My Washington Times Review Of 'Chin: The Life And Crimes of Mafia Boss Vincent Gigante'

My review of Larry McShane's Chin: The Life and Crime of Mafia Boss Vincent Gigante appeared today in the Washington Times.

In the history of America’s criminal organization Cosa Nostra, popularly known as the Mafia, Vincent “the Chin” Gigante stands out not only as one of the most powerful and successful bosses, he also stands out as one of the most peculiar.

The New York tabloids covering the Cosa Nostra “goodfella” criminals called Vincent Gigante “the Oddfella” due to his habit of walking the streets of Greenwich Village in New York City in pajamas, slippers, a ratty robe and an old cap. Helped along by an escort, he would mutter incoherently to himself.

Larry McShane, a reporter with the New York Daily News, offers an interesting look at this unusual gangster in “Chin: The Life and Crimes of Mafia Boss Vincent Gigante.” The book details how Gigante rose from a professional boxer to be a driver, bodyguard and hit man for crime boss Vito Genovese, and eventually became the Genovese crime family boss himself. The book also explains how his public “crazy act” kept him out of prison.

... By 1985, when Gigante was surreptitiously running the Genovese family, and Anthony “Fat Tony” Salerno took the law enforcement heat as its straw boss, the family’s assorted illegal enterprises included gambling, extortion, loan-sharking, and bid-rigging,” Mr. McShane writes. “The Genovese influence extended to the garbage, concrete, construction, and music industries; they held an iron grip on the labor that allowed them to dominate the New Jersey waterfront, the Javits Convention Center and the Fulton Fish Market.”

The Chin ruled more than 400 mobsters and his influence extended to Philadelphia, Miami and other areas far from New York. 

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

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/sep/12/book-review-the-life-and-crimes-of-mafia-boss-vinc/  

North Philadelphia Drug Kingpin Kaboni Savage Convicted of 12 Murders

Veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia is covering the Kaboni Savage federal murder-racketeering trial in Philadelphia for Bigtrial.net.

Kaboni Savage, the cocaine kingpin who authorities said launched a reign of terror in the Philadelphia drug underworld, was convicted of 12 counts of murder in aid of racketeering today, including the 2004 firebombing arson in which two women and four children were killed.

Savage, 38, showed no emotion as the jury forewoman read the verdicts late this afternoon. The jury reading was interrupted briefly when Savage's older sister, Concetta, screamed out in dismay.

"Bullshit," she said after the guilty verdicts, one after another, began to mount. "Bullshit ... You're killing me ... That's my family." After resisting attempts to subdue her by other family members and federal marshals, she was led out of the courtroom.

"I love you, man," she said as she finally agreed to leave.

Savage, a former professional boxer, is already serving a 30-year sentence for a 2005 drug trafficking conviction. He could be sentenced to death in the current case. A penalty phase of the trial, before the same jury, is set to begin on May 20.

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

http://www.bigtrial.net/2013/05/kaboni-savage-guilty-of-12-murders.html#more

A Gritty, Uncensored Look At Life In The Philadelphia Drug Underworld: The Kaboni Savage Drug Kingpin Murder Trial

The Veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia is covering the Kaboni Savage federal drug kingpin murder trial in Philadelphia for Bigtrial.net.

It was poetic, but in a dark and frightening way.

Kaboni Savage was trying to explain to an inmate in the cell adjacent to his how he felt about the drug case pending against him and the cooperating witnesses who were lining up to testify for the prosecution.

“Tears of rage,” the violent North Philadelphia drug kingpin said.

“I’m flooded … internally from’em. Almost drown myself every night man. Tears of rage cause these sons-of-bitches gonna pay, man! They gonna pay … They kids gonna pay. They momma gonna pay. I know you get tired of me saying it, man, but that’s the kind of conviction I got for this shit, man. I’m dedicated to their death, man.”

This was in February 2004

Savage was awaiting trial on drug charges that would eventually result in his conviction and a 30-year prison sentence. Dozens of his conversations -- angry, belligerent, vile and vindictive – were secretly recorded by the FBI and played at his 2005 drug trial.

Now they’re being reprised, played for another jury that could determine whether Savage lives or dies. The “tears of rage” tape is one of nearly 300 conversations that have been or will be played for the jury in Savage’s racketeering-murder trial in U.S. District Court. Most came from a listening device hidden in his prison cell. Others came from phone wiretaps.

In its 11th week, the trial of Savage, 38, and three co-defendants has offered the jury a gritty, uncensored look at life in the Philadelphia drug underworld.

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

http://www.bigtrial.net/2013/04/kaboni-savage-tears-of-rage-but-no_16.html#more

George Anastasia also posted a second piece.

Shortly before noon today jurors in the Kaboni Savage racketeering-murder trial once again heard Savage promise to kill and maim "rats" and their family members, anybody, he said, who was associated with witnesses who were cooperating against him.

"That's all I dream about...killing rats," Savage said on one of 10 secretly recorded conversations played by the prosecution. "My dreams are contorted."

On another, he cackled and said, "I want to smack one of their four-year-olds with a baseball bat."

Jurors also heard him rant about how he wanted to tortured and burn a captain in the Federal Detention Center where he was being held and heard him describe how violence could prove to be a valuable asset on the streets.

"You take a certain reputation and run it to the moon," he said.

Minutes after the last tape was played, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Troyer, the lead prosecutor in the case, announced, "The United States of America rests."

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

http://www.bigtrial.net/2013/04/prosecution-rests-in-kaboni-savage-trial.html#more

Accused South Philadelphia Mobster Gaeton Lucibello Pleds Guilty To Participating In A Racketeering Conspiracy

The FBI released the below information today:

PHILADELPHIA—Gaeton Lucibello, 59, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty today to participating in a racketeering conspiracy involving extortion and illegal gambling, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and Special Agent in Charge George C. Venizelos of the FBI’s Philadelphia Division.

At the plea hearing before U.S. District Judge Eduardo C. Robreno, Lucibello pleaded guilty to conspiring to conduct and participate in the affairs of the Philadelphia La Cosa Nostra (LCN) family through a pattern of racketeering activity. He admitted to the court that he assisted in shaking down a bookmaker for “street tax” payments and operated two illegal video poker machine businesses in furtherance of the racketeering conspiracy. His sentencing is scheduled for November 26, 2012. He faces a statutory maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.

Lucibello was among 14 members and associates of the Philadelphia LCN family charged with crimes involving racketeering conspiracy, extortion, loan sharking, illegal gambling, witness tampering, and theft from an employee benefit plan in a third superseding indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Philadelphia on July 25, 2012. The other defendants charged in the 52-count third superseding indictment included Philadelphia LCN family boss Joseph Ligambi, Philadelphia LCN family underboss Joseph Massimino, George Borgesi, Martin Angelina, Anthony Staino, Jr., Damion Canalichio, Louis Barretta, Gary Battaglini, Robert Verrecchia, Eric Esposito, Robert Ranieri, Joseph Licata, and Louis Fazzini.

The trial for Ligambi, Massimino, Borgesi, Angelina, Staino, Jr., Canalichio, Barretta, Battaglini, Licata, and Fazzini is scheduled for October 9, 2012. The trial for Verrecchia, Esposito, and Ranieri has not yet been scheduled. Ligambi, Massimino, Borgesi, Angelina, Canalichio, Licata, and Fazzini are detained while awaiting trial. Staino, Jr., Barretta, Battaglini, Verrecchia, Esposito, and Ranieri are free on bond while awaiting trial.

The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney John S. Han of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frank A. Labor, III and Suzanne B. Ercole of the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Valuable prosecutorial assistance was provided by the Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General.

The case is being investigated by the FBI; the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division; the Pennsylvania State Police; the New Jersey State Police; the Philadelphia Police Department; and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations and Employee Benefits Security Administration. Additional assistance was provided by the New Jersey Department of Corrections.