Las Vegas Mafia Capo was Acquitted after being Indicted for Murderby 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 associates185+ 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