Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires (131 page)

Remarks made by various Mafia members regarding Gigante’s position as Genovese boss before he was formally identified as a godfather by law-enforcement authorities were obtained from transcripts of bugged conversations and telephone taps. The conversations were used as evidence at the Commission trial and trials involving John Gotti and other Gambino and Genovese members. Additional information about Gigante’s role came from FBI debriefing reports of defectors Alphonse D’Arco, Salvatore Gravano, and Anthony Casso. D’Arco and Gravano also testified about Gigante’s activities at court hearings regarding his mental competency. The most comprehensive picture of Gigante’s early years as boss were described by another defector, Vincent Cafaro, in debriefings and statements given to the FBI. Cafaro’s statements are the principal source of Gigante’s payments to get a sentence reduction for his brother Mario. Gigante’s warnings about using his name in conversations is based on testimony and FBI debriefings of defectors, including Cafaro, Casso, D’Arco, and Gravano. Details about the Commission meeting attended by Gigante and Gotti were obtained from trial testimony by Gravano; statements by Casso to prosecutors and the FBI; and a telephone interview with Casso. Agent Bruce Mouw provided further insight about Gotti’s relationship with Gigante. Information about Gigante’s psychiatric treatment was contained in medical records at court hearings on his mental competency. Dominick Cirillo’s background was obtained from NYPD and FBI intelligence files; New York State Boxing Commission records; and interviews with FBI agents, particularly Pritchard. Robert Buccino, a New Jersey law-enforcement official, provided details on tactics used by Gigante and the Genovese family members to avoid detection.

Vincent Cafaro’s statements about the Genovese Family’s profiteering from labor racketeering was made before a Senate investigation committee in 1988. Details about Joseph Socks Lanza’s control of the Fulton Fish Market from the 1930s to the 1950s are based on accounts in
The New York Times
and NYPD intelligence files. Facts about operations at the market were obtained from personal reporting and interviews in the 1980s and 1990s with market merchants, employees, and suppliers. Data about Mob influence in the 1980s and earlier at the market was provided from testimony at a civil RICO suit brought by the Justice Department and reports issued by Frank Wohl, a court-appointed administrator of the market in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Additional information about Mafia influence at the market was obtained through interviews with Wohl; his chief investigator, Bryan Carroll; Randy Mastro, a former federal prosecutor and Mayor Giuliani’s Chief of Staff; and market wholesalers and employees who asked for anonymity. Another valuable source about market conditions was testimony about assaults and harassment of suppliers and merchants
at a 1992 hearing by a New York City Council committee. Material about the Genovese Family’s sway at the Javits Convention Center was based on affidavits and allegations made in a 1990 civil RICO suit brought by the Justice Department against the District Council of New York City and Vicinity of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners. Vital data about Genovese influence was supplied in reports issued by Kenneth Conboy, a former U.S. District Court Judge, who in the early 1990s was a court-appointed investigator of the carpenters’ union. Conboy and his chief assistant, Geoffrey S. Berman, provided additional details in interviews of the Genovese family’s power at the center. Interviews with officials of companies using the center provided facts about conditions there and widespread thefts reported to the NYPD. Data about the Genovese and Gambino families’ control of New York City’s private garbage-carting industry was based mainly on testimony against sixteen accused mobsters and associates convicted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s office in 1997 on charges of participating in a cartel and racketeering. Additional information was obtained in interviews with Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau and the two main prosecutors in the case, Daniel Castleman and Patrick Dugan. Details about abuses and overcharges were provided in interviews with Mark Green, the city’s former Consumer Affairs Commissioner and Public Advocate; Randy Mastro; Philip Angel of Browning-Ferris Industries; and numerous customers of carting companies. Intelligence information about the Genovese family’s influence on the New Jersey waterfront was obtained principally in interviews with Robert Buccino, and with other officials in the state’s Attorney General’s office; and testimony and evidence used in federal racketeering indictments and trials of Vincent Gigante, his son Andrew, and other defendants in the late 1990s and early 2000s

The circumstances of Bobby Farenga’s arrest and the discovery of the bodies of two gangland victims were obtained mainly from interviews with FBI Agent Lewis Schiliro and prosecutor Gregory O’Connell; and FBI reports on debriefings of Farenga. Peter Savino’s personal history, his business and union involvement, and his dealings with Gigante and other mobsters were compiled from these sources: Savino’s testimony at court hearings and a trial involving Gigante; FBI reports on his debriefings; interviews with O’Connell and FBI agents, particularly Richard Rudolph.

Gigante’s nocturnal practices are based on testimony by Savino, and testimony by and interviews about surveillance with FBI Agents Beaudoin and Pritchard. Background information about Savino was obtained from his testimony at a hearing and a trial, with additional materials provided by Richard Rudolph and Gregory O’Connell. Rudolph and O’Connell were the principal sources on Savino’s agreement to
work undercover, the methods used to protect him from being discovered, and the techniques he used to gather information. O’Connell and former U.S. Attorney Andrew Maloney provided details on their jurisdictional encounter with Rudolph Giuliani, regarding the use of Bobby Farenga as a witness. Savino’s secretly recorded conversations with mobsters were used as evidence, mainly in the “Windows Case” trial. Testimony and FBI debriefing reports concerning Gravano, D’Arco, and Casso were the basis for mafiosi suspicions that Savino was an informer. Rudolph in an interview described the reasons for ending Savino’s undercover operation; and other agents and prosecutors were sources for the threats made to Savino’s wife. The circumstances of Gigante’s arrest were obtained from testimony by FBI agents at Gigante’s pretrial hearings. Gigante’s demeanor at his trial was based on personal observations and reporting by Joseph Fried, a
New York Times
reporter.

Gigante’s attempts to supervise the Genovese family from prison are based on allegations in his second indictment in 2002, and court motions and applications and statements by prosecutors. The diagnoses of his mental condition by psychiatrists were included in court documents concerning his indictment and plea. The roles of cooperating witnesses George Barone and Michael D’Urso, and “Big Frankie,” an undercover detective, were obtained from indictments, court testimony, motions, and statements by prosecutors in Gigante’s case and in trials of other accused mobsters. The size and influence of the Genovese family was based on trial testimony and debriefings of family defectors and interviews with FBI agents and prosecutors. Gigante’s behavior and comments in prison were obtained from court documents and video and audio tapings in prison.

Jack Stubing’s background and work habits were compiled from interviews with him and FBI agents. The bureau’s downgrading of the Bonanno family was based on interviews in the 1980s and 1990s with numerous FBI officials and agents.

Joseph Massino’s personal and criminal history and his dealings with law-enforcement personnel was obtained from the following sources: arrest and court records; an interview with his brother John; interviews with defense lawyers who asked for anonymity because of lawyer-client relationships; and interviews with former and current FBI agents, including Patrick Colgan, Pat Marshall, George Hanna, Jack Stubing, Lynn DeVecchio, Stephen Morrill, Jeffrey Sallet, and Kimberly McCaffrey; and interviews with former federal prosecutor Laura Brevetti. Valuable information
about Massino’s style, activities, and policies was obtained from trial testimony by cooperative Mafia defectors, particularly Salvatore Vitale. Details of the three capos’ murders and the aftermath were compiled from trial testimony by cooperative government witnesses, especially Vitale, Frank Lino, Duane Leisenheimer, and James Tartaglione. Additional information about the murders was contained in court documents filed by federal prosecutors and in their statements at hearings.

Frank Lino’s alignment with Massino’s faction was described by him in FBI de-briefings and trial testimony, with additional information from testimony by Frank Coppa. Accounts of the search for Bruno Indelicate came primarily from Lino’s trial testimony. Details of Massino’s trip to Atlantic City and his dispute with Sonny Black Napolitano were obtained from Salvatore Vitale’s testimony and FBI debriefings of Vitale. Napolitano’s activities before his murder were based on interviews with former FBI agents Joseph Pistone and Douglas Fencl. The description of Napolitano’s murder was compiled mainly from trial testimony of Vitale, Lino, and Coppa. Additional details came from FBI debriefings of the three defectors and the autopsy report. Lino’s background was compiled from NYPD and FBI intelligence reports and his testimony. Information about the attempt on Benjamin Ruggiero’s life was provided by former agents Marshall and Fencl. Details of Tony Mirra’s murder were disclosed in trial testimony by Joseph D’Amico and Richard Cantarella, and an autopsy report. Vitale’s background and criminal career was obtained from his trial testimony, NYPD and FBI intelligence files, and interviews with numerous agents. Information about Massino’s club in Maspeth was compiled from testimony by Vitale and other cooperative government witness and from interviews with former agents Marshall and Colgan. The unsuccessful attempt to bug the J & S Club was obtained from interviews with Colgan, former agents Kallstrom and Pritchard, and testimony from Vitale and Leisenheimer.

The leaking of information to Joe Massino about a pending indictment in 1982 and his reason for fleeing was based on testimony by Vitale and his FBI debriefings. Leisenheimer’s background and his relationship with Massino were obtained from Leisenheimer’s testimony, interviews with FBI agents who debriefed him, and testimony by Vitale. Massino’s flight to the Hamptons and the Poconos, and his experiences and comments while hiding out, were obtained principally from testimony by Vitale, Leisenheimer, and Lino. Details of Cesare Bonventre’s murder came from testimony by Vitale and Leisenheimer, and FBI reports. Vitale’s Mafia induction was described in his testimony. Facts about the FBI’s search for Massino were obtained in interviews with Agent Marshall. Massino’s shoplifting incident in the Poconos was contained in a statement by prosecutors after his 2003 arrest. The accounts of
Massino’s trysts while hiding out in the Poconos were based on the woman’s 1985 grand jury testimony, disclosed at Massino’s 2004 trial, and Leisenheimer’s testimony. Details of Massino’s surrender in 1984 and the arrest incident with John Carneglia were obtained in interviews with Marshall and from Vitale’s testimony. Massino’s gambling debt in Atlantic City was cited by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement. Massino’s appearances at the wedding of Victoria Gotti and the wake and funeral of Aniello Dellacroce were based on FBI and NYPD surveillance reports. Massino’s complaints about his 1985 indictment for labor racketeering were included in testimony by James Tartaglione and Vitale. Massino’s demeanor and his assistance to Philip Rastelli at the 1986 trial were obtained from interviews with the lead prosecutor, Laura Brevetti, his lawyer, Ronald Fischetti, and Agent Pistone. The reported attempt on the lives of Brevetti and Judge Nickerson were confirmed in interviews with Brevetti and Edward McDonald, former head of the Justice Department’s Organized Crime Strike Force in Brooklyn. Details of Massino and Vitale’s RICO 1987 trial in Manhattan were derived from court records; the reporting of Arnold Lubasch in
The New York Times
; and interviews with Pistone and Bruce Cutler. The circumstances of the attempted murder of Anthony Giliberti were based on his testimony at Massino’s 2004 trial and NYPD records. Vitale’s testimony was the main source for the account of Gabriel Infanti’s murder. The disappearance of Rastelli’s wife was obtained from NYPD records and interviews with former FBI agents and NYPD detectives. Vitale’s testimony was the source for Rastelli’s lack of interest in Bonanno affairs after his 1986 conviction. Massino’s views and advice about running the family while he was in prison were based on Vitale’s testimony and his admissions in FBI debriefings, and interviews with FBI agents.

Details of Joe Massino’s formal election as the Bonanno boss were based primarily on testimony at his 2004 trial by Vitale, and on FBI debriefings of Vitale. Massino’s tactics and policies as boss were described at his 2004 trial by Vitale, Frank Lino, and James Tartaglione. The FBI’s electronic eavesdropping at the Grand Avenue Social Club was outlined in testimony by Agent Stephen Silvern at Massino’s 2004 trial. Additional information about the surveillance of the club was obtained in interviews with Agents William Vanderland, Pat Marshall, and Jack Stubing. Massino’s directive to mafiosi about never mentioning his name was cited in testimony by Vitale, Lino, and Frank Coppa. References to Massino’s nickname, “the Ear” were contained in intelligence reports compiled by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office. Vitale, Lino, and Coppa testified in 2004 about the reasons that Massino changed the name of the family from Bonanno to Massino. Federal prosecutors also referred to the name change in their 2003 application for a court order to detain Massino without bail pending his trial. Lynn DeVecchio, former head of the FBI’s Bonanno Squad, and Stubing in interviews described their meeting in 1993 with Massino after his release from prison,
and their thoughts afterward about his behavior. Massino and Vitale’s connections to King Caterers and payments to the company were based on Vitale’s testimony and records of the payments introduced as evidence by the prosecution at Massino’s 2004 trial. The real estate holdings of Massino and his wife are based on public and income-tax records, cited at the trial. The operations of a loan-shark “bank” by Massino and Vitale were described in testimony at the trial by Vitale, Lino, Coppa, and Tartaglione. Additional evidence came from Vitale’s “shy book,” listing the amounts of loans to clients, which was used as evidence at the trial. Vitale described in his testimony the operations of Massino’s sports-gambling methods. Details of Joker Poker video machines and the illegal profits were based on testimony by Vitale, Lino, and Agent Vanderland. Tribute payments to Massino were contained in testimony by Vitale, Lino, Coppa, and Richard Cantarella. Data on the strength of the Bonanno family under Massino was obtained from testimony by Vitale and Coppa and interviews with Agent Stubing. Vitale’s testimony was the source for the Commission meeting called by Massino, its agenda, and Massino’s suspicions about the improper induction of members in other families. Massino’s dining habits and his relationship to the Casa Blanca restaurant were obtained from testimony by Vitale and Cantarella; interviews with waiters at the restaurant; and personal observations of the restaurant’s food and decor. The strategy behind the FBI’s forensic accounting investigation was described in interviews by Stubing and Agents Jeffrey Sallet, Kimberly McCaffrey, and George Hanna. The account of Anthony Spero’s trial and conviction was based on court records, newspaper accounts, and an interview with James Walden, the lead federal prosecutor in the case. Details of Massino’s overseas trips were obtained from detention memos and other court motions by federal prosecutors; testimony by Coppa; and from interviews with Agents Joseph Bonavolonta and Gregory Massa. Bonavolonta and Massa were the main sources for the description of Anthony Graziano’s trophy room and their search and seizure of money found on Graziano. Vitale’s testimony provided additional details about the FBI’s search of Graziano. The description of Gerlando Sciascia’s murder and the motive were based on testimony by Vitale, Coppa, and Cantarella; the grand jury indictment of Massino for the murder; prosecutors’ motions for pretrial detentions of Massino’s two codefendants in the case; and the government’s motion to admit evidence about the murder in Massino’s 2004 trial. Sciascia’s background was obtained from FBI intelligence reports. Massino’s conversations concerning Sciascia’s murder came from testimony by Vitale, Coppa, and Cantarella.