New York Mafia Families Today

It’s the 1920s and the Italian mafia, long since just being outlaws in Sicily controlling the lucrative citrus business and stabbing politicians in train tunnels, have taken over the underworld in the USA. But there’s a problem: Who controls operations in this country of opportunity? Giuseppe “Joe The Boss” Masseria thought it was him, but as a rivalry heated up, he was taken out by none other than Charles “Lucky” Luciano, his not so faithful lieutenant. The two of them were playing cards when Luciano needed a pee break, only for his gunmen to walk into the restaurant and shoot the boss to ribbons. So, who is the boss now? Well, it is agreed that five families from New York City will take control, each with its own boss. What follows is decades of blood on the streets. But where are they now, those five families? Did they bow out, or are they still pulling the strings of organized crime but perhaps with less emphasis on wholesale murder? All will be revealed.

### 5. The Genovese Crime Family

This was actually called the “Luciano crime family” since the boss when it began was of course the man we’ve just been talking about. He moved to the states when he was eight, having seen with his own eyes how much bloodshed there was in his native Sicily. By the time he was a teenager, he was already a crook. He set up “The Commission” after Salvatore Maranzano, the so-called boss of bosses was stabbed and shot. Luciano didn’t want the title, so he formed a kind of democracy. He also helped set up the multi-mob outfit, the “National Crime Syndicate”. Okay, so that was the beginning of this family. How are the Genovese crew doing these days? By the way, it got that name from the boss, Vito Genovese. Not long after he ordered a pair of cement shoes for a fellow mobster he died of heart failure.

In 2011, 127 mafia members were arrested in just one day, and members of all five families found themselves in handcuffs. They were charged with a number of things, including murder, illegal cash-checking, money laundering, extortion, and narcotics trafficking. Yes, importing, exporting, and selling drugs, that most profitable illegal enterprise, is a top earner for the families. The US department of justice said after that arrest that this family had various crews in 2011, still calling themselves “wise guys” or “Goodfellas”. They also had associates, and together their activities included fraud, loansharking, illegal gambling, and violence including murder.

One of the guys arrested was Stephen Depiro, who was a soldier for the family. He was charged with racketeering and extortion and illegal gambling operations. The media later said he was, “involved in a scheme run by Genovese family to collect “Christmas tribute” payments from hard-working longshoremen in excess of three million dollars dating all the way back to the early 1980s.” He was a thug. Pay up, or get hurt. The authorities even secretly recorded him threatening someone over a gambling debt, saying he would take a bat and break the guy’s legs. In 2018, family associate Salvatore Delligatti was also wiretapped, and later arrested for racketeering and also recruiting a few guys from the Crips street gang to kill someone. The record shows he gave them a gun and a car and said, kill him. As soon as they tried to get close, the cops were on them. As you’ll see later, we have some really amusing and frightening wiretap recordings from other mobsters.

Okay, so who’s running things now? The answer is it’s complicated given there are different factions of the family and a lot of people working in those factions. They haven’t gone anywhere, so right now someone is committing crimes for the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens and Brooklyn factions as well as the New Jersey faction. As for that last faction, Mikey “Cigars” Coppola is a leading captain. He became a made man back in the 70s and was a ruthless murderer among other things, but now he’s 74 and in prison. Still, he is said to be a key figure in the New Jersey faction. These oldsters still have a say in matters to this day while in prison. Right now, the faction is possibly controlled by convicted murderer, Silvio P. DeVita, who it seems is a free man but banned from entering any casinos in New Jersey. So, who’s the boss of the entire family? That position is allegedly filled by Liborio “Barney” Bellomo. We say allegedly, because the mafia doesn’t exactly fill out tax returns and go into high schools to talk about business strategies.

Bellomo is a devoted family man, has many relatives in the mafia, and after getting out of prison in 2008 for fraud, is lying low. He is also suspected of ordering the murder of his good friend and acting captain of the family. The underboss of the family is Ernest “Ernie” Muscarella. He’s a free man now, but has been locked up before for extortion of the International Longshoremen Union and International Laborers Union of North America, as well as running illegal gambling operations in South Florida. Okay, with the next family you’ll get a much better idea of what’s going on right now.

### 4. The Gambino Crime Family

It was named after boss Carlo Gambino, who unlike most mafia members managed to spend most of his life outside of prison and live to old age. He died peacefully of natural causes after watching the New York Yankees winning the American League pennant on TV. Only this year members of the Gambino family pleaded guilty to crimes. One of those guys was Vincent Fiore, who admitted to a racketeering conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering and obstruction of justice offenses. He was actually wire-tapped by law enforcement, so we have an idea of how he goes about things. We’d like to tell you everything he said in conversations, but every other line would get us demonetized. Here is a censored version: “No, you laugh. When you get punched in the face and your teeth get knocked out, ‘cause you’re being a BLEEP, you’re not going to laugh no more, okay? ...You think it’s a BLEEPING joke. Don’t make light of it. Because at the end of the day, this is coming out of your BLEEPING BLEEP. ...You’re lucky you’re not in front of me because I’d knock your BLEEPING teeth out. ...Because I know what you are and I know who you BLEEPING are. ...Listen, I don’t give a BLEEP.” As you can see, the mafia is as eloquent as ever.

Captain Andrew Campos was also arrested with Fiore, but we apologize for not being able to show you some of his edifying monologues. Also in these court documents, is the mention of Adrial Lopez. He was an associate of the family, meaning he just did work for them. What kind of work, you might wonder? Well, as a former boxer and tough guy, you’d be right in thinking that he hurt people. He worked on extortion rackets for one thing. The court documents say this: “The investigation has revealed Lopez’s threats and acts of violence. For instance, in the past, Lopez has knocked a victim unconscious and slammed his head against a door jamb.” He bragged about being part of a gang that had “60 bodies” on it and also beating a guy up so badly he left him with his “brain bleeding”. He didn’t just work rackets, he made sure no one squealed on the family. He sounds like a lovely guy eh. Listen to this that was in the documents: “Law enforcement agents this morning also executed search warrants at Lopez’s home and his vehicle and recovered, among other things, multiple, large knives (including one that appears to have blood on it), a ski mask with the eyes cut out, brass knuckles and over $25,000 in cash.”

So, these are the kind of people that work with the Gambino Family. There are also recent reports stating that the Gambino Family in the US was working to help rebuild the mafia in Sicily. They might have achieved this, although arrests were made, at least of Italian gangsters. Again, this is a massive family that has as many factions as groups as it does imprisoned members. In 2019, acting boss Frank Cali was gunned down outside his home. Such a thing hadn’t been done for a long time and it was thought that a mafia war was on the way, but it turned out that he was killed by a non-gangster.

That was Anthony Comello, who apparently did it to help Donald Trump win the election. Yep, that’s strange, and we are not going to tell you what the conspiracy theorists think. Suffice to say, Comello is NOT a popular guy in mafia circles. As for who’s boss now, that could be the mafioso made into a made man by John Gotti, Domenico Cefalù. Although it is more likely Lorenzo “Lore” Mannino. He has had a colorful history, being convicted of conspiracy to murder and drug trafficking and even asking for the help of Frank Sinatra. It’s from wiretaps that authorities think he’s the boss. Like with all the families, the authorities might be very wrong. If you want to know what this family is doing, look no further than arrests and criminal trials. It is mostly extortion, racketeering, loansharking, bribes, and fraud. The next family is just as colorful and is home to arguably one of the best mafia nicknames ever.

### 3. The Colombo Crime Family

Named after boss Joseph Colombo, who did not die peacefully watching TV. He was shot three times, once in the head, was paralyzed as a result, and died a few years later. These days the family is said to have less power than the others, but if you’re a member of that family please be assured we just read it someplace and by no means want to insult you. Still, it looks to us that you might have weakened yourself by all that in-fighting over the years… sorry. As for what the family is up to these days, well, as you know, the truth is in the court documents. In one such document, talking about those 127 arrests, we learned that one member of this family was arrested for money laundering. He has also got the best mafia name, Joseph “Junior Lollipops” Carna. He only got six months and died inside. Before you feel pity for him, he was involved in a gunfight in which a stray bullet killed a nun. The hit paralyzed the target and killed the target’s son. As for the present boss, that accolade might well go to Andrew “Mush” Russo. He’s also had his phone tapped in the past in the same operation as soldier Joseph Savarese had his phone wiretapped.

Here’s what the latter said when talking about collecting money from a schmuck in an extortion racket: “In the summertime, we came to an agreement with this BLEEP-sucker. I beat him, like last year. I was pounding him for the money... Larry jumped out of the car, we both beat him. Later, his son called, he said he didn’t want his pop getting beaten up again and would pay the money.” So, again, the business is mainly money laundering, loan-sharking, racketeering, illegal gambling, and extortion. As always, these operations entail a lot of violence. The next family might just feed you to the lions if you cross them.

### 2. The Lucchese Crime Family

This family was named after Tommy Lucchese. He also didn’t do much prison time and he died of natural causes. Apparently, police, judges, hitmen, gangsters, pimps, and politicians turned up to his funeral. Whattaguy! Back in the day when Anthony Salvatore Casso was an underboss, this family spilled buckets of blood on the streets, mainly because Casso was crazy, called by some, a “homicidal maniac.” He killed many people himself and tried to kill John Gotti. One other member of this family once said about him, “All he wanted to do is kill.” Casso was once recorded talking on the telephone, saying, “If he wasn’t a Jew, we’d straighten him out”. To straighten out means invite into the family, but as the guy was Jewish and not Italian that couldn’t happen. The man he was talking about was Sidney Lieberman, an associate who made the family tons of money. Casso is also infamous for hiring two New York City police detectives as hitmen in the 80s and 90s, men who fulfilled their job requirements. Casso, by the way, got Covid and died in prison in 2020. He was serving 455 years without the possibility of parole.

Okay, so what about now, are they still painting the streets red? An arrest in 2018 was of a family soldier, Dominick Capelli. Associates were also arrested. They were arrested for what was said to be one of the biggest loan shark operations in mafia history. A month after, Lucchese soldier Anthony Grado and associate Lawrence “Fat Larry" Tranese” were arrested for forcing a doctor to prescribe them 230,000 oxycodone pills. They made him an offer he couldn’t refuse, having stabbed the doctor at some point. Grado told the guy after, “If the prescriptions go in anybody’s hands besides mine, I’ll put a bullet right in your head.” Grado seemed well aware of America’s opioid epidemic and how many desperate people there are out there, saying to the doctor, “A thousand scripts a day or I’ll BLEEPING feed you to the BLEEPING lions.”

As for who runs things, former soldier John Pennisi said recently in court that the role has changed hands a bit. It used to be Vittorio "Little Vic" Amuso, but he got life in prison in 1992 for a number of things including conspiracy to murder. He’s another one of the reasons for all that blood on the streets back in the day. At some point, Amuso got a message out of prison. He said that Matthew Madonna, a man that took over as part of a three-man panel, had to go. If he didn’t, many people in his faction had to die. This was not an empty threat, the mafia doesn’t do that. The hit list included a captain and several members of the faction.

In 2019, Madonna along with two others was sentenced for the murder of another gang member. Aged 84, he got life. The title was later passed on to Michael “Big Mike” DeSantis, but he was arrested for having a sit-down with some other gangsters and discussing a bit of business. He was on parole at the time. The factions run out of The Bronx (2), Long Island (2), Manhattan, New Jersey, and Brooklyn. It seems Amuso, pushing 90, is still running things. Of its 200 made members, many are serving time in prison for drug trafficking, murder, money laundering, fraud, illegal gambling activities, stock scams, extortion, and loansharking. Okay, last but not least, the family that once was infiltrated by an undercover cop who named himself Donnie Brasco and at one point was the most powerful and most brutal outfit of them all. You’re going to enjoy the wiretap recording in this one.

### 1. The Bonanno Crime Family

It was named after Joseph Bonanno, aka, Joe Bananas. This so-called Man of Honor barely spent any time in prison and bit the dust aged 97. He was actually one of the youngest mafia members back in the days when the American mafia was just getting going. As for what they are doing these days, let’s again go to some fairly recent court documents. One of the members is Neil Messina. He’s an associate for the family that at one point served as president of a legitimate company that had received over $45 million in city and state contracts. Hmm, you have to wonder if there was any mafia involvement in there.

It seems very likely In 2011, Messina was part of that big bust and was sent to prison for a home invasion in which a man and his dog were murdered. Others from the Bonanno family were charged with racketeering, loan sharking, and extortion, including John “Johnny Pizza” Porcello, a man described as “nice” by some and someone who had a really good pizza shop. According to mafia historians, the Bonanno family was the most Sicilian of all the families, which might explain their taste for blood. They also made deals with the Sicilian mafia back in the day which entailed them buying large amounts of heroin. That heroin was then sold out of pizza shops. As one historian said, “It was a great opportunity to make money and sell heroin out of the back door. There were people coming for pizza and people coming for heroin.” They also did deliveries, so with a large double-cheese pepperoni pizza, you could also get yourself a kilogram of uncut smack.

This operation wasn’t just ideal for dealing but also worked as a money-laundering operation. But this was mostly back then, what about now? Well, drugs are still a big earner for this lot. In 2017, there were two arrests in the family. Those were Damiano Zummo, an acting captain, and Salvatore Russo, an associate. Also charged was associate Paul Ragusa, who worked with both the Bonanno and Gambino crime families. The funny thing is, they might not be using pizza these days – they could be – but they still sell drugs out of innocent-looking shops. Both Zummo and Russo were said to be selling large amounts of cocaine from a gelato shop in Manhattan. Zummo was also charged with money laundering. Ragusa was caught with nine illegal firearms, which included three automatic assault rifles and one silencer. What do you think happens to those that don’t pay up for their special gelato…

Okay, so who’s running things now? It seems the answer is the son of a well-known underboss. His name is Joseph Cammarano Jr. and he took over in 2015 to try and rebuild the empire. He had a big setback. In 2018, he and a bunch of other high-ranking members were arrested on charges of racketeering, extortion, drug dealing, loan sharking, wire and mail fraud, as well as conspiracy to commit murder. The arrests included Consigliere John “Porky” Zancocchio, but like Cammarano Jr., in 2019 he was acquitted.

Others were arrested not so long ago, and they were convicted, such as Anthony "Fat Tony" Rabito, who netted $210,000 every week in the 2000s from his illegal gambling operation. There’s a good reason they take the risks. The present boss it seems is Michael "The Nose" Mancuso, a man that once shot and killed his own wife and later killed another mobster. We don’t really know what he’s doing, but we do know the family has been busy over the last few years.

By: Tannor Cannon | May 26, 2021

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