Mobster Vinny Gorgeous complains over his court issued baloney sandwich
Vinny Gorgeous had a question about the baloney sandwich he got in court Wednesday: Where's the beef?
The U.S. Marshal Service's ration of a single slice of deli meat between two slices of bread wasn't enough for former Bonanno boss Vincent Basciano.
So he brought the meaty issue to Federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis.
"He wants a sandwich from the Carnegie Deli?" the judge asked.
Defense lawyer George Goltzer said Basciano, who faces the death penalty if convicted of ordering the murder of mob associate Randolph Pizzolo, merely wants a sandwich from the courthouse cafeteria.
Goltzer said he would spring for the sandwich after prosecutor Taryn Merkl objected to the government footing the bill; taxpayers already have shelled out more than $4 million for Basciano's defense.
Wednesday's trial menu also featured evidence about a mob wedding and testimony from an ex-Bonanno thug who was a no-show at Pizzolo's rubout.
Prosecutors played a surveillance video of a New Rochelle catering hall where the Bonannos gathered in December 2001 for the wedding of soldier Emmanuel "Manny from the Bronx'" Guaragna's son.
Several days after the nuptials, investigators seized a gift list from Guaragna's Bronx apartment.
Then-boss Joseph Massino gave $300; Basciano and his then-wife, Angela, also gave $300; future acting boss Salvatore "Sal the Ironworker" Montagna kicked in $500, as did capo Anthony "T.G." Graziano. Underboss Salvatore Vitale coughed up a measly $200.
Less festive was the pathetic testimony of mob rat Giuseppe "Joey" Gambina, who graphically described beating a deadbeat with a hammer but said he balked at whacking Pizzolo because of a sore back.
Gambina, who received the order from a capo and a soldier and did not know who put a contract on Pizzolo, said he was once admonished by Basciano for kissing him on both cheeks.
"He said, 'We don't kiss in public no more,'" Gambina said.
Gambina pointed out Basciano in court as the "gentleman with salt-and-pepper hair," prompting a shrug from the stylish gangster.
True to form, on the day Basciano was arrested in 2004 on racketeering charges, he expressed gratitude the feds came for him around 9 a.m. instead of banging on his door at the crack of dawn, FBI agent Michael Breslin testified.
"He said, 'You let me get all dolled up first,'" Breslin recalled.
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