Colombo informant taped mobsters on wristwatch recorder
This mob rat had something up his sleeve that could land his former pals behind bars.
A Colombo family turncoat wore a wristwatch rigged with a hidden, high-tech audio recorder to collect devastating evidence against a pair of wiseguys who allegedly killed a cop.
Reynold Maragni, 60, testified in Brooklyn federal court yesterday that he wore the Dick Tracy-style recorder “an average of twice a week” and made recordings from April to December 2011.
Prosecutors are using the recorded conversations in the murder and racketeering trial of ex-acting street boss Thomas “Tommy Shots” Gioeli, 59, and soldier Dino “Little Dino” Saracino, 39.
Among others, the recordings captured a conversation Maragni had with Colombo mobster Vincent Manzo Sr. about dumping the body of underboss “Wild Bill” Cutolo after he was murdered in 1999.
Manzo is heard on tape implicating Gioeli, Saracino, Dino “Big Dino” Calabro and Joseph “Joey Caves” Competiello in the killing.
“So we had . . . Little Dino, Big Dino and Joey Caves?” Maragni asked after confirming Gioeli was also present.
“Right. They put him [Cutolo] in the car,” Manzo answered.
Maragni testified that he passed handwritten notes when discussing the Cutolo murder because Manzo feared FBI surveillance.
Maragni explained that he wrote down certain sensitive questions for Manzo to answer, because Maragni feared that if he made direct queries about the killing, Manzo would be suspicious.
“I think if I asked him out loud, ‘Did you shoot him?’ it would have tipped him off,” Maragni said on the stand. And at times when they discussed the mob hit, Manzo “would whisper,” Maragni testified.
“We met at the . . . diner. I was wearing a watch that day,” Maragni said on the stand, referring to his secret recorder.
FBI sources said watches became an effective crime-fighting tool once the recorders were tiny enough to be easily concealed.
The devices, known as The Hawk system, can capture hours of conversations at a time that are then transferred to DVDs.
“The technology has progressively gotten better,” a source said, adding that the devices record conversations but don’t transmit them.
“There are times that those transmissions could be picked up by a monitor, and that would compromise the safety of the cooperator,” a second source said. “Depending on how secure they thought it would be, they would have a surveillance team nearby.”
Under cross-examination by Gioeli’s attorney Adam Perlmutter, Maragni admitted that the recorder was sometimes unreliable.
“It was a watch that was malfunctioning. There were times when the recording device ran out of time,” Maragni said, adding that he could turn it on and off.
“There was a button, but unless you pressed a certain button, you couldn’t turn it off. I only turned off the recording device between appointments.”
Gioeli and Saracino are both charged with the murder of NYPD cop Ralph Dols, 28, outside his Brooklyn home in 1997.
The feds say former family acting boss Joel “Joe Waverly” Cacace ordered Dols be whacked because he had married the mobster’s ex-wife, Kim Kennaugh.
Gioeli is being tried on six gangland hits and Saracino on four. Both are accused of killing Cutolo and Dols.
Cacace is facing the death penalty for ordering Dols’ murder and will be tried separately.
A Colombo family turncoat wore a wristwatch rigged with a hidden, high-tech audio recorder to collect devastating evidence against a pair of wiseguys who allegedly killed a cop.
Reynold Maragni, 60, testified in Brooklyn federal court yesterday that he wore the Dick Tracy-style recorder “an average of twice a week” and made recordings from April to December 2011.
Prosecutors are using the recorded conversations in the murder and racketeering trial of ex-acting street boss Thomas “Tommy Shots” Gioeli, 59, and soldier Dino “Little Dino” Saracino, 39.
TIME’S UP: The FBI’s Dick Tracy-like “Hawk” wristwatches are worn by Mafia informants to record hours of conversations.
'I think if I asked him out loud, ‘Did you shoot him?’ it would have tipped him off.' — Reynold Maragni (above), explaining why he exchanged notes during a conversation with Vincent Manzo Sr. about a hit on another mobster
TIME’S UP: The FBI’s Dick Tracy-like “Hawk” wristwatches, which resemble this timepiece (above), are worn by Mafia informants to record hours of conversations.
Manzo is heard on tape implicating Gioeli, Saracino, Dino “Big Dino” Calabro and Joseph “Joey Caves” Competiello in the killing.
“So we had . . . Little Dino, Big Dino and Joey Caves?” Maragni asked after confirming Gioeli was also present.
“Right. They put him [Cutolo] in the car,” Manzo answered.
Maragni testified that he passed handwritten notes when discussing the Cutolo murder because Manzo feared FBI surveillance.
Maragni explained that he wrote down certain sensitive questions for Manzo to answer, because Maragni feared that if he made direct queries about the killing, Manzo would be suspicious.
“I think if I asked him out loud, ‘Did you shoot him?’ it would have tipped him off,” Maragni said on the stand. And at times when they discussed the mob hit, Manzo “would whisper,” Maragni testified.
“We met at the . . . diner. I was wearing a watch that day,” Maragni said on the stand, referring to his secret recorder.
FBI sources said watches became an effective crime-fighting tool once the recorders were tiny enough to be easily concealed.
The devices, known as The Hawk system, can capture hours of conversations at a time that are then transferred to DVDs.
“The technology has progressively gotten better,” a source said, adding that the devices record conversations but don’t transmit them.
“There are times that those transmissions could be picked up by a monitor, and that would compromise the safety of the cooperator,” a second source said. “Depending on how secure they thought it would be, they would have a surveillance team nearby.”
Under cross-examination by Gioeli’s attorney Adam Perlmutter, Maragni admitted that the recorder was sometimes unreliable.
“It was a watch that was malfunctioning. There were times when the recording device ran out of time,” Maragni said, adding that he could turn it on and off.
“There was a button, but unless you pressed a certain button, you couldn’t turn it off. I only turned off the recording device between appointments.”
Gioeli and Saracino are both charged with the murder of NYPD cop Ralph Dols, 28, outside his Brooklyn home in 1997.
The feds say former family acting boss Joel “Joe Waverly” Cacace ordered Dols be whacked because he had married the mobster’s ex-wife, Kim Kennaugh.
Gioeli is being tried on six gangland hits and Saracino on four. Both are accused of killing Cutolo and Dols.
Cacace is facing the death penalty for ordering Dols’ murder and will be tried separately.
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