Gay's as good as dead, mob turncoat testifies

NY Daily News ^ | April 29, 2004 | ROBERT GEARTY and DAVE GOLDINER

[presidio9]

It's an unwritten rule of the mob - if you're gay, you die. A Mafia turncoat testified yesterday that he ordered the killing of a mob soldier because he heard the man had performed a sex act on another man.

"What's the rule in [the Mafia] about this?" federal prosecutor John Hillebrecht asked snitch Vincent (Vinnie Ocean) Palermo.

"You die," Palermo replied.

Palermo, a former DeCavalcante crime family boss, offered up his killer credentials as he testified at the racketeering trial of aging reputed Genovese mobster Federico (Fritzy) Giovanelli in Manhattan Federal Court.

The gay slay rule came up as Palermo recounted ordering the 1992 killing of DeCavalcante underboss John D'Amato, to which he pleaded guilty when he agreed to cooperate with the feds in 2000.

Palermo, 58, said he started becoming suspicious of D'Amato's sexuality after hearing "a lot of different rumors."

Using a slang term for oral sex, Palermo said he ordered the hit after another mobster told him that D'Amato's girlfriend said he once performed the sex act on a man at a "swinger's club."

"Is that a euphemism for sex?" asked Hillebrecht.

"Yes," the snitch replied.

Palermo also backed up prosecution claims that Giovanelli illegally tipped him off about his impending arrest in 1999.

Giovanelli, 73, allegedly gleaned information about the indictments of several mobsters from an unidentified mole inside a federal prosecutor's office.

Palermo admitted giving more than $1million to his children to avoid allowing the feds to seize it after his arrest.

"To Bill Gates it's not a lot of money," Palermo said. "To me, it is."

[presidio9]

bada ping

[Condor51]

There's a funny mob joke about nick-names and BJ's, but I can't post it for obvious reasons :-)

[aardvark1]

After years of digging, the homoprobes found a business that actually does discriminate on the basis of "sexual preference."

[DainBramage]

Is going down for going down redundant?

[Nonstatist]

if you're gay, you die

That strikes me as an over reaction.

[drjimmy]

If you sleep with the swishes, you sleep with the fishes.

[bigeasy_70118]

Is this a hate crime?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I think you're on to something.

[Cicero]

La Cosa Nostra, last bastion of old-time morality.

[martin_fierro]

Queer Eye For The Wiseguy.

[Loyalist]

In Canada, they'd not only be charged with a hate crime, but they'd have to marry the victim as well.

[martin_fierro]

Made men	Made-up men

[Middle Man]

I would love to have a transcript of that trial. The snitch's testimony sounds like a riot.

[Constitution Day]

bada ping

LOL!

[nmh]

Who's to say the mob doesn't have some redeeming qualities?

[theFIRMbss]

[martin_fierro]

Wasn't there some reference in Godfather III to the Joey Zasa character (played by Joe Mantegna) being gay?

Just another reason why it was such a pi$$-poor movie.

[radiohead]

Interesting movie. Bizarre family.

[muleskinner]

bada ping

Nice one