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Nothing Personal
Austin's secret mojo jelly
Actress reveals mystery of covert curves; Ken Starr sings Clinton's praises; fabulous new carbonated bra concept. Plus: Rod the Mod finds God.
By Amy Reiter
[06/23/99]

Nothing Personal
Falwell: Lilith sucked face with she-demons
Falwell shifts focus from Tinky-Winky to the Beast; off with his head! Prince William gets digital makeover. Plus: This week's fun couple -- Evel Knievel and Chrissie Hynde.
By Amy Reiter
[06/22/99]

My Lunch With
In search of granny porn
Over grilled chicken salad and shrimp tacos, former libertine Germaine Greer celebrates the "chocolate eros" of Sammy Sosa, the virtues of heart attacks and the red-hot libidos of circumcised Sudanese women.
By Carol Lloyd
[06/22/99]

People Feature
Force of nature
David Brower, the grand old man of the environmental movement, talks about the Sierra Club, why conservationists shouldn't compromise and why tree-huggers should lighten up.
By Steve Chapple
[06/22/99]

Brilliant Careers
Germaine Greer
The impulsive, fatally naive diva of feminism made the world a better place in spite of herself.
By Laura Miller
[06/22/99]

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By Jerry Capeci

June 23, 1999 | Fittingly, on June 8, Michael (Baldy Mike) Spinelli, a made-in-the-bathroom mobster, was flushed down the drain for a rock-bottom misdeed. And he took one of the noble myths of organized crime into the sewers with him.

Spinelli was sentenced to 235 months for trying to whack Patricia Capozzalo, a mother of three who had the misfortune of being the sister of a mob turncoat. The attempted hit was the low point of the excessive mob violence of the last two decades and belied the supposed axiom that innocent, uninvolved women, children and family members are off-limits to the treachery of revenge, retribution and mayhem that still make organized crime the subject of R-rated movies, TV series, bestsellers and tabloid headlines.

Capozzalo was marked for death by Luchese crime boss Vittorio (Vic) Amuso in an ill-conceived attempt to convince her brother, Peter (Fat Pete) Chiodo, to change his mind about testifying at Amuso's then-upcoming racketeering and murder trial. Amuso is one of those hot-headed gangsters who don't always think things through. Capozzalo was shot in the neck and back in front of her home in 1992 after dropping two of her children off at school. Spinelli drove the van that carried the shooter. Had his sister died, it's hard not to imagine Chiodo being even more eager to testify against his old friends.

Baldy Mike's participation in the shooting earned him a place in the Luchese family. He was officially inducted at a makeshift ritual in a bathroom at the Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he was being held on racketeering and murder charges. Spinelli's inductors had to do without the gun and knife, props in the traditional ceremony, and instead of a picture of a Catholic saint, they set toilet paper afire in his hands as he swore undying allegiance to the family.

Spinelli, 45, isn't likely to resurface until 2027, if he lives that long. The new sentence was tacked onto the 13 years he still has to serve for other violent crimes. In a prepared statement, Spinelli with a straight face and no sign of remorse said he hoped his sentencing would bring closure to his and Capozzalo's families. "They've both suffered enough," he said.

Not surprisingly, the sentencing judge's sentiments were similar to the pervasive view of the shooting in many corners of Gang Land.

"This is not just another criminal living and dying by the sword or a gun," said Brooklyn U.S. District Judge Raymond Dearie. "This is really an unthinkable act of cowardice" that broke one of the "rules that just aren't broken" and is a "black indelible mark (on the Luchese crime family) that will never be washed away."

Three days later, on June 11, in a federal courthouse 60 miles away, a Luchese mobster who once did much of the dirty work for a mob-linked carting company got a shorter stretch for the same crime. Jody Calabrese, 37, who pleaded guilty, got 10 years for his role in the attempted hit on Capozzalo, as well as the attempted murder of a salesman for a rival garbage hauler Calabrese shot five times in 1997. He's due out of prison in 2006.

In a plea bargain, Calabrese admitted his roles in both shootings and in two extortion attempts. Prosecutors expected his sentence to be between 135 and 168 months under federal sentencing guidelines. But Calabrese's lawyer, Joel Winograd, convinced Hauppauge, N.Y., U.S. District Judge Denis Hurley that because both shooting victims did not suffer permanent injuries and because Calabrese had no prior criminal convictions, the guidelines called for less, somewhere between 108 and 135 months.

Spinelli drove the van that carried gunman Dino Basciano to the Gravesend, Brooklyn, street where Capozzalo was ambushed. Calabrese and another mobster, Gregory Cappello -- who died in prison two years ago while serving time for unrelated crimes -- were in a "crash car" that tailed the van and was ready to block police or other pursuers.

Spinelli's brother Robert drove a "switch car" that took the hit team to safety after they ditched the van. He was also convicted and is to be sentenced next month.

Next page | Aging Gambino gangster forcibly retired by the feds