Pasta conversation sends Bonanno Boss back to jail for parole violation
Reputed Bonanno mob boss Michael “The Nose’’ Mancuso is headed back to the slammer for 11 months — thanks partly to a phone chat with an alleged fellow wiseguy about making pasta “gravy.”
Mancuso, 68, who was released in 2019 after serving a decade in prison for signing off on a murderous hit, also had been using his girlfriend’s Long Island eyeglass shop as a meet-up spot to huddle with mob types and chowed at eateries with them, prosecutors said.
All of the occasions were no no’s, since Mancuso has been barred from any contact with other convicted felons.
“Are you gonna do the gravy today or make the sauce?” Mancuso asked reputed Colombo soldier Michael Urvino on an Oct. 24, 2020, wiretapped call, according to a transcript previously presented by prosecutors in court to argue Mancuso was violating his release provisions.
Urvino responded, “No, I’m making it in the morning … cause we’re not gonna eat early. What time you want to eat tomorrow?”
“The Nose” responded, “I don’t care, five o’clock or so?”
The conversation appears innocent, given that other times Mancuso allegedly used code words for Mafia business, the feds flagged it up in the papers.
But the Italian food chit-chat was still taboo, since Urvino was convicted of racketeering, illegal gambling and conspiracy.
Mancuso attended his Brooklyn federal court hearing over the violations Friday — accompanied by eyeglass purveyor and girlfriend Laura Keller — and was slapped with the additional prison time over the forbidden contact with the reputed La Cosa Nostra members.
Mancuso used Keller’s Great Neck eyeglass shop Real Eyes Optical “as a meeting place” while he tried to cover up his rendezvous with the alleged fellow wiseguys, prosecutors said in court papers in May.
In some of Mancuso’s calls, others could be heard “talking about Mafia business,” prosecutor Michael Gibaldi said during the Friday hearing as he asked the judge to put Mancuso away for another two years.
Gibaldi said Mancuso attended “at least one dinner where Mafia business was discussed” and added that he had “significant concerns about these contacts.”
Mancuso went to one Oct. 7, 2020, dinner at Elmont’s Salvatore’s restaurant that was attended by Uvino, Colombo captain Vincent Ricciardo, convict David Del Franco, Gambino associate Vito Cortesiano and convict Joseph Russo, the feds claim.
But Mancuso’s lawyer, Stacy Richman insisted that while he may have violated the conditions of his release, he had committed “no crimes.”
Brooklyn federal Judge Nicholas Garaufis told Mancuso he must surrender Sept. 6 to serve the new prison term.
“In between now and then, there are no dinners,” the judge said.
“This isn’t about someone who is jumping a turnstile,” Garaufis said. “This is about being in touch with individuals or members who are associated with organized crime or have a history of felonies.”
The judge also said that when Mancuso gets out, he can’t go back to the eyeglass shop during his three years of supervised release.
Mancuso went to prison after pleading guilty to murder conspiracy for signing off on the hit of Bonanno associate Randolph Pizzolo in 2004 when he was acting boss.
Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano had ordered the murder while he was locked up because Pizzolo was considered reckless and disobedient and Mancuso had Dominick Cicale carry out the deed.
https://nypost.com/2023/07/28/reputed-bonanno-mobster-heading-back-to-prison-thanks-partly-to-pasta-sauce-chat/
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