Court hears of Boccia slaying in 1988

Anthony Ruggiano Jr. related in Brooklyn federal court yesterday the details of Frank "Geeky" Boccia's 1988 murder, according to a story by John Marzulli of the New York Daily News.

Ruggiano, Boccia's brother-in-law and a participant in his murder, was testifying in the trial of Dominic "Skinny Dom" Pizzonia (far left) and Alfred "Freddy Hot" DiConiglio (left). Ruggiano said he, Pizzonia, DiConiglio and the late Anthony "Tony Lee" Guerrieri were jointly responsible for the killing, the result of Boccia beating his mother-in-law (Ruggiano's mother).

According to the testimony, Ruggiano's father and Gambino Crime Family boss John J. Gotti approved the killing. Boccia was lured to a social club run by Pizzonia, where he was shot to death. His body was then taken out into the Atlantic Ocean aboard a mob associate's boat. The body was cut open at the stomach and lungs and then dumped into the water, Ruggiano testified.

Boccia's fight with his mother-in-law occurred after Boccia's daughter's baptism, just a week before his murder.

While Pizzonia and DiConiglio are on trial jointly for Boccia's murder, Pizzonia alone is charged with murdering Thomas and Rosemarie Uva on Christmas Eve of 1992.

Related MobNews posts:

• Two to stand trial for Uva, Boccia slayings 04-10-07
• Gotti lawyers want to exclude Uva evidence from trial 06-28-06
• Gotti tapes link him & dad to Uva murders 06-23-06

Five charged with scheme to rob union

Five people were charged April 24 with plotting to embezzle more than $250,000 from Local 911 of the International Union of Production, Clerical and Public Employees (IUPCPE), according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey.

Investigators say the scheme was designed to create no-show jobs for family members and friends of August "Augie" Vergallito, 72, of Brick, NJ. Vergallito, a former officer of Local 734 of the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA), was barred from union activity after being convicted of filing false financial records in 1996.

Vergallito; his daughter Kimberly, 42; his wife Rhoda, 72; an alleged Vergallito business associate Isaac Barocas, 66; and Local 911's finance manager Charles Purcell, 46, were named in the eight-count indictment.

The U.S. Attorney's Office called Vergallito the "de facto head" of Local 911, according to a story in the Asbury Park Press. He reputedly served as an associate of the Genovese Crime Family when he was convicted in 1996, according to testimony in a 2004 LIUNA trusteeship hearing.

Mafia is trafficking in artifacts

The Sicilian Mafia is reportedly involved in the smuggling of stolen archaeological objects through Malta and into the UK and the United States, according to a report by MaltaMedia News.

Authorities are pursuing connections to bank accounts in Switzerland and Malta.

Investigators feel the artifacts smugglers work independent of the Mafia but have been commissioned by that underworld organization.