Gambino Capos Held in 1989 Hit

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August 1, 2002

By Jerry Capeci

Gambino Capos Held in 1989 Mob Hit

The feds have busted two powerful Gambino capos for a 13-year-old murder that three New Jersey based gangsters say they committed as a favor to the late Gambino boss John Gotti.

Louis (Big Lou) Vallario (left) and Michael (Mikey Scars) DiLeonardo, who recently walked on racketeering cases, have been detained since June on charges they conspired to whack a mob connected businessman who Gotti thought might talk to authorities about the family's secret ties to the lucrative private sanitation industry.

Neither Vallario, 60, nor DiLeonardo, 47, (right) were on the scene when Fred Weiss was blown away in front of his home in 1989 by members of the dysfunctional DeCavalcante family, many of whom fancy themselves as models for HBO's hit series, "The Sopranos."

With the testimony of two DeCavalcante turncoats and a Gambino songbird, however, federal prosecutors in Manhattan hope to hand each capo his first felony conviction and send them away for life.

The prosecution witnesses, according to court papers, are former New Jersey

wiseguys Vincent (Vinny Ocean) Palermo and Anthony Rotondo, and Fat Dom Borghese onetime Gambino soldier Dominick (Big Dom) Borghese. (right)

Big Lou, who took over Salvatore (Sammy Bull) Gravano's crew when he moved up as Gotti's right-hand-man-in-crime, recently got probation on a misdemeanor rap that began as a racketeering charge last year. Mikey Scars was acquitted last fall of racketeering charges in Atlanta.

Since June 20, however, both have been held without bail at a federal lockup in Manhattan as dangers to the community.

At a detention hearing last week, assistant U.S. attorney Michael McGovern argued that both men, because of their rank in the Gambino family, were dangerous gangsters who should remain locked up as they await trial.

Without naming his witnesses or much of their testimony, McGovern said

vpalermo.jpg (14899 bytes) Anthony Rotondo Palermo (left) and Rotondo, a triggerman in the hit, would tie Vallario to the killing. Borghese and others would link DiLeonardo to it, McGovern said.

Neither Palermo nor Rotondo, (right) who was tape recorded praising the acting on "The Sopranos" and discussing similarities between the fictional New Jersey crew and DeCavalcante mobsters, have testified publicly thus far.

On behalf of Vallario and DiLeonardo, lawyers James DiPietro and Craig Gillen cited a lack of evidence, no prior allegations of violence, and the fact that Brooklyn and Atlanta federal prosecutors had allowed them bail, and offered to post millions of dollars worth of property to ensure that their clients would not run away or try to intimidate any witnesses.

As Manhattan Federal Judge Richard Casey ponders his decision, Vallario and DiLeonardo are the latest members of the Gambino hierarchy to hit the skids. They are the 21st and 22d Gambino capos who have died or been jailed since Gotti was convicted of murder and racketeering 10 years ago, according to Gang Land's count.

Of Wiseguys, Ex-Wives & More

Michael (Mikey Scars) DiLeonardo Some interesting tidbits about Big Lou Vallario and Mikey Scars DiLeonardo (left) surfaced during the lengthy detention hearing.

Vallario, who has had a 15-year-long relationship with his current paramour and has been living with her for two years, has a good relationship with his former spouse, whom he divorced in 1972.

Both women attended the session and were among eight extended family members who agreed to post their homes as collateral for up to $2 million in bail for him.

For the last 10 years, Vallario has worked as the manager of a Brooklyn restaurant, as a salesman, and for an auto parts distributor.

DiLeonardo was inducted into the Gambino family 12 years ago, and a capo since October 1992, and was spotted at the Ravenite Social Club more than 60 times in the early 1990's.

His ex-wife also supports him, having agreed to post her $1.7 million Staten Island home, (right) with "no outstanding mortgages on it, "as collateral if he were granted bail.

DiLeonardo's nickname stems from an incident when "he was bitten in the face as an eight-year-old boy and as a result the kids in school began calling him and taunting him and calling him Mikey Scars," said lawyer Gillen.

Frying Pan Into The Fire

Nearly two years after Colombo associate Frank (Frankie Steel) Pontillo was put in solitary confinement at his Allenwood federal prison, he's about to get out -- but not the way he hoped.

Frankie Steel was hit with bribery and other charges last week for allegedly arranging payoffs to a prison counselor for two years to improve living conditions for himself and fellow inmates at the Low Security facility.

Pontillo makes a baker's dozen -- including two prison guards and two counselors -- to be snared in the corruption scandal that has tarnished the reign of the institution's hard nosed Warden, Susan Gerlinski. (right)

The twelve others include four current or former inmates, one of their wives and three go-betweens who either carried or mailed contraband, including money orders, in or out of the prison, according to Pennsylvania federal prosecutor Wayne Samuelson.

From October 1998, when Frankie Steel allegedly arranged for a box of foodstuffs and a $500 bribe to be mailed to a prison counselor, to September 2000, the counselor received 25 packages containing $300 to $500, of which he kept $100 for himself, according to the indictment.

Neither Samuelson nor prison spokesman Bill Campbell would say why Pontillo spent two years in the hole before indictment, which mirrors charges filed in 2000 against a prison counselor, who pleaded guilty and received 18 months in prison.

Pontillo, who went on a hunger strike in February, demanding to be indicted or released from solitary, will be arraigned later.

Inmate Kevin Granato, whose three year old daughter was conceived by sperm smuggled out of the prison and been barred from visiting her father since the scandal broke, is still a target of the probe and remains in the hole, Campbell told Gang Land yesterday.

Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti

Hot off the presses! It's here, the book it took yours truly and Gene Mustain 17 years to do! Although we didn't know it at the time, we began working on Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti in 1985, when we began covering the Gotti story as news reporters.

The first edition came out in 1988, and we finished this new edition three days before Gotti died in June. Alpha Books is now distributing it to the nation's bookstores.

With a 40,000-word update, the new edition contains the entire Gotti saga – from his treacherous rise to his defiant downfall and right on up to his time in prison and his death from throat cancer.

The 378 page, full-size book uses eight additional chapters, a prologue and an epilogue to complete the story we began telling (better than any other reporters, we might add!) when we covered the Gotti-orchestrated, midtown Manhattan assassination of former Gambino boss Paul Castellano.

For the last and best words on Gotti, this is the book to have. It is specially priced at Amazon.com at $11.87, more than five bucks off the $16.95 suggested list price.

Not Really For Idiots
Whether you're a Gang Land regular or an occasional visitor, you'll enjoy "The Complete Idiot's Guide to The Mafia," a book I wrote for Alpha Books that was published in December. It's filled with real stuff about real wiseguys and insight about the ways that mobsters make their money. It's 343 pages of true stories of life and death, honor and betrayal. Get it at your local book store, or at Gang Land's favorite, Amazon.com, where the powers that be have knocked the price down to $13.27, so low I am concerned that the Godfather of online booksellers has forgotten about my end.

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	Jerry Capeci P.O. Box 863 Long Beach, NY 11561 Copyright, 2002- All Rights Reserved