Origins of the Mafia

For decades, gritty stories about the Mafia have occupied the pages of popular literature and dominated the big screens of Hollywood. And yet, few people know the real story behind how and when this formidable system of organized crime actually began.

This provocative and compelling 5-part drama from Granada International Television journeys back more than 400 years to 16th-century Sicily, where the small Italian island has fallen victim to corruption, intimidation, extortion, and brutality, all at the hands of the ruthless Gramignano family. The program then follows the development of succeeding Sicilian Mafiosos, illustrating the limitless power wielded by these fearsome and powerful men, and revealing the merciless atrocities which were carried out on any and all who dared to stand in their way.

Through dramatic reenactments filmed entirely on-location in Italy, "Origins of the Mafia" provides careful insight into how organized crime came to be known by the powerful images reflected in such popular films as The Godfather trilogy and in the more recent HBO television series The Sopranos.

Tweet

Mob Money Pays for Judge's Wedding

Friends of ours: Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso
Friends of mine: Burton Kaplan

A Manhattan judge's lavish wedding was paid for by Mafia mass murderer Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso as a favor to the mobbed-up father of the bride, according to court papers obtained by the Daily News.

The shocking allegation is the latest embarrassment for acting Supreme Court Justice Deborah Kaplan, whose father, Burton Kaplan, had mob ties and was convicted of drug trafficking.

In a suit filed yesterday in Brooklyn Supreme Court, Anthony Casso Jr., the son of the jailed-for-life Luchese underboss, claims Burton Kaplan recently admitted to him that he borrowed $150,000 from the elder Casso to pay for the wedding.

"She has no knowledge of the allegations contained in the suit," said Bob Liff, a spokesman retained by Deborah Kaplan.

The loan was made around the same time as an alleged sham purchase by Kaplan of Casso's home on E. 72nd St. in Brooklyn as part of a "money laundering deal," the suit filed by attorney Bruce Baron contends.

Casso Jr., who still lives in the house with his wife and infant son, is fighting eviction proceedings started by Kaplan. His attorney Bruce Baron also is seeking a stay of the trial in Brooklyn Housing Court.

Kaplan allegedly fessed up about the wedding loan during a secret sitdown he sought with Casso Jr. at a barbecue restaurant in Brooklyn last October, just one month after Kaplan was sprung on bail as a reward for his testimony against the Mafia cops.

Kaplan, 72, guarded by two federal agents at the meeting, allegedly told Casso Jr. that he "partially repaid" the wedding loan, according to the suit.

Deborah Kaplan was elected to Civil Court in 2002 and promoted to the Supreme Court after her father's mob ties became public.

Thanks to John Marzulli

Tweet

Gambino Mafia Crew Leader Gets Life

Friends of ours: Ronald J. Trucchio, Steven Catalano

A man authorities said was the leader of a Gambino crime-family crew was sentenced to life in prison Friday.

Ronald J. Trucchio was sentenced in federal court after a member of his crew, Steven Catalano, received a 16-year prison sentence. Both were convicted in November of conspiracy and racketeering.

Prosecutors said Trucchio formed a crew in Queens, N.Y., in the 1980s that reported to the Gambino crime family. They said the group committed a string of crimes -- including murder, robbery and extortion -- from New York to Miami.

Tweet

Former Mobster Writes Book on Israeli Mafia in New York

A former mobster has written a tell-all book, for the first time ever exposing the inner workings of an Israeli gang that took over the New York drug trade for a brief period in the eighties.

Ron Gonen, who has spent the past 18 years in the US Witness Protection Program, has teamed up with author Dave Copeland to offer an insider's glance into a parallel universe of crime, murder and deceit.

Gonen, who spoke with The Jerusalem Post from an undisclosed location, says he was kicked out of the program earlier this month because he violated the terms of his agreement by co-authoring the book. Undeterred, the Russian-born former drug dealer and burglar said that he is writing a second work - his memoirs - in Hebrew. He hopes that this book will lead to a movie deal.

After Gonen and his wife Honey published an advertisement on Craig's List in November 2004 seeking a writer to put his story into print, Copeland and Gonen began a collaboration that lasted more than two years and produced Blood and Volume, set to come out next week.

Copeland, who has never been to Israel, said that the book has earned attention prior to its release. "The pre-orders have been pretty good, 80% of first printing has already been sold," he said. But the book may cost Gonen more than he banked on. Beyond the risk of angering his old enemies, Gonen may soon find himself a persona non grata in the US.

According to Copeland, Gonen was given a permit that allowed him to work in the US as part of the Witness Protection Program, but the card is set to expire in May. Now, Gonen's work permit may not be renewed and he could be deported to Israel.

Although the book mostly concerns New York in the eighties, Gonen's story actually begins in the Soviet Union, four decades earlier, where his grandfather was in the black market. As a young child during the Stalinist period, Gonen says, he "grew up with the knowledge that the knock on the door could be a very serious knock."

When he was nine, Gonen's family moved to Israel. They were settled by the government in Beersheba, but later relocated to Holon. Eventually, he was sent to Kibbutz Ein Shemer. But Gonen says that he was expelled after two years for breaking into the kibbutz's storehouses and stealing clothing, which he distributed to his bunkmates.

Upon returning to Holon, the 15-year-old began to dabble in crime. He engaged in cat burglary and fenced the goods, denying that he was the thief. His small enterprise expanded until, in 1965, Gonen decided to forge documents that would allow him to join the Israel Navy despite being underage. Docked in Marseilles, the young Gonen realized that the world held more opportunities than tiny Israel had to offer.

While on leave from the Navy, Gonen continued his one-man crime wave, staging break-ins and robbing, among other things, parking meters. After he completed his mandatory military service, he returned to the streets, living high as a B&E man, and later branching out into auto theft.

After an unusually successful theft whose take totaled an estimated $20,000, Gonen says that he decided he "had no future in Israel" and searched for new horizons. "I wanted to rob Germans. I thought it was a good payback," he recalled.

For the next decade, Gonen's base of operations was western Europe, although he never lost his ties to Israel - or its burgeoning criminal underworld. At first he continued with break-ins, but - after being expelled from Germany - began to work in forged documents.

"I looked like a diplomat," Gonen said. "This was old school, not gaining a name," he said of his lifestyle. "It [was] better to be in the shadows, but to be very involved in the social, cultural life of the country in which I lived." This was a principle that he maintained after moving to London, where he managed a fictitious company as part of a pyramid scheme.

Gonen continued in London until he realized he was under surveillance, and then in 1981 fled to Spain, where he heard shortly later that Scotland Yard had raided his London office and arrested everybody. Deciding that Europe was now "too hot" for him, he fled to Guatemala, where he found himself in the midst of a series of coups. Only after he was warned for a second time that a death squad was after him did he flee, this time to the US.

After a brief time in the States, he returned for a short stay in Israel. There, he realized that among his old friends in the underworld, drugs were a hot industry. "Everybody was high on speed that they bought from Kalkilya pharmacies," he recalled. Gonen called in old contacts, and began to smuggle cocaine into Israel in small quantities. Unwitting flight attendants would bring in the drug, concealed in cigarette filters. "But after three or four trips, I got the name of "Candyman" and began to hear that they'd be on to me," Gonen said, explaining why he returned to the US later in 1982.

Meeting up with an old friend from Israel - Ran Efraim - Gonen began to buy coke from Efraim in LA and sell it in New York City, grossing about $50,000 a month. His business continued to grow, he found additional suppliers, and also met the woman who would become his third wife - Honey. The two were married in 1984, by which time, Gonen said, he was following her into a recurrent pattern of drug use. Gonen and Honey returned to Israel, but Honey was caught at the airport with almost 50g. of cocaine, and police used the arrest to try to convince Gonen to testify against his cronies in the Israeli underworld.

Returning to New York, Gonen tried to set up a fake company and run a pyramid scheme. But his briefcase containing all of his papers was stolen, he says, and he returned to drugs.

This time, his plans were altered by the unexpected arrival of old acquaintances from Israel - among them Eitan Hiya, Jonny Atias and Yisrael "Alice" Mizrahi. As then-District Attorney Rudy Giuliani had taken on the Italian mob, and the Soviet Union had not yet fallen, the New York drug industry was wide open. Apparently, even the criminal underworld abhors a vacuum.

The Israeli newcomers wanted help and turned to Gonen. He began to hold weekly meetings with Attias, but soon realized that they had a different business outlook. "Jonny said to me, 'Don't worry, if anybody sees us, we take down the witnesses,'" Gonen - who says he never killed anyone - recalled.

"Attias built his name on blood, on brutality, and on fear," Gonen said, adding that the violence was attracting too much attention and threatening his lifestyle. The situation became even worse after internecine war broke out between Mizrahi and Attias.

Then, the second shoe dropped. Gonen was caught by an anti-drug task force set up under new laws pushed through by the administration of then-president George H.W. Bush. After evading police for three days, Gonen was arrested on September 27, 1989.

When he saw police coming for him, he stopped at a corner store and bought four grapefruit juices and two coffees. If the police were trigger happy, he said, they would see that a man with his hands full of beverages couldn't reach for a gun.

According to Gonen, a detective on the task force, Sgt. John Guslavage, saved his life by arresting him, convincing him to turn state's witness, and putting him into the Witness Protection Program. Gonen later informed on Efraim, who in turn ratted out the others.

Almost 20 years later, Gonen is one of the few surviving members of what New York police called the Israeli Mob. Efraim, who served a sentence in the US, came back to Israel only to be gunned down last month in Tel Aviv. Hiya, one of the gang's most volatile trigger men, is back in Israel as well. But Mizrahi and Attias are now dead.

After 18 years in what he calls "the program," Gonen says that he is satisfied with his "civilian" life. His daughter - unlike Hiya's son, who was sentenced last week for a mob hit - is currently in college. "I sent my daughter to college, and he sent his son to do these horrible things. Maybe one day, my daughter is going to prosecute him," he laughs.

Gonen says that he is not overly concerned about his fate following the release of the tell-all book. "It's a lot less scary than what I went through 18 years ago. Not to compare. That is the price of doing business. I always knew that whoever stayed alive, their hate remained stronger than their logic," he said. "I sleep [well] at night. I never worry. It's not an option, because I know that if it happened, I wouldn't know about it. Nobody will torture me, just kill me." •

Thanks to Rebecca Ann Stoil

Tweet

The Mafia Encyclopedia

A bestseller in its first edition, The Mafia Encyclopedia is a complete reference guide to the history of the most powerful and wellknown criminal organization in the world. Written by a veteran crime reporter, this "Who's Who" of crime gives readers the full flavor and substance of Mafia culture, customs, and characters presented in more than 400 entries. More than 95 blackandwhite photographs (12 new to this edition) help capture Mafia history from the birth of the brotherhood and the major underworld figures who created it, to the law enforcement agents and organizations who have tried—and failed—to destroy it.

The Mafia Encyclopedia includes biographical entries of both well and lesserknown wiseguys, their criminal specialties, career highlights, friends and enemies, eccentricities, and frequently dramatic demises.

The book traces the great Mafia dynasties up to and including the current heirs apparent. The second edition includes 56 new entries as well as updates on:
• John Gotti
• John Gotti, Jr.
• Sammy "The Bull" Gravano
• Vinnie "The Chin" Gigante
• Jimmy Coonan of Westies fame
• Donnie Brasco
• and many more.
Among the Mafia topics covered are:
• The major families, such as the Gambinos, Colombos, and Genoveses
• Sam Giancana's Youngbloods
• Spending habits of the Mafiosi
• Women and the Mafia
• Mafia prison life
• The "Parsley" racket
• Superstitions, such as "Dead Man's Eyes" and the "Green Chair Curse"
• Funerals of gangsters
• and more.

Tweet