Anthony Urso
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Anthony "Tony Green" Urso (b. 1937) is a high-ranking member within the Bonanno crime family in New York.
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[edit] Criminal & made member
According to US law enforcement, Urso was identified as a made member of the Bonanno crime family from the year of 1988. Reputedly a lower associate of Joseph "Big Joe" Massino, then the powerful Underboss, Urso would become involved in various criminal activities as the 1990s proved to be very lucrative for the Bonanno family. Urso, of East Meadow, Long Island, was promoted to caporegime of the family sometime in the 1990s, as Massino took over after Philip "Rusty" Rastelli's death. [1]
[edit] Capo under Massino
As Joseph Massino expanded a very shaken crime family in the early 1990s, Urso reportedly went under the radar for over a decade, while operating with criminal activities in various places all over New York. A powerful Bonanno figure heavily involved in extortion and loansharking operations, Urso was soon favored by Massino and Underboss Salvatore "Good Looking Sal" Vitale during the 1990s. [2]
[edit] Acting Boss
However, in 2003, Massino, Vitale and dozens of Bonanno crime family members were arrested and indicted for committing various criminal activities in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. As Massino was removed off the streets, he promoted Urso to Acting boss of the Bonanno crime family, and to run its day-to-day activities with the remaining captains. With Massino's in court, he used his lawyer to communicate with Urso, and even used his lawyer's office as a meeting place with Urso, Vitale and Vincent "Vinny Gorgeous" Basciano, however, when Underboss Vitale decided to turn state's evidence, as well as another two caporegimes also began to cooperate, Urso soon became a target for US law enforcement. Especially when a taped conversation took place between him and capo Joseph "Joe Saunders" Cammarano, where Urso proposed to murder the children to the ones turning on the Cosa Nostra. [3] [4]
[edit] Downfall and prison
However, with more than one taped conversation including Urso discussing murder, extortion and racketeering with other members of the Bonanno crime family, US law enforcement indicted Urso, Cammarano and twenty five others within the Bonanno crime family on twenty counts of racketeering charges in January of 2004. Urso was charged with acts of extortion, loansharking, illegal gambling and conspiracy to murder Anthony Tomasulo, who was murdered in May 1990 for failing to pay a portion of the receipts of illegal joker-poker gambling machines to the Bonanno family. With several captains turning state's evidence, Urso faced life imprisonment if convicted. In early 2004, Urso pled guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. As of April, 2008, Urso is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Elkton, Ohio. His projected release-date is December 5, 2021. [5] [6]
