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March 6, 2003
By Jerry Capeci
Bad For TV, But It Flies In New Jersey

A Gang Land Exclusive!

Gang Land has a Mafia tale about two longtime state prisoners in New Jersey that would probably be rejected as unrealistic by screenwriters for The Sopranos but was gobbled up hook, line and sinker by Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli.

The tale is a three ring circus, being played out in state courts in New Jersey and Arizona and the federal court in Brooklyn.

Gambino capo Robert (Bobby Cabert) BisacciaSo there’s no confusion – unlike The Sopranos – this is a true story. It stars Gambino capo Robert (Bobby Cabert) Bisaccia (left) and admitted serial killer Richard (The Iceman) Kuklinski. Molinelli and his chief of detectives Michael Mordaga – appointed to their respective $141,000 and $127,000 posts last year by Governor McGreevey – are supporting actors. And Sammy Bull Gravano has a cameo role.

Bisaccia, 67, inmate number 570668, has been at the New Jersey State Prison since 1993, when he was found guilty of state racketeering charges. He will be released in August, when he is scheduled to begin a life sentence in federal prison for a murder he committed for John Gotti during his heyday as the Dapper Don.

Kuklinski, also 67, is inmate number 571114. He has been at the same Trenton facility since 1988, when he was convicted of several murders. Kuklinski, who says he’s killed over 100 people since he was 14, is eligible for parole in 2046, so thankfully, it’s pretty unlikely that he will ever walk the streets again.

Locked up in the same joint for the past ten years, it is a very safe bet that the two convicted murderers know each other. It is another safe bet that when Kuklinski bragged about his murderous exploits on an HBO special two years ago, 

Bisaccia knew all about it. It is also not a stretch to assume that the two men talked about the most sensational killing Kuklinski said he committed on the TV show, the 1980 murder of corrupt NYPD detective Peter Calabro.

At that point, you can almost see the wheels in Cabert’s head turning: Since the Iceman was serving four life terms and will never get out of jail, pleading guilty Richard (The Iceman) Kuklinskito killing Calabro would have no adverse impact on Kuklinski. (right)

But if the Iceman threw Gravano in as a co-conspirator, the same Sammy Bull whose testimony helped convict Cabert of murder in federal court, he could use the evidence that Gravano killed a cop, and withheld it, as the basis for a motion for a new trial. And, Cabert wouldn’t make the motion himself; his codefendant Orazio Stantini, who was already in federal prison, could do it.

On Feb. 25, four days after Molinelli summoned reporters to his Hackensack office and announced with a flourish that he had charged Gravano with Calabro’s murder, an attorney for Stantini sent a letter to Brooklyn Federal Judge I. Leo Glasser citing the Gravano murder charges as the basis for a motion for a new trial.

On Monday, Gang Land started asking questions about it. Chief of detectives Mordaga said he was unaware that Kuklinski and Bisaccia had been inmates at the same prison for 10 years or that the Gravano murder charges had been cited as grounds for a new trial for Bisaccia, but would check things out, and get back to us.

Despite repeated calls over three days, neither Mordaga nor Molinelli, a former civil lawyer and counsel to the Bergen County Democratic Party, responded.

David Schoen, the lawyer who filed the new trial motion for Stantini, said he knew about Kuklinski’s allegations for months and has an affidavit from him

implicating Gravano in Calabro’s killing. Schoen also knew that Kuklinski and Bisaccia were in prison together and had discussed the Calabro murder.

However, said Schoen, his understanding was that Kuklinski volunteered the Sammy Bull Gravanoinformation about Gravano’s involvement in the crime, not the other way around.

Schoen added that an investigation by him, another attorney and a private investigator had satisfied them of the veracity of Kuklinski’s claims.

“All we want is a fair hearing on the matter,” said Schoen. Late yesterday, Glasser denied the motion.

Meanwhile, Gravano’s lawyer Greg Parzych is drafting subpoenas for members of a joint state-federal task force and for the NYPD’s internal affairs division that determined in separate investigations that Calabro had caused the drowning death of his first wife in 1977 and was killed by her relatives when cops were unable to make a case.

“Sammy admitted 19 other murders, including his brother-in-law,” said Parzych. “It’s ludicrous to think that he wouldn’t have admitted killing Calabro if he had.”

Feds and Joe Massino Waiting On Sal
Bonanno Boss Joseph Massino

The feds hope to serve up additional murder charges for Bonanno boss Joseph Massino (right) and add a few capos as codefendants to his racketeering case with evidence from their latest turncoat underboss, Salvatore Vitale, law enforcement sources said yesterday.

“We are not looking to waste any time,” said one official, declining to discuss specific murders or individual targets they plan to focus on in the coming weeks.

As Gang Land disclosed Monday, Vitale – Massino’s brother-in-law – was relocated from the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan to a secure facility for witnesses last week after agreeing to a cooperation deal with federal prosecutors in Brooklyn.

And while authorities refused to elaborate, the feds would certainly look for Vitale (left) to shore up their evidence about the murder that Massino and soldier Frank (Curly) Lino are charged with, the 1981 slaying of capo Dominick (Sonny Black) Napolitano, and the 1990 slaying of Louis Tuzzio, which soldiers Robert Lino and Daniel Mongelli are charged with.Bonanno capo Gerlando Sciascia

Perhaps the most intriguing unsolved Bonano family murder, however, is the 1999 execution in The Bronx of Gerlando Sciascia, 65, a Sicilian-born capo (right) who headed a crew of mostly Sicilian gangsters who operated primarily in the Montreal area.

Originally thought to be sanctioned by Massino, veteran mob watchers are split about it, with some pointing to appearances at Sciascia’s wake by many Bonanno wiseguys, including Vitale, as well as mobsters from other families.

editor@ganglandnews.com

Jerry Capeci
P.O. Box 435
Radio City Station
New York, NY 10101-0435
Copyright, 2003- All Rights Reserved