MOB TALK: On May 25, 2019, American mobster & consigliere of the Bonanno crime family, Anthony “TG” Graziano died.
- mobtalk247
- Jun 17
- 10 min read
On May 25, 2019, American mobster & consigliere of the Bonanno crime family, Anthony “TG” Graziano died. Graziano was born on November 12, 1940 in New York. When asked by a judge how far he got in school, Graziano answered "about the 7th grade". Before his school days were over, Graziano had taken to a life of crime, which eventually saw him joining the Bonanno Crime Family. In the Bonanno Family, Graziano climbed the ranks & by 1990, authorities had him listed as a capo. In April of 1990, Graziano pled guilty to evading $100k in taxes & hiding assets, by having them listed in names other than his own. He was sentenced to prison. In 1993 he finished his sentence & was once again a free man.
In 1994, Graziano ordered his Brooklyn crew to find & kill John Pappa, a wannabe wiseguy with the tough Colombo family, & his sidekick, Calvin Hennigar. Pappa’s father, Gerard "Pappa Bear," was 1st a Colombo associate, & then a Genovese crime family soldier, who ran in a circle that included such notable mobsters as Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso & Salvatore "Sammy The Bull" Gravano (Pappa & Gravano were both members of the Rampers street gang). Pappa Senior had grown up in Bensonhurst, alongside Gravano, Casso, & Frank “Frankie Cheech” DeCicco. While Gaspipe & Sammy The Bull went on to gain high ground & became infamous mafia turncoats, Pappa’s career was cut short, when he was murdered in 1980, on Genovese crime family powerhouse, Vincent "Chin" Gigante's orders, for committing 2 unsanctioned killings. Pappa Sr. murdered Thomas "Shorty" Spero & mob associate Richard Scarcella. He buried both bodies in the concrete foundation of a building he owned, which was being totally renovated. Pappa hated Scarcella so much, he was said to have buried him underneath the concrete floor where the toilet bowl was to be located, just so that every time someone went to the bathroom, they'd be pissing or shitting on his face.
On July 1980 a crew of Colombo shooters got Pappa in the Villa 66 Restaurant in Brooklyn, in a vendetta in Shorty's name, in a hit that was sanctioned by Gigante. The gunmen were Dominick “Little Dom” Cataldo & nephews Nicholas & Joseph Cataldo Jr., also the sons of Colombo mobster Joseph “The Wop” Cataldo. Knowing Pappa's vicious reputation, they came with a mini-arsenal. But they knew how hard Gerard would be to kill, being that he was always armed, very fast, & very game. The trio hid in the luncheonette's kitchen & when Gerard Pappa arrived, he was shot from behind. The sawed-off shotgun hit, literally blew his head to pieces, killing him instantly. Sammy Gravano would later speak of feeling great sadness & remorse for the lost of his childhood friend. Gigante was put on trial for ordering the murder in 1997, but was acquitted.
Like his father, Ralph "Little Ralphie" Scopo Sr., & other members of the Colombo family, John Scopo was an official in unions representing the city’s cement & concrete workers, authorities said. During the 1980s, federal prosecutors accused the family of extorting payoffs from concrete contractors, by threatening them with work & delivery stoppages. Ralph Scopo also was a member of an elite ″Mafia Commission″, which acted as the equivalent of a mob board of directors. The commission ordered murders, collected payoffs, & oversaw a powerful nationwide network of extortionists & loan sharks. The elder Scopo was convicted on federal charges in The Mafia Commission Trial on November 19, 1986 & was ordered to serve 100 years in prison & pay a $240k fine on January 13, 1987. 11 organized crime figures, including the heads of New York City's "5 Families", were originally indicted by United States Attorney Rudolph “Rudy” Giuliani under the RICO Act, & Ralph was 1 of the 8 convicted with virtual death sentences. He died from natural causes on March 9, 1993, while serving his sentence at United States Penitentiary, Lewisburg, in Pennsylvania.
Authorities gave this account of Ralph’s son John’s slaying: “Joseph Scopo & 2 companions, his 25-year-old nephew, Dominick Logozzo, & his future son-in-law, 27-year-old Angelo Barone, dined out together 1 night. They returned to Scopo’s home in a car parked in front & began chatting. Moments later, gunmen, who had staked out the home in a stolen car, approached & opened fire with a Mac-10 automatic pistol & a .380 automatic pistol. Scopo tried to flee, but fell to the pavement, after which he was hit twice in the stomach & once in the chest.” Several neighbors heard the gunfire & called 911. Logozzo was treated at a hospital for a gunshot wound to the arm; Barone wasn’t hurt. None of the victims were armed. A few blocks away, police found the stolen car & the Mac-10 with a silencer. The gunmen, described only as 2 to 3 men in their 30s, got away.
The Colombo War provided John Pappa with an opportunity to prove himself, an effort that he believed would end with him becoming a made member of the Colombo crime family. But between the Scopo hit & his perceived induction, Pappa revealed just how viscous & heartless he really was, by brutally murdering his own friends. He finally exposed himself to law enforcement, by running his mouth about his gangster prowess, to gain swagger with his elders. His mob associates testified, that he made repeated admissions about murder, drug dealing, & assorted mayhem in the early 1990s. In addition to the Scopo slaying committed to enhance Pappa’s reputation (so he could eventually earn his “stripes” with the Colombo family), he plotted to kill former cohorts, his own friends, whom he felt had betrayed him, by trying to steal his thunder. Pappa murdered the 3, who were accomplices in the Scopo murder, because he felt they were trying to take credit from him, for what he incorrectly perceived to be the war-winning murder of a feared capo/Orena loyalist.
John Sparacino was lured to the home of Colombo associate Calvin Hennigar, who murdered Sparacino. (Hennigar would go down too, having been convicted with Pappa.) Pappa was so enraged that his would-be victim was already dead by the time he arrived at Hennigar’s, that he mutilated the body. He tried to cut-off Sparacino’s face, before setting the body on fire in a stolen car on Aug. 15, 1994. (Pappa & Hennigar used to eat dinner at Sparacino’s house, the meals prepared by Sparacino’s mother, who considered Pappa & Hennigar to be among her son’s best friends. Pappa was in her other son’s bridal party when arrested....)
Pappa killed Eric Curcio, shooting him to death in Curcio’s auto body shop, on October 4, 1994. Pappa actually described the deed over the phone to a confederate. “He started making the sounds of gunshots on the phone," said a witness testifying at Pappa's trial. “Boom boom boom boom boom boom boom boom,' then he'd stop for a second, start laughing & do it all over again, 'boom boom boom boom boom boom.'" When asked what he was thinking at the time, the witness replied: "This guy's nuts." In June 1994, it was time for associate Rolando Rivera to die.
John Pappa would be convicted of racketeering, drug dealing, & 4 murders, 1 of which was the 12th & final killing of the Colombo family war. The other 3 murders were guys that were killed just for getting between Pappa & what he believed was his rightful street credit, which he believed was going to get him his button. Instead, he got hit with a viscous prison sentence as his reward. The judge sentenced the wannabe mobster to life in prison. What made it even worst for Pappa, was due to his young age, he has the dubious distinction of potentially serving 1 of the longest sentences in U.S. criminal history.
When armed agents arrived to arrest him during a wedding rehearsal, Pappa, 1 of the bridal party members, ran inside St Ann's church, with everyone there at the rehearsal looking on. The young hoodlum pulled out a 9-mm while making his dash. “Don't shoot! Give it up!", an FBI agent yelled. “Oh my God, he's got a gun!", a young woman inside the church screamed. Agents & cops closed in, guns drawn. Pappa tossed the handgun under a pew & surrendered. At the young age of just 22, Pappa was grabbed at the rehearsal on Staten Island. (He had murdered the brother of the man getting married, along with 2 others.) Pappa believed the trio were actually trying to steal "street cred". The best part of his story, is that Pappa never became a made man in the Colombo, or any other, family, for that matter. The FBI agents arrested him. During processing a photograph captured the tattoo Pappa wears on his upper back, the Italian phrase for Death Before Dishonor, supposedly the words Julius Caesar said before sending his Roman legions into battle.
Pappa’s trial took place in Brooklyn Federal Court, focusing on the Oct. 20, 1993, murder of Scopo, as well as the 3 others Pappa was charged with killing in the 12-month period, following the Colombo war's final murder. Pappa was charged with other mob crimes. During the month-long trial prosecutors built before the jury a solid case against Pappa & Hennigar, who was accused of 1murder & drug dealing. Prosecutors didn't have a single wiretap recording of either defendant admitting anything. Not a single turncoat accomplice, with primary knowledge linking the murders to either defendant, was available to put on the stand & question. The case was made built on the basis of circumstantial evidence (as happened with former Bonanno consiglieri Anthony Spero). But there was some highly incriminating circumstantial evidence. Telephone records, for example, revealed that Pappa had called 2 of the victims right before they were murdered, several times, in both instances.
A witness testified to viewing a "slender teenager" running from the John Scopo murder scene. A photograph of Pappa's upper-back tattoo was displayed for the jury as well, & an FBI agent testified that Pappa initially failed to reveal that he'd even had a tattoo (which is mandatory when a person is arrested) & was even reluctant to even display the tattoo for them. This was said to be an indication of guilt. In the end, Brooklyn Federal Judge Raymond Dearie sentenced Pappa, who was 24 at the time of his conviction in 1999, to 4 life sentences for the murders, without the possibility of parole, plus an additional 45 years for drug dealing & other miscellaneous chargs. “This prosecution brings the terrible legacy of the Colombo war to a close, with the conviction of one of the most dangerous young hitman in the Colombo family,” said assistant U.S. attorney Stephen Kelly, at the time.
Anthony Graziano continued his business where he had left off before prison, as a capo in the Bonanno Family. By 2001 the boss of the Bonanno Family was Joseph Massino. Massino was a close friend of Graziano. That friendship enabled him to gain even more power within the underworld. On February 15, 2001 Massino & Graziano flew to Mexico. With the imprisonment of Bonanno consigliere, Anthony Spero, Massino needed someone new to fill the position. The man he had in mind for the job, was none other than Graziano. In Mexico, Massino anointed Graziano consigliere of the Bonanno Family. Once back in the U.S., Graziano enjoyed his new powers, but things wouldn't be enjoyable for too long.
On December 19, 2001 Graziano attended a Christmas party. Also in attendance were numerous Bonanno mobsters. Graziano was enjoying the evening, Christmas season meant that the Bonanno mobsters would pass along their tributes “cash” to him. When the party was over Graziano walked the short distance to his car, as he stepped inside & was about to drive off, several FBI agents approached him & summoned him to step out of the car. In reply Graziano said: "What the fuck are you breaking my balls about now?". The FBI agents produced a search warrant, that allowed them to search him for financial records & cash. Someone had tipped the feds, that Bonanno members would be passing along their tributes to Graziano, at the party that night. Always eager to collect evidence, to take a mobster down, the FBI agents took action & seized all the cash Graziano had on him. He was issued a receipt for the cash & allowed to make his journey home.
In March 2002, Anthony Graziano, who was the father of Mob Wives producer Jennifer & lead character Renee, was arrested & indicted on racketeering charges, including conspiracy to distribute cocaine through a Brooklyn crew, from January 1994 through October 1996, loan-sharking, & conspiracy to murder the 2 Colombo associates. In December of 2002 he decided to plead guilty to racketeering charges & was sentenced in September of 2003. On December 23, 2002, Graziano pled guilty to his involvement in a murder conspiracy, loansharking, & evading over $100k in taxes. The murder conspiracy charges stemmed from the 1994 incident, when he ordered members of the Bonanno family to kill John Pappa & Calvin Hennigar. Even-though Graziano called off the murder order, nearly a year later, on November 13, 2003, he was sentenced to 11 years for the Florida racketeering case & 9 years for tax evasion & racketeering, in New York, including the plot to murder the 2 mobsters. A day after his New York indictment, Graziano was indicted in South Florida. This time he was indicted for his role in illegal gambling, loan-sharking, & a boiler room operation. The boiler room operation was a phony tele-marketing scheme, that swindled $11.7 million from investors.
In April 2003 Graziano pled guilty to 1 count of racketeering, but his lawyer Jefrey Hoffman said that Graziano had virtually no involvement with the investment/boiler room scam. While about $2k of its proceeds awent to Graziano as a gift, he knew no details about the operation, or even where it was located, Hoffman said. On July 18, 2003, at his sentence hearing in South Florida, Graziano greeted the prosecutor, assistant U.S. attorney William Shockley, with: "How are you Mr. Shockley? I'm glad you could come to my funeral." Graziano was sentenced to 135 months or 11 years in a federal prison. At 1 of his trials an associate of Graziano was asked by a reporter, whether Graziano was cooperating with authorities, he responded: "Are you nuts?" "That man is a man & a half." When asked by a judge how he made a living, Graziano answered: "I was a broker in between. You know, I put 2 people together, like a broker."
Graziano was hit with another racketeering charges in 2012, after his son-in-law, Hector Pagan (Junior) Jr., ratted him out. At the time his daughter, Renee's ex-husband, Pagan left the Bonanno crime family & turned into a government informant against her father. After her husband switched sides, Graziano was charged with a number of mob crimes. Graziano took a plea deal & was released from prison in 2013, after his lawyer asked the judge for leniency in Graziano's case, because of his deteriorating health problems, saying that his client had diabetes & had survived 2 episodes of bladder cancer. At 1 point, the mobster disowned his daughters, after Mob Wives aired in 2011. Graziano eventually lost his leadership status in the Bonanno family, which brought an end to his mob career. He stopped speaking with Renee, who starred on the show, & Jennifer, who produced it.
Eventually, they all made amends. He also had a 3rd daughter, Lana. On May 25, 2019, Graziano died from natural causes.
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