Update

L. Mastrangelo

New Posts:

1. Louis Mastrangelo (Gambino) : Breakdown of Captain 'Big Louie' Mastrangelo's suspected crew members circa 2011.

2. Joseph Giampa (Lucchese) : Breakdown of Captain Joseph Giampa's known crew members circa 1991.

3. Salvatore Avellino (Lucchese) : Breakdown of Captain Salvatore Avellino's crew circa 1991.

Updated Posts:

1. Joseph Abate (Lucchese) : Updated the list of Abate crew members circa 1979 to include Anthony 'Tony Chocolate' Consalvo. Added mention of Abate's 'safe' status during the late 1980s conflict and clarified his rank in the early 1980s with the following new info:

A. Accetturo

By August 1982 Anthony Accetturo served as Abate's Acting Captain.

Late that month crew member Joseph LaMorte was inducted into the Lucchese Family under Accetturo's sponsorship.

CW Alfonso D'Arco, who was made in the same ceremony and who subsequently rose to Acting Boss before defecting in 1991, later testified: "Joe LaMorte was sponsored by the Jersey faction, his Captain at that time was Anthony Accetturo [who was] an Acting Captain at that time...[The] old captain was Joe Abate, but Accetturo was doing all the running around. Joe was old."

By the mid-to-late 1980s Abate stepped down as Captain and was officially succeeded by Accetturo.

2. William Amendolace (Gambino) : Added surveillance photo from 2002 Gotti wake.

Full list of posts here.

Louis Mastrangelo (Gambino)

L. Mastrangelo

Breakdown of suspected members of the crew headed by Gambino Family Captain Louis 'Big Louie' Mastrangelo circa 2011.

Born in 1945 to a father believed to have roots in Foggia, Puglia, Mastrangelo was an on-record Associate of Gambino Soldier Anthony 'Fat Andy' Ruggiano by the 1970s.

Ruggiano was then a Soldier in the crew headed by Carmine 'Charlie Wagner' Fatico (1910-1991).

Both men previously reported to Armand 'Tommy' Rava (1911-c. 1958).

Mastrangelo was later inducted into the Family and by the mid-2000s had been promoted to Captain.

On January 17, 2011 he and several other Gambino members were present at an FBI raid of the Cafe Euro located at 69-44 Cooper Ave in Glendale, Queens.

Suspected crew list (Jan. 2011)

Agents seized cash, gambling records and at least two other items of interest: an official Government document laying out the Gambino Family's Administration and Captains circa 2002, as well as what appears to be a handwritten list of Mastrangelo's crew members. (The Government report, formatted the same as a Bonanno list from 2014, is nearly identical to a 2002 Gambino chart detailed in a separate post.)

The majority of those named go back to the Rava -> Fatico -> Gotti regimes of the 1950s - 1990s.

Suspected Mastrangelo crew members included:

1.) Ignazio 'Iggy' Alogna (1933-2016)

I. Alogna

Born March 1933 in Queens to parents from Trapani, Sicily, Alogna is believed to have been among those inducted in a ceremony held after Underboss Frank DeCicco's funeral in April 1986.

The previous December Alogna was on-scene as backup when Boss Paul Castellano was shot to death in Midtown, Manhattan.

Considered a close associate of Castellano's successor John Gotti; the two were frequently surveilled together at both the Gotti crew's Bergen Hunt and Fish Club in Ozone Park and at the Ravenite Social Club in Little Italy, Manhattan.

During the late 1980s Alogna reported to Gotti's younger brother Gene (1946-) then to older brother Peter (1939-2021), who took over the crew after Gene began serving a fifty-year sentence for narcotics.

Suspected participant in double homicide of social club robbers Thomas and Rosemarie Uva, shot to death inside their car on Christmas Eve 1992.

Around 1993 Gambino Associate Peter Zuccaro taken from Soldier Charles Carneglia and placed on-record with Alogna after a 'drug deal that went bad'. Zuccaro, who operated a lucrative marijuana grow house in Brooklyn, later refused an offer of membership and subsequently became a cooperating witness in 2005.

Alogna was promoted to Captain by the mid-to-late 1990s.

Around the mid-2000s he was demoted for an unsanctioned extortion attempt in Stamford, Connecticut.

Died September 2016.

2.) John 'Johnny Boy' Ambrosio

J. Ambrosio

Born January 1943 in Huntington, Long Island to Neapolitan parents, Ambrosio was involved in gambling activity throughout the area by the 1970s and into the late 1990s.

Frequently surveilled at Bergen.

Made member by the mid-to-late 2000s.

Present at the Cafe Euro raid along with crew leader Mastrangelo and fellow crew member Raffaele DeSantis (below).

Identified as an Acting Captain in the late 2010s, when he pleaded guilty to Federal racketeering conspiracy.

3.) Francesco 'Frankie Martin' Barranca (1928-2013)

F. Barranca (1995)

Long-time member born March 1928 in Brooklyn to a father from Palermo, Sicily.

Active on the Brooklyn docks and by the 1960s reporting to former Rava associate Aniello 'Neil' Dellacroce (1914-1985).

By late 1968 Dellacroce was Carlo Gambino's official Underboss and the crew was given to Michael 'Mike Tali' Caiazzo (1912-1994).

By early 2000s reporting to Salvatore 'Fat Sally' Scala (1943-2008). (From May 2000 Govt chart posted on the forum.)

Died June 2013.

4.) 'Fred'

A. DeCongilio (2002)

Likely a reference to Gambino Soldier Alfred' Freddy Hot' DeCongilio (1929-2017).

Born May 1929 to a father from Campania (Naples or Salerno), DeCongilio was a long-time Fatico-Gotti crew associate involved in gambling.

Inducted around 2001 - early 2002 at age 72.

CW Anthony Ruggiano Jr. later testified: "[Originally DeCongilio told me that Tony Guerrieri] wanted to propose him when John [Gotti] was the Boss and he told him not to because it was too late. He didn't want no part of it. He should he should have got straightened out years ago at an earlier time [with] Nicky [Corozzo] and Lenny [DiMaria]." (Corozzo and DiMaria were inducted in April 1977.)

Acquitted of Federal racketeering charges in May 2007 and died in August 2017.

5.) Raffaele DeSantis (1938-2012)

R. DeSantis (2011)

Born September 1938, DeSantis was a made member by the mid-2000s.

Little information available on his early affiliations and activities.

Present at the Cafe Euro raid along with crew leader Mastrangelo and fellow crew member John Ambrosio.

Died early the following year.

6.) Michael 'Mike Brooklyn / Mikey Gal' Guerrieri (1926-2014)

M. Guerrieri (1999)

Born 1926 to father from Avellino, Campania (per Ancestry).

Grew up in East New York, Brooklyn and by the late 1950s associated with Gambino Family faction headed by Tommy Rava; younger brother Anthony 'Tony Lee' Guerrieri (1929-1993) was already a made member of the crew.

Inducted after the books opened in the late 1970s. Sponsored by either his brother Tony Lee or Soldier Anthony Ruggiano.

Ruggiano and the Guerrieris were also members of the Fatico-Gotti crew through the 1970s and into the 1990s.

Frequently observed at the Bergen and the Cafe Liberty, both in Ozone Park, as well as the Ravenite in Manhattan.

Primarily involved in bookmaking and other gambling activity in Queens and Long Island.

Another crew member who formerly reported to Salvatore Scala in the early 2000s.

Present at a majority of the Gambino-related wakes from the 2000s where surveillance info is available.

Died September 2014.

7.) Joseph 'Joe the Cat' LaForte (1917-2016)

J. LaForte
Gang Land News

Born March 1917 in Staten Island to father from Palermo.

By the 1960s heavily involved in gambling activity in that borough.

Sponsored for membership by Underboss Aniello Dellacroce around June 1976.

Promoted to Captain not long after completing a Federal tax sentence in 1979.

In addition to gambling involved in buying and selling property in Staten Island and Manhattan's Little Italy.

Demoted to Soldier by the mid-1980s.

By early 2000s reporting to Salvatore Scala. (Re 2000s Govt chart linked above.)

Died August 2016 at ninety-nine years old.

8.) Richie LNU

Probably a reference to Former Gambino Captain Richard Gotti or his son Richard Gotti Jr., the younger brother and nephew respectively of Former Boss John Gotti.

9.) Gaetano 'Tommy Nap' Napoli (1938-2012)

G. Napoli

Born April 1938 in Villabate comune of Palermo, Napoli was a made member under Dominick Pizzonia by the early 2000s.

During the late 2000s represented Sicilian Mafia affiliate Robert Settineri in a dispute with the Colombo Family.

Napoli and Settineri were both indicted on Federal charges in 2010; Napoli pleaded guilty and died while serving his sentence at the Federal Medical Center in Devens, Massachusetts in September 2012.

10.) Dominick 'Skinny Dom' Pizzonia

D. Pizzonia

Former Captain of most or possibly all of Mastrangelo's suspected crew members.

Born November 1941 to a father from Reggio Calabria, Pizzonia was another Fatico-Gotti crew associate.

He and John Gotti were arrested together as teenagers in August 1959.

Two years later served as Best Man in the wedding of Gotti's older brother Peter.

By the 1970s working in a numbers operation controlled by Michael Guerrieri.

Present when Michael's older brother Anthony aka 'Tony Lee' shot and killed an Unsub in Richmond Hill, Queens. CW Anthony Ruggiano Jr., Fat Andy's son, later testified: "[My father] said he gave the guy a score to do and the guy did the score. And he gave the guy his end and the guy kept coming back asking my father to loan him money and kept on hitting my father up for money. And then one night my father was in this bar on [Atlantic Ave] and the guy came in and he wanted another loan. And my father said he had it with him, and he told 'Skinny Dom' to go get a gun. And him and 'Tony Lee' and 'Skinny Dom' drove the guy down [Atlantic Ave and] when they got to 126th Street, my father got out of the car, made out he was [sick] and the guy came out to help my father and 'Tony Lee' shot the guy."

Around 1979 Ruggiano released Pizzonia and a few dozen other associates to the recently inducted Nicholas Corozzo after a dispute over loanshark proceeds. Ruggiano Jr. later testified: "[My father] released everybody that worked for [the Corozzos] and everyone that just did business with them but didn't actually work for them, stood with my father...Over 40 people [went to Corozzo]...[My father] was brokenhearted. Nicky broke his heart. He was never the same after that." (Anthony Ruggiano died in 1999. His son defected in 2006.)

By the 1980s Pizzonia was a mainstay at the Cafe Liberty in Ozone Park. 

Identified in cooperator testimony as an on-scene accomplice in the March 1986 murder of Gambino Soldier 'Big Gus' Sclafani. An undisclosed indiscretion committed by Pizzonia led to Gambino Captain Joseph 'Joe Butch' Corrao lodging a complaint with Boss John Gotti; as a result Pizzonia's induction was temporarily held off.

In late June 1988, again according to CW testimony, Pizzonia acted as the shooter in the murder of Anthony Ruggiano's son-in-law, Gambino Associate Frank Boccia. Boccia was lured to the Cafe Liberty by Anthony Guerrieri and shot by Pizzonia while distracted. Others present reportedly included Soldier Michael Guerrieri and Associate Alfred DeCongilio. Body taken out to sea where gutted and dumped overboard. (Both Pizzonia and DeCongilio were later acquitted of charges related to this murder.)

Pizzonia was inducted along with four others on Christmas Eve 1988.

Four years to the day later, he and Ronald 'Ronnie One-Arm' Trucchio are believed to have acted as the shooters in the Uva murders. (See above)

By late 2001 Pizzonia and Trucchio, both having since been promoted to Captain, were named as part of a three-man committee alongside Captain Thomas 'Tommy Sneakers' Cacciopoli. CW Michael DiLeonardo, a former Gambino Captain who flipped in 2002, later testified: "They were on a special committee to go around to talk to the Captains and Soldiers and make sure all the money is coming into the [Family], sort of shake-the-tree type stuff. There was a new administration in place and they wanted to maximize as much money as they could get out of everybody and they thought maybe guys were lagging [so] they try to shake the tree, go around."

Convicted of Federal charges and in February 2004 released from prison on three years supervised release.

The following year named in a Federal racketeering indictment that included counts involving the Boccia and Uva murders.

In May 2007 convicted on one count racketeering conspiracy and acquitted of other charges, including carrying out the Boccia murder. Co-defendant Alfred DeCongilio acquitted on all counts.

Four months later sentenced to fifteen years Federal imprisonment and released in November 2019.

11.) David 'Little Davie' Rava

D. Rava (2007)

Born July 1933 in Brooklyn.

Father Armand 'Tommy' Rava, from Casalnuovo di Napoli comune of Naples, Campania, was an influential Gambino Captain who disappeared not long after Family Boss Albert Anastasia's murder in the late 1950s.

Tommy Rava's crew included Anthony Ruggiano and Carmine Fatico, both mentioned above.

An FBI member source in the Gambinos clarified that Rava was not a member as of the late 1960s.

By 2004 he was a made member and serving as Acting Captain for Dominick 'Skinny Dom' Pizzonia.

More Gambino Family posts can be found in the Index.

Joseph Giampa (Lucchese)

J. Giampa (1990s)

Breakdown of known members reporting to Lucchese Captain Joseph 'Joey G.' Giampa by late 1990.

Giampa was born in 1940 to a father believed to have roots in Palermo, Sicily.

On August 23, 1982 he and five others were inducted into the Lucchese Family in a ceremony presided over by Boss Antonio 'Tony Ducks' Corallo.

By mid-1988 Corallo was serving a one-hundred year sentence received in the Commission case and Giampa was reporting to Captain Michael Salerno (1923-1990), a wealthy and highly influential member of the Family's Bronx faction.

In late May 1990 Vittorio 'Vic' Amuso, Corallo's successor, as well as Consigliere Anthony 'Gaspipe' Casso fled New York to avoid indictment in the Windows case.

A. D'Arco

Casso met with Captain Alfonso 'Little Al' D'Arco just prior to leaving and informed D'Arco that he was being entrusted with control of high-level Family matters for the time being.

Casso also passed along the order to have Michael Salerno murdered, claiming that he had received information from a law enforcement source that Salerno was an informant.

M. Salerno
Manhattan Mob Rampage Documentary

D'Arco obeyed but believed Amuso and Casso wanted Salerno dead to remove a threat to their leadership: "[They] didn't try to show their fear, but I knew it was there, that [Salerno] was going to take over the crew; the Bronx branch was going to make a move and take over the mob, the Family. And they used the excuse when they were taking off, they thought that is when Mike was going to make a move and so they called him a rat. That is what I felt and what I believe."

D'Arco, with Casso's blessing, chose Salerno crew member Joseph Giampa to carry out the hit. Giampa enlisted his brother Santo 'Jay' Giampapa, explaining to D'Arco that he could only trust immediate family for the job.

Giampa also noted to D'Arco that Salerno's car was being serviced at the time in Giampa's auto body shop on Boston Post Rd. (D'Arco and Giampa were inducted in the same August 1982 ceremony.)

On June 9, 1990, at approximately 6:00 PM, Salerno was found shot and stabbed to death in trunk of black Jaguar parked across from 2742 Westervelt Ave in Pelham Gardens, The Bronx.

D'Arco informed fugitive Consigliere Anthony Casso by phone:
"

[I] brought up the subject of being that he had said don't trust that guy [re using Giampa in Salerno murder] and now this was done, I said, [is he] going to make him a Captain.

He said, 'Yes, we're going to make him a Captain.'

I said, 'Can I tell him now?'

He said, 'Yes.'

I says, 'So he is a Captain.'

He says, 'Yes. Fine.'

I [then] discussed a few other matters, 'Take care of yourselves,' [then] I beeped Joey and told him to meet me.

"

Giampa summoned to coffee shop on Manhattan's Upper East Side. D'Arco driven to location by Captain Dominic Truscello:
"

It was night. It was dark out and he met me on 75th or 78th Street and Lexington Avenue, there's a coffee shop there.

Joey came down and I told him that they were pleased he did it right away, that he was a Captain in the crew and that he was to take over Mike Salerno's crew.

Joey told me that [there] was $20,000 that he had owed Mike. He had brought up that he paid Mike $200 a week shylock money.

And I said, 'I'll clear it.' I said, 'Just forget about that money because' -- I said, 'I'll clear it.'

...First, [Truscello] was off to the side, I didn't want to -- and then I introduced [Giampa to Truscello] as a Captain.

"

D'Arco: "At the time I introduced him to Dom [Truscello]. I said, 'Dom, don't go around saying that he is a Captain because it's not proper.' I said, 'You've got to introduce him to his own guys first. It's like, you're not in his crew so it's not right.' So we made arrangements for his crew to come to [Brooklyn]."

Meeting where Giampa announced as Captain held at discotheque operated by D'Arco crew Associate Angelo 'Sonny Bamboo' McConnach located on Flatlands Ave in Brooklyn.

Attendees included Captains Anthony 'Bowat' Baratta, Alfonso D'Arco, Frank Lastorino, Possible Acting Captain George 'Georgie Neck' Zappola, Joseph Giampa and the members of his crew, which D'Arco later estimated to number anywhere from six to ten. Lucchese Soldiers George 'Goggles' Conte and Joseph D'Arco, Al's son, remained upstairs as security.

D'Arco: "...I introduced Joey. They all sat down. There was cake and stuff, coffee, and it was in the basement. And I introduced Joey to his crew. I said, 'This is your new Captain,' and I gave them the speech that they should stick close to him, report to him and give him all the help he can get. [Afterward] he was introduced to everybody in the place as a Captain."

D'Arco also noted: "[I] was told [Giampa] was going to be an Acting Captain but that he was to be introduced as a Captain until further notice. The only ones that would know is the administration, myself and the people at the meeting that he was to be an Acting Captain but he was supposed to be introduced as a Captain until they gave him an official okay that I would give that he would become a Captain. At that time that's what I did."

Giampa took control of various interests formerly controlled by Salerno:

• He and others, including Lucchese Soldiers Pat Maselli (a former Salerno crew member now reporting to D'Arco) and Anthony 'Blue Eyes' Santorelli as well as Lucchese Associate Frank Salerno (Mike's nephew), began piecing together Salerno's rumored multi-million-dollar loanshark book. D'Arco assisted in collecting the money by attending meetings with, among others, Salerno customers Mario Antonicelli, a Proposed Associate with Gambino Captain Louis Ricco, and an unnamed nephew of Genovese Captain Louis 'Louie Dome' Pacella.
• D'Arco, Giampa, Maselli and others began overseeing a landfill in Hastings, New York, in which Salerno held a 20% interest; the remaining 80% belonged to the DiNapoli brothers: Vincent ([Former?] Genovese Captain), Joseph (Lucchese Soldier) and Louis (Genovese Associate). D'Arco used the location as a free dumping site for trucks he owned through A&M hauling company.

By Fall 1990 made members of Giampa's crew included:

1.) Joseph 'Joe Capp / Joe Hooks' Capra (1916-1992)

Born in East Harlem, Manhattan to a father from San Polo Matese in Campobasso, Molise and a mother from Castello d'Alife in Caserta, Campania.

Father Michele (1888-1967) a Suspected Member. Several other relatives were confirmed members, including nephew Salvatore Avellino who, like Giampa, was a Lucchese Captain by 1990.

Capra was himself a Captain during the 1960s and into the mid-1980s, when he stepped down or was demoted in the wake of the Commission verdicts.

He may have also served in the administration at some point during the early-to-mid 1970s.

Involved in union activity with his son (below).

2.) Michael 'Mikey Capp' Capra

Born 1941 in Manhattan to Joseph and Gaetana Gagliano.

Mother, from Corleone in Palermo, a niece of Former Lucchese Boss Tomasso Gagliano.

Likely inducted in the late 1970s.

By late 1980s believed served as official with Local 48 in Manhattan, which he and his father controlled for the Family.

The Capras were kicking up $1,100 per week from the union by the time of Giampa's promotion.

3.) Ettore 'Eddie' Coco (1908-1991)

E. Coco (1980s)

Born 1908 in Palermo and a member by the early 1930s, Coco was among the Bronx faction members viewed as a candidate for leadership in the wake of the Commission case.

D'Arco: "Eddie Coco was a very long-time member, very respected member of the Lucchese Family who was actually Tony Ducks' boss going back, and he made an error, he [killed] somebody outside the Family business. He got drunk in Florida and shot a guy, killed him in a gas station and went to prison. He was a very strong leader, a Captain in this Family going back [and a member] for many, many years....[He] wound up being in Mike Salerno's crew when he come out of jail [in 1984]."

D'Arco included Eddie Coco with Michael Salerno and others in the list of Bronx-Harlem members that he felt Amuso and Casso feared would take back the Family from the Brooklyn faction.

Not long after the meeting where Giampa was introduced as the new crew leader, Coco was indicted in Baltimore on Federal racketeering charges involving bingo parlors in that city.

D'Arco offered to help Coco in a dispute with Lucchese Soldier 'Bad Anthony' DiMeglio that involved an arson committed at one of the parlors, however, Coco refused to 'come down' for a meet and the matter was dropped.

He died late the following year.

4.) Daniel 'Squire' Latella (1940-2003)

Born in The Bronx to a father from San Bartolomeo in Galdo comune of Benevento, Campania.

Father-in-law Michael 'Mikey Fish' DeRienzo (1912-1987) was a Possible Member.

Sponsored for membership by Joseph Capra shortly after the books opened in 1976.

By Fall 1984 he reported to Captain Anthony 'Buddy' Luongo and was a partner with Luongo in the Sav on Discotheque in Allerton, The Bronx and in Club A. Disco in Lenox Hill, Manhattan.

Following year began serving two-and-one-half to five year New York State sentence for weapon and drug possession.

During Latella's incarceration Anthony Luongo was murdered for plotting against Antonio Corallo.

Paroled December 1989.

By 1990 owned Gun Hill Paper Inc. located on E Gun Hill Rd in Williamsbridge, The Bronx.

Also operated a luncheonette / social club in the same area that was used for meetings between D'Arco and members of the Giampa crew.

D'Arco: "Danny Latella was involved on behalf of the Lucchese Family and himself [in] gambling, joker poker machines which were controlled by part of the Family. And he also [had] his own shylock business and numbers and other types of gambling and selling cars and everything -- lot of different things on his own for himself."

Latella was part of a group that fugitive Underboss Anthony Casso conspired to murder upon his planned return to New York for 'taking advantage of him' while he was on the lam. (Casso was apprehended in January 1993 and made a failed attempt at cooperation.)

Died September 2003.

5.) 'Miggs / Mig' LNU

D'Arco could only identify this individual by his nickname and described him as approximately eighty years old.

Former Acting Consigliere Mariano Macaluso is referred to as 'Miggs' in some reports, although D'Arco makes it clear elsewhere that he knew who Macaluso was.

A probable match is Dominic 'Miggs' Galluccio (1910-1996).

Born to a father from Sant'Agata di Militello, Messina, Galluccio grew up in Van Nest, The Bronx before moving to the village of Tuckahoe in Westchester County.

By the 1960s his close associates included Mariano Macaluso and other Bronx-Harlem members; in 1969 he was indicted with Acting Boss Carmine 'Gribbs' Tramunti and the Capra brothers Joseph and Daniel, the latter a member who died in 1982. (Tramunti may have already been elected the official Boss.)

Died March 1996.

6.) Unsub (possibly aka 'Buster')

D'Arco: "[In Giampa's crew] there is a guy I never met, I know the guy, Buster or something, I never met him."

This could be referring to Sebastian Nuccio (1936-2010), included in a 2006 government membership list posted on the forum.

Nuccio's father, along with several other relatives, was a made member in the Family's Prince Street crew.

It's also possible that 'Buster' refers to another member entirely or that D'Arco misremembered the nickname.

7.) Other(s)

D'Arco: "[Crew included the above] and yes, there [was] a couple of more guys I can't think of right now."

Associates of interest included:

1.) Joseph 'Joey Blue Eyes' Cosentino

Born 1943 in Manhattan and by the late 1980s an Associate in the Family's Bronx faction.

D'Arco: "Joey Blue Eyes is supposed to be a nephew of Tom Santoro. At that time [early 1990s] he was a nonmember, but he was supposed to be related to Tom Mix, Tom Santoro, who was the Underboss."

He and Anthony Magana (below) were convicted of involvement in the September 1989 murder of Lucchese Soldier John Petrucelli. Family Boss Vittorio Amuso specifically ordered that Cosentino participate in the hit.

The pair's legal fees were partially covered by crew leader Michael Salerno and subsequently by Giampa.

Approved for membership and scheduled to be inducted by March 1991, Cosentino was unable to attend due to incarceration in the Petrucelli case.

Released in 2016 and, according to Lucchese Member turned CW John Pennisi, has since become a member.

2.) Santo 'Jay' Giampapa (1936-1994)

Brother to Joseph, Santo was inducted for his role in the Salerno murder in March 1991, the same ceremony that Cosentino and Magana missed.

In 1992 the brothers were acquitted at trial in a Federal racketeering case brought in the wake of D'Arco's defection.

Santo died July 1994.

The following month Joseph was charged in another Federal racketeering indictment, this one out of Newark, and convicted. Released in September 2001.

3.) Anthony Magana

A. Magana (1989)

Born 1945 in The Bronx, Magana was another Associate in the Salerno crew by the late 1980s.

He and Joseph Cosentino were directed to participate in the Petrucelli murder; Magana was caught at the scene and Cosentino was apprehended some time after.

Also scheduled to be made in the March 1991 ceremony.

Served approximately twenty-five years for murder and released in 2016.

4.) 'Big Marco' Minuto (1936-2026)

Pointman for Giampa with Local 202 at Hunts Point Market in The Bronx.

Inducted by Joseph 'Little Joe' DeFede, D'Arco's successor as Acting Boss, around 1995.

Died August 2026.

More Lucchese Family posts can be found in the Index.

Salvatore Avellino (Lucchese)

S. Avellino (1984)

Breakdown of known members reporting to Lucchese Captain Salvatore Avellino by 1991.

Referred to as 'The Golfer' by Family leadership, Avellino was born November 1935 in East Harlem, Manhattan to Salvatore (23y), a painter, and Rose Capra (21y).

Father's side of the Family from Sicily, possibly Messina Province (per Ancestry).

Mother's family from San Polo Matese comune of Campobasso, Molise and from Castello d'Alife in Caserta, Campania.

Relatives included the following LCN Members and Suspected Members:

• Maternal grandfather Michele Capra (1888-1967) was a suspected early member.
• Granduncle 'Nick Montair' Capra (1897-1973) and uncles Daniel 'Danny Hogan' Capra (1910-1982) and Joseph 'Joe Hooks' Capra (1916-1992) were members, the latter a Captain and possibly a part of the Family administration at one time.
• Uncle Nicholas Tolentino (1909-1972), who married Avellino's aunt, was a Soldier. (Tolentino was also related to the Capras.)
• Cousin Michael 'Mikey Cap' Capra, Joseph's son, has been identified in various court records as also being a member.
• Younger brother Carmine Avellino has been identified by multiple CWs as a member.

Salvatore was inducted into the Lucchese Family around 1977 (according to Gang Land News) and by the early 1980s served as a driver for Boss Antonio 'Tony Ducks' Corallo.

By mid-1988 Corallo was about a year into his 100-year sentence from the Commission case and Avellino had been promoted to Captain.

The Avellino crew was responsible for overseeing much of the Family's activity on Long Island, particularly the carting industry. CW Alfonso D'Arco later testified: "[Avellino] had the say in the Long Island area, Nassau and Suffolk on disputes within the garbage industry, the carting industry...[Avellino] administers the disputes in the Long Island area, the various Families have areas they assign to one another, so it is just not a mix. The Long Island area is the Lucchese area and Sally administers it, and all disputes under his jurisdiction, and if money is distributed for the Gambino's or any other Family, he gets the money. He settles the disputes and passes on their share."

D'Arco also claimed that, like Family Underboss Anthony 'Gaspipe' Casso, Avellino had a source in law enforcement: "Sally Avellino picked up various money for the Lucchese Family, and he deducted $4,000 a month for this law enforcement information to give to whoever this person was, and he saw the person after the first of every month, by prior arranged meeting place...I never did [learn who the source was], and I never asked."

D'Arco was made the Family's Acting Boss in early January 1991 and defected later that year.

By that time made members in the Avellino crew included:

1.) Carmine Avellino

C. Avellino
Gang Land News

Salvatore's younger brother, inducted by 1984 and believed reporting at the time to uncle Joseph Capra.

By 1985 owned R&B Caterers in East Farmingdale, Long Island; business damaged in arson that June as result of an agreement over territorial rights with Bonanno Family.

Around mid-1988 the Luccheses dispatched three Captains, each with one accompanying crew member, to the wedding reception for the daughter of Colombo Acting Underboss Benedetto 'Benny' Aloi; Salvatore, now a Captain, was accompanied by Carmine.

Co-owned Crown Bagel in Jamaica, Queens, where Lucchese Soldier Michael Pappadio was bludgeoned and shot to death by Alfonso D'Arco and others in 1989. On the day of Pappadio's murder, Salvatore Avellino summoned the victim to a meeting at a nearby location. Carmine then physically brought Pappadio to the business to be killed, exclaiming, 'Surprise! Look who's here!' as he walked the victim into the room. Afterward Carmine, along with unnamed associates and Crown Bagel employees, cleaned the crime scene. 

Also a co-conspirator three months later in the double murder of Long Island carters Donald Barstow (35y) and Robert Kubecka (40y). Murders authorized by Family administration at request of Carmine's brother Salvatore, who had received information marking one or both of the victims as cooperators in a Federal investigation of the trash-hauling industry.

The Avellinos pleaded guilty to various charges, including involvement in the Barstow-Kubecka murders, brought in Federal indictments issued in the wake of Alfonso D'Arco's defection in September 1991.

Released in February 2004, Carmine was indicted as a Captain in May 2014 and ultimately sentenced to house arrest.

2.) Anthony 'Big Tony' Calagna (1938-2000)

A. Calagna

Born in Manhattan's East Village to a father from Partinico comune of Palermo, Sicily.

Associated with the Avellinos by the early 1980s.

Around 1986 elected President of IBT Local 295.

Inducted under Salvatore Avellino's sponsorship in Fall 1988. Others made in the same ceremony included Alfonso D'Arco's son Joseph as well as Former DeMeo Crew members Anthony Senter and Joseph Testa.

Calagna, his Captain Salvatore Avellino and others handled the Lucchese Family's union activity including interests at at JFK Airport. CW D'Arco later testified: "There were a few unions handled by Calagna. There were Teamsters unions and they controlled the various different things; toll booth collections in the Hunts Point market, the air freight industry."

At times Calagna was also responsible for passing along $4,000 monthly payments from the Jersey crew's own local airport interests.

Calagna typically reported on these activities to D'Arco and at times to Patrick 'Patty' Dello Russo, a D'Arco crew Associate.

In May 1989 indicted with Lucchese Associate Richard Schroeder for shaking down a trucking company.

During mid-to-late 1990 and into early 1991 frequently kicked up large sums to fugitive Boss Vittorio 'Vic' Amuso through D'Arco.

In response D'Arco chose to contribute to Calagna's legal fees from the 1989 indictment: "Big Anthony had some lawyer problems and was pressing me for money. I think I let him keep a [couple] thousand of the money and I told Anthony Casso that I let him keep the money. Anthony told me what are you giving away our money. So, I said, Anthony, if you don't want to pay the money, I made a mistake, I'll get it back or I'll see what I can do about it. He said no, forget about it." (In the summer of 1991 D'Arco was taken down as Acting Boss, in part due to accusations from Casso and others of mishandling money; he defected that September after suspecting he was being set up for a hit.)

Calagna was convicted on the trucking extortion charge in January 1991 and released on bail with the condition that he resign from Local 295.

Three months later given a seven year sentence.

Following conviction his role as overseer of JFKIA interests given to Patrick Dello Russo, now himself an inducted member.

In November 1993, while Calagna was serving his sentence at FCI McKean in Pennsylvania, both he and Dello Russo were hit with Federal racketeering charges stemming from D'Arco's cooperation. Calagna received an additional fifty-seven months to be served at the conclusion of his original sentence.

Died while incarcerated in June 2000.

3.) Richard DeLuca (1934-2020)

R. DeLuca (R) with Lucchese Captain Anthony Baratta (1989)

Born June 1934 to a father from Nicosia comune of Enna, Sicily, DeLuca was a made member by the early 1980s with interests in The Bronx, East Harlem and Florida.

At that time he was believed to be in the faction more closely aligned with Underboss Salvatore 'Tom Mix' Santoro. In late November 1982 FBI Agents approached DeLuca after observing him and Santoro together at Santoro's business in Morris Park, The Bronx. DeLuca would not answer whether Santoro and Captain Joseph Capra were 'having problems', and also refused to verify a rumor that shots had recently been fired at Santoro's residence on City Island.

By November 1986 Boss Antonio Corallo got wind of a plot against his leadership led by Santoro. The two leaders were awaiting the Commission case verdicts, and Santoro reportedly sought to install Captain Anthony 'Buddy' Luongo as the new Family head should the pair be convicted. Luongo was instead murdered by a group that included Vittorio Amuso, Corallo's choice of successor; others involved in the plot were transferred to other crews or, as in the case of Lucchese Soldier 'Fat Anthony' DiLapi, subsequently tracked down and killed.

It's possible that DeLuca was one of those involved in the plot. By the late 1980s he was reporting to Avellino.

As part of Avellino's crew DeLuca held a partnership with Lucchese Associate Tony Ormento in a Florida garment shop. He kicked up $2,500 per month from the shop, with the payment evenly distributed by the administration among five 'retired' Lucchese members. (DeLuca's partner might actually have been Thomas 'Tommy' Ormento [1937-1996], son of Former Lucchese Captain and close Santoro associate 'Big John' Ormento [1912-1974].)

DeLuca escaped the legal fallout from D'Arco's defection and by the early 2000s was reporting to Captain Joseph DiNapoli. (This is from a 2006 Govt List posted on the forum.)

According to CW John Pennisi, a Former Lucchese Member who flipped in 2018, by the mid-2010s DeLuca had been promoted to Captain of the Family's New Jersey regime.

Died September 2020.

4.) Frank Lagano (1939-2007)

Born 1939 in Manhattan and inducted in the late 1970s, Lagano and another member were taken out of Alfonso D'Arco's crew and transferred to Avellino after D'Arco was removed as Acting Boss in July 1991.

Lagano avoided indictment in the wake of D'Arco's defection but was indicted in 2004 on charges involving an offshore gambling ring headed by Genovese Captain Joseph 'The Eagle' Gatto.

Shot to death outside a diner in East Brunswick, NJ three years later, Lagano remains the most recent made member in that Family to be murdered.

5.) Anthony 'Curly' Russo (1937-2021)

A. Russo (1990)

Born in Manhattan to parents from Marineo and Misilmeri comunes of Palermo, Russo was inducted around May 1976 and reported to his cousin, Captain Carmine 'Willie Brown' LoCascio.

Russo is believed to have taken over the crew sometime after LoCascio's death in 1983.

Following the Commission verdicts and the ascension of Vittorio Amuso as the Family's new Boss, Russo was demoted for his involvement in Santoro's failed plot against Amuso's predecessor Antonio Corallo.

When Alfonso D'Arco was promoted to Captain around June 1988, both Russo and Frank Lagano were assigned to his crew with permission from Amuso to kill them whenever convenient: "When I was made a captain, [Russo transferred at] the same time...He was assigned to my crew with the instruction to kill him at will [because] they said he was in the plot to kill [Tony] Corallo...Vic Amuso and Anthony Casso and they said, I don't have to come back for an okay to kill him -- which I didn't, I knew his whole family...[I] kept Anthony Curly alive by saying he is drawing heat. That's why he is walking the streets. They kept telling me, 'What are you waiting for?' I kept saying, 'Right now we got other problems with the concrete. We got this' -- and I knew Curly and I knew his family. He lived upstairs with me, his mother and father and sister. The original reason he is alive today is on account of me."

Russo was another of those convicted on Federal racketeering charges as a result of D'Arco's cooperation. He spent most of the 1990s incarcerated before being released in December 2000.

Indicted for narcotics conspiracy in 2004 and on various New Jersey State charges in 2007, he died in May 2021.

6.) Peter 'Jocko' Vario (1944-2024)

P. Vario
Press

The son of former Acting Captain Salvatore 'Babe' Vario, Peter was by the summer of 1982 an inducted member reporting to his more well-known uncle, Captain Paul Vario. (The Varios were from Trapani, Sicily.)

By 1991 he was assigned to Avellino and involved with the Local 66 construction and concrete workers union in Long Island. D'Arco: "[Jocko] picked up money from [a] lawyer that handles labor. It's a kickback for him getting the work to handle [the] legal work for the union. He gets paid quite well for that, I was told."

Later convicted on Federal charges and released from prison in November 2003.

Died March 2024.

Suspected Avellino crew members included:

1.) Michael 'Big Mike' LaBarbara Jr. (1937-2004)

M. LaBarbara
Press

Born to parents with roots in Palermo and Catania, Sicily, LaBarbara grew up in the Brooklyn-Queens neighborhoods of East New York and Ozone Park before moving to Long Island.

By the summer of 1982 he was a made member in Paul Vario's crew.

Believed to have transferred out of that crew by 1988; CW Alfonso D'Arco does not name him among the Soldiers reporting to him when he succeeded Vario around June of that year.

LaBarbara was then Business Manager for Local 66.

Indicted that December on Federal racketeering charges and sentenced the following year to fourteen months.

Indicted again in 1994 and given an additional nine years.

Died behind bars in October 2004.

A government membership list compiled in 2006 and posted on the forum groups LaBarbara's name with other confirmed Avellino crew members.

2.) Michael LaBarbara (1913-1997)

M. LaBarbara

Father of 'Big Mike' noted above, Michael Sr. was heavily involved in bootlegging, loansharking and other criminal activities by the 1940s.

CW Salvatore 'Sonny Black' Montello, a Colombo Associate who flipped in 1975, claimed that LaBarbara was 'not a button' at the time.

He may have been inducted after his release from New York State Prison in August 1976, as his name turns up on multiple government lists from the 1980s and early 1990s.

Press coverage of his son's 1988 indictment stated: "[LaBarbara Sr.] is believed to control one of Long Island's largest concrete-supply firms."

Died October 1997.

In July 2003 the FBI's New York Office identified LaBarbara as a deceased Lucchese member, although the report also erroneously included at least one confirmed non-member in the same list. (Lucchese Associate Vincent 'Jimmy Brown' Luchese.)

3.) Frank Petrullo (1937-2007)

Born in the Bronx to a father from Stio comune of Salerno, Campania, Petrullo grew up in East Harlem and was a made member by the late 1980s.

Possibly a member of Samuel 'Sammy Bones' Castaldi's regime at the time.

CW Joseph 'Little Joe' DeFede, the Family's Acting Boss after D'Arco, identified Petrullo as Salvatore Avellino's Acting Captain while Avellino was incarcerated in the mid-to-late 1990s.

Died April 2007.

More Lucchese Family posts can be found in the Index.

John Gotti Wake (2002)

Surveillance photographs taken during wake of Former Gambino Boss John Gotti held June 13-14, 2002 at Papavero Funeral Home in Maspeth, Queens.

M. Guerrieri (L) and A. DeCongilio

Gambino Soldiers Michael 'Mike Brooklyn' Guerrieri (1926-2014) and Alfred 'Freddy Hot' DeCongilio (1929-2017).

Seventy-three-year-old DeCongilio had only recently been inducted into the Family.

At the time of the wake both men were reporting to Captain Dominick 'Skinny Dom' Pizzonia.

D. Rava (L) and M. Guerrieri

Gambino Soldiers David 'Little Davie' Rava and Michael Guerrieri.

Rava, named Acting Captain for Dominick Pizzonia by 2004, was the son of Armand 'Tommy' Rava, an influential Gambino Captain murdered not long after Boss Albert Anastasia in the late 1950s.

P. Zuccaro

Peter Zuccaro, Gambino Associate on-record with Captain Ignazio 'Iggy' Alogna (1933-2016).

Zuccaro, who turned down an offer for membership the previous year, flipped in June 2005.

J. Alite (R)

Unsub and Gambino Associate John Alite, who became a cooperating witness around early 2008.

L to R: S. Gambino, J. Torino, L. Rossi, S. Gambino Jr.

Gambino Soldier Salvatore Gambino and Associates Joseph Torino, Louis 'Louie Nose' Rossi and Salvatore Gambino Jr.

Gambino, inducted around 1999, was believed to be reporting to Captain Ronald 'Ronnie' Trucchio.

C. Amato

Carmelo 'Carl' Amato (1955-2016), Gambino Associate and a member of imprisoned Captain Nicholas Corozzo's crew.

CW Anthony Ruggiano Jr. has recently claimed that Amato was an inducted member at the time of his death in 2016.

M. DiLeonardo

Gambino Captain Michael DiLeonardo.

Indicted one week later on Federal racketeering charges, DiLeonardo was demoted that Fall and subsequently defected.

R. Trucchio

Gambino Captain Ronald Trucchio, promoted to the rank a year or two prior.

W. Amendolace (L) and J. Delmonico

Gambino Soldiers William 'Big Willie' Amendolace (1918-2012) and Joseph 'Joe Brewster' Delmonico (1921-2022).

Amendolace was formerly under Captain James 'Jimmy Brown' Failla who died in 1999.

Delmonico was a Soldier under Michael DiLeonardo noted above.

R. Pole

Robert 'Bobby' Pole, bookmaker and loanshark on-record with Michael Guerrieri.

A. Maione (L) and A. Maione Jr.

Gambino (Colombo?) Associate Albert Maione (1921-2003) and Albert Maione Jr.

The senior Maione was a younger brother of Harry 'Happy' Maione, executed in 1942 as part of the so-called Murder Inc. prosecutions.

R. Ferrari (L) and Unsub

Ronald 'Fat Ronnie' Ferrari, bookmaker and Gambino Associate on-record with Michael Guerrieri, with an Unsub.

F. Gitto

Gambino Associate Frank 'Frankie Mumbles' Gitto, another Queens bookmaker formerly on-record with Gambino Soldier Anthony 'Fat Andy' Ruggiano (1926-1999).

The wake was attended by many other Gambinos, including Consigliere Joseph Corozzo, at least eight other Captains or Acting Captains and dozens of Soldiers and Associates.

DeCavalcante Acting Consigliere Frank D'Amato, Colombo Soldier Joseph 'Joe Black' Gorgone (1925-2010) and Genovese Member Frank 'Frankie Boy' Monti (1941-2024) also attended.

More Gambino Family posts can be found in the Index.

Dominick Cirillo (Genovese)

Mar. 1990

March 1990 FBI photos of Genovese Member (and Future Acting Boss) Dominick 'Quiet Dom' Cirillo (1929-2024).

Born to a father from Campania and raised in East Harlem, Cirillo was inducted into the Genovese Family in 1976 and rose to Captain by the early 1990s.

According to Lucchese Acting Boss turned CW Alfonso D'Arco, Cirillo also held the official position of Messaggero:
"

In [the Genovese] Family, there's the only Family that got four positions, although it's not -- it doesn't take over the Underboss or the Consigliere, it's called the messenger. The messenger is a messagario. The only Family that has that position; means when you see that guy, he comes and sees you, he's talking as if the Boss came to see you.

The Boss uses him to specifically send messages like he's talking to the guy. And the messenger's called in Italian, called a mushata; means to whisper in one's ear, and so that was his position, Quiet Dom.

"

A. Ricci (1970s)

D'Arco: "...[A previous messenger] was a man named Antonio Ricci. He was Tony Goebels...They used to call me his nephew. That was his nickname. His name was Antonio Ricci. He lived Downtown Brooklyn in my neighborhood. They used to call me his napoti, nephew [because] he always was around with my uncle and I was always there as a kid, that was it."

Antonio 'Tony Goebbels' Ricci was a longtime Genovese member born 1893 in Foggia, Puglia. He died in Florida in 1981.

Dominick Cirillo went on to serve as the Genovese Family's Acting Boss for periods in the mid-to-late 1990s and the early 2000s. He died in 2024.

More Genovese Family posts can be found in the Index.