‘Canary’ Mobster Who Helped Whack Brother-in-Law Gets Sentence of Time Served

A mob rat who helped in the 1988 murder of his brother-in-law has been rewarded with a sentence of time served – just three days.

Gambino associate Anthony Ruggiano Jr., 61, helped the feds nab much bigger fish in the organized crime family that included the likes of capos Bartolomeo “Bobby Glasses” Vernace and Dominick “Skinny Dom” Pizzonia with his insider testimony.

His singing on the stand against former family hit man Charles Carneglia also helped solve a slew of cold gangland cases, prosecutors told the New York Post.

From the Post:

The hit – sanctioned by Gambino don John Gotti – was in retaliation for Boccia’s ill-advised manhandling of Fat Andy’s wife after she refused to cough up cash for a baptism.

Boccia was lured to the old man’s wiseguy-filled social club, Cafe Liberty, where he was shot five times and then gutted to prevent his body from floating.

Groveling before the court, Ruggiano Jr. apologized to Boccia’s relatives as they seethed in the jury box during the proceeding.

“I’m so sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry for everything.”

A former junkie, Ruggiano Jr. said that he had cleaned up his life in the witness protection program and abandoned his life of crime.

“I was born and raised in a family whose values were rooted in organized crime,” he said. “I grew up in the shadow of my father.”

- Jagajeet Chiba, Gambling911.com