Colombo Crime Family, LCN, Persico

[Junior]

Top wiseguys were key rats in massive swoop
By Mitchel Maddux, New York Post
Posted January 25, 2011

The feds’ big takedown of the Colombo family leadership last week was aided by key wiseguys turning rat — among them a captain, Dino "Big Dino" Calabro, and two soldiers, Sebastiano "Sebby" Saracino and Joseph "Joey Caves" Competiello, a source said yesterday.

But there are even more rats yet unidentified — "multiple cooperators'' who together made "hundreds of hours of recordings ... over the past three years," according to another source and court documents.

Calabro may be one of the main Colombo informants.

Last week, the FBI finally managed to arrest reputed mobster Anthony Coladra on charges related to an old double-murder in which Calabro participated.

Federal prosecutors charged Colandra with lying to the feds about the March 1992 Long Island murder of Colombo soldier John Minerva and Michael Imbergamo, his friend, during a factional war. Colandra had allegedly told investigators he was at a bar at the time of the killings.

In fact, "several cooperating witnesses, including his former co-conspirators, will testify that Colandra in fact did commit the murders and that Colandra even bragged about doing so," wrote Brooklyn Assistant US Attorney Elizabeth Geddes in a court document.

Calabro, who is in the federal witness-protection program, has already been charged in that double hit.

Colandra, who plans to fight the charges, appeared in Brooklyn federal court yesterday and was released on bail.

At another court hearing yesterday, an unnamed Colombo captain was also described as an informant.

During the court session, a judge heard how a Colombo captain wore a wire while supervising a subordinate and discussing the details of mob business.

On the wiretap, Colombo soldier Ralph Scopo, Jr. can be heard discussing his shakedown of a union, prosecutors said.

A judge ordered that Scopo be detained without bail. Scopo’s lawyer insisted his client is innocent.

Meanwhile, another Colombo mobster arrested in last week’s sweep was Calabro’s own brother, Anthony "Nooch" Calabro, raising questions about whether "Big Dino" may eventually testify against his own sibling.

Calabro had originally cut a deal with the feds over the 1997 murder of cop Ralph Dols, who was killed after the officer married another gangster’s ex-wife.

The marriage reportedly angered the woman’s former husband, onetime Colombo consigliere Joel "Joe Waverly" Cacace, who allegedly ordered the August 1997 hit of the off-duty officer as he returned to his Brooklyn home.

Calabro was charged with the murder, as was Saracino’s brother, Dino "Little Dino" Saracino. Calabro’s wife Andrea, has already helped the feds by obtaining photo albums from the home of Colombo acting boss Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioelli, presumably showing mob ties between reputed members.

"Sebby" Saracino, who turned rat last month and is expected to testify against his brother, "Little Dino," also played a role in helping the feds in the recent Colombo case, a source confirmed. So did Competiello, who has been charged several mob rubouts, the source confirmed.

[Junior]

Mob captain latest to turn federal informant
By Mitchel Maddux, New York Post
February 4, 2011

Anthony "Big Anthony" Russo, a Colombo crime family acting captain, is the latest member of the embattled Mafia organization to switch sides and become a federal informant, a source told the Post.

Russo, who has been held behind bars since his arrest two weeks ago in the biggest single-day Mafia bust in US history, was noticeably absent Friday in Brooklyn federal court when the rest of his fellow Colombo members appeared at a mandatory hearing before a judge.

That's because Russo is now the newest inductee in the Justice Department's witness protection program, making him the first Colombo mobster to turn rat since the massive January action against organized crime.

The development marks yet another significant blow to the Colombos, who have been hard-hit over the past few years by an aggressive strategy formulated by the New York FBI's Colombo squad and prosecutors targeting the family at the US Attorney's Office in Brooklyn.

A senior member of the crime family, Russo is believed to have personal knowledge about a vast array of its illegal activities, which could strengthen the feds' case against the Colombo leaders recently arrested - and possibly lead to even more arrests.

Russo also is thought to bring with him direct eyewitness testimony to the 1993 murder of Colombo member Joseph Scopo in Ozone Park, Queens, during the crime family's bloody factional war.

He also has knowledge of an an extortion scheme to shake down the Gambino crime family that allegedly implicates ranking Colombo members Andrew "Mush" Russo, the family's street boss, acting Colombo underboss Benjamin "The Claw" Castellazzo, consigliere Richard "Richie" Fusco, and captain Dennis "Fat Dennis" DeLucia.

Andrew Russo and Anthony Russo are not related.

The motivation for Anthony Russo to become a government informant seems clear - he has been charged with a series of crimes including murder, extortion, loansharking, and firearms possession, and if convicted faces life in prison. By helping prosecutors put his fellow Colombos away, he could reduce his sentence substantially under federal sentencing guidelines that reward government informants for providing damning information.

The feds' bare-knuckled approach towards the Colombos in recent years has resulted in most of the family's leadership now sitting behind bars.

The January raids netted "basically the whole administration of the Colombo family," a law enforcement official said at the time.

These recent arrests left the Colombo family in tatters, given that its top ranks were gutted after a series of previous federal investigations.

In late January, Colombo underboss John "Sonny" Franzese was sentenced to eight years in federal prison on racketeering charges for shaking down the Hustler and Penthouse strip joints in Manhattan. Franzese, 93, is in very poor health and would be available for release at the earliest when he turns 100.

The Colombo family's acting boss, Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli currently sits in a federal detention center awaiting his own racketeering trial in Brooklyn federal court.

[Junior]

'Death' for mobster
New York Post
Feb 11, 2011

The US Justice Department will seek the death penalty in the upcoming mob trial of former Colombo crime family consigliere Joel "Joe Waverly" Cacace, who is charged with ordering a hit on an off-duty NYPD officer murdered in 1997.

Cacace, who is already serving 20-years for other mob-related crimes, is awaiting trial in Brooklyn federal court for the August 1997 killing of Officer Ralph Dols.

Cacace, sources said, was not pleased when the cop married his ex-wife, Kim Kennaugh.

The decision to seek the death penalty against Cacace was made yesterday by US Attorney General Eric Holder.

Holder decided not to seek capital punishment for two other ranking Colombo mobsters -- Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli and Dino "Little Dino" Saracino -- who also are awaiting trial in the case.

[Junior]

All hail the 'Blog-Father': Waiting for trial in 6 murders, 'Tommy Shots' takes to Web
By John Marzulli, Daily News Staff Writer
New York Daily News, Feb 13, 2011



Call him the blogging crime boss: Reputed Colombo kingpin Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli has set up a behind-bars blog to portray himself as a good guy - not a wiseguy - and rant about everything from jail conditions to the way the FBI went after a 94-year-old mobster.

Prosecutors say Gioeli, 58, is trying to influence potential jurors through a blog called "Alleged Mob Boss Tommy Gioeli's Voice."

The first posting vowed, "It's going to be Tommy's voice; the voice of a generous, good humored, kind, compassionate, and loving husband, father, son, brother, uncle, and friend."

Gioeli, awaiting trial for six murders, including the rubout of NYPD cop Ralph Dols, has no Internet access from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn - but he can email with family members who could post the blog items, a Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman said.

Gioeli whines that he has been depicted as a "monster" to sell newspapers but, under the heading "About me," he boasts, "See me in a fight with a bear, pray for the bear."

He rants about jail conditions - hard mattresses and the lack of toenail clippers - and shoddy medical treatment, the government and the media.

Forty-six followers are listed on the blog including a "Fr. Peter," who appears to be a priest. Gioeli even puts a call-out to snitches for information about witnesses and FBI agents.

Gioeli came to the defense of 94-year-old Colombo underboss John (Sonny) Franzese after the oldfella was hit with an eight-year prison sentence for shaking down strip joints.

"It is heartbreaking and disturbing to see my government kick an old man when he is down," Gioeli wrote.

Recently, he attacked U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder - who last week declined to seek the death penalty against Gioeli for Dols' murder - and the anti-racketeering RICO statute.

"Great entertainment for everyone except the Italian Americans who can't break the hold of this stereotype and are paying with their lives," he wrote.

Gioeli called the recent roundup of 127 gangsters in the metropolitan area, including some high-ranking Colombos, a publicity stunt second only to former President George W. Bush stepping out of a fighter jet to proclaim victory in Iraq.

Sources said the feds are aware of the site but have not complained to Federal Judge Brian Cogan about the contents.

Defense lawyer Adam Perlmutter declined to comment.

[Junior]

Reputed Colombo mobster Scott Fappiano released on $1.5 million bail
By John Marzulli, Daily News Staff Writer
New York Daily News, Feb 24, 2011



A reputed Colombo crime associate was released on $1.5 million bail secured by the Staten Island home he purchased with a seven-figure settlement from a wrongful conviction for raping a cop's wife.

Scott Fappiano, 48, charged with racketeering, robbery, conspiracy and loansharking, strode out of Brooklyn Federal Court Wednesday and straight to a substance-abuse rehab program in Queens.

He received $2 million from the state after DNA testing sprung him from prison after serving 21 years for the 1985 attack.

[Junior]

Accused mob hit man Anthony Colandra is a helluva guy, the Rev. Kazimierz Kowalski says
By Jennifer H. Cunningham, John Marzulli and Katie Nelson
Daily News Staff Writers, Monday, March 7th, 2011

The pastor of an upper East Side church defended his janitor - reputed mob hit man Anthony Colandra - as a "stellar family man."

"He goes out of his way to help people," the Rev. Kazimierz Kowalski said Sunday after Mass. "The people in the parish and the church have complete confidence in him."

Sunday's Daily News featured a front-page story revealing how Colandra - the suspected gunman in a 1992 double murder - won relaxed terms to his home arrest so he could coach his son's baseball team. Colandra, 41, is charged with lying to the feds when he denied gunning down Colombo soldier John Minerva and Michael Imbergamo.

Some parishioners at Our Lady of Good Counsel said they were stunned to learn their church's full-time janitor is in legal hot water. "Everybody was surprised," said parishioner Manuel Medina. "To me, he was a gentleman."

The News detailed how Brooklyn Magistrate Ramon Reyes agreed to modify Colandra's $500,000 bail conditions so he can leave his apartment on E. 93rd St. to coach for two hours on Sundays and Mondays.

Colandra typically comes to Good Counsel on Sundays to set up chairs and tables, but Sunday he went to see his brother's family in New Jersey, Kowalski said. His bail conditions allow him to leave home for work, to visit a few relatives on weekends - and now coach.

[Junior]

Concrete workers union removes manager Ralph Scopo because of Colombo crime family ties
By Brian Kates, Daily News Staff Writer
N. Y Daily News, Sat, March 12, 2011

Ratted out by mob informants, the boss of a major city concrete workers union was booted Friday in an effort to break decades of Colombo crime family control.

Concrete workers Local 6A was quietly placed in trusteeship after Laborers Union International of North America (LUINA) determined that "the Colombo family placed Ralph Scopo, the current business manager, in office to assure that the [crime] family had direct control."

The international removed Scopo and the local's entire executive board and will appoint a trustee to run the union, as early as Monday.

Six mobsters, including imprisoned Colombo captain Dino Calabro, cooperated in the investigation. The probe uncovered a 25-year pattern of contractor shakedowns, meetings between mob bosses and union leaders, and no-show jobs for crooks and their cronies.

The mob even managed to siphon hundreds of thousands of dollars from the sale of coffee at city construction sites, according to testimony at LUINA hearings this week.

Calabro, who pleaded guilty to seven murders and eight murder conspiracies in June, took control of Local 6A for the mob in 2002. He named Scopo Jr. to handle day-to-day operations, according to evidence at the hearing.

Six years later, with Calabro's approval, Scopo engineered his son's elevation from secretary-treasurer to business manager, according to informant David Gordon, a member of Calabro's crew who pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges.

Calabro did not have complete confidence in Ralph Scopo, but he "believed his loyalties would always be with the Colombo family because his father, Scopo Jr., was a Colombo soldier," LIUNA said in its decision.

[Junior]

Mob-busting ex-FBI agent Lindley DeVecchio rips Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes' office in new book
BY John Marzulli, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
NEW YORK DAILY TIMES, March 23, 2011

Mob-busting former FBI agent Lindley DeVecchio beat a murder rap in 2007 - and now he's settling a few scores in a new book.

DeVecchio, who was accused of advising mob informer Greg Scarpa to whack four turncoats, says the Brooklyn district attorney's office was bamboozled by convicts who hoped DeVecchio's downfall would help their appeals.

He takes direct aim at controversial prosecutor Michael Vecchione, whose case went up in smoke when it was revealed in midtrial that the main witness was lying.

DeVecchio's description of his first meeting with Vecchione drips with venom.

"Despite having never seen him, I could tell who he was right away," he writes in "We're Going to Win This Thing: The Shocking Frame-Up of a Mafia Crime Buster."

"Dark-skinned, vacant-eyed, with an aggressive, bulky body topped by a moon face and a graying crew cut. He always seemed to be on the verge of toppling forward.

"He had one of those rock star beards that never grows more than a quarter-inch and endows the wearer with a degenerate look. Someone should tell him that it looks ridiculous on a middle-aged man with a potbelly."

DeVecchio said the heavyweight legal battle was set up so that "Vecchione was going to be the good Italian and I was going to be the bad Italian."

DA Charles Hynes, who called DeVecchio's indictment the most stunning example of official corruption he'd ever seen, also gets slammed.

DeVecchio suggests that Hynes, "always more interested in publicity than doing his job," was hoping that prosecuting an ex-agent would promote a novel he'd written.

Vecchione had also inked a six-figure book contract about the NYPD "Mafia Cops" case, which was ultimately taken over by the feds.

"Win or lose the trial against me ... the book writers in the DA's office would still win," DeVecchio snipes.

Jerry Schmetterer, a spokesman for the DA, declined to comment.

[Junior]

Colombo boss feared 'going to hell' after nuns murder: feds
By Mitchell Maddux, New York Post, May 12, 2011



The feds allege that a high-ranking Colombo crime family boss was involved in the death of a former nun, according to documents unsealed today.

Prosecutors claim that Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli confided in a government informant that he was “going to hell” because he and Colombo family soldier Joseph Carna, also known as "Junior Lollipops," participated in a murder in the 1980s in which a nun was inadvertently killed, according to court papers.

On Jan. 4, 1982, fragments of a shotgun blast "penetrated the doors and walls of a residence" in Brooklyn, which resulted in the death of social worker Veronica Zuraw, who was also a former nun, federal prosecutors said.

"One of the apparent intended targets, Colombo family soldier Joseph Peraino, Jr., was also found dead on the stoop outside of the Lake Street residence, as he apparently attempted to escape the shooting," according to the feds.

Also injured in the shooting was Colombo family soldier Joseph Peraino, Sr., who survived but was left paralyzed.

Another incident the feds want the jury to hear is Gioeli's alleged assault of his daughter’s boyfriend and a plan to rob an amusement park on Long Island.

Gioeli has not been charged with any of the crimes mentioned in the court papers, but presented to the judge as part of its mounting evidence that the mobster lived a life of crime.

Gioeli's lawyers are expected to file a motion barring the jury from hearing any of these alleged crimes.

A similar motion last year to stop the feds from showing a potential jury family album photos of Gioeli hanging out with other accused mobsters was thrown out by a Brooklyn federal court judge.

Gioeli, 59, who is overweight and diabetic, was indicted for murder, racketeering and extortion in 2008 after the feds said he served as a hitman for the Colombo crime family.

Gioeli suffered a stroke in February 2010 after a judge refused to spring him on health grounds. He faces penalties that include life behind bars if convicted at his trial later this year.

[GangstersInc]

Check out the Gangsters Inc. profile of Colombo boss Thomas Gioeli: http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog...ss-thomas-tommy

[Junior]

Mobster Scott Fappiano, freed after wrongful rape conviction, admits multi-million extortion scam
BY John Marzulli, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER, New York Daily News, Tuesday, July 19, 2011

A reputed Colombo crime associate who served 21 years in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of raping an NYPD cop's wife in Brooklyn pleaded guilty Monday to extortion.

Scott Fappiano, who was arrested this year in a massive roundup of more than 100 underworld figures, admitted participating in an extortion scheme in which he was secretly recorded saying he'd use his civil suit as cover in case the victim had to get his leg broken.

"I'll make sure I'm in court somewhere or doing a deposition," Fappiano said, according to court papers.

Fappiano pocketed a $2 million settlement from the state for the rape sentence and has another suit pending against the city and NYPD detectives who worked on the case that put him away for two decades.

A motion by the city to toss out the suit is pending in Brooklyn Federal Court. Defense lawyer Harlan Protass declined to comment on the guilty plea.

Fappiano, who is free on $1.5 million bail, recently completed a treatment program for alcohol and drug abuse.

"Mr. Fappiano's need for such treatment arose from the struggles he experienced ... for the severe anxiety he was experiencing following his release from prison after 21 years for a crime that ... he did not commit," Protass stated in court papers.

He faces 27 to 33 months in prison when he's sentenced Jan. 20 by Federal Judge Kiyo Matsumoto.

[Junior]

Reputed mobster Anthony Durso whines to judge: Curfew is putting crimp in my social, dating life
BY John Doyle and John Marzulli, DAILY NEWS WRITERS, Thursday, July 21st 2011

"Baby Fat Larry" is looking for love.

Reputed Colombo associate Anthony Durso wants a judge to remove a 7 p.m. curfew so he can do what any other red-blooded, single Italian male living in Brooklyn wants to do.

"He goes home and eats dinner with his mother and stepfather and then has to stay home every night with them," his lawyer Mathew Mari wrote in a letter to Brooklyn Federal Judge Kiyo Matsumoto.

"He is a 27-year-old man and would like to have some leisure time away from his parents and his home," Mari continued. "He would like to leave his home after work and perhaps go on a date or just go out of the house."

For those ladies who might be interested, here's the dossier on Durso:

First the nickname - it's derived from his close association with fellow Colombo gangster Ilario (Fat Larry) Sessa.

Durso is gainfully employed by the city Sanitation Department, but that may not be true for much longer. He's facing up to 33 months in prison when he's sentenced in November.

Although Mari describes his client as a "teddy bear," prosecutors paint a more ominous picture of the 300-pound man.

Durso pleaded guilty to participating in the assault of a deadbeat who was past due on loanshark payments. Sessa was also present and carrying a knife, according to court papers. Durso is also known to have possessed a firearm that was going to be used in Sessa's mob induction ceremony, according to court papers.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Allon Lifshitz is urging the judge to keep the curfew in place "to minimize the defendant's ability to commit crimes."

Durso declined to comment Wednesday afternoon outside his parents' Dyker Heights home.

In an interview Wednesday, Mari pointed out that even his client's probation officer doesn't think a curfew is necessary. The lawyer insisted his request is not about getting Durso female companionship.

"He has no girlfriend and there's no girl he wants to see," Mari told the Daily News. "Why should he have to stay home with his mom and dad?"

[Junior]

Just like Cinderella: Mobster Anthony Durso gets his date night, but must be home by midnight
BY John Marzulli, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER, New York Daily News, Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Baby Fat Larry can go out and play at night - but he'd better be careful not to turn into a pumpkin.

A Colombo crime associate convicted of extortion has been granted a one-night reprieve from curfew so he can go out on a date but he must be home by midnight - just like Cinderella.

Anthony Durso had complained that although he was allowed to keep working as a city garbageman while free on $500,000 bail, he needed "leisure time" away from his parents in their Brooklyn home to "perhaps go on a date."

Federal Judge Kiyo Matsumoto refused to eliminate the 7 p.m. nightly curfew outright, but granted Durso a one-night-a-week reprieve with several conditions.

He has to inform his federal pretrial services officer whom he is going out with and where they are going. When he gets home at midnight, Durso must notify the officer that he's in for the night.

If he doesn't make it home by the stroke of midnight, he could face revocation of his bail.

Durso, 27, got his colorful nickname as a result of his close association with reputed Colombo associate Ilario (Fat Larry) Sessa.

Both mob associates were charged with participating in an assault on a deadbeat who had fallen behind on loan-shark payments. Durso pleaded guilty and faces 33 months in prison.

The judge's order also allows Durso to work a night shift or overtime to earn extra legitimate income.

"It sounds fair to me, and we appreciate what the judge did," defense lawyer Mathew Mari told the Daily News yesterday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Allon Lifshitz had opposed any changes in Durso's bail conditions.

[Junior]

Son of jailed mob boss Carmine 'The Snake' Persico indicted for ordering hit
BY Oren Yaniv, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER, Friday, August 19, 2011

The son of jailed mob boss Carmine (The Snake) Persico was indicted Thursday for ordering the 12th and final killing in the bloody Colombo family mob wars.

Michael Persico, 54, was indicted in Brooklyn Federal Court along with two associates for taking out rival mafioso Joseph Scopo in 1993.

The younger Persico has no prior convictions and has long groomed a reputation as a legit businessman who owns a limousine service and a restaurant.

His first arrest came last year, when he was accused of racketeering involving debris removal contracts at Ground Zero. He was released on a $5 million bail package.

The new indictment says he went after Scopo because he sided with the Orena faction of the Colombos.

"Persico also arranged the firearms to be used in the Scopo murder," prosecutors charged in court papers.

Wiseguy John Pappa was convicted in May 1999 of taking out Scopo as he left a car outside his Ozone Park, Queens, home - as well as three other mob hits. The Scopo murder was carried out to "secure the power of the Persico family," court documents say.

Secret recordings made by a Mafia turncoat who claimed to be in a nearby car when Scopo was gunned down tied Michael Persico to the murder, court papers said.

In the car with the informant, the feds claim, were Persico's co-defendants, Francis (B.F.) Guerra, and Persico's cousin Theodore (Skinny Teddy) Persico.

Guerra is also charged with killing Michael Devine in 1992 with a coup de grace bullet to the groin for dating the wife of acting boss Alphonse (Allie Boy) Persico.

Alphonse, Michael Persico's brother, was in prison at the time. Alphonse and Carmine Persico are serving life sentences.

Guerra's lawyer, Gerard McMahon, claimed the government's snitch is Anthony (Big Anthony) Russo, who flipped six months ago, and blamed him for making up lies to save himself.

"He gives them the one guy they don't have," the lawyer said. "[Guerra] has nothing to hide on these murders."

Michael Persico's lawyer did not return requests for comment. While Theodore Persico is incarcerated, prosecutors will ask to remand Guerra and Michael Persico in a hearing scheduled for next week.

[Junior]

Alleged mobster accused of two hits and pizzeria shakedowns denied bail
BY John Marzulli, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER, Tues, August 30, 2011

A Brooklyn judge has rejected a proposed $2 million bail package for a reputed Colombo crime associate charged with two gangland murders and the shakedown of a pizzeria.

Magistrate Cheryl Pollak ruled Monday that federal prosecutors had convinced her that Francis (BF) Guerra is a danger to the community and must remain in jail.

Guerra, indicted this month in the murders of Joseph Scopo and Michael DeVine, is accused of extorting money from"The Square" pizzeria owner Gene Lombardo in Staten Island last year.

Guerra's in-laws own L&B Spumoni Gardens in Brooklyn, considered one of the best slices of pizza in the city, and accused Lombardo of stealing their recipe.

[Junior]

Colombo crime fam hit man 'Frankie Blue Eyes' Sparaco lied and killed while FBI informant
BY John Marzulli, New York Daily News, Tuesday, September 20, 2011

The murderous gangster nicknamed "Grim Reaper" wasn't the only federal informant committing murder at the same time he was working for the FBI during a mob war two decades ago.

In a blockbuster disclosure, prosecutors revealed there was a second mobster besides Colombo capo Greg Scarpa who lied and killed while he was also snitching.

Colombo hit man Frank (Frankie Blue Eyes) Sparaco was involved in at least three gangland slayings in the early 1990s while he was an informant, court papers filed in Brooklyn Federal Court say.

Prosecutors disclosed the secret because lawyers for Colombo crime boss Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli and soldier Dino (Little Dino) Saracino were mulling over spilling the secret at their upcoming trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes stated in court papers.

Gioeil and Saracino go on trial next month for multiple murders and appear to be weighing the same defense that worked for a bunch of Colombos in the late 1990s - that rogue G-man Lindley DeVecchio's cozy relationship with Scarpa crossed the line into a criminal conspiracy to eliminate his informant's rivals.

The feds acknowledged Sparaco and Scarpa "lied" and "misrepresented" to the FBI their involvement in murders during the Colombo civil war. Sparaco lied about his role in the 1992 murders of Michael Imbergamo and bystander John Minerva. He is also implicated in the 1992 brutal whacking of Michael Devine, who was dating the estranged wife of Alphonse (Allie Boy) Persico, who is the son of the crime family's official boss.

FBI spokesman James Margolin declined to comment.

Federal Judge Brian Cogan will have to decide whether it is a proper defense to muddy the waters of the current case, which is replete with new cooperating witnesses, with allegations about Scarpa's unholy alliance with the FBI in the past.

DeVecchio's lawyer Douglas Grover said he had never heard of Sparaco but his dirty dealings with the feds "underscores the difficulty of using informants who are involved in very significant criminal activity."

[Junior]

Mobster’s prison gift

By MITCHEL MADDUX, New York Post, September 20, 2011

Colombo crime-family associate Joseph “Joe Fish” Marra is a generous man -- to a fault.

In prison serving a long stretch for a mob murder conspiracy, he nevertheless arranged to have $3,000 forwarded by associates as a gift to his daughter.

“Congratulations on your graduation,” Marra said in a June 2010 phone call.

But the money came by way of a Mafia beat-down that helped speed the collection of a $13,000 debt, Brooklyn federal prosecutors say.

[Junior]

It's not my fault I'm surrounded by mafiosi, 370-pound Frank (Frankie Steel) Pontillo tells judge
BY Jennifer H. Cunningham, John Marzulli and Larry Mcshane, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
New York Daily News, Thursday, September 22, 2011

A 370-pound Staten Island mobster claimed Wednesday it's hard for him to stay out of trouble because there are so many gangsters in the borough - and a federal judge agreed.

Frank (Frankie Steel) Pontillo said his bust for hanging with known mafiosi at a bar called On The Rocks was the cost of doing business in the city's least-populous outpost.

"I didn't invite the Five Families to gather at the opening of a bar," said Pontillo, who runs the grill there. "Staten Island is very small. There's lots of felons on the island.

"Every time I go somewhere, I see someone from my past," said Pontillo, the son of a jailed mobster.

Pontillo, 41, sweating nervously in a blue suit, also told Brooklyn Federal Judge I. Leo Glasser that dodging made men in the borough of 477,000 was harder than ignoring the Staten Island ferry.

Glasser - who had twice previously sentenced Pontillo - showed some sympathy for the Colombo family associate.

"That's a problem with people who grew up in Bensonhurst or Staten Island, spent a good part of their life in prison," Glasser said.

"People they've known actually their whole adult life [are] convicted felons and members of one organized crime family or another."

The hulking gangster was sentenced to six months of house arrest and two years' probation.

Pontillo, accompanied by his red-haired fiancée at his sentencing, plans to get married and continue his new career as a plumber's assistant.

Despite his protestations about the prevalence of gangsters on Staten Island, Pontillo drove to New Jersey to commit his latest crime: buying stolen TVs in an FBI sting.

He was arrested in 1991 during the bloody Colombo family war for a plot to murder members of a rival faction by disguising himself as a Hasidic Jew.

Pontillo will do the time in his Staten Island house, where he's presumably safe from mob associates in the land of slain Gambino family boss Paul (Big Paul) Castellano and mob turncoat Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano.

The mobster was arrested there last January by an FBI team that tossed concussion grenades inside. Pontillo complained the arrest traumatized his 4-pound Maltese puppy, Logan.

Asked how the dog was doing these days, Pontillo replied, "Good."

Pontillo might need protection from his outer borough neighbors, who were incensed by the gangster's description of Staten Island.

"It's disgraceful, it really is," said Maria Catalano, 49, of Willowbrook. "I don't agree with that, not at all. First of all, that guy should be in jail."

Staten Islander Michele Como was irate over the judge's comments.

"I think he's very narrow-minded," Como said of the veteran jurist. "I'd like to know where he got his information. It's infuriating. Shame on him!"

[Junior]

Colombo gangster Richard Fusco admits trying to shake down rival Gambinos
BY John Marzulli, DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER, Friday, September 30, 2011

The reputed consigliere of the Colombo crime family pleaded guilty Thursday to a scheme to shake down the rival Gambinos because he wanted them to pay the medical expenses of a mob stabbing victim.

Richard Fusco, 75, met on Staten Island with his captains to discuss how to proceed after a thug affiliated with the Gambinos stabbed Colombo associate Walter Samperi in May 2010.

The Colombos wanted $150,000 - $100,000 of which would come from the Gambinos' cut from the 18th Ave. feast in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn.

Fusco admitted there was an "implied" threat of retaliation and "I did nothing to dispel it." The meeting was secretly taped by Colombo turncoat Paul Bevacqua, who was wearing a wire.

Meanwhile, if Fusco is hoping to get time shaved off his projected sentence of 18 to 24 months, he better correct his courtroom behavior. A courtroom clerk admonished the geezer gangster for making a nasty remark about the prosecutor before Magistrate Judge Ramon Reyes took the bench.

Fusco, who is hard-of-hearing, was angry because the prosecutor wouldn't consent to removing his electronic monitoring device.

He wished the prosecutor ill health in a voice loud enough to be heard all over the courtroom.

"Keep your negative comments to yourself!" the clerk scolded him.

[Junior]

‘Soprano’ family values
By MITCHEL MADDUX
New York Post
Oct 24, 2011

When this “Sopranos” actor got into a jam, he didn’t call Tony -- he went straight to the Colombos.

Federico Castelluccio, a k a imported-from-Italy mob enforcer Furio Giunta on the HBO series “The Sopranos,” turned to the real crime family’s acting street boss to help him recoup his investment in a failed New Jersey restaurant -- run by none other than the first cousin of on-screen mafioso Joe Pesci, sources told The Post.

The friendship between Castelluccio, an actor and respected painter, and reputed Colombo boss Andrew “Andy Mush” Russo, a self-professed art lover, began years earlier. They met while Russo was doing time at the Federal Correctional Institution in Otisville, Orange County, and the actor had come to visit an inmate.

Then, a few years ago, Castelluccio -- a native of Italy who grew up in Paterson -- invested $50,000 in a plan to open a tony restaurant.

The moving force behind the project was Gino Pesci, a restaurateur and the cousin of “GoodFellas’’ actor Joe Pesci.

“It was just an awesome concept,” Gino Pesci told The Post of his “fast-casual” eatery in New Brunswick.

But the restaurant, Attilio’s Pasta Kitchen, which opened in 2002, failed and folded two years later.

After the business failure, Pesci acknowledged that he and Castelluccio “drifted apart.”

“Federico is an incredible artist, but he’s not a businessman. Maybe that’s why he took it harder than the rest,” Pesci said.

Their distance may have widened when Pesci went on a spending spree after the restaurant was shuttered, records show.

In 2006 and 2007, he paid $35,000 to buy 18 acres in the Adirondacks, records show.

Pesci then spent thousands more building a cabin, garage and shed amid the pine trees there.

In 2008, more large expenditures followed. He moved his other surviving restaurant into a different building in North Jersey, gutted it and undertook a massive renovation, records show.

Castelluccio was furious that the restaurateur appeared to be living the good life when he felt that Pesci still owed him $50,000 for the failed eatery investment, several sources told The Post.

That’s when he turned to the Colombo crime family to help him get the money back, the sources said.

Russo and another high-level Colombo mobster allegedly plotted last fall how to collect the actor’s money from Pesci, sources said. But before they could put a plan in motion, they were busted by FBI agents in a mass sweep involving that alleged plot and other crimes in January.

Castelluccio showed up at Russo’s bail hearing in Brooklyn.

At the time, he told The Post, “I’m just here to show support for a friend.”

Castelluccio declined to be interviewed for this article, only releasing a carefully worded statement saying:

“Gino Pesci has never owed me any money, and therefore, it is hard to imagine why anyone would even think about asking him for anything on my behalf. It never happened. And anyone who claims that it did happen is simply not telling the truth.”

Brooklyn federal prosecutors indicted Andrew Russo and the other Colombo mobster on charges of conspiring to commit extortion for the alleged plot against Pesci, according to court documents and several sources.

Castelluccio has not been accused of wrongdoing.

Russo is currently in a federal detention center awaiting trial. His lawyer, George Galgano, flatly denied that his client was involved in a plot to shake down Pesci.

Joe Pesci -- whom Gino said he sees about once a year -- did not return a call for comment.

[Junior]

La cosa ‘no’stra

By MITCHEL MADDUX, New York Post, October 31, 2011

It’s an honor they can live without.

Becoming a “made” member of one of the city’s five crime families was once the goal of every ambitious mobster -- and an offer definitely not to be refused -- but those days are gone, authorities told The Post.

With rats lurking around every corner and aggressive feds breathing down wiseguys’ necks, many lower-ranking Mafiosi have been doing what was once unthinkable -- saying “no thanks’’ to the title.

Low-level associates may earn less, but there’s also a better chance they’ll stay out of prison.

They believe that becoming a made man or soldier makes them a bigger target for the FBI, experts say.

“Getting your ‘button’ is like putting an ‘X’ on your back. You’re basically on the radar,” a law-enforcement source said.

A Brooklyn federal prosecutor just last week detailed how Joseph Petillo -- “a longtime and very well-respected associate” of the Colombo crime family -- recently decided to pass on an offer to be made.

“The Colombo family believed, based on Mr. Petillo’s prior history, that he would be a valuable member of the Colombo family. The Colombo family sought his membership,” Assistant US Attorney Liz Geddes told a federal judge.

But in the end, Petillo “turned down an offer of membership,” Geddes said.

Other criminals have made similar decisions -- among them Gambino, Bonanno and other Colombo crime-family associates, sources say.

Some modern mobsters have other reasons.

One Gambino associate declined an offer because “he didn’t want to put the crime family before his own family,” a source said, referring to the mob’s oath of allegiance, which calls for members to do just that.

Some mob associates who run lucrative illicit businesses also believe they can make more money if they aren’t made, because members have to “kick up” a larger percentage of their earnings to the family’s leadership, experts said.

By remaining an associate, “you’re more independent, you’re more on your own,” a defense lawyer explained.

Such decisions are a far cry from the heyday of the New York mob in the 1970s, when turning down an offer to become a made man was tantamount to signing your own death warrant.

“Years ago, it would be like disobeying orders -- literally from the boss,” an attorney said.

Today, in certain circumstances, the mob leadership appears to understand and accept the reasoning behind turning down promotions.

When Colombo associate Francis “B.F.” Guerra declined an offer from the Colombos, he had the heft and standing within the mob community to make such a decision without repercussions, FBI Agent Scott Curtis testified recently.

“Everybody knows his reputation and all the criminal activities he’s done in the past. He doesn’t need a title to carry that reputation around,” Curtis said.

“It depends who they were and their reputation.’’

Other experts say the decision to remain an associate is a clever move that might help a mobster sidestep charges under the feds’ powerful racketeering, or RICO, statutes, which require prosecutors to prove membership in a criminal enterprise.

John Meringolo, a New York Law School professor, said that in the eyes of the Justice Department, “a ‘soldier’ is automatically involved in the RICO conspiracy.”

Proving an associate was involved in a RICO conspiracy can be more challenging, he said.

[Junior]

Brooklyn judge rejects reputed Colombo family crime boss Thomas Gioeli’s request to attend daughter’s wedding
BY John Marzulli, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, Wednesday, November 16 2011

A reputed Mafia boss won't be trading his prison stripes for a pinstripe suit on his daughter's wedding day.

Brooklyn Federal Judge Brian Cogan rejected on Wednesday Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli’s request for a prison furlough to attend his oldest daughter’s nuptials.

Cogan stated that he "conferred with the U.S. Marshals Service and with other judges in the courthouse and concludes such a release is not feasible."

Prosecutors opposed the wedding pass, arguing it would be impossible for the feds to prevent Gioeli from slipping messages to underlings at the ceremony and reception, endanger cooperating witnesses scheduled to testify against him.

Cogan cited security issues and the serious charges against Gioeli in denying the request. The alleged Colombo family boss is on trial for six gangland killings.

Earlier this year Cogan approved a plan to have U.S. Marshals escort Gioeli from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn to the Long Island Federal Courthouse to view the casket containing his deceased father.

Gioeli apparently objected to paying his last respects in the courthouse garage and refused to leave his prison cell.

Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis allowed Bonanno associate Patrick Romanello to leave prison to attend his two daughters’ weddings in 2004 and 2005.

But sources said the Romanello situation was different because he was not a high-ranking mobster who could order acts of violence as Gioeli is capable of doing.

Gioeli's lawyer, Adam Perlmutter, said the father of the bride deserved to give his daughter away.

"I find it sad that in America an individual who enjoys the presumption of innocence can be denied the right to attend his father's funeral and walk his daughter down the aisle," defense lawyer Adam Perlmutter said.

[Junior]

Tommy Shots Gioeli blogs that snitch Dino Calabro beat wife, killed dog and fish
BY John Marzulli, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, Wednesday, December 7, 2011

A reputed Colombo crime boss is dishing dirt on the witness whose testimony may put him away for life, claiming the mob rat is a wife-beater AND killed his own dog.

Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli is blasting away at former capo Dino Calabro on his prison blog, accusing him of a variety of depraved acts before he became a government snitch.

Gioeli is charged with six gangland murders himself.

Besides domestic violence, he claims Calabro poisoned a friend’s tropical fish, orchestrated a death match between a cat and pit bull in a basement and fatally shot his own pit bull named Junior.

“It has been argued that the first victims of serial killers tend to be animals,” Gioeli posted Wednesday on his blog “Tommy Gioeli’s Voice.”

The fish belonged to someone named “Cheesy Pat” and were allegedly offed by Calabro pouring an unknown chemical into the tank.

“Dino couldn’t wait to laugh and joke with his wife about how he killed Pat’s fish,” Gioeli reports.

Calabro is currently in the witness protection program and could not be reached for comment. His lawyer did not immediately respond to a call for comment.

According to Gioeli’s version of events, the pit bull was cruelly beaten by Calabro to make it vicious and then shot after nearly killing Calabro’s brother.

“The dog became a devil dog hating everyone but Dino. . . . Dino shot the dog to death, taking revenge on the monster he created,” Gioeli wrote.

As the trial date nears, Gioeli has stepped up his Internet attacks on prosecutors, FBI agents and the witnesses.

His fate will be decided by an anonymous jury, and law enforcement sources say the gangster is trying to reach prospective jurors with his rantings.

[Junior]

Mob capo Reynold Maragni turns rat, wears wire for feds to bust Colombos
BY John Marzulli, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, Thursday, December 15 2011

A top Colombo gangster has defected to the feds — and has gathered damaging evidence linking the beleaguered crime family’s former acting boss to a gangland murder, the Daily News has learned.

Former capo Reynold Maragni donned a wire recently to secretly tape another gangster listing the players in the 1999 rubout of William (Wild Bill) Cutolo.

Maragni sounded like a G-man himself as he quizzed reputed soldier Vincent Manzo outside Macy’s department store in Brooklyn last Thursday.

“Was Tommy there or not there?” Maragni pressed, referring to former acting boss Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli, who is charged with Cutolo’s rubout.

“Tommy was there,” Manzo replied.

The mob turncoat is not identified by name in court papers filed Wednesday in Brooklyn Federal Court, but sources confirmed Maragni is the latest Colombo capo to flip.

Maragni pleaded guilty earlier this year to passing $600-a-month in extortion money to Gioeli’s wife and was free on bail when he recorded the conversations.

He has also told the feds that he was lying when he had previously told another government informant that he could get then-Florida Gov. Charlie Crist to commute a jail sentence.

Gioeli is charged with luring Cutolo to a house in Brooklyn where he was killed. His remains, buried in a mob graveyard near Gioeli’s home in Farmingdale, L.I., were unearthed in 2008.

Maragni’s lawyer declined to comment.

[Junior]

Feds bust Colombo big for money laundering
By Mitchel Maddux, New York Post
January 6, 2012

In another blow to New York's embattled Colombo crime family, FBI agents yesterday arrested its reputed consigliere and charged him with money laundering offenses.

Thomas Farese - who sources said was recently installed as the mob family's consigliere and is its third highest-ranking made-member - was arrested around 6 a.m. by FBI agents in south Florida where he lives, officials said.

Farese, who is also known as "Tom Mix" and "Mr. T," was ensnared by agents from the FBI's New York office in a probe that relied heavily on information secretly collected by one of the mobster's former Colombo crime family colleagues, sources said.

Reynold Maragni, who served as a Colombo captain until he switched sides to become a federal informant late last year, delivered substantial evidence that suggests Farese was involved in illicit money laundering activities, the sources said.

Maragni, who owns a vacation home in south Florida, wore a hidden "wire" - a recording device to tape conversations with Farese and collect information about the wiseguy's activities, sources said.

Farese was previously convicted of money laundering in a Florida federal court, official records show.

In a related action, FBI agents in Florida also arrested Pat Truglia yesterday.

Truglia, a reputed Colombo crime family associate also based in south Florida, was charged with money laundering offenses, officials said.

Yesterday's developments mark the second time known publicly that Brooklyn federal prosecutors have deployed Maragni to help the FBI assemble a case against his former Colombo colleagues since the former mob captain "flipped."

In December, Maragni delivered information that helped strengthen a murder case against former acting Colombo boss Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli, according to sources and court papers filed by Brooklyn federal prosecutors.

In this earlier episode, Maragni surreptitiously recorded conversations with Colombo mobsters in New York City about the murder of William "Wild Bill" Cutolo, who was the family's underboss when he was killed in a Brooklyn basement during the crime family's internecine war in 1999.

To help ply his former Colombo colleague, Maragni played the role of a ranking mobster concerned about one of his subordinates, who had been contacted recently by FBI agents.

He then recorded conversations with Colombo soldier Vincent Manzo that elicited details about how Cutolo's body was "popped" into the trunk of a car and driven to Long Island, according to transcripts of the recordings.

Manzo, who has not been charged, described how Gioeli had directed him to take the body to a wooded section of Farmingdale, LI, which the Colombo family used as one of its "killing fields," official records show.

Assistant US Attorney Liz Geddes argued in court papers that the taped conversations with Manzo strengthened the feds' case against Gioeli, who is already charged in the Cutolo murder and is due to be tried in the spring.

Farese's arrest wreaks more havoc amid the leadership of the Colombos, which has seen its top ranks depleted over the past five years by a series of federal prosecutions.

In January 2011, FBI agents in New York conducted the largest single-day raid in the history of the American Mafia, arresting dozens of mobsters - the majority of them Colombos.

Most of those Colombo wiseguys have pleaded guilty over the past year, with only a few now left awaiting trial.

[Junior]

Ex-hitman Joseph Competiello apologizes to family of William Cutolo for his role in '99 slaying
By John Marzulli / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, Published: Monday, January 9, 2012, 7:48 PM

From deep within a federal prison, ex-Colombo hitman Joseph Competiello has sent an extraordinary apology to the family of a gangster he helped kill, the Daily News has learned.

“As a young adult my actions are inexcusable and I am ready to accept responsibility for them for causing you pain over the loss of your loved one,” Competiello wrote in an email to relatives of slain capo William (Wild Bill) Cutolo.

Perhaps even more stunning, Competiello’s apology was readily accepted by the dead man’s son.

“I accepted his apology . . . If not for him, who knows if they would have found my dad,” Cutolo’s son, William Jr., told The News.

“If he [Competiello] didn’t do what he was told, he would’ve wound up in the hole with my father.”

Cutolo was shot to death in 1999 on orders from former acting boss Alphonse (Allie Boy) Persico, who feared losing control of the crime family to his charismatic rival.

Competiello was part of the hit team that killed Cutolo inside the Brooklyn home of soldier Dino (Little Dino) Saracino. Cutolo’s remains were unearthed by the FBI from a secret mob graveyard in Farmingdale, L.I., in 2008.

Cutolo’s son, who once wore a hidden wire to help the feds nail his father’s killers, forwarded a copy of the email to The News. Federal law enforcement officials verified its authenticity.

In the email, Competiello — who is in the witness protection section of a federal lockup — blames his actions and the blood on his hands to a twisted view of the Mafia.

“As a young man I wanted to fit in thinking it was the way to go and that I would be protected if I followed in this life,” wrote Competiello, who has been implicated by the feds in seven gangland rubouts.

“However due to the consciences (sic) I have now all those things I have kept inside I have to make amends with those I’ve hurt.

“I am not the boy I was then but am the man who now knows right from wrong, understanding my involvement in that lifestyle is unacceptable and wouldn’t want this life ever again.”

Competiello’s wife Michelle added a postscript to the email, which she helped him send last year: “I know this isn’t going to bring back Pops Bill but he really really is so very sorry.”

Competiello is set to sing about Cutolo’s murder and other misdeeds during the upcoming trial in Brooklyn Federal Court of Saracino and Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioelli.

Cutolo Jr. participates in a website, realwiseguys.com, and will appear next week in “Mob Confessions,” a Discovery Channel television series.

“I appreciated his admittance. It took a lot for me to do what I did, but it took more on his [Competitello’s\] part,” Cutolo Jr. said.

[Junior]

Carnival twist in mob case

By Mitchell Maddux, New York Post, January 18, 2012

He’s the P.T. Barnum of the New York mob world.

Angelo Spata Jr., a reputed Colombo family associate awaiting trial on racketeering charges, also runs an amusement business that provides the carousels, Kite Flyers and Loop-O-Plane carnival rides for some of New York’s biggest street festivals, including Little Italy’s annual Feast of San Gennaro.

Now Spata, who’s out on bail, is asking a Manhattan federal judge for permission to attend the “carny” world’s national conference in Florida next month.

Spata’s current trouble with the feds stems from his allegedly mixing the amusement-ride business with the Mafia’s illicit activities.

Officials contend that New York’s mob families muscle their way into the city’s street festivals, running concessions and helping themselves to lucrative cuts of the cash they generate.

[Junior]

Reputed mob associate Scott Fappiano, who served 21 years on wrongful conviction, gets light sentence in shakedown
By John Marzulli / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS / Wednesday, January 25, 2012

A reputed Colombo associate who spent two decades in prison on a wrongful conviction got a light sentence Wednesday for using extortion and violence to collect on a gambling debt.

Scott Fappiano was sentenced to time served — the month he spent in jail before making bail - for the shakedown of his wife’s ex-husband. He had faced up to 27 months behind bars.

Fappiano, 50, served more than 21 years in prison after he was convicted of raping a cop’s wife. The Innocence Project used DNA testing to exonerate him.

Before his sentencing Wednesday, Fappiano told Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Kiyo Matusomoto that he had a hard time adjusting when he won his freedom in 2006.

"I started using drugs and drinking to cope with the world I was essentially born into anew," he said.

Defense lawyer Harlan Protass said that while Fappiano was serving time for the rape conviction, he was assaulted by guards and inmates, stabbed with a razor blade, slammed in the face with a pipe and watched another prisoner burned to death.

"He witnessed things no human being should see," Protass said. "He has a tremendous fear of going back to prison."

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes did not object to a non-jail sentence, but said she has no confidence that Fappiano will stay away from his mob pals.

The judge also levied Fappiano with a $40,000 fine and 180 hours of community service.

Fappiano, the cousin of Gambino turncoat Frank Fappiano, already pocketed a $2 million settlement from the state for the wrongful conviction and has a federal suit pending against the city and NYPD.

[Junior]

Wheezy does it as mobster ’fesses to cig scam
By MITCHEL MADDUX, New York Post
February 20, 2012

His Mafia nickname ought to be “Chimney.”

Reputed Colombo crime family soldier John Maggio, 50, is under house arrest for illegally trafficking in some 300 cartons of contraband cigarettes.

His wife, however, insists he wasn’t planning to sell them but to smoke them — despite his suffering from emphysema.

“Mrs. Maggio sent a letter suggesting the cigarettes were purchased by Mr. Maggio for personal use,” Judge Kiyo Matsumoto said during a recent hearing in Brooklyn federal court.

“I would hope, for Mr. Maggio’s health, that this is not something he would actually contemplate.”

After doing the math — 300 cartons equal 3,000 packs, or 60,000 smokes — the judge suggested that the mob wife’s “personal use” explanation didn’t add up.

“I know Mr. Maggio purchased six cases of untaxed cigarettes from a cooperating witness,” he said.

Maggio then confessed, saying, “I should’ve said no. I made a mistake.”

Assistant US Attorney Allon Lifshitz said Maggio has already paid the feds his share of a court-ordered $11,416 restitution for the untaxed cigarettes.

The judge then sentenced Maggio to two months of house arrest, four years of probation and 200 hours of community service, and ordered him to pay a $1,000 fine.

[Junior]

Secret jury pool in Colombo slay trial of Tommy Shots Gioeli and Little Dino Saracino
By John Marzulli, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, Sunday, March 4, 2012

Five hundred prospective jurors will report Monday to federal court in Brooklyn for the upcoming trial of two Colombo gangsters.

Former street boss Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli is charged with six mob killings and reputed soldier Dino (Little Dino) Saracino is accused of three.

Both are charged with carrying out the murder of off-duty NYPD cop Ralph Dols, who was marked for death after marrying the ex-wife of then-boss Joel Cacace.

Judge Brian Cogan shot down Saracino’s bid for a separate jury.

Cogan did grant Gioeli’s motion to strike his evocative nickname from the indictment, but a parade of mob rats are free to use it when they take the stand.

The prospective jurors will fill out a questionnaire and return next Monday to be questioned. Their names will be kept secret because of the Colombo family’s history of witness tampering and obstruction of justice.

[Junior]

Widow seeks vindication as 2 mobsters go on trial in murder of her husband, Officer Ralph Dols
By John Marzulli, New York Daily News, Sunday, March 18, 2012

She was cruelly dubbed the Black Widow after two of her five husbands were murdered.

But Kimberly Kennaugh is counting on Monday’s trial of two mobsters to bring justice for her slain spouse — an NYPD cop — and clear her name.

"I've been attacked as if I pulled the gun," she told the Daily News. "I'd walk outside my building with the bullet holes in the wall every day and there were detectives following me.

"There was "666" sprayed in red paint by somebody on the building wall. Somebody left a letter at my door that said, 'Are you happy now b----?' I felt the hatred."

Now, 15 years after her fourth husband, Officer Ralph Dols, was shot to death in Brooklyn, two Colombo family mobsters, Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli and Dino (Little Dino) Saracino, will appear in Brooklyn Federal Court to face a jury for a crime that defies even the twisted logic of the Mafia — killing a cop.

“I want closure for Ralph's family. I want closure for him," Kennaugh, 52, said.

"I want closure too," she added.

Federal prosecutors say Kennaugh's third husband, former Colombo crime family acting boss Joel (Joe Waverly) Cacace, ordered the hit on the 28-year-old Dols because he felt disrespected that his ex-wife had married a police officer.

But as the killing remained unsolved for more than a decade, questions arose about Dols' alleged involvement with steroids, illegal gambling and ties to both Russian and Italian organized crime.

Detectives also focused on Kennaugh, calling her the Black Widow because her second husband, mobster Enrico Carrini, was whacked in 1987 after they had separated.

Cacace himself had survived a Colombo war shooting in 1992. Kennaugh’s first husband, Thomas Capelli, was a Colombo soldier.

The NYPD refused to put up a memorial plaque for Dols in Police Headquarters, but his housing bureau colleagues did so in their Coney Island, Brooklyn, station where he was known as the "Gentle Giant." His locker remains a shrine in the Police Service Area No. 1 locker room.

"Ralph had that locker and no one else can ever use it," said Officer Anthony Cerenzio.

"I want his name cleared. It was unjust what they did to him," Kennaugh said.

But prosecutors are pinning Dols’ murder solely on Gioeli and Saracino, and charging that they acted on Cacace’s direction.

Gioeli is also being tried on five gangland killings and Saracino on three.

Cacace is facing the death penalty for ordering the murder and will be tried separately. He was asked after his arrest about being connected with the murder of a cop and replied, "I don't give a f---."

Ralph was just 17 and Kim nine years his senior when they met in a Brooklyn gym where they both worked out in the late 1980s.

Years later, Kennaugh was single mother of three after divorcing Cacace — or so she had thought — when she ran into Dols on Avenue U around Christmas.

"He said, 'Guess what I'm doing for a living? I'm a cop,’" she recalled.

She was having friends over for a Christmas Eve dinner party and invited Dols. After the other guests left, he and and Kennaugh had a toast and she thanked him for being her friend.

"He kissed me on the lips and said, 'I have to tell you something. I'm not that little kid anymore. I'm a man. I fell in love with you he first day I saw you and I've loved you all these years.' I was floored," Kennaugh said.

"Here was this young, good-looking guy from a great family. Why was he interested in me?" Kennaugh said. "I used to think he felt sorry for me."

Their relationship took off and they wed in Las Vegas in July 1995. But they later learned the marriage wasn't legal because Cacace had given Kennaugh bogus divorce papers to sign that were never filed by the gangster's lawyer.

Dols and Kennaugh were making plans to remarry at City Hall and purchase a home when Dols was ambushed in front of their Sheepshead Bay apartment building. By then the couple had an infant daughter, Gabrielle, who is now a teenager.

One confessed Dols assassin — Colombo soldier Dino (Big Dino) Calabro — is set to testify at the trial. Saracino's brother Sebastian is also on the government's lineup of cooperating witnesses.

Kennaugh said Dols appeared to her in a dream, reminding her that the trial would soon begin.

"He said, 'It's almost over,'" Kennaugh said. "And that it's no coincidence that it's starting on his birthday."

Kennaugh was not informed of the start of the trial, another snub that says she will look past because justice for Dols is the priority.

Kennaugh, whose fifth marriage ended in divorce, says her old life, a harrowing childhood with an abusive mother and a fascination with wiseguys, is history now.

She says she raised her daughter without financial assistance from the NYPD, and that her marriage to Dols was all too brief.

"He was the love of my life. We were madly in love," she said. "For the first time I had a man who took care of me right. He was a great husband and a great father. For the first time in my life things were right. And our normal life was taken away."

If she's not called as a witness, Kennaugh has mixed feelings about attending the trial.

"Do I want to sit across from the people who destroyed my life? I don't know if I can behave myself."

[Junior]

Mob underboss says wiseguy Tommy Shots Gioeli whined about running 2 families at once
By John Marzulli, New York Daily News, Tuesday, March 20, 2012

It's hard to run a crime family when you’ve got a young wife waiting at home.

When Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli was asked to fill in as head of the Colombo gang in the early ’90s, the accused killer whined about juggling the added responsibilities and a bride, a mob pal testified Tuesday.

Bonanno underboss Salvatore Vitale told jurors in Brooklyn Federal Court that Gioeli, then a mere capo, got the promotion at a time when the Colombo family was in a civil war and new soldiers were hard to come by.

“They want me running the family,” Vitale recalled Gioeli saying as he lit a cigarette in Von Leesen’s ice cream parlor on Long Island. “Don’t they know I have a young wife?”

Vitale said he laughed at the stressed-out gangster’s lament and offered him this bit of advice: “Tommy, jump in, the water’s fine.”

Federal prosecutors contend that Gioeli did just that, supervising a lethal crew of hit men responsible for six gangland murders and eventually ascending to acting boss of the crime family.

Gioeli, 59, who is on trial for racketeering and the murders, shook his head as Vitale, now a government informant, testified against him.

Gioeli’s wife, Maureen, 57, sat in the front row of the court’s spectator section on Tuesday. During a break in the trial, Gioeli looked at her, cackled and said, “Maw, I got married to a young wife. Unbelievable.”
In the early 1990s, Gioeli served as a go-between for the Colombos with the other crime families because there was too much heat on then-acting boss Joel Cacace, according to Vitale.

Vitale said he and Gioeli met in diners, Long Island hotel rooms and along the side of highways to discuss secret mob business.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Cristina Posa showed Vitale an address book he turned over to the feds after he began cooperating, and turned to a page with the names and digits for “Tommy Shots” and his driver, Dino Calabro.

Defense lawyer Carl Herman asked if there was a similarly named gangster in the Gambino family.
“There’s only one ‘Tommy Shots’ I know,” Vitale shot back.

Gioeli will hear more about his wife on Wednesday when former Colombo capo Reynold Maragni takes the witness stand. Maragni pleaded guilty to passing cash from an extortion racket to Maureen Gioeli while her hubby was in jail awaiting trial.

In case jurors concluded Gioeli is a killer before hearing all the evidence, Brooklyn Federal Judge Brian Cogan explained to them that the gangster is called “Tommy Shots” because “on one occasion he was shot.”

MOB LINGO: A HELPFUL GLOSSARY

Former Bonanno underboss Salvatore Vitale gave jurors a tutorial in Mafia speak during testimony Tuesday. Here are some of the words he explained:

Administration - The boss, underboss and consigliere of a crime family.

Boss - The supreme leader of the crime family, the father of the family.

Chase - a mobster is sent far away from New York City for some misbehavior or violation of Mafia rules.

Mad Hatter - an out-of-control mobster who commits acts of violence without permission from the boss.

On the shelf - The boss of the crime family is really angry at a gangster but he doesn't want to kill him, so he places the gangster on mob inactive list for a while.

Weak - A mobster who is ripe to become a rat.

[Junior]

Mobster Reynold Maragni implicates Thomas Gioeli in gangland slay
By John Marzulli, New York Daily News, Thursday, March 22, 2012

He was a Mickey Mouse mobster who impressed reputed Colombo crime boss Thomas Gioeli with a Disney World scam and brokering a mob sitdown in a Barnes & Noble bookstore.

Reynold Maragni became a goodfella with Gioeli's blessing. On Wednesday, he repaid his old boss by implicating him in a gangland murder while on the witness stand.

“That gentleman in the green sweater,” Maragni, 60, said in Brooklyn Federal Court, nodding in Gioeli’s direction.

Maragni, who began secretly informing for the feds shortly after his racketeering arrest in January 2010, is a self-described “tough guy” from Bensonhurst who met Gioeli in the 1970s at Monte’s Venetian restaurant in Brooklyn.

In those days, Maragni dabbled in loansharking, beatdowns and passing messages for the Colombos before moving to Florida for new crime opportunities.

He was busted for one scheme that netted him $100,000 by using bogus credit cards to buy three-day passes to Disney World.

The scam put Maragni on Gioeli’s radar. Upon his release from jail, Maragni was rewarded with a supervisory position of Colombo associates in the Florida crew.

The goodwill was gone Wednesday when Maragni explained how in December he wore a wire when he met with Colombo soldier Vincent Manzo Sr. The two discussed Gioeli’s role in the 1999 murder and burial of capo William (Wild Bill) Cutolo, he said.

“Tommy was there,” Manzo can be heard on the tape, which was played in court. “(Tommy) showed me where the hole was. And that’s the way it was.”

[Junior]

Tommy Shots taught me how to kill, former Colombo capo testifies
By John Marzulli, New York Daily News, Monday, March 26, 2012

Tommy Shots taught me how to kill, a former Colombo capo squealed Monday.

The government's chief witness against Colombo crime boss Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli took the stand in Brooklyn against his mob mentor, describing their greatest hits together.

Sicilian-born former capo Dino (Big Dino) Calabro has pleaded guilty to eight gangland killings - six with Gioeli.

By the time Calabro met Gioeli at a Getty gas station in Brooklyn in 1989, he had already chosen the glitz of a gangster's life over his father's blue-collar labor.

"I wanted what (Gioeli) had," Calabro, 45, told Assistant U.S. Attorney James Gatta.

"He had the power to get me in the family."

Prosecutors contend Gioeli advanced his mob career supervising a lethal crew of killers that included Calabro and co-defendant Dino (Little Dino) Saracino.

Saracino, who is Calabro's cousin, shook his head when the mob rat entered the courtroom.

Recounting his first murder — of Bonanno associate Frank (Chestnut) Marasa in 1991 — Calabro said Gioeli gave him explicit advice.

"Tommy always said, 'Shoot him in the body first. Then walk up and cap him,'" he said.

The two men committed countless crimes together and forged family bonds beyond their blood oath. Gioeli and his wife Maureen are godparents to two of Calabro's sons.

Their families socialized, took vacations together and lived near each other in Long Island when the mobsters left Brooklyn and moved east.

"I want to thank my friend Tommy, he's done a lot for me," Calabro says in a clip from his wedding video played for the jury in Brooklyn Federal Court.

[Junior]

Colombo crime boss Thomas Gioeli gave sign to kill while praying in garden of LI church: Mob pal
By John Marzulli and Larry Mcshane, New York Daily News, Tuesday, March 27, 2012

In the garden outside a Long Island church, Colombo crime boss Thomas Gioeli folded both hands to pray — or placed just one over his heart to kill.

Mafia killer Dino (Big Dino) Calabro recounted the wordless 1999 gesture that permanently silenced Colombo capo William (Wild Bill) Cutolo in an infamous ‘90s mob hit long shrouded in secrecy.

The unholy, one-handed message from Tommy Shots was delivered inside the grotto at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Massapequa, L.I., the chief witness against Gioeli testified Tuesday.

The admitted killer of eight also testified about another spectacular ‘90s mob slaying: the killing of a city cop who married the ex-wife of a jealous Colombo consigliere.

In the Cutolo hit, Calabro recalled his summons to meet Gioeli at the church. “That’s the garden where Tommy would go to pray,” he recalled.

Gioeli placed a hand over his heart — a signal that he wanted somebody whacked. He then held up four fingers, indicating that Cutolo — who was missing part of his middle finger — was the target.

The plot involved luring Wild Bill to a Brooklyn home and eliminating him as a threat to then-acting boss Alphonse Persico’s rule atop the Colombos.

Gioeli drove Cutulo to the death house for a purported sitdown between Persico and Wild Bill. Calabro recounted greeting Cutolo in the driveway of the home.

“We shook hands,” Calabro said. “He said, ‘Allie’s here, right? Where are we going?’

“He went in, and I followed him and pulled out my gun and shot him in the head. He just went ‘Whoa,’ and fell backward into the closet.”

To cover up the crime, Cutolo’s watch, beeper and jewelry were mixed into a bucket filled with concrete and dumped off a Brooklyn pier.

The body was wrapped in garbage bags, hog-tied and buried in Farmingdale, L.I. Gioeli waited at a Dunkin’ Donuts while his henchmen put Cutolo into the ground, Calabro said.

Under cross-examination, cold-blooded killer Calabro said he forked over more than $750,000 in crooked gains to the government — not including the $65,000 stolen by his brother, Enzo.

Calabro also said he expected a better sentencing deal than the one given to Bonanno gangster Salvatore Vitale: seven years for 11 murders.

“You want an apology from the government, too?" asked defense attorney Adam Perlmutter.

Calabro earlier recounted his outrage over the 1997 hit ordered on “a Mexican guy who worked in a Queens social club.”

The victim turned out to be off-duty New York police officer Ralph Dols.

Calabro was stunned to learn that he joined in the killing of a cop. He even recalled asking Gioeli if they should whack the mobster who gave the order, Colombo consigliere Joel (Joe Waverly) Cacace.

Gioeli “took a step back, he listened, and it was never brought up again,” he testified.

The Cutolo killing boosted Calabro’s murderous rep, and he became a made man at a ceremony in 2000. But after achieving his lifelong goal, Calabro’s bloodlust disappeared.

“I was tired of killing,” he testified. “I was tired of being used.”

[Junior]

Courtroom drama: Mob rat Dino Calabro and brother Vincenzo in Mafia family split
By John Marzulli, New York Daily News, Wednesday, March 28, 2012

COLOMBO crime boss Thomas Gioeli’s trial turned into a scene from “Godfather: Part II” Wednesday when the brother of the turncoat witness showed whose side he’s on — sitting with the mobster’s family in court.

Hit man Dino Calabro was asked on cross-examination if he remembered calling his brother Vincenzo a “s---bag” and accusing him of stealing $65,000.

“I didn’t call him a s---bag,” Calabro shot back.

Defense lawyer Adam Perlmutter asked Vincenzo Calabro to stand up so his brother Dino — and the jury — could see that he was sitting with Gioeli’s entourage.

“You don’t have to do that, Sir. Sit down, please,” said Federal Judge Brian Cogan.

The stunt was pulled straight out of the classic Mafia film when fictional mob rat Frank Pentangeli testifies before a Senate committee and his Sicilian-born brother shows up accompanied by crime boss Michael Corleone (Al Pacino).

The witness is so unnerved he changes his testimony and later commits suicide by slashing his wrists in a bathtub.

But Calabro, who was born in Sicily, hardly appeared flustered by his brother’s appearance, easily handling the questioning, some of it downright bizarre.

Perlmutter asked the witness if he was aware that two of the Three Stooges had graduated from Seth Lowe High School, where Calabro was a dropout.

Then he asked Calabro if he knew that Hollywood mogul David Geffen was an alumnus.

“I don’t even know who that is,” Calabro said.tiSFz

[Junior]

Joseph Competiello a real wiseguy at trial of Thomas Gioeli
By John Marzulli, New York Daily News
Monday, April 2, 2012

It's not all murder and mayhem in the mob — gangsters also get to vacation together and crack jokes in court.

Colombo dumbfella Joseph (Joey Caves) Competiello tried to be funny at a federal prosecutor's expense Monday while testifying about his greatest hits and heists.

Maybe was feeling his oats after identifying photos taken back in the day of himself and his mob buddies hanging out in Bensonshurst and lounging in front of the polar bear’s den at the Bronx Zoo.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes was questioning Competiello about an attempted Long Island warehouse detergent heist, when the witness showed his smart-aleck side .

“What were you going to do with the detergent?” Geddes asked.

“Drink it,” Competiello, 40, replied, winning laughs in the courtroom.

When the snickers stopped, Competiello said the crooks planned to sell the stolen detergent.

But the plan fizzled because they heard a report of the break-in over their police scanner — so Competiello and fellow Colombo mobsters Thomas Gioeli, Dino Calabro and Richard Greaves fled.

Prosecutors say Competiello was a member of Gioeli’s lethal crew who carried out multiple gangland murders over a decade, along with numerous commercial robberies and bank break-ins.

The crew that killed and robbed together also vacationed and partied together — and have the photos to prove it, which the government obtained from the cooperating witnesses.

Calabro’s wife, Andrea, took a bunch of snapshots from the Gioeli family photo album when it was still a secret that her hit man hubby was cutting a deal with the feds.

One memorable shot shows Gioeli and Calabro at Disney World, standing together in what looks like Main St. U.S.A. with their kids sitting on a stoop.

In another, Calabro, Gioeli and co-defendant Dino (Little Dino) Saracino are having some down time from the stress of mob life on a golf outing in Williamsburg, Va.

Competiello, 40, testified that he had some experience with golf clubs — but he didn’t mean he wielded them on the putting green.

“I was a tough kid,” he said, recalling that he got into fights every day using his fists, a baseball bat and a golf club as weapons.

Competiello, who said he was also known as The Rock, was arrested at age 13 in a stolen car on the Verrazano Bridge, and hung out with a group of wannabe-mobsters in training in front of a candy store on the “The Corner” at 75th St. and 20th Ave.

In the Bronx Zoo photo, tough guys Competiello and Saracino look seriously under-dressed for the weather in warmup suits with snow and the polar bear in the background.

Brooklyn Federal Judge Brian Cogan ordered prosecutors to release a photo of the outdoor grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Massapequa Park where Gioeli went to pray and allegedly passed the order to kill capo William Cutolo in 1999.

Competiello breezed through his recollection of murdering associates Joseph Miccio, gunned down while riding in a Jaguar sedan, and Carmine Gargano, buried outside Competiello’s auto chop shop in Brooklyn. The body was then moved to a mob graveyard in Farmingdale, L.I.

“I dug the hole,” he said.

Competiello said his mob mentor Calabro hugged him and congratulated him after he’d killed Miccio. But he got a reprimand from Gioeli.

“(Calabro) told me he would have my back, but in front of Gioeli he hollered at me and said I had to stop being a cowboy,” Competiello said.

The jury has already viewed photos of Calabro’s wedding, the baptism of Competiello’s son and a video of guests leaving Gioeli’s daughter’s “Sweet 16” party at a Farmingdale nightclub.

[Junior]

Twists and turns of FBI agents following Tommy Shots Gioeli around Long Island
By John Marzulli, New York Daily News, Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Tailing Tommy Shots was a challenging assignment for an elite FBI surveillance squad.

Five weeks after Colombo crime boss Thomas Gioeli allegedly passed the order to murder an off-duty NYPD cop, the gangster proved a handful for four agents in separate undercover vehicles, retired FBI supervisor Gerald Ryan testified Wednesday.

The mobster vigilantly scanned the area for possible law enforcement, the ex-G man recalled.

"I radioed the team, 'He's looking hard, give him room,'" Ryan told Assistant U.S. Attorney James Gatta.

The agents stationed themselves at “strategic locations” in the vicinity of Gioeli’s home in Farmingdale, L.I., on Oct. 1 and Oct. 2, 1997, Ryan said.

The first day, Gioeli departed at the leisurely hour of 10:40 a.m. and drove to a Mobil station on Route 110 where he gassed-up his SUV and made a call from a pay phone, rode around the area then went home, Ryan said.

The second day, Gioeli switched vehicles with an unidentified man at the Riviera Diner, then drove the other man's Lincoln to Our Lady of Lourdes Church in North Massapequa, where he remained in the car for two minutes.

“Do you know if he was praying in his car?” defense lawyer Adam Perlmutter asked.

Two cooperating witnesses have testified that Gioeli frequently prayed in the Rosary Walk garden, and was speaking to a hit man there when he allegedly passed the order to kill Colombo capo William Cutolo in 1999.

The surveillance ended later that afternoon after Gioeli drove to the parking lot of a Grand Union supermarket. Ryan dashed inside the store so he would not be observed.

[Junior]

Mobsters turned childhood bedroom into 'slay'-room, aka 'The Dungeon': witness
By Mitchel Maddux, New York Post, April 11, 2012

Two mobster brothers turned their Brooklyn childhood bedroom into a grown-up den for Mafia hits — nicknaming it “The Dungeon,” a witness testified yesterday.

Colombo crime family soldier Dino “Little Dino” Saracino, now on trial for three gangland slayings, used the Bensonhurst sublevel bedroom he once shared with his wiseguy brother, Sebastiano, for murdering two mobsters who were lured to their deaths, prosecutors say.

And this all happened, the witness testified, while their parents lived in the upstairs apartment in the same house, which was split into two units in a renovation.

At least one of the brothers lives in the downstairs apartment.

For the 1995 hit on Colombo associate Richie Greaves, they waited until their parents were away on a cruise in Italy, another witness testified.

“Dino said, ‘One day when we’re older and we’re in our rocking chairs, I’ll tell you about it,’ ” said the brothers’ former friend and fellow Colombo wiseguy David Gordon, who is now an FBI informant in the witness-protection program. “[Saracino] said, ‘We did Richie in The Dungeon,’ ” Gordon testified.

Greaves — who had a falling-out with his Colombo crew — was lured to the Saracinos’ basement and shot in the head, prosecutors say.

Both Dino Saracino, 39, and former Colombo street boss Thomas “Tommy Shots” Gioeli, 59, are on trial for the Greaves hit and the 1999 killing of underboss William “Wild Bill” Cutolo.

Cutolo, too, was executed in the Saracino basement apartment, federal prosecutors say.

Saracino also directed debtors using his mob loan-sharking services to drop their cash payments inside a plastic chicken flower pot outside an exterior stairway that led to “The Dungeon,” Gordon testified.

[Junior]

Colombo mobster used noisy bowling alley as hangout to keep feds from listening in
By Mitchel Maddux and Don Kaplan, New York Post, April 13, 2012

A Long Island bowling alley gave new meaning to “family” fun when a mob boss turned it into his criminal hangout.

Colombo crime-family street boss Thomas “Tommy Shots” Gioeli set up shop at the County Line Bowling Center near his Farmingdale home because he wanted the sounds of falling pins and screaming kids to mask his underworld conversations from the prying ears of federal agents, according to testimony at his ongoing mob-slay trial in Brooklyn federal court.

As locals bowled nearby without a clue to the gangland activity going on, “Tommy Shots” engaged in Mafia business such as orchestrating the “disappearance” of three fellow gangsters.

He even used the alley’s parking lot as a staging area to meet with his underlings before they buried their victims in a nearby wooded area.

At least two of his victims — Colombo underboss William “Wild Bill” Cutolo and Mafia associate Richard Greaves — were dumped in shallow graves a short drive from the now-defunct family recreation center.

Details of the bowling-alley activity have been revealed at the trial of Gioeli, 59, and Dino “Little Dino” Saracino, 39, who are charged with six gangland murders, including the killing of a cop.

Colombo turncoat Reynold Maragni was wearing a wire when reputed soldier Vincent Manzo Sr. blabbed about how Gioeli had showed him “where the hole was” for dumping Cutolo’s body.

Manzo explained how Gioeli led him to the wooded area and how, as Cutolo’s body was removed from the car trunk, Gioeli stayed in the vehicle. “Tommy didn’t even get out of the car,” Manzo was taped saying.

Greaves was fatally shot on Aug. 3, 1995, and the body driven to Farmingdale but never found.

According to testimony from key mob turncoat Dino “Big Dino” Calabro, County Line was the meeting spot before the crew headed to the makeshift graveyard.

“[We] were in the lead car. We took the Belt Parkway to the bowling alley,” Saracino’s cousin, Calabro, testified.

Calabro recalled saying later at the nearby wooded area: “I took the pick and the shovel and the bag of lime, and then we carried the body over and started digging.”

A third body, that of Colombo mob associate Carmine “The Gorilla” Gargano, was moved from a makeshift grave at the Brooklyn body shop where he was murdered in 1994 to Farmingdale and buried while Gioeli sipped cocktails at the bowling alley.

Gioeli was deathly afraid of wiretaps and bugs and went to great lengths to avoid them, prosecutors said in court papers filed yesterday, explaining why Gioeli was rarely caught on tape.

“Members of organized crime tend to avoid talking about crimes over the telephone or in places that can be intercepted,” Brooklyn federal prosecutors said in a letter sent yesterday to the judge in the Gioeli case.

In previous testimony, prosecutors have detailed that Gioeli was difficult to track because he used the Nextel walkie-talkie feature on his cellphone. Yesterday they explained why they could not subpoena the Nextel records: Gioeli obtained his phones from “a company controlled by the son of co-conspirator.”

“In light of Gioeli’s close relationship with [the associate], it would have been futile for law enforcement to obtain such court authorization to intercept communications over such a device because Gioeli would likely learn of the authorization and alter his behavior,” prosecutors said.