| Intro | American mobster. |
| Is | Mobster |
| From | United States of America |
| Type | Crime |
| Gender | male |
| Birth | 14 November 1959, New York City, USA |
| Age: | 60 years |
| Star sign | Scorpio |
Vincent John Basciano ([baʃˈʃaːno]; born November 14, 1959) is an American mobster who became acting boss of the Bonanno crime family after the arrest of boss Joseph Massino. Basciano was sentenced to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole in 2011.
Biography
Basciano is nicknamed “Vinny Gorgeous,” due to owning a Bronx beauty salon called “Hello Gorgeous,” and for his fastidious grooming, hairstyle and looks. In 2011, reporters noted that despite being imprisoned in solitary confinement the past four years, Basciano still looked perfectly groomed in the courtroom.
On May 6, 2006, Basciano was convicted in a racketeering trial for running illegal gambling and attempted murder. However, due to a hung jury, Basciano was not convicted of the 2001 murder of Frank Santoro.
After Basciano’s first murder trial, prosecutors retried him on those counts on which the jury hung in the first trial. On August 1, 2007, Basciano was convicted of murdering Santoro, who tried to kidnap Basciano’s son,
Previous Bonanno boss Joseph Massino turned state’s evidence in 2004 and reported that Basciano had conspired to kill prosecutor Greg Andres, but after Massino failed a polygraph test regarding the discussion he agreed to wear a wire when the acting boss Basciano met Massino in jail. While Massino was unable to extract an unambiguous confession regarding Andres, he did record Basciano freely admit to ordering the murder of associate Randolph “Randy” Pizzolo. On May 16, 2011, Basciano was convicted of ordering the 2004 murder of Pizzolo, On June 1, 2011, a jury rejected a prosecution request for the death penalty and instead sentenced Basciano to life imprisonment. Basciano was initially serving his life sentence at the supermax prison ADX Florence, but was transferred to the nearby United States Penitentiary, Florence High in Florence, Colorado for a time and is currently incarcerated at USP Big Sandy.
Basciano is the cousin of indicted lawyer Stephen diCarmine who is on trial for a $250 million bond fraud while Executive Director of white-shoe law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf.