Honour amongst thieves, a term that used to mean something to someone in organised crime circles decades ago, well for the most part anyway. For someone fully entrenched in a life of crime, talking to the police and telling on your friends is the ultimate in disloyalty and a sign of weakness. You know exactly what you are getting into when you decide to walk that road and live outside the law, everyone does. Co-operating witnesses seem to be the norm nowadays but back in the day, in the golden era of the mob they weren't so prevalent. There are some though, from that era who decided to betray their oath to the mob and their partners in crime. Here are The True Crime Page Podcast's TOP FIVE BIGGEST RATS IN MOB HISTORY
While serving time with mob boss Vito Genovese for drug trafficking in 1962, Valachi received a kiss on the cheeks from Genovese, something he took to be a kiss of death.
Paranoid and waiting for an imminent attack, Valachi armed himself with a metal pipe he found in the prison. He bludgeoned a fellow inmate to death he believed was going to kill him.
After being arrested for the attack, Valachi decided to turn over information on the mafia and co-operate with the authorities. Although his testimony never led to any major arrests, he did for the first time admit to the existence of the mafia and even gave it a name "Cosa Nostra" (Our Thing) in English. Valachi exposed to the public, the inner workings of Cosa Nostra, the structure of the families, bosses and other members and rituals. This was devastating to the mafia. A hundred thousand dollar bounty was put on Valachi's head by Vito Genovese.
Valachi lived out the remainder of his years at the Federal Correctional Institution, La Tuna, in Anthony, Texas. He passed away on April the 3rd in 1971 from a heart attack outliving his mafia boss Vito Genovese by two years. The contract on his head was never collected.
Murder Inc was a group of ruthless assassins responsible for hundreds of murders throughout the 1930s and 1940s. Abe Reles was one of their most feared killers. After being implicated in numerous killings and facing the electric chair in1940, Abe decided to save his own skin and squeal on his friends and fellow assassins.
Becoming a government witness and turning over damaging information to the authorities; Abe Reles implicated his boss Lepke Buchalter, Louis Capone, Mendy Weiss, Harry Maione, Harry Strauss, Frank Abbandando, Irving Nitzberg, and even his childhood friend "Buggsy" Goldstein. All of them would die in the electric chair.
Abe Reles threw all his friends under the bus to save his own skin, and his next target would be the most feared mobster in Murder Inc; Albert Anastasia. This would prove to be his undoing. There was no way the mob would sit back and let Abe Reles get away with such treachery.
On November the 12th 1941, while being guarded in his room at the Half Moon Hotel by five police officers. Abe was reported to have fallen to his death while trying to escape, by climbing out of his hotel room down bedsheets he had tied together. The scene looked like it had been rigged to make it look like an escape. Reles hadn't shown any indication of trying to escape during this time.
Police had clearly been brided to step aside and let someone into the room. Once in there, they threw Abe "Kidd Twist" Reles out of his hotel window to his death. A newspaper gave him the very apt title of "The Canary Who Could Sing, But Couldn't Fly."
Phil was the nephew of probably the most notorious and violent mob boss in Philadelphia history; Nicky Scarfo.
Leonetti climbed the mob rankings along with his feared uncle, eventually being promoted to underboss by Scarfo in what was the bloodiest time in the Philidelphia mob scene. Scarfo had dozens of people whacked in this period and Phil Leonetti participated in many of them. After making millions and rising to second in command the law finally caught up with the family in 1989.
After being sent down for 45 years in a 1989 racketeering case along with his uncle, Leonetti decided he couldn't do the time and decided to co-operate and testify against his fellow members in Cosa Nostra including his own uncle. He also admitted to ten murders allowing him to be released in just five years time. After being released Leonetti went into hiding and has been ever since, only making a few appearances on TV in which he was heavily concealed wearing a disguise on both occasions.
In interviews, Leonetti tries to portray himself as someone who believed he was doing the right thing for his family. Only killing bad people who wanted to hurt him and his crime family. That's nonsense, Cosa Nostra is and always will be all about money and power. Phil did very well during his heyday, he made millions, climbed the mob rankings to second in command and murdered at least ten people along the way.
Interestingly after being released from prison, he married the former girlfriend of Vincent Falcone, whom he murdered in 1979.
To this day Phil Leonetti lives in hiding, in fear for his life. His uncle, Nicky Scarfo died in prison in 2017 at the age of 87.
In 2004 Bonanno crime family boss, Massino was facing murder charges and further racketeering charges including arson, extortion, loansharking, illegal gambling and money laundering. Facing a oneway trip to death row he decided to flip and co-operate. This is something you would not expect from a boss of a crime family, someone who is supposed to be so entrenched in this life; other bosses kept their mouths shut and went away for life.
With the prospect of a trip to death row though, self-preservation kicked in and the boss decided to become an informer. Massino gave up the shooters in the 1981 three capos murder, a crime he himself had organised after fear of a power struggle within the Bonanno crime family. One of the shooters, Canadian mob boss, Vito Rizzuto was sent down for ten years as a result. Massino also agreed to wear a wire and try to get Bonanno acting boss, Vincent Basciano to admit that he had conspired to have a prosecutor, Greg Andres murdered. Instead, Massino recorded Basciano admitting to ordering the murder of Randy Pizzolo, something that landed him a life sentence.
Joseph Massino now lives under witness protection and will do for the rest of his life.
In 1985 after conspiring with John Gotti, Sammy played a key roll in planning the murder of Gambino boss, Paul Castellano. Having Castellano killed, John Gotti took control of the family and Gravano eventually rose to Underboss.
Gravano made millions during his time in the mob and was known to be greedy. Anyone who stood in his way of making money or became a concern would be killed without hesitation. Gravano had friends murdered, at one point even his own brother-in-law Nicholas Scibetta. All that was found of his brother-in-law was an arm after being dismembered.
Sammy The Bull's worst crime would have to be the killing of an innocent teenager who had absolutely nothing to do with organised crime. 16-year-old, Alan Kaiser was an innocent kid minding his own business on Kings Highway in Brooklyn when Sammy Gravano and Louie Milito tricked him into walking over closer to the car so that they could kill him. The teenager was killed in what was a case of mistaken identity. These two psychos didn't even stop for a second to look at how young and innocent Alan was, no questions asked, and just killed him in the street. Gangsters killing gangsters is one thing but killing an innocent kid who had nothing to do with organised crime is totally cruel and savage to the core.
In December of 1990 after years of pursuit, the law finally caught up with the Gambino family, John Gotti, Sammy Gravano, and Frank Locascio were all arrested at the Ravenite Social Club. They were denied bail. During this time tapes were played and John Gotti was heard making unflattering comments about Sammy. Implicating him in murders and saying that he was too greedy. This apparently infuriated Gravano and according to him was the reason he decided to inform and turn state evidence in 1991. Gravano believed Gotti was setting him up so he turned on his boss and fellow members of crime. This was not the case. The only mistake John Gotti made was being caught on tape talking too much, he would never have co-operated in a million years. The Tapes gave Gravano an excuse to take the easy way out and dump everyone else in jail for a long time. Gravano's testimony sent down dozens of mob guys for long prison sentences. He himself, after admitting to 19 murders only did 5 years then was released into witness protection.
Gravano didn't like living in the witness protection program, he did not like the constraints on his freedom and opted to leave it and live out in the open after just a few years. Old habits die hard though and by the late 90s, the former Underboss of the Gambino crime family drifted back into a life of crime. He started a major ecstasy drug-dealing operation, selling thousands of ecstasy tablets earning as much as $500000 a week. The police caught up once again with The Bull in 2001 after informants implicated Gravano in his own drug ring. Sammy The Bull Gravano was sent down for 20 years for his part in the drug ring. He was released early in September 2018 and is now a free man again. Some could say that he is extremely lucky and privileged to be walking the streets again after the life he has led.
Sammy The Bull Gravano is set to be on the Valuentertainment YouTube channel this coming Friday the 18th of October. This is certainly going to be an explosive interview and I know for a fact there are going to be a lot of people upset and angry once it hits the internet, and I'm not surprised! Sammy Gravano is a career criminal, gangster, cold-blooded killer, treacherous to his core and my biggest rat in mob history!
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