Paul Davis On Crime: Joseph Massino

Showing posts with label Joseph Massino. Show all posts

Monday, July 15, 2013

Ex-Bonanno Crime Family Boss Joseph Massino Wins Release For Role As Informant

John Marzulli at the New York Daily News offers a piece on former Bonanno Cosa Nostra organized crime family boss.

Now he’s on his way to being a fat, free fella.

Ailing ex-Bonanno crime boss Joseph Massino, the highest-ranking American Mafioso to turn rat, received his reward Wednesday for cooperating — two life sentences reduced to time served.
The pear-shaped Massino will walk out of a secret federal prison in 60 days — having served 10½ years for eight gangland murders — and into the witness protection program, where he will be relocated and given a new identity, according to lawyer Edward McDonald.

“The court is under no illusions about the motives for Mr. Massino’s cooperation,” said Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis, who resentenced the legendary gangster in Brooklyn Federal Court. “In helping the government, he has also helped himself, and his cooperation in no way excuses or justifies his life of crime.”

You can read the rest of the story via the below link:

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ex-crime-boss-massino-wins-release-article-1.1396188

Friday, April 15, 2011

Blood Into Gold: Former Bonanno Crime Boss' Home Was New York's Answer To Fort Knox

The New York Post reports that former Bonanno crime family boss, Joseph Massino, who is currently testifing againt his successor, told the court that he forfeited four or five hundred gold bars to the feds. The gold bars were hidden in his home in Queens.

According to The Post:

He turned blood into gold.

Former Bonanno boss-turned-rat Joseph "Big Joey" Massino's family home in Howard Beach was Queens' answer to Fort Knox.

The man known as "The Last Don" had hundreds of gold bars stashed in the basement and millions in cash hidden in boxes in his attic -- funds he had set aside as his "pension" for his "golden years," Massino testified in a Brooklyn federal courtroom yesterday.

But Massino gave up the bullion and the rest of his millions following his conviction for seven murders as part of the deal that made him the first mob boss to squeal on the stand, he said at the murder trial of his successor, Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano -- who Massino yesterday revealed assumed control without his blessing.

You can read the rest of the newspaper story via the below link:

http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brooklyn/golden_fleeced_YXpc6Dhcm3DgKg3JX1l36I

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Former Bonanno Crime Family Boss Scheduled To Testify Against Successor

John Marzulli at The New York Daily News reports that former Bonanno Cosa Nostra crime family boss Joesph Massino will take the stand against his successor, Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano.

Massino (seen in the above FBI mugshot is the highest-ranking Cosa Nostra member to cooperate with the government.

You can read the newspaper story via the below link:

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/the_mob/2011/04/09/2011-04-09_mafia_legends_turning_in_graves_as_exbonanno_boss_to_rat_out_successor_at_trial_.html

You can also read how the FBI's forensic accounting brought down Massino via the below link:

http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2005/november/massino_110205

Paul Davis

Paul Davis is a writer who covers crime. He has written extensively about organized crime, cybercrime, street crime, white collar crime, crime fiction, crime prevention, the military, espionage and terrorism. His 'Crime Beat' column, which covers crime news, crime issues and crime prevention in South Philadelphia, appears weekly in the South Philly Review, and his 'On Crime' column, which covers crime in the Greater Philadelphia region, appears weekly at Philly Daily and Broad and Liberty. He is also a longtime contributor to Counterterrorism magazine and writes their online 'Threatcon' column, which covers crime, espionage and terrorism. Paul Davis' crime fiction appears in American Crime Magazine. His work has also appeared in the Washington Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Weekly and other publications. As a writer, he has attended police academy training, gone out on patrol with police officers, accompanied detectives as they worked cases, accompanied narcotics officers on drug raids, observed criminal court proceedings, visited jails and prisons, and covered street riots, mob wars and murder investigations. He has interviewed police commissioners and chiefs, FBI, DEA, HSI and other federal special agents, prosecutors, judges, public officials, WWII UDT frogmen, Navy SEALs, Army Delta operators, Israeli commandos, military intelligence officers, Scotland Yard detectives, CIA officers, former KGB officers, film and TV actors, film writers, directors and producers, journalists, novelists and true crime authors, gamblers, outlaw bikers, and Cosa Nostra organized crime bosses. Paul Davis has been a student of crime since he was a 12-year-old aspiring writer growing up in South Philadelphia. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy when he was 17 in 1970. He served aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Kitty Hawk during the Vietnam War and he later served two years aboard the Navy harbor tugboat U.S.S. Saugus at the U.S. floating nuclear submarine base at Holy Loch, Scotland. He went on to become the civilian administrative officer of a Defense Department command in Philadelphia, where he oversaw security, safety and other programs for the command's military and civilian employees, and served as an investigating officer, while working part-time as a newspaper crime reporter and columnist. He retired in 2007 after more than 37 Navy/DOD years of service and became a full-time writer. From 1991 to 2005 he was a producer and on-air host of "Inside Government," a public affairs interview radio program that aired on Sunday mornings on WPEN AM and WMGK FM in the Philadelphia area. You can read Paul Davis' crime columns, crime fiction, book reviews and news and feature articles on this website. You can read his full bio by clicking on the above photo (by Brittany Davis-Pearson). And you can contact Paul Davis at pauldavisoncrime@aol.com.

Paul Davis On Crime