Word: masselli
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...Cabinet member. One of them, Philip Buono, reportedly denied even knowing Donovan; the other, Joseph ("Joe Hooks") Verlezza, claimed he was too ill to talk and never showed up. The names of both men have resurfaced: federal authorities consider them prime suspects in the slaying last month of Nat Masselli, 31, a Silverman informant and son of a mobster who has been a central figure in the Donovan investigation...
...Masselli was murdered the night before his father William ("Billy the Butcher") Masselli, 55, was to appear before a New York grand jury investigating new charges against Donovan. The Massellis were embroiled in a financial dispute with some Mob-connected business associates, and conceivably that could have been the reason for the rubout. But some law enforcement sources thought it was more likely that Nat Masselli was killed in retaliation for cooperating with Silverman or as a warning to the elder Masselli to keep his mouth shut...
...Masselli's murder and the reopening of the Donovan investigation have heightened White House anxiety over allegations that a Cabinet Secretary was linked with the Mafia. Earlier this year, Silverman investigated reports that in January 1979, Donovan, then part owner of New Jersey's Schiavone Construction Co., had met in Miami with William Masselli, a member of the Genovese Mafia family and head of an excavation firm that did business with Schiavone. Donovan heatedly denied the charge, and Silverman decided that the Miami meeting could not be corroborated. Then, last May, the special prosecutor persuaded Masselli...
...late June, Silverman announced that there was "insufficient credible evidence" to prosecute Donovan. But in a 1,025-page report, the special prosecutor disclosed that the elder Masselli, now serving a seven-year sentence for hijacking, had tried to peddle information about Donovan in an effort to cut his prison term and that Nat had permitted the FBI to bug his phones. Although these details were largely overlooked by the press, they were apparently noted with extreme interest by mobsters...
...week's end no one knew if investigators' hopes would be fulfilled. "Billy Masselli may be hell-bent for revenge," says one official. "It's a question of whether he'll take it on the street or whether he'll even the score by telling the special prosecutor everything he knows...