March 19, 2019

Despite being granted new trials, Joseph & Anthony 'Chucky' Russo would both get life sentences again. And even after information came to light that Dorothy Fiorenza was probably "incompetent" in 1999, the appeals court took little pity on Andy Mush. On June 6, 2006, the onetime acting boss was released from prison. He stayed out of the headlines and avoided meeting with mobsters until his federal supervised release expired in March of 2010. In the meanwhile, Thomas 'Tommy Shots' Gioeli commanded over the family. A feared killer, he was charged with a potpourri of mob murders in 2008, and the imprisoned Persico dynasty picked an unlikely new candidate to take over. His name was Ralph DeLeo, a New England criminal whose claim to fame was that he was Little Allie Boy Persico's closest friend in prison during the 1990s. According to Daily News sources, DeLeo was "handpicked" by Allie, who "figured the New England wiseguy would not be on New York feds' radar." But DeLeo was obviously unequipped to the role, and among the seriously foolish moves he made were talking about crime family affairs on his personal cellphone: to his sister, no less. He described presiding over an induction ceremony and the attention he got from the New York mobsters. "You know what I mean, 'cause they definitely act like Sopranos," he told his sister. In December of 2009, DeLeo was arrested, just in time for Andy Mush to take over once more.

Russo had been in the game long enough to know not to discuss mob business over the phone, or even at regular mob hangouts that would be a prime target for FBI bugs. But he was doomed from the beginning when an aging Long Island capo named Paul 'Paulie Guns' Bevacqua decided to cooperate with authorities. Paulie Guns had been a bodyguard for powerful Colombo capo Rocco Miraglia in the 1960s and was present when Mafia godfather Joe Colombo was shot in 1971. He had done various stretches in prison over the years and was considered a proven "tough guy." But in March of 2008, he secretly began wearing a wire for the FBI and recorded high-level conversations while serving as a powerful capo for over two years. On May 11, 2010, the feds got their first tape-recorded piece of hard evidence that Andy Mush was in charge when Bevacqua introduced a crew member to the new head. The member in question was Ralph Scopo Jr., whose brother had been murdered on the orders of Andy Mush's cousins in 1993, but he nevertheless congratulated the elderly Russo on his new role as "representante." Scopo Jr.'s claim-to-fame was that he had been a key man in Local 6A of the Cement and Concrete Worker's Union since the 1980s, and had taken it over after his brother's 1993 murder. This was all part of Russo's strategy to bring "wayward members" back into the Colombo family's fold. Over the years, various Orena-supporting Colombo gangsters had left the family's sphere of influence, possibly fearing retaliation for picking the wrong side. It didn't inspire a lot of confidence for the mobsters when the Persico side broke a ceasefire by murdering Joseph Scopo, or when they whacked William' Wild Bill' Cutolo in 1999, six years after the conflict had ended. There were even instances of former Orena gangsters forming their own, independent "crews" that ran many rackets and held sitdowns with other families over turf. That was the case with Anthony Colombo, the son of the family's namesake godfather Joseph, who led the so-called "Colombo Brothers Crew" that performed gambling, loansharking, and construction shakedowns until the feds shut it down in 2004. In January 2011, Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes described how Andrew Russo had been "reaching out" to such members "to get them to pledge their commitment to come back into the family." She continued by describing how those that didn't heed the call would be shunned by the family, and even mobsters from other families who dealt with them would be snubbed. "Yeah, what my intentions are that when I'm finished, who really doesn't want to come in, I'm making up a list. I'm giving it to all the Borgatas, and they're outlaws. Anybody that deals with them is my enemy. I'm making it as clear as that," Russo said on tape, according to Colombo associate Kenny Gallo's blog. 

While John 'Sonny' Franzese went to trial over a strip-club shakedown, a little-known Gravesend capo was promoted to serve as "acting underboss." Benjamin 'the Claw' Castellazzo, 72, a pal of onetime acting boss Joel Cacace, was a prolific card dealer, bookie, and loanshark, and also had interests in union shakedowns. He garnered his intimidating moniker because of his ability to "claw" into his underlings' rackets. In 2004, he was released from prison after serving four years for loansharking. As acting consigliere, Richard 'Richie Nerves' Fusco, 74, was handpicked for the role. Fusco was a powerful Persico capo during the Colombo war and served twelve years for his role in conspiring to murder Orena rebels. Previously, his biggest claim to fame was his involvement in the scandalous Westchester Theater Premiere, and Richie Nerves was a golfing pal of both Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin.

On June 29, 2010, the septuagenarian mobsters running the crime family gathered at a residence in Staten Island for a "captain's meeting." Six of the family's 'caporegimes' were there, including Paulie Guns Bevacqua and his trusty tape-recorder. The meeting was held to announce the promotion of a violent, up-and-coming soldier, Anthony' Big Anthony' Russo (no relation to Andy Mush) to the position of 'acting capo' on behalf of the recently-arrested Theodore' Skinny Teddy' Persico Jr. But first, Andrew Russo admonished Big Anthony for his handling of the stabbing of Walter Samperi, a Colombo associate. Samperi was stabbed by an unnamed Gambino associate, and Big Anthony responded by calling a "sitdown" with the Gambino family for compensation. Andy Russo admonished the new acting capo, arguing that he should have first "got even" with the Gambinos before calling a sitdown. Russo had just been caught on tape advocating for a stabbing. Then he discussed his own willingness for violence, saying "I don't hesitate. I've never hesitated." In the meeting, Andrew Russo and capo 'Fat Dennis' DeLucia discussed a variety of ways to collect repayment from the Gambinos. They ultimately agreed that, in exchange for their promise not to retaliate, the Colombo family would require the Gambino family to make a onetime payment of $150,000, $100,000 of which was to come from the Gambino family's "basket" from the "feast," a reference to an annual Italian feast held in late August on 18th Avenue in Brooklyn, the Figli di Santa Rosalia, which the Colombo family controlled. According to Gang Land News sources, however, Samperi never saw any of the money he was owed because the Gambinos never paid out. Samperi, it is believed, then traveled to Italy to take advantage of its free healthcare system. Anthony Russo would later be described by prosecutors as one of the acting boss's "top guys." Anthony himself expressed this on a tape-recording with a wired-up associate named Tommy McLaughlin. "I haven't been anywhere. Every time I turn around, there's a problem I gotta go handle. Why do I have to handle?" he moaned. "Why do you gotta go all the time?" Tommy agreed. "I don't know, the guy (Andrew Russo) wants me to go. I'm gonna go to jail."

One of these menial tasks was revealed in another taped "captain's meeting" held on September 30. This time the congregation was held at a bar in Franklin Square, Long Island, according to Gang Land News, which the Russo family had a financial interest in. Andrew told his underling Big Anthony about a debt owed to his friend, Federico Castelluccio. If that name rings a bell, that's because Castelluccio played 'Furio' on The Sopranos, a fictional Italian enforcer for mob boss Tony Soprano. He was supposed to receive money from Gino Pesci, the first cousin of the acclaimed actor Joe Pesci. In 2002, Castelluccio and Pesci had partnered in a pasta restaurant that closed its doors two years later. A transcript of a tape-recorded conversation released by the feds showed the two Colombo bigwigs discussing Gino's alleged debt." Joe Pesci's cousin. He (cheated) some kid… took $70,000. When they went, when they went to grab him, (he said) 'I blew it, I don't have it,' "Russo said. "This kid, you know the kid, Federico Castelluccio? The kid who played Furio on the Sopranos." Also at the meeting, according to Gang Land News, Andrew met with Colombo soldier Andre D'Apice and associate Carmine L. Persico, the nephew of the namesake family boss. D'Apice was also a cousin of Andrew Russo, although slightly more distant. 

Nevertheless, Anthony Russo was well-rewarded for his efforts, and he was allowed to propose (at least) two of his loyal associates for induction. After spates of convictions, deaths, and informants over the past decade, the family needed to replenish its numbers. Talking to Tommy McLaughlin, Anthony explained Andy Mush's simple rationale for new members: "First, he's gotta be capable in here (pointing at his head). And he's gotta be capable to do this (motioning his hand like a gun). They gotta be capable to do time (jail time). They gotta be capable of everything." Andy Mush intended to hold a ceremony at soldier Emanuele 'Manny' Favuzza's home on December 7, 2010. Ilario 'Fat Larry' Sessa and Francis 'B.F.' Guerra, both associates under Big Anthony Russo, were slated to be inducted, as well as Angelo Spata and a little-known Queens-based associate named Phil Sciarratta. Spata was the son-in-law of Colombo boss Carmine Persico.  Much to Sessa's chagrin, as evidenced through tape-recordings, the induction ceremony was canceled after mobsters spotted the FBI staking out the place. More conversations between mobsters and infomers were vividly captured on tape. On December 5, 2010, Big Anthony Russo and McLaughlin drove to Sessa's house, where Big Anthony had a private chat with Fat Larry. Following their private conversation, Anthony and Larry separately told McLaughlin that the ceremony in which Sessa would be inducted would occur that week.

McLaughlin also saw Sessa give Big Anthony two plastic bags, one of which he learned contained the firearm to be used in Sessa's induction ceremony. Big Anthony and McLaughlin then left Sessa's house and traveled to Manny Favuzza's home, where Big Anthony dropped off the firearm. That following day, Sessa commented to McLaughlin about his embarrassment at having to "bring his own" gun to his own induction ceremony. Sessa explained that he had "three of these things…(U/I), .357 and a .38." That evening, after Tommy McLaughlin reported the event and gave the recordings to his FBI handlers, the law enforcement pressure in the area became heavy. The ever-cautious mobsters recognized the suspicious unmarked vehicles and canceled the ceremony due to the intense cop heat. Big Anthony directed Sessa to retrieve his gun back from Favuzza and Benjamin Castellazzo.

McLaughlin probed Fat Larry about the situation, who replied: "What do you think happened, the whole thing's (the ceremony) dead… I had to back and get my thing (the gun)… the whole thing is dead, everybody… I don't know, it came from Anthony (Russo)… Anthony comes meets me in Brooklyn, says 'I gotta tell you something'… I figure he's going to tell me what time (the time of the ceremony), find out what time… dead hand… that things no good go get it… pistol, you want a different one? The whole thing's dead, no good… it's coming from this guy (Andy Russo)… who he met… mumbling something about this guy… I don't know… (Anthony) makes me go all the way back to the place (Favuzza's house) to get the pistol… I got three felonies too… I went back there, took care of that… didn't say it (the ceremony) was postponed or anything, said it's dead, go back and get the gun… I said what's happening… this guy (Andy Russo) shut it down, closed down or stopped it completely."

It's anybody's guess what would have happened if the ceremony had continued as per usual, but the mobsters would soon be proven right of their suspicions. The very following month, in the early hours of January 20, 2011, FBI agents arrested over 100 mobsters and associates in the metropolitan area of New York charged in over a dozen separate indictments with a slew of crimes including racketeering and murder in the largest mob takedown in history. Among the mobsters arrested were the entire Colombo family's administration on the streets (Andrew Russo, Benjamin Castellazzo and Richard Fusco), and a critical ruling panel member of the Gambino family. Members from all five New York families, as well as mobsters and associates from the Newark-based DeCavalcante family and the Patriarca family of New England, were among those charged in indictments that were filed in federal courts in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Newark and Providence, Rhode Island. The charges related to a wide range of criminal activity, including murder, murder conspiracy, loansharking, arson, narcotics trafficking, extortion, robbery, illegal gambling, and labor racketeering, in some cases occurring over decades. The indictment charged administration members, as well as mid-level managers, numerous soldiers and associates and others alleged to be corrupt union officials, according to the Justice Department's own release statement.

The Colombos suffered the hardest in the roundup. In one indictment (.S. v. Russo), 39 defendants were charged, including the entire administration of the Colombo family not in prison as well as four of the crime family's official capos and eight of its soldiers, with crimes including racketeering, gambling, and extortion committed during an approximately 20-year period. Among other acts of violence, Colombo family acting capo Big Anthony Russo was charged with the 1993 murder of Orena faction underboss Joseph Scopo during the 1991-93 Colombo war. The Russo indictment also charged numerous crimes of extortion and fraud, including charges related to the Colombo crime family's long-standing control of Cement and Concrete Worker's Union Local 6A, and it's defrauding of New York's annually held feast, the Figli di Santa Rosalia. The indictment was based in part on hundreds of hours of recorded conversations of members and associates of the Colombo family, including meetings of the Colombo family administration. Andrew Russo was charged with a racketeering conspiracy that spanned from January 2002 to January 2010, alongside capos Dennis 'Fat Dennis' DeLucia & Reynold 'Ren' Maragni, soldiers Joseph Savarese and Ralph Scopo Jr., and the would-be "made member" Ilario 'Fat Larry' Sessa. Russo and DeLucia were also charged with the attempted extortion of $150,000 in medical bills from the Gambino crime family, which is a bizarre crime because the supposed "victim" of the extortion was a powerful crime conglomerate, and the money was only sought after the much-larger Gambino family stabbed a Colombo associate. Because of Russo's status as "acting boss" and his push for violence as evidenced on tape-recordings, he was held without bail at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, along with a heap of the other mobsters arrested in the simultaneous busts that snared over a hundred mobsters. Also held without bail was would-be soldier Fat Larry Sessa. Tapes were entered into evidence showing that Fat Larry was fuming after the ceremony was canceled, but now the associate and the acting boss were side-by-side in Brooklyn lockup. Also, there was underboss Ben Castellazzo and Richie Fusco. According to federal prosecutors and New York Daily News sources, the mobsters felt that this would be the perfect time as any to conduct an initiation ceremony into the family. So they did, allegedly in the intake room of the Sunset Park, Brooklyn jail. Unfortunately for the feds, when Sessa's lawyer demanded the government back up their making ceremony allegations by handing over surveillance tapes from the jail, prison officials were forced to admit that they had accidentally deleted the surveillance tape, meaning we'll never know for sure whether a prison ceremony took place surrounded by other inmates of all walks of life. A detention hearing for the mobsters took place in early February, a couple weeks after the initial arrest. Actor James Caan was there to rave about how close a friend he was to Andy Mush, as was Sopranos actor Federico Castelluccio, who conveniently left out the part where Russo allegedly helped him collect a debt with his Mafia underlings. Even a group of hearing-impaired people showed up, with one woman claiming that Andy would defend deaf children in the neighborhood who were being picked on. While he was surely warmed by the support the community showed for him, Russo had a more pressing matter on his mind. That was the fact that acting capo Big Anthony Russo, described on tapes as one of Andrew most "trusted" guys, was suspiciously absent from the court hearing. It was quickly apparent what had happened; facing a life sentence for a 1993 murder, Big Anthony had flipped and joined Team America. To make matters worse, the community support didn't stop the acting boss from being held without bail.

Over the next few months, Andrew Russo would be vocal about the trials and tribulations he faced as an elderly man behind bars. He and his Colombo cronies, including Ben Castellazzo and Larry Sessa, staged a protest in April after complaining about being walked into court hearings in handcuffs. They felt it was degrading and uncalled for. Later that year, Andrew Russo would be torn down in a volley of bullets. The mobster had avoided gunfire in all three Colombo wars, but the 77-year-old fell to the floor after guards in the Brooklyn lockup blasted him with rubber pellets. An earthquake had rocked the prison, and the guards panicked. The senior citizen simply couldn't make it back to his cell in time, and the guards mistook that for... something. Not only did they severely bruise him with rubber bullets, but they subdued him with tear gas. Running the family, even behind bars, was still high on Andrew's priority list. With the arrests of the family's three active senior statesmen, two mobsters were called from out-of-state to run what was left of the family on the streets. Dominic 'Donnie Shacks' Montemarano, 72, a Los Angeles-based soldier and Hollywood socialite, returned to New York to serve as "acting underboss." Shacks was a close friend of family boss Carmine Persico and was a powerful capo in the '70s and '80s before being arrested and moving to Los Angeles after his release from prison in the 1990s. He was routinely investigated by police, but his only voyage back to a cell was when he was arrested for beating his girlfriend in 2001. Just a year earlier, the mobster had been seen holding hands with actress Elizabeth Hurley. Meanwhile, to serve as the family's "acting consigliere," Thomas 'Tom Mix' Farese, 68, was called up from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Farese was the son-in-law of Carmine Persico's older brother, Allie, and ran the family's Florida rackets following the arrest of capo Reynold 'Ren' Maragni as part of the large Colombo bust earlier that year.

Unfortunately, Big Anthony Russo wasn't the only one to join Team America. Facing serious time for violent crimes and drug trafficking (although no murders), the 58-year-old Maragni decided to cut a deal with the government. In August, he pleaded guilty to racketeering charges in open court to convince mob cohorts that he wasn't a turncoat, and was allowed out on bail to tape-record the remainder of the family on the street. He snared Tom Farese discussing his new promotion to acting consigliere."Andrew wants me in the position," Farese boasted, also hinting that he was promoted to acting consigliere and adding that as part of the Russo's master plan Donnie Montemarano would serve as acting underboss, according to an exclusive Gang Land News article. Farese continued on the tapes by discussing how he sent a Miami-based entertainment lawyer named David Goldstein to the Brooklyn prison where Andy Mush was housed to ask "him one question:" Whether the "message Tommy got… came from you. Yes or no?""Andrew said, 'Yes,' and that was that," Farese told Maragni. Maragni also incriminated onetime acting boss Tommy Gioeli, who was getting suited up to go to trial. He did this by tape-recording a Gioeli soldier, Vincent 'Downtown Vinny' Manzo, who was discussing his role in burying the body of Colombo underboss William 'Wild Bill' Cutolo in 2000, under the guidance of Gioeli. These were all brilliant pieces of evidence for the feds, and Maragni went further by masterminding a sting operation that snared Tom Farese on money laundering charges. Unfortunately, evidence soon came to light that Maragni wasn't such a great witness after all. He confessed to violently collecting thousands of dollars of loanshark debts while working as a government employee, and also to turning his hidden microphone on and off at will. He confessed to doing this when he was about to admit something incriminating himself. Then, to make matters worse, he even compromised the FBI's investigations on other mobsters by passing them notes to tell them he was wearing a wire, and to watch what they said. Maragni admitted to doing this to save whoever he was recording from incriminating both Maragni and his family members. Farese's spectacular sting operation ended in a stunning acquittal for the acting consigliere, and Tommy Gioeli was also acquitted of multiple murders at trial.

A ray of sunshine came for Andy Mush in November, when the chief witness against him, former capo Paulie Bevacqua, died of natural causes. Even though his tape-recordings lived on, the turncoat's demise was a blow for the federal government. So much so that Andy Russo was able to take a lenient plea on November 8 to two crimes: racketeering conspiracy and illegal gambling. In March the following year, a round of applause broke through the courtroom when Judge Kiyo Matsumoto announced Andy Mush would only serve two more months in prison, according to the New York Daily News. The official sentence was 33 months, but Russo would get credit for time served. "Your poppy will be home soon," she assured Russo's great-granddaughter, using the child's nickname for the 78-year-old street boss. Among the family members that spoke in support for Russo was his wife of 60 years, Ruth, who underwent cancer surgery in January of that year. Another was Alexander Eugenio Moskovits, a convicted drug dealer who took the court that Russo convinced him to turn his life around in the 1980s when the two befriended in an Alabama federal prison. By May of 2013, Andrew Russo was out of jail. Since then, the FBI has all but ignored the Colombo crime family. Only two months after the January 2011 bust, the FBI downsized their Mafia squads. The Colombo squad was merged with the Bonanno squad, reducing the total amount of Mafia-busting agents in New York to 45. To be fair, the team has put a great deal of effort into taking the Bonannos, with four acting bosses arrested since 2012. But whoever is the head of the Colombos has managed to avoid federal prosecutions for at least six years, a reign which would have been unheard-of only ten years ago. There's no public information on whether Andrew Russo is still in charge, but a tape-recorded comment in 2010 seems to sum up his opinion on a peaceful retirement: "I can't walk away. I can't rest."