US News

BUSTS IN MOB WHACK – WISEGUY DUO INDICTED

Two top-ranking mobsters – including the Colombo crime family’s former acting boss – were busted yesterday on murder charges in the mysterious disappearance of Colombo underboss William “Wild Bill” Cutolo.

Alphonse “Allie Boy” Persico and former underboss John “Jackie” DeRoss could face the death penalty for whacking Cutolo, a feared Mafioso who disappeared May 26, 1999. Cutolo’s remains have never been found.

Persico, son of jailed-for-life Colombo boss Carmine “The Snake” Persico, is believed to have orchestrated the hit with the help of DeRoss – who filled the void created by Cutolo’s disappearance by seizing control of his crew and becoming a family underboss.

The case was cracked with help from several mob turncoats, who finished a difficult job started by Cutolo’s desperate son, according to sources close to the investigation.

Within weeks of the 1999 murder, William Cutolo Jr. sought revenge by teaming up with the feds and secretly taped more than 100 hours of conversations.

But the grieving son failed to gather enough evidence for prosecutors to charge the alleged killers and, according to feds, developed “serious psychological problems” that compromised his value as a witness.

“William Cutolo Jr. has patiently, yet anxiously, waited for answers as to who killed his father, and he hopes today’s indictment is a true and final end to that story and that those responsible will be brought to justice,” Cutolo Jr.’s attorney, Michael Gold, said yesterday.

The younger Cutolo seemed to fall apart in 2001. The feds threatened to tear up his cooperation agreement when they learned he’d concealed his most serious crime – he shot a man in the back in the early 1990s – and he denied being involved in an extortion to which he’d pleaded guilty the year before.

Still, Cutolo Jr.’s cooperation contributed to a string of mobsters’ convictions, including those of Persico, 50, and DeRoss, 67, for extortion and other mob crimes.

Both wiseguys are currently incarcerated, and their lawyers could not be reached for comment.

Among the turncoats helping Assistant U.S. Attorneys Thomas Seigel and Nicolas Bourtin in the case are Joseph “Joe Campy” Campanella and former Miami club king Chris Paciello.

Persico and DeRoss are also charged with witness tampering for allegedly trying to intimidate Cutolo’s family members.