with the information that Ferrara had obtained from Bediner about the cold case killing, Costello, who is also the FBI case agent in the Colombo family indictment, visited Bediner at a car service he operates in the Gravesend section of Brooklyn and questioned him. The agent's interview of Bediner took place on February 8, according to the indictment.

lineIt is Bediner's first arrest since 1983, when he was charged and convicted of rape and robbery and ended up serving seven years of a 7-to-21year sentence.

Prus, who was arrested on February 8, the same day Debiner was questioned and allegedly lied to the FBI, was detained for three weeks, but ordered released on a $200,000 bond secured by property, on March 3. Debiner, who was arrested on March 23, was detained for six days, then released on a $100,000 bond, which was also secured by property.

Prus, 44, a native of Ukraine and an Israeli citizen, is charged only with unlawfully obtaining his U.S. citizenship on March 1, 2013 by lying on his application for citizenship. Prus filed the application "just ten days after killing Gazizouline and hiding his body" in 2009, according to a detention memo by assistant U.S. attorney James McDonald.

Prosecutors moved more quickly to indict Prus than Dubiner, because the ten-year statute of limitations for unlawfully obtaining U.S. citizenship was due to expire on March 1. The indictment came on February 7, and Prus was arrested a day later, according to the docket sheet.

McDonald, who is also the lead prosecutor in the Colombo family case, argued that Prus had good reason to flee the country rather than risk having to serve time behind bars before losing his citizenship following a conviction for getting it illegally. The prosecutor also argued that the ex-bouncer's "unprovoked" and "vicious assault" on the intoxicated bar patron back in 2009 showed him to be a danger to the community who should be locked up while awaiting trial.

Bediner allegedly made false statements when he denied burying the body of a patron who was killed at the Fusion club in 2009. They were false, the indictment states, because Bediner "knew and believed (he) had transported the body of Ildar Gazizouline, who had been killed at Fusion Night Club in June 2009, to a location in Sullivan County, New York, near where Bediner maintained a residential property and thereafter buried that body in a wooded area."

Ferrara's so-called "global" plea agreement makes no mention of cooperation. The signed plea deal bars him from appealing any prison term of 97 months or less as excessive, but the turncoat capo surely expects a lot less time than that when the time comes for him to face the music for his crimes. As it stands, the global aspect of the plea cannot be enforced because only six of the 14 remaining defendants pleaded guilty.

Ferrara's sentencing, which had been scheduled for May 1, has been adjourned without date, according to defense attorney Kirby. The lawyer told Gang Land about the adjournment when we inquired why he hadn't filed a sentencing memo for his client this past Monday, when it was due.

Ferrara, who was detained following his arrest in September of 2021, was released from the Metropolitan Detention Center and confined to his home under GPS monitoring in January of 2022, on the grounds that the MDC was unable to care for the mobster, who has heart disease.

In January and February of this year, when sources say Ferrara met with Bediner in Brooklyn, his bail restrictions were modified to permit him to leave his home so he could visit his cardiologist in Naples, Florida and serve as a general contractor to rebuild his home there, which was damaged by Hurricane Ian, according to a filing by Kirby.

The U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment, and Adam Bolotin, the attorney for Debiner, did not respond to emails and repeated phone messages.

Lawyer Barry Levin, who replaced Bolotin late yesterday, told Gang Land that he "look(s) forward to cross examining Mr. Ferrera at trial. He is no different than most informants who prevaricate facts to save themselves after a life of crime. It is obvious to me that Mr. Ferrara is embellishing stories about my client to save his own skin."

The investigation into Gazizoiline's 2009 murder has had many stops and starts since police found his car parked near the Fusion Club after his friends told cops that they had been out with him on Saturday night, June 20, but had left him at the club and never saw him again.

It was revived on April 6, 2011, when the NYC Medical Examiner's Office determined that the skeletal remains that were found by hikers in a wooded area of Sullivan County in May 2010 were Gazizouline's remains.

"After the human remains were identified as belonging to Gazizouline," prosecutor McDonald wrote, Prus was interviewed again by investigators but "lied about his actions on the night of the disappearance and told Sullivan County investigators that he was not familiar with the missing patron from Fusion and did not have any interactions with him."

Sources say the grand jury is still investigating the allegations that Prus was responsible for the death of Ilder Gazizouline.

i will only weigh in to say members on here should steer clear of stories like this until they have been officially named as cooperators. we all went down this road and colombos less than a year ago with dennis delucia and nothing verifying delucia as a cooperator has yet to surface. first instinct is to report this i understand but all will come out in time.

The Dennis DeLucia thing was a little different and it was unfortunate. However, this Ferrara thing has me feeling uneasy. The circumstances are just bizarre. Why is there no sentencing memo?

What I've heard about Ferrara is that he's filthy rich and is basically a businessman more than a gangster. This is gonna be super interesting

interesting for sure ralphie the long legal saga of the colombos continues. was it ferrara that put up millions in real estate as part of his bond? he wasnt imprisoned awaiting trial/sentencing i dont think.

and not to derail this thread but who is running this family at any level right now?
acting positions across the board or alot of guys getting a bump and quick.

If Capeci writes it you can take it to the bank.
There was the issue with Delucia, that was the one and only and was immediately CORRECTED.

The guy is a RAT , if he is wealthy, I don’t know him or of him however, if he is wealthy he is facing 97 months, he is older and not in good health or shape, he probably just does not want to do the time.

Looks like he gave them a murder that a bunch of Ukrainian’s committed.
Who cares about that?

Interesting point BH. But I do believe that “a rat is a rat” is how all of his LCN buddies would think if the rumor turns out to be true.

Jerry Capeci hasn't said with 100% certainty that he's a rat, he's just giving you both sides. He even begins his article with the words SOURCES SAY.

People make fun of the Colombos compared to the rest of the New York Mafia but they have actually had some of the wealthiest members.

Lots to be figured out… it seems that this life is evolving like all other professions

Yes however, due to the possible ramifications if he thought it were not true he would not print it.

The rumor mill with 'WHO"S A RAT" is exhausting, if you have a crew with 10 guys and 7 get indicted automatically the other 3 are looked upon as if possibly they may be bad.

Even though it does not happen there still is the possibility that it could happen, especially with the Colombo's they are Maniac's.

So if he prints it and someone gets whacked he probably will get sued by the family, and if he has a conscious he just got an innocent man killed because of what you printed that was not true.

Thats my two cents anyway.

Sometimes you have to put the rumor out there to find out if it's true. Time will tell.

Lol I never heard that before that is interesting, and DANGEROUS at the same time.

Even though killings are very, very rare today.
Peoples lives can be ruined by a rumor like that.

There are rules for this specific situation and you are part of that life you shouldn’t make that claim with out first seeing the paperwork.

Look what happened with Pennesi, he want a rat, they pushed him into becoming a rat, because Big John and the admin did not follow the rules.

The whole Luke admin is on front street right now, there is more known about the Luke’s than any other two families combined, thanks to the mistake they made about Pennesi.

I think there's good enough reason to suspect that he MIGHT be cooperating, however it's still not confirmed yet so we don't need to jump the gun.

If you believe 1/3 of what has been said about Capeci, as of recent, than this would be a PLOY by the “FEDS” to “TICKLE THE WIRE” to get people talking, while the wires are recorders are recording…..

More or less using J.C. and his network of followers, as a TOOL to jam up more people.

Who cares about that? The Ukrainian looking at life behind bars cares!!!!

I agree, and have stated how many times? Capeci nothing but a tool. Anyway, what will happen to Ferrara, if true? Nothing! He'll probably show up at the same restaurants in eat and party.

It has been confirmed

Who confirmed it?

A few weeks ago, there was a post about Richard Ferrara being an informant. This is 100% false. I had lunch with Richie last week and we talked about this in detail. FYI, Richie and I have been close friends for over 20 years, he was the best man at my wedding and he is godfather to one of my children. He is like a big brother to me. That being said, the source of this lie is a convicted child molester. His victim was a 16 year old boy. He is NOT Italian and is out to save his himself. There is another individual that made this accusation legitimate and the reasoning behind that is deeply rooted with jealousy and self promotion. This is not child’s play or some movie or TV show. This is as real as you can get and to put something like this out to the public could have severe consequences to everyone involved. I don’t write that as a threat to anyone, I write that so people think about the ramifications of spreading lies and rumors. I can tell you this, unless you see someone on a witness stand or see a copy of a cooperation agreement, keep your rumors to yourself.

Did you believe he would admit being a rat? Personally, I believe Capeci a government lackey POS, but why not address some of the allegations noted prior in this string. Coming on here knowing someone for 20 years is not validation.

Who is the one who you're claiming is the source of Richard Ferrara flipping and the other individual? The word of some random who just made a account here doesn't hold much weight especially when they haven't offered anything to back it up.

Capeci's only sources are the government; he's not walking the pavement and buying beers for a hangaround guy to get stories. An example of that would be the Philadelphia investigative reporter that headlined the Black Mafia and humiliated the Philadelphia Office of the FBI.

I have also heard this is false. What gives me some pause is that I can't find his plea agreement or sentencing. This posted, persons who would be at risk due to cooperation do not seem overly concerned.

Interestingly Capeci did not mention him in today's column where he's said they're all pleading guilty or most of them are. No mention of whether Ferrara pleaded guilty or cooperated

When you don't have the FBI any longer feeding you information, you guestimate. He guestimated Dennis DeLucia incorrectly. This one? well, where is the pre-sentencing report?

At this point in the case everyone is has taken or is taking a plea and there is no mention about him going trial, the only logical conclusion is that he already resolved his case.
Delucia was mentioned and the very next week or two G.L. recanted the story.

No way this was allowed to circulate this long if it were not true.

The story makes sense they had him on a murder beef was looking at a life sentence.
Makes no sense that he would flip over a few years.

Well, the feds are not gonna cut him loose for just flipping. He's gotta produce for them. In one form or another. So I imagine we'll be hearing a bit more about him in the near future if this pans out to be sure. He'll provide inside intel, testify in court, etc.