Joseph Pistone

Mafia expert and former undercover FBI agent Joseph Pistone, better known as Donnie Brasco, is expected to share knowledge of the criminal underworld to Montreal officials as early as Monday, the Montreal Gazette reports.

Pistone is known for bringing down members of two of New York City’s most notorious mobs – the Bonanno and Colombo crime families – by earning their trust during a six-year sting operation in the late 1970s.

But don’t expect Pistone to reveal much about the mafia in Canada, the Montreal Gazette reported.

According to an author who has spoken with Pistone, the former agent doesn’t have specific information on the mafia in Montreal.

FBI's Janet Fedarcyk at Brooklyn press conference/fbi photo

Federal authorities Thursday announced what they called the largest mob roundup in FBI history: the indictment of 127 people, including key Mafia figures from the New York, New Jersey and New England crime families, on charges ranging from murder and racketeering to gambling, extortion and loan-sharking.

About 800 law enforcement members from the FBI, the Secret Service, the U.S. Labor Department, and state and local law enforcement Thursday arrested 121 people who were named in 16 indictments filed in different jurisdictions. Four others were already in custody, and one member of the Colombo family was arrested in Italy.

The indictments were aimed at all five New York crime families — the Colombo, Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno and Luchese families — along with the New England Patriarca family and the New Jersey Decavalcante family.

“Today’s arrests mark an important and encouraging step forward in disrupting La Cosa Nostra operations,” Attorney General Eric Holder said at a press conference this morning in Brooklyn, N.Y. “But the reality is that our battle against organized-crime enterprises is far from over.”

Authorities said the indictments resulted from years of investigations, including the use of wiretaps and cooperating informants.

“These cases are the cumulative results of years of investigative work, including the development of key cooperating witnesses, a trend that has definitely been tilting in law enforcement’s favor,” said Janice Fedarcyk, head of the New York FBI. “The vow of silence that is part of the oath Omerta is more myth than reality today.”

To read more click here.

Read indictments

By Allan Lengel

Sometimes in order to find the answer, you have to dig deep — literally.

That’s what the FBI was doing Tuesday in Long Island: Digging for the remains of a reputed Colombo mobster killed 15 years ago, the New York Daily News reports.

The paper reported that is looking for the remains of mobster Richard Greaves in an industrial park in East Farmingdale. Richard Kolko, an FBI spokesman, told the News that nothing was found and digging would likely resume Wednesday.

The Daily News reported that bones of another gangland murder victim, Colombo capo William (Wild Bill) Cutolo, were discovered at the site in 2008.

The paper reported that “Mob rat Joseph (Joey Caves) Competiello admitted participating in Greaves’ murder in August 1995. He told the feds that Greaves, suspected of being an informant, was lured to mobster Dino (Little Dino) Saracino’s home on 76th St. in Brooklyn and shot to death in the basement.”

By Allan Lengel

Respect comes in different forms. In the mob world, it often comes in the form of $$$.

Brooklyn federal prosecutors on Wednesday said mobbed up Staten Island jeweler Louis Antonelli was murdered because he disrespected Genovese capo Anthony Antico, 74, by failing to pay him cash kickbacks for selling gems at Antico’s social club, the N.Y. Daily News reported.

The paper reported that Antonelli, 43, was fatally shot April 29, 2008, in West Brighton in Staten Island.

Defense lawyer Gerald McMahon called one of the government’s witnesses “a chain saw murderer” and another “a mass murderer.”

For full story click here.

In other mob news, the Daily News reports that “ruthless, toothless former Colombo crime boss Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli” has been accused in federal court of killing off-duty NYPD cop Ralphy Dols in Brooklyn in 1997.

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