Mob ties to steakhouses revealed
Boulder Creek steakhouses are "family" restaurants. The Colombo crime family, that is.
Sal Moscato, a founder of the Long Island-based chain, is a Colombo associate, according to testimony in the murder and racketeering trial of underworld kingpin Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano.
Moscato's name came up when wiseguy-turned-rat Salvatore "Sal the Plumber" Volpe took the stand in Brooklyn federal court to detail the bad blood between Basciano and the man he allegedly ordered rubbed out, Randy Pizzolo.
Asked about his life in the Mafia, Volpe laid out the business advantages -- and disadvantages -- of being connected.
He testified that he did $100,000 worth of work on one of Moscato's eateries seven years ago but collected only $20,000.
"That's it, I'm not paying you no more," he quoted Moscato as saying.
When he complained to his own mob bosses, they gave him the bad news: The 80 percent mob discount would stand.
Volpe, whose business was struggling at the time, was told: "Let it go. You're not getting the money."
Asked by prosecutors whether Moscato, who did not respond to a request for comment, is "an associate of organized crime," Volpe said he's "around Colombo."
"Around" is mob lingo for "associate."
Other mob revelations from turncoats at the trial last week include:
* Feds trying to set up Basciano in 2004 nearly got one of their rats whacked.
Former Bonanno captain James "Big Louie" Tartaglione, who flipped in 2003, was sent by the FBI to record Basciano.
The feds gave him official paperwork about Basciano and told him to explain that he'd gotten it from a court reporter he was sleeping with.
Basciano saw right through the ruse.
"You got one broad giving you paperwork about me?" an incredulous Basciano asked.
* Basciano suggested mob investments in topless clubs and was asked whether he slept with strippers like his counterparts did on "The Sopranos."
"No, absolutely not," the boss admitted.
"I calmed down . . . You wanna know something, believe it or not, wanna know something? I don't. It's not there no more . . . You know what I'm saying?"
Sal Moscato, a founder of the Long Island-based chain, is a Colombo associate, according to testimony in the murder and racketeering trial of underworld kingpin Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano.
Moscato's name came up when wiseguy-turned-rat Salvatore "Sal the Plumber" Volpe took the stand in Brooklyn federal court to detail the bad blood between Basciano and the man he allegedly ordered rubbed out, Randy Pizzolo.
Asked about his life in the Mafia, Volpe laid out the business advantages -- and disadvantages -- of being connected.
Vinny Gorgeous
"That's it, I'm not paying you no more," he quoted Moscato as saying.
When he complained to his own mob bosses, they gave him the bad news: The 80 percent mob discount would stand.
Volpe, whose business was struggling at the time, was told: "Let it go. You're not getting the money."
Asked by prosecutors whether Moscato, who did not respond to a request for comment, is "an associate of organized crime," Volpe said he's "around Colombo."
"Around" is mob lingo for "associate."
Other mob revelations from turncoats at the trial last week include:
* Feds trying to set up Basciano in 2004 nearly got one of their rats whacked.
Former Bonanno captain James "Big Louie" Tartaglione, who flipped in 2003, was sent by the FBI to record Basciano.
The feds gave him official paperwork about Basciano and told him to explain that he'd gotten it from a court reporter he was sleeping with.
Basciano saw right through the ruse.
"You got one broad giving you paperwork about me?" an incredulous Basciano asked.
* Basciano suggested mob investments in topless clubs and was asked whether he slept with strippers like his counterparts did on "The Sopranos."
"No, absolutely not," the boss admitted.
"I calmed down . . . You wanna know something, believe it or not, wanna know something? I don't. It's not there no more . . . You know what I'm saying?"
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