You know this for a fact? You obviously do not know Vinny Basciano. He had his own son Vinny Jr collecting money from drug dealers all over the Bronx, his son was the go to guy when you wanted to talk drugs with Vinny, so what are you talking about? Basciano was much like John Gotti he loved being a gangster and he was the guy that had his son made at such a young age.

Did I say they were never involved? No, if that was the case they wouldn't be involved in thise case or the previous gambling case. I said he didn't want them to be but once they started getting into street shit he figured they we're better off under him than running wild with a bunch of filthy ricans.

He WANTED Vinny Jr to become a made guy, he was grooming him from when he was a kid. That's exactly what he always wanted.

Yeah, I don't see how Vinny Jr. gets made at such a young age without his father pushing for it.

Once the king of Throggs Neck, Bronx mobster Vincent (Vinnie Gorgeous) Basciano can’t be a very happy father these days.

Besides spending 23 hours a day in a cramped cell for the rest of his life, the man who once ruled the Bronx and beyond as acting head of the Bonanno crime family has just seen three sons busted by the feds and facing their own heavy duty jail time.

Described by federal authorities as mob associates, Vincent Jr., Joseph and Stephen Basciano were arrested along with two other suspects on drug trafficking charges involving a cross-country marijuana distribution ring that allegedly moved hundreds to thousands of pounds of weed.


All three pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to narcotics conspiracy charges on Wednesday, Sept. 18. If convicted, they face prison terms of up to 40 years.

Witness testimony

“We have seized evidence, recordings and compelling witness testimony,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Mermelstein said in court Wednesday.

According to the indictment, at one point a confidential informant complained over the phone to co-defendent ElonValentine about the “poor quality” of the marijuana supplied by Joseph Basciano.

Vincent Jr., 32, was released on $500,000 bond, and Joseph, 27, was sprung on $250,000 bond. But Stephen, 29, was held pending an additional hearing after prosecutors said they have tapes of him brother boasting about owning weapons and shooting at people. He also has a prior 2007 conviction for assaulting a Rivere Avenue neighbor.

History of violence

“The evidence is incredibly strong against him and he has a demonstrable history of violence,” Mermelstein said.

This all can not be sitting well with their father, now serving two life terms at the Super Max prison in Colorado, said Anthony DeStefano, a veteran New York City crime reporter and author of two other books about the mob.

His newest book, “Vinny Gorgeous The Ugly Rise and Fall of a New York Mobster,” is a riveting, detailed look at Basciano’s reign and ultimate downfall, taking the reader to where the man described as a hot-headed, cold-blooded killer left his imprint.

That includes the former beauty salon on E. Tremont Avenue where the vain Basciano picked up his nickname, to Manhattan nightclubs and restaurants for “meets,” to his darker life, including the murder of a neighborhood drug user near Pennyfield Avenue.

It details how Basciano took over the Bonanno crime family when its boss, Joseph Massino, went to jail, only to later betray Basciano to the feds to save his own skin.

HIS neighborhood

DeStefano said he walked the streets of E. Tremont Avenue, trying to soak up Basciano’s immediate world.

“It was HIS neighborhood in a sense. He was like the main character in the area. And I got a sense of ‘A Bronx Tale’ walking the streets. But it’s changing. And some great restaurants!”

As for Basciano’s sons, “I met all of them and they were very congenial kind of guys,” said DeStefano. “No attitude, very courteous, curious about the previous books I had written.”

He was “not at all surprised” at their arrests.

“Although, seeing what the father had done and gone through, I would have thought the kids would have said, ‘You know, let’s just go our own way. Let’s just work our way in some decent obscurity, go about our lives and do something different,’” said DeStefano. “But you know, the pull of the street is sometimes hard to resist.”

He said he still holds out some hope for the sons.

“I’m hoping that these kids can get a break on this case. I’m hoping for their sake that they can get away from this going forward. But it’s a federal case, and federal is hard to beat. It’s like ‘I’ll see you in five years....’”

DeStefano will be in the Bronx Nov. 7 for a book signing at Barnes & Noble at the Bay Plaza Shopping Mall. The book, by Lyons Press, is also available at other book stores and online at Amazon.com.

That article was in a local Bx. paper. I like Distefano, but it seems like he's just using this as a platform to sell his book. Walked up and down E. Tremont to see what it's like to be in HIS neighborhood? Ehhh, well, not so much. It's not exactly a "neighborhood" street in the true sense. It's a big road with lots of traffic and never more than 2 stores in a row that have a real neighborhood feel. I guess the one block where Vinny operated felt his presence, but you go a few over and it's just a gas station or a chain convenience store. No families around, no one congregating to talk. Ampere Ave. in Country Club has more of what I'd consider a neighborhood feel than anywhere on E. Tremont.

"I grew up near them so I look at them as like my own kids"

Any idea if Vincent Jnr is a suspect in Cirillo Jnr's disappearance?

No, he's not.

These kids have enough on their plates right now without more bullshit speculation. Now granted, they've made mistakes and they'll pay the price for them. They should have learned something from their Dad and they clearly didn't. But do me a favor and give them a break and don't go presuming that they're murderers when they're not. That's a huge escalation, pot dealer to shooter. Not even the cops would make that assumption. If the Feds thought for one minute that Little Vinny had anything to do with that disappearance, they would have been all over him years ago.

And it's good to see you posting again, Sonny. It's been awhile .

Cheers n cheers PB.

Apol if the question came off as accusory (think that's a word ). It was not intended to inflame merely that he has is stripes and was in a fight with Cirillo Jnr weeks before his disappearance. It's not unfathomable.

Simply yours musing

Edit: and didn't Marino (the Gambino skipper) basically acknowledge that Cirillo would have had to have given the ok (the obv conclusion being he was hit basis the fight)

I'm not saying Vinny B Jnr pulled the trigger, but he may have started a beef that led to Cirillo Jnr getting topped.

You would have to admit its a suspicious coincidence.

All these arrests for marijuana trafficking are all a waste of time in my opinion. If it was used for the right purposes and regulated and taxed, and dispensed by only educated people with licenses and given to people who really need it then all these kids wouldn't go chasing after it for a quick dollar. murder, rape and violence are all a different story, but weed and gambling...a waste of time and money to make any arrests, go to court, pay bail...

Well, we don't muse here in the Bronx .


And we don't admit anything, either .

Pushing some serious nuts they're stumbling like cluts and Pizzaboy Is fucking with the fuss

/me chortles at PB.

I thought that spirito guy did that work? Isnt that also why they clipped thatguy randy ?

We don't chortle in the Bronx, either. You really have to start speaking English, Sonny .

wasnt it basciano confirming to massino in jail about cirillos disappearance when massino asked if "they had anything to do with that.," that "that came from dom, that came from dom"

i forget exactly how that conversation between vinny b and joe went, but i think the old saying, believe none of what you hear and half of what you see, applies. it was always my understanding that Dom had nothing to do with his sons death.

Good post, Dellacroce .

My position on that recording is that Vinny HAD TO deny it to Massino, who was still official boss at that time. To admit to killing the son of a guy like Dom's, without at least running it by Massino first, would have been career suicide for Vinny. If he admitted it to Massino he would have come across as being too impulsive to be acting boss.

Don't forget, at the time of that conversation, the idea of Massino becoming a rat was considered ludicrous. So if Vinny had anything to do with it, he had to deny it. And I don't want to go down the rabbit hole again with Ivy and some of the posters who believe QD ordered his junkie kid hit, but there isn't a street guy in the Bronx who believes it.

I know some things about this guy and I'm not a "fanboy" as you guys call it on here...

This guy was in the life for a long time it's in his blood. I'm not sure what other Basicano's he's related too but I can tell you one thing there are a few very powerful ones that are legit and no one can touch them.

To support a life that you know will more thN likely put ur kids in jail for life is just ignorant. Any man that knew a certain lifestyle could make their children end up dead or in jail is not a loving father. Encourage ur child to do well I. School and live a nice life. If they choose the life then you disown them.

you never disown your kids no matter what they did..well thats how i see it, of course theres certain exemptions like killing a family member

Yea seriously, who just disowns there kids? When my son is older I got his college tuition to Princeton or his bail from prison. Family is all we really have

I heard all three kids copped out to about five years the other day. It's federal and they've been out on bail, so when they go in they'll have to do most of that time. Their poor, poor mother .

Is it all of his kids that are now in jail?

Three of four (from his wife Angela). Plus, he has a little boy, who's about ten now, from another woman.

Wouldn't it be ironic if the illegitimate kid ends up being the next Steve Jobs.

"Wouldn't it be ironic if the illegitimate kid ends up being the next Steve Jobs."

Maybe he could get involved the rackets where Russian prostitutes do 'favors' in strip clubs. Then he can be the next Hand Jobs instead.... but I don't think it will happen. He sounds like too much of a jerk off.

Mafia boss' son Joseph Basciano gets light sentence for pot trafficking


Joseph Basciano (left), 27, leaves Manhattan Federal Court after being sentenced to prison for trafficking marijuana.

The son of imprisoned Mafia boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano was sentenced to six months in prison and six months’ home detention Wednesday after copping to his role in a cross-country marijuana trafficking enterprise.

Manhattan Federal Judge Richard Sullivan went easy on Joseph Basciano, 28, urging him to “get a real job, pay taxes and do all the things that ordinary people do” after his release.

What happened to the 5 year sentence PB claimed?