Key Colombo Snitches Include Capo, Two Soldiers say Feds
Joel CacaceThe feds’ big takedown of the Colombo family leadership last week was aided by key wiseguys turning rat — among them a captain, Dino "Big Dino" Calabro, and two soldiers, Sebastiano "Sebby" Saracino and Joseph "Joey Caves" Competiello, a source said yesterday. But there are even more rats yet unidentified — "multiple cooperators'' who together made "hundreds of hours of recordings ... over the past three years," according to another source and court documents.
Calabro may be one of the main Colombo informants.
Last week, the FBI finally managed to arrest reputed mobster Anthony Coladra on charges related to an old double-murder in which Calabro participated.
Federal prosecutors charged Colandra with lying to the feds about the March 1992 Long Island murder of Colombo soldier John Minerva and Michael Imbergamo, his friend, during a factional war. Colandra had allegedly told investigators he was at a bar at the time of the killings.
In fact, "several cooperating witnesses, including his former co-conspirators, will testify that Colandra in fact did commit the murders and that Colandra even bragged about doing so," wrote Brooklyn Assistant US Attorney Elizabeth Geddes in a court document.
Calabro, who is in the federal witness-protection program, has already been charged in that double hit.
Colandra, who plans to fight the charges, appeared in Brooklyn federal court yesterday and was released on bail.
Another court hearing yesterday also suggested that Calabro may be a major rat.
During the court session, a judge heard how a Colombo captain wore a wire while supervising a subordinate and discussing the details of mob business — and a law-enforcement source later confirmed that the snitch was Calabro.
On the wiretap, Colombo soldier Ralph Scopo, Jr. can be heard discussing his shakedown of a union, prosecutors said.
A judge ordered that Scopo be detained without bail. Scopo’s lawyer insisted his client is innocent.
Meanwhile, another Colombo mobster arrested in last week’s sweep was Calabro’s own brother, Anthony "Nooch" Calabro, raising questions about whether "Big Dino" may eventually testify against his own sibling.
Calabro had originally cut a deal with the feds over the 1997 murder of cop Ralph Dols, who was killed after the officer married another gangster’s ex-wife.
The marriage reportedly angered the woman’s former husband, onetime Colombo consigliere Joel "Joe Waverly" Cacace, who allegedly ordered the August 1997 hit of the off-duty officer as he returned to his Brooklyn home.
Calabro was charged with the murder, as was Saracino’s brother, Dino "Little Dino" Saracino. Calabro’s wife Andrea, has already helped the feds by obtaining photo albums from the home of Colombo acting boss Thomas "Tommy Shots" Gioelli, presumably showing mob ties between reputed members.
"Sebby" Saracino, who turned rat last month and is expected to testify against his brother, "Little Dino," also played a role in helping the feds in the recent Colombo case, a source confirmed. So did Competiello, who has been charged several mob rubouts, the source confirmed.
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