Originally Posted By: gangstereport
capeci in a old article called zocallerio the most effective witness in 2014



This Week in Gang Land
By Jerry Capeci

Bronx Mama's Boy The Most Effective Mob Turncoat of 2014

Gang Land Exclusive! Until Anthony Zoccolillo was arrested on drug charges when he was hanging out with a violent gang of Albanian gangsters called the Wolfpack nearly two years ago, his "15 minutes of fame" had consumed a grand total of eight days in April of 2012. That's when he played himself in the Mama's Boys Of The Bronx, a so-called reality TV show that was so bad it was cancelled after two episodes.

But three years later, Zoccolillo is Gang Land's selection as the federal government's most productive cooperating witness of 2014 — based on his performance as an undercover operative for the FBI in the two months after his arrest, and his follow-up work with prosecutors in the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's office since then.

"There's no question in my mind," said one law enforcement official not involved in any of Zoccolillo's cases, "the federal government got more bang for its buck with him last year than it did with all the other cooperators combined."

A noted mob lawyer put it a little differently, but agreed wholeheartedly. "In 2014, the Mama's Boy was the government's most effective rat," he said.

All 14 defendants in three Zoccolillo-connected cases that were indicted in 2013 and closed last year, including two Genovese wiseguys and three sons of onetime Bonanno acting boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano, pleaded guilty to dealing drugs (mostly marijuana) or other charges and were sentenced to a total of 61 years in federal prison.

Three defendants, including Genovese soldier Salvatore (Sally KO) Larca, who was sentenced to 114 months, received prison terms of nine years or longer. Only two were sentenced to less than a year in prison: Basciano's youngest son, Joseph received six months; a marijuana broker, who also flipped, wound up with 11 months.

On average, defendants in the Mama's Boy cases were sentenced to a little more than four years. And even though those prison terms were meted out by three different judges, they were at, or close to, what the government agreed to in deals with defendants.

That batting average is well above the score card resulting from a 2013 Manhattan indictment that focused on mob-tied trash haulers that began after an out-of-work garbage man started cooperating with the FBI after he was arrested for soliciting sex with a minor in 2008. Joseph Basciano

In that case, the government's arguments for tougher prison terms were undermined by the disclosure that its key witness was an accused sex pervert looking to escape a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years behind bars.

But Manhattan prosecutors knew that going into the case when they indicted 29 mob-connected defendants for labor racketeering in 2013. The case became a disaster. The government had to dismiss all charges against 10 defendants.

Even those who were convicted received light sentences. Of the 18 who pleaded guilty and have been sentenced, the longest prison term was 46 months. Six defendants got six months or less, and three received no time behind bars. The result was an average sentence of 9.6 months. The main defendant, Genovese associate Carmine (Papa Smurf) Franco, and four others each got a year and a day prison terms.

For the record, Gang Land does NOT stand for the proposition that the feds should focus on easier-to-make drug cases that carry longer prison terms and ignore time-consuming, much more difficult investigations into labor racketeering scams. In fact, the opposite is true. Gang Land believes that the FBI and federal government should devote more effort and money to crack down on corrupt activities that take money out of the paychecks of working people.

But that's a different story.

This week, we summarize just some details about the results of Zoccolillo's decision to cooperate with the FBI almost immediately after the agency's now-defunct FBI squad that had been investigating Albanian organized crime arrested him for drug trafficking on February 20, 2013.

His work first bore fruit less than two months later, on April 15, 2013, when FBI agents arrested Larca and three cohorts, and seized a 500 pound load of high grade weed that the foursome transported to a Queens warehouse concealed in trade show booths. Like defendants later added to the Larca case and those in two other indictments, all decided to cop plea deals rather than go to trial.

Mitch Engelson, whose first conviction for drugs was in 1998 as a co-conspirator with the Luchese family, also got 114 months; Thomas Donohue, a Florida based cohort who handled the shipping, was sentenced to 102 months.

Joseph Basciano's older brothers, Steven, and Vincent Jr., received 42 months and 36 months, respectively. Judge Richard Sullivan agreed to let Vincent Jr. spend the first year of his sentence in home confinement to enable him to help care for an autistic son, and prepare him for a two year separation.

Three other New York-based drug dealers charged along with the Basciano brothers, Elon Valentine, George Kokenyei, and Dominick Deluccia, received prison terms of six years, three years and 18 months, respectively. A California-based marijuana broker, Kenneth Owen, was sentenced to 27 months.

Charged with loansharking in a separate indictment, Genovese wiseguy Pasquale (Uncle Patty) Falcetti and a Bronx-based associate who had known Zoccolillo for decades and had loaned him $34,000 in 2011 that he used to finance his move into the marijuana business, each copped plea deals rather than contest the charges at trial.

Falcetti was sentenced to 30 months in prison; his associate, Thomas Joy received 14 months.

Prosecutors also used Zoccolillo to up the ante for Vincent Bruno, a longtime buddy and partner in the drug business who was also a close associate of Larca's. Bruno, a violent Bronx-based gangster had been nailed on cocaine trafficking charges in February of 2013, a week before the Mama's Boy was arrested by the FBI.

Bruno, 30, had already worked out a plea deal calling for 70 to 87 months on the coke charges when Zoccolillo informed the feds that Bruno was also involved in his lucrative marijuana business. The new info forced Bruno to agree to a plea deal calling for up to four more years in prison or face additional drug charges carrying twice that. He was sentenced to nine years.

Richard Strock, a marijuana broker from the San Francisco Bay area who was a Larca accomplice for years and was arrested with him, subsequently cooperated with the feds. He was sentenced to 11 months in prison and is currently serving three years of post-prison supervision.

At his sentencing in November, Judge Sullivan ordered him to forfeit $10,000, noting that he had deducted $5000 from the original amount after prosecutors reported that fellow inmates had threatened Strock and extorted that much cash from him after they learned he was cooperating with the feds.

Zoccolillo is slated to be sentenced in May. As a cooperator, the Mama's Boy has reason to be proud.


GR solid post thanks pal...anyone heard more about this trial recently? You'd think the daily news would write about it everyday at least, I mean enough with the Trump bashing and stupid fuckin stories about Kim Kardashians fat ass and Beyonce hating white people..Mob shits always gets clicks IMO online....jw if anyone heard more of whats going on or if any other notable rats were testifying?

"No, no, you aint alrite Spyder you got alotta fuckin problems"