The Brooklyn US Atttorney office is on a roll.....
'Last Don' Reported to Be First One to Betray Mob
By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
Published: January 28, 2005
In a remarkable turn in the long, sometimes colorful history of law enforcement's fight against organized crime, the imprisoned boss of the Bonanno crime family has begun cooperating with federal authorities and has told them about another top Mafia member's proposal to kill a prosecutor, law enforcement officials said yesterday.
The cooperation of one of the official bosses of New York's five Mafia clans is all the more extraordinary because it involves Joseph C. Massino, 62, who was known as the last don, an Old World stalwart who clung to the fading values of honor and omertà, the Mafia's code of silence.
Mr. Massino, who was convicted in July on federal murder and racketeering charges and could face the death penalty if he is convicted in a new pending murder case, secretly recorded prison conversations with another mob figure about the idea of killing the prosecutor, said the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of Mr. Massino's cooperation. The threat led federal authorities to provide the prosecutor with a 24-hour security detail.
The discussions between Mr. Massino and the other mob figure, the Bonanno family's acting boss, Vincent Basciano, were recorded on Jan. 3 and Jan. 7 inside the Metropolitan Detention Center, a federal jail in Brooklyn where both men were imprisoned, according to officials and court papers. Both men were in solitary confinement; it is unclear how or where in the prison they met.
Their conversations are briefly outlined in a murder and racketeering indictment unsealed yesterday against Mr. Basciano, a beauty salon owner who is known as Vinny Gorgeous, in an unrelated killing. It does not cite Mr. Massino by name but refers to two meetings between Mr. Basciano and "a high-ranking member of the Bonanno family" at which the proposal to kill the prosecutor - who handled two cases against Mr. Massino and an earlier case against Mr. Basciano - was discussed. The officials said that the high-ranking member was Mr. Massino.
As the news spread yesterday among law enforcement officials and lawyers who represent organized crime figures, and in the world of the gangsters themselves, most people responded with disbelief. One former Mafia member who himself turned informant in recent years summed up the reaction, shouting "What?" when he learned of the development. "I'm shocked," the onetime mob figure continued in a phone interview. "He seemed like an old-time guy. I never would have thought."
The defense lawyer who represented Mr. Massino in his trial that ended in July, David Breitbart, was skeptical that his former client was cooperating with the government.
"I can't believe Joe Massino is an informant - I just don't buy it," he said.
Mr. Massino's current lawyer, Flora Edwards, would not comment yesterday. Neither would spokesmen for the F.B.I. nor the U.S. attorney's office in Brooklyn.
Several law enforcement officials suggested that Mr. Massino's cooperation so far has been limited largely to his disclosure about what they say was Mr. Basciano's proposal to kill the prosecutor, Greg D. Andres, and the secretly recorded tapes. And it is unclear what Mr. Massino may be seeking - or may have obtained - in exchange for his cooperation with the F.B.I. and Brooklyn federal prosecutors or why he came forward.
He may have been seeking consideration in the death penalty case or perhaps wanted to forestall pending forfeiture proceedings that could leave his family destitute. One former investigator said Mr. Massino might have been prompted to act by Mr. Basciano's proposal, a highly unusual violation of mob protocol, which holds that such killings are to be avoided because of the intense scrutiny they would bring.
It also remains to be seen whether Mr. Massino will be extensively debriefed, as are most Mafia turncoats, but the F.B.I. and federal prosecutors believe they already know much about the Bonanno family because so many of his underlings have already switched sides and testified for the government. Nine former associates, including Mr. Massino's brother-in-law and underboss, testified against Mr. Massino at his trial last summer. |
