Hard blow for the New York mafia: the capo, the “consiglieri” and several captains of the Colombo family have fallen

At 87, most people around Andy “Mush” Russo’s age would consider retiring. Maybe by settling down, moving to Florida. Andy surely could have done it if he wanted to. Money has never been a problem for him; Andy had been a “successful” entrepreneur during his lifetime, and still had dark societies in bars and restaurants in Brooklyn and Manhattan. If I wanted, Andy He could sell his luxurious Old Brookville, Long Island mansion, and live the rest of your years in any other grand residence on a sunny beach.

But of course retirement is the last thing Mush has on his mind. Indeed, in 2010, at age 76, Andy accepted his promotion as “street boss” of the Colombo crime family, one of the most violent gangsters in New York history. He had been waiting for fifteen long years for the opportunity to take the helm again. In the 90s, helped rebuild the family after a devastating internal war, But the FBI threw its efforts to the ground when it arrested him in 1996, claiming he had taken illegal control of Long Island’s garbage collection industry with baseball bats.

“Mush” Russo was intolerable. Until yesterday, when the New York attorney general had him arrested along with 13 other people – including “The whole administration of the Colombo organized crime family”– with regard to charges which include blackmail, money laundering and extortion. Among those arrested are the high boss Russo, the deputy chief Benjamin “Benji” Castellazzo, the consiglieri John Ragano, also linked to the other big mafia family of Bonnano, and several lieutenants. He is also one of the accused, Theodore Persico, nephew of the deceased and mythical of this mafia group, Carmine Persico.

This time they accuse the Colombo associates of infiltrate and take control of a construction union headquartered in Queens. The gangsters were in charge of “fixing” any misunderstandings with the certifications of safety on the construction sites and of laundering the money thanks to the services of a social work in which they also trafficked drugs. At least two of the family members have received “part” of the salary of a senior union official since 2001 after having “threatened to harm him and his family”, specifies the indictment.

“Under the leadership of the Colombo Crime Family leadership, from late 2019, the defendants have stepped up extortion efforts to force the union boss and other affiliates to make decisions that have benefited the family Colombo, in particular require you to select suppliers for contracts that they were associated with criminals ”, alleges the indictment. “The defendants tried to hijack more than $ 10,000 per week assets of the Health Fund and $ 250,000 through a so-called loan ”.

Among the evidence presented by the prosecution is a telephone recording of June 21, 2021 in which the “captain”, Vincent Ricciardo“He threatened to kill the union boss if he did not accept the demands. “I’m going to put you on the floor right in front of your wife and children, right in front of your house f —–, and don’t thank you, my friend, I’m not afraid to go to jail, how long do you think I’ll be there? All. I kill you and I pay nothing.“Ricciardo, better known as “Unions Vinny”, he also pressured the union boss to hire an assistant administrator to look after the interests of the mafia family. “From now on, it is he who makes the decisions”, he told him.

The indictment also charged the “soldier” of the crime family, John Ragano, with falsifying workplace safety training certificates. He was on the list of principals of a school in Franklin Square where workplace safety courses were given. With his partners Domenick Ricciardo and John Glover, forged documents from the Ministry of Labor with which they enabled thousands of workers to perform tasks on construction sites without having a clue of the safety risks they faced. At school too cocaine shipments were stored and at one point it was used as a fireworks store while the kids attended in the morning.

“Everything we say in this research shows that history repeats itself over and over again. The mafia continues to operate as usual“said FBI Deputy Director Michael Driscoll.”The guts of New York’s criminal families are alive and well. These soldiers, consigliers, deputy chiefs and chiefs are obviously not history students, and they do not seem to understand that they will spend a long time locked up. “

Andy “Mush” Russo has already spent many years in prison. He has been coming and going since 1977, when he was called “caporégime”. He was in prison between 1986 and 1994. Then, for two years, he took over the management of the family. In 96 he fell until 2008. He returned between 2011 and 2013. Since then he has led all operations through captains. Yet by the late 1990s, the Colombo family’s dominance over New York unions began to decline, as did their gambling, lending, and stock fraud operations. In March 2010, “Mush” Russo reorganized the whole structure. Using his son, Billy, as his right hand, Andy restored splendor to one of the five great families of the “Cosa Nostra. In one of the many recorded conversations, he is heard saying to “Paulie Guns” Bevacqua, one of his confidants: “I can’t go away… I can’t rest. My commitment of fidelity to the family is for life”.

It was his cousin, Carmine “Junior” Persico, who introduced Russo to the crowd. Persico moved up the chain of command after the famous coup against Gambino’s rival boss Albert Anastasia, who was murdered in a barber shop in 1957. When his boss and mentor Frank “Frankie Shots” Abbatemarco was murdered in 1959, Persico and the young Gallo brothers rebelled against their family’s leadership. But Persico betrayed his companions and was generously rewarded for them. In 1963, Carmine, 30, was a powerful backbone, but he was unable to promote his cousin Andy Russo at the time to pledge allegiance to the family. The mafia’s governing body, the Commission, had banned entry ceremonies. Carlo Gambino has temporarily suspended the incorporation of new members until the situation calms down after a series of assassinations of drug lords.

During the 1960s and 1970s, Andy Mush moved more independently and established valuable businesses in Brooklyn and Long Island, including an “extensive” wear network which began in 1968, and control of garbage collection companies. It was then that he bought his luxurious residence almost opposite that of the mayor of the city. In the same country, another “businessman” of transport Dominic Cavalieri appeared, sewn up with bullets, who wanted to keep certain contracts. All the evidence indicated that the murderer was Russo, but they disappeared before prosecutors could present them to the judge.

When the gangster oath books and ceremonies reopened in 1976, Russo was one of the first to be admitted. Carmine Persico was sentenced to five years in prison for kidnapping and quickly put him in charge of his company. “Mush” began to hang out with influential mafia bosses across the country as a representative of Persico. One of the meetings was described by James “Jimmy the Weasel” Frattiano, a former Los Angeles Mafia boss, during the 1985 Russo trial. According to Frattiano, after a Frank Sinatra concert, there was a dinner with gangsters from all over the country in the Rainbow Hall of the RCA building. Russo, a “finished guy” according to Frattiano, was introduced by interim head of the Colombo family, Tommy DiBella, and Captain Gennaro ‘Gerry Lang’ Langella. Legendary Pennsylvania Mafia boss Russell ‘Russ’ Bufalino, who is credited with impressive criminal feats, was leading the Genoese crime family in New York at the time, and after some hesitation ended up welcoming him.

From now on, Russo has become one of the “big bosses”. Yesterday he fell for a “tort” offense by his standards. His lawyers are probably already preparing “a little magic” so that he does not spend long in prison. Either way, he will most likely continue to give the big directions from there. We don’t talk about retirement.

KEEP READING: