Vincent Capasso (Bonanno)

1967 Jersey City PD Arrest

Vincent 'Fort Lee Jimmy' Capasso was a member of the Bonanno Family.

Born June 20, 1908 in The Bronx to Agostino and Rosaline Federico. Father, shoemaker from Cimitile comune of Naples, immigrated in 1899.

At time of birth family resided at 731 St. Ann's Ave in Woodstock. By 1930 moved to 770 Home St in Morrisania.

Inducted into the Bonanno Family by the 1950s, Capasso remained unknown to law enforcement for many years. His only New York arrest of record came in November 1964, on charges of conspiracy and grand larceny.

By Fall 1967 resided at 258 Tremont Ave in Fort Lee, New Jersey. Employed as supervisor for Knitco Company in Jersey City.

Capasso's second and final known arrest occurred at Knitco, after a Jersey City PD search warrant uncovered $400 worth of company property in the trunk of his 1967 Cadillac. Convicted and given six month suspended sentence.

What, if any, role Capasso played in the 1960s intra-Family conflict and subsequent reorganization isn't known. For the next several years he is absent from available records.

By June 1975 described by NYPD as the 'main bookmaker' for Bonanno-controlled Italian-American Veterans Club located at 43 Madison St in Lower Manhattan.

In September 1975 FBI reported: "[NYPD] has advised they received information Vincent Capasso has recently been made a Capo in the Bonanno Family...by Carmine 'Lilo' Galante. He reportedly is now in charge of the Bath Beach section of Brooklyn."

M. Zaffarano (1970s)

Clarification of the above appears in a May 1977 Fort Lee, NJ Police Department report. Citing information received from the NYPD's Intelligence Division, it notes that Capasso reportedly took the place of demoted Capodecina Michael 'Mickey' Zaffarano. It was believed by the NYPD that Zaffarano had been reduced in rank due to LE scrutiny of his involvement in the obscene film business.

In early 1976 a longtime Bonanno member informed the FBI that Zaffarano had actually stepped down over an unspecified money dispute and was replaced by Angelo 'Moe' Prisinzano. Capasso could have served as interim crew leader. The following year Zaffarano was reinstated as captain, this time over a separate crew comprised of newly inducted members.

Despite receiving information identifying Capasso as a previously unknown member and possible Captain, there was apparently little follow-up conducted at the time. No reports have been located wherein FBI sources, which soon included at least two Bonanno Soldiers, were contacted regarding Capasso. He is also not named in contemporary CI breakdowns of Family membership. The rank of Captain is again attributed to Capasso during a brief mention in 1988's Donnie Brasco, however, the basis for that claim may well have been the same 1975 NYPD intelligence that initially brought him to the FBI's attention.

In November 1975 the Brooklyn DA's Office passed along information naming Capasso as owner of two or more methadone clinics operating in Hawaii and on the Caribbean island of St. Croix. FBI noted: "Sources of the New York Office have also advised numerous individuals connected with the Bonanno Family have gone to a methadone clinic in Hawaii to 'dry out' from a heroin habit." Subsequent investigation failed to uncover any evidence linking Capasso to either location.

As of 1977 Capasso was a regular at the Toyland Social Club, headquarters for Underboss Nicholas Marangello, at 94 Hester St in Lower Manhattan. From February 1977 through January 1978 the location was subject of almost daily Federal surveillance. Capasso was a constant presence and, agents noted, it was his responsibility to open and close the club every Monday through Saturday.

He was seen on more than one occasion departing the club with an unknown male described as 6'4" and 'in the area' of 300 lbs.

Toyland Social Club (Aug. 1977)
L to R: Philip Giaccone (Obscured), Unsub, Vincent Capasso and Stefano Cannone

In late May 1977 he was briefly a target of investigation by local police. Acting on intel from New York, members of the Fort Lee PD conducted surveillance at Capasso's residence on Tremont Ave, and on one occasion photographed him watering plants in his front yard.

Fort Lee PD Surv (May 1977)

Little is available on Vincent Capasso's involvement in the Bonanno Family post-1978. He was likely inactive by the time of his inclusion on 1983 and 1988 Senate Charts of Bonanno Family membership. He died May 1999 in Florida.