New York Mafia Capo Indicted for Murder
Jim Kouri, CPP
March 03, 2006
A top New York City mob Capo was indicted for being the acting Godfather of New York's biggest organized crime families. He is among 32 mobsters and associates indicted by prosecutors in the Big Apple.
Liborio Bellomo is accused of being the acting boss or "Don" of the Genovese crime family through much of the 1990s. The Genovese family is one of New York's legendary "Five Families" which also includes the Gambino, Colombo, Lucchese and Bonanno crime gangs.
The charges against him and his fellow Mafioso include murder, drugs and arms smuggling. The 42-count indictment is the result of a three-year investigation into crime across the New York metropolitan area. Don Bellomo is already serving a 10-year stretch for his activities in the extortion racket .
Testimony from Peter Peluso, the family lawyer, enabled prosecutors to charge Bellomo with ordering the 1998 murder of a former colleague, Ralph Coppola, from his prison cell.
The well-known, high-paid mob lawyer was himself indicted on racketeering charges.
Peluso told prosecutors and investigators that he carried a message from Bellomo in prison authorizing the killing to gang members outside, which ended the attorney-client privilege between Bellomo and his mobster mouthpiece.
If convicted, Bellomo could face the death penalty. The other 31 suspects named in the federal indictment are described as members and associates of the Genovese family. They face charges ranging from violent extortion to money laundering, arms and narcotics trafficking, racketeering and obstruction of justice.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers the Genoveses to be the biggest and most powerful of New York's five Mafia gangs if only by default. The four other families have been crippled and their leaderships undermined by a relentless campaign against organized crime in the United States over the past 20 years, according to detectives with the New York City Police Department's Organized Crime Control Bureau or OCCB.
That situation has led to a reordering of the Five Families. The Genoveses -- once seen as the second most powerful family after the Gambinos -- have now moved up to the number one slot, the FBI believes. In fact, the son of the Gambino family's late crime boss John Gotti, Jr. is on trial in New York for the abduction and attempted murder of local talk show host and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.
According to the Justice Department, here's how the families stack up:
Genovese Family - 300 members and associates
Bonanno Family - 200 members and associates
Gambino Family - 200 members and associates
Lucchese Family - 150 members and associates
Colombo Family - 150 members and associates
The Gambinos dropped a notch since the arrests of their boss John Gotti, Sr. and other leading figures. The other three families -- the Bonannos, the Colombos and Luccheses -- have also been weakened. According to the New York Daily News, the Luccheses and the Gambinos have suffered from uncertain leadership. The Colombos are so divided and faction-ridden that the other families no longer recognize them, the Daily News says. But the Genovese family -- known for strict discipline and secrecy -- managed to increase its strength under the leadership of Vincent " The Chin" Gigante, who was jailed in 1997 and died recently in prison. (This writer knew Gigante's brother who became a Roman Catholic priest rather than joining his Mafiaso brother and friends.)
Because fewer of its members became FBI or Justice Department informants, the Genovese mob continues its activities including murder, extortion, credit card fraud, loan-sharking, prostitution, gambling and drugs.
Yet US Attorney Mary Jo White -- of Clinton scandal fame -- said one reason for the Genoveses' survival was that they were less violent than the other families. Instead of using actual force on victims, they used threats and intimidation to muscle into their illegal rackets.
Liborio Bellomo is accused of being the acting boss or "Don" of the Genovese crime family through much of the 1990s. The Genovese family is one of New York's legendary "Five Families" which also includes the Gambino, Colombo, Lucchese and Bonanno crime gangs.
The charges against him and his fellow Mafioso include murder, drugs and arms smuggling. The 42-count indictment is the result of a three-year investigation into crime across the New York metropolitan area. Don Bellomo is already serving a 10-year stretch for his activities in the extortion racket .
Testimony from Peter Peluso, the family lawyer, enabled prosecutors to charge Bellomo with ordering the 1998 murder of a former colleague, Ralph Coppola, from his prison cell.
The well-known, high-paid mob lawyer was himself indicted on racketeering charges.
Peluso told prosecutors and investigators that he carried a message from Bellomo in prison authorizing the killing to gang members outside, which ended the attorney-client privilege between Bellomo and his mobster mouthpiece.
If convicted, Bellomo could face the death penalty. The other 31 suspects named in the federal indictment are described as members and associates of the Genovese family. They face charges ranging from violent extortion to money laundering, arms and narcotics trafficking, racketeering and obstruction of justice.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers the Genoveses to be the biggest and most powerful of New York's five Mafia gangs if only by default. The four other families have been crippled and their leaderships undermined by a relentless campaign against organized crime in the United States over the past 20 years, according to detectives with the New York City Police Department's Organized Crime Control Bureau or OCCB.
That situation has led to a reordering of the Five Families. The Genoveses -- once seen as the second most powerful family after the Gambinos -- have now moved up to the number one slot, the FBI believes. In fact, the son of the Gambino family's late crime boss John Gotti, Jr. is on trial in New York for the abduction and attempted murder of local talk show host and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.
According to the Justice Department, here's how the families stack up:
Genovese Family - 300 members and associates
Bonanno Family - 200 members and associates
Gambino Family - 200 members and associates
Lucchese Family - 150 members and associates
Colombo Family - 150 members and associates
The Gambinos dropped a notch since the arrests of their boss John Gotti, Sr. and other leading figures. The other three families -- the Bonannos, the Colombos and Luccheses -- have also been weakened. According to the New York Daily News, the Luccheses and the Gambinos have suffered from uncertain leadership. The Colombos are so divided and faction-ridden that the other families no longer recognize them, the Daily News says. But the Genovese family -- known for strict discipline and secrecy -- managed to increase its strength under the leadership of Vincent " The Chin" Gigante, who was jailed in 1997 and died recently in prison. (This writer knew Gigante's brother who became a Roman Catholic priest rather than joining his Mafiaso brother and friends.)
Because fewer of its members became FBI or Justice Department informants, the Genovese mob continues its activities including murder, extortion, credit card fraud, loan-sharking, prostitution, gambling and drugs.
Yet US Attorney Mary Jo White -- of Clinton scandal fame -- said one reason for the Genoveses' survival was that they were less violent than the other families. Instead of using actual force on victims, they used threats and intimidation to muscle into their illegal rackets.
Print
Email
