Turncoat mobsters resurface out in public and on social media without fears of retaliation
Meet the Tweetfellas. Former mobsters living large, and in public.
Ex-Gambino mobster John Alite tweeted in April that he was outside Citi Field for the Mets’ home opener, and he included a photo of himself clad in a bright orange hoodie.
Three days earlier, the reviled turncoat who has reinvented himself as an author, motivational speaker and seeker of second chances, tweeted that he would be plugging his book “Gotti’s Rules” at 1 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble in Tampa.
The Mafia rat pleads guilty to making himself an easy target for haters, as he lives out in the open — almost taunting mobsters who would rather see him forever silenced.
“Yeah, I’m putting myself in danger, but my options are limited so I hustle day and night,” Alite told the Daily News. “What else can I do to make a living?”
Ex-Gambino mobster John Alite (center) tweeted in April that he was outside Citi Field for the Mets’ home opener, and he included a photo of himself clad in a bright orange hoodie.
Alite, who tweets under @johnalite, bills himself in his Twitter profile as a father, speaker, mentor and survivor.
“I teach people of all ages how to cope with bullying and abuse, and shine a light on the dead end Life I used to lead,” he wrote.
The 52-year-old is a member of a growing cast of media characters, who after completing their government service as informants, have balked at vanishing into America’s heartland with new identities. Instead, they are sticking close — some would say dangerously close — to their stomping grounds and stoking high profiles on social media, personal websites and reality TV shows.
Former NYPD Police Commissioner Howard Safir, who created the witness protection program when he was a top official of the U.S. Marshals Service, said they’re foolhardy if they think they’re getting a pass on the death sentence for violating the mob’s code of silence.
Alite plugging his book “Gotti’s Rules” on Twitter.
“Organized crime is very patient, even if it means it’s going to be years down the road for there to be retribution,” Safir warned.
The old school wiseguys must be spinning in their graves and mausoleums at the audacious behavior of these traitors hiding in plain sight.
Take Frank "Frankie Steel" Pontillo, a 375-pound Colombo associate who was best known for accusing the FBI of traumatizing his little poodle with a concussion grenade before it was learned that the fatso from Staten Island was an informant for federal drug agents.
Pontillo, 44, recently surfaced on an episode of CNBC’s “American Vice” calling himself “Frank Steele” and boldly proclaimed, “I’m a bookmaker and I take sports action . . . It’s hard to get a job on Wall Street. They won’t hire me.”
Frank Pontillo, 44, recently surfaced on an episode of CNBC’s “American Vice” calling himself “Frank Steele” and boldly proclaimed, “I’m a bookmaker and I take sports action . . . It’s hard to get a job on Wall Street. They won’t hire me.”
Defense lawyer George Farkas convinced a federal judge in 2011 to sentence Pontillo to six months of house arrest for buying stolen property — arguing that his client was going into plumbing. Farkas had no idea that Pontillo was a snitch at the time, and he was floored by the mobster’s role on the cable TV show.
“I’ve been practicing law for 45 years and developed a reputation for having an answer to anything, but I haven’t the faintest idea why Frank would do this. It boggles my mind,” Farkas said.
Even the sons of legendary Mafia figures are getting into the act.
Billy Cutolo Jr., the son of slain Colombo capo William "Wild Bill" Cutolo, is Facebook friends with Alite. Cutolo Jr., now a self-proclaimed motivational speaker who has appeared on Mafia documentaries, wore a wire for the feds to nail the high-ranking Colombo mobsters who ordered his father’s death.
Former NYPD Police Commissioner Howard Safir, who created the witness protection program when he was a top official of the U.S. Marshals Service, said they’re foolhardy if they think they’re getting a pass on the death sentence for violating the mob’s code of silence.
Michael Franzese, 63, the handsome ex-Colombo capo, didn’t testify against anyone but he cooperated with the feds years ago before he turned to the ministry, motivational speaking, and TV appearances. He’s currently plugging an upcoming show called “An Evening With The Godfather” while his 98-year-old father, John "Sonny" Franzese, is in the home stretch of a prison bid for racketeering.
“I just hate to be in a category with all the guys who cooperated, informed, went into the program and testified,” Michael Franzese said. “My situation was different. I did what I did in an effort not to inform or testify.”
Lewis Kasman, 58, the so-called “adopted son” of the late Gambino boss John Gotti, was a high-echelon informant for the feds from 1997 to 2010. He’s living in southern Florida and has convinced himself that the Sicilian-run Gambino family today has moved on.
“I think the current leadership wants to forget about me along with the Gottis,” Kasman said.
Lewis Kasman (pictured), 58, the so-called “adopted son” of the late Gambino boss John Gotti, was a high-echelon informant for the feds from 1997 to 2010. He’s living in southern Florida and has convinced himself that the Sicilian-run Gambino family today has moved on.
For now, ex-Bonanno capo Dominick Cicale, 47, who recently co-wrote an e-book about his mob life before ratting, has taken down his Facebook and Twitter feeds, which once featured a photo of him with an unsuspecting Florida Gov. Rick Scott at a fund-raiser.
Not far away in Miami Beach, Chris Paciello, 43, is running nightclubs and a high-end gym after serving only seven years for a brutal home invasion murder as a reward for testifying against a top Colombo boss and helping to put away scores of other goons.
“Organized crime has become a pathetic joke,” said lawyer Barry Levin, who defended mobsters who were put away by Paciello and Cicale. “They’re just little groups of hoodlums and there’s no loyalty anymore.”
“Killing an informant would only bring more heat on the mob than the informant ever could by himself,” Levin added.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/exclusive-mobsters-live-open-social-media-article-1.2225226
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