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Colombo Underboss "The Claw" Cries Poverty.....
#1079412
01/08/24 10:28 PM
01/08/24 10:28 PM
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Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 9,468
NYMafia
OP
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OP
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Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 9,468
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....Says He Could Wind Up Homeless!
Crime really didn’t pay for a reputed Colombo family underboss — who once again is claiming poverty as he asks for leniency when he’s sentenced for a union shakedown scheme.
Benjamin “The Claw” Castellazzo, 86, is so short on cash that he might become homeless if he loses his federally subsidized senior housing while he’s in the can, his lawyer wrote to a federal judge this month. His net worth is just $5,092, according to his lawyer.
Castellazzo is slated to be sentenced for money laundering conspiracy on Jan. 22.
“While Mr. Castellazzo was not evicted during his approximately six-month period of pretrial detention earlier in this case, a sentence that exposes him to far more time in custody would risk his eviction,” his lawyer, Ilana Haramati, wrote in a Jan. 3 sentencing letter to Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Hector Gonzalez.
“In his late 80s, he would be homeless. Without access to subsidized senior housing, he is unlikely to be able to afford another apartment.”
Castellazzo also cast himself as a brokefella with a laundry list of medical conditions at a 2013 extortion sentencing in Brooklyn Federal Court.
His lawyer at the time said Castellazzo and his wife were living in a modest mobile home in New Jersey, getting by on Social Security payments and food stamps.
In a 2021 feature story about Castellazzo’s life, NJ.com reported that he and his wife reported a combined monthly income of $1,115 when she filed for bankruptcy in 2011, and they paid $450 a month to live in the mobile home.
Hard times or not, he still got hard time — Judge Kiyo Matsumoto still sentenced him to more than five years behind bars, pointing out his decades-spanning criminal career, and noting that he brought up his medical condition in a 2002 sentencing.
Castellazzo and his wife moved into a HUD-subsidized rental apartment complex, Stafford by the Bay, in Manahawkin, N.J., in 2018. He’s lived alone there since her death, Haramati wrote.
Castellazzo could face between 24 to 30 months behind bars after pleading guilty in his most recent case, which stems from a takedown of the entire leadership of the Colombo crime family.
The crime family’s labor union shakedown started in 2001, and by 2019, the Colombos were trying to turn the Queens union, which represented construction workers in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, into a mob-run operation.
All of the 14 defendants busted in the case have taken a plea, except for the Colombo boss, Andrew “Mush” Russo, who died in April 2022 at age 87.
Haramati also argued that Castellazzo’s failing health should factor into his sentence, pointing to how a recent detainee at Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center was not sent to a medical facility for several weeks despite a highly contagious MRSA infection.
“Mr. Castellazzo’s long term care cannot be entrusted to the (Bureau of Prisons) — the BOP’s recent track record caring for sick and elderly inmates is nothing short of appalling,” she wrote.
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Re: Colombo Underboss "The Claw" Cries Poverty.....
[Re: Liggio]
#1079420
01/08/24 11:52 PM
01/08/24 11:52 PM
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Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 3,592
jace
Underboss
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Underboss![](/ubb/3stars.gif)
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 3,592
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Combined monthly income of $1,115, yeah right. Such bullshit. You switch side day to day, one day you support a guy like him, now he's a liar according to you. My thought is that if he moved into that type of housing, which is depressing to live in, he's broke. Plus he is 86 years old, and his wife died recently. The money laundered must have been a petty amount, regardless of any claims made by the government. 86 years old, great, him and Romenlelo will be put away keeping us safe.
Last edited by jace; 01/08/24 11:54 PM.
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Re: Colombo Underboss "The Claw" Cries Poverty.....
[Re: MafiaStudent]
#1079446
01/09/24 07:51 AM
01/09/24 07:51 AM
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Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 9,468
NYMafia
OP
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OP
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Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 9,468
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Embarrassing in every sense of the word whether true or not. I completely agree with you MS. In fact, to call it "embarrassing" is a gross understatement, to say the least! Whether true or false, (and I would tend to believe that there's more truth to it, than not,) NO self-respecting wiseguy would EVER make such a self-deprecating statement, let alone in a public forum so as to embarrass himself as well as his entire borgata by showing that he's such a bust-out and loser.
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Re: Colombo Underboss "The Claw" Cries Poverty.....
[Re: DiLorenzo]
#1079539
01/10/24 05:07 AM
01/10/24 05:07 AM
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Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 9,468
NYMafia
OP
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OP
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Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 9,468
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Embarrassing in every sense of the word whether true or not. He's far from the first...The old timers would rather have an inferior attorney then pay for a good one !! Thats true DL...to a degree. Because many of the old-time zips were very tight with a buck. They came from poverty, so even though many achieved some wealth they never wanted to spend any of it because they never knew if hard times would befall them again. - But Castellazzo is different. Very different. Its one thing to be tight with a buck, but still carry yourself in a dignified manner and dress properly (if not expensively,) live in a small modest home or even a nice apartment (if not a mansion,) drive a medium-priced car (if not a Jaguar or Benz,) etc.....But still hold your head high and carry yourself in a refined and dignified manner....that befitting a mafioso, a half-a-boss no less! But this guy lives in a low-end trailer park in a filthy broken-down hobo's trailer that looks like its about to collapse and not fit for occupancy, which by the way is underwritten by the State Welfare Department, while he also collects a welfare check each month, has a welfare "food debit card" so he can go to a supermarket and pick up a block of cheese, milk, bread, and the barest of essentials allowed on that state-run "card" to exist week-to-week, etc. Are we kidding each other here, or what??....THATS a mafioso? Pleeeeez! NO "self-respecting" wiseguy, NONE, would ever stoop to collect welfare. Especially ones who actually have money. Because it shows that they're not successful as a mob guy. Its a major embarrassment among their peers....And for the few bust-outs who did, who really DO need that monthly stipend, believe me when I tell ya, they're definitely not advertising it around, even to a judge, especially knowing its gonna hit the newspapers and everyone will read about it. He's gotta be the laughingstock of any knock-around guy, in any crew, throughout all NY and NJ who knows about his lifestyle. In fact, IMO, he is MORE than embarrassing! This guy's a total disgrace to the "professional."
Last edited by NYMafia; 01/10/24 05:14 AM.
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Re: Colombo Underboss "The Claw" Cries Poverty.....
[Re: NYMafia]
#1079695
01/11/24 05:35 PM
01/11/24 05:35 PM
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Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 1,637
DiLorenzo
Underboss
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Underboss![](/ubb/1star.gif)
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Posts: 1,637
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Embarrassing in every sense of the word whether true or not. He's far from the first...The old timers would rather have an inferior attorney then pay for a good one !! Thats true DL...to a degree. Because many of the old-time zips were very tight with a buck. They came from poverty, so even though many achieved some wealth they never wanted to spend any of it because they never knew if hard times would befall them again. - But Castellazzo is different. Very different. Its one thing to be tight with a buck, but still carry yourself in a dignified manner and dress properly (if not expensively,) live in a small modest home or even a nice apartment (if not a mansion,) drive a medium-priced car (if not a Jaguar or Benz,) etc.....But still hold your head high and carry yourself in a refined and dignified manner....that befitting a mafioso, a half-a-boss no less! But this guy lives in a low-end trailer park in a filthy broken-down hobo's trailer that looks like its about to collapse and not fit for occupancy, which by the way is underwritten by the State Welfare Department, while he also collects a welfare check each month, has a welfare "food debit card" so he can go to a supermarket and pick up a block of cheese, milk, bread, and the barest of essentials allowed on that state-run "card" to exist week-to-week, etc. Are we kidding each other here, or what??....THATS a mafioso? Pleeeeez! NO "self-respecting" wiseguy, NONE, would ever stoop to collect welfare. Especially ones who actually have money. Because it shows that they're not successful as a mob guy. Its a major embarrassment among their peers....And for the few bust-outs who did, who really DO need that monthly stipend, believe me when I tell ya, they're definitely not advertising it around, even to a judge, especially knowing its gonna hit the newspapers and everyone will read about it. He's gotta be the laughingstock of any knock-around guy, in any crew, throughout all NY and NJ who knows about his lifestyle. In fact, IMO, he is MORE than embarrassing! This guy's a total disgrace to the "professional." I didn't know it was that bad... My father gew up poor, and threw quarters like manhole covers...I think he paid me under minimum wage when I was a kid... Liked to have a roll in his pocket, because he never had one before... These guys today don't know what poverty is...My father told me a story that he had a pigeon coop and one day he came home and none were there and none flew back...He said his grandmother strangled them and made soup with them !!
Last edited by DiLorenzo; 01/11/24 05:36 PM.
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Re: Colombo Underboss "The Claw" Cries Poverty.....
[Re: DiLorenzo]
#1079747
01/12/24 05:52 AM
01/12/24 05:52 AM
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Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 9,468
NYMafia
OP
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OP
![](/ubb/5stars.gif)
Joined: Sep 2019
Posts: 9,468
|
Embarrassing in every sense of the word whether true or not. He's far from the first...The old timers would rather have an inferior attorney then pay for a good one !! Thats true DL...to a degree. Because many of the old-time zips were very tight with a buck. They came from poverty, so even though many achieved some wealth they never wanted to spend any of it because they never knew if hard times would befall them again. - But Castellazzo is different. Very different. Its one thing to be tight with a buck, but still carry yourself in a dignified manner and dress properly (if not expensively,) live in a small modest home or even a nice apartment (if not a mansion,) drive a medium-priced car (if not a Jaguar or Benz,) etc.....But still hold your head high and carry yourself in a refined and dignified manner....that befitting a mafioso, a half-a-boss no less! But this guy lives in a low-end trailer park in a filthy broken-down hobo's trailer that looks like its about to collapse and not fit for occupancy, which by the way is underwritten by the State Welfare Department, while he also collects a welfare check each month, has a welfare "food debit card" so he can go to a supermarket and pick up a block of cheese, milk, bread, and the barest of essentials allowed on that state-run "card" to exist week-to-week, etc. Are we kidding each other here, or what??....THATS a mafioso? Pleeeeez! NO "self-respecting" wiseguy, NONE, would ever stoop to collect welfare. Especially ones who actually have money. Because it shows that they're not successful as a mob guy. Its a major embarrassment among their peers....And for the few bust-outs who did, who really DO need that monthly stipend, believe me when I tell ya, they're definitely not advertising it around, even to a judge, especially knowing its gonna hit the newspapers and everyone will read about it. He's gotta be the laughingstock of any knock-around guy, in any crew, throughout all NY and NJ who knows about his lifestyle. In fact, IMO, he is MORE than embarrassing! This guy's a total disgrace to the "professional." I didn't know it was that bad... My father gew up poor, and threw quarters like manhole covers...I think he paid me under minimum wage when I was a kid... Liked to have a roll in his pocket, because he never had one before... These guys today don't know what poverty is...My father told me a story that he had a pigeon coop and one day he came home and none were there and none flew back...He said his grandmother strangled them and made soup with them !! Definitely DL, this guys's a next-level brokster. - And I also agree with your other point also. 99% of people nowadays really have no clue what real "poverty" is. Like "Depression Era" poverty that the old-timers grew up within....And that's in THIS country, America! lol. Back in their homelands, (in my family's case, Southern Italy/Sicily,) the daily plight they faced in their countries of origin made even the so-called 1920s Depression Era seem good. lol
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