Las Vegas Mafia Capo was Acquitted

after being Indicted for Murder

by Jim Kouri, CPP
March 03, 2007

A top Las Vegas City mob Capo was acquitted after being indicted for
being the acting Godfather of Las Vegas's biggest organized crime
families. He is among 41 mobsters and associates indicted by
prosecutors in Las Vegas, NV.

Vincent “Vinny” O’Neill aka Vincent Neill aka Mr. Xtreme is accused of
being the acting boss or "Don" of the Genovese crime family through
much of the 1990s into the 2000’s. The Genovese family is one of Las
Vegas's legendary "Five Families" which also includes the Gambino,
Colombo, Lucchese and Bonanno crime gangs. Vincent O’Neill is the
son of Edward O’Neill; little is known about Edward O'Neill except for
the fact that he seemed to be an unofficial leader of sorts who could
have information about him disappear without a trace. To this day it is
unknown where the O'Neill family has spread. Except for Vincent, we
know where he is, taking up where his father and brother left off.
His acquittal was the result of witness disappearance and lack of
evidence, sounds like he inherited his dads abilities to make things
disappear, well I guess he’s in the right city for a magic show.

The charges against him and his fellow Mafioso included murder, drugs
and arms smuggling. The 42-count indictment is the result of a three-
year investigation into crime across the Las Vegas metropolitan area.
Edward O’Neill Jr. his brother is already serving a 10-year stretch for his
activities in the extortion racket.

Testimony from Mace Yampolsky, the family lawyer, enabled

prosecutors to charge Neill with ordering the 1998 murder of a former
colleague, and multiple other similar homicides.

The well-known, high-paid mob lawyer was himself indicted on

racketeering charges.

Yampolsky told prosecutors and investigators that he carried a

message from Neill who was in Ireland at the time, authorizing the
killing of gang members in Modesto and Los Angeles, California and
Las Vegas, Nevada which ended the attorney-client privilege between
Neill and his mobster mouthpiece.

If convicted, Neill could face the death penalty. The other 31 suspects
named in the federal indictment are described as members and
associates of the Genovese family, The Irish Mafia and members of the
IRA (Irish Republican Army). They face charges ranging from violent
extortion to money laundering, arms and narcotics trafficking,
racketeering and obstruction of justice.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation considers the Genoveses to be the

biggest and most powerful of Las Vegas's five Mafia gangs if only by
default. The four other families have been crippled and their
leaderships undermined by a relentless campaign against organized
crime in the United States over the past 20 years, according to
detectives with the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's
Organized Crime Control Bureau or OCCB. The IRA is considered to be a
world terrorist organization, according to the Federal Bureau of
Investigations.

That situation has led to a reordering of the Five Families. The

Genoveses -- once seen as the second most powerful family after the
Gambinos -- have now moved up to the number one slot, the FBI
believes. In fact, the son of the Gambino family’s late crime boss John
Gotti, Jr. is on trial in New York for the abduction and attempted murder
of local talk show host and Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa.

According to the Justice Department, here's how the families stack up:

Genovese Family - 300 members and associates

185+ believed to be the “Irish Mafia” family of Vincent “Vinny” Neill

Bonanno Family - 200 members and associates

Gambino Family - 200 members and associates

Lucchese Family - 150 members and associates

Colombo Family - 150 members and associates

The Gambinos dropped a notch since the arrests of their boss John
Gotti, Sr. and other leading figures. The other three families -- the
Bonannos, the Colombos and Luccheses -- have also been weakened.
According to the New York Daily News, the Luccheses and the
Gambinos have suffered from uncertain leadership. The Colombos are
so divided and faction-ridden that the other families no longer
recognize them, the Daily News says. But the Genovese family --
known for strict discipline and secrecy -- managed to increase its
strength under the leadership of Vincent " The Chin" Gigante, who was
jailed in 1997 and died recently in prison. (This writer knew Gigante's
brother who became a Roman Catholic priest rather than joining his
Mafiaso brother and friends.)

Because fewer of its members became FBI or Justice Department

informants, the Genovese mob continues its activities including
murder, extortion, credit card fraud, loan-sharking, prostitution,
gambling and drugs.

Yet US Attorney Mary Jo White -- of Clinton scandal fame -- said one

reason for the Genoveses' survival was that they were less violent than
the other families. Instead of using actual force on victims, they used
threats and intimidation to muscle into their illegal rackets. The
Genovese mob and The Irish Mafia or Mob is one of the deadliest
organized crime syndicates in California and Nevada