By Jerry Capeci

Speaking of sheer stupidity, we start our look at the past year by presenting Gang Land's first annual Ernest Volkman award to John Lombardi. The Volkie, we're sad to say, will be an annual award to the so-called journalist who makes the most mistakes and comes up with the most  unadulterated drivel in one article, book, or television appearance or who consistently exhibits the wretched and pathetic journalistic non-skills of Ernest Volkman.

In his awful book, "Gangbusters," Volkman, (Gang Land, Nov. 2) made so many factual errors that you'd need a computer and a couple of cyber geeks to count them. Under a threat of a lawsuit from a couple of gangsters, Volkman, his publisher, and Penthouse Magazine -- which printed excerpts from the book -- had to publicly fess up to the erroneous drivel. 

Lombardi was the unanimous choice as recipient of the first Volkie for his "Who's The Boss" piece in the Dec. 21-28 issue of New York Magazine.

The overwritten excuse for a magazine article, in true Volkman tradition, contained the prerequisite gigantic blooper. Lombardi included a mobster who died a decade ago, Nino Gaggi, (left) among several Gambino capos who are angry with John Gotti's choice of his son as the family's stand-in leader. The family has its problems and a real vacuum at the top, but, as far as we know, so far hasn't called up any ghosts to fill its thinning ranks. Other careless and stupid mistakes -- the kind that give journalism a bad name -- include having Fat Tony Salerno follow Vito Genovese as a crime boss. If by any chance Salerno was ever boss, at least two other mobsters ran the Genovese family in the two decades between Vito's demise and Fat Tony's debatable ascension.

Another piece of nonsense was that the instability and turmoil of the Colombo Family began when Joey Gallo had Joe Colombo shot in the early 1970's. First, the family's troubles began a decade earlier, and secondly there is absolutely no proof of any kind that Gallo had Colombo shot. 

Junior Gotti, (right) who, after a successful five year run as acting or puppet boss, was hit in January with racketeering charges, tops Gang Land's losers list, although his gaffs don't match up to Lombardi's or several others. Gotti should have taken the plea bargain deal the feds had offered him. 

Even if he beats the current case -- very wishful thinking, especially in what's become a formula racketeering prosecution with a jury of cozy suburbanites, many who probably fled the city to get away from the vestiges of organized crime -- he'll have a bulls eye on his chest and, like his father, will be indicted and indicted until some prosecutor nails him for something.

Meanwhile, the case against him is almost a satire of the legal system. A big, bad mobster is charged with lying to get some loans to fix up his tony North Shore Long Island house. The trial judge keeps Junior in jail without bail as a danger to society but releases him after armed robbery charges were added to the laundry list of charges filed against him by the feds. Then there's the list of mobsters, disguised as a wedding list, Junior left lying around for state investigators to find. If his father's trial was a two-hour made-for-television movie, this is a half hour pilot for a comedy series that's been rejected by all.

Another of 1998's big losers is former Luchese underboss Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso, (left) who got life in prison, four years after signing on to be a witness for the government. When he switched sides, he turned down a plea offer of 26 years -- where he didn't have  to cooperate -- to become part of Team America. Twenty six years is significant jail time, but it's better than life. Then as a so-called cooperating witness, Gaspipe screwed up by not only not cooperating, but by accusing superstar prosecution witnesses -- members of the team he signed on with -- of lying.

Meanwhile, Sammy Bull Gravano, the mob underboss-turned-informer whom Gaspipe was supposed to replace as a superstar witness, continues his winning ways. Gravano, (right) who has admitted taking part in 19 mob killings, lived his third year as a free man somewhere in these United States. He beat the lawsuit in which New York State tried to attach the earnings from the book about his life, and he managed to get wrongful death suits filed against him by relatives of his murder victims transferred to the federal judge who gave him five years for his life of crime and his few years as a cooperating witness.

Gambino capo Nicholas (Little Nick) Corozzo (left) also was a winner, getting less than eight years in prison for two federal racketeering convictions, one in Florida and one in New York. Not only were the sentences allowed to run at the same time, the New York judge gave him less time than Little Nick had agreed to take in a plea bargain with prosecutors. 

Turncoat Colombo consigliere Carmine Sessa, (right) who admitted to a slew of mob slayings  although not quite as many as Gravano, also squeaked out a win. The double digit killer got  out of prison on bail after spending about 52 months inside, which means he'll probably never go back.

By comparison, Colombo associate Lawrence Mazza, who claimed only four bodies on his mob resume, was a loser. He got a 10-year prison sentence because, after his first court appearance, he was taped saying stupid things to his relatives about the prosecutors and federal judge who was to  sentence him. Not a smart thing if you want to continue your career as a government witness.

Colombo mobster Gregory Scarpa Jr. and Luchese mobster Michael (Baldy Mike) Spinelli each lost big in their respective racketeering trials. But Gang Land readers were big winners when Scarpa took the witness stand and told a fantastic, AND true tale, according to a top law enforcement official, of working as a spy for the FBI against terrorists incarcerated with him. Spinelli took the stand and passionately denied trying to kill the sister of a turncoat capo, but refused to answer questions about his induction into the mob in a prison bathroom. Maybe he was a little ashamed. The extent of their losses will be determined in a month or two when they're sentenced.

Corrao may not be a better father than Gotti -- if you figure that a gangster ought not to allow his kid to follow him into "the life" -- but he's apparently a better teacher. His son, Vincent, (right) who allegedly took over his father's crime family duties, was a winner too. He somehow managed to conduct alleged mob business under the noses of the law, meeting with Junior Gotti and the sons of Gambino mobsters without being hit with racketeering charges. Salvatore Locascio and Craig DePalma weren't so lucky.

Junior's longtime cohorts and associates Michael McLaughlin, Steven Kaplan and Anthony Ameroso managed to stay out of harm's way last year, but that could change this year. They, and real wiseguys like Colombo family acting boss Alphonse Persico and Bonanno boss Joseph Massino, better stay out of social clubs, keep looking over their shoulders and not talk mob business in old widow's apartments. Because, without a doubt, the feds and their associates this year will once again create more losers than winners in Gang Land.

One entry per person, via e-mail. Anyone caught making more than one submission will be rubbed out along with their entry.

Previous contest winners, employees of Gang Land and the Daily News and their families, are ineligible to win a prize, but can still play along for the hell  of it. In case of ties, winners will be selected at random.

Deadline is Sunday, Jan. 31.

First prize is a copy of "Gotti: Rise & Fall," autographed, of course, by yours truly and co-author Gene Mustain. Incidentally, Gene submitted an entry to Contest #5 and signed his infant son's name. Luckily, we caught on to the scam, and will return Mustain's wife and child to him after the deadline to this contest.

Second prize is a similarly autographed copy of Murder Machine: A True Story of Murder, Madness and The Mafia.

Each question is worth one point. For those with problems in arithmetic, a perfect score is 13. And there's no penalty for a bad guess. Good luck.

During the 1963 Senate Hearings, which featured the testimony of  celebrated turncoat Joe Valachi, several mobsters who were or would eventually become Mafia bosses were associated with the wrong crime families.

          Match the boss with the incorrect family in which he was placed.

There were seven perfect scores in our fifth contest, so later today, GangLandNews.com  editor extraordinaire Hap Hairston and I will be traveling to a secret spot in Random, New Jersey to select the prize winners.

We'll announce the two lucky Gang Landers next week but we'll notify the winners tomorrow. So, if you're one of the magnificent seven, (we ran the answers last week so you should know who you are) check your emails. 

The autographed copies of "Gotti: Rise & Fall" and "Murder Machine:" will be on their way out to the winners as soon Gang Land puts enough pressure on Mustain's left arm to get him to sign his name with his right. He's already pretty angry with us, but we're sure he'll get over it.  

  Big Al's Corner

By Allan May

(This week, Big Al "sheds some light" on the Mafia dealings of Angelo "Gyp" DeCarlo for Alan Katz, a Gang Land reader who used to caddy for DeCarlo and his golfing buddies at a New Jersey country club in the mid-1960's.)

Angelo DeCarlo, born in 1902, was a cold-blooded killer who worked his way up the ranks among the mobsters in and around Newark, New Jersey. His headquarters was a joint called "The Barn," located in Mountainside, NJ, a quiet little suburb of Newark. DeCarlo was a capo in the Genovese Family associated with Abner "Longy" Zwillman and Gerardo Catena. DeCarlo's prominence in the mob came after the FBI disclosed tape recorded conversations from his office which they had bugged from 1961 to 1965.

DeCarlo, known as Ray or "Gyp," was involved in loansharking, gambling, and participated in several murders. He was also close to the political scene in Newark and when transcripts of the FBI tapes were released, several political careers crashed and burned. Among this group of losers were Newark Mayor Hugh Addonizio and the once-powerful New Jersey Democratic political boss John J. Kenny.

DeCarlo had been recorded telling two associates, "Hughie (Addonizio) helped us along. He gave us the city."

The FBI tapes showed DeCarlo to be a hardened, dedicated, lifetime gangster. On the tapes, DeCarlo was overheard telling one mobster, "I'm a hoodlum. I don't want to be a legitimate guy. All these other racket guys who get a few bucks want to become legitimate."Although the tapes included discussions of several mob slayings, DeCarlo was never indicted for any.

The tapes also linked DeCarlo's friend Frank Sinatra to the underworld. In 1970, DeCarlo was sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $20,000 on an extortion charge. However, less than two years later, President Richard Nixon commuted his prison term after DeCarlo had petitioned for his release claiming he was dying of cancer. What was remarkable about the clemency was the speed with which it occurred. The Washington D.C. rumor mill hinted that Sinatra, working through Vice President Spiro Agnew, had arranged the release. DeCarlo left prison two days before Christmas 1972. 

After his release, DeCarlo was informed that if didn't pay the $20,000 fine by Oct. 25, 1973, he would be sent back to prison. DeCarlo beat the deadline by five days, succumbing to cancer on Oct. 20, 1973.

Additional suggested reading would be "The Mafia Talks," compiled and
edited by Joseph Volz and Peter Bridge, and "Sam the Plummer," by Henry A. Zeiger. Also, the Sinatra biography, "His Way," suggests that DeCarlo may have been a distant relative of "Old Blue Eyes."