Trial of 1980 Brooklyn mob rubout to feature a who's who of Mafia snitches
December 21, 2010 Dapper_Don
If you believed the mob rats, the Villa66 restaurant in Brooklyn must have been crowded with hit men the morning a shotgun blast blew away gangster Gerard Pappa.
Stoolies have fingered more than six killers responsible for the July 10, 1980, rubout of Pappa as he ate breakfast, sources said.
The challenge for federal prosecutors is none of them was reputed Bonanno soldier Armando Rea - who goes on trial next month for Pappa's killing.
Former Bonanno underboss Salvatore (Good Looking Sal) Vitale recalled that Rea was tapped to kill someone in the late 1980s because it was believed Rea had not earned his bones - killed anyone - yet.
Genovese turncoat Salvatore (Big Sal) Miciotta said a pair of Colombo hit men carried out the hit.
Frank Gioia, a Luchese family canary, claimed it was a wiseguy in his crime family who whacked Pappa in the Borough Park eatery.
Former Luchese crime boss Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso told the feds that the late Genovese boss Vincent (Chin) Gigante gave the contract to a member of his crime family who put together a hit team.
Casso was caught in so many lies prosecutors didn't call him as a witness at Gigante's trial in 1997 and Chin was acquitted of ordering Pappa's murder.
"There have been allegations of multiple shooters and now the government is trying to rewrite history," Rea's lawyer, John Meringolo, argued in Brooklyn Federal Court last week.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Cristina Posa shot back: "Mr. Rea doesn't have to be the shooter to be guilty."
Witnesses who saw the gunman fleeing Villa66 with the murder weapon wrapped in a red tablecloth described someone taller than Rea - who is only 5-feet-7 - but was accompanied by a short chubby guy, which matches Rea's description.
Prosecutors and Meringolo say they will each call a cavalcade of infamous mob turncoats to testify, with each side pitting their rats against the other.
Rea, who lives in Las Vegas and claims he's broke, began sobbing loudly in court during discussions about his numerous medical issues.
Meringolo denied that unindicted co-conspirator Ronald (Ronnie Mozzarella) Carlucci is paying Rea's legal tab after an FBI agent spotted the high-powered lawyer's Maserati parked in Carlucci's driveway.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2010/12/21/2010-12-21_battle_of_the_rats_trial_in_80_bklyn_mob_rubout_to_feature_a_whos_who_of_mafia_s.html#ixzz18mNWF2W3
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