According to reports Charles Stango, an alleged captain in the New Jersey mafia has agreed to plead guilty to murder for hire charges.
The 73-year-old DeCavalcante crime family mobster was recorded conspiring with other mobsters to have rival wiseguy Luigi Oliveri whacked. An FBI undercover agent also recorded Stango making threats against the mafia rival saying that he should have been put in a wheelchair for the rest of his life and had to meet death. His arrest was part of a three-year sting by the feds that led to charges against 10 members and associates of the Cosa Nostra family in Jersey.
“Charles (Charlie The Hat) Stango”
The plea deal agreed to by Stango calls for him to serve 10 years in prison according to a report from ganglandnews although he could get up to 12 years because of violations of his post-prison release restrictions. DeCavalcante family consigliere Frank Nigro and mob associate Paul Colella were also charged with being accomplices in the murder plot along with drug dealing and prostitution. But all charges against both men were dropped back in August by the U.S. Attorney’s office in a somewhat surprising twist. In a statement, U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said that moving forward with a racketeering prosecution against the duo was not in the interests of the United States at that time.
The feds were able to record conversations between Stango, Nigro, Colella, and the undercover agent discussing the plot to kill Oliveri. According to the reports Stango who was located in Las Vegas at the time wanted Nigro or Colella to get permission from the DeCavalcante family hierarchy in Jersey to whack Oliveri. According to an arrest complaint from FBI agent Robert Conrad Stango who had a hit team ready and waiting was recorded multiple times pressing for an answer but neither Nigro or Colella would commit to the hit being sanctioned. During a recorded call back in February of 2015 Stango told Colella: “I wanna know if it’s a yes, or if it’s a no,” “Colella told Stango that he would try to get an answer for him, and that he would call him back the next day.”
In a call a couple of days later Colella told Stango an unnamed NJ mafia leader said to do what you feel like you should do but Stango wanted a direct answer saying “Go over it again with him and the two of youse decide, whether yes or no’, you know,” according to Conrad. Multiple calls followed between the three but neither mobster would tell Stango that he had the go-ahead to whack Oliveri. This didn’t seem to stop Stango from considering moving ahead with the hit later discussing ways to handle it with the undercover agent like throwing grenades into Oliveri’s business and a staged robbery where he would be shot to death. It seems the rambling of both Nigro and Colella were not enough to the feds to push forward with the charges seeing neither agreed to or passed along orders for the potential mafia hit.
Well it seemed like Stango was done for from the start so no shock he finally cops a plea. Plus those conversations seem to signal that the hierarchy of the DeCavalcante family over in Jersey is still functioning and making policy.
if nigro is the consigliere who is the boss/underboss ? it was a smart move from nigro and colella not to give a direct answer they were probably suspicious.
Some people believe it may be Charles Majuri who currently holds the reigns but it really is unclear as to how exactly has stepped into the role as boss after passing of Guarraci.
How much revenue do you think this family generates these days?
Really hard to put an actual dollar figure out there as so much is unknown and includes a lot of guess work. But the NJ family like most isn’t what it once was so they don’t earn nearly as much as they were 20 yrs ago etc. Plus NJ has crews operating there form the NY families as well so that also lightens the earning power of the DeCavalcante’s some as well.
True. I guess I’m just curious as to how successful they are, versus just being a neighborhood thing. As you mentioned, Luchese’s and Genovese have always had huge presence there. Other families as well, it’s like a damn open city lol.
Yes I think it more or less has become somewhat of an open city in a way. The Gambino’s from recent reports have a strong presence there too and it has been reported by some that the NJ family is now under the Gambino family flag.
I know Gotti had deep connections with them in late 80s, early 90s. So a gambino influence makes sense. Seems to me these guys get the short end of the stick. I mean basically all the NYC families have hands in jersey, how can these guys make a living? It’s not like they could dare challenge a made guy from one of the big three. Hell, a Genovese soldier likely has more influence than a jersey captain. A thousand wise guys all chasing the same nickel.
Exactly!
With Stango already being away in LV and Nigro/Collela really getting okay,could this be away of getting info to “whack” Stango? I mean you can’t kill a Made Guy w/o permission and if you do you get killed. Or has that been “lost ” too,in New Mafia?
I think if Stango had taken things into his own hands and carried out the hit then he could of def faced some kind of action for moving forward without an okay. But doubt it would of led to him getting clipped unless that order came from say the Gambino hierarchy.
I’m pretty ignorant regarding mafia etiquette, but this Stango seems to be made correct, then what the fuck is up with all these made guys getting caught on tape by undercover fbi agents? Like before they discuss incriminating info with non made guys, is it too much to ask them to strip to check if they are wearing a wire? I realize that calling someone out like this is disrespectful and can warrant retaliation, but what can a non made guy really do. If I were in LCN, you can be for sure that I would be careful with who I talked business too, alot of these guys nowadays seem to talk too much….
A lot definitely has changed over the years that is for sure. Plus as you mentioned this wasn’t the smartest move in the world by Stango (who is made, yes) and the others.
when you say alot has changed, do you mean that they aren’t being as safe and proactive as before? Frankly, with the other case involving Merlino and the other guys with the undercover fbi agent, I hope a book or a movie or something could come out documenting everything. Undercover operations are so interesting and fascinating to learn about.
Yes the understanding of staying “low key” and under the radar has definitely been lost on some of the guys today. Now it is of course not as easy to operate today with technology and feds massive budgets and not get caught but one would think this would lead to guys being even more cautious but it doesn’t seem to be the case hence this case against Stango. And your right the latest East Coast LCN case is definitely an interesting twist on things.
in the 70s the music was so loud from the jukebox in carmine persico’s club that you couldn;t hear yourself think ,,
I know this is off-topic but did you ever see the video of Joey when he first got out of jail? TMZ was interviewing him as he was getting into convertible and he was with some other guy. do you happen to know who that guy was by chance ? It was the video where Joey said he was out of the life because there’s too many rats
Hmm if I am thinking of the right video your referring too I think it was Johnny Fratto he was with.
Looked it up. You are correct sir! Read about Fratto, was not familiar with him
He was quite the character that is for sure … Was a regular on Howard Stern for a while.
I agree, you would assume being overly cautious would be a given. The stronger families, made guys are better at staying low key. As mentioned recently, NYC has some old school powerhouses back in charge. I think in this case, Charles probably enjoyed getting his ego stroked and spoke too freely. I can’t imagine he’s wealthy, so his ego and title are all he has.
Joey was pretty careful this time, I think it was the Genovese faction that I actually did more damage. which is surprising but I think Joey was actually the more cautious one. Which is part of the reason he’s out on bail or at least in my opinion .
joey merlino is going to be one of the last flashy mob bosses/capos to exist in the new modern mafia, we know he still has close mob pals in philly but they must be relieved that he isn’t runnin things.. even they’ve went back to old school, keeping low profile.
Joey is definitely still running things in Philly. He’s ruling through Mazzone and Ligambi.
I do agree that they are likely relieved he’s in Florida, less attention in them in philly.
I think there will always be a Joey, gotti, desimone, etc. some just love the spotlight and being a gangster.
Agreed even though its bad for business there will always be that “Joey” type around somewhere.
there will no doubt be egotistic mobsters now and in the future but I don’t see any rising to top from now on, they cant kill their way to the top and their are more zips coming over with different ideas.
Agreed the growing Zip factions will definitely help in that area.
What after they strip search them, then conduct business butt naked? Do you have any idea how small listening devices are these days??
Even if butt naked they could easily slide one of these devices barely under skin. Maybe blare music? Well they also have capability of filtering out sounds. The harsh reality for them is being a criminal is a very risky proposition these days. As far as being cautious of who they do business with, well unless they ve known person forever, under covers and informants probably have fictions info put out to make them look even safer to do business with. Without doing business with new people/fresh opportunities they’d be starved out in no time.
Not to mention any good racket they conceive the govmt eventually hands over to big business and taxes. Be it lotto/numbers. drugs/opiate meds. Gambling/Casinos. Etc.
I definitely agree modern times make it infinitely more difficult. Couple this with RICO laws, brutal sentences, the mafia from 30-80’s is over. It will likely never reclaim that power, revue and most certainly political connections.
As mentioned, Three of the five NYC families are flourishing, relatively speaking of course. The war on terror has taken much of the spotlight off the mafia. These three families in particular have woven themselves into a copious amount of legitimate businesses . They even pay taxes, they are smarter than the street guys who were running things for a bit. My loquacious post is to say this. There is clearly still an effective way to flourish within the mafia. It’s why three very powerful mafia bosses haven’t seen a jail cell in 8-15 years.
stop talking on the phone for starters.
Lol. Yeah, I can understood to a point when they get busted in face to face meetings. Part of risk they take surviving by committing crimes. As far as conducting any criminal activity over fun should have been stopped over 20 years ago. That’s before giving countless others access to your phone via apps.
Exactly … if you must use phones and it cannot be avoided make sure they are burners.