Wasn't it Big Pussy (alias Salvatore "Big Pussy" Bonpensiero) from the HBO TV series, the Sopranos, who was accused by Tony Soprano of being wired for sound to help the Feds take down Tony Soprano's crew? As summer is here, many of us have hit the Jersey shore. Smack in the middle of the shore is a Belmar NJ hangout (love Tommy L's "Bar A" and Frank's bar, DJAIS). Oddly, this is the shore town that also held Tony Soprano's boat, The Stugots. It is hard to swim in the ocean these days without thinking of all Great white shark sightings, the Portuguese Man-of-War jelly fish sightings ("Ouch"),and, to some, the imaginary leftovers of one fictional character, Big Pussy. Big Pussy, who was exposed as the snitch, was lured to take a boat ride on the Stugots (meaning, in Italian, "dick") out to the ocean and was killed by the Soprano crew - a ONE way ride. Pussy's lifeless body would be fed as "bunker" in the sea.
Like Tony Soprano, even in real life thugs usually don't take well to lawyers taping their clients or others in criminal probes. Taping lawyers is like taping priests, it is generally a no no. So that is why, it is astonishing, on this hot July summer day, to Re-read, Len Levitt's (one of NYC's most respected crime beat reporters) report his opinions on the Tacopina-Kerik feud, from last summer, that was titled, "The Joe and Bernie Show" (Continued), dated June 2, 2014. In the article, Levitt describes a situation wherein he claims another lawyer, a friend of Tacopina's. Ron Fischetti, make the incredible claim that Tacopina was wired for sound, I assume, to snitch on him. Whether that is a true story or not, NOTABLY, it has never, to my knowledge, been publicly refuted. Here are the actual words inside the article by Levitt, he says:
"......Suspecting Tacopina had helped Kerik launder money with the help of a person whose initials were "RF," the feds went through Tacopina's business records in March 2007, and discovered tens of thousands of dollars in checks made out to cash to "RF," Kerik says.
Tacopina told the feds the checks were referral fees for Fischetti, who told this reporter a couple of years ago that Tacopina had worn a wire to secretly record him...."
(Note Ron never found guilty and it was Tacopina that had to make a deal and get immunity....)
So, to date, what we know is, Tacopina has threatened a number of past clients with "defamation" lawsuits....there are several "defamation" lawsuits pending, including against the NY Daily News. A little birdie hears no one intends to get bullied. In fact, wasn't it some years ago, I recall Len Levitt being threatened with a "defamation" lawsuit....I guess he wasn't intimidated either. As Frank Sinatra sang, "The Best is Yet to Come..."
