The American Mafia - Who Was Who: Queens

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Altamura, Thomas (1913-1967)

Born New York, Nov. 3, 1913.
Killed North Bay Village, FL, Oct. 31, 1967

Altamura

Altamura, sometimes called "the Enforcer," was a lifelong criminal who became supervisor of Gambino Crime Family loan sharking in the south Florida area. He was murdered as a result of a turf war with Anthony "Big Tony" Esperti, linked with the Bonanno Crime Family.[1]

Altamura was a native of New York City, the second of nine children born to immigrant parents. His father, Vincent, from Taranto in the southern Italian mainland, worked as a tailor. His mother, Rose, was from Sicily. He grew up in the borough of Queens. His formal education ended shortly after he reached high school. He worked for a time at his father's tailor shop and briefly held truck driving and sales jobs as he moved full time into a career on the wrong side of the law.[2]

His criminal record in New York dated back to 1931. As a minor, he was acquitted following an automobile theft arrest and sentenced to probation unlawful entry after the burglary of a Bronx speakeasy. He later served three long terms in Sing Sing Prison.[3]

He was sentenced in Queens County in April 1932 to serve three to six years on a robbery conviction. (Then eighteen, Altamura of Corona, Queens, also known as Thomas Melba, and accomplice Peter Nastasi, nineteen, of the Bronx, were initially charged with first degree robbery, petit larceny and second degree assault after holding up the owner of a Roulston Grocery store in Corona. They pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery.) Soon after his release from that term, he was convicted of a robbery in the Bronx and sentenced to ten to twenty years.[4]

Trafficante

While on parole in the summer of 1944, he was charged with attempted robbery of a tavern in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York.[5] He and two other men entered the tavern on 37th Avenue after hours. During the attempted robbery, the men became frightened and fled. Altamura reportedly dropped his wallet on the way out of the tavern.[6]

In the 1960s, Altamura was involved in Gambino Crime Family loan sharking rackets in south Florida. In this period, authorities noted his ownership of Sonny's Restaurant in Miami Beach and his close working relationship with Tampa-area Mafia boss Santo Trafficante.[7]

At two o'clock in the morning on October 31, 1967, fifty-three-year-old Altamura entered the Harbor Lounge, attached to the Place for Steak restaurant, on the 79th Street Causeway in North Bay Village, Florida. He was immediately struck by bullets. Two .38-caliber slugs hit him in the back of the head and three others penetrated his back and his side as he turned. There were about a half dozen witnesses to the shooting in the well-lit establishment. As Altamura fell to the floor dead, his killer and a woman companion left the lounge. The woman, Audrey Fowler, girlfriend of underworld-connected former boxer Anthony "Big Tony" Esperti, left her purse behind at the bar.[8]

Esperti

Police found $800 in cash and a $10,000 cashier's check in Altamura's possession. Hours later, thirty-seven-year-old Esperti surrendered to police after hearing that he was wanted for first-degree murder. He claimed to know nothing of the Altamura killing. Esperti, originally from Brownsville, Brooklyn, was at the time free on bond awaiting his appeal of an extortion conviction.[9]

Esperti was indicted in mid-January, 1968, for the Altamura murder.[10] His first trial, in Miami, resulted in a March 1968 hung jury.[11] He once again came to trial in autumn 1971, this time at Bartow, Florida. Esperti was already serving his extortion sentence in Atlanta Federal Prison.

Witnesses stated that they saw Esperti shoot Altamura.[12] A prison cellmate of Esperti, Joseph Delino, testified that Esperti told him about killing Altamura. According to Delino, the two gangsters had quarreled about rackets territories and Altamura warned Esperti to stay away from the 79th Street Causeway, a busy thoroughfare connecting the city of Miami with North Bay Village. (Informant William Dara told the FBI that other Mafiosi attempted to mediate the quarrel between Altamura and Esperti. During this time, Altamura threatened to kill Esperti if he ever saw him at the 79th Street Causeway.) Esperti responded to the warning by murdering Altamura.[13] That second trial resulted in Esperti's conviction.[14]

Discussed in:

"'Willie the Tile Maker' Dara passed Mafia secrets to Feds," by Edmond Valin.

Notes:

Doerner, Fred W. Jr., "La Cosa Nostra Miami Division," FBI report, file no. 92-6054-2110, NARA no. 124-10293-10346, Sept. 11, 1967, p. 21.
Sing Sing Prison Admission Register, Inmate no. 85935, received April 18, 1932; Sing Sing Prison Admission Register, Inmate no. 92799, received Dec. 11, 1936; New York State Census of 1925, Queens County, Assembly District 3, Election District 33.
"2 youths given Sing Sing terms on robbery pleas," Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 16, 1932, p. 4; "Mobster slain in Miami; suspect surrenders," New York Daily News, Nov. 1, 1967, p. 3.
Sing Sing Prison Admission Registers; "2 youths given Sing Sing terms on robbery pleas"; "Dropped wallet nets parolee as thief foiled in tavern raid," Brooklyn Eagle, June 19, 1944, p. 11.
"Tavern stickup suspect is held," New York Daily News, July 2, 1944, p. B3.
"Dropped wallet nets parolee as thief foiled in tavern raid."
"High exposes Miami hoods," Miami News, Aug. 7, 1963, p. 1; "Tampa detective describes how Trafficante tied in," Tampa Tribune, Oct. 16, 1963, p. 13.
Florida Death Index, Dade County, October 1967; U.S. Social Security Death Index, 081-20-1222, October 1967; "Mobster slain in Miami; suspect surrenders"; Roderus, Frank, "Retrial elements bizarre," Tampa Tribune, Sept. 6, 1971, p. B1.
"Mobster slain in Miami; suspect surrenders."
"Esperti indicted in killing," Miami News, Jan. 17, 1968, p. 3.
Sosin, Milt, "Esperti asks murder charge be dismissed," Miami News, Oct. 30, 1970, p. 5.
"Two testify they saw Altamura gunned down," Orlando Sentinel, Oct. 14, 1971, p. B1.
"Second Esperti trial will go to jury today," Orlando Sentinel, Oct. 15, 1971, p. B1; SAC Miami, "La Cosa Nostra AR-Conspiracy," FBI Airtel, file no. 92-6054-2178, NARA no. 124-10289-10186, Nov. 14, 1967, p. 2.
"Esperti attorney seek new trial," Orlando Sentinel, Nov. 9, 1971, p. 6.

Gotti, John J. (1940-2002)

Born South Bronx, NY, Oct. 27, 1940

Died Springfield, MO, June 10, 2002.

Known as "Dapper Don" and "Teflon Don," Gotti was a member of a Gambino Crime Family faction intensely loyal to underboss Aniello Dellacroce. He became boss of the family after the assassination of Paul Castellano in 1985 and established a reputation for frustrating federal prosecutors.

John J. Gotti was one of 13 children born to John and Fannie Gotti. The family moved often. John J. Gotti spent his earliest years in the South Bronx. Before reaching his teens, his family had settled in East New York, Brooklyn. Young Gotti, who considered Albert Anastasia his role model, reportedly became leader of the Fulton-Rockaway Boys street gang and worked to win the favor of Mafiosi in Carmine Fatico's underworld crew. He became a close friend of Angelo Ruggiero, nephew of Aniello Dellacroce.

The Dellacroce faction had its roots in the formative years of the crime family. By the 1950s, Sicilian and non-Sicilian divisions within the clan were evident. At that time, the family was led by the Sicilian Vincent Mangano and his Calabrian underboss Albert Anastasia. Anastasia took control of the organization after the disappearance of Mangano and the murder of Mangano's brother Philip. Anastasia was assassinated in 1957, as the Sicilian Gambino-Castellano faction grabbed the reins and Carlo Gambino became boss. Gambino put down a potential rebellion by the old Anastasia wing. Faction leader Armand Rava disappeared and Rava's close friend Dellacroce agreed to become Gambino's underboss.

Young Mafioso Gotti served three years in prison after being caught stealing cargo from the area of Kennedy International Airport in 1968. When he emerged from prison, he found that the Fatico crew had moved into the quarters of the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club in Ozone Park, Queens (below). When Fatico, facing loan-sharking charges, decided to retire, he named Gotti an acting capodecina.

Upon Gambino's 1976 death, Dellacroce was passed over, and Gambino relative Paul Castellano was installed as boss instead. Gotti and the rest of the Dellacroce faction was enraged, but Dellacroce kept it loyal to Castellano.

In the mid-1970s, Gotti and Ruggiero pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the shooting death of James McBratney, believed responsible for kidnapping and killing a nephew of Carlo Gambino. Gotti was paroled from prison in 1977.

From the group's main headquarters at the Ravenite Social Club on Mulberry Street in Manhattan, Gotti quietly plotted against Castellano. Gotti felt free to act when Dellacroce died on Dec. 2, 1985. Gotti organized the successful hit on Castellano and his driver Thomas Bilotti outside of Sparks Steak House in Manhattan on Dec. 16, 1985. The murder has been explained as a revenge for the injustice suffered by Dellacroce, as a preemptive strike against the boss who allegedly planned to break up Gotti's crew, and as a disciplinary measure for Castellano's incautious remarks in a home bugged by federal agents.

As boss of the Gambino Family, Gotti became a publicity-seeking celebrity. He was constantly in trouble with the law. But he earned his "Teflon Don" nickname because early charges would not stick.

The early 1990s betrayal of a figure high in the Gambino Family helped prosecutors finally put Gotti behind bars. Prosecutors were also aided by Gotti's own statements overheard by FBI electronic surveillance devices in an apartment over the Ravenite Social Club. He and his close associate Frank Locascio were convicted of racketeering on April 2, 1992. Gotti was found guilty of 13 offenses, including murder, gambling, obstruction of justice and tax fraud.

While serving a life sentence in federal prison, Gotti was diagnosed with cancer of the throat in 1998. He underwent surgery and treatment, but the cancer returned. He died in a prison hospital in Springfield, Missouri, in 2002.

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Dellacroce, Aniello (1914-1985)

Born New York, NY, March 15, 1914

Died Queens, NY, Dec. 2, 1985.

"Neal" Dellacroce, who learned his craft under Albert Anastasia, was the longtime leader of a faction within the Gambino Crime Family of New York.

Dellacroce's obituary indicated that he was born to Francesco and Antoinette Dellacroce in New York City on March 15, 1914. As a teenager in 1930, he was sentenced to two and a half years at Elmira Reformatory after a store burglary conviction. In 1937, he pleaded guilty to assault and received a sentence of four months at the workhouse.

Dellacroce later married Lucille Riccardi. He maintained two home addresses, 232 Mulberry Street in Manhattan's Little Italy and West Fingerboard Road on Staten Island.

Upon the 1957 assassination of boss Albert Anastasia, the large Brooklyn-based crime family divided into two camps. A Gambino-Castellano faction elevated Carlo Gambino to the position of boss, a move contested by a faction led by Armand Thomas Rava and Dellacroce. (Dellacroce's affection for Rava possibly influenced the naming of his son Armond, born in 1955.)

The succession dispute likely was on the agenda at the ill-fated Apalachin convention in November 1957. It eventually was resolved with Rava's disappearance in 1958 and Dellacroce's subsequent elevation to the position of underboss.

Though the Dellacroce faction seethed over Gambino's power grab and quietly plotted against the boss, there was no open conflict between Gambino and Dellacroce. Authorities believed, however, that a 1966 underworld meeting at the La Stella Restaurant in Queens, NY, was an effort to depose Gambino.

In the 1960s, Dellacroce began running his underworld ventures from the Ravenite Social Club, 247 Mulberry Street. The Ravenite Club served as the home site for the disgruntled Gambino crime family faction.

Dellacroce served prison time after a 1971 conviction for contempt of court and after a 1973 conviction for tax evasion. The tax evasion charge was related to more than $100,000 in stock he received in connection with labor racketeering on Long Island.

Upon Gambino's 1976 death, the old Anastasia faction, including a young John J. Gotti, felt Dellacroce should be elevated to Family boss. However, he quietly stepped aside for Gambino relative Paul Castellano. If there were hurt feelings, Dellacroce hardly let on. He insisted that his supporters remain loyal to Castellano.

Dellacroce was charged in the late 1970s and early 1980s with racketeering, conspiracy and tax evasion. In the mid-1980s, he was accused of being part of the Mafia's ruling Commission. He did not live long enough to be tried on those charges.

Dellacroce died of natural causes at Mary Immaculate Hospital, Queens, NY, on Dec. 2, 1985. He had been receiving treatment for cancer there under the assumed name of Timothy O'Neil. His death cleared the way for his followers to act against Castellano.

Discussed in:

"'Willie the Tile Maker' Dara passed Mafia secrets to Feds," by Edmond Valin

Carfano, Anthony (1897-1959)

Born c1897.

Killed Queens, NY, Sept. 25, 1959.

Anthony Carfano, also known as Li'l Augie Pisano, was a noteworthy associate of Giuseppe Masseria, Al Capone, Frank Costello, Charlie Luciano and Joe Adonis.

Carfano came to power in the Masseria organization of the late 1920s. A former prizefighter and a close friend of "Joe the Boss" Masseria, he became caretaker of Masseria's Brooklyn interests after the death of Frank Yale.

Upon the reorganization of the Mafia in 1931, Carfano established gambling interests in southern Florida, smoothing the ruffled feathers of the Tampa Mafia organization nearby. The extent of gambling operations was discovered in the 1950 investigation of the Kefauver Committee. In 1955, there was some evidence that Carfano was involved in siphoning union funds into underworld rackets, but charges were eventually dropped. Carfano was questioned and released following the 1957 assassination of Albert Anastasia in New York.

Carfano was murdered on Sept. 25, 1959. He and a female companion - former beauty queen Mrs. Janice Drake - were found dead in Carfano's black 1959 Cadillac. They apparently had been shot by gunmen hiding in the car's back seat. Carfano and Drake had been dining at Marino's restaurant on Manhattan's East Side when they were called away.