January –
Commission Case The bosses of the 5 New York families – The Commission – are sentenced. All 8 defendants return to court to hear Judge Richard Owen hand down the sentences. All 6 bosses, Genovese boss (front boss) Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno-100 years, Lucchese boss Antonio "Tony Ducks" Corallo-100 years, Lucchese
underboss Salvatore "Tom Mix" Santoro-100 years, Lucchese
consigliere Christopher "Christie Tick" Furnari-100 years, Colombo boss Carmine Junior" Persico-100 years, Colombo acting boss/underboss Gennaro "Jerry Lang" Langella-100 years. The other 2 Colombo soldier Ralph Scopo-100 years, Bonanno soldier Anthony "Bruno" Indelicato-45 years
January 15 –
Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, boss of the
Philadelphia crime family, is arrested and charged with planning an extortion scheme with a city councilman. Scarfo is ordered by Federal Magistrate
Edwin E. Naythons to be held without bail as public danger pending his eventual trial.
January 16 –
Bonanno crime family boss
Philip "Rusty" Rastelli is convicted of labor racketeering over a 20-year period between 1964 until 1985 and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.[1]
January 20 – Former Teamsters Union President
Roy L. Williams' appeal before the
U.S. Parole Commission on the grounds of ill health is denied, ordering the 71-year-old former labor union leader to serve his full prison term. Williams, who had been imprisoned for conspiring to bribe a U.S. Senator, will eventually be released from prison on May 31, 1992.
March 2 – The defendants of the "
Pizza Connection" are officially convicted of drug trafficking after being found guilty by a New York jury. Another 175 mobsters and their Sicilian counterparts are eventually indicted in the aftermath of the federal investigation. In Italy, only
Vito Badalamenti, the son of Sicialian mafioso and former
Cupola chairman and
Capo di tutti capiGaetano "Don Tano" Badalamenti, would be acquitted.
March 10 – After four years as a government informant, Cleveland mobster
Angelo "Big Ange" Lonardo's prison sentence is reduced to time served by U.S. District Court Judge
John Mandos and is released on 5 years probation.
March 12 –
Ilario "Larry Baione" Zannino, consigliere of the
Patriarca crime family, is sentenced to a consecutive 30 years imprisonment on illegal gambling and extortion charges. During the trial Zannino publicly threatened, and later apologized to the jurors.
April 29 – William Ciccone, a mentally ill Ozone Park, Queens resident, fired a shot at
Gambino crime family boss
John Gotti outside the
Bergin Hunt and Fish Club. Ciccone was apprehended, taken to a Staten Island candy store and tortured and murdered by associate
Joe Watts. Former soldier
Dominic "Fat Dom" Borghese testified that Watts pumped six bullets into Ciccone's head.
May 19 – A U.S. District Court clerk,
Mildred Carmella Russo, is indicted by a Federal grand jury and charged with supplying information to members of the
Gambino crime family for more than a decade.
August 4 – Philadelphia mobster
Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, along with 6 associates, pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and murder in 1 of 3 gangland slayings, including the July 1985 murder of
Frank "Flowers" D'Alfonso.
January –
Commission Case The bosses of the 5 New York families – The Commission – are sentenced. All 8 defendants return to court to hear Judge Richard Owen hand down the sentences. All 6 bosses, Genovese boss (front boss) Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno-100 years, Lucchese boss Antonio "Tony Ducks" Corallo-100 years, Lucchese
underboss Salvatore "Tom Mix" Santoro-100 years, Lucchese
consigliere Christopher "Christie Tick" Furnari-100 years, Colombo boss Carmine Junior" Persico-100 years, Colombo acting boss/underboss Gennaro "Jerry Lang" Langella-100 years. The other 2 Colombo soldier Ralph Scopo-100 years, Bonanno soldier Anthony "Bruno" Indelicato-45 years
January 15 –
Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, boss of the
Philadelphia crime family, is arrested and charged with planning an extortion scheme with a city councilman. Scarfo is ordered by Federal Magistrate
Edwin E. Naythons to be held without bail as public danger pending his eventual trial.
January 16 –
Bonanno crime family boss
Philip "Rusty" Rastelli is convicted of labor racketeering over a 20-year period between 1964 until 1985 and sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.[1]
January 20 – Former Teamsters Union President
Roy L. Williams' appeal before the
U.S. Parole Commission on the grounds of ill health is denied, ordering the 71-year-old former labor union leader to serve his full prison term. Williams, who had been imprisoned for conspiring to bribe a U.S. Senator, will eventually be released from prison on May 31, 1992.
March 2 – The defendants of the "
Pizza Connection" are officially convicted of drug trafficking after being found guilty by a New York jury. Another 175 mobsters and their Sicilian counterparts are eventually indicted in the aftermath of the federal investigation. In Italy, only
Vito Badalamenti, the son of Sicialian mafioso and former
Cupola chairman and
Capo di tutti capiGaetano "Don Tano" Badalamenti, would be acquitted.
March 10 – After four years as a government informant, Cleveland mobster
Angelo "Big Ange" Lonardo's prison sentence is reduced to time served by U.S. District Court Judge
John Mandos and is released on 5 years probation.
March 12 –
Ilario "Larry Baione" Zannino, consigliere of the
Patriarca crime family, is sentenced to a consecutive 30 years imprisonment on illegal gambling and extortion charges. During the trial Zannino publicly threatened, and later apologized to the jurors.
April 29 – William Ciccone, a mentally ill Ozone Park, Queens resident, fired a shot at
Gambino crime family boss
John Gotti outside the
Bergin Hunt and Fish Club. Ciccone was apprehended, taken to a Staten Island candy store and tortured and murdered by associate
Joe Watts. Former soldier
Dominic "Fat Dom" Borghese testified that Watts pumped six bullets into Ciccone's head.
May 19 – A U.S. District Court clerk,
Mildred Carmella Russo, is indicted by a Federal grand jury and charged with supplying information to members of the
Gambino crime family for more than a decade.
August 4 – Philadelphia mobster
Nicodemo "Little Nicky" Scarfo, along with 6 associates, pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy and murder in 1 of 3 gangland slayings, including the July 1985 murder of
Frank "Flowers" D'Alfonso.