Trial starts for acting Bonanno boss and consigliere

Trial starts for acting Bonanno boss and consigliere

  February 25, 2019    Dapper_Don

---

A trial starting Monday against the accused acting boss of the Bonanno crime family and his consigliere will likely feature a scorched-earth attack on two mob rats who allegedly had a cozy relationship with the feds and the NYPD.

Joseph "Joe C" Cammarano and John "Porky" Zancocchio are accused of extortion and racketeering conspiracy.

Two mob rats, Peter "Pug" Lovaglio and Steven Sabella, are expected to be key witnesses against the alleged gangsters.

Joseph "Joe C" Cammarano

Filings in Manhattan Federal Court by Zancocchio's attorney John Meringolo have alleged that prosecutors improperly shared information with Lovaglio and allowed Sabella to post menacing messages on the Facebook page of Zancocchio's daughter.

An FBI agent on the case was captured in a wiretapped conversation with Lovaglio describing the Verrazzano Bridge as the "g----a gangplank," and Meringolo wrote to the court that it was "an obviously prejudicial reference to Italian-Americans such as the defendants in this case."

Judge Alvin Hellerstein has rejected defense efforts to have the case dismissed over the cooperators' interactions, but the defense will seek to bring them up when the men are on the stand.

Prosecutors have written that there was nothing improper in authorities' interactions with the cooperators, and that Meringolo is attempting to distract the court by creating a sideshow.

Cammarano is accused of orchestrating a conspiracy revolving around extortion, drug dealing and violence. The son of a mob underboss who died in prison, Cammarano reportedly took over in 2015 as acting boss. The Brooklyn native once served in an elite patrol unit of the Navy on a nuclear submarine.

Zancocchio is accused of loansharking and extortion and being involved in the racketeering conspiracy.

The trial is expected to last three weeks.

https://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/ny-metro-bonanno-trial-cooperators-20190222-story.html