For the record, Baratta was D'Ambrosia's sponsor; Anthony Tortorello had recommended his son Joseph; Pagliarulo (left) had proposed Cappello and Calabrese, and Conte was filling in for Gioia's sponsor, George (Georgie Neck) Zapolla, a fugitive at the time.

Tortorello ran a drug operation in lower Manhattan. D'Ambrosia ran a heroin ring in East Harlem and The Bronx. Cappello became a street thug. Calabrese did strong-arm work in the private carting industry. Gioia did double duty as a hitman and drug dealer.

The feds moved quickly. On Jan. 3, 1995, FBI agents nabbed Zapolla, (right)  Gioia's fugitive sponsor, at a public phone in Manhattan after a series of monitored calls and beeper messages from Gioia's father.

As for the rest of the attendees at the induction ceremony, all of them -- including the eight mobsters who welcomed the class into the family -- are in prison.

ASK ANDY

Andy -- seen here with "Mob Star: The Story of John Gotti," one of his all-time favorite Mafia books  -- gives his take on some charges and countercharges that have come out in Boston about the FBI's seemingly outrageous actions in dealing with underworld informers for decades.

There are some startling and disturbing revelations coming out of the pretrial hearings of alleged New England Cosa Nostra Boss, Frank (Cadillac Frank) Salemme and the leader of the Winter Hill Gang, Steve (The Rifleman) Flemmi. Along with some associates, Salemme and Flemmi face racketeering charges based on an alleged criminal conspiracy between the Italian and Irish gangs.

Flemmi, a long time FBI informer, claims that in return for his insight into mob doings, his FBI handlers had given him permission to commit crimes and thus the charges against him should be thrown out. All the defendants also claim FBI agents lied to a federal judge to get permission to plant bugs and that the resulting taped conversations are tainted and should not be used as evidence against them.

Prior to the hearing, the feds turned over evidence to the defendants that included material from Flemmi's FBI informer files of Flemmi. He and his absent codefendant, James (Whitey) Bulger had been on and off FBI informants for decades.

In affidavits, Flemmi claimed that he and Bulger enjoyed a very friendly
relationship with the FBI. He stated that gifts were exchanged, dinner parties were held and that one of the agents had been lent $ 5,000. That wasn't all. Flemmi also claimed: that he had been warned of a coming indictment in 1969, that he was told to avoid a certain place that the FBI had bugged, that the FBI kept him out of a 1979 indictment, that he was given the names of a key Cosa Nostra informant, and that Bulger was tipped about the present indictment which came down in January of 1995. These were devastating charges, if true.

Bulger ran and is still a fugitive. In an unrelated but interesting matter, Bulger lost an expensive court case in his absence. He had claimed a one sixth interest in a Mass Millions lottery win of $14.3 million. The government successfully proved that Bulger had not been a legitimate winner but had paid the real winner $700,000 in cash for the one sixth share. It was a method of laundering illegal money. Bulger was to get $119,000 a year till 2010. Before taxes it would have amounted to over $1.9 million. Pending appeals, Bulger is out the $700,000 cash plus the nearly $2 million in payoffs.

At the hearing, it was revealed that at least some of Flemmi's claims were true. Retired FBI agent, Nick Gianturco admitted a "mistake in judgement" in accepting gifts from the two Winter Hill leaders and acknowledged having them for dinner four times and eating at the home of Flemmi's parents. Gianturco said John Connolly, the FBI handler of Flemmi, also exchanged gifts with the two hoods. Gianturco claimed that while working undercover, his life was saved when Connolly was tipped by Flemmi and Bulger that Gianturco was going to be killed at a scheduled meeting. Naturally, the agent did not go to the rendezvous. In another startling development, Gianturco said that famous undercover agent Joe "Donnie Brasco" Pistone was present at one of the dinners with the hoods that he hosted. It is not clear if this meeting was part of Pistone's undercover assignment. Pistone wrote the introduction to "The Ceremony," a book which details the FBI's bugging operation which captured a Cosa Nostra induction of four New England Cosa Nostra members.

In his affidavits, Flemmi also accused the presiding judge, Mark Wolf, of leaking information when Wolf was an assistant district attorney. At first, both the defense and prosecution agreed that the judge could be impartial. As the pretrial hearing continued however, Wolf revealed that he had "found" some personal papers that indicated he had been involved in another Flemmi case while working in the DA's office. In addition, the judge discovered a mid-1980's memo he wrote about his suspicions that either former agent Dennis Condon or agent John Morris (now retired) had leaked information about a bribery case involving a state representative. The prosecution demanded that he step aside but Judge Wolf recently ruled that he would stay on.

If these revelations were not enough, the next ones were stunners. A former agent testified that there was in house suspicion by some FBI agents that agent Connolly was protecting his source Bulger. A New England Jai Alai operator had been gunned down in 1981 and an underworld informant, Edward "Brian" Halloran, had claimed that the deed was done by Bulger. During eight days of testimony, John Morris, former supervisor of Boston's Organized Crime Squad, admitted telling Connolly of the informer's claims about Bulger. In 1982, Halloran was gunned down. Connolly has denied this and many other allegations that have surfaced but when called to testify at the hearing he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination and refused to testify. Connolly has told the press he only spoke to Flemmi and Bulger about Halloran after he was killed. Both Flemmi and Bulger denied any involvement in the killing but refused to take a lie detector test. 

Morris, who testified under a grant of immunity, has also admitted taking a total of $7000 in cash, on three different occasions, from the two informants. He claims that Connolly actively played a role in obtaining the money from Bulger and Flemmi.

There does appear to be at least some good news for the prosecution. They have produced FBI documents, signed by Flemmi, which state that he did not have permission to commit crimes.

These fascinating proceedings are just the latest in a series of "stunners" concerning the New England Family. Back in the mid 1960's, the FBI, under pressure, released transcripts of some of their illegal recordings made in the office of then New England boss, Raymond Patriarca. The newspapers had a field day publishing tales of political corruption, police on the take, murder and a host of other crimes. The next shocker was the roll over of mob associate Vincent (Big Vinnie) Teresa. In the 1970's, he co-authored two books that detailed his mob career and Teresa became a professional informant till he was discredited as a hype artist. Jerry Anguilo, Patriarca's underboss from 1964 to 1984, was also the victim of an FBI bugging, but these recordings were legal and led to a conviction and life sentence for Anguilo. In October of 1989, the FBI scored a historic coup when it bugged  an induction ceremony of the New England mob. This accomplishment has been used numerous times to "prove" the existence of Cosa Nostra and had been instrumental in jailing a number of members of the New England Family. The legality of this recording is now being challenged by the defendants, Salemme, Flemmi and the others.

It is unclear whether there will be further revelations of FBI misdeeds in the weeks to come. Furthermore, the fact these misdeeds took place do not mean that Flemmi and Bulger had permission to commit crimes. The hearings certainly expose some pretty murky business dealings between FBI agents and informers. Stay tuned.