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News and Features about Organized Crime, Mafia and La Cosa Nostra taken from National and Local News Sources. In an attempt to get you this type of coverage in a timely manner we can not be responsible for the content of the following material. |
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3-15-00 Renegade mobster says Tocco ran empire. Former soldier turns on Detroit crime boss. March 15, 2000
BY JOE SWICKARD Nove Tocco was a solid soldier and trusted relative, but like Detroit weather, he turned. On Tuesday, the mobster broke ranks when he took a seat in a witness stand in federal court and testified against his cousin, crime boss Jack W. Tocco. With his court appearance, Nove Tocco became the first Detroit Mafia member to publicly turn on the local arm of the feared underworld organization, prosecutors said. In an hour of testimony before U.S. District Judge John Corbett O'Meara, Nove Tocco outlined a hoodlum empire ruled by his cousin that authorized murders, beatings and extortions while demanding fealty. "This is our town and you're going to do what we tell you to do," Nove Tocco recalled being told when he, his brother and father were summoned to a meeting with Jack Tocco and his brother, Anthony Tocco, at a home on mansion-lined Windmill Point in Grosse Pointe Park. "Jack Tocco and Tony Tocco were upset because they thought my father and brother were acting in a manner which was not respectful to them," Nove Tocco said. Authorities filled several rows of the courtroom and afterward gathered in congratulatory knots, pleased with their prize convert. "This guy provides chapter and verse," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Keith Corbett, head of the Organized Crime Strike Force. "This is the first time it's happened here. He gives us unique insight into the nature of the organization and the way it works." Nove Tocco was the government's surprise witness in a resentencing hearing for Jack Tocco, 73, of Grosse Pointe Park. Nove Tocco was a defendant in the 1998 Detroit mob trial along with the Tocco brothers and others. In January, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that O'Meara was too lenient in 1998 when he sentenced Jack Tocco to a year and a day in prison after his conviction for racketeering and conspiracy. The ruling said that, as mob boss, Tocco rated more time behind bars. Nove Tocco, 52, is testifying for the government as part of a deal to reduce a 16-year prison sentence for racketeering, conspiracy, extortion and weapons violations. Any sentence reduction will be decided by O'Meara. Frank Eaman, Jack Tocco's appellate lawyer, said the testimony deserves a wary weighing because the government is urging Nove Tocco's sentence to be cut to fewer than six years. "Anybody might be tempted to regurgitate what the government wants," Eaman said. Some of the cream of the Detroit criminal defense bar showed up as spectators: Nove Tocco's former lawyer William Bufalino II in a rear corner, and Domnick Sorise, Robert Morgan, Steven Fishman and William Daniel paying close heed. Nove Tocco is not finished testifying. Prosecutors have more questions and he faces Eaman's cross-examination. No date was set for the continuation. People familiar with the case suggested that Nove Tocco chose to betray the outfit once run by his grandfather because he was stuck behind bars while Jack Tocco walked after a year and a day. Nove Tocco is no stranger to prison. He spent from 1986 to 1990 locked up on a cocaine charge. After his testimony, Nove Tocco, wearing prison khakis, strode out of the courtroom staring directly at relatives and former associates arrayed behind Jack Tocco. They turned, stone-faced, away from him. Nove Tocco was flanked by U.S. marshals. Corbett said the government "will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure Mr. Nove Tocco's safety." Nove Tocco's lawyer, Douglas Mullkoff, was not in court and could not be reached for comment. Anthony Tocco was tried with his brother and was acquitted of all charges. In his testimony Tuesday, Nove Tocco described a strict hierarchy of crime, but one riddled by intrigue. He testified that he and partner Paul Corrado were maneuvered by other gangsters into planning a pre-emptive killing of Harry (Taco) Bowman, international president of the Outlaws motorcycle gang and a Detroit area gambling figure. Nove Tocco said he and Corrado were told that Bowman was out to kill them when the two men met with Corrado's uncle, Anthony Corrado, at a Clinton Township hamburger stand. Nove Tocco said he and the Corrados took a walk in the neighborhood behind the restaurant. Tocco said that he and Paul Corrado discussed what to do. "And we believed that for our safety's sake that we had to try and kill him first," Tocco said. He said they were assured that Anthony Corrado and Jack and Anthony Tocco would "control the whole matter" and would offer assistance if needed. However, he said they didn't carry out the killing because they learned they were "being pushed into a conflict" by other mobsters struggling with Bowman to control a gambling spot. The need for approval and the offer of help and advice were part of the mob's ground rules set by Jack Tocco at a 1991 meeting in an Oakland County subdivision's model home, Nove Tocco said. Jack Tocco took over the mob in 1979, succeeding Nove Tocco's grandfather, Joseph Zerilli, and uncle Tony Zerilli, who ran it when he joined in the late 1960s, Nove Tocco said. He said he was taken to Las Vegas in 1969 "to be shown how things work. I was a very young man." He said the mob had hidden interests in Nevada casinos. By the early 1980s, Nove Tocco said, he "was making a street living ...involved in the cocaine business." That ended with arrest and a prison term. Once back outside, Nove Tocco hooked up with Paul Corrado and "we started to street-tax people involved in illegal gambling ...collect debts and generally whatever you can do to try to make a buck." Their efforts, he said, prompted Jack Tocco to call him to the model home meeting. Jack Tocco, he said, disliked street taxes, or shaking down gamblers, because it was dangerous and attracted law enforcement. "It brought them a lot of headaches," he said, adding that Jack Tocco thought "it would be better for us to dress up twice a year in black and go out and make a score ...rob or rip somebody off." The public may call it the Mafia or Cosa Nostra, but Nove Tocco said that to Detroit insiders it's the Combination, the Partnership or Partners. "Street people used terms like 'Outfit,' " he said. During the trial of Jack and Anthony Tocco and their associates, including Nove, prosecutors revealed that they had bugged Nove Tocco's car. Among other things, they captured Tocco and Paul Corrado in a blundering attempt to shoot out a window to intimidate a gambler. The two ended up getting lost as they drove around downtown Detroit to carry out the attack, and they worried that their wives would get mad. Nove Tocco said Jack Tocco had strict rules for him and Paul Corrado when working the streets:
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