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News and Features about Organized Crime, Mafia and La Cosa Nostra taken from National and Local News Sources. In an attempt to get you this type of coverage in a timely manner we can not be responsible for the content of the following material. |
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3-20-02 We Have Bonannos.
By KATI CORNELL SMITH, New York Post March 20, 2002 -- The feds hammered more than a dozen Bonanno crime-family members with a slew of racketeering charges yesterday in the most extensive crackdown since undercover agent "Donnie Brasco" infiltrated the family 20 years ago.
Prosecutors nabbed reputed Bonanno consigliere Graziano, 61, using testimony from former members of the Brooklyn-based "Bath Avenue Crew." The "Crew" is a loose cell of tattooed thugs turned "rat" who helped put away the consigliere's predecessor, Anthony Spero, in April 2001. The Bonanno family is the only New York Mafia family with a godfather not currently behind bars or facing charges and, until recently, it was the most powerful of the crime families. In contrast to the flashy Gambino boss John "Dapper Don" Gotti, the Bonanno mobsters stayed afloat by keeping a low profile - a lesson learned the hard way after FBI agent Joseph Pistone posed as wiseguy jewel thief "Donnie Brasco" in 1976. Pistone won the confidence of two key Bonanno men - Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero and Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano - and after five years began testifying against his former "friends." Pistone was portrayed by Johnny Depp in the 1997 movie "Donnie Brasco." Prosecutors have turned the tide against the family in recent years by persuading a new breed of violent mob wannabes - involved in murder, drug dealing and even torture - to testify in exchange for lighter sentences. Prosecutors say two turncoats are ready to testify that Graziano was elevated from capo to consigliere on the eve of Spero's conviction. Around that time, the feds spotted the alleged gangster jetting to Mexico, and later Italy, in the company of the family's reputed boss, Joseph Massino. Since then, alleged underboss Salvatore Vitale was brought in on loan-sharking, bank-fraud and other charges on Long Island, and the feds have attempted to net 13 more members. Of these, reputed capo Frank "The Fireman" Porco, 73, is the only one not in custody, and is considered a fugitive, prosecutors say. Another high-ranking member, reputed acting capo Robert Lino, 35, is charged with ordering the 1990 murder of Louis Tuzzio - an aspiring wiseguy who told his brother on his last day alive that he was about to either get made or whacked. In addition to two murder-conspiracy charges, the feds have also linked Graziano to a prolific cocaine business operated between 1994 and 1996 in Brooklyn. Seven alleged mobsters were arraigned yesterday and held in custody pending bail hearings.
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