Friends of Ours

Prosecutor Doubts Prison Will Reform Mobsters

Two alleged Gambino mobsters -- Michael "Roc" Roccaforte and Anthony Moscatiello -- were sentenced yesterday to 118 months and 43 months, respectively, after pleading guilty in February "to breaking various laws for more than a decade, including racketeering, selling drugs, gambling and loan sharking" as reported by Barbara Ross for the Daily News:  "Assistant U.S. Attorney Elie Honig said both men were handpicked by [reputed]  Gambino bosses Ronald and Alphonse Trucchio to be made men in the Gambino gang and predicted that both would come back to the Gambinos when they get out."

Dwindling Numbers For Former Bergin Hunt & Fish Club Crew

The ranks of the former Bergin Hunt and Fish Club crew once headed by the late John Gotti are thinning due to death and jail:

With the arrest this month of reputed Gambino crime family hit man Joseph Watts, only three members of Gotti's crew remain alive and on the street. Reputed soldiers Ignazio (Iggy) Alogna, Michael (Mikey Gal) Guerrieri and John (Jack) Cavallo are survivors - and schemers. They've struggled with serious illnesses and staying on the right side of the law."They don't have pensions to live on," pointed out Bruce Mouw, the former supervisor of the FBI's Gambino squad. "These old guys will scheme until they die." * * * The inner circle included Gene Gotti (jail); John Carneglia (jail); Edward Lino (slain); Sal Scala (died recently in prison), and Anthony (Tony Lee) Guerrieri (dead). Other confidants included Angelo Ruggiero (dead); Anthony (Tony Roach) Rampino (jail); Vincent Artuso (jail); Ronald Trucchio (jail); Thomas (Tommy Sneakers) Cacciopoli (jail), and Charles Carneglia (currently on trial).

Gotti inherited the Ozone Park, Queens club from Gambino capo Carmine Fatico who operated gay bars throughout NYC and Long Island:

Quite apart from his canniness and naked aggression he [John Gotti] stood out for his appalling taste in clothing:  he wore anything, so long as it was loud, colourful and stolen.  Purple suits were a favorite.  He attracted the attention of Carmine "Charley Wagons" Fatico, an associate of the late Alberto Anastasia.  Although only seventeen, Gotti quickly proved his worth as a strong man, performing one or two spectacular beatings, and became one of the 120 men Fatico had working for him.  Fatico had a well-established organization, which grossed him around thirty million dollars annually.  The money came from hijacking, illegal gambling and loan-sharking, but Fatico had a special line in gay bars.  Homosexuality was still illegal in America, and Fatico's discreet string of private gay clubs, where exotic stage acts could be seen by men prepared to pay exotic prices for admission and drinks, was highly lucrative. 

Junior Gotti Pal John Alite Testifies At Carneglia Trial

John "Junior" Gotti's former pal John Alite took the stand yesterday at the racketeering trial against reputed Gambino hitman Charles Carneglia, and implicated the mob scion in four murders:

Alite fingered Gotti and Carneglia in the rubout of gangster Louis DiBono in an underground garage at the World Trade Center. * * * In 1990, Gotti was a newly minted captain when he was told to put together a hit team to kill DiBono because he didn't obey an order to go see Junior Gotti's father, the late mob boss John Gotti, Alite said. "This was [Junior's] first job as a captain to kill somebody and he wanted to do it right," Alite told Assistant U.S. Attorney Roger Burlingame. Alite couldn't locate DiBono at gambling haunts in Atlantic City. Prosecutors say Carneglia finally killed DiBono in the garage at the World Trade Center. After Junior Gotti learned the murder had been successfully carried out, he was "elated," Alite said. The mob rat also fingered Junior as ordering the gangland killings of coke dealer George Grasso, shakedown artist Bruce Godderup and Frank (Geekie) Boccia.

Alite testified that notwithstanding four previous murders Carneglia only became a made man after killing DiBono, and Carneglia bragged about killing police officer Albert Gelb: "He said, 'All of us guys should kill a cop.'"

Although Alite, of Albanian descent, never could become a made guy in the Gambino family he nevertheless had his own crew of 150 men and made a pile of money for Gotti through drug trafficking and the sex trade:

He also claimed Gotti - son of the notorious Gambino crime boss John Gotti - collected monthly cash payments from a drug-dealing operation across the city. "If you get caught, you're dead!" Alite said Gotti's father warned him once. Alite, who controlled drug-trafficking and prostitution in dozens of Queens neighborhoods for nearly a decade until 1993, said that although Gotti Sr. had warned Gambino associates not to officially sell cocaine, he frequently looked the other way.

In January 2008 Alite made a plea agreement with federal prosecutors in which he admitted his role in six murders, and three of those six -- involving the murders of George Grosso, Louis DiBono and Bruce John Gotterup -- are directly charged in an August 2008 indictment against Gotti who is expected to go to trial later this year at which Alite will be the star witness.

In 2006 "Alite figured prominently in the trial of Ronald 'Ronnie One Arm' Trucchio and three co-defendants found guilty of conspiracy and racketeering by a federal jury in Tampa":

Alite and Trucchio, a captain in the Gambino crime family, were alleged business partners. At the time, federal prosecutors accused Alite of controlling illegal businesses, illegal gambling, extortion, drug trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping and murder as a top lieutenant in the Gambino crime family. Authorities said Alite used Prestige Valet, a Tampa company, to infiltrate the local valet business.

Although Alite was indicted as a co-defendant with Trucchio and the others he fled to Brazil and was not extradited in time for the 2006 trial.  At the trial Kevin Bonner "described Alite as Gotti's right-hand man in the late 1980s and early 1990s."

On a more salacious note, Alite further testified yesterday that he had a fling with Junior Gotti's older sister Victoria during the time she was married to then-husband Carmine Agnello which prompted a strident denial from the Mafia princess:

Reached for comment, Victoria Gotti ridiculed the heavily-tattooed thug's claim of a tryst with her. "He's an out-and-out liar - he's vermin," she said. "This animal [Alite] had a crush on me from the first time I met him. He was in our bridal party and he tried to kiss me at my wedding. He missed the cheek by a lot. "Carmine knew he had a crush on me. That's why he despised him. "In Mr. Alite's dreams would someone like me even give him a second glance let alone 'fool around' with him. I was raised a good Catholic girl and always played by the rules. "I met and married my first and only boyfriend. I never slept with Alite or anyone else. "Dare him to take a lie detector test. I will take a lie detector test anytime, anywhere."

Gambino Associate John Alite's Guilty Plea

Federal prosecutors disclosed today that Gambino associate John E. Alite pleaded guilty last January to a racketeering conspiracy charge linking him to John "Junior" Gotti, and further admitted his role in several murders and other crimes:

Though he pleaded guilty to only the racketeering charge, prosecutors say Alite admitted involvement in two murders, four murder conspiracies, at least eight shootings and two attempted shootings — including one in which the intended victim was his former roommate at the University of Tampa, Tim Donovan. He also acknowledged participation in armed home invasions and armed robberies in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida, the government said. * * * According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Alite has acknowledged his role as a top associate in the Gambino crime family and specifically admitted to participating in the murder of George Grosso on Dec. 20, 1998, and in the murder of Bruce John Gotterup on Nov. 20, 1991. Prosecutors said Alite also admitted to participating in four other murder conspiracies, including conspiracy in 1990 to kill Louis DiBono, a soldier in the Gambino crime family.

Alite is a potential witness against Gambino soldier Charles "Charlie Canig" Carneglia, scheduled to go to trial next month in New York on racketeering and murder charges, and accordingly, the govenment was required to disclose the plea agreement to Carneglia's defense lawyers.

In 2006 "Alite figured prominently in the trial of Ronald 'Ronnie One Arm' Trucchio and three co-defendants found guilty of conspiracy and racketeering by a federal jury in Tampa":

Alite and Trucchio, a captain in the Gambino crime family, were alleged business partners. At the time, federal prosecutors accused Alite of controlling illegal businesses, illegal gambling, extortion, drug trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping and murder as a top lieutenant in the Gambino crime family. Authorities said Alite used Prestige Valet, a Tampa company, to infiltrate the local valet business.

Federal prosecutors said today "that Alite also admitted to extortion in the valet parking businesses and the businesses of bar and lounge security as well as trafficking in cocaine."

Although Alite was indicted as a co-defendant with Trucchio and the others he fled to Brazil and was not extradited in time for the 2006 trial.  At the trial Kevin Bonner "described Alite as Gotti's right-hand man in the late 1980s and early 1990s."  Alite and Gotti knew each other from Queens, NY, and Gotti signed as a witness on Alite's marriage license in 1989.

Alite is expected to be a government witness in the Tampa trial against Club Mirage manager James V. Cadicamo who was arrested last August for, among other things, allegedly laundering money for the Gambino crime family.  Last week a federal judge granted the motion by John "Junior" Gotti to have his related racketeering trial moved from Tampa to New York.

The New York Daily News has an article detailing more on the criminal career of Alite who, as an Albanian, never could become a made guy in the Gambino crime family.