The family that betrays together … stays together.
A former Bonanno mafia captain — along with his wiseguy son and ankle-tattooed mob wife — were set free in Brooklyn federal court today as a reward for extensive cooperation with authorities that legally kneecapped the infamous crime clan, helping bring down boss-turned-rat Joseph Massino and his successor Vincent “Vinny Gorgeous” Basciano.
Bonanno capo Richard “Shellackhead” Cantarella, 69, had faced life in prison for a trio of mafia hits but escaped on time served because he turned on his crew in 2002 and eventually helped to secure dozens of critical convictions.
With a slicked-back mane the only tangible trace of his Cosa Nostra past, Cantarella expressed remorse to the court before being sentenced. He also renounced the mafia life and its impact on his own family.
“I want to apologize for any grief I gave to the victims’ families and my own family,” he told Judge Nicholas Garaufis. “The best thing I did was getting my son out of this life and [end] the possibility of my male granchildren getting into this life. Who knows how they would have turned out. It’s a very treacherous, cunning life.”
Cantarella also said he harbors no ill feelings towards the FBI agents who hounded and eventually handcuffed him. “I was the bad guy,” he said. “They were only doing their job.”
Sporting the same Gotti-esque pompadour as his pop, Paul Cantarella, 42, himself a former made man, had faced up to 20 years in prison on money laundering raps but was also let go on time served.
“I made some bad decisions and I’d just like to put it behind me,” he told the court.
The mob father and his son initially resisted testifying against their associates but finally agreed to break the mob oath of omerta after Cantarella’s wife, Lauretta Castelli, was hit with money laundering charges.
Appearing in a tight sweater, high heels and black jeans, the mob wife, 65, thanked Garaufis after he sentenced her to a single day of probation.
Wiping away tears, Castelli lauded the jurist for “giving my family another chance.”
Richard Cantarella has already paid $805,000 in restitution while his son still owes $127,000.
The Bonanno canaries have been in the witness protection program and will continue to live in endangered secrecy.
“Vinny Gorgeous”
“Shellackhead” served a total of five years behind bars while his son – who was inducted into the Bonanno family in 1995 – spent just one year in the clink for his crimes.
Garaufis noted the severe nature of Cantarella’s crimes but referred to his cooperation as essential to the eventual dismantling of the once potent crime force.
Cantarella’s snitching brought down his former boss and eventual cooperator Massino as well Vinny Gorgeous.
“It is not hyperbole to say that this historic and epic cooperation led to the decimation of the Bonanno family,” Garaufis said.
Ironically, Cantarella had ordered the deaths of those who committed the act he would eventually carry out himself – ratting on fellow family members.
Officially free from the judicial system, the aging crook flitted around the federal courtroom and thanked everyone from his own lawyer to FBI agents and prosecutors before disappearing once again into the witness protection program in parts unknown.