Tuesday, 30 November 2004
Is Whitey Bulger The Biggest Mob Rat of Them All?
James J. "Whitey" Bulger, as one of the fugitives on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list, is under ever mounting pressure to become a full-time FBI/federal prosecutor's elite mob rat. After all, Whitey Bulger is not getting any younger. He's 75-years-of-age and counting. He is currently on the heart medication Atenolol (50 mg). There's a $1,000,000 bounty over his head.
Of course, Whitey Bulger is already infamous for the hours he has put in as a part-time FBI/federal prosecutor's elite mob rat. What are some of the similarities and dissimilarities between a part-time and a full-time FBI/federal prosecutor's elite mob rat?
By "elite" I mean the men who have held the highest ranking positions in the American Mafia before and/or up until the moment they agreed to cooperate with the government.
A fugitive of Whitey Bulger's criminal stature is subject to wide spread scrutiny whether he is in hiding on the run from, or hiding on behalf of, the federal government. But, the benefits and the perks of a full-timer exceed those of a part-timer. So too does the comparative career longevity of the full-timer exceed that of a part-timer.
Benefits? Room and board, medical care, witness protection, prosecutorial immunity, access to a new life in a new identity. Perks? The ability a cooperating witness has to market his name and story as well as to lecture and serve as a consultant.
As a part-time FBI/federal prosecutor's elite mob rat, Whitey Bulger's status was clandestine. His rat status actually enhanced and buttressed his stature in the underworld. As a full-time federal service provider, Bulger's status will be public. Bulger will be no opportunity to engage in criminal activity. Suspects will know well in advance exactly who is scheduled to rat on them.
A Whitey Bulger who is cooperating is a mixed blessing for the FBI. Whitey Bulger probably has a huge amount of "new" and potentially damaging information about FBI corruption in the wake of revelations about and accusation against John J. Connolly Jr. and H. Paul Rico.
Only Uncle Sam knows for sure the individuals whose names are included on his list of FBI/federal prosecutor’s elite mob rats. If he is apprehended or if he turns himself in to federal authorities, it won't be long before we will be able to add the name "Whitey Bulger" to those on the following list.
FBI/FEDERAL PROSECUTOR’S ELITE MOB RATS
ANTHONY "GASPIPE" CASSO - Gaspipe Casso was the underboss of the Lucchese Cosa Nostra Family. He and his boss, Vittorio "Vic" Amuso, had been key leaders of the Lucchese Cosa Nostra Family in the late 1980's and early 1990's. The style of leadership of these two men ravaged the Lucchese Cosa Nostra Family. Gaspipe Casso, in particular, exercised EXAGGERATED VIOLENCE. He indiscriminately murdered his fellow wiseguys.
The American Mafia traditionally prohibits the placing of contracts on the lives of the relatives of cooperating witnesses. Gaspipe Casso, like Little Nicky Scarfo, went against Mafia tradition and issued a death contract on the relatives of some cooperating witnesses. Gaspipe even plotted to kill a federal prosecutor.
Vic Amuso went on the lam and was successful in his efforts to elude capture until Gaspipe alerted the Feds to his whereabouts. Vic Amuso was captured in Pennsylvania when an "anonymous" tipster phoned the FBI to tell them where Amuso would be showing up the following day).
All of the Amuso/Casso regime's EXAGGERATED VIOLENCE inspired some key Lucchese mobsters, e.g. Big Pete Chiodo, Little Al D'arco, Frank Goia, etc., to cut and roll.
Gaspipe Casso will be remembered as a perfectly terrible Lucchese boss and an even worst FBI/Federal Prosecutor's mob rat. He began cooperating with federal prosecutors and the FBI in early 1994. A little more than a year before that time, Casso had been a fugitive for more than 30 months. After he cooperated, he admitted a role in 36 gangland style killings, including the 1986 bombing death of former Gambino Crime Family underboss Frank DeCicco.
When Casso began cooperating, law enforcement officials hoped he would pick up where former Gambino underboss Salvatore "Sammy Bull" Gravano had left off. They intended to use him as a witness at the racketeering and murder trial of Genovese boss Vincent "Chin" Gigante. But Casso fell out of favor with the feds, never testified at any trial, and in the summer of 1998, Casso was sentenced to life without parole.
ALPHONSE "LITTLE AL" D'ARCO - Little Al D'Arco took part in at least 10 murders during his criminal career. He began cooperating against the mob in September, 1991 when he became convinced the Lucchese Crime Family was set to kill him. Little Al D'Arco became acting boss of the Lucchese Crime Family on January 9, 1991, the day he began to suspect he was marked for death.
During the decade he worked for the government, Little Al D'Arco was a key witness against Vittorio "Vic" Amuso, a Lucchese Crime Family boss, Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, the boss of the Genovese Crime Family of New York, Victor "Little Vic" Arena, the acting Columbo Crime Family boss, and other top gangsters who were convicted of racketeering including Anthony Spero, the Bonanno Crime Family consigliere and James Ida, the consigliere of the Genovese Crime Family of New York.
. JOSEPH "LITTLE JOE" DEFEDE - Little Joe DeFede, former acting boss of the Lucchese Cosa Nostra Family, began to cooperate with the federal government in March of 2002. Little Joe took over as acting boss after Vittorio "Vic" Amuso's conviction and life sentence were upheld by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Little Joe was the Lucchese acting boss from early 1994-until-1998.
Little Joe Defede is not a tough guy but he had Vic Amuso's backing. Little Joe was a long time friend of Vic Amuso. Defede often met with the leader's of New York's other four Cosa Nostra Families.
Defede called the FBI when Vic Amuso began to wonder whether Little Joe had skimmed some of the family's spoils for himself from New York's Garment Center and other rackets from 1993-to-1998.
To the dismay of the federal government, Little Joe was unable to identify Peter Gotti as the sitting boss of the Gambino Cosa Nostra Family at his recent trial. It is unlikely that Little Joe will be remembered by organized crime historians as a great FBI/federal prosecutor's elite mob rat.
ALADENA "JIMMY THE WEASEL" FRATIANNO - Jimmy the Weasel had been (according to his own account) the acting boss in Los Angeles at one time. In that capacity, Fratiano had been loaned by the Chicago Outfit to Los Angeles.
Fratiano dealt frequently with the top guys in the Chicago Outfit, given the considerable influence Chicago had in Los Angeles. Jimmy the Weasel has the distinction of being the only member of the Chicago Outfit whose name is included on this list.
SALVATORE "SAMMY THE BULL" GRAVANO - Sammy Bull turned on the mob in 1991 after the FBI played for him a surveillance tape recording of John "The Dapper Don" Gotti with some very revealing dialogue. Sammy Bull became the first Mafia underboss to testify against his boss. As part of his plea agreement, Sammy Bull admitted to taking part in 19 mob hits including the murder of his brother-in-law.
Freed in March 1995 after serving 5 years in prison for racketeering, Sammy Bull eventually left the Witness Protection Program. He lived openly in Arizona as he taunted the Gambino Crime Family during interviews in 1999.
Thomas "Huck" Carbonaro, a soldier and Peter Gotti, the boss, of the Gambino Cosa Nostra Family, were indicted for their participation in a conspiracy to murder Sammy Bull in Tempe, Arizona. At this writing, Peter Gotti and Huck Carbonaro are being tried.
The efforts of the Gambino Crime Family to whack Sammy Bull were thwarted when, on February 24, 2000, Gravano and his wife, son (i.e. "Baby Bull"), daughter and son-in-law were arrested on drug charges by Arizona authorities.
Sammy and Baby Bull pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges on May 25, 2001, two weeks before the federal drug trafficking trial was set to begin.
In February 2003, Sammy Bull was charged with the 1980 murder of Peter Calabro, a corrupt New York City detective. Sammy Bull has been accused of this crime by Richard "The Iceman" Kuklinski, a mob hitman and admitted serial killer. Kuklinski, 68, is currently in prison himself for several murder convictions. He becomes eligible for parole in 2046.
Sammy Bull's testimony helped federal prosecutors to convict John Gotti and Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, the boss of the Genovese Cosa Nostra Family of New York. In his testimony, Salvatore "Sammy Bull" Gravano was strictly Sammy No Bull.
PHILIP LEONETTI - Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo was named the new head of the Bruno Cosa Nostra Family and given a seat on the National Mafia Commission in 1981. The Bruno-Scarfo Cosa Nostra Family became an ally to the powerful Genovese Crime Family of New York. Philip Leonetti was named the underboss of the Bruno-Scarfo Crime Family.
Leonetti's mother is Little Nicky Scarfo's sister. Leonetti; father abandoned him at a young age and Uncle Nicky helped to raise young Philip in the neighborhood's of Philadelphia.
Under Little Nicky's leadership, the Philadelphia became the most violent of all 26 Cosa Nostra Families in the United States. During Scarfo's reign, more than 28 people were murdered. Half were members of the Bruno-Scarfo Crime Family.
This EXAGGERATED VIOLENCE was in contrast to Angelo Bruno's understated, indiscreet method of social control.
At one point Scarfo targeted the Riccobene faction of the former Bruno Crime Family. More than 24 members of the Riccobene faction were targeted. The war went on for months. Two attempts to murder Harry "The Hunchback" Riccobene failed.
Little Nicky also sought to whack a relative of a cooperating witness, a defendant's father. To the detriment of the Bruno-Scarfo Family, Little Nicky's EXAGGERATED VIOLENCE spawned a slew of mob informants. George Anastasia, the author of three critically acclaimed books about the Philadelphia mob and an award-winning reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, characterizes the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra as "the most dysfunctional family."
The FBI accurately perceived this EXAGGERATED VIOLENCE as weakness. It infiltrated the Bruno-Scarfo Crime Family and waited for the right moment. Leonetti was arrested in 1988 on charges of murder. He was sentenced to 45 years for the murder. The sentence prompted Leonetti to flip.
Leonetti confessed to the murder of 10 people, His testimony resulted in the convictions of dozens of high-ranking members of the Philadelphia/Atlantic City Mafia families. His testimony was used in the John Gotti trial.
Little Nicky Scarfo was convicted in 1988 on extortion and murder. He is serving a 69-year-prison sentence. Leonetti's testimony helped to confirm the verdict. It also opened the door to the convictions of other Scarfo associates.
Due to the successful completion of his plea agreement, Philip Leonetti was released from custody after serving only 5 years.
ANGELO "BIG ANGE" LONARDO - Big Ange was named interim boss of the Cleveland Cosa Nostra Family when James "Jack White" Licavoli, the sitting boss, went to prison. Big Ange was the acting boss of the Cleveland Cosa Nostra Family from 1982-until-1984. In 1983 Big Ange was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for his role in a mob drug ring. Unable to face the prospect of dying in prison, Big Ange became the highest ranking FBI/Federal prosecutor's elite mob rat up to that time. Having been involved in the mob since the 1920's Big Ange was able to provide information that was seriously damaging to the Cosa Nostra's national hierarchy.
Among those convicted in the testimony provided by Big Ange were: Fat Tony Salerno, the boss of the Genovese Cosa Nostra Family of New York, Carmine "The Snake" Persico, the Columbo Cosa Nostra Family boss, and Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo, the boss of the Lucchese Cosa Nostra Family for supervising mob activities nationwide.
Each of these three Cosa Nostra leaders were convicted and sentenced to 100 years imprisonment. Paul "Big Paulie" Castellano, the Gambino Cosa Nostra Family boss, was also targeted but he was murdered before the charges against him could be made.
Although there is a Cleveland mob, the Cleveland Cosa Nostra is defunct.
JOSEPH "BIG JOEY" MASSINO (Added Feb 22, 2005) - The American mafia was dealt one of the biggest blows in its history with a revelation that a Godfather has turned informant. Joseph "Big Joey" Massino is the highest-ranking mobster yet in the New York metropolitan area to cooperate with the federal government. In the 1990s, Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco and Joseph "Little Joe" Defede, former acting bosses of the Lucchese Cosa Nostra Family, more caretaker leaders, turned government witnesses.
It was Joseph Massino who revitalized the Bonanno Cosa Nostra Family, after it was hit by a devastating FBI sting in the eighties.
Big Joey began to cooperate with the federal government in September 2004 when he directed FBI agents to the Ruby Street lot, a mob graveyard in Queens, New York near its border with Brooklyn. The bones of two wiseguys he ordered killed were found.
Big Joey Massino wore a wire to implicate his hand-picked successor, "Vinnie Gorgeous" Basciano at several meetings in December 2004 and January 2005. The owner of a Bronx beauty salon was captured on tape discussing the slaying of a mob associate and a plot to kill a federal prosecutor, according to a federal court indictment.
At one stage Vinny Gorgeous and Big Joey discussed the murder of Randolph Pizzolo, a mob associate. Other transcripts reveal Vinny Gorgeous discussing a conspiracy to kill court prosecutor Greg Andres.
Salvatore 'Good Looking Sal' Vitale, Massino's brother-in-law, underboss, and childhood friend, was the key witness against him in his racketeering trial, the United States of America v. Joseph Massino et al. Defendants (2004).
On February 5, 2005, prosecutors signalled that they are going to remove the threat of the death penalty from Big Joey Massino now that he is cooperating with investigators. Nor will prosecutors aggressively pursue Massino's ill-gotten gains. Big Joey became the biggest rat in Mafia history to try to weasel out of some of the $10.3 million debt he owes the feds. The forfeiture of his assets could have led to the lost of the Maspeth, Queens home of Adeline, his 89-year-old mother, and the Howard Beach, Queens home of Josephine, his wife.
As a result of Big Joey Massino's deal with the government, on Friday, February 11, 2005 three members of the Bonanno Cosa Nostra Family, including Anthony "Tony Green" Urso, its former acting boss, and its acting underboss, pleaded guilty to the murder of another mobster.
RALPH NATALE - In May 2000, Ralph Natale. the sitting boss of the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra Family, became the first boss to turn government informant and testify against his own men.
Natale pleaded guilty to a crime career that spanned 30 years and included seven murders, five attempted murders, extortion, gambling, drug trafficking and bribing a Camden New Jersey City official.
Natale testified against his successors, reputed acting mob boss Joey Skinny Joey" Merlino and 10 other defendants. He is expected to testify against other crime families.
VINCENT "VINNIE OCEAN" PALERMO - In December, 1999, Vincent "Vinnie Ocean" Palermo, the acting boss of the DeCalvacante Crime Family, was one of 21 associates and made men of the DeCavalcante Family was hit with an indictment, i.e. federal racketeering and a murder charge that is potentially punishable by death. The blockbuster indictment charged the men with 42 counts of murder, extortion, loansharking, bookmaking, robbery, mail fraud and trafficking in stolen property, counterfeit goods and stolen U.S. savings bonds. Vinnie Ocean became a mob defector.
FRANCIS "CADILLAC FRANK" SALEMME - Cadillac Frank, who headed the Patriarca Cosa Nostra Family of New England in the early 1990s, negotiated a deal with prosecutors in 1999 in exchange for cooperation in the government's racketeering and corruption case against former FBI Agent John Connolly Jr.
After Connolly was convicted in 2002, Salemme was described by prosecutors and a federal judge as a crucial government witness. Under terms of the agreement, Salemme received immunity for his participation in eight gangland slayings as well as a reduced sentence. After serving eight years, Salemme was released from prison in March 2003 and entered the witness protection program.
Salemme testified that Connolly warned him as well as rivals Stephen Flemmi and James "Whitey" Bulger just before they were indicted on racketeering charges in 1995.
Flemmi was arrested immediately and is serving a life sentence for murder. But Salemme and Bulger fled. Salemme evaded capture for seven months and Bulger remains a fugitive on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list.
Salemme was charged last week with obstruction of justice and making false statements to authorities about the 1993 slaying of Stephen A. DiSarro, a Boston nightclub manager.
Prosecutors said that during Salemme's 1999 plea negotiations, he denied knowing anything about DiSarro's death and suggested that other mobsters killed him because he'd become a government informant.
Prosecutors now think Salemme was present when DiSarro was murdered and helped bury the body. DiSarro's remains have never been found.
Salemme pleaded innocent at his arraignment Tuesday, November 16, 2004. Salemme faces a maximum of 10 years on the obstruction of justice charge and a maximum of 5 years on the false statement charge if convicted.
In March, 2003, Salvatore "Goodlooking Sal" Vitale, the underboss of the Bonanno Cosa Nostra Family, began cooperating with the federal government.
SALVATORE "GOODLOOKING SAL" VITALE - Goodlooking Sal had been at the pinnacle of New York's underworld for two decades. Some say he was never much of a stand up guy to begin with, so there's no surprise that he turned on his old pals.
Goodlooking Sal's cooperation has been devastating to the Bonanno Crime Family. He testified in the United States of America v. Joseph Massino et al. Defendants. Helping prosecutors convict Joseph Massino.
Mr. Massino was found guilty in July on a sweeping racketeering indictment that included involvement in seven gangland murders. Massino was convicted of orchestrating a quarter century's worth of murder, racketeering, arson, extortion and other crimes. Joseph Massino faces life in prison.
Goodlooking Sal will also testify in the upcoming trial in which prosecutors are charging that Joseph Massino participated in the 1999 murder of Gerlando "George from Canada" Sciascia. If convicted, Joseph Massino faces the death sentence.
Having served as Joseph Massino's emissary to other Cosa Nostra families, Goodlooking Sal has great potential as a witness against their leaders and activities. Goodlooking Sal is expected to have a long career as an FBI/federal prosecutor's elite mob rat.
Is John J. "Whitey" Bulger the “Biggest Mob Rat of Them All?” The answer to that question depends, among other things, upon the answers to the following questions: When, if ever at all, will Whitey Bulger be apprehended and/or become the victim of mob retribution?
If the answers to these questions are "Never," then Whitey Bulger's candidacy for the “Biggest Mob Rat” position depends strictly upon the elite mob ratting he has already committed.
John J. Connolly Jr., a rising FBI agent and fellow "Southie," i.e. resident of South Boston, Massachusetts, had known James J. "Whitey" Bulger since boyhood when Whitey rescued him from a playground fight. Decades later, in the mid-1970's, they would meet again. By then, Connolly was a major figure in the FBI's Boston office and Whitey had become godfather of the Massachusetts Irish Mob.
After investigating organized crime in New York, Connolly was reassigned to the bureau's Boston office in 1975, and was determined to make a name for himself by relying on his old connections. He succeeded in a big way by lining up Whitey as an FBI informant in an effort to bring down the Italian Mafia---a major coup for both the FBI and Connolly. In exchange, Bulger received protection. Though heavily involved in extortion, intimidation, assassination, and drug trafficking, Connolly's "good bad guy" did not receive so much as a traffic infraction for over 20 years.
In time, however, the deal changed, and information began flowing in the other direction, with Bulger manipulating Connolly and a small group of corrupt FBI agents to further his nefarious network. The criminals and the lawmen eventually became virtually indistinguishable.
In the wake of revelations about and accusations against John J. Connolly Jr. and H. Paul Rico, a Whitey Bulger who is cooperating with the FBI is a mixed blessing. Whitey Bulger probably has a huge amount of potentially damaging and previously undisclosed information to share about FBI corruption.
If he is apprehended or otherwise saved from mob retribution by the federal authorities, John J. "Whitey" Bulger is destined to become the "Biggest Mob Rat of Them All."
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