NYDN Article Nov. 19 '04: Gagliano

Prosecutors say beauty shop owner ran mob family, shot man to death - By New York Daily News

By MICHAEL WEISSENSTEIN Associated Press Writer November 19, 2004, 7:28 PM EST

NEW YORK -- The tan, neatly coiffed owner of a Bronx beauty salon shot a dog-walking fellow mobster to death before he rose to power as the acting head of the Bonanno crime family, federal prosecutors charged Friday.

Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano looked glum on Friday at his arraignment in Brooklyn, where prosecutors unveiled an indictment along with new information about apparent mob involvement in the Feast of San Gennaro.

Basciano, the Bonanno family's reputed acting boss and one-time owner of the Hello Gorgeous salon, became acting head of the family in January after godfather Joseph Massino and acting boss Anthony Urso were jailed, prosecutors charged.

Massino was convicted of orchestrating a quarter century's worth of murder, racketeering, arson, extortion and other crimes. He faces life in prison and a possible death sentence if convicted in an upcoming murder trial.

Basciano was charged Friday with murder, racketeering, gambling, attempted murder, arson and other crimes. He was ordered held without bail.

An attorney at the arraignment referred questions to Basciano lawyer Benjamin Brafman, who did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.

Prosecutors allege that Basciano gunned down Frank Santoro, a reputed low-level mobster, in February 2001 because he believed that Santoro wanted to kidnap a member of Basciano's family.

Santoro was shot four times with a 12-gauge shotgun by someone standing less than four feet away, according to the prosecution.

Santoro had been walking his Doberman pinscher, who ran home after the shooting, the New York Post reported the next day.

Prosecutors also said Basciano met with other mobsters late last year and discussed the Mafia's role in Little Italy's Feast of San Gennaro, New York's largest street fair.

The ongoing crackdown on the Bonannos has revealed what prosecutors described Friday as "the continued involvement of members of organized crime in the 'Feast,"' a decade after Mayor Rudolph Giuliani said he purged it of Mafia control.

Transcripts from a wiretap filed Friday show Basciano and another mobster discussing in late 2003 which lighting company they could use for the upcoming feast. Feast attorney Arnold Kriss said the fair never used the vendors the mobsters discussed and rejected the implication of continued mob involvement.

"These guys don't know what they're talking about since they're not involved in the lighting of the feast," Kriss said.

The Bonanno probe made headlines in Canada this week when the Daily News reported that a family turncoat had told the FBI that Alfonso Gagliano, the nation's former Public Works Minister and ambassador to Denmark, was a made member of the Bonannos. A lawyer for Gagliano denied the allegation.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--vinnygorgeous1119nov19,0,1529471.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire