Tuesday, April 2, 2024

Angelo Mazzola (Genovese)

1972
 
Angelo Mazzola was a Soldier in the Genovese Family.

Born July 2, 1937 in Manhattan to Rosario (27y), a barber, and Pasqualina 'Lena' Ciocio (25y). At time of birth family resided at 212 Lafayette St in Little Italy, Manhattan. Father from Marineo comune of Palermo, Sicily. Mother's family from the comunes of Corleto Monforte and Ottati in Salerno, Campania.

By Fall 1940 the Mazzolas had moved a couple of doors over to 218 Lafayette. Rosario listed employment with one Charles Bartolotta at 1-3 Cooper Square.

By 1968 Angelo was residing at 55 Houston St in Lower Manhattan.

On January 27 of that year he and Colombo Associate Joseph 'Junior Lollipop' Carna were arrested by the Yonkers Police Department on charges of criminal trespass and possessing burglar tools. Two days later the defendants pleaded not guilty before City Judge John C. Couzens and were released on $1,000 bail each pending hearing. (Carna was later inducted into the Colombo Family and rose to the rank of Capodecina before his death in 2012.)

On June 21, 1972 Mazzola was arrested by NYPD Manhattan on unspecified charge.

By the mid-to-late 1970s he was a Genovese associate in the crew headed by Thomas Lombardi.

Lombardi assumed control of the regime formerly headed by Frank 'Funzi' Tieri after the latter was made Family Boss.

T. Lombardi (1971)

By 1979 made members of the Lombardi crew included Gaetano 'Tommy Scar' Amato, James 'Jimmy Bats' Battaglia, John DiGilio, Salvatore 'Sally Dogs' Lombardi, Salvatore 'Salty' Luisi, Joseph 'Joey Mann' Maniscalco, Lawrence 'Fat Larry' Paladino and Joseph 'Joe Black' Ruggiero.
 
Possible made members under Lombardi included Edward 'Eddie Buff' Lanzieri, Joseph 'Jo Jo' Russo and William Smurra. (Lanzieri and Smurra are alternatively described by informant[s] as reporting to Peter DeFeo and Cosmo 'Gus' Frasca respectively.)

Associates of interest included future Genovese members Anthony 'Pee Wee' Lanza, John 'Moose' Marrone, Angelo Mazzola and Bartolomeo 'Barry' Nichilo.

In October 1980 the FBI received information identifying Mazzola and Anthony Lanza as active in narcotics and hijacking in the Brooklyn area. They were also named as possible suspects in one or more murders. The source noted that both reported to Thomas Lombardi and frequented his base of operations, Rosal's Restaurant, located at Ave X and McDonald Ave in Gravesend.

The 1980 report contains no clarification on their LCN membership status. Angelo was confirmed as a member by March of the following year. (Anthony Lanza was made by 1991 and served as Acting Captain for Salvatore Lombardi. He died in 1999.)

By the early 1980s Mazzola moved to New Jersey.

On January 9, 1982, at approximately 3:55 AM, he was killed by one or more gunshots to the head outside of a newsstand at the corner of Ave X and Stillwell Ave in Gravesend. Owner Thomas Caiazzo heard the shot(s) and approached the victim, at which point he was wounded in the stomach. He was taken to Coney Island Hospital in critical but stable condition. (This may be the same Thomas Caiazzo caught up in a 1958 double-murder case with Colombo Member Dominick 'Mimi' Scialo and Genovese Member Angelo 'Shelly' Pero. Like Mazzola, Pero had been a member of the Tieri / Lombardi Brooklyn crew.)

Mazzola was buried in Maryrest Cemetery located in Mahwah, New Jersey.

On January 21, 1982 FBI CI and Colombo Soldier Gregory Scarpa reported: “[Scarpa] advised that the ‘hit’ on Angelo Mazzola was not an LCN sanctioned hit but was done by young punks who had an argument with Mazzola, and killed him as a result. [Scarpa] advised that the recent attempted hit of [Redacted] may well have been the result of [Redacted] dealing in narcotics. Scarpa noted that it is quite possible this work was done by Angelo Mazzola, who himself was recently killed.

On February 9, 1997 the New York State Organized Crime Task Force executed a search warrant on a basement property located at 106-13 101st Ave in Ozone Park, Queens. Items seized included seven induction lists: three Lucchese, two Bonanno and one each from the DeCavalcante and Genovese.

The Genovese list included Angelo Mazzola's name among the deceased. His inclusion is noteworthy, as all available sources state that murdered members cannot be replaced. Assuming Scarpa's report is accurate and Mazzola's killing was the unsanctioned result of a petty dispute, this appears to have enabled the Genovese Family to prove no involvement on their part and allow his replacement.

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