 |
| L to R: Albert, John |
Albert DeMatteo and his son John DeMatteo were members of the Gambino Family.
Albert was born March 17, 1891 in Naples, Campania to Giovanni and Maria Farnese.
He married Maria Esposito (20y) in Naples on December 8, 1911.
About two years later he departed Naples aboard the S.S. Canada, destined for a brother, Gaetano, living at 128 President St in Brooklyn's Columbia Street Waterfront District.
Son John was born October 1916 in Brooklyn.
By 1920 the family was living at 2490 Hoffman St in Belmont, The Bronx. Albert listed his occupation as jeweler. He was naturalized in Bronx Supreme Court around January 1928.
By 1932 the DeMatteo family moved to 651 Crescent Ave in Belmont.
Through the remainder of the 1930s and into the early 1940s the family changed addresses multiple times, from Mount Vernon to Yonkers and back to The Bronx, living first at 4448 Richardson Ave and then at 4755 White Plains Rd, both in Wakefield.
Albert owned and operated a pizzeria a few doors down at 4729-4731 White Plains Rd. It was from this business that Albert and son John derived their nicknames of 'Albert Pizza' and 'Johnny Pie' respectively.
Albert suffered his one and only known arrest on May 16, 1948 when he was charged with violating New York State Liquor Authority regulations after, as he later explained in an FBI interview, an employee of his pizzeria served alcohol to a police officer.
John DeMatteo was arrested three times during the 1930s, with each case ending in dismissal.
By the mid-1950s both DeMatteos were made members of the Gambino Family and likely reporting to Capodecina Frank Scalise. Albert later described Frank as a close associate and Giuseppe, Frank's brother, was godfather to one of DeMatteo's grandchildren.
An entry for 'Albert Pizza' was found in the address book of Frank Scalise following the latter's June 1957 murder. Six years later the FBI compiled a list of names from these records and reviewed it with cooperating witness Joseph Valachi, leading to the identification of Albert and his son, first name not recalled by Valachi, as Gambino members.
As of 1965 Albert and John were both under Capodecina David 'Papa Dave' Amodeo.
In May 1965 Albert was interviewed by FBI Agents at his Wakefield pizzeria. He admitted a decades-long acquaintanceship with the Scalise brothers but claimed no knowledge of organized crime. He noted to the FBI that at seventy-four years old he still worked twelve hours a day, six days a week.
Albert died two months later and was waked from Michael Scocozza Memorial Chapel in Belmont.
In December 1965 John DeMatteo was interviewed by the FBI and a photograph taken.
The following month CW Valachi was shown the photo of John and confirmed he was identical to the son of Albert previously described as a Gambino member.
John DeMatteo resided in Wakefield and served as Business Agent of Local 178 Hotel, Restaurant Employee and Bartenders Union headquartered in Mount Vernon. His only arrest since the 1930s was a policy case in 1961, resulting in a fifteen day sentence at the workhouse on Hart Island.
In October 1973 John reportedly met with Paolo Violi, Acting Capodecina of the Bonanno Family's Montreal crew. DeMatteo passed along a message from New York seeking Violi's presence at a Bonanno meeting to determine that Family's leadership in the wake of Boss Natale Evola's death.
In May 1974 he was arrested by the New York State Police in Poughkeepsie, having been found in possession of a car reported stolen three years prior in the Bronx.
By the late 1970s David Amodeo had stepped down and was succeeded by John Angelone.
Following Angelone's death in 1979 the crew was taken over by Rudolph Pipolo.
Under Pipolo, John DeMatteo remained active in union activity and, per informant reports, handled a small loansharking business from a Bronx social club located on Beaumont Ave.
In July 1983 FBI Agents surveilling a Fiat dealership in Morris Park noted vehicles registered to DeMatteo and to Lucchese Soldier Frank Taccetta. High stakes card and dice games were said to be hosted at the location by Lucchese Member Anthony 'Buddy' Luongo.
John DeMatteo died June 10, 2006.