Friends of Ours

Gambino Mobster "Buddy Musk" Is Dead

Charles "Buddy Musk" Muccigrosso has died from lung cancer at the age of 70 while out on bail awaiting trial on labor racketeering and fraud charges in Newark, NJ as reported by Joe Ryan for The Star-Ledger:

The reputed mobster once spit in a State trooper's drink at a Belleville pub, then attacked him with a beer mug. Another time, he fired two shotgun blasts through the front window of a house owned by a police detective's father. * * * A beefy man, Muccigrosso was born in Newark and, authorities say, was a member of the Gambino crime family. He was among six alleged mobsters convicted in 1993 of running John Gotti's crew in New Jersey. The marathon trial was as memorable for its 10-month duration as it was for its chaos. A juror's car wound up riddled with bullet holes. Union members held regular demonstrations outside the courthouse supporting one of the defendants. And midway through the trial, Muccigrosso was arrested for the Belleville bar brawl after the off-duty trooper accused him of being drunk.

Union Organizer Pleads Guilty To Racketeering

In Buffalo, NY James L. Minter III, a former organizer for Operating Engineers Local 17, pleaded guilty to a felony racketeering charge involving "a decade-long conspiracy, using threats, harassment and extortion against non-union construction workers and companies throughout Western New York" as reported by Dan Herbeck for The Buffalo News:

Minter's plea deal is the first major development in the case since April 2008, when federal prosecutors charged Minter and 11 other union members and leaders with labor racketeering crimes. The alleged crimes ranged from death threats and stabbings to pouring sand into the gas tanks of trucks owned by non-union construction workers.

Andrew Merola Pleads Guilty

Andrew Merola, "a reputed high-ranking member of the Gambino crime family in New Jersey," pleaded guilty yesterday "to federal racketeering conspiracy charges . . . admitting he led a crew that profited from illegal gambling, loan-sharking, extortion, identity theft, fraud and labor racketeering" as reported by Peter J. Sampson for the Record.  He was among the nearly two dozen busted in May 2008 on federal racketeering charges which piggy-backed upon an earlier New Jersey state investigation.  Nineteen other defendants already have pleaded guilty, and "three remaining defendants, including Martin Taccetta, a reputed former underboss of the Lucchese crime family’s New Jersey faction, are awaiting trial."  Joe Ryan reports for The Star Ledger:

He [Andrew Merola] said he ran an overseas sports-betting ring. He corrupted labor unions. He shook down lunch truck guys. And, he said, he directed underlings to swap barcodes on televisions and power tools at Lowe’s, Home Depot and other big-box stores to avoid paying full price.

"'He's one of the highest ranking made members of the Gambino crime family here in New Jersey,' Assistant U.S. Attorney Ronald D. Wigler said after the hearing" as reported by Matt Manochio for the Daily Record.

Cold Case: Robert Miller Jr.

The murder of Robert Miller Jr., a Maryland contractor who "had been subpoenaed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baltimore as a witness in its investigation of labor-management racketeering in the construction industry," remains unsolved after 31 years as reported by Scott McCabe for The Examiner:

On the night of May 9, 1978, Miller had been chauffeured to a Ramada Inn in Rockville to meet someone to make a bid on a contract. While his driver waited for two hours in the parking lot in Miller's silver Continental — adorned with a ram's head on the hood — someone fatally shot Miller in the head. His body was discovered in Room 421 by a bellboy who had gone to see whether Miller had vacated the room. Found on his body by police were $1,900 and his own unused, loaded revolver. * * * Investigators wouldn't say whether they believed Miller's homicide was related to the racketeering investigation, which ultimately led to the conviction of a D.C. Superior Court judge on bribery charges and a D.C. Teamster for violations of federal labor laws.

The Montgomery County Cold Case Squad is accepting tips in connection with the murder at 240-773-5070, and in his article McCabe provides a detailed description of a person of interest wanted for questioning who "was described in 1978 as a white male of Italian or Armenian descent."

Nicholas Manocchio Agrees To Plead Guilty

Nicholas Manocchio, a former director of the Laborers' New England Region Organizing Fund, has agreed to plead guilty "to one count of labor conspiracy for accepting cash and other items of value, including liquor, rental cars and gift certificates from an undercover FBI agent posing as a contractor looking for business in Rhode Island" as reported by Katie Mulvaney for the Providence Journal:

Manocchio, 56, of Cranston, is the last of three men to agree to plead guilty to charges resulting from the undercover FBI operation. Gerald Diodati, a Coventry contractor and Seekonk resident, signed an agreement in June and is scheduled to enter the plea July 31 before U.S. District Judge William E. Smith. A third defendant, Harold L. Tillinghast Jr., two weeks earlier pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge and agreed to cooperate with the government.

Mulvaney further reports that "Manocchio has deep criminal bloodlines":

He is the nephew of Luigi "Baby Shacks" Manocchio, described by the authorities as the longtime head of the Patriarca crime family. In 1980, Nicholas Manocchio, then a student in microbiology at the University of Washington, was arrested for killing Richard Fournier, 24, outside a restaurant on Mineral Spring Avenue in North Providence. He was convicted of intentional manslaughter and conspiracy to commit assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Records from the Adult Correctional Institutions show that Manocchio served about 7 years of a 12-year sentence. Upon his release, he ran a sports memorabilia store in Cranston before he landed a job with the Laborers' Union.

W. Zachary Malinowski previously reported for the Providence Journal that "Tillinghast is the son of the late Harold L. Tillinghast Sr., and the nephew of Gerald M. 'Gerry' Tillinghast, two mobsters who were convicted of killing loan shark George Basmajian in the 1970s."