Matty the Horse Cuts a Deal

Friends of ours: Genovese Crime Family, Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello, Vincent "The Chin" Gigante

The ailing, aging reputed boss of the Genovese crime family pleaded guilty Thursday to helping try to infiltrate a union and thwart a federal grand jury probe.

The 86-year-old Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello, his wooden cane hanging on a chair beside him, entered the plea before U.S Magistrate Judge Ronald L. Ellis in Manhattan.

A plea agreement signed with the government called for Ianniello to be sentenced to 1-1/2 to two years in prison on the single racketeering charge. Without the deal, Ianniello would have faced up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing was set for December 14. He also agreed to forfeit up to $1 million to the government.

Ianniello was reputedly a longtime capo in the crime family and allegedly became one of its acting bosses after the 1997 racketeering conviction of Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, who died in prison last December. Ianniello, who lives on Long Island, is free on bail.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Treanor told the judge that Ianniello participated in a conspiracy in which union officers lied to federal investigators about the involvement of organized crime in union business, among other things.

In court, Ianniello was difficult to understand as he read a statement admitting a role in efforts to corrupt a union and to prevent the union's leaders and employees from being honest with the government during a federal grand jury probe of mob activities. Ianniello's lawyer said his client's voice was affected by a stroke.

In his plea, Ianniello admitted receiving unlawful payments from a labor union and that he conspired to obstruct justice between 1990 and 2005.

Gigante had long been dubbed the "Oddfather" for bizarre behavior that included wandering the streets of Greenwich Village in nightclothes, muttering incoherently.

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Junior Attempted to Provide "Hottie" for Prisoners

Friends of ours: John "Junior" Gotti

Mafia scion John "Junior" Gotti invested about $20,000 US in a failed magazine for prisoners called Hottie, according to tapes played at his racketeering trial.

Gotti discussed the venture with friend Steven Dobies, wondering about who should run the project, which would have offered free legal advice, as well as photos of female hip-hop stars.

He asserted the investment was made with "clean" money, a claim prosecutors dispute.

The tapes were used to try demonstrate Gotti's involvement with organized crime.

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Here We Go Again: Judge Tosses Junior's Racketerring Charge

For the second time, a judge on Wednesday tossed out racketeering charges filed against John "Junior" Gotti, finding the evidence introduced at his trial insufficient to support a conviction.

U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin decided the government had not proven its claims that money invested in several of Gotti's properties stemmed from alleged loansharking or construction industry extortion.

The government filed the new charges several months ago in a bid to boost its case against Gotti, the son of late mobster John Gotti, after two juries in the last year deadlocked on racketeering charges against him. Closing arguments in his retrial could begin as early as Thursday.

A spokeswoman for prosecutors, Lauren McDonough, said the government had no comment on Scheindlin's ruling. Scheindlin had thrown out the new charges last month before Gotti's retrial started but changed her mind and reinstated them days later.

With the new charges, the government had tried to prove that Gotti continued to benefit from Gambino crime family money even after he said he quit the mob when he pleaded guilty to charges in another racketeering case in 1999. The government's new strategy did have some benefits because the judge decided that jurors could consider new evidence about Gotti's finances even though they could not use that evidence to convict him on the new racketeering charges.

Gotti is still charged with racketeering related to other alleged crimes, including an allegation that he ordered two 1992 attacks on radio show host and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa in retaliation for Sliwa's on-air rants against his father.

The elder Gotti died in prison in 2002, 10 years after he was sentenced to life for racketeering.

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The New Godfather: Justin Timberlake

Is Justin Timberlake the new godfather? Timberlake has forgiven hometown friends Three 6 Mafia for snubbing him on a recent album by allowing the hip-hop group to record on his latest project. The Cry Me A River Star was upset to learn the rappers recorded all-Tennessee album Stay Fly in 2005, without his help - even though he grew up next to them. But he was so desperate for his new Futuresex/Lovesounds album to have a Southern sound he asked the rappers to collaborate with him regardless.

Group member Juicy J tells MTV, "It was great working with Justin. "We are (all) from Memphis, so the Southern vibe was there when we recorded the song. "It was a dream come true for us, we knew it was a smash hit." I am sure it was also a blessing to be forgiven by the new godfather, Justin Timberlake.

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Da Vinci Code's Mafia Version

Friends of ours: Bernardo Provenzano

When top Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano was captured in April after 40 years on the run, his hideaway in the Sicilian hills turned up none of the extravagance of Cosa Nostra's cinematic lore. No suitcases of cash, no jewels, nothing to match the popular imagination of the all-powerful godfather. Still, Italian police had no doubts that the square-jawed 73-year-old living in near squalor in an abandoned farmhouse had reigned over the very real-life affairs of Cosa Nostra's billion-dollar business of drug trafficking, high finance and cold-blooded murder. Provenzano, who had been sentenced to life in absentia for a series of high-profile murders, had opted for the spare existence in order to keep the lowest possible profile as he tried to stay one step ahead of Italy's biggest Mafia manhunt ever.

Although no riches were found, there were some precious pieces of evidence when Provenzano was finally nabbed, in the hills above his hometown of Corleone. Most notably, police recovered dozens of the infamous pizzini, the tiny, tightly wrapped typewritten notes that the boss had used to communicate with his lieutenants. Thanks in part to the pizzini, several other key Mafia figures have been arrested since Provenzano's capture. But perhaps the most enticing find of all was a worn copy of the Bible, near Provenzano's bed. The soft-spoken don had filled the volume with notations, arrows and underlinings of certain passages. The markings may simply be the solitary spiritual musings of the boss, who was also found with several crucifixes at the time of his arrest. But Italian investigators suspect that the book could be a kind of Holy Grail in a century-long battle to unravel the secret codes and business methods of the Mafia's vast criminal network.

So far unable to unlock any potential secrets, the Italians have turned to the FBI for their code-busting expertise. A U.S. official confirmed an Italian newspaper story Thursday which reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Cryptanalysis and Racketeering Records Unit will be studying Provenzano's copy of the Bible. In the past, the FBI unit, located at the Bureau's laboratory in Quantico, Va., has uncovered illicit codes of prison gangs and deciphered messages from threatening letters. Now, they will try to determine if there are "any hidden messages" in the holy book, said a U.S. official. "It's an interesting challenge because both the Bible and Provenzano's notes are in Italian."

No doubt the biblical twist will add to the intrigue of the infamous crime network, which over the past century has occasionally crossed paths with the Roman Catholic church. But Cosa Nostra's sins share nothing with those of the Da Vinci Code or Francis Ford Coppola films — they are real. Provenzano is believed to have had a hand in the slayings of countless rival gang members, as well as of innocent bystanders and crusading magistrates. It's no longer a secret that some mobsters are deeply religious. The mystery remains that they can reconcile what they read in the holy scripture with what they write in the book of life.

Thanks to Jeff Israel

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