Was the copyright to "Breakshot: A Life in the 21st Century American Mafia" Stolen?

A mobster turned snitch claims in court that Simon & Schuster stole rights to his 2009 autobiography by registering the copyright under his co-author's and former publisher's name.

Kenny "Kenji" Gallo, who claims to be a former member of the Colombo Crime Family, says Simon & Schuster in 2010 registered the copyright to "Breakshot: A Life in the 21st Century American Mafia," by Gallo and Matthew Randazzo.

Randazzo wrote the book with Gallo after reading the reformed mobster's blog Hollywoodmafia, written while Gallo was in the witness protection program.

The Japanese-Italian-American says he already had a first draft of the book and 1,000 blog posts to draw upon by the time Randazzo entered the picture.

Gallo sued the book's first publisher, Phoenix Books, claiming it released the book without paying him and then sold reprint rights to Simon & Schuster for $10,000. They settled that one, according to the new complaint.

Randazzo assigned his copyright in the work to Gallo in November 2010, but Simon & Schuster's paperback credits Randazzo and Phoenix as copyright holders, according to the lawsuit.

He accuses the publisher of trading on his "celebrity status and notoriety as a former high-ranking mobster."

A blurb on the back cover calls the book "The explosive true story of one of the most controversial, violent and unlikely gangsters in American history ... and how he flipped to help the FBI bring the mob down."

Gallo estimates that Simon & Schuster has sold thousands of copies of the paperback through its division Pocket Star. He claims the publisher blew off his complaints that he owns rights to the book.

"To date, Gallo has absolutely no control over the paperback book sales of his autobiography (which took him four years to write) or any way to earn money from said sales - or even any way to profit from the paperback edition's rights - because Simon & Schuster refuses to communicate with him," the lawsuit states. (Parentheses in complaint.)

Gallo claims that Hollywood won't touch a screenplay he wrote based on his life story because of uncertainty over who owns the copyright. "Because of this 'limbo' status, Gallo is also unable to seek republication of the paperback with other publishers, much less for a sequel based on the book, despite expressed interest to that end. Nor is he willing to risk self-publishing the book through Amazon.com or though his own popular blog website until those matters are formally resolved," the lawsuit states.

He seeks an injunction and damages for copyright infringement.

Gallo is represented by Abraham Labbad of Pasadena.

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Mob-Con 2013 - First Ever Mob Convention at the Palace Station @PalaceStationLV

Former gangsters and G-Men will come face-to-face in Las Vegas once again — on decidedly more amicable terms — at the first-ever Mob Convention at Palace Station from Sept. 7-8.

The event, presented by former mobster Frank Cullotta and Las Vegas-based businessman Robert George Allen and sponsored by the Mob Attraction at the Tropicana, brings together former crime family members, lawmen, true-crime writers, historians and entertainers for two days of panel discussions, Q+A sessions, meet-and-greets, memorabilia auctions, vendors and more.

Featured guests include Cullotta (of the Chicago Outfit and Hole in the Wall Gang), Tony Montana (Chicago Outfit), Andrew DiDonato (Gambino Family), Frank Calabrese Jr. (Chicago Outfit), Kenji Gallo (Columbo Family), Dennis Arnoldy (FBI), Vito Colucci (law enforcement), Denny Griffin (law enforcement and author), Warren Hull (author), Gary Magnesen (FBI), Gary Jenkins (law enforcement), Ronald Fino (FBI/CIA) and Cathy Scott (author). More guests are to be announced.

“Las Vegas is the ideal city to host Mob-Con,” Allen said in a statement. “People are fascinated about the Mob and, without the Mob, Las Vegas would not be what it is today. Mob-Con is giving the general public unprecedented access to the individuals who were a part of this history.”

Registration for the conference is $195 and includes a 4-hour historical Mob tour of Las Vegas. Tickets can be purchased through the Mob-Con website.

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