Vegas approaches mob museum with humor

Las Vegas is having a bit of fun with the organized crime museum it plans to open in 2010. The name of the museum includes redacted words, as one might find in a mob report from the FBI. The official name, according to recent reports, is "The (redacted) Museum: Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement."

The opening screen of themobmuseum.org website looks to be a government document full of redactions. A machine sound is hear in the background, and the document quickly appears to be shredded.


An AP story by Oskar Garcia noted that city officials have displayed t-shirts bearing the words: "There is no such thing as a mob museum nor have I ever been there."

Bonanno big shot Spero, 79, dies in prison

Anthony Spero, 79, once part of a leadership group in the Bonanno Crime Family, died Monday while serving a life sentence in federal prison, according to a story by Anthony M. DeStefano and Rocco Parascandola of Newsday.

Authorities say Spero (left) and Sal Vitale supervised Bonanno operations during the late 1980s, when boss Joseph Massino was in prison. Vitale and Massino later aided racketeering investigations. Spero was convicted of racketeering, including murders, in 2001.

In prison, Spero suffered from the early stages of renal cancer and developed breathing problems.

Mob burial ground on Long Island?

The FBI will not discuss details but acknowledges that it is digging in two areas of Farmingdale, Long Island NY, in an effort to find the remains of mob victims, according to a story published in the New York Times.

A law enforcement source said one of the bodies sought was that of William Cutolo Sr. (right), missing since 1999. Alphonse Persico and John DeRoss, reputed leaders in the Colombo Crime Family, were convicted last year of causing Cutolo's death.

A report by WABC-TV in New York indicated that local homicide detectives and members of the New York medical examiner's office were on hand at the dig locations. Excavation is taking place at a Farmingdale industrial complex, which was built nine years ago, and at a section of woods nearby. The areas have been roped off and designated as crime scenes.