Original Gangsters Podcast · Original Gangsters, a True Crime Talk Podcast

Genovese Mob Deep Dive - Interview with Retired NYC FBI Agent Mike Campi

·1 hr 6 min·4 clips

Durso told the FBI, "I'll work with Campy," after a debriefing at the Eastern District of New York.

1. Original Gangsters Podcast centers on retired FBI agent Mike Campi and his book Mafia Takedown, with the Genovese crime family as the main topic. 2. Scott Bernstein hosts Campi and uses the interview to test Campi's view of Barney Belomo, Ernie Muscarella, Patty Falsetti, and Georgie Barone. 3. The episode asks what Durso's cooperation, the Bronx power structure, and the waterfront cases reveal about the Genovese family. 4. Campi says Barney Belomo is a power in the family, but he emphasizes that "the power is in the Bronx." 5. He compares current figures to historical names such as Jerry Katina and Jerry Capisi, arguing that stepping away can be a smart move. 6. Bernstein outlines a working roster that includes Ernie Muscarella, Patsy Perello, Mickey Ragusa, Ralphie Balsamo, and Hippie Zanfardino. 7. Campi says law enforcement could move quickly if it focused on the Bronx network and the people who move through it. 8. The interview shifts to Cookie Durso, who had been caught in a Little Italy environment tied to an FBI bug and a federal case. 9. Campi says he contacted Sammy Meatballs after getting a source warning about a threat to Sammy's life. 10. He says Durso later told a former Queens prosecutor that he wanted to meet "an FBI agent named Campy," which led to cooperation. 11. Campi says the original plan was only six months, from June 1998 to December, to cover bank robberies and the murder of Tino Lombardi. 12. He says the wire lasted almost three years and reached multiple organized crime schemes and multiple New York families. 13. Bernstein and Campi connect Durso's recordings to George Barone, who was described as a longtime Genovese soldier from the Vito Genovese era. 14. Campi says Barone helped make waterfront jobs available to Patti Falsetti and Tommy Cafaro and that the work produced large earnings. 15. He also says Barone had conflict over money owed by Burke Guido and Andrew Gigante, and that the dispute fed later murder-conspiracy evidence. 16. Campi describes Barone as stubborn, notes that he was nearly 80 when he cooperated, and recalls a joke about Barone being a "stubborn Mick." 17. The tone is conversational and detail-heavy, with Bernstein interrupting often to add his own research and current Genovese roster. 18. Campi answers with long, specific explanations that move between street-level stories, court history, and FBI procedure. 19. Listeners who follow Genovese history, waterfront cases, or FBI cooperation stories will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners wanting a short, spoiler-free overview of organized crime may want to skip it.

As heard by us

A Genovese-family discussion that maps West Side names and relationships with insider detail.

Scott Bernstein and retired FBI agent Mike Campy make the Genovese-family case feel most alive when they stay with the names, relationships, and recorded conversations that actually shaped it.

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Why you'd press play

You want the Genovese story from a retired FBI agent who was on the federal side of the case.

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