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   Allan May's book MOB STORIES
IN THIS ISSUE
· Capone Guilty of Murder
· 
David O. Hale – Revisited
· Short Takes
· This Week in Mob History
· Trials and Tribulations

LAST ISSUE 4-22-02

5-6-02

Capone Guilty of Murder

     No, it’s not Big Al, Ralph, Frank or any of the seven infamous Capone brothers. It’s not even Sonny Capone, Al’s little boy, whose whereabouts are constantly questioned in e-mails to AmericanMafia.com. It’s Michael J. Capone, who told his girlfriend he was the great-nephew of Alphonse "Scarface" Capone, the former Chicago mob boss.

     Joseph A. Rowe, a prosecuting attorney in Noble County, Indiana, a rural community located northwest of Fort Wayne, contacted AmericanMafia.com two weeks ago to see if we could link Michael Capone to any of the Capone brothers. While we were able to eliminate James, Al, Ralph and Frank that still left Albert, John and Matt.

     The story begins in September 1995 when Michael Capone met Jaynine Davis. The two fell in love and moved in together in a home in East Liverpool, Ohio before relocating to northeastern Indiana. Although they never married, the relationship produced two sons. In December 2000 the relationship soured and, due to the number of arguments the two were having, Capone was asked to move out.

     Capone was fond of his two sons and visited frequently, but he still felt the need to control Davis. This would later be backed up at trial where Noble County Prosecutor Steven Clouse presented Capone’s cellular telephone records. In January 2001 there were 34 calls placed to the Davis home; in February 139; and in the first eleven days of March 93.

     In early March 2001 Davis met John D. Derrow through a friend. After talking over the telephone a few times they agreed to go out on Friday, March 9. Capone had the children for the evening and Davis and Derrow decided to spend the night together. On Saturday, when Capone returned the boys, he and Derrow got into a verbal confrontation. Davis, thinking that Capone would never leave her alone, tried a ploy that would have deadly consequences. She told Capone that she and Derrow were engaged.

     The following day, Sunday, March 11, Capone asked Davis if he could take the boys to dinner. Arrangements were made for Davis to pick up her sons at a Burger King parking lot in Kendallville, where she arrived with Derrow. Capone got the boys and their belongings into the back seat of their mother’s car, but, as Davis began to pull away, he approached Derrow’s side of the automobile. Capone asked the two if they were really going to get married. When the couple replied, "yes," Capone pulled a recently purchased 9-mm from his pocket and shot Derrow. The bullet entered his right temple and exited behind his left ear killing the 25 year-old instantly.

     At trial, which began on Monday, April 30, Capone’s attorney, James Abbs, did not deny his client killed Derrow. He tried instead to prove that the shooting was not planned or intentional. He described Capone as "a man who struggled with anger issues and snapped on the night of March 11 after his 4 year-old son told him Derrow hit him with a hanger."

     The jury didn’t buy the argument and found Capone guilty of murder after deliberating for five hours. Afterwards one of the jurors, who had a hard time with the decision, told reporters that she believed Davis "had driven [Capone] to shoot Derrow."

     After the decision last Wednesday afternoon prosecutor Rowe contacted AM.com with the verdict. Rowe stated, "I would still like to determine whether his claim to be a grand nephew of Al Capone is true. Maybe we will never know for sure, but at least one Capone has now been convicted of murder."

     Capone’s sentencing before Noble County Superior Court Judge Stephen Spindler is scheduled for May 31. Capone faces 45 to 65 years in prison.

     AM.com used information from Fort Wayne Journal Gazette reporter Joyce McCartney’s articles for this piece.

David O. Hale – Revisited     ^TOP

     With the trial of former FBI agent "Dishonest John" Connolly scheduled to begin this week, AmericanMafia.com takes a look back at another rogue FBI agent, who, due to some diligent police work by the Tucson Police Department, was exposed.

     Tucson, Arizona hardly seems like a city that would experience a mob bombing war. But in the summer of 1968, with the "Banana War" raging in New York City, this southwestern town, noted more for range wars than Mafia wars, briefly caught the nation’s attention.

     In February 1968 Joseph Bonanno suffered his third heart attack and was taken to St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tucson for treatment. Law enforcement officials in New York City were skeptical of Bonanno’s health problems figuring he was using this as a ploy to evade an appearance before a Brooklyn grand jury. The government quickly dispatched a physician to check on the mob boss’s condition. To the dismay of prosecutors back East, Bonanno’s illness was confirmed.

     A week after entering the hospital a caller left a message with the hospital’s switchboard operator: "I am calling from Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix. We are going to assassinate Mr. Bonanno." The next morning, surrounded by a contingent of bodyguards, Joseph Bonanno left the hospital in a Cadillac driven by his son, Salvatore Vincent "Bill" Bonanno.

     In addition to the telephone threat, several letters had been received. Because the letters contained references to people associated with the Bonannos back in New York, as well as information that had not appeared in the Arizona newspapers, Bill Bonanno could not dismiss the notes as nonsense from a local misfit or "self-appointed vigilante."

     Joe Bonanno’s Tucson home was under tight security as bodyguards secured the house in round-the-clock shifts through the summer months of 1968. All remained calm in the city until Sunday night July 21 when two explosions rocked the area – but not at the Bonanno home. The blasts occurred at the ranch home of Peter Licavoli, a friend of Joe Bonanno.

     Licavoli had a long history of involvement in the underworld. Beginning in St. Louis, by the late 1920s he had become a gang leader in Detroit with his brother Thomas, known as "Yonnie," and a cousin, James "Jack White" Licavoli, who would become the leader of the Cleveland Mafia Family in 1976.

     The newspapers printed a story from the police that they "suspected that trouble might be simmering between some of Licavoli’s men and Bonannos." The next night Bill Bonanno stood watch outside his father’s home, armed with a shotgun. Around 9:00 a car stopped near the house and a man got out and headed for the front gate. The next thing Bill saw was an object being tossed into the patio area. As the man turned to run, Bill took aim with the shotgun and fired. The blast felled the man, but before Bonanno could react he was knocked to the ground by the force of two explosions.

     After his father helped Bill to his feet, he ran thinking that he may have killed the bomber. He stayed away from the home for a week, but nothing had been reported in the newspapers about anyone being shot.

     On August 16 two more bombs went off at the home of Peter Notaro, a Bonanno loyalist. Police were concerned that they had a full-scale mob war on their hands, an extension of the Banana War. Tucson Mayor James R. Corbett, Jr, stated publicly that he would be "happy if underworld figures chose to live elsewhere."

     Four more bombs went off in September 1968 all at locations with connections to the underworld, including a woman’s wig salon where Mrs. Charles Battaglia worked. A local Republican candidate told newspapers that he felt a youth gang was responsible for the destruction. He arrived at this opinion because he had lived in New York and Chicago "during periods of Mafia warfare" and determined that the bombing missions in Tucson were not the work of professionals.

     Bill Bonanno had this confirmed in his own mind one night in late summer when another attack occurred at his father’s home. One of the bodyguards alerted him to the presence of an automobile nearby and Bill slipped outside into the shadows to witness a woman toss a package under a car parked at the curb. The bomb didn’t detonate and Bill later claimed he wouldn’t shoot a woman.

     Exactly one year after the first bomb went off the Tucson police arrested Paul Mills Stevens, an ex-Marine who had received demolition training in the service. In Gay Talese’s Honor Thy Father the author writes, "At the time of his arrest, Steven’s right hand and arm still showed the effects of being hit by the shotgun blasts fired by Bill Bonanno…"

     Two days later police arrested William John Dunbar, who they suspected of helping Stevens with the bombings. While it was apparent to the police that the men were not operating on their own, neither man would discuss the bombings. However, a young lady, who had once been engaged to Dunbar’s late brother, broke open the mystery. In court she revealed that the bombing scheme was the operation of "an FBI agent named Dave."

     Back in March 1968 Bill Bonanno’s close friend and mob associate Sam Perrone was shot to death on a Brooklyn street. At the time Bill was at his father’s home in Tucson, where two FBI agents visited him. One agent, who identified himself as David Hale, opened the conversation with, "Well, I see your friend got it." An angry exchange took place with Bonanno calling the agent a "son-of-a-bitch." Later Bill found out that Hale had unsuccessfully tried to recruit a friend of his younger brother, Joseph, Jr., who was a frequent guest in the Bonanno home, to spy on the family.

     Gay Talese writes:

     "When the press confronted David Hale with the charges against him, he refused to comment; nor would anyone from the Justice Department or FBI headquarters in Washington reveal any information. But as the press persisted in its investigative reporting, the Tucson police finally acknowledged that David Hale was a suspect, among other citizens, and before long Stevens and Dunbar pleaded guilty to the bombings in court and told most of the story."

     Dunbar and Stevens testified that Hale had planned the bombing missions and had enlisted the support of Tucson businessman Walter I. Prideaux. They explained that Hale planned to purge the city of Tucson of Mafia influence. The men claimed, "Hale’s plot was to explode bombs on the property of Mafia leaders, which he hoped would provoke a feud by making them suspect that each was trying to eliminate the other."

     Dunbar’s participation was bought with the promise of having a 1963 theft conviction expunged from his record. Hale assured the men that they would be protected from prosecution because they were working for the FBI.

     In addition to the three men, Hale also employed Frances Angleman, a blonde divorcee. Talese writes that Angleman, "was completing her Ph.D. in anthropology at the University of Arizona and hoped to do an anthropological study on the Tucson-based Mafia for her doctorate thesis."

     Hale and Angleman’s relationship was revealed by the Arizona Republic newspaper, which interviewed several of the young lady’s friends. They claimed she accompanied Hale on the night of July 3, 1968 when he shot out a large window in the home of Anthony Tisci, the son-in-law of Sam Giancana, in Oro Valley, located several miles north of Tucson.

     Upon reading the article Bill Bonanno reasoned she was the woman he saw tossing the bomb under the automobile near his father’s home. Tucson police didn’t get the chance to speak to Angleman. On May 14, 1969, before the investigation became public, she was found dead in her apartment – a .22 gun in her hand. Again, Talese writes:

     "…she left notes requesting that certain books and other items be returned to their owners and that she had also left a typewritten will and a diary. David Hale was mentioned in her will, a fact confirmed by her father, a retired lawyer for Hughes Aircraft; and while her friends believed that her diary contained notations about the bombings, her father was quoted in the Arizona Republic as saying that he had thrown the diary into the rubbish without reading it."

     On August 12, 1969 David Hale resigned from the FBI. His attorney would later claim that United States Attorney General John Mitchell "had ordered Hale not to testify about anything he had learned in his official FBI capacity or to disclose anything contained in FBI records." Hale quickly departed Tucson. He reputedly went to Miami, Florida to become head of security for Giffen Industries, Inc. When he was subpoenaed as a witness in Supreme Court he refused to testify. Walter Prideaux when questioned took the Fifth. Dunbar and Stevens were eventually freed after paying small fines for misdemeanor charges.

     The FBI did not take the embarrassment lightly and raids were quickly conducted on the Bonanno and Notaro homes in Tucson. Bill himself was indicted for the improper use of another man’s credit card and would be handed a four year prison term which began in January 1971.

     It’s interesting to note that the Tucson incident and the trouble in Boston both began in the mid-to-late 1960s. In Boston it was former agent H. Paul Rico that got the ball rolling with his confidential informant Steven "the Rifleman" Flemmi. John Connolly eventually took over the handling of Flemmi as well as his Winter Hill Gang partner James "Whitey" Bulger. While the Tucson FBI disaster was cleaned up in only a couple of year’s time, the Boston nightmare lives on almost forty years later. Beginning with this week’s trial the situation will be exposed completely and hopefully justice will prevail.

A side note to this story: When thoughts of the Mafia, mobsters and organized crime come up Tucson isn’t exactly the first city that comes to people’s minds. That was the case back in 1934 when the Mid-West Crime Wave was raging across this country’s mid section. However, it was the Tucson Police Department that rounded up all four members of the infamous Dillinger Gang in short order and without one shot being fired. The Tucson police had done in five hours what law enforcement agencies all over the Midwest had been unable to do in four months.

Short Takes     ^TOP

Clearwater – AmericanMafia.com thanks its Tampa mob expert Scott Deitche for this bizarre story. Anthony Lanza, son of Anthony "Pee Wee" Lanza a former capo in the Genovese Family, lost in the gamble of a lifetime in his trial for participating in the murder of a South Pasadena, Florida woman during a robbery spree which ended at a Subway sandwich shop. After hearing the case the jury announced it was deadlocked 11 to 1. Lanza’s attorney, Maura Kiefer, conferred with her client and then approached Chief Assistant State Attorney Bruce Bartlett with an agreement to accept the jury’s majority decision – neither side knowing which way the jury was leaning. The jury came back to the courtroom and announced they were 11 to 1 in favor of conviction. Pasco-Pinellas Circuit Judge Nancy Moate Ley then sentenced the 26 year-old Lanza to life in prison. Lanza, an accomplice, Robert Pasquince, and two other men drove to Florida from New York in April 1998 committing several holdups along the way. Pasquince had confessed to the crimes and was expected to testify against Lanza at trial. However, at the last minute, he recanted his confession and claimed he acted alone. As for the other two young men, they were both found murdered – each shot in the back of the head. Legal experts believe the conviction will not hold up under appeal. Meanwhile, in case you’re wondering, "Pee Wee" Lanza, Sr. was convicted in federal court in Clearwater in 1996 of extortion charges related to a murder-for-hire scheme. He died in prison.

Las Vegas – Chief District Judge Mark Gibbons denied the request of defense attorney J. Tony Serra to remove District Judge Joseph Bonaventure from hearing post-trial motions in the Ted Binion murder case for convicted defendant Rick Tabish. Gibbons decision was based on procedural grounds stating that his "research showed the defendant must file such motions 20 days before trial." However, Gibbons stayed the order for seven days to permit defense attorneys to appeal to the Nevada Supreme Court. Gibbons will meet with attorneys again on May 10. That same day Bonaventure is scheduled to hear a motion from prosecutor David Roger to remove Serra as Tabish’s lawyer. In addition, Bonaventure will also rule on attorney’s requests for the FBI to turn over any documents they have supporting an affidavit that "a criminal organization" may have been involved with Binion’s death in September 1998. At the removal hearing Serra, who created the stir, was a no-show.

Miami – A week after sentencing Freddy Massaro and Ariel Hernandez to life in prison for the murder of dancer Jeanette Smith, US District Judge Paul C. Huck handed down an eight-year term to Anthony Trentacosta. Known as "Tony Pep," Trentacosta was the alleged boss of the "South Florida crew" of the Gambino Family since the death of Anthony "Fat Andy" Ruggiano in March 1999. Trentacosta’s attorney, Stephen H. Rosen, claimed his client should not have been tried with the other two stating he was not a violent man. Trentacosta is only 62 years old and will probably be out of prison before he’s 70. AmericanMafia.com wonders what the crew chief’s prospects will be then after having broken one of the mob’s cardinal rules. During the trial Rosen openly admitted that "Tony Pep" was a made-member of the Gambino Family. Were still not sure what was behind that strategy. It’s entirely possible that Trentacosta would have received the same sentence, possibly even less, with or without that revelation.

Scranton – After all of the hoopla last fall about the racketeering and corruption lawsuit filed against Lackawanna County Judge Michael Barrasse the case has been thrown out of US District Court on a technicality. Judge Richard Caputo dropped the suit stating that attorney David Kurtz had failed to "show cause within 10 days why action should not be dismissed for failure to prosecute." The Scranton Tribune reported that Kurtz, who was convicted last year of stealing from clients by failing to deposit their funds, in his lawsuit claimed, "the charges were brought to cripple him financially because he had provoked Mr. Barrasse by successfully defending some clients who had been specially targeted for prosecution." AmericanMafia.com last had contact with Kurtz for our December 3 report. At that time Kurtz believed indictments would be coming down on some of the people named in his lawsuit, although not Barrasse, before Christmas. Meanwhile, our man in eastern Pennsylvania is confident this is not over. He has informed AM.com "I have been told by a credible source that Kurtz may refile a RICO suit against Barrasse in Philadelphia." We’ll keep our fingers crossed.

 

This Week in Mob History     ^TOP

May 6, 1922 – Pellegrino Scaglia, according to Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi, a "member of the Colorado LCN Family was shot to death, precipitating such a crisis in the Colorado and Kansas City Families that a ‘general assembly’ of LCN leaders had to be called in New York to resolve the dispute."

May 6, 1995 – Salvatore "Silent Sam" Lorenzo, according to Tampa mob expert Scott Deitche, was a longtime soldier in the Trafficante crime family. Lorenzo was a brother-in-law of Ciro and Joe Bedami and was once considered a major player in the area’s bolita games. In the mid-1970s he worked at Mike’s Lounge in Tampa. The bar was owned by Vincent LoScalzo and later sold to drug traffickers. Lorenzo died of natural causes.

May 7, 1929 – Albert Anselmi, Joseph "Hop Toad" Giunta and John Scalise were allegedly beaten to death with a baseball bat by Al Capone after he found out about their plot to murder him. Anselmi and Scalise were two legendary Sicilian hitmen in Chicago and Giunta was their man in the president’s seat of the Unione Siciliana. See my article http://www.americanmafia.com/Allan_May_11-13-00.html

May 8, 1924 – Joseph L. "Joe" Howard, a beer runner and burglar "with three notches on his gun," was shot to death by Al Capone after he had allegedly bloodied the face of Jack "Greasy Thumbs" Guzik. Howard was shot six times, four bullets hitting him in the face.

May 8, 1974 – John V. Camilleri, according to Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi, "a caporegime, was shot to death in what was seen as an outbreak of hostilities between rival factions of the Magaddino Family – one led by Salvatore Pieri, the other by Joseph Fino." See my story http://www.americanmafia.com/Cities/Buffalo.html

May 8, 1991 – Peter "Fat Pete" Chiodo, a capo in the Lucchese Family, was shot 12 times and survived. After Chiodo pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in the "Windows Case," he was ordered killed by fugitive family boss Vittorio Amuso. The order was given to acting boss Alfonso D’Arco, who employed his own son and three others to carry it out. The shooting, outside a Staten Island gas station, chased Chiodo into the Witness Protection Program where, ironically, he teamed with D’Arco in testifying at numerous mob trials.

May 9 1947 – Nick DeJohn, according to Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi, "former capodecina in the Chicago Family, was strangled and his body stuffed into the trunk of a car parked on a San Francisco street. DeJohn had reportedly fled Chicago after murdering several other LCN members and was living in Santa Rosa, California, under an alias at the time of his death."

May 11, 1920 – James "Big Jim" Colosimo was recognized as the first Italian crime boss of Chicago. Despite his notoriety and power, Colosimo found himself a victim of Black Hand extortionists. To drive them away he hired the services of New Yorker Johnny Torrio, who was allegedly a distant cousin of Colosimo’s first wife. When Prohibition began Torrio realized the great profits that could be made by bootlegging. Unfortunately for Colosimo, who was enjoying an extended honeymoon with his new, young showgirl bride, he didn’t. Torrio arranged for "Big Jim" to be murdered in the vestibule of his popular Chicago nightclub "Colosimo’s." Legend has it that Frankie Uale of New York, a onetime close associate of Torrio, did the shooting.

May 11, 1921 – Anthony "Tony" D’Andrea was a political power and president of the Unione Siciliana in Chicago. His rise to power sparked what was called the "Bloody 19th Ward War" in Chicago, which claimed the lives of about a dozen men including D’Andrea, who was shot down while entering his apartment. See my story http://www.americanmafia.com/Allan_May_10-2-00.html

May 11, 1982 – Michael Donahue and Brian Halloran were gunned down outside a restaurant on the South Boston waterfront. Donahue, the son of a police officer, was an innocent victim. The target, Halloran, was murdered on the orders of Winter Hill Gang leaders Stephen "the Rifleman" Flemmi and James "Whitey" Bulger who had been leaked information by rogue FBI agent John Connolly that Halloran was trying to strike a deal with the FBI by providing information on the two.

May 12, 1968 – Peter J. Trovato was a Cleveland area counterfeiter who was found on Payne Avenue in the city beaten about the face and with two bullet holes in the head and one in the chest. His body was identified in the morgue by Anthony J. Buffa who had lent Trovato his automobile earlier in the day. Buffa had recently been indicted on federal charges of fencing stolen machinery along with Fiore C. Bucci, who was identified as an associate of Cleveland racketeer Alex "Shondor" Birns.

May 12, 1975 – Ronald Magliano, victim #9 of Chicago hitman Harry Aleman, was an underworld fence who was found blindfolded and shot behind the left ear in his burning home on South Kilpatrick Avenue in Chicago.

Trials and Tribulations     ^TOP

AmericanMafia.com attempts to keep its audience advised of ongoing legal matters in the world of organized crime. New entries and addition to existing information will appear in RED.

     Due to space constraints, the complete "Trials and Tribulations" listing will only be shown on the first Monday of each month. Weekly we will show the ones that are due to occur in the next 30 days and any new additions.

Trials:     

NO UPDATES ON THIS ONE – April 15, 2002 – Boston – The racketeering trial of Robert Luisi, Jr. is scheduled to get underway before US District Court Judge Reginald C. Lindsay. Luisi at one time had a plea agreement which called for him to testify against Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino last year. On December 27, 2001 Luisi withdrew the plea.

May 6, 2002 – Boston – The long awaited trial of former FBI agent John J. Connolly, Jr. is scheduled to get underway before US District Judge Joseph L. Tauro.

May 20, 2002 – Chicago – Michael Spano, Sr. and Cicero Town President Betty Loren-Maltese go to trial for looting the city coffers of millions of dollars.

May 28, 2002 – Boston – US District Judge Robert E. Keeton will hear arguments on the April 16 conviction of Michael L. Carucci. The judge will decide whether to uphold the conviction or overturn the six convictions the jury arrived at. Carucci was found guilty of transferring money earned from the criminal activity of Stephen "the Rifleman" Flemmi, who earlier pled guilty to the same charges.

June 27, 2002 – Las Vegas – The Nevada Supreme Court has scheduled arguments on the appeals of Sandy Murphy and Rick Tabish the convicted murderers of Ted Binion. Alan Dershowitz will argue Murphy’s case.

July 29, 2002 – Cleveland – Richard E. Detore goes to trial on one count of conspiring to violate a federal bribery statute involving United States Congressman James A. Traficant, Jr.

POSTPONED INDEFINITELY – Rochester, NY – Albert M Ranieri goes on trial for conspiracy to traffic cocaine. Since his arrest on December 29, 2000, another defendant, prominent defense attorney Anthony Leonardo, Jr., has pled guilty and implicated Ranieri in the May 2000 murder of his former business partner Anthony Vaccaro. Authorities also suspect Ranieri of a 1990 armor car heist of $11 million.

STILL WAITING ON A DATE FOR THIS ONE – Boston – Retired state trooper Richard J. Schneiderman goes on trial on charges that he hampered the FBI’s search for James "Whitey" Bulger by letting Bulger family members know that the FBI had requested pen registers on their telephones. The trial was originally scheduled for January 28. AmericanMafia.com would like to thank Boston Herald reporter J. M. Lawrence for the update. AM.com, which uses a lot of Lawrence’s articles, was surprised to find out J. M. is a woman. Lawrence also tells us that Judge Edward F. Harrington, who was called Washington DC to testify last week, has recused himself from the case.

Tribulations:

April 29, 2002 – Chicago – Originally scheduled for January 31, the sentencing of the former chief of Chicago detectives William Hanhardt was delayed to allow prosecutors additional time to prepare their pre-sentence report. Hanhardt pled guilty to racketeering conspiracy and interstate theft for operating a nationwide jewelry theft ring that involved members of organized crime. Hanhardt, 72 years old, has been held since an unsuccessful suicide attempt this past October.

May 17, 2002 – New York – Colombo Family underboss John "Jackie" DeRoss will be sentenced for his February 6 conviction on extortion charges.

May 23, 2002 – New York – Nicholas Gambino will get his official sentence of five years probation after copping a plea on April 17 involving the stabbing of two men outside the Metropolis nightclub in Queens. A February trial resulted in Gambino being acquitted on 9 of 12 charges after he took the stand and lied to the jury telling them he had acted in self-defense.

June 2002 – Buffalo – Three former Buffalo narcotics detectives will be sentenced for their role in stealing money from an undercover FBI agent posing as a Jamaican drug dealer. The men were found guilty in March.

June 2002 – Newark – Nicodemo "Young Nicky" Scarfo will be sentenced for supervising a North Jersey gambling operation by US District Judge Joel Pisano.

June 13, 2002 – New York – Alphonse "Allie Boy" Persico will be sentenced after pleading guilty to extortion, loansharking and money laundering. The son of jailed-for-life mobster Carmine "the Snake" Persico was the alleged "acting boss of the Colombo family.

June 27, 2002 – Cleveland – Mahoning Valley Congressman James A. Traficant, Jr., will be sentenced after being found guilty on all ten counts in a Federal trial which ended April 11.

July 10, 2002 – Philadelphia – William Rinick will be sentenced for his April 17 assault conviction of Salvatore Abbruzzese in a South Philadelphia men’s shop. Rinick made headlines in December 2001 when narcotics investigators raided the home of Joseph "Skinny Joey" Merlino and found Rinick hiding under the bed of one of Merlino’s daughters.



Contact: AllanMay@AmericanMafia.com




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