Mob Hit Again An Issue At Philadelphia Racketeering Trial

The veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia is covering the federal organized crime trial in Philadelphia for BigTrial.net

Suspected mob hit man Anthony Nicodemo is sitting in a city prison awaiting a preliminary hearing in a homicide case that could have a dramatic impact on the Philadelphia mob.

Since his arrest on Dec. 12, underworld and law enforcement sources have been speculating on whether the 41-year-old South Philadelphia wiseguy would become a government cooperator in order to get out from under the charges he faces.

That speculation has created an undercurrent in the ongoing racketeering trial of mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and six co-defendants. Ironically, the trial ended Monday with Nicodemo's name being mentioned by a federal prosecutor and defense attorneys crying foul.

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

http://www.bigtrial.net/2013/01/mob-hit-again-issue-at-racketeering.html#more

My Crime Beat Column: Mafia Prince: My Q & A With Philip Leonetti, The Former Underboss Of The Philadelphia Cosa Nostra Crime Family

 Last week the Washington Times published my review of Philip Leonetti's book Mafia Prince: Inside America's Most Violent Crime Family and the Bloody Fall of La Cosa Nostra (see below).

In my review, I wrote that Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, the boss of the Philadelphia-South Jersey Cosa Nostra crime family in the 1980s, has been described by law enforcement officers and former criminal associates as ruthless, homicidal, greedy and paranoid - even by organized crime standards.

Today, Scarfo, 83, sits in federal prison in large part because of Philip "Crazy Phil" Leonetti, his close nephew and criminal underboss, who became a witness against him.

In the book Leonetti tells the inside story of the dark and deadly life in organized crime. 

As I noted in my review, being half-Italian and raised in South Philadelphia - the hub of the Philadelphia-South Jersey Cosa Nostra organized crime family - I was aware of Cosa Nostra culture at an early age. I know or knew of many of the people in this book. I've also interviewed Philadelphia cops and FBI agents from that era, and I found Leonetti's descriptions of events, people and places to be frank and accurate.

Philip Leonetti called me from an undisclosed location, as Scarfo has placed a $500,000 contract on his life, and I interviewed him over the phone.

Below is my Q&A with Philip Leonetti:

Davis: Why did you write this book?

Leonetti: First, I thought it was a great story. I have a son and I really didn’t have much time for him when he was growing up. But by writing this book he now knows what I was going through when he was a little kid and he now realizes my situation. Of course, I never really talked to him. I never went into any details about my life. He knew what type of guy I was and all, but I never explained anything to him. Now he understands a lot better.

Davis: Have you adapted well after a life in organized crime?

Leonetti: Yeah, it’s great. To be honest with you, the way I’m living now is how I wanted to live my whole life. I was doing my duty by the way I was raised, wanting to do the right thing by them, but this is really what I enjoy.

Davis: Many organized crime guys don’t adapt well after they testify, like Sammy “the Bull” Gravano, who went right back into a life of crime. I suppose they like the excitement, the action. You don’t miss that?

Leonetti: I miss the money. But no, it’s too cutthroat. Nobody is your friend. They’re scared of you, that’s why. What I found out afterwards was everyone hated my uncle, and me, because I was with him all of the time. They hated us because of the way we treated everybody. So, no, I don’t miss anything about that life. I make a good living this way.

Davis: In your book you paint a truly chilling portrait of your uncle. How would you describe him?

Leonetti: Psychopathic. You know, you watch The Boardwalk Empire, that guy Rosetti? He’s crazy. My uncle’s like him a little bit. I see my uncle in that guy. But my uncle didn’t go as far as putting a general’s hat on like Rosetti. That guy was really out of his mind.

Davis: The Rosetti character was a psychopath.

Leonetti: Yeah, but my uncle was more devious. He was a lot smarter than this guy on TV. He was the same way, but in a smart way. He was calculating.

Davis:  You were born to a life in Cosa Nostra. What did your uncle teach you about the life?

Leonetti: From when I was little he would tell me we don’t talk about our life to anybody. We’re different. We don’t live by the same rules that everybody else does. Like the laws they have in this country. If somebody bothers us we’ll kill the guy ourselves. We don’t go rat to the police. This is the environment I grew up in.

Davis: Do you have any regrets about your past life, or any regrets about becoming a witness?

Leonetti: Becoming a witness is not a nice thing. You go up on the stand and testify against people that you know. I didn’t enjoy that at all. But I made an agreement with the government and I testified truthfully about everything.

Davis: Was testifying about your crimes cathartic in any way? Do you regret any of the crimes you committed?

Leonetti: I try to weigh things in my mind. All the crimes I committed, like the murders I was involved with, were all against bad people, guys that were involved in our life. So I really didn’t think anything of it. They were looking to kill us and we were looking to kill them. We weren’t looking to kill no legitimate people.

Davis: You admittedly met and committed crimes with some major crime figures, such as your uncle of course, and Meyer Lansky and others. Can you give a brief impression of Lansky?

Leonetti: He was a little old man when I met him, walking this little white dog. He would meet us at the Eden Roc Hotel. We would go there and meet him, Nig Rosen and a couple of other fellas hanging around. We would sit around and have lunch with him. They were characters these guys, especially Meyer. He told stories about his buddy, Ben Siegel, who robbed the money and how he couldn’t save him. He felt bad about him. It was just talk, generally. It was like an honor just to be sitting there.

Davis: From a crime historical point of view, you don’t get much bigger than Meyer Lansky.

Leonetti: No, you don't.

Davis: You also met John Gotti. What was your impression of him?

Leonetti: John Gotti was a gangster. He was a real tough guy. He acted like a tough guy and he didn’t put up with any bullshit. He got along with us and he liked my uncle and he liked me. We met him a few times in New York and he just wanted to be friendly with us. He wanted to have us as his friends.

Davis: He was looking for an ally on the commission, right?

Leonetti: Yeah. We were friends with him because of Sammy - Sammy “the Bull” Gravano - I was real close to Sammy, but we were aligned with the Genovese family.

Davis: What was your impression of Sammy Gravano?

Leonetti: The same type of guy as John Gotti. These guys were all treacherous. Frank DeCiccio and Sammy the Bull were buddies. When John Gotti approached them to kill Gambino boss Paul Castellano, Sammy and Frank DeCiccio talked it over, you know, after John left, and said look, let’s do this because Paul’s not a bargain. So we’ll kill him now and if John does not work out, we’ll kill him too, that’s all. That’s the type of guys these are. They are all stone killers. This is what you get with the mob. That’s why I don’t miss that life.

Davis: What was your impression of Vincent “the Chin” Gigante?

Leonetti: I was never in his company. I dealt with Bobby Manna (the Genovese consigliere).

Davis: You mentioned that these guys were “real gangsters” and you write in your book that your uncle differentiated between a “racketeer” and a “gangster,” and your uncle was proud of being a gangster. What is the difference between the two?

Leonetti: Gangsters are guys like John Gotti, Vincent the Chin and my uncle, and the racketeers are guys like Paul Castellano and Angelo Bruno. They are business-like guys. They were guys who were more involved in business, they weren’t like street guys.

Davis: Who stands out in your mind from the Philadelphia Cosa Nostra crime family during your day?

Leonetti: When I was around there were guys like me and Chuckie (Merlino) and Salvie (Testa) and Lawrence (Merlino). We were like a close-knit family. When Phil Testa was alive we were with him. These were the guys I was really friendly with.

Davis: You guys were bringing in a lot on money. Do you blame your uncle for spoiling a good thing with his violent leadership of the Philadelphia-South Jersey crime family? There are those who say that his viciousness and murderous ways pushed guys into witness protection.

Leonetti: That’s the life. He couldn’t handle the job. He talked about everybody else going power-crazy, but he went power-crazy. He wanted to kill everybody.

Davis: I lived around the corner from Angelo Bruno when I was a kid and the general impression of him was that he was involved in gambling, but not drugs and murder. In your book you offer a different portrait. You write that he was involved in drugs and he did in fact order murders.

Leonetti: He was the boss of the Philadelphia family. He ordered murders. Before I was made I did beatings for him that he ordered. But let me tell you something, Angelo Bruno was the biggest drug dealer in Philadelphia. He was smart. He was low-key. He was a real businessman. He didn’t want anybody knowing anything. Long John (Martorano) dealt all the drugs for Angelo Bruno, the P2P, with all the motorcycle gangs and the different connections he had.

Davis: Now ongoing is the big federal mob racketeering trial with Joseph Ligambi and others. How do you think it will turn out? And do you think Joe Ligambi is like Angelo Bruno, a low-key businessman type?

Leonetti: Joe Ligambi has more balls than Angelo Bruno. Ang never killed anybody, Joe did.

Davis: I thought that was a requirement.

Leonetti: That was a requirement, yeah, but he got in because he did things for certain guys and they made him.

Davis: Do you think Joe Ligambi and his crew are going to prison?

Leonetti: I was would say yes if it was not for Eddie Jacobs. He is a good lawyer.

Davis: I interviewed Joe Pistone, the FBI Special Agent who went undercover with the Bonanno crime family for six years. He debunked the idea of glamour and honor in Cosa Nostra. He saw mob guys constantly scheming, scamming to make money and worrying about arrested or killed. In your book you recount the high life of organized crime, but you also note the apprehension and fear that goes along with the criminal life. Do you agree with Joe Pistone’s view?

Leonetti: Yeah, we always watched ourselves. We had to be careful with everybody we dealt with. Once you become the boss someone is always looking to get close to you, make a move on you, or something. We were pretty strong. We had everything covered since that was our thing. It would be pretty tough to trick us.

Davis: But even at your leadership level, you lived in fear of your uncle, at least in the later years, didn’t you?

Leonetti: In my later years, yeah. Eventually I knew he would have killed me. He was getting sicker in his mind, thinking that I might make a move against him, which I thought of, but I just couldn’t do it. You know, I killed a lot of people, but I’m just not a killer. I’m not like him in that way.

Davis: From what you wrote and from others I heard that your uncle enjoyed killing.

Leonetti: Yeah, that was his thing.

Davis: But you would not say that about yourself?

Leonetti: No. I tried to do my best to be a good soldier for him with the killing - and I was good at it - but no, that’s not my thing.

Davis: And that is the difference between the two of you?

Leonetti: Yes. He enjoyed it.

Davis: You wrote approvingly of the FBI Special Agents you dealt with when you became a witness. Did that surprise you that they were good guys?

Leonetti: Well, I take everybody as I meet them. I met bad people and these fellas I met happened to be good guys. There was one other guy in the FBI office that didn’t live up to things that he told me, but Jim Maher and Gary Langan took care of me and whatever they said to me they did. They really helped me out after this transition, when I got out of jail and all.

Davis: I interviewed former FBI Special Agent Bud Warner a while back. He was an aggressive street agent in Philadelphia. You didn’t mention him in the book, but I was wondering what you thought of him?

Leonetti: I remember him. I never really dealt with him, but I know my uncle hated him.

Davis: You mentioned Boardwalk Empire, do you watch mob movies like the Godfather and Goodfellas?

Leonetti: Yeah, I do. I liked Goodfellas. It seemed real. The Godfather was a good movie.

 

Davis: You mentioned that the reason you wrote the book was for your son, but is there a message for the general reader?

Leonetti: Well, yes. Don’t get involved with the mob. It looks good from the outside. Everybody thinks you get the best seats in any restaurant and all the money. But it is a different story from the inside. Depending on your personality, you don’t know how long you’re going to live.

 

Davis: Do you think your uncle will read your book in prison? And if so, what will he think of it?

Leonetti: Definitely, he'll read it. I think he’ll curse me; he’ll curse the book and say it stinks. He’ll say it’s all a lie. I wish I could listen to him talk on the phones from prison after he reads the book.

Note: The above photos of Philip Leonetti and Nicodemo Scarfo in prison appear curtesy of Philip Leonetti. 

You can read my Washington Times review of Mafia Prince via the below link: 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jan/4/book-review-mafia-prince/?page=all#pagebreak   

Why Americans Won't Give Up Their Guns: Mother Of Two Surprises Intruder With Five Gunshots

Christian Boone at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports on a Georgia mother who protected herself and her children from an intruder by shooting him five times.

The Loganville mother of two assumed the knocks on her front door Friday afternoon were from a solicitor.

“Don’t answer,” she yelled to her 9-year-old twins playing downstairs.

When the visitor began repeatedly ringing the doorbell, she called her husband at work.

“Get the kids and hide,” he told his wife.

As he dialed 911, his 37-year-old spouse, who works from home, collected the children and hid with them in a crawlspace adjoining her office. By that time, the intruder had forced his way into the three-story residence on Henderson Ridge Drive with a crowbar, authorities said. He allegedly rummaged through the home, eventually working his way up to the attic office.

“He opens the closet door and finds himself staring down the barrel of a .38 revolver,” said Walton County Sheriff Joe Chapman, who relayed the woman’s narrative to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.  

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

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/local/mother-of-two-surprises-burglar-with-five-gunshots/nTnGR/ 

Aleged Al Qaeda Operative Extradited For Role In International Terrorism Plot

 



The FBI released the below on January 3rd:

BROOKLYN—Abid Naseer, 26, a Manchester, England resident, was extradited from the United Kingdom (U.K.) to Brooklyn, New York, today to face charges for his alleged role in an international al Qaeda plot to attack targets in the United States and Europe. Naseer will make his initial appearance on Monday, January 7, 2013, at 2:00 p.m. before The Hon. Raymond J. Dearie of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. Naseer is the eighth defendant to face charges in Brooklyn federal court related to the a Qaeda plot involving Adis Medunjanin, Najibullah Zazi, and Zarein Ahmedzay.

The extradition was announced by Loretta E. Lynch, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York; Lisa Monaco, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; George Venizelos, Assistant Director in Charge, FBI New York Field Office; and Raymond W. Kelly, Commissioner, New York City Police Department.

According to the indictment, other court filings, evidence presented to the court in support of Naseer’s extradition, and evidence from the trials of Adis Medunjanin and Mohammed Wali Zazi in the Eastern District of New York, in approximately September 2008, al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan recruited Medunjanin, Najibullah Zazi, and Zarein Ahmedzay, three friends from New York City, to conduct a suicide bombing attack in New York City.

The al Qaeda leaders, including Adnan El-Shukrijumah and Saleh al-Somali, communicated with Zazi about the plot through an al Qaeda facilitator named “Ahmad” in Peshawar, Pakistan. In early September 2009, after Medunjanin, Zazi, and Ahmedzay had selected the New York City subway system as their target, Zazi e-mailed with “Ahmad” in Pakistan about the proper ingredients for the main charge explosive, which included flour and oil. Zazi pleaded guilty to his role in the plot on February 22, 2010. Ahmedzay pleaded guilty on April 23, 2010. Medunjanin was convicted after trial on May 1, 2012.

The investigation by authorities in the United States and United Kingdom revealed that “Ahmad” was also communicating with Naseer. Naseer, like Zazi, was in Peshawar, Pakistan, in November 2008, according to the court filings. After returning to the United Kingdom, Naseer sent messages back and forth to the same e-mail account that “Ahmad” was using to communicate with the American-based al Qaeda cell on behalf of Saleh al-Somali, the indictment and court filings allege. In the messages, Naseer used coded language to refer to different types of explosives. At the culmination of the plot, in early April 2009, Naseer, again using coded language, told “Ahmad” that he was planning a large “wedding” for numerous guests between April 15 and 20, 2009, and that “Ahmad” should be ready. Notably, evidence at Medunjanin’s trial established that “Ahmad” and Zazi had agreed on a similar code to mean the New York City attack was ready to be executed and that Zazi e-mailed Ahmad that “the marriage is ready” just before he drove to New York in early September 2009.

On April 8, 2009, Naseer and several associates were arrested in the United Kingdom. In connection with these arrests, U.K. authorities conducted searches of the plotters’ homes, where they found large quantities of flour and oil, as well as surveillance photographs of public areas in Manchester and maps of Manchester’s city center posted on the wall, with one of the locations from the surveillance photographs highlighted.

On January 30, 2012, three defendants were also convicted in a Norwegian court of plotting a similar terrorist attack in Denmark as part of the same overall multinational al Qaeda conspiracy. During that trial, the United States made available to the Norwegian prosecutors three witnesses who also pleaded guilty to terrorism offenses in the Eastern District of New York: Najibullah Zazi, Zarein Ahmedzay, and Bryant Neal Vinas.

Naseer is charged with providing and conspiring to provide material support to al Qaeda and conspiracy to use a destructive device in relation to the U.K. branch of the plot. He faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted of all counts.

“The defendant is one of a long line of terrorist suspects extradited to these shores and this courthouse to face justice for their efforts to wreak havoc here and overseas. As alleged, this defendant was instrumental in one tentacle of an international plot that reached to New York, Norway, and the United Kingdom,” said U.S. Attorney Lynch. “Those responsible for terrorist plots or attacks will be investigated, charged, and prosecuted, whether they are arrested here in the United States, or abroad.” Ms. Lynch also expressed her gratitude to the law enforcement personnel, both domestic and foreign, who took part in the investigation.

“Today’s extradition underscores the importance of international cooperation in disrupting transnational terrorism threats. I thank our counterparts in the United Kingdom for their assistance in this investigation as well as the many U.S. agents, analysts, and prosecutors who helped bring about these charges,” said Assistant Attorney General Monaco.

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Venizelos said, “The extradition of Naseer demonstrates not only the long arm of American justice. It also shows the determination and commitment of governments around the world to work in common cause to thwart alleged international terrorist conspiracies. Plotting in one country to do harm in another does not provide cover for terrorists. It makes them targets in two countries.”

Police Commissioner Kelly said, “Here’s to our special relationship. New York and London, and now Manchester, share a history of terrorism and outstanding law enforcement cooperation in bringing those allegedly responsible to justice, as this case illustrates. Al Qaeda has attacked on both sides of the Atlantic, and it has been brought to justice on both shores, too.”

The government’s case is being prosecuted by David Bitkower, James P. Loonam, Berit W. Berger, and Zainab Ahmad of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, with assistance from the Counterterrorism Section of the Justice Department’s National Security Division. Assistance was also provided by Lystra Blake, Associate Director of the Office of International Affairs in the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.

The charges contained in the indictment are merely allegations, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

Defense In Philadelphia Mob Trial Rips The Government Case

Veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia is covering the federal organized crime trial for BigTrial.net.

They're already planning the victory party.

On a day when five different defense attorneys ripped into the govenment's witnesses and evidence in the racketeering trial of mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and six co-defendants, family members and friends who have crowded the 15th floor federal courtroom during the 10-week trial were openly optimistic about the outcome of the case.

So, in fact, were some of the defendants.

"Feeling good today," said mob underboss Joseph "Mousie" Massimino. "I'm tellin' ya...I gotta have a suit for the party...Get those martini glasses chilled."

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

http://www.bigtrial.net/2013/01/defense-in-mob-trial-rips-government.html

The Philadelphia Inquirer's John P. Martin is also covering the trial.

Lawyers for accused leaders of the Philadelphia mob railed against prosecutors and their case Friday, urging jurors to acquit the men and reject an FBI probe they said took more than a decade because it was built on petty crimes, flimsy evidence, and unreliable witnesses.

"They were investigating for 13 years," Gregory Pagano told jurors. "They were waiting for something bigger and better than video poker machines and sports betting to come along, and it never did."

A day after a prosecutor spent more than three hours delivering his closing argument, Friday was reserved for defense lawyers to fire back.

They did, again and again, for five hours.

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

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20130105_Defense_lawyers_fire_back_in_Philadelphia_mob_case.html

My Washington Times Review Of Philip Leonetti's 'Mafia Prince: Inside America's Most Violent Crime Family And The Bloody Fall Of La Cosa Nostra'

 

My review of Philip Leonetti's Mafia Prince appeared in the Washington Times today.

Nickodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, the boss of the Philadelphia-South Jersey La Cosa Nostra crime family in the 1980s, has been described by law enforcement officers and former criminal associates as ruthless, homicidal, greedy and paranoid — even by organized-crime standards.

Today, Scarfo,  83, sits in federal prison in large part because of Philip “Crazy Phil” Leonetti, his close nephew and criminal underboss, who became a witness against him.

Scarfo will not be happy with this book.

In “Mafia Prince,” Leonetti tells the inside story of his uncle’s rise to the leadership of the crime family and his violent seven-year reign. Leonetti also writes about his own criminal acts, which include 10 murders

...  I spoke recently to Philip Leonetti, who called me from an undisclosed location, as his uncle has placed a $500,000 contract on his life. Leonetti told me he wrote the book because, first, it is a great story. Second, he wrote the book so his son will understand his life in organized crime and how he was schooled in La Cosa Nostra from an early age by his uncle.

“From when I was little he would tell me we don’t talk about our life to anybody,” Leonetti told me. “We’re different; we don’t live by the same rules like everybody else. If somebody bothers us, we’ll kill the guy ourselves. We don’t rat to the police. This is the environment I grew up in.”

He described his uncle as smart, devious, calculating and psychopathic. Leonetti admitted to committing murders and said he tried to be a good soldier for his uncle by killing — and he was good at it — but he didn’t enjoy the act like his uncle did.

“All the crimes I committed, like the murders I was involved in, were all against bad people, guys that were involved in our life, so I didn’t think anything of it,” Leonetti explained. “They were looking to kill us, and we were looking to kill them. We weren’t looking to kill no legitimate people.”

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

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/jan/4/book-review-mafia-prince/?page=all#pagebreak

You can also read my interview with Philip Leonetti via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/01/crime-beat-column-mafia-prince-q-with.html

Closing Arguments Begin In Philadelphia Mob Trial

Veteran organized crime reporter George Anastasia is covering the federal organized crime trial in Philadelphia for BigTrial.net.

A federal prosecutor urged jurors on Thursday to rely on dozens of secretly recorded conversations in finding mob boss Joseph "Uncle Joe" Ligambi and six co-defendants guilty of racketeering conspiracy charges.

"Their words define them," Assistant U.S. Attorney John Han told the jury during a three and one-half hour closing argument that marked the start of the final phase of the ten-week old trial.
Han asked the jury to consider "the words that came out of the mouths" of Ligambi and most of the other defendants who he said had been "caught in the act of being themselves."

The secretly recorded conversations, from body wires worn by cooperating witnesses and from wiretapped conversations, were gathered during an investigation that began in 1999 and concluded with the indictment of Ligambi and the other defendants in May 2011.

The defendants are charged with gambling, loansharking and extortion that the government alleges were part of an ongoing racketeering conspiracy.

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

http://www.bigtrial.net/2013/01/closing-arguments-begin-in-mob-trial.html#more