Vittorio "Little Vic" Orena (born August 4, 1934) is a New York City mobster who became the temporary acting boss of the Colombo crime family.[1] A challenge by Orena to boss Carmine Persico triggered one of the bloodiest Cosa Nostra wars of the late 20th century.
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Contents
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Biography
Background
Born in New York City, Orena's father died when he was a child. Orena spent time in a reform school and eventually dropped out of high school. According to his son, Orena entered the mob life because The wiseguys were the big figures in the neighborhood and the nice clothes,cars the "glamor" of it and the fact that some of these men had rough beginnings.[2]
In the early 1970's the new Colombo boss Carmine Persico allegedly had a few people "made" into his family, even though the "books" were officially closed, forbidding the introduction of any new members into the Mafia. One of these men was Victor Orena, who rose through the ranks and operated in Brooklyn, Long Island, and New Jersey primarily in labor racketeering. Orena was a well dressed individual who projected a traditional business image.
Brooklyn capo
In 1985, Carmine Persico and "acting boss" Gennaro Langella were convicted in the Mafia Commission Trial and sentenced to 139 years in prison. To run the family in his absence, Carmine Persico created a "Ruling Committee" of Orena, Joseph Russo, and Benedetto Aloi. With Persico both in and out of prison, Orena was able to set up operations almost everywhere in the New York and New Jersey area. When John Gotti became Gambino boss in 1986, Orena was able to expand his criminal dealings with the Gambinos. Orena now became a top earner in the Colombo family. Orena also increased his influence with brothers Vincenzo and Benedetto Aloi, leaders of the Colombo Brooklyn faction. Orena was also close friends with Lucchese crime family mobsters Victor Amuso and James Burke. Many considered Orena to be a polished individual as a tough guy. Many described him as well-liked,Intelligent, generous, and soft spoken with a strong demeanor.
Acting boss
In 1988, Carmine Persico selected Orena to be the acting boss of the Colombo family. Persico had disbanded the "Ruling Committee", which had been decimated by convictions and imprisonments. Persico's brother Alphonse was a fugitive and his son Alphonse (Allie Boy) was in prison. So Persico made Orena the acting boss
In November 1989, Orena allegedly ordered the murder of Colombo mobster Thomas Ocera. Ocera was allegedly skimming mob profits, had let police seize Colombo loansharking records, and had supposedly killed an associate of John Gotti. On November 13, Gregory Scarpa who was in fact an F.B.I.informant with a 30 year relationship strangled Ocera with a length of piano wire It was later known that Scarpa had no contact with Orena , in fact he was the catalyst in the plot to kill Orena,using his top men Carmine Sessa and John Pate in the hit that failed. Most believe it was because of Orena's strong stance against narcotics, while Sessa and Scarpa and Page were secretly in the drug business.Scarpa,Sessa and John Pate all cooperated with the F.B.I.[3]
Power play
By early 1991, Orena . The Colombo's had prospered under Orena, In addition, Carmine Persico had been negotiating for a television biography, which the other families believed would bring unwanted law enforcement interest on the family. Gambino capo Mikey Scars Di Lorenzo testified that Gotti was pushing for Orena to bring the issue before the board of Colombo Captains,known as the administration but Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso who was Boss of the Luchese Family said that Orena was ready to be slated as the Official Boss by the Mafia Commission but the meeting had to be called off because of the John Gotti arrest. REF Gaspipe,confessions of a Mafia Boss.
The Mafia Commission which represents the five families,urged Orena to poll the capo's and for then to address Persico on this issue. Orena instructed consigliere Carmine Sessa to quietly poll all the capos as to how they wanted to answer the Commission who ordered Orena to ask Persico to stop or they would lose their seat on the Commission like the Bonnano family. Given his popularity within the family, Orena was well liked by the capo's three of the capo's being Persico cousins and brother..However, Sessa and Greg Scarpa, under the pretense of being loyal to the Persicos saw an opportunity for advancement . Instead of conducting the poll, Sessa,who was controlled by Greg Scarpa mounted an attempt to murder Orena without approval from Persico.Sessa later said he could not tell Carmine Persico's brother Theodore because he felt Theodore would run to Orena and warn him.
An alternate theory is that Sessa and Pate attacked Orena without the approval of Carmine Persico because Both Sessa and Pate were involved in narcotics trafficking, which Orena did not allow. Fearful that Orena would kill them, Sessa and Pate concocted this story about Orena wanting to poll the capos so that Carmine Persico would back them. It was later revealed that Sessa was totally controlled by Greg Scarpa and was loyal to Scarpa not Orena nor Persico. Sessa also had foreknowledge of the fact that Scarpa was an agent of sorts with the F.B.I. and had seen special favors from his friends in the F.B.I., Sessa immediately cooperated with the F.B.I. upon his arrest and there was speculation that he was working as a confidential informant along with Scarpa and Frankie "blue eyes" Sparaco during the war committing murders while informing on others. Scarpa committed 6 murders while an F.B.I. informant,while Sparaco killed 5,while both men were confidential informants, both men were agitators and besides the actual murders may have had as many as 25-30 attempts to murder between them.
Assassination attempt
In June 1991, an assassination attempt was made on Orena, sparking the Colombo War. On June 20, 1991, a five-man hit team including Sessa, John Pate, and Hank Smurra converged on Orena's Long Island home and waited for Orena to arrive home. As Orena was driving down his street, he recognized several men in the parked car. Realizing they were waiting to kill him, Orena drove away. By the time the gunmen spotted Orena, it was too late to act.[4][5]
Third Colombo war
The Colombo conflict soon spiraled out of control. On November 18, 1991, Cutolo sent a team to attempt to murder Gregory Scarpa, the Persico's top capo and an infamous hitman. The team ambushed Scarpa as he was driving with his daughter-in-law and granddaughter, but Scarpa and his family managed to escape unharmed. On November 18, Persico loyalist Smurra, a member of the June assassination team against Orena, was shot dead. On November 29, Sessa survived a murder attempt while driving his car.[6]
On December 3, Scarpa sent a team to kill Orena soldier Joseph Tollino. Tollino escaped, but his companion, Genovese crime family mobster Thomas Amato, was killed accidentally. On December 5 and 6, Cutolo sent teams that murdered Persico loyalists Rosario Nastasa and Vincent Fusaro. On December 8, Orena supporter Nicky Grancio was murdered. Soon after that Matteo Speranza, an innocent employee of a shop owned by Persico associates, was murdered by the a young Brooklyn underling Anthony Libertore and his want to be Father trying to make a name themselves with Joe Scopo,Brooklyn Colombo's .[6] The Libertore's co-operated with the F.B.I. once imprisoned but were not found credible.
By this time, the Colombo warfare was receiving a great deal of public attention. On December 16, 1991, the Brooklyn District Attorney summoned Orena and the other Colombo principals to a grand jury meeting to testify about the conflict. The mobsters all refused to testify.[6]
As the war progressed into 1992, Orena was indicted on charges of murder and racketeering. To ensure his personal safety, Orena had gone into hiding at his girlfriend's new house, which was still under construction in Valley Stream, New York. Orena outfitted the basement into a small apartment for himself. On April 4, 1992, agents arrested Orena at the house. A search uncovered four shotguns, a large supply of ammunition, and a bullet-proof vest. In testimony made in 1997, Gregory Scarpa Jr. would claim that his father planted the guns in the house to frame Orena. However, this charge was never proven.[7]
Imprisonment
On December 22, 1992, Orena was convicted of racketeering, the 1989 Ocera murder, and other related charges.[3] He received three life sentences plus 75 years in federal prison.[7] By late 1992, the shooting war had petered out and Carmine Persico remained in control of the Colombo family.
On March 10, 1997, a judge refused to overturn Orena's conviction. The appeal was based on an alleged conspiracy between Gregory Scarpa Sr. and his FBI handler, Lindley DeVecchio, against Orena during the Colombo war.[8] On January 16, 2004, a judge denied Orena's appeal for a new trial.[9]
As of October 2011, Orena is serving a life sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) near Terre Haute, Indiana.[10] While in prison, Orena has became a Catholic Eucharistic minister, helping the priest administer the host and wine to inmates during Mass.[2]
References
- ^ The Colombo Family: Junior's War by Anthony Bruno (trutv.com)
- ^ a b Smith, Greg B (September 21, 2002). "Family wants retrial for 'different' man". New York Daily News. http://articles.nydailynews.com/2003-09-21/news/18244042_1_life-term-gangster-father. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
- ^ a b Lubasch, Arnold H. (December 22, 1992). "Acting Crime Boss Is Convicted of Murder and Racketeering". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/22/nyregion/acting-crime-boss-is-convicted-of-murder-and-racketeering.html?src=pm. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
- ^ Raab, Selwyn (2006). Five families : the rise, decline, and resurgence of America's most powerful Mafia empires (1st St. Martin's Griffin ed. ed.). New York: Thomas Dunne Books. pp. 333. ISBN 0312361815. http://books.google.com/books?id=5nAt6N8iQnYC&pg=PA332&dq=%22Victor+Orena%22&hl=en&ei=r0qLTprsGaXh0QH92_zlBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8&sqi=2&ved=0CFMQ6AEwBw#v=onepage&q=%22Victor%20Orena%22&f=false.
- ^ Lubasch, Anrold H (September 1, 1991). "Prosecutors Tell of Colombo Family Murder Plot". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1991/09/01/nyregion/prosecutors-tell-of-colombo-family-murder-plot.html?scp=13&sq=%22Victor%20Orena%22&st=cse. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
- ^ a b c McFadden, Robert B (December 17, 1991). "Brooklyn's Mob War Interrupted With a Quiet Day in Court". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/17/nyregion/brooklyn-s-mob-war-interrupted-with-a-quiet-day-in-court.html?src=pm. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
- ^ a b Brandt, Lin DeVecchio, Charles. We're going to win this thing : the shocking frame-up of a mafia crime buster (1st ed. ed.). New York: Berkley Books. ISBN 0425229866. http://books.google.com/books?id=HuTYJnk1wpgC&pg=PT187&dq=Orena+arrest&hl=en&ei=nBWNTrjQKefX0QHWutET&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CD0Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Orena%20arrest&f=false.
- ^ Fried, Joseph P (March 11, 1997). "Federal Judge Refuses to Dismiss Murder Convictions of 2 Mobsters". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/11/nyregion/federal-judge-refuses-to-dismiss-murder-convictions-of-2-mobsters.html?scp=12&sq=%22Victor%20Orena%22&st=cse. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
- ^ Cornell Smith, Katie (January 16, 2004). "NO RETRIAL FOR WISEGUY KILLER". New York Post. http://www.nypost.com/p/news/no_retrial_for_wiseguy_killer_edC6tryqUjMdps5e11KL7K. Retrieved 5 October 2011.
- ^ "Victor Orena". Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator. http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&FirstName=Victor&Middle=&LastName=Orena&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=68&y=11. Retrieved 6 October 2011.
External links
- La Cosa Nostra – State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation 1989 Report - The Colombo/Persico/Orena Family
- Post-Gazette.com Switching sides by Bill Moushey
- Former FBI agent goes on trial in mob-tied murders By SCOTT SHIFREL
| Business positions | ||
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| Preceded by Carmine Persico |
Colombo crime family De facto Boss 1990–1993 |
Succeeded by Andrew Russo |
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