Friends of Ours

Judge Reverses Jury

A federal judge has overturned a verdict against Benny DiCostanzo after the jury convicted him and co-defendants Anthony "Toto" Anastasio, a reputed Gambino soldier, and David Benedict in a racketeering trial last October as reported by Jeff Harrell for the Staten Island Advance:

Yesterday, U.S. District Judge Brian M. Cogan confirmed the 45-year-old Oakwood scrap metal dealer's mob denials by granting a motion reversing the guilty verdict on one count of conspiracy to extortion. "The evidence presented by the government is insufficient to establish … Benedetto DiCostanzo's guilt under any count of the indictment, even when viewed in the light most favorable to the government," Judge Cogan wrote in his decision. "There was no evidence that could establish, or even create an inference, that DiCostanzo played a role in the extortion charged in the indictment," the judge noted.

The NBA Ref & The Mob

Tim Donaghy, the former NBA referee who was convicted for betting on games he was officiating, appeared on Greta van Susteren's "On the Record" to talk about, among other things, how the Gambino crime family allegedly got its hooks into him:

Mobsters As Philistines

A priceless Caravaggio painting stolen in 1969 "was burnt and destroyed by the Mafia" as reported by Richard Owen for The Times:

Gaspare Spatuzzo, who was imprisoned in 1997 on multiple counts of murder and turned informer last year, has told magistrates that Filippo Graviano, a Mafia boss for whom he was a hitman, told him in 1999 in prison that the painting was destroyed in the 1980s. He said that Graviano, who with his brother Giuseppe Graviano ran one of the most powerful Cosa Nostra clans, had told him that the painting, said to be worth at least £20 million, was handed for safe keeping to the Pullara family, part of the Santa Maria di Gesu clan in Palermo, who hid it in a farm outbuilding. "There it was eaten by rats and pigs, and so was burnt," Spatuzza said. Francesco Marino Mannoia, a convicted heroin dealer whose mother, sister and aunt were murdered by the Mafia after he turned state's evidence, admitted taking part in the theft of the painting on a stormy night in October 1969. He said it had been damaged when it was ripped from the frame but had never revealed its location to police despite appeals from art foundations.

For Whom The Bell Tolls

Italy's Justice Minister Angelino Alfano stated yesterday that the bell is tolling for the Mafia as reported by Adnkronos:  "The mafia is now on its knees, its historic leaders are all in high-security prisons, its rising stars have already fizzled out. Now we want to deal the killing blow and free ourselves from the mafia as soon as possible."  And Piero Grasso, the country's top Mafia prosecutor, "has called for greater international cooperation and common laws to stop the expansion of the mafia around the world" as reported by Adnkronos.

Thwarting Credit Card Skimming Schemes

MagTek, a manufacturer of credit card readers, has developed a means to thwart the use of fake credit cards that are manufactured by organized crime groups using account data skimmed from an unsuspecting consumer's original card as reported by Ric Romero for KABC-TV:

On the back of your credit or debit card is a magnetic stripe that is more unique than your DNA. But today's credit-card readers don't take that into account. So MagTek came up with this little computer chip that when you swipe your card, it can tell if it's the original card or a fraudulent one.

Mob Muscles In On NBA Referee

Tim Donaghy, the former NBA referee who was convicted for betting on games he was officiating, appeared on 60 Minutes last night to talk about, among other things, how the Gambino crime family allegedly got its hooks into him:

The mob found out about it and wanted in on the action. That's when Donaghy discovered what it means to be really scared. It started outside a hotel at Philadelphia's airport: the FBI says two men associated with the Gambino crime family requested a meeting with Donaghy and took him for a ride. "They came down and picked me up," Donaghy remembered. "They basically told me that I needed to give them the picks. And if I didn't that it's a possibility that somebody would go down and visit my wife and kids in Florida." Donaghy said he believed them and was scared. From then on his picks were relayed to the mob. Asked how he communicated his bets to the mob, Donaghy said, "I would discuss it with a high school friend of mine, who would pass the information along to them." * * * [T]he FBI made a very conservative estimate that the mob made at least a few million dollars off Donaghy's picks. Donaghy said the mob was paying him $2,000 per correct pick - peanuts considering they were making millions. * * * As it turned out, his mob connection brought him down. The FBI, which was monitoring mob phone calls, heard that an NBA ref was betting on games.

 

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Venezuela Gives Sicilian The Boot

Venezuela has deported Walter Carapacchi who is "wanted in Rome on charges of trafficking heroin and accused of working with the Sicilian mafia to smuggle drugs to Europe and Africa" as reported by Frank Jack Daniel for Reuters:

Venezuela is a major transit country for Colombian cocaine to Europe and to a lesser extent the United States. It has stepped up its drugs fight after a surge in trafficking a few years ago. In June, Venezuela deported top Sicilian mafia boss Salvatore Miceli, 63, accused of overseeing major drug trafficking deals together with the Calabrian mafia 'Ndrangheta, and through contacts with Colombian cartels.

The Mafia Goes Down Under

Francesco Forgione, "a former Italian MP who led the Italian Parliament's Anti-Mafia Commission from 2006 to 2008," details in his new book Mafia Export that the Camorra or Neapolitan Mafia, the 'Ndrangheta or Calabrian Mafia, and Cosa Nostra or Sicilian Mafia allegedly have taken quite a liking to Australia as reported by Jo McKenna for The Age:

According to the latest Italian data, the three main Mafia groups generate annual earnings of between 120 and 180 billion euros ($A195-290 billion). Forgione says the global reach of the Mafia has become an economic ''colonisation'' that penetrates every corner of the world.

Cosa Nostra's Reputed #2 Arrested

Gianni Nicchi, the reputed number two man in Cosa Nostra or the Sicilian Mafia, has been apprehended in Palermo as reported by the Telegraph:

Investigators have said Nicchi quickly climbed to the top of the Palermo-based crime family after the arrest of the overall boss Salvatore Lo Piccolo. Nicchi, a fugitive since 2006, was convicted last year of extortion and sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Sicilian Mafia & Italian Politics

Former Mafia hitman Gaspare Spatuzza testified in an Italian court that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi "had made commitments to Sicily’s Cosa Nostra as he was about to enter politics 15 years ago" as reported by Guy Dinmore for the Financial Times:

Spatuzza . . . claimed he had been told by a top Sicilian mobster in January 2004 that Mr Berlusconi and his long-time business associate, Marcello Dell'Utri, had given "everything" the Mafia had wanted. "Thanks to the seriousness of these people, they have practically put the country in our hands," Mr Spatuzza quoted Giuseppe Graviano as saying. The prime minister’s office rejected the allegations, accusing Mr Spatuzza of seeking to sabotage the government's crackdown on Cosa Nostra. * * * Mr Spatuzza spoke at the appeal hearing of Mr Dell'Utri, a senator fighting a nine-year jail sentence imposed by a lower court for alleged Mafia association. Mr Dell'Utri denied the accusations and accused Cosa Nostra of trying to bring down the government.

Meanwhile, Guy Dinmore further reports for the Financial Times that "even as Silvio Berlusconi . . . has declared his intention to go down in history as the leader who defeated the Mafia, his centre-right government is introducing a raft of legislation that anti-Mafia activists and prosecutors say will benefit the mob":

An amendment contained in the government’s 2010 budget, currently passing through parliament, would result in the auctioning of many – but not all – seized Mafia assets to the highest bidder. * * * Libera, an anti-Mafia umbrella group . . . argues . . . that the proposed law would . . . allow[] fronts for the Mafia to buy back their assets on the cheap.

The Junior Gotti Racketeering Trial

Following his fourth mistrial in five years "prosecutors are not likely to retry the mob scion" as reported by the Daily News:

While the feds have not yet made a final decision about retrying the second-generation Gambino boss, sources told the Daily News the jury pool is tainted and they're unlikely to ever get a conviction after four attempts. The likelihood that Gotti would once again escape racketeering and murder charges infuriates investigators, but even they do not believe that a fifth New York trial would end differently, police sources said.

The NBA Ref & The Mob

Tim Donaghy, the former NBA referee who was convicted for betting on games he was officiating, appears on 60 Minutes this Sunday to talk about, among other things, how the Gambino crime family allegedly got its hooks into him:

When the Mafia learned of his success, they wanted him to work for them, he says. "They basically told me that I needed to give them the picks and if I didn't, that it's a possibility that somebody would go down and visit my wife and kids in Florida," says Donaghy. Thus began a relationship that former FBI Special Agent Phil Scala says produced "a few million dollars, conservatively, that went into the coffers of organized crime." * * * He was eventually arrested by the FBI, which learned about him from one of their Mafia wiretaps. He spent 11 months in prison and provided evidence against his mob cohorts.

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