The feds yesterday finally stuck it to the only member of John “Teflon Don” Gotti’s murderous inner circle who had never been busted.
Infamous reputed Gambino capo George “Butter” DeCicco was among 13 alleged crime-family thugs nailed for a slew of extortion, racketeering, loan-sharking and money-laundering raps after a two-year probe fueled by a Mafia mole, authorities said.
The federal case will involve hundreds of hours of damning tapes made with the help of the turncoat witness, a member of DeCicco’s crew, FBI officials said.
On one tape, the bloodthirsty DeCicco, 77, is heard warning the snitch, “I’ll burn your eyes out,” officials said. In another taped chat between the witness and DeCicco’s nephew, alleged Gambino soldier Joseph “Joey Boy” Orlando, investigators say Orlando all but admits to committing eight murders when he says: “I’ve got eight under my belt, and I don’t give a [expletive] who becomes the ninth.”
One Mafioso is caught on tape gushing about one of three brutal murders he’s committed, authorities said. “I shot him in the leg first, and he went down screaming,” Steven “Steve Rigatoni” Famiglietta is heard boasting to the mole, officials said. “And then I started taking his arm off with a chain saw . . . He felt every f- – -ing thing I did to him.”
The feds said the mobsters’ downfall evolved from a simple scheme gone awry. It involved Orlando asking DeCicco’s crew for help landing an immigration green card for his girlfriend.
One thug in the group said he could help – then panicked when he realized he couldn’t pull off the request. Fearing for his life, he went to the feds offering his services. The authorities set up an undercover agent as an immigration official and, with the help of their now-cooperating witness, offered the services of the undercover to the mob. But by then, the Mafiosi had a more pressing problem.
DeCicco had been asked by top Sicilian mobsters to keep their countryman, Francesco Nania, who was in U.S. custody, from being deported to face mob-related charges back home.
The Gambinos eventually offered $70,000 to the undercover to broker the immigration deal, officials said.
Also busted was DeCicco’s son, Robert, who is in his 50s.
George DeCicco’s lawyer said he will seek house arrest for his client because DeCicco has heart problems and wears a nitroglycerin patch.
DeCicco is the brother of the notorious late Frank DeCicco, who lured then-Gambino chief Paul Castellano to his rubout outside Sparks steakhouse on East 46th Street in 1985.
Frank DeCicco wound up dead a little over a year later – killed by a car bomb meant for his boss, Gotti.