Friends of Ours

Feds To Court: Give Mikey Scars A Pass

Gambino-capo-turned-government-witness Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo has admitted to two murders and faces life in prison when sentenced today but federal prosecutors are requesting leniency in light of his cooperation which has "been nothing short of historic" as reported by Bruce Golding for the New York Post:  "since switching sides nine years ago, the former Gambino crime-family captain has helped convict more than 80 gangsters of every stripe -- from powerful bosses to aspiring associates -- on charges including murder, assault, kidnapping and jury tampering."

UPDATE:

Mikey Scars emerged from court today a free man after getting sentenced to time served, and he sounded genuinely contrite for the wreckage he caused while running with the mob as reported by Scott Shifrel for the Daily News:  "DiLeonardo apologized for his crimes, telling a Manhattan federal judge: 'I stand here your honor in judgment. One day I will stand in judgment in the hereafter.'"  He called La Cosa Nostra a "living, breathing beast," and said "his family's life in organized crime goes back hundreds of years" as reported by Larry Neumeister for The Associated Press:  "I was born into an ideology."

A Qaddafi Son Bankrolls "Ice Man"

Al-Saadi Qaddafi, a son of Libyan mad man Muammar Qaddafi, has parked $100 million in the Los Angeles-based film production fund called Natural Selection which is producing a movie about Richard  Kuklinski -- a pyschopathic serial killer who whacked over 200 people including multiple murders-for-hire on behalf of Gambino pornographer Roy DeMeo -- adapted from Philip Carlo's book Ice Man: Confessions of a Mafia Contract Killer as reported by Kristen Schweizer for Bloomberg:

"This son is quiet and legitimate and less political than his father," said Wendy Mitchell, head of news at London-based film trade magazine Screen International. * * * Al-Saadi has kept a low profile during the recent protests in Libya. In contrast, his brother Saif al-Islam this week threatened that "rivers of blood" would flow unless the uprising ends.

Mickey Rourke is slated to play the Ice Man.  The actor apparently has "been fascinated with the Mafia" since making The Pope of Greenwich Village in 1984, and allegedly has an "infatuation with Gambino-family mobsters, including two generations of the Gottis and legendary thug Michael 'Mikey Scars' DiLeonardo" as reported in October 2009 by Page Six for the New York Post.

Anthony Antico Racketeering Trial

In a federal courthouse in Brooklyn, NY the racketeering trial began yesterday against reputed Genovese capo Anthony "Tico" Antico who is charged in connection with, among other things, the 2008 slaying of Staten Island jeweler Louis Antonelli during a botched robbery as reported by John Marzulli for the Daily News:

Louis Antonelli's offense was failing to kick up cash tributes to capo Anthony Antico for the privilege of peddling gems in Antico's social club, Assistant Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Nicole Argentieri said in opening arguments . . . .  Gerald McMahon blasted the government witnesses lined up to testify against the 74-year-old Antico, calling mob associate Stefan Cicale "a chain saw murderer" for dismembering a gangland victim and former Gambino capo Michael DiLeonardo "a mass murderer."

Yep, sounds like a mob trial.

Gambinos Sentenced In Murder Conspiracy

Two Gambino crime family associates -- Letterio DeCarlo and Thomas Dono -- were each sentenced to 180 months in prison "for their participation in a conspiracy that resulted in the 1998 murder of Frank Hydell" in order to prevent him from cooperating with the feds.  The feds state:

In late 1997 or early 1998, various members and associates of the Gambino Organized Crime Family suspected Frank Hydell of cooperating with the Government. Gambino Family soldier Thomas "Huck" Carbonaro and Gambino Family associates Letterio DeCarlo, Thomas Dono, John Matera, and others plotted to murder Hydell to prevent him from providing information to the Government concerning, among other things, the murder of Frank Parasole in 1997. On the night of April 27 and into the morning of April 28, 1998, John Matera, a close friend of Hydell's, lured Hydell to a strip club on Staten Island, New York. Later that night, as Hydell was leaving the club, he was shot dead at close range in front of his car. The evidence at trial showed that Carbonaro later indicated that he was the getaway driver for the murder, that his associate Edmund Boyle was the shooter, that Matera lured Hydell to the strip club, and that his nephews, DeCarlo and Dono, also planned and were present at the scene of the murder. In addition, as part of the plot to murder Hydell, other membersof the Gambino Family, including Gambino Organized Crime Family Captain Michael DiLeonardo and Gambino Family Soldier Frank Fappiano, conspired with Carbonaro and others to carry out the murder.

Download DOJ Press Release On Letterio DeCarlo and Thomas Dono Sentencing

Related Coverage:

"Justice catches up with mob hitmen" by Jeff Harrell for The Staten Island Advance

The Junior Gotti Racketeering Trial

Yesterday defense lawyer Charles Carnesi announced that he may call Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano -- the former Gambino underboss who brought down Junior's dad -- as a defense witness in an attempt to refute allegations that Junior Gotti had a role in the 1990 murder of Louis DiBono in a World Trade Center garage depending, of course, upon what Carnesi first learns from interviewing the mob informant as reported by John Riley for Newsday:

Gotti lawyer Charles Carnesi said he thinks Gravano could help clear his client on a murder allegation that he hung on the late Gambino family boss John J. Gotti 17 years ago, and hopes to talk to the legendary turncoat before making a final tactical decision on calling him. "It remains to be seen," Carnesi told reporters. "We'll interview him, and then see what we do." * * * Gravano, after leaving the federal witness protection program, was living under an assumed name and working as a swimming pool installer in Arizona when he was charged in 2001 with running a major drug ring that sold Ecstasy in the Southwest. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 20 years in 2002. At the elder Gotti's trial in 1992, Gravano provided testimony linking the boss to the 1990 murder of Louis DiBono, a mob soldier, in a garage at the World Trade Center, and jurors found the elder Gotti guilty of that charge.

Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo testified for a third day for the government, and stated "that another mobster told him Junior Gotti was involved" in the DiBono murder.

Alison Gender and Corky Siemaszko report for the Daily News:

Gravano has testified about the DiBono killing in other trials, but never mentioned Junior. Joseph DiBenedetto, who once represented Junior's uncle, Peter Gotti, said putting Gravano on the stand "could be a double-edged sword." "The government can then question him about crimes he committed with [Junior] or any member of the conspiracy," DiBenedetto said. * * * Putting Gravano on the stand has backfired. Six years ago, wiseguy Thomas (Huck) Carbonaro was on trial for trying to rub out the mob turncoat - on Peter Gotti's orders. Carbonaro's lawyers hoped Gravano would testify Carbonaro would not try to kill his friend. Instead, he said Carbonaro would have been killed for disobeying orders.

Further reporting:

Bruce Golding for New York Post:  Sammy Gravano may testify for Junior Gotti