Goodfella with bad manners

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — One look at Anthony Antico sitting at the defense table and you swear he was born to be on trial for something.
By the way the 74-year-old Genovese family capo throws up his hands and mouths, “So what?” to a bugged phone conversation played back in court Monday afternoon, it’s a [...]

Colombo mobster Michael (Mickey) Souza, The Don of Screwups, now begging for witness protection

The Colombo crime family must really be going to the dogs if this is the type of muscle they’re recruiting.
Meet Michael (Mickey) Souza.
Before legendary Colombo underboss John (Sonny) Franzese pricked Souza’s finger with a sterile diabetic needle in 2005 to make him a made man, Souza had built quite the fiasco-filled résumé.
There was the time [...]

Pub boss: Mafia goon Christopher Curanovic tried to jam screwdriver through my hand

The owner of East Village cocktail lounge Rue B testified Monday that a Mafia goon tried to jam a screwdriver through his hand in a violent mob shakedown.
Peter Dupre said he fended off the attack in his office by thug Christopher Curanovic, who was demanding $1,500 a week in protection money to be paid to [...]

Bonanno mobster Joseph (Sammy) Sammartino cops plea on loansharking charge

A high-ranking Bonanno mobster pleaded guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court Monday to loansharking.
Reputed capo Joseph (Sammy) Sammartino admitted that he conspired with other wiseguys to collect a high-interest loan from a victim identified only as “Sal from Staten Island.”
Sammartino, 55, of New Jersey, faces up to two years in prison when he is sentenced in [...]

Rat bares gangster’s ‘retire pay’

It’s the mob version of Social Security.
Geezer gangster John “Sonny” Franzese, 93, who is currently on trial in Brooklyn federal court for shaking down a couple of Manhattan strip clubs, banked on high-interest “shylock” loans to support him in his old age, an underling-turned-informant was heard saying on an FBI tape played in court yesterday.
“The [...]

Mobster gets into heated fight with his wife outside Brooklyn courtroom

He’s still a wiseguy after all these years.
Colombo underboss John “Sonny” Franzese got into a heated fight with his wife outside the Brooklyn courtroom where he is currently on trial for racketeering — and the war-of-words got ugly.
Cristina Capobianco Franzese, who has been separated from the mobster for the past two years, confronted her mobster [...]

Colombo underboss John (Sonny) Franzese betrayed by son, who’ll testify against legendary mobster

Legendary Colombo underboss John (Sonny) Franzese, who turned murder into an art form and whose name made foes shudder in fear, is about to get the biggest double cross of his life.
While he’s literally turned stoolies into mincemeat, the one set to betray the 93-year-old wiseguy in a courtroom Wednesday once held a special place [...]

Suspected Colombo mob scion Michael Persico celebrates release from jail with pizza and pasta

Colombo crime scion Michael Persico had at least two things on his mind as he was released from jail on Wednesday night: pizza and pasta.

Of course, he planned to celebrate his freedom – secured with $5 million bail – at his own Bay Ridge restaurant, Bella Luna.
Persico, 53, spent more than two months behind bars [...]

New Dorp mobster gets 20 years

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A New Dorp mobster was sentenced Friday to 20 years in prison for his role in the slaying of a Grasmere jeweler two years ago.
John (Wizzie) DeLutro, 33, was scouting out a West Brighton restaurant outside of which an accomplice gunned down Louis Antonelli on April 29, 2008, federal prosecutors [...]

NYPD Officer Emmanuel Tavarez sold out badge to crime crew that posed as cops, feds charge

An NYPD officer sold out his badge – and handed over his gun and other police equipment – to a crime crew that posed as cops to rob drug dealers, the feds charged Thursday.
Emmanuel Tavarez even took part in at least four of the stickups, acting as lookout in case real cops showed up, [...]

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