No Witness Protection for Mobster Turned Snitch Joe Campy—And He's Hiding in Plain Sight

Village Voice reports:

After Joseph "Joe Campy" Campanella spent 20 years as a loyal mobster for the Colombos, the family bumped off his mentor. Then they shot Joe Campy and left him for dead. Then they stole his crew and left his real family destitute.

Given this series of betrayals, it wasn't unexpected when Joe Campy turned rat. What is surprising is that after he helped put his bosses behind bars, Joe Campy spurned the witness-protection program and stuck around.

For the past three years, Campanella has been living within 25 miles of his crew's old Brooklyn social club. Forget about disguises or the plastic surgery that Sammy "the Bull" Gravano underwent when he moved to Arizona—Joseph Campanella hasn't even changed his name: "I feel my mother and father gave me this name, and I'm keeping it," he says. No one has fitted him for cement shoes, sent him swimming with the fishes, or tried to give him two to the back of the head.

One former federal prosecutor connected to various Colombo crime family cases tells the Voice that Joe Campy may be the only made man turned snitch to turn down witness protection and still live in the area.

"He's not just a made guy—he was a captain," says the ex-prosecutor, speaking on the condition of anonymity. "The fact that he's still living in the area after testifying at three trials, including against his boss and underboss, is outrageous. Just don't get him killed with your article."

You'll want to read this long article.Another great one from the Village Voice.