tagged w/ Gambino Family
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A little bragging about his business turned a Bronx hot dog vendor into a mob punching bag, police said yesterday.
The victim, who is in his 50s, ran into the thugs at Michael's Italian Family Restaurant on Boston Road in Eastchester, cops said. While chatting over beers during the summer, he told them he made a decent living hawking food from his cart nearby.
"If you are doing so good, then you can give us two Cs a week," one of the mobsters told the victim, a police source said. "I guess in this economic climate the mob isn't so fussy any more," the source added.
When the vendor refused to fork over $200 in "protection money," the thugs roughed him up twice in August and set the cart on fire in September, cops said.
Arrested and charged with assault, extortion and other crimes were Patrick Lombardo, 60; Robert (Bobby Fingers) Francella, 49, and Gregory Monzeglio, 44. All three have long rap sheets ranging from murder to assault. Cops described Francella, who served 24 years for killing his girlfriend, and Lombardo as associates of the Gambino crime family.A little bragging about his business turned a Bronx hot dog vendor into a mob punching... more
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Lews Kasman, shown seated (far r.) beside John (Dapper Don) Gotti, admitted hiding $80,000 scam from feds.
The late John Gotti's "adopted son" admitted Friday he continued his criminal ways while working as an FBI informant.
Lewis Kasman had a lot of 'fessing up to do in a Florida courthouse where he's star witness against reputed Gambino gangster Vincent Artuso.
The trial is essentially a rehearsal for his next turn on the stand at the upcoming murder trial of John A. (Junior) Gotti in Tampa. "I came down here to Florida to get away from the rat race," Kasman, 51, said, prompting laughter from those who got the joke.
The FBI recruited Kasman as a snitch 12 years ago, when the elder Gotti was still boss of the Gambinos. He was promoted to full-fledged cooperating witness in 2005 as the mob family struggled with internal turmoil and some Gotti relatives leaned on Kasman for money.
Even a $12,000-a-month retainer from the feds wasn't enough to keep Kasman straight.
Under the noses of his handlers, Kasman tipped off a pal who was under investigation for selling steroids, lied to his wife's divorce lawyer, withdrew money from his children's trust fund and scammed a businessman out of $80,000.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian McCormick asked why he hid the scam from the FBI, and Kasman replied, "I wanted to keep the 80 grand."
The prosecutor played secretly recorded tapes of Kasman and Gambino consigliere Joseph (JoJo) Corozzo discussing the dysfunctional Gottis.
"He [John Sr.] died hating that kid [John Jr.], you know that," Kasman told Corozzo.
At one point, as Kasman was testifying, a loud clanking noise was heard, caused by construction work in another part of the courthouse.
"There must be a rat in the building," one spectator cracked.Lews Kasman, shown seated (far r.) beside John (Dapper Don) Gotti, admitted hiding... more
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His mother still thinks John A. (Junior) Gotti is innocent of murder and racketeering. The second-generation mob boss' grandmother will never find out.
As Gotti sat in a Florida jail awaiting arraignment, his fraternal grandmother - 96-year-old Philomena Gotti, known as Fanny - died Wednesday on Long Island.
Junior learned of her death in a phone call to his mom, Victoria.
"She was a good lady, an old-fashioned lady," Victoria Gotti said of her mother-in-law. "My kids loved her."
Her 44-year-old son won't have much time to mourn. Junior was expected to enter a plea of not guilty in Tampa Federal Court at his arraignment today, said his lawyer, Charles Carnesi.
Carnesi doesn't expect to make a bail argument, meaning the one-time head of the Gambino family will remain behind bars pending a later hearing.
The case marks the latest federal prosecution of Junior Gotti, whose last three Manhattan trials - all on the same charges - ended in mistrials.
Junior has insisted that he quit the mob years ago, although the latest indictment includes crimes dating back to the 1980s.
Philomena Gotti's 13 children included Junior's father and predecessor atop the Gambinos, John (Dapper Don) Gotti. Junior was unlikely to make her funeral; he was behind bars when his father died in 2002 and missed those services, too.
His sister, author and one-time reality show star Victoria Gotti, and brother Peter were expected to attend the Florida hearing despite their grandmother's death.
His ailing mother didn't make the trip south for the hearing, although she loudly proclaimed her son's innocence on three murders.
"He's being railroaded," she complained Wednesday. "They couldn't get him the legal way - he walked out of court three times. And their egos are bruised.
"They're going all out to get him, like he's Public Enemy No. 1. It's shameful." His mother still thinks John A. (Junior) Gotti is innocent of murder and racketeering.... more
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someone needs to rein in this rogue agency before it deprives the moviegoing public of even more of the entertainment and art we so desperately crave....someone needs to rein in this rogue agency before it deprives the moviegoing public of... more
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klenga
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added this
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4 years ago
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