Bada Bing: Reputed mob boss arrested
NEW YORK (AP) - May 29, 2008 Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo, who authorities say was a
one-time crony of notorious mob boss John Gotti, was ordered held
without bail after pleading not guilty to racketeering, extortion
and murder charges.
The charges were part of a sprawling federal case against the
once-mighty Gambino organized crime family.
So where had the balding 5-foot-5, 68-year-old fugitive who had
been featured on "America's Most Wanted" been?
"I really don't know," defense attorney Diarmuid White told
reporters outside court.
Prosecutors claimed they didn't know either.
White said Corozzo contacted him two weeks ago about arranging a
surrender - around the time his case was featured on the popular
television show.
On Thursday morning, Corozzo donned a blue sweat suit-white
sneaker ensemble, met the lawyer on a street corner in lower
Manhattan and walked two blocks to the FBI office, where they were
greeted outside by four agents.
"He knew what he was doing," White said.
Corozzo had fled his Long Island home in early February amid a
massive pre-dawn roundup of 62 reputed mobsters named in an
indictment unsealed in Brooklyn.
Authorities say he was a soldier in the Gambino family from the
mid-1970s until 1992 when he was promoted to capo, or captain.
They say he was part of a three-man committee of capos formed in
1994 to help John "Junior" Gotti run New York's Gambino family
while his father was in prison, serving a life sentence for murder
and racketeering; the elder Gotti died behind bars in 2002.
Corozzo, also known as "the Little Guy," was considered a
candidate to take over the crime family, but racketeering
convictions in the late 1990s in Florida and New York took him out
of the running, prosecutors say.
The Gambinos have been crippled by a steady stream of government
indictments and prosecutions since the 1990s.
Authorities brought the new charges against Corozzo as part of a
case aimed at delivering a knock-out blow, with charges accusing
reputed mobsters with offenses stretching back three decades.
The indictment alleges Corozzo ordered the Jan. 26, 1996, the
murder of a rival mobster, resulting in the death of the intended
target and the bystander. So far, about 30 of his co-defendants
have pleaded guilty.