Post by TonyBombassolo on Oct 18, 2023 22:49:04 GMT
UPI Article from 1986
A suspended deputy clerk in the federal courthouse in Manhattan pleaded innocent Thursday to charges she spied for the Gambino crime family during her 13-year career. Mildred Russo, 66, a grandmother of five, was charged June 20 with obstructing justice and conspiring to obstruct justice and released on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond. Also charged were her son-in-law, Augustus 'Big Gus' Sclafani, and alleged captains in the Gambino family Joseph 'Joe Butch' Corrao and James 'Jimmy Brown' Failla. Sclafani is at large. Corrao and Failla also pleaded innocent. Working in the Intake and Docket section of the courthouse since she was hired in December 1972, Russo was accused of telling Sclafani and Carrao in April 1983 that Alphonse Persico, son of reputed Colombo crime family boss Carmine Persico, was named in a sealed indictment, faced arrest and prosecution.
The indictment said Carrao went to Failla, who in turn reported to Paul 'Big Paul' Castellano, reputed head of the Gambino family who was killed in a mob rubout last December. The FBI heard through electronic surveillance of Castellano's Staten Island home that Russo had supplied the information. In 1983, a false sealed indictment was planted, according to U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani, and Russo passed on that information. Russo then was transferred to a 'less sensitive' area on the civil side of the courthouse and procedures were changed.
She was making $23,030 at the time of her arrest when she was suspended without pay.
1987-05-29 – US Federal Clerk Mildred Russo pleads guilty to leaking documents to the Gambino LCN
Newspaper Article
A suspended deputy clerk in the federal courthouse in Manhattan pleaded innocent Thursday to charges she spied for the Gambino crime family during her 13-year career. Mildred Russo, 66, a grandmother of five, was charged June 20 with obstructing justice and conspiring to obstruct justice and released on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond. Also charged were her son-in-law, Augustus 'Big Gus' Sclafani, and alleged captains in the Gambino family Joseph 'Joe Butch' Corrao and James 'Jimmy Brown' Failla. Sclafani is at large. Corrao and Failla also pleaded innocent. Working in the Intake and Docket section of the courthouse since she was hired in December 1972, Russo was accused of telling Sclafani and Carrao in April 1983 that Alphonse Persico, son of reputed Colombo crime family boss Carmine Persico, was named in a sealed indictment, faced arrest and prosecution.
The indictment said Carrao went to Failla, who in turn reported to Paul 'Big Paul' Castellano, reputed head of the Gambino family who was killed in a mob rubout last December. The FBI heard through electronic surveillance of Castellano's Staten Island home that Russo had supplied the information. In 1983, a false sealed indictment was planted, according to U.S. Attorney Rudolph Giuliani, and Russo passed on that information. Russo then was transferred to a 'less sensitive' area on the civil side of the courthouse and procedures were changed.
She was making $23,030 at the time of her arrest when she was suspended without pay.
1987-05-29 – US Federal Clerk Mildred Russo pleads guilty to leaking documents to the Gambino LCN
Newspaper Article