Hes given up his mob life podcast, but not his life of crime, the feds say. Atasha Chizaah Jefferson also known as Tommie Lee from Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta is a mom of two beautiful girls. He might live to be a hundred." He further testified that his subsequent duties as a made man included bringing around what Gioeli had generated in his basement as the mobs first word-processed induction list. After the owners of a Long Island market closed up for the night, Tommy Shots, Big Dino and Greaves jumped the owners on the street and made off with bags of cash. But shakedowns weren't the only hustle going on. Thomas Salvatore "Tommy Shots" Gioeli (born 1952), is a high-ranking member of the Colombo crime family. Terrible, he said. "Will you put money in my commissary?" The media coverage of the tragic wrong-place-wrong-time murder was intense, and the Daily News reported on January 6 that the slaying marked the "continuation of a mob war to control a nationwide, multibillion-dollar smut ring." But, Basciano pondered; "He's in some shape, Bo. Gioeli entrusted Dino with his first underworld task at some point in 1989 or 1990. There is substantial incentive to authorize and direct his criminal associates to commit violence to preclude their perceived testimony or the testimony of other potential witnesses against him, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Geddes in a NY Daily News report. Years later, Pagan was Graziano's eyes and ears on the street while the elderly capo/consigliere was in a halfway house. Maragni recalled mingling with Tommy Gioeli, William 'Billy' Russo, Dennis DeLucia, Vincent' Jimmy Gooch' Febbraro and Vincent' Downtown Vinny' Manzo, all inducted Colombo gangsters. Tommy Shots first befriended Ren in 2007. [10] Although Alphonse Persico was convicted in 2007 of ordering Cutolo's murder, prosecutors had lacked sufficient evidence then to indict Gioeli. Andrew 'Andy Mush' Russo, who was among the many Colombo gangsters that had migrated their families and their rackets to Long Island, was an influential underworld figure who was then attending various functions with mob bosses across the country on behalf of his imprisoned cousin, boss Carmine 'Junior' Persico. Gioeli the Blogfather protested vehemently when the government filed court papers alleging that his own crimes included unintentionally killing a former nun with a shotgun blast in 1982. Incensed at the blatant breaking of Mafia rules, Carmine Persico requested that Chucky's crew whack them. Talking to Tommy is just like talking to me."). Andre D'Apice, 28, a second-generation wiseguy and cousin of the Persicos. Love, the Gioeli family., With regards to the Colombo crime family, Gioeli protests the prosecution of another alleged boss, 93-year-old Sonny Francese, whose tendency to nod off during court proceedings caused him to become known in the newspapers as the Nodfather.. Archived from the original on 24 January 2011. This attack triggered a bloody internal conflict in the Colombo family between the Persico and Orena factions. Twenty-one years later, Calabro was up on the witness stand fingering Gioeli for murder after murder. Allie became convinced that the aging Lombardo was an undercover informant, and put the plans in motion before his imprisonment to have him murdered. Prosecutors are opposing Thomas (Tommy Shots) Gioeli's request for a prison furlough to attend his . Gioeli has also complained to the court about his dental problems, the poor quality of the jail food, and allegedly unsanitary practices in the dispensation of his medicine. Another perk of Calabro's new title was the routine shakedown of gambling operators in Brooklyn and Long Island. Senior made deals left and right to try and iron things out, but didn't keep his word on any of them and, embarrassed, Gioeli was forced to put him on the shelf. Persico Jr., who hung out with longtime pal Eddie Garofalo at a Spencer Street trucking lot, also branched into classic blue-collar crimes such as loansharking & gambling with his brothers Carmine L. and Danny Persico, and his cousin Andre D'Apice. Along with the foreboding subpoenas which struck enough fear into Gioeli to spur him to consider leaving "the life," the feds were also strengthening their case behind the scenes. To blog from behind bars, Gioeli begins by writing a missive by hand. The feds applied the screws onto Souza to flip, but - through 2007, at least - he held his tongue. The dig saw the Gioeli crew lay low as the family was reeling from continuing federal indictments. 2008. Gioeli certainly has a way with words. A series of family snapshots showing an alleged Colombo mob boss interacting with members of his crime family have taken center stage in the case against Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli. David Gordon, an associate and confidante of Saracino's since the 1990s, was hit with a series of subpoenas in early 2008 for photographs, fingerprints, documents, and testimony relating to the Colombo crime family. He has been remanded for more than three years to the starkly real Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, but he periodically manages a virtual escape into cyberspace, thanks to a restricted email system provided by the federal Bureau of Prisons and to the untiring efforts of a devoted daughter. When one of Gioeli's four daughters was "bothered" by her boyfriend, Competiello said he went to the guy's house and cracked him in the face. After his release, Gioeli became a made member, or full member, of the Colombo family. Gioeli sat in an argyle sweater that looked like it might have come from a truckload of Macys returns the crew had been accused of hijacking. Prosecutors have struck down Thomas Tommy Shots Gioeli's request for a prison furlough in order to attend his daughter Julia's wedding on Dec. 2. Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioeli had his request for a prison furlough to attend his daughter's wedding shot down by a Brooklyn federal judge. Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily. Gioeli then brought the Colombos back into the good graces of New Yorks various other Mafia groups by using longstanding connections to old pals, and helped get approval for his crime clan to officially "induct" new members. On December 22, they convened at the Hilton Hotel and went out to the Club Mirage, at a VIP area that Gioeli had permanently reserved. "What was I going to do in my 40s?" Straightened out at the ripe old age of 64, Vinny Manzo made his bones when he helped out in the hit of Wild Bill Cutolo. This bode well for Gioeli, who was himself straightened out on January 9, 1987, along with two other aspiring gangsters, according to Greg Scarpa. Unfortunately, Little Dino and Tommy Machines discovered on their police scanners that a silent alarm had been tripped, forcing the crew to flee. On March 16, 2008 - Palm Sunday - Maragni was brought to a basement in a makeshift Bronx social club. Ralph Lombardo in 2003 (Source: Gang Land News), Anthony 'Tony Green' Urso in January 2004 (Source: Gang Land News), John 'Sonny' Franzese, 87, looking spry in a 2004 surveillance picture (Source: Gang Land News), Sonny Franzese and Gaetano 'Guy' Fatato in 2004 (Source: Gang Land News), Dino Calabro and Tommy Gioeli pose for a photo (Source: New York Daily News), Michael Uvino in 2007 (Source: Gang Land News), Ralph Scopo Jr. in 2005 (Source: Gang Land News), Little Dino Saracino (Source: NY Daily News), Vincent 'Jimmy Gooch' Febbraro in 2011 (Source: Gang Land News), Daniel Bogan in 2011 (Source: Gang Land News), Paul 'Paulie Guns' Bevacqua (Source: Gang Land News), Mikey and his crew's arrest marked the beginning of the feds' assault on the Calabro crew, which worked upwards, all the way to Gioeli. Saracino made sure that everything Gordon sent through was vetted to protect Little Dino against incrimination. Nothing changed for accused mob bosses and Gioeli was still behind bars at the holidays. Lawyers for the prosecution say the photos (and an address book!) Thats just a rule in the Mafia. Dols had been married to Cacace's ex-wife Kimberly Kennaugh for about a year and had a daughter, who was in infant when he was killed. It was clearly a lapse in judgment for Franzese to trust his son, whom Gang Land had already outed as an informer back in 2000. The Cacace arrest but would all but ensure that the ultraviolent acting boss wouldn't leave prison until he was an old man. To blog from behind bars, Gioeli begins by writing a missive by hand. Colombo Crime Family / Dino Calabro / John Franzese / Thomas Gioeli, Copyright var creditsyear = new Date();document.write(creditsyear.getFullYear()); It was May of 2008. Gioeli has a wife Maureen and owns a home in Farmingdale, New York. But former President D Victoria Gottis mansion featured in the hit reality show Growing Up Gotti has been foreclosed on by a bank, real estate records show. Colombo consigliere Joel Cacace had ordered Dols' death because Dols had recently married Cacace's ex-wife, Kim Kennaugh. For Tommy, the FBI's claim in question was that he picked up Wild Bill on 92nd Street and then, along with former Cutolo henchman Vincent' Chickie' DeMartino, murdered the underboss and dumped his body off a boat in a Long Island marina. northwestern college graduation 2022; elizabeth stack biography. He didn't want anybody having to take the burden of being the "fall guy." "A bunch of people are going to go down," said another source familiar with the case. But from that encounter, Gioeli took a liking to Reynold, and they met up again at Christmastime of that year. While associates close to the street boss were ducking from subpoenas and questioning by federal agents, the chubby 54-year-old maintained a prominent public profile in Brooklyn and Long Island. Basile didn't know Tommy Shots personally, but it was a good start for the feds to begin their investigation of the slippery Colombo boss. By the time Miciotta changed his tune about the hit twenty years later and "remembered" that Tommy Shots and Lollipops were there, the feds decided that it wouldn't stick in court. The same couldn't be said for Anthony Basile, Calabro's old Bensonhurst pal from the '80s and '90s. By 1989, the 36-year-old Tommy was amassing an array of Joker-Poker machines; illegal video gaming devices which he would install (forcibly or otherwise) in local establishments from Brooklyn to Long Island. They went further, probing into the Greaves slaying too, and the Minerva/Imbergamo shooting. Other schemes were plagued with problems. He had apparently had lengthy discussions with lawyers, analyzing the strength of the feds' case, and came to the conclusion that he could take a 17-year plea deal. That's because, after failing to murder the father-and-son pornography tycoons initially, the hit team was forced to pursue them in a random Gravesend property on Lake Street. When Calabro hooked his own crew members to coffee boy jobs, he'd take a hefty fifty/fifty cut, he told the feds. [2], In 1997, Gioeli allegedly participated in the murder of Ralph Dols, a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer. "Calabro kept $1000 for himself; Scopo Jr. took $1500 for himself, and the remaining $7500 went to the Colombo Family Administration" (Thomas Gioeli and John Franzese). On January 7, 2005, turncoat Bonanno boss Joey Massino - who had been wearing a wire in a Brooklyn detention center against his acting boss Vinny Basciano - was shocked to hear news of Franzese's ascension, despite Sonny having held the title of underboss in the 1980s as well. She does a little bit of editing, Gioeli allows. Underboss Jackie DeRoss was finally arrested in 2001, joining Allie Boy, and the pair patiently waited to be hit with the murder of William Cutolo. FBI surveillance of Tommy Gioeli and Paul Bevacqua from April 4, 2001. Perhaps Miciotta, whose central testimony related to the 1991-93 Colombo war, didn't see the relevance in pointing the finger for a crime the feds weren't particularly interested in, or perhaps - as Gioeli and his attorneys have long maintained - the pair weren't actually involved in the murder. If he wasn't at church, Gioeli would hold court while practicing bowling at the Country Line Bowling Alley, just like he did during the Greaves hit. These payments went up to a comfy $10,000 a month after Azzarelli began dabbling into the Joker-Poker business.