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| June 22, 2000 |
| By Jerry Capeci |
| Doing What Comes Naturally |
| Six Gambino wiseguys,
including a capo allegedly involved in the Paul Castellano rubout, and a Bonanno capo have
been nabbed on extortion charges for separate shakedowns against the same smut peddler. In separate indictments, the rival mobsters were accused of
threatening to trash a Ronkonkoma, Long Island adult entertainment store that specializes
in X-rated videos if the owner didn’t fork over monthly protection money. "The Bonannos won the sitdown, but both crews
ended up big losers," said
"I won the sitdown," the lone Bonanno defendant, capo Thomas DiFiore reputedly told the store owner. "You don't pay nobody but me. FBI agents arrested DiFiore at his home two weeks ago, seizing two guns, including a loaded .22 caliber handgun. He has been held without bail since. The ranking Gambino defendant, capo Salvatore (Fat Sally) Scala, 56, (right) was a key member of |
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| the John
Gotti-led hit team that blew away Castellano and key aide Thomas Billotti in 1985,
said assistant U.S. attorney Paul Weinstein. Gang Land reported in December that Scala, a reputed drug dealer and longtime bodyguard/chauffeur for Gambino acting boss Peter Gotti, had recently been promoted to capo. During a bail hearing, Weinstein charged that Scala's participation in the double slaying -- turncoat underboss Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano said Scala was one of two hitmen who gunned down Billotti -- made him a danger to the community who should be detained without bail.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Arlene Lindsay found them to be dangers to the community but allowed both men to be released on $500,000 bail under strict house arrest conditions that include electronic monitoring. Scala's lawyer, Richard Wool, said Weinstein seemed more interested in talking about what Scala "has supposedly done in the past, stuff he's never been charged with, than what he's charged with in this case." Lawyers for Carneglia and DiFiore could not be reached. |
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| Getting Away With Murder |
 In a deal that calls for him
to receive eight years in jail, Frank (B.F.) Guerra, a Colombo wiseguy awaiting trail on
federal drug and extortion charges, pleaded guilty last week to two counts of making
telephone calls related to drug trafficking. A close associate of jailed acting boss Alphonse Persico, Guerra had been indicted by a Brooklyn grand jury for dealing drugs in 1993-1994 and by a Manhattan panel for extortion threats against a brokerage in 1997. As part of his plea deal, prosecutors will drop the drug and extortion charges in return for Guerra's guilty plea to the phone counts. Last year, Gang Land identified Guerra as the "Frank" who escaped prosecution when Luchese associate Frank Smith was wrongly convicted in |
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| 1989 of dealing heroin
two years earlier for Persico's cousin, Theodore Persico Jr.
Meanwhile, Smith, who has served 12 years for a crime that everyone knows he didn't commit, seems doomed to serve a full 15-year sentence due to legal mumbo jumbo and stubbornness by state drug prosecutors in Manhattan and trial judge Leslie Snyder. And while Guerra is undoubtedly unhappy about going to jail, he has fared relatively well. According to testimony, he got away with the 1993 murder of Colombo capo Joseph Scopo, the last one during the bloody Colombo family war. And in 1991, during the early stages of the war, an 18-year-old worker at Guerra's bagel store was shot to death by rival gangsters looking for him. |
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| Editor's Note: Due to various technical and other difficulties, last week's column was published late. Gang Land is sorry for the inconvenience. |
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one law enforcement official.
Weinstein also charged that Scala's co-defendant, soldier
Charles Carneglia (right) -- whose brother John (left) allegedly killed Castellano -- was
involved in other mob hits and should be held without bail.
Guerra made no mention of the 1989 case and his plea means nothing
to Smith. (right)
