Joseph Abate Joseph "
Joe"
Abate (July 8, 1902 – November 28, 1994) was a
capo in the family's
New Jersey faction. In the 1920s, Abate served as an enforcer for
Al Capone in Chicago before settling in New Jersey. In June 1976, Abate attended Anthony Accetturo's induction ceremony into the Lucchese family. He moved to
Margate, New Jersey, and served as a liaison between families in New Jersey until 1989 when he retired from Mafia affairs. In 1992, his daughter
Catherine Abate was appointed New York City's new Correction Commissioner. She was confronted about her father's past and denied that he was ever involved in organized crime. In 1994, Joseph Abate died of natural causes. In 1998, his daughter Catherine admitted that she could no longer dismiss allegations that her father belonged to the Lucchese crime family. and was one of the largest heroin traffickers during the 1950s. Accardi emigrated to the U.S. shortly before
World War I and associated with mobsters
Joseph Sica,
Willie Moretti,
Joe Adonis and
Abner Zwillman. During World War II, Accardi sold counterfeit food ration cards. On January 22, 1945, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. His naturalization was revoked on July 10, 1953, because he had not disclosed two previous arrests during his naturalization hearing. In 1955, Accardi was arrested on a federal narcotics charge in
Newark, New Jersey. After posting a $92,000 bond, Accardi skipped bail and fled to
Turin, Italy, where he continued
smuggling heroin into the U.S. and
Canada. Accardi later moved to
Toronto, Canada, to oversee this operation. In 1960, U.S. authorities finally located Accardi in Turin, Italy and on November 28, 1963, after a long legal fight, Accardi was
extradited back to New York. He died on December 3, 1977.
Joseph Brocchini Joseph E. "Joe Bikini" Brocchini (1933 – May 20, 1976) was a
soldier under
Joseph "Joe Brown" Lucchese in the
Corona crew. Born and raised in Corona, Queens, he was arrested as a 17-year-old along with four other youths for carrying out a series of burglaries that robbed eight businesses in north Queens of $26,000 during a week-long spree in 1950. Police believed that the burglary ring was responsible for approximately twenty robberies in Queens and
Nassau County before being apprehended. Brocchini, who was known as an
enforcer, later became involved primarily in loansharking and gambling. By the early 1960s, he was managing a lucrative weekly
dice game in Manhattan's
Little Italy, and also had interests in auto theft and narcotics. Circa 1967, Brocchini ventured into the pornography business via a partnership with a Jewish associate. He became one of the most successful pornographers in New York City and allegedly owned or controlled at least four pornography distribution companies as well as five
adult book shops/
peep shows in
Times Square. The State Investigation Commission charged in 1970 that his pornography businesses had grossed $1.5 million a year. During this period, Brocchini relocated to the affluent town of
Harrison in
Westchester County. On April 20, 1972, Brocchini was among twelve people linked to the Lucchese,
Colombo and
DeCavalcante families indicted on charges of wholesale promotion of obscene material. The arrests were made following a four-month undercover police investigation of New York's major pornography distributors. In 1976, Brocchini was involved in a dispute with
Roy DeMeo, a
Gambino family associate at the time, with Brocchini giving DeMeo a black eye. DeMeo and his
caporegime Nino Gaggi decided to kill Brocchini in revenge and, knowing that they would never be given permission by the Lucchese family, decided to disguise Brocchini's murder as a robbery-gone-wrong. Weeks later, on May 20, 1976, Brocchini was shot five times in the head in the office of his used car dealership in
Woodside, Queens, where he conducted his day-to-day operations, by Roy DeMeo and Henry Borelli. DeMeo and several of his associates had first handcuffed and blindfolded two other employees at the car lot and ransacked the office, giving the killing the appearance of an armed theft-gone-awry. Brocchini was laid to rest at Mount Saint Mary Cemetery in
Flushing, Queens. His brother-in-law Alfred "Sonny" Scotti and others took over his operations. Brocchini's murder remained a mystery to law enforcement and to the Lucchese family for several years. At the time, police detectives believed that he was killed because of suspicions that he was
skimming profits for himself without permission from his boss. Gambino associate
Dominick Montiglio would later reveal the events surrounding Brocchini's murder after becoming a government witness in 1983.
Robert Caravaggio Robert "
Bucky the Boss"
Caravaggio (1939 – July 28, 2017) was a soldier who led the
New Jersey faction during the 1990s until the early 2000s. From 1986 to 1988, Caravaggio was one of the twenty defendants in the 21-month-long trial of Lucchese crime family's New Jersey faction. In August 1997, Caravaggio, along with other members of the Lucchese family's New Jersey faction, was indicted and charged with racketeering, loan-sharking and gambling. In 2004, the New Jersey Commission of Investigation stated that Caravaggio was the head of the Lucchese crime family's North Jersey faction. Caravaggio was overseeing operations in Northern Jersey, especially in Morris County. Caravaggio died on July 28, 2017, from pancreatic cancer.
Frankie Carbo Joseph Caridi Joseph "Joe C." Caridi (November 20, 1948 – June 29, 2024) was a former acting underboss, and
Consigliere in the family. He resided in
East Northport. He was nicknamed by the media the
"Tony Soprano of Long Island" for running his crew from "Sinderella" a strip club in
Brentwood similar to the "
Bada Bing!" in the TV crime drama
The Sopranos. In the early 2000s, he worked closely with former acting boss
Louis Daidone and was picked up in wiretaps discussing loan sharking, extortion and drug dealing with Daidone and other Brooklyn faction mobsters. On November 14, 2002, the Suffolk county police arrested Caridi who was listed as the underboss along with Aniello "Neil" Colello, Ronald Galiano, Milton Bialostok, The charges included loan-sharking, gambling, construction payoffs, restaurant extortion and other profit-skimming operation that stretched from Suffolk County to the Bronx. In December 2002, Caridi, along with capo John Cerrella and others, was indicted on extortion charges. Caridi's crew took control of the
Hudson & McCoy Fish House restaurant in
Freeport, Long Island, after the owner asked him for help. As part of this federal plea agreement, the State of New York dropped its November 2002 charges. Caridi died on June 29, 2024.
Alfonso Cataldo Alfonso T. "Tic" Cataldo (April 18, 1942 – August 21, 2013) was a soldier in the New Jersey faction. Cataldo grew up in Newark, New Jersey with his cousins Michael and Martin Taccetta. From 1986 to 1988, Cataldo was one of the twenty defendants in the 21-month-long trial of the Lucchese crime family's New Jersey faction. During the trial Cataldo was listed as a member supervising numbers and loansharking operations in New Jersey. In 2004, the New Jersey Commission of Investigation stated that Cataldo was running illegal gambling operations in New Jersey. On August 21, 2013, Cataldo died of natural causes. Alfonso is a blood relative to Genovese capo Augustino "Crazy Augie" Cataldo and Genovese soldier Pete "Scarface" Cataldo.
Samuel Cavalieri Samuel "
Big Sam"
Cavalieri (April 11, 1911 – November 4, 1987) was a former capo of the Harlem crew. In 1980, Cavalieri and Thomas Mancuso were under investigation for corruption of Local 29 of Blasters, Miners and Drill runners Union. The investigators suspected that Cavalieri illegal paid off Local 29 President Louis Sanzo and Local 29 secretary-treasurer Amadeo Petito. The investigation revealed that in 1978, Petito met in Cavalieri's social club in East Harlem. – December 1991) was a former acting boss in the Lucchese family. In the 1940s, Coco worked with James Plumeri, Frank Palermo, Harry Segal and Felix Bocchicchio for soldier
Frankie Carbo, in a group known as "The Combination", an arm of
Murder, Inc. He helped Graziano start a professional boxing career and throughout the following years was viewed as a
de facto boxing manager. In the late 1940s, Coco was suspected of placing wagers and taking bets on fights while Graziano was accused of taking bribes. These accusations continued until Graziano retired in 1952. In 1953, Coco was arrested in Florida for murdering a
Miami car-wash operator in a dispute over a bill. On November 12, 1953, Coco was sentenced to
life in prison. During the 1963
McClellan hearings, government witness
Joseph Valachi identified Coco as a
capo in
Gaetano "Tommy" Lucchese's crime family. In 1965, Coco was released from prison after serving ten years on his life sentence. In July 1967, family boss Thomas Lucchese died and Coco became a candidate to become the new boss. He served as
acting boss in 1967. Coco later stepped down as
acting boss and
Carmine Tramunti became the new boss. Coco continued to operate as a
capo under Tramunti, with criminal activities in New York and Florida that kept him under strict government watch. In 1972, Coco, his brother-in-law James Michael Falco and Louis "Louis Nash" Nakaladski were indicted in
Miami on extortion and
loansharking charges. During the trial, witness Joel Whitice testified that he borrowed money in the late 1960s from Falco. He made payments to Falco, Coco and Nash, and described Coco as the leader of a loan-sharking ring. By the late 1980s, Coco was considered a semi-retired mobster living in Florida. In 1986, he served as
consigliere for the Lucchese family while boss
Anthony Corallo,
Salvatore Santoro and
Christopher Furnari were on trial in the
Commission Case. Coco later stepped down and continued to operate in New York and Florida. In 1986, Coco created a bingo operation to
launder money from criminal rackets. The mobsters used Bingo World, a company operating
bingo halls in several states, to launder the money. Coco and
Chicago Outfit members
Dominic Cortina and
Donald Angelini became silent partners in the company. The new owner, Stephen Paskind, served as the front owner of the company; while claiming he controlled 84% he actually only had 42%. Izaak Silber soon joined in the bingo operation. In 1991, Coco and his bingo partners were arrested.
Anthony Corallo Ralph Cuomo Ralph "
Raffie"
Cuomo (1933 – April 2008), also known as "Raffaele", was a soldier who owned
Ray's Pizza on Prince Street between Elizabeth and Mott Streets in
Little Italy. In 1959, Cuomo opened the first "Ray's Pizza"; he later opened another on the Upper East Side. In 1969, he was convicted of drug trafficking after being found with 50 pounds of heroin. In 1995, Cuomo was arrested and charged with operating a drug network out of Ray's Pizza on Prince Street in New York. Cuomo died in 2008 from complications of diabetes and a heart ailment. Cuomo's pizzeria "Ray's Pizza" was later sold for almost $6 million. His daughter Danielle married
John Baudanza, who later became a member of the Lucchese family. Cutaia worked as a loan shark and as a chauffeur for capo
Paul Vario. While working for capo Paul Vario, Cutaia also controlled some illegal gambling operations and had control of the carpenters union local in Brooklyn. During the early 1990s he was a member of a ruling panel along with
Steven Crea and
Joseph DeFede running the crime family. In 1995, Cutaia was indicted for extortion, loan sharking and racketeering; in 1996, he pled guilty to extortionate extensions of credit and was sentenced to thirty months in prison. In 2002, Cutaia was indicted on loan sharking charges; he pled guilty and was sentenced to two years and three years of supervised probation upon his release. On February 28, 2008, Cutaia, his son Salvatore, his son-in-law John Baudanza, and former acting capo Michael Corcione were indicted on federal racketeering charges that included loansharking, extortionate collection of credit, extortion, marijuana distribution conspiracy, illegal gambling, bank fraud and mail fraud for activities dating back to the 1980s. On October 25, 2009, Cutaia was sentenced to 39 months in federal prison for bank fraud. At the sentencing, Cutaia's attorney asked the court for home confinement, saying that Cutaia suffered from
depression and advanced
multiple sclerosis; the request was denied. In October 2012, Cutaia was sentenced to one year in prison for loan sharking. Cutaia was released from prison on October 4, 2013. He died on August 14, 2018.
Paul Correale Paul "
Paulie Ham"
Correale (April 25, 1911 – died 1962) was a capo in the Lucchese family. Correale controlled gambling and narcotics in East Harlem. In December 1930, Correale and Carmine Tramunti had charges of robbery dropped and they were released from jail. Correale ran a Lucchese family gambling club between Second Avenue and East 112th Street in East Harlem. In 1952, Joseph Valachi and others murdered Eugenio Giannini near Correale's club.
Joseph Datello Joseph "
Big Joe"
Datello (May 16, 1951 – February 23, 2024), also known as "Joey Glasses", is a soldier in the "Prince Street Crew". In December 1999, Datello and Steven Crea talked about bribery and extortion with Sean Richard, the son-in-law of
John Riggi who was wearing a hidden recording device. On September 6, 2000, the district attorney used the information obtained from Richard's to indict The indictment identified Datello as soldier in the "Prince Street crew" of captain Dominic Truscello and along with associate Sean Richard were involved in labor racketeering and bid rigging. On March 7, 2003, Datello pleaded guilty to extorting "Commercial Brick", a construction company, wire fraud in relation to a construction project at the Park Central Hotel, and loansharking. He was released from prison on August 5, 2005. In November 2009, Datello was indicted along with acting capo Anthony Croce and charged with running a sports gambling operations from his bar "Night Gallery" in New Dorp, Staten Island. On May 31, 2017, Datello, along with Street Boss
Matthew Madonna, Underboss Steven Crea Sr., Consigliere Joseph DiNapoli, Capo Steven Crea Jr., Capo Dominic Truscello, Capo John Castelucci, Acting Capo Tindaro Corso and other members of the family were indicted and charged with racketeering, murder, narcotics (cocaine, heroin, marijuana, prescribed medication), and firearms offenses. On January 4, 2019, Datello was received a 14-year prison sentence. The attempted murder of a witness dates back to October 2016, when Datello traveled to New Hampshire to murder a witness with the approval of
Steven Crea. On February 23, 2024, Datello died.
Anthony Delasco Anthony "
Ham"
Delasco (sometimes spelled Dolasco) was a former boxer and capo in New Jersey. illegal gambling and loan-sharking operations in
Newark, New Jersey.
Anthony DiLapi Anthony DiLapi (February 9, 1936 – February 4, 1990), also known as "Blue Eyes over the Bridges" or "Fat Anthony", was a soldier. His uncle,
Salvatore Santoro, was a former underboss in the Lucchese family. DiLapi controlled the Lucchese family's
Teamsters union local in New York City's
Garment District and a bookmaking business, and owned part of a vending machine company in Brooklyn. After being released from prison, DiLapi was summoned to a meeting with Anthony Casso, and fled. On April 6, 2006, Eppolito and Caracappa were convicted of murder for their role in eight mob killings, including that of Anthony DiLapi.
Joseph DiNapoli Joseph "Joey D." DiNapoli (born July 12, 1935 – November 25, 2024) is the former consigliere in the Lucchese family. He has two brothers,
Vincent and
Louis, who are both members of the
Genovese crime family. DiNapoli was a member of the
East Harlem Purple Gang. In 1969, DiNapoli was arrested in New York on gambling charges. During the early 1970s, DiNapoli was a member of Carmine Tramunti's Harlem crew, overseeing Tramunti's narcotic and loansharking rackets. The FBI and DEA surveillance teams would observe DiNapoli frequently spending time at Tramunti's hangouts the Beach Rose Social Club and LoPiccolo's Espresso House in the Bronx. On December 18, 2007, New Jersey law enforcement indicted and arrested DiNapoli along with Matthew Madonna,
New Jersey faction capos Ralph V. Perna,
Nicodemo Scarfo Jr. and other members and associates of the Lucchese family. The indictment revealed that during investigation
"Operation Heat" law enforcement agencies uncovered a $2.2 billion illegal gambling, money laundering and racketeering ring from New Jersey to Costa Rica. On October 1, 2009, DiNapoli was indicted in New York along with Matthew Madonna and 27 others in a racketeering scheme that made approximately $400 million from gambling, loansharking, gun trafficking and extortion. On February 12, 2016, DiNapoli pleaded guilty in New Jersey to racketeering in
Operation Heat and was sentenced on April 20, 2016, to three years in New Jersey State prison. Also on April 20, 2016, DiNapoli was sentenced to one to three years in prison for his 2009 New York illegal gambling indictment. It was decided that both the New York and New Jersey sentences will be served concurrently in a New Jersey State Prison. On May 31, 2017, family consigliere DiNapoli along with Street Boss Matthew Madonna, Underboss Steven Crea Sr., Capo Steven Crea Jr., Capo Dominic Truscello, Capo John Castelucci, Acting Capo Tindaro Corso and other members of the family were indicted and charged with racketeering, murder, narcotics (cocaine, heroin, marijuana, prescribed medication), and firearms offenses. In January 2019, DiNapoli and John Castelucci pleaded guilty and await sentencing. On January 11, 2023, DiNapoli was released from prison. On November 25, 2024, DiNapoli died at Jacoby Hospital at the age of 89.
Jackie DiNorscio Johnny Dio Salvatore DiSimone Salvatore "
Sally Bo"
DiSimone (sometimes spelled DeSimone) (died October 2017), was a former capo. His son Anthony was a member of
the Tanglewood Boys. In 1994, his son Anthony went into hiding after the murder of Louis Balancio. On December 22, 2003, a soldier in his crew, Albert J. Circelli Jr. was shot and killed inside
Rao's, an Italian restaurant located in Harlem by mafia associate Louis "Louie Lump Lump" Barone. In 2005, the FBI revealed that DiSimone and Lucchese soldier Daniel Latella had meetings in doctors' offices with
Gambino family capo
Greg DePalma. His son Anthony DiSimone served seven years in prison before the conviction was overturned; he later pled guilty to manslaughter in 2010, and served no additional time. DiSimone's other son
Andrew DiSimone became a made member in the Lucchese family. Salvatore DiSimone died in October 2017.
Christopher Furnari Christopher "Christie Tick" Furnari Sr. (April 30, 1924 – May 28, 2018) was a former consigliere until his 1986 racketeering conviction. He was sentenced to 100 years in prison before being released in 2014, after serving almost 28 years. Furnari was born in 1924 in New York to first-generation Sicilian-
Italian emigrants from
Furnari, a commune in the
Province of Messina in
Sicily. By age 15, Furnari was managing his own
loanshark operations in
Brooklyn and Northern
New Jersey. By 1943, the 19-year-old Furnari had already served two prison terms for armed robbery. Furnari was also sentenced to 15 to 30 years after he and several other youths were arrested with three girls in a car and charged with rape. In 1956, Furnari was released from prison on
parole. Furnari became an associate of
Thomas Lucchese's crime family through Furnari's connection with mobster
Anthony Corallo. During the late 1950s, Furnari became involved in
illegal gambling and loansharking. extortion, burglary, narcotics dealing, occasional murder contracts, and union and construction rackets. Lucchese's real successor,
Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo, was convicted of bribery in 1967 and sentenced in 1968 to prison for two years. Tramunti served as acting boss, even after Corallo was released from prison in 1970. In 1973, with Tramunti's imprisonment, Corallo finally became the official Lucchese boss. In the early 1970s, the
Five Families of New York organized crime decided to "open the books', allowing a new generation of mob associates to become
made men. Furnari immediately sponsored Amuso and Casso for family membership and then made them overseers of the "Bypass Gang", a highly successful burglary ring. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Bypass Gang reportedly stole hundreds of millions of dollars in cash, jewelry and other merchandise. In January 1972, Furnari backed and sanctioned the squad of armed robbers who took the Pierre Hotel in Manhattan under siege and stole approximately $3 million in jewels and cash. The
Pierre Hotel robbery stands as the largest unrecovered hotel robbery in history. The case was never solved: none of the perpetrators ever confessed to the heist and only a diamond necklace valued at $780,000 was recovered. The eight brazen armed robbers were Robert Comfort, Sammy Nalo, Donald 'Tony the Greek' Frankos, Al Green, Ali Ben,
Robert "Bobby" Germaine and Al Visconti. In 1980, Furnari was promoted to
consigliere in the Lucchese family. He wanted Casso to take over as capo of the 19th Hole crew, but Casso declined and endorsed Amuso instead. Casso opted to become Furnari's aide; a consigliere is allowed to have one soldier work directly for him. Furnari enjoyed enormous influence both within his own family, the other New York families, and crime families from other U.S. cities. Furnari continued to oversee his criminal interests from the 19th Hole, but spent much of his time providing advice and mediation for family members as well as settling disputes with the other families. Furnari reigned as one of New York's top Mafia bosses throughout the early 1980s until his 1985 racketeering indictment. On February 25, 1985, Furnari was indicted in the
Mafia Commission case, the most comprehensive
Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) prosecution brought against the mob at the time. Furnari was indicted as a result of a
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) probe that used undercover surveillance and bugging techniques against the mob leaders. The bug that snared Furnari had been placed in
Salvatore Avellino's
Jaguar car. FBI surveillance recorded Corallo conducting business with Furnari and other family leaders. Pleading not guilty to the charges, Furnari was released on $1.75 million bail pending trial. In early 1986, while Furnari was awaiting the Commission trial, the Lucchese family uncovered a new, potentially lucrative racket. A Russian-American
crime family based in
Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, run by
Ukrainian immigrant
Marat Balagula, had started to
bootleg gasoline. By collecting gasoline taxes from customers and then not paying them to the government, Balagula was making very large profits. When
Colombo crime family capo
Michael Franzese started pressing Balagula for extortion payments, Balagula went to Furnari for help. Casso later reported on a meeting at the 19th Hole, in which Furnari told Balagula, Here there's enough for everybody to be happy... to leave the table satisfied. What we must avoid is trouble between us and the other families. I propose to make a deal with the others so there's no bad blood.... Meanwhile, we will send word out that from now on you and your people are with the Lucchese family. No one will bother you. If anyone does bother you, come to us and Anthony will take care of it. As a result of the 19th Hole meeting, the
Five Families imposed a two cent per gallon "Family tax" on Balagula's bootlegging operation, which became their greatest moneymaker after
drug trafficking. According to one former associate, The LCN reminded Marat of the
apparatchiks in the
Soviet Union. He thought as long as he gave them something they would be valuable allies. Then all of a sudden he was at risk of being killed if he couldn't pay to the penny. According to author
Philip Carlo, It didn't take long for word on the street to reach the Russian underworld: Marat Balagula was paying off the Italians; Balagula was a punk; Balagula had no balls. Balagula's days were numbered. This, of course, was the beginning of serious trouble. Balagula did in fact have balls, he was a ruthless killer when necessary, but he also was a smart diplomatic administrator and he knew that the combined, concerted force of the Italian crime families would quickly wipe the newly arrived Russian competition off the proverbial map. On June 12, 1986, one of Balagula's rivals, Russian-American gangster
Vladimir Reznikov, entered Balagula's nightclub in Brighton Beach. Reznikov pushed a
9mm Beretta handgun against Balagula's skull and demanded $600,000 and a percentage of Balagula's rackets. After Balagula acceded to his demands, Reznikov told him, "Fuck with me and you're dead, you and your whole fucking family; I swear I'll fuck and kill your wife as you watch, you understand?" After Reznikov left the nightclub, Balagula suffered a massive
heart attack. He insisted, however, on being treated at his home in Brighton Beach, where he felt safer. At home, Balagula asked Casso to come help him. Casso gave these instructions to Balagula, "Send word to Vladimir that you have his money, that he should come to the club tomorrow. We'll take care of the rest." Casso also requested a photograph of Reznikov and a description of his car. The next day, Reznikov arrived at Balagula's nightclub to pick up his money. Lucchese soldier
Joseph Testa confronted Reznikov and fatally shot him. According to Casso, "After that, Marat didn't have any problems with other Russians." In September 1986, Furnari went on trial in the famous New York Mafia Commission case, along with Corallo and underboss
Salvatore "Tom Mix" Santoro. The charges included extortion and labor racketeering within the construction industry and murder for hire of former
Bonanno crime family boss
Carmine "Lilo" Galante. Galante had been gunned down on July 12, 1979, allegedly on the orders of the Commission. Some have argued that Furnari wasn't on the Commission then and had no connection with the Galante hit. However, Furnari could not use this as a defense argument. By the fall of 1986, Corallo realized that he, Santoro and Furnari would not only be convicted, but were facing sentences that would all but assure they would die in prison. Furnari persuaded Corallo that either Amuso or Casso should become the new boss. At a meeting in Furnari's home, Furnari, Amuso and Casso all agreed that Amuso should succeed Corallo as boss. On November 19, 1986, Furnari was convicted on all counts, including the Galante murder. On January 13, 1987, Furnari was sentenced to 100 years in prison without parole and fined $240,000. With the imprisonment of Corallo and Furnari, Amuso became boss, and Casso became consigliere and later underboss.
Peter "Fat Pete" Chiodo took over Furnari's Bensonhurst crew. In 1990, Amuso and Casso became fugitives to avoid prosecution in the famous "Windows Case." In 1992, Amuso was captured and sentenced to life in prison. In 1993, Casso was also captured; however, in 1994 he struck a deal with the government to testify against Furnari and other family leaders. In 1995, Furnari started challenging the "no parole" stipulation of his sentence in court. The government had previously revoked Casso's witness deal with prosecutors, and in 1996 Casso was sentenced to life in prison. Furnari's lawyers insisted that Casso's court testimony against Furnari was tainted. In July 2000, the
Third Circuit Federal Court of Appeals ruled that the parole board officials had been denying Furnari's parole eligibility on the tainted assertions of mob turncoat Casso. However, in 2001, the
Bureau of Prisons National Appeal Board ruled that Furnari was a multiple murderer and was not eligible for
parole, based on what some people considered to be Casso's discredited testimony. On February 15, 2006, Furnari filed a
habeas corpus petition in District Court claiming that the United States parole commission had improperly denied him parole. On June 20, 2007, the court denied his petition. Furnari was imprisoned in the Allenwood Medium
Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in
Allenwood, Pennsylvania. His projected release date was November 24, 2044, effectively a life sentence. However, since he was convicted before Congress eliminated parole for federal prisoners, he and his co-defendants became eligible for parole in 1996. Furnari was the only defendant to be granted early release by the
U.S. Parole Commission, most likely relating to the weak evidence behind his murder conviction. Furnari was released from a prison hospital in Minnesota on September 19, 2014, after serving 28 years. On May 28, 2018, Furnari died at his home in Staten Island, New York.
Tommy Gagliano Stefano LaSalle and Lucchese c.1948|150px
Stefano "
Steve"
LaSalle (November 5, 1888 – November 1975), real name
LaSala, was an early member of the Morello family; he later joined Reina's family. In 1915, East Harlem's Italian lottery "king"
Giosue Gallucci was murdered, allowing LaSalle and Tommaso Lomonte to take over the lottery games. was a
soldier,
caporegime and
consigliere of the Lucchese family. Lastorino was formally inducted into the crime family in 1987. In August 1990, Lastorino was ordered by
Anthony Casso to murder mobster Bruno Facciola. The order to murder Facciola was given after Casso had received information from two NYPD police detectives
Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa on his payroll that Bruno Facciola was an informant. Lastorino arranged to bring Facciola to a Brooklyn garage, where Lastorino stabbed Facciola and Pagliarulo shot him six times in the face and chest. Daidone stuffed a dead canary into Facciola's mouth, put his body in the trunk of his 1985 Mercury sedan and abandoned the car on East Fifty-Fifth Street in Canarsie. In September 1991, during a Staten Island meeting,
Vic Amuso and Anthony Casso replaced
Alphonse D'Arco as acting boss and created a four-man ruling panel that consisted of Lastorino, Alphonse D'Arco, Anthony Baratta and
Salvatore Avellino. On September 18, 1991, Lastorino, along with capo Anthony Baratta and soldier Mike DeSantis, conspired to kill Alphonse D'Arco in the Kimberly Hotel in Manhattan but failed. D'Arco defected on September 21, 1991, and became a government witness. In October 1991, Lastorino, along with Anthony Baratta, Salvatore Avellino, Richard Pagliarulo, Anthony Tortorello, George Conte, Thomas Anzellotto and Frank Papagni inducted (made) Thomas D'Ambrosia, Joseph Tortorello Jr.,
Frank Gioia Jr., Gregory Cappello and Jody Calabrese into the crime family during a ceremony that was held in a
Howard Beach, Queens home. Some time after, Lastorino was appointed consigliere of the family. It was later revealed by government informant Frank Gioia Jr. that Lastorino was ordered by Anthony Casso to murder Patrick Testa on December 2, 1992. Casso intended to blame the murder on the Gambino family in a plot to kill
John A. Gotti. In April 1993, During the May 16, 1994, trial, the prosecution planned to use government witnesses and former Lucchese mobsters Alphonse D'Arco, Peter Chiodo and associate Corrado Marino to testify against Lastorino. Lastorino was released from prison on December 23, 2008, after serving 14 years in prison on conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering and several murders, including the murder of painters union official James Bishop. On June 22, 2011, his son Carl Lastorino attempted to kill Peter Argentina, shooting him in the hand and shoulder at a Brooklyn tire shop. When Carl tried to escape, he was shot to death by police in an apparent suicide-by-cop. Lastorino died on November 5, 2022, at age 83.
Carmine LoCascio Carmine "
Willie the Wop"
LoCascio (September 23, 1911 – March 13, 1983) was a New York mobster who was involved in drug trafficking along with his brother Peter LoCascio. In 1929, he was arrested on bootlegging, narcotics and robbery.
Peter LoCascio Peter Joseph "Mr. Bread" LoCascio (June 10, 1916 – September 2, 1997) was a New York mobster involved in drug trafficker along with his older brother Carmine LoCascio. LoCascio would frequent been seen on the Lower East Side and Little Italy in Manhattan. In October 1973, Loria was indicted, along with the boss of the Lucchese Family
Carmine Tramunti and 42 other mobsters, on drug dealing charges. He died in 1989 from natural causes.
Joseph Lucchese Joseph "
Joe Brown"
Lucchese (born April 13, 1910) was a capo and younger brother to
Tommy Lucchese, the boss of the Lucchese crime family. He controlled gambling operations along with
Aniello Migliore. In 1963, during the
Valachi hearings, Lucchese was identified as a capo in the Lucchese family. He died during the early 1970s.
Tommy Lucchese Anthony Luongo Anthony "Buddy" Luongo was a former capo in the Harlem-Bronx faction. Luongo was a longtime protégé of Lucchese Underboss Salvatore "Tom Mix" Santoro and would meet him weekly at Santoro Beverage Company on Morris Park Ave in the Bronx. In 1986, Luongo tried to take over the Lucchese family after boss Anthony Corallo was imprisoned during the Commission case. According to informant Al D'Arco, the murder of Luongo was organized by Vic Amuso and Anthony Casso who suspected that Underboss Santoro was plotting with his two protégé Luongo and Anthony DiLapi to seize control of the family. In the Brooklyn home Luongo met with Vic Amuso, Anthony Casso, Bobby Amuso and Dom Carbucci, until Bobby Amuso excused himself and returned killing Luongo by shooting him three times in the head. Luongo was buried somewhere in Canarsie, Brooklyn.
Mariano Macaluso Mariano "
Mac"
Macaluso (born June 7, 1912) was a former member. He served as consigliere during the 1960s. In the 1960s, Macaluso became partners with Lucchese mobster Andimo "Tony Noto" Pappadio in Ideal Trucking and in Garment Carriers Corporation. In 1989, boss Vic Amuso forced him into retirement. In 1992, he died from natural causes.
Vincent Mancione Vincent "
Vinny Casablanca"
Mancione (1964) was a soldier and former acting capo. In 2002, Mancione was indicted along with consigliere Joseph Caridi, capo John Cerrella and soldier Carmelo Profeta for extorting the
Hudson & McCoy Fish House restaurant in Freeport, Long Island. Mancione died in 2013.
Thomas Mancuso Thomas "
Tommy Tea Balls"
Mancuso (August 29, 1907 – 1981) was a former member of the Harlem crew. Mancuso and Carmine Tramunti were part owners of the Pussycat Bar and club in New York City. On August 14, 1968, Mancuso was indicted on narcotics charges; convicted on March 26, 1969, and sentenced to one year in prison. In 1980, Mancuso and Samuel Cavalieri were under investigation for corruption of Local 29 of Blasters, Miners and Drill runners Union. He served as a union delegate in the
United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, controlled Local 295 and owned two trucking companies: LVF Air Cargo, Inc., and LVF Airport Service Inc. at JFK Airport. Manzo also owned Villa Capra, a restaurant in
Cedarhurst, New York, where he conducted illegal activities. In 1972, Manzo was kidnapped by
James McBratney, Eddie Maloney, Tommy Genovese and Richie Chaisson; they held him for $150,000 in ransom, then released him when it was paid. In 1983, Manzo was overheard in an FBI wiretap, saying, "We rule this airport". In 1985, Manzo, Local 295 President Frank Calise, Local 851 Vice-president Harry Davidoff, and others were indicted on charges of extorting shipping and trucking companies at JFK Airport. In 1986, Manzo pled guilty to racketeering and was sentenced to twelve years in prison and fined $325,000. On April 8, 1987, Manzo was banned from
New Jersey casinos due to his history of involvement with organized crime. Manzo was released from prison in 1994. In 1995, Manzo was charged with racketeering for extorting $2 million in payoffs from cement company owner John Quadrozzi over a 13-year period, between 1978 and 1991. However, the charges were dropped when the judge ruled that the crimes were covered under his 1986 plea agreement. On October 23, 2012, Manzo died in his sleep. He was recruited into the Lucchese family by capo Joseph Laratro, who controlled illegal gambling operations in Corona, Queens. By the late 1950s Migliore, a soldier, already was overseeing Laratro's illegal gambling operations from bookmaking, policy operations and large telephone setups. In 1957, it was reported that after paying tribute to his boss, Migliore was making $50,000 a day from running illegal gambling operations in New York City. The next day on November 15, 1957, Migliore was in a car accident while driving through
Binghamton, New York leading to more suspicion that he was supposed to attend the Apalachin Meeting. On October 22, 1974, Migliore was indicted, along with members Frank Altimari, Nicholas Bonina, Anthony Romanello, Frank Ruggiero, Richard Rubino, Thomas DeMaio, brothers Michael Struzzieri and William Struzzieri, and NYPD police officer James Maxwell, on bribery charges in order to protect a gambling operation in Queens. The charges alleged Migliore and other mobsters had rigged the bidding process for the supplying of concrete to high rise building projects in Manhattan such as the Trump Plaza and sites for
Mount Sinai School of Medicine and
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. In November 1986,
The New York Times reported Migliore, a captain and owner of a Queens marble business who also controlled gambling operations with Joe Lucchese (the brother of former boss Thomas Lucchese) replaced Anthony Corallo as the new boss of the Lucchese family, after Corallo was convicted during the Commission trial. Former Lucchese mobster
Alphonse D'Arco revealed that
Vic Amuso was chosen as the new family boss and Migliore served as consigliere before being replaced by
Anthony Casso when Migliore went to prison. On May 4, 1988, Migliore was convicted sentenced to 24 years in prison and fined $266,000. In 1991, Migliore's conviction was overturned and he was released from prison. Migliore held an on-the-book job as a sales representative with a traprock supplier in the concrete business. On April 3, 1992, Migliore was celebrating the birthday of a friend's granddaughter at Tesoro's Restaurant in
Westbury,
Long Island. During the party, a shooter in a passing car fired shotgun blasts through the restaurant window. Migliore was shot in the neck and upper body. Despite his wounds, Migliore survived. On May 14, 1997, Migliore was released from prison. In 2003, it was reported by author Jerry Capeci that the Lucchese crime family was being run by a three-man ruling committee consisting of Migliore,
Matthew Madonna and
Joseph DiNapoli in the absence of an acting boss. Migliore, who served as underboss in the past to Anthony Corallo, was considered the biggest influence on the ruling committee. Migliore died on September 11, 2019.
Richard Pagliarulo Richard "
Richie the Toupe"
Pagliarulo (November 30, 1948 – 1999) was a hit man and former capo, who took over as capo of
Peter Chiodo's old Bensonhurst crew. In 1991, Pagliarulo served as a member of a panel that conducted a Lucchese crime family induction ceremony in Howard Beach, Queens. He sponsored both Gregory "Whitey" Cappello and Jody Calabrese for membership during the ceremony. Pagliarulo was imprisoned on the information and testimony of Frank Gioia Jr. who stated that Pagliarulo helped
Louis Daidone plan the murder of Bruno Facciola. On October 25, 1988, Sarecho Nalo was murdered, while on the phone with Greek crew boss
Spiro Velentzas disputing gambling territory when Michael Spinelli pulled the trigger shooting him. Papa grew up in
Astoria, Queens and owned a tire company in the neighborhood. He had been arrested 28 times; two of the arrests were on drug charges. He worked closely with mobsters
Anthony Loria and Virgil Alessi. In the 1960s, Pappadio became partners with Lucchese mobster Mariano Macaluso in Ideal Trucking and in Garment Carriers Corporation. In 1965, Pappadio was sentenced to two years in prison for refusing to answer questions before a Federal grand jury in Manhattan about meeting with Tommy Lucchese. In the 1970s, his two brothers Fred and Michael Pappadio joined him in controlling Ideal Trucking in the Garment district. On May 13, 1989, Pappadio and Avellino arrived at the bakery, when Pappadio entered he was ambushed by Al D'Arco who smashed him over the head with copper cable and then George Zappola shot him in the head killing him. His son
Joseph R. "Big Joe" Perna followed him into the life and became a member of the Lucchese family's New Jersey faction. His younger brother
Ralph V. Perna is also a member in the New Jersey faction. During the 1980s, Perna was a member of
Michael Taccetta's inner circle and controlled operations from the Hole in the Wall, a luncheonette in Newark's Down Neck section. In August 1988, Perna was acquitted in the 21-month trial along with the other twenty members of the New Jersey faction. On April 18, 1991, Perna was charged in two separate indictments. The first indictment charged Perna, along with Michael Taccetta,
Martin Taccetta, Anthony Accetturo and Tommy Ricciardi, with racketeering. Perna and Michael Taccetta were sentenced to twenty-five years each. Michael J. Perna died on October 28, 2020.
Joseph Pinzolo Bonaventura "
Joseph"
Pinzolo (1887 – September 5, 1930), also known as "Fat Joe", was the boss of the family during 1930. In July 1908, Pinzolo was arrested for trying to bomb 314 East 11th Street in an effort to force owner Francisco Spinelli to pay
Black Hand extortion demands. After his arrest Pinzolo gave up his boss Giuseppe Costabile, a
Camorrista who controlled the area south of
Houston Street to
Canal Street and from East Broadway to the
East River. As boss Pinzolo was unfamiliar with the members of the family and the East Harlem area. His promotion angered Tommaso Gagliano, Tommy Lucchese and Dominick Petrilli, who formed a splinter group within the family and planned his murder. On September 5, 1930, Pinzolo's body was found in the Brokaw building on 1487 Broadway in Suite 1007 occupied by California Dry Fruit Importers. According to Joseph Valachi the killer was Girolamo "Bobby Doyle" Santucci. In 1922, Rannelli was arrested for a shooting several bystanders on August 8, after another gunman attempted to shoot
Joe Masseria. In 1930, Reina was murdered, and boss of bosses
Joe Masseria appointed his ally
Joe Pinzolo as the new boss of the Reina family. also known as Vincent or Vinny, was a former
Consigliere in the family. His father was Antonio Rao and his mother Liboria Gagliano. He had a brother Calogero "Charles" and a sister Maria Speciale. On his mother's side, Rao was a distant relative to
Tommaso Gagliano. He was a cousin to gangster
Joseph Rao. He married Carmelina Alberti and the couple had two daughters, Nina Vento and Liboria Pancaldo. When asked by investigators why he was at the meeting, Rao said he went there for the luncheon buffet and did not speak to anyone else because he was not "introduced". During the 1963
Valachi hearings, Rao was listed as the Lucchese family's consigliere. In 1965, Rao was convicted on perjury charges and was sentenced to five years in prison. At the same time the longtime boss Thomas Lucchese had become ill and Rao was thought of as a suitable successor. His chance to become the new boss never came to fruition due to his trials. During the early 1970s, Rao retired. On September 25, 1988, Rao died of natural causes and is buried at
Ferncliff Cemetery in
Hartsdale, New York.
Gaetano Reina Michael Russo Michael "
Mike Valentino"
Russo (November 23, 1893 – March 1975) was a long-time soldier of the
Lucchese crime family New Jersey faction. During his younger days, Michael Russo reportedly work as an "enforcer". In the early 1920s, Russo was inducted into the
Newark family of
Gaspare D'Amico, and during his time under this family, he attended the 1928 Cleveland Mafia meeting at the
Hotel Statler as an official member. When the D'Amico family collapsed in 1937 with its
rackets being divided up by
the Commission, Michael Russo joined the Lucchese crime family, presumably to serve under
Settimo Accardi. In the early 1960s, when the
FBN was compiling
Mafia members, Russo, already in semi-retirement, was listed as living at 105 Ridgely Avenue,
Iselin, New Jersey. His criminal record since 1911 consisted of:
assault,
burglary,
swindling,
homicide,
embezzlement. Some of Michael Russo's other associates were:
Vito Genovese,
Joe Profaci,
Joe Magliocco, Charles Tourine Sr., and former friends in the old Newark family: Andrew Lombardino and Emanuel Cammarata, by then both
Colombo members. Salerno was a member of the "Bronx-Crea Crew", and took over the crew after Steven "Stevie Junior" Crea was imprisoned in May 2017. He is a nephew of former Lucchese captain Michael Salerno. In 1993, Frank Salerno was indicted along with others on federal charges of illegally dumping construction and demolition debris into landfills. In 2006, Salerno was charged with defrauding customers from his car dealership Ultimate Motors, Inc., by failing to forward proceeds of car sales to the owners of cars that it sold on consignment, selling vehicles that it did not own, and failing to deliver vehicles to purchasers after receiving payment for car sales. In April 2012, Frank Salerno went to the
Tuckahoe police station to help his son Adam Salerno who was arrested for driving with a suspended license, before leaving the police arrested Frank with a warrant from Atlantic County, N.J. for passing bad checks. In May 2020, Salerno was identified in an FBI surveillance photo meeting with Lucchese members acting boss Mike DeSantis, consigliere Andrew DeSimone, soldier Anthony Villani, soldier Anthony Baratta and caporegime George Zappola in
Jefferson Park.
Salvatore Santoro Salvatore T. "Tom Mix" Santoro Sr. (November 18, 1915 – January 2000) served as
underboss in the
Lucchese crime family during the 1980s before being convicted in the
Mafia Commission Trial and sentenced to 100 years in federal prison. He was born in
Leonia, New Jersey, to Antonio and Teresa Bargio. He married Mary Zangaglia but did not father any children. He is the uncle to Lucchese family soldier and union boss Anthony DiLapi. He acquired the nickname "
Tom Mix" because in his younger years he closely resembled the
Dutch-
German-American western film actor by that name. Santoro started working for the Gagliano crime family, forerunner of the Lucchese family, in the early 1930s. He served as an associate of future boss
Tommy "Three-Finger Brown" Lucchese's
107th Street gang in operating
extortion,
loansharking,
narcotics and prostitution rings during the 1930s. He was
made sometime in the 1940s operating
drug trafficking and loansharking rings. On July 6, 1942, Santoro received six months to two years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to import narcotics from Mexico. In March 1951, Santoro was indicted on charges of conspiracy to import
opium from
Mexico and convert it into
heroin. Santoro went into hiding and allegedly spent time in Europe before returning to
Oyster Bay, New York. On September 24, 1951, he surrendered to federal authorities in New York City. On January 7, 1952, after pleading guilty to narcotics charges, a judge labeled Santoro as a "bad fellow" and sentenced him to four years in prison. In 1951 or 1953, longtime boss
Tommy Gagliano died. Underboss Tommy Lucchese took over what was now called the Lucchese crime family. Lucchese then promoted Santoro to
capo of the family's powerful Bronx faction. As capo Santoro was based in
East Harlem and
the Bronx, controlling large heroin drug trafficking operations during the 1950s. In 1958 he was arrested and tried for narcotics charges. He was alleged to be a partner and associate of
Ellsworth Johnson, although this never was confirmed. Santoro was convicted of all charges in 1959 and was given a twenty-year prison sentence. In the early 1980s,
Anthony Corallo found a new way to discuss business without ever meeting his top underlings Santoro and Furnari. Corallo used his
Jaguar with a phone inside and talked to mostly Santoro on the phone while he was driving around in New York with his chauffeur
Aniello Migliore. This succeeded mostly because the noise of the old Jaguar was so loud that it was not possible to hear what Corallo and others were saying. However, after the Jaguar came with a new engine and new filter,
Federal Bureau of Investigation agents planted a
bug in it, and listened in to Corallo's conversations with Santoro, mostly about the profit from the labor and construction racketeering operations in the Bronx, where they extorted unions and had influence in the construction industry. As U.S. law enforcement undertook a concerted effort to crush
organized crime activities in
New York City during the mid-1980s, they put eleven top members of the
Five Families, including the entire leadership of the Lucchese crime family, Corallo, Santoro and consigliere Christopher "Christie Tick" Furnari, on trial, called the
Mafia Commission Trial or the Commission Case. The defendants were arrested on February 25, 1985, on various charges, including labor racketeering, extortion, loansharking, illegal gambling and murder. The trial began in September 1986. The charges also involved the execution of
Bonanno crime family de facto boss
Carmine Galante in 1979, allegedly on the orders of the
Commission because they saw Galante as a potential rival who planned to take over all organized crime operations in the New York area. On November 19, 1986, Santoro and the other defendants were convicted on all counts. On January 13, 1987, Santoro was sentenced to 100 years in prison and fined $250,000. In January 2000, Santoro died at age 87 of natural causes Testa was the younger brother to
Joseph Testa. In 1984, he was indicted on fraud and theft charges, along with members of the Gambino family's DeMeo crew. Testa was sentenced to two years in prison and after his release joined the Lucchese crime family. On December 2, 1992, Testa was murdered, shot in the back of the head nine times. It was later revealed that Anthony Casso had ordered Frank Lastorino to murder Testa.
Anthony Tortorello Anthony "Torty" Tortorello was a former capo of the "Prince Street crew". In 1986, Tortorello was overheard by Genovese mobsters asking why Vincent Gigante was upset by drug deals when Gigante himself profited from drug deals. When Gigante heard these statements he demanded Tortorello's death, but Anthony Casso was able to save his life by planning a phony beating of Tortorello to appease Gigante's demand. In late 2000, Tortorello died in a Kentucky prison. In the 1990s, Truscello, along with
Steven Crea and Joseph Tangorra, formed the "Lucchese Construction Group", supervising all the Lucchese family's construction-related rackets. The indictment charged Truscello with extorting "Commercial Brick", a construction company. On January 9, 2006, Truscello was released from prison. On May 31, 2017, Truscello, along with Street Boss Matthew Madonna, Underboss Steven Crea Sr., Consigliere Joseph DiNapoli and other members of the family, were indicted and charged with racketeering, murder, narcotics (cocaine, heroin, marijuana, prescribed medication) and firearms offenses. Truscello died during the trial in July 2018. Urgitano was raised between Pleasant Avenue and 114th Street, keeping his father's nickname "Cheesecake" and eventually became a made member in the Lucchese family. Urgitano became a powerful mobster operating from Pleasant Avenue and eventually became the caporegime of the Harlem crew. In the late 1990s, Michael Blutrich, the owner of Scores (a strip club franchise) became a government informant and identified Urgitano as a caporegime in the Lucchese family. His son Joseph "Joey Cupcakes" Urgitano was arrested for murder of a Colombo family associate.
Paul Vario ==Past associate(s)==