The federal indictment last week of reputed local mob leader Anthony Arillotta in connection with the murder of his predecessor, Adolfo “Big Al” Bruno, has added another layer of intrigue to that still unresolved case.
Arillotta was described in the indictment, handed down by a New York grand jury, as a “soldier” in the Genovese crime family, to which Bruno also belonged. He was charged in Bruno’s death alongside Arthur Nigro of the Bronx, described in the indictment as the one-time acting boss of the Genovese family.
The two were charged in a 41-page indictment, along with four other men, all from New York, on a variety of charges including racketeering, extortion, loan sharking and running illegal gambling operations. The indictment’s big bombshell, however, was the charge that Arillotta (a.k.a. “Bingy,” according to the feds) and Nigro (who also went by “the Short Guy,” “the Little Guy” and, less colorfully, “Artie”) “unlawfully, intentionally, and knowingly did commit an act involving murder and aided and abetted murder, to wit, with intent to cause the death of another person, Adolpho [sic] Bruno.”
Bruno, one-time regional head of the Genovese family, was shot to death outside the Mount Carmel Social Club in Springfield’s South End in November of 2003. In 2008, an ex-convict named Frankie Roche pleaded guilty to shooting Bruno. Roche, who cut a deal with prosecutors to avoid a possible death penalty, said he was promised $10,000 to shoot Bruno by Fotios “Freddy” Geas, who the feds said worked as an enforcer for Arillotta. Geas is due to go on trial in federal court next month for Bruno’s murder.
Last week’s indictment appears to draw the connection higher up within the Genovese hierarchy, charging Arillotta and Nigro with involvement in Bruno’s murder “to prevent [Bruno’s] communicating to a law enforcement officer and judge of the United States information relating to the commission and possible commission of federal offenses” by the crime family. Bruno’s long-time attorney, Vinnie Bongiorni, insisted to the Springfield Republican that his late client was not a government informant.
