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Instead, the son of the fugitive capo and his bride visited Joe T. at an upstate New York hideaway. Tomasello was subsequently arrested on a six-year-old racketeering and murder indictment stemming from the bloody  1991-1992 Colombo family war that resulted in 10 deaths, including a couple of innocent bystanders.

Until last Wednesday, Tomasello, 65, was the only mobster charged with war crimes to escape arrest. Joe T, the alleged street boss of the violent Carmine Persico (left) faction that won the war, was corralled  by FBI agents and state troopers in Catskill N.Y. after a five day cat and mouse game, authorities said.

Dutiful FBI agents had staked out the Staten Island wedding reception of Tomasello's 31-year-old son, Joseph Orapallo, who uses his mother's maiden name, just in case the father of the groom showed up.

Tomasello and Orapallo's mother, Dolores, never made an appearance. But agents spotted her sister, followed her to a house on Route 32 in Catskill, N.Y., and set up around the clock surveillance. It was a good call. Orapallo and his bride pulled up in a van and entered the house.

On Wednesday, the newlyweds drove to a nearby motel, picked up a man who looked like Tomasello, and drove back to the house.

As the occupants exited the van, the agents got a better look, decided that Tomasello was part of the group, called in state troopers and agents from Albany for back up, moved in and arrested Tomasello without incident.

Tomasello is accused of taking part in five slayings of gangsters loyal to Victor (Little Vic) Orena from Dec. 6, 1991 to May 22, 1992 and faces life in prison. Three Persico faction gangsters and two bystanders were killed, and many others were wounded during that same period.

On the Persico side, Carmine's son Alphonse (left) was acquitted at trial but  38 others were found guilty of federal crimes related to the internecine war. On the Orena side, 13 gangsters were acquitted and 16 members, including Orena, (right) were convicted.

The former Dolores Orapallo told the agents who arrested her husband that she and Joe T. were married in 1994, while most of the Colombo family was on trial.

"I hope they enjoyed those four years together. I doubt they'll have any more," a semi-sympathetic law enforcement official drolly lamented.

It's not that big a deal - Orapallo was released without bail and told to report to court later this month.

Tomasello was surely upset that his six years of freedom and four years of wedded bliss were over, but he should have taken the gun rap for his son.

It would have been a really decent wedding present for the bride and groom.

Gang Land figures that when you're facing five life counts, what's a little  misdemeanor gun rap. It's not even an inconvenience.

Here's a conversation that was submitted last week by federal prosecutors in their  papers that oppose bail for John A. (Junior) Gotti (right). The discussion - between Michael Sergio, a codefendant of Junior's, and Michael Blutrich, a very crooked lawyer who worked undercover for the feds during their investigation - was recorded on April 3 of last year.

Blutrich was the driving force behind Scores, the upscale Manhattan topless joint that's a hotspot for celebrities, horny tourists and Wall Streeters. He had been in bed with the mob for years and allowed the FBI to install cameras and tape recorders in his office after he was caught ripping off millions of dollars from investors and insurance funds.

Sergio told Blutrich that William Marshall (left) -- a legbreaker who worked for the mob and who has since become a cooperating witness -- was trying real hard to become a full fledged mobster.

"He's gonna try to get made," began Sergio.

"He's gonna try to get made?" asked Blutrich.

Sergio: "Now, listen to what he did. Now they came to me and they asked and I said I really don't know his background. Michael, you can't say what I'm gonna tell you. The new law is that even if you were half Jewish, on your mother's side, you can become a member. Did you know that?"

Blutrich: "No."

Sergio: "Do you know who, you know who he's (Marshall) in cahoots with, don't you? John Gotti."

Blutrich: "Hmmpf."

Sergio: "His wife is half Jewish, John Junior's mother, is half Russian Jew. And
years ago when we used to be indoctrinated, you had to be a hundred per cent on both sides."

Blutrich: "Right, right."

Sergio: "Now, no. 'Cause that, that's something that they institute. I don't make the rules. Right. So now, Willie is saying that whoever his father is, is not
his real father. And they're saying go find your father 'cause he's saying
that his father was Italian."

ASK ANDY
This week, Andy, seen posing with one of his all time favorite books, "Mob Star," tackles a query from Hugh Steele of London, Ontario, a Gang Land follower who wanted to know about mob influence in his home town and wrongly asserts that it was "common knowledge that the Buffalo mob controlled Ontario."

London is a beautiful city with a prestigious university. Sometimes it has  great football teams. Frank Cosentino guided Western to its first Canadian Championship in 1971. Darwin Semotiuk has a number of Vanier Cups to his credit - in 1974, 1976 and 1977. He lost the final game in 1979 and
1982. Larry Haylor was next up. He won in 1989, 1994 and 1995. He lost
in 1985 and 1986.

Here are some Western League Most Valuable Players:

1959    Bill Mitchell - played for Edmonton I think.
1978    Jamie Bone - previously played at St. Marys or Acadia ... tried out                for the Dallas Cowboys ... sued the Canadian Football League over                its import rule.
1980    Greg Marshall - what a bull! ... ruined his knees.
1982    Chris Byrne - can't remember him.
1985    Steve Samways - a quarterback, adequate ... Dad was a coach.
1986    Blake Marshall - (no relation to Willie above) a bull like his brother,  
1991    Tom Tindall - short but powerful ... made some NFL special teams.

Oh. Sorry Hugh, I reverted to my days as a scout. Those were interesting days too. Don't ever believe that the NFL ignores Canadian College Football.

As for Ontario and the mob, Buffalo never controlled Ontario. At one time they were the strongest organized crime force there, which meant that the many other gangs respected the Buffalo family's turf and thought twice about knocking heads with them. But there was all kinds of crime -- from gambling to loansharking to drug trafficking -- going on in Ontario that the Buffalo mob had nothing to do with. No one group controlled the province.

As for London, I am not aware of any significant Cosa Nostra presence. There is probably some money laundering, but that is happening all over the world. The illegal economy is part of the global economy. There have been a few scams in Ontario run by greedy lawyers and bankers, and  these guys fold up like accordions when caught.

Books, by Andy

DOUBLE CROSS by SAM and CHUCK GIANCANA

Amazon     $5.59

Make no mistake about it, DOUBLE CROSS is a highly successful book. It has everything: murder, sex, conspiracy, assassinations, celebrities, the CIA, the Mafia, the FBI and much more. What it doesn't have is credibility.

Written by a younger brother, Chuck, and a nephew, Sam, of late Chicago Outfit boss, Sam (Mooney) Giancana, DOUBLE CROSS cashed in on the public's fascination with conspiracy theories about the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and the Mafia. Unfortunately, the book rests on tales supposedly told by gangster Giancana to his brother Chuck. We are supplied with no documentation to support the many stories and must cross reference other material to arrive at an evaluation of the book. Even a cursory examination exposes many weaknesses.

The book jacket - although not necessarily written by the authors - makes the ridiculous claim that Sam Giancana was the "mobster who controlled America." They are speaking about a man who couldn't even control his  temper or his daughter Antoinette. Giancana couldn't even control the Chicago Outfit. He was ousted from the top spot in 1966 by long time mob power, Tony Accardo.

In writing about Giancana's early years, his relatives say he was a participant in the infamous 1929 St. Valentines Day Massacre. It is a claim that is difficult to refute since there continues to be controversy over who the actual shooters were. However, this is the first time I've read that Giancana was on the scene. The only substantiation given for this claim is an offhand comment made by Giancana while he was reading newspaper accounts of the shooting in the presence of seven-year-old Chuck. Chuck wants us to believe he remembered a conversation from his childhood 62 years after it happened, in which his older brother tells him he had been one of the shooters.

By page 63, it's obvious the authors are setting the reader up for their theory that the Mafia was involved in the 1963 assassination of President Kennedy. Supposedly, Giancana told little Chuck that La Cosa Nostra had arranged the murder of Senator Huey Long of Louisiana in 1935. As most serious historians know, Long was murdered in a family insult vendetta by a young doctor who had nothing to do with the mob. The authors use their conspiracy theory of Long's murder (i.e., Long's untimely, violent death was done by the mob which set up a lone nut as the patsy assassin) as historical precedent for Kennedy's 1963 assassination. Unfortunately, they offer no evidence of the mob's involvement with Long's death, most likely because there was none.

Another block in the Kennedy/Mafia conspiracy is laid when the authors  outline how the Chicago mobsters went national with their gambling. They repeat a well known tale of a failed attempt by Chicago associates, Paul Jones and Pat Manno, to bribe the Dallas Sheriff. Amazingly, Giancana  explained to his brother that there was nothing to worry about since he was  going to replace the exposed men by sending a "Jack Ruby" to the Texas city. Ruby was to keep a low profile and make his moves very cautiously. What makes this tale so questionable is that this took place in 1946. We are expected to believe that Chuck Giancana would remember his brother mention the name Ruby 17 years before Kennedy was shot. Some memory! Unbelievable.

The authors relate a number of well known Mafia stories Sam Giancana supposedly told Chuck:
* Mooney had a role in the maiming of singer Joe E. Lewis.
* Mooney took over policy rackets from black gangsters.
* The mob won early parole for its top leaders by offering a U.S. Supreme Court seat to the judge.
* Mooney was a CIA operative.
* Mooney saved the life of Joseph Kennedy Sr.
They should have called the book, MOONEY GUMP.

Chuck Giancana was a hanger on in the life of Sam Giancana. In business,  Chuck failed at just about everything he did, and actually blames a 1967 business failure on the pressures created by an investigation into alleged real estate deals by his mobster brother. When Mooney refused to help, claims Chuck, this was the end of the sporadic contact between the two brothers. Unfortunately, it is not the end of the wild assertions by the authors. They state that Sam Giancana set up Robert Kennedy for assassination in California.

It would be interesting to know the real story behind the writing of this book. I have seen the young Sam Giancana interviewed on television and he is an articulate, seemingly intelligent individual. Perhaps he has been sold a bill of goods by his father. Or, perhaps he knows full well that many of these tales are fiction but is simply cashing in on them. I find it irritating that he has a platform to present his many theories without providing documentation or being questioned by an informed interviewer. Perhaps I'm just jealous! Now where is my manuscript telling how the mob arranged the overthrow of Communism in Russia with the help of Jimmy Swaggert and the Beatles?

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