The Lucchese crime family was the target of a massive federal indictment back in may that included nineteen members and associates.
The Cosa Nostra families current hierarchy which consists of Street Boss Matthew Madonna, Underboss Steven Crea Sr., and Consigliere Joseph DiNapoli were among those charged. The members of the administration along with capos Dominic Truscello and John Castelucci and several alleged soldiers were charged with racketeering, murder, loan sharking, narcotics, and other offenses. Included in these charges is the 2013 mafia hit in the Bronx of former Purple Gang leader Michael Meldish. When these kinds of indictments against the mafia occur they are usually aided by the help of informants from inside of the crime families and it seems this one is no different. The Lucchese family is once again plagued by turncoats and according to reports many of them are relatives of wiseguys.
“Steven Crea and Matthew Madonna”
So far there are at least three relatives of Lucchese family mobsters that have been cooperating with the feds over the past few years. Robert Spinelli the brother of reputed Lucchese soldier Michael (Baldy Mike) Spinelli began cooperating with the feds back in 2012 supplying the feds with secretly recorded conversations all the way up until this year. It was also reported that mob associate Joseph Foti the brother of another Lucchese wiseguy had been wearing a wire and recording conversations between his mafia pals before and after the Meldish hit took place. The latest rat to emerge is the son of Lucchese soldier James Pasqua Jr. who turned on his father and the organized crime family after he was busted for smuggling drugs into prison last year according to a recent Ganglandnews report.
It seems that Pasqua’s son was a snitch for the feds from behind bars using his father’s name to get close to Londonio and record conversations while they were both doing time in the Metropolitan Correctional Center. As the evidence continues to mount and the number of turncoats increases against the Lucchese family members heading to trial it seems like they are facing an uphill battle. While the feds have had mixed results of late when it comes to cases against the New York mafia this one would certainly be a big one to add to the win column. With the Lucchese families current official boss Vittorio (Vic) Amuso also behind bars, this indictment if it leads to extended prison sentences for the rest of the administration would be a major blow to a crime family that just recently seemed to be stabilizing itself.
Well the more we hear about this case and the more information that comes out seems to point to these guys being in a real bad spot here. Hard to imagine that Crea and the rest of those guys beat this case with so many rats bringing hundreds of hours of recording and testimony to the table. Sure seems like the families entire administration is probably headed to prison for quite some time and the family may need to move on finding people to step into those roles. Def a big blow to the Lucchese’s because guys like Crea etc will be hard to replace.
Bonanno associate Ricky Kessler and Lucchese associates James Pasqua III, Joseph Foti, and Robert Spinelli have flipped. For those who think that the rat fest is over, this may be a hard pill to swallow. Now some may point out that these guys aren’t made men but I don’t think it makes much of a difference. They’re potential made men, associates to my understanding are supposed to be the future of a crime family. All I can say is what pussies these 4 men are. I hate to even call them men. I have heard every excuse in the book for turning rat and the fact is there aren’t any excuses. Saying that you flipped because of all of the treachery etc is equivalent to someone joining the military and complaining about getting sent to Iraq. You knew what the fuck you were signing up for before you joined.
Not sure they were considered as the future of the family but they clearly were guys that were let into various conversations and even operations could have potentially become made guys which also were clearly mistakes. The Lucchese fam def has quite a mess on their hands now. And I completely agree these guys know the game before they join in and those excuses are ridiculous.
I disagree that the Lucchese family has just recently began stabilizing. They’ve been stabilized for quite a few years now. Regardless of what happens with this case you have to give the Lucchese family credit as they’ve hung in there for at least 17 years (nearly 2 decades) before being taken down. For the 21st Century where everyone seems to claim that the Mafia is dead, that’s a pretty good run.
you cant even trust your family members, this will be a sore one but the lucchese’s should never let an unmade man be in consistent contact with the hierarchy. PLUS murder will always grab the law enforcement attention
Put em all in small cages for the rest of their lives….They don’t belong in civilized society…
An Italian calls it snitching…A normal, ethical person calls it ‘telling the truth’.