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| Dominick Napolitano | |
|---|---|
 Sonny Black (right) and Joe Pistone |
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| Born | June 16, 1930 Greenpoint, Brooklyn, U.S. |
| Died | August 17, 1981 (aged 51) Flatlands, Brooklyn |
Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano (born June 16, 1930 in Greenpoint, Brooklyn – died August 17, 1981 Flatlands, Brooklyn), also known as "Mr. Blackstein" after killing Alphonse Indelicato, was a capo in the Bonanno crime family, perhaps best known for having allowed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent Joseph Pistone ("Donnie Brasco") to become an associate of the family and nearly getting him "Made" (inducting him into the Mafia).
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Childhood
Napolitano's parents were immigrants from Naples, Italy. Dominick was born with blond hair, but by his forties it had turned a gunmetal white-silver color. To hide the embarrassing, at least to him, color he had it dyed black. This change earned him the nickname "Sonny Black" among mobsters. His children would later inherit this feature from their father, but their golden blond hair turned naturally to black over time.
He was a close friend of future Bonanno crime family Don Joseph Massino, who would later order his execution, and incarcerated mob boss Phillip Rastelli, who knew Sonny before he went to prison.
Fatherhood
Peter Napolitano (November 17, 1957-July 29, 1994), Aniello Napolitano and Rocco Napolitano were born and raised in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Dominick told his fellow mobsters and Joseph Pistone all the time how he loved his sons very much and later on was worried about him and his estranged wife. But Joseph Pistone would later say that Dominick cared more for his prized messenger pigeons than his son. Their father was also a notorious womanizer who cheated on their mother repeatedly with his long-time mistress, Judith Brown. It is unknown who Dominick was married to at the time of his murder.
Personal Life
Dominick Napolitano was a sturdy 5'8" man who weighed about 200 pounds with powerfully developed chest and arms. On his right forearm was a tattoo of a black panther. He was swarthy, with hair dyed jet black. His face was fleshy with rings under his brown eyes that made him look, depending on the mood, either tired or menacing. He was not a heavy drinker and at times only indulged in fine French liquor. He had dead straight hair, a square jaw and a Roman nose. Everything was hard and sinister in his personality, but compared to his sidewalk soldier, Benjamin Ruggiero, Napolitano ran his crew with a laid back style. When in Hallandale, Florida Dominick took up the sport of tennis with Joseph Pistone and was a doubles partner of Bonanno crime family mobster John Cersani.
Although he was a lousy tennis player, he enjoyed to play at King's Court always wearing black socks with his tennis shoes. Joe Pistone would later say, "On the court he would run around and yell, "I'm going to kill you" between strokes". Napolitano would also on occasion arm wrestle Joseph Pistone, but always lost because of Pistone's height over Sonny. Pistone would later say in his book that he never saw Dominick challenge anyone else except him. Dominick reigned control over Greenpoint, Brooklyn and from 1979 to 1980 he operated in Pasco County, Florida out of Holiday, Florida after negotiating control of the territory with Santo Trafficante Jr.
Also at that time Dominick set his sights on operating a major bookmaking operation in Orlando, Florida which he was never able to develop before Pistone revealed his identity as an FBI agent. He was close to Carmine Napolitano (May 30, 1943 - February 15, 1999), a cousin and fellow Bonanno crime family mobster.
As Caporegime
Dominick rose to prominence in the Mafia in 1973 as a sidewalk soldier for Michael Sabella and was promoted to capo, replacing his mentor after the gangland execution of the powerful rival capo Carmine "The Cigar" Galante. He became a trusted confidante of the imprisoned mobster Phillip Rastelli who took over leadership permanently again. This made the Bonanno crime family more of an organized crime family again. But when Rastelli took over it caused the Bonanno crime family to break into two factions, one side loyal to Rastelli, the other attempting to overthrow him and side with the Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily-immigrant faction of the family.
Dominick, who remained loyal to Rastelli was chiefly responsible for helping to end the struggle by killing most of the capos opposed to Rastelli, including the leader of the faction attempting to overthrow Rastelli, Dominick Trinchera. Joe Pistone would later say, "Dominick was more observant and disciplined than his old capo Michael Sabella and had a watchful eye.... In mob circles he had an excellent reputation for personal loyalty to his sidewalk soldiers.... He would kill you in a minute if you crossed him. Dominick was also a fine marksman with small caliber-pistols which made him an efficient killer", although Joseph Pistone also would comment that he was still better because of his FBI training. In restaurants or when in the general public he was a gentleman and never flamboyant or brazen. He always carried his own suitcases when travelling which was not demonstrated traditionally by other capos.[citation needed]
Business ventures
Dominick owned the Wither's Italian-American War Veterans Club at 415 Graham Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn and also The Motion Lounge located at 420 Graham Street. He later ran an illegal casino in Pasco County, Florida after receiving permission from Santo Trafficante and owned a tennis club and night club called The King's Court Bottle Club in Holiday, Florida.
Relationship with Pistone
When Joe Pistone infiltrated the mafia, he became attached to the crew that Napolitano ran, and the two developed a close relationship. Dominic's crew was involved in loansharking, bookmaking, and several casino operations. They were heavily involved in drug trafficking. Pistone was one of the few people that Dominick actually trusted and relied upon. He regarded Pistone so highly that he planned to nominate him to be "made" (inducted into the Mafia), and began to use the formal introduction "A friend of ours" when introducing Pistone to other mafiosi, a code meaning that the "friend" is an inducted member of the Mafia.
Messenger pigeons
Dominick was an avid racing pigeon and homing pigeon enthusiast. He kept his collection of birds on the roof of his apartment and criminal headquarters The Motion Lounge. The brilliantly colored pigeons had pedigree bloodlines that descended from prize pigeons in France, Germany and Russia. He once won three thousand dollars during a race from his pigeons. Dominick would race his prized messenger pigeons against many Brooklyn mobsters including Bonanno crime family consigliere Anthony Spero, Bonanno crime family associate Murray Kufeld and Genovese crime family capo Anthony Federici. He hired Anthony Casso to shoot hawks that preyed on his prized pigeons when Anthony was an aspiring mobster.
The Motion Lounge crew
Napolitano became a capo in 1973, replacing Michael Sabella. His crew was involved in burglary, extortion, robbery, bank robbery, loansharking and hijacking, one of the most successful crews in the Bonanno crime family. Dominick's crew included Bonanno crime family street soldiers Nicholas Santora, Louis Attanasio, John Cersani, Jerome Asaro, Sandro Asaro, John Faraci, Daniel Mangelli, Robert Lino, Frank Lino, Richard Riccardi, Joseph Grimaldi, Nicholas Accardi, Peter Rosa, Patrick DeFillipo, Michael Mancuso, Vito Grimaldi, Anthony Urso, James Tartaglione, Joseph Cammarano, John Zancocchio, Edward Barberra, Benjamin Ruggiero, Frankie Fish, Bobby Badheart, Bobby Smash and his previous capo Michael Sabella, Joseph Puma, Steven Maruca, Salvatore Farrugia, Anthony Pesiri, Antonio Tomasulo, Anthony Rabito, Raymond Wean, Frank DiStefano, Salvatore D'Ottavio, James Episcopa, as well as Joseph Pistone.
Death
Pistone's undercover operation ended when Napolitano requested that Pistone murder another mobster, originally Phillip Giaccone while he was in Miami, Florida. Later, after the decision was made to murder Giaconne at the same time as Indelicato and Trinchera, Pistone was given the task of murdering Alfonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato's son, Anthony Indelicato. Two days later, FBI agents came to his home at The Motion Lounge to inform him that Pistone was an FBI agent.
Shortly thereafter, the order came down to kill Napolitano for having allowed such a breach in mafia security. Rather than turn state's evidence and enter the witness protection program, Dominick accepted his fate; on August 17, 1981, he was asked to come to the basement of Bonanno associate Ron Filocomo for a "meeting" in Flatlands, Brooklyn. Knowing he would be killed, Dominick gave his jewelry to his favorite bartender who worked below his apartment at The Motion Lounge, along with the keys to his apartment, so that his pet pigeons could be cared for. He then went to Filocomo's basement, where he was ambushed by Filocomo and Bonanno Captain Frank Lino, both of whom shot him to death with .38 revolvers. Shortly before his death, Napolitano told his girlfriend Judy that he bore no ill will towards Pistone, knowing that Pistone was only doing his job, and that if anyone was going to be responsible for taking him down, he was glad that it was Pistone.
On August 12, 1982 a body was found at South Avenue and Bridge Street in Arlington, Staten Island, New York; both of the corpse's hands had been severed and the face was so badly decomposed that dental records were required to verify the corpse's identity. The FBI officially announced that they had found the corpse of Dominick Napolitano. However, in 2000, the FBI publicly revealed for the first time since 1982 that it had long been doubted whether or not the corpse found on Staten Island was correctly identified. Dominick's murderer, "Curly" Lino had turned state's evidence, providing authorities with the details of Napolitano's murder. Although the FBI were reasonably sure that the body found in Staten Island was Napolitano, one discrepancy existed: While Lino claimed that he and Filocomo had both shot Napolitano with .38 caliber revolvers, and that he himself had fired more than one bullet, the corpse found on Staten Island only had a single bullet wound, which appeared to have been made by a .45 caliber pistol.
He was buried in Calvary Cemetery, Queens, not far from where he was murdered.
Legacy
In early 2003, reputed Bonanno boss Joe Massino was arrested and charged with a variety of crimes, with the case centering around the murder of Napolitano. At Massino's trial, prosecutors claimed that Napolitano was murdered by his associates for allowing his crew to become compromised, and that his hands had been removed as a warning to other mobsters to follow the rule about proper introductions (the hands being chosen as the appendage for removal because of the association of shaking hands with being introduced to someone). Massino was convicted in 2004.
In popular culture
The 1997 film Donnie Brasco featured the character "Sonny Black" (Domminick Napolitano's nickname) played by Michael Madsen. For dramatic purposes, many of Black's character traits, and most of his relationship with Pistone, was combined with other real life Bonanno crime family mobsters Anthony Mirra and Benjamin Ruggiero, who in the film is played by Al Pacino - a notable parallel is towards the end of the film when Ruggiero is summoned to what he knows will be his execution for allowing Pistone into the Mafia(in reality, Ruggiero was arrested shortly after Pistone's identity was revealed to save him from this very fate), he leaves his lighter, wallet, keys and other personal effects in a drawer for his wife, echoing Napolitano's final actions shortly before he was ambushed and assassinated. The fictional Ruggiero's sentiments of how if it was going to be anyone that sunk him, he was glad it was Pistone are also a direct paraphrase of the real Sonny Black's last words.
References
- Morton, James, East End Gangland & Gangland International Omnibus Chapter: "Florida"
- Pistone, Joseph, Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia. Random House Value Publishing (February 1990) ISBN 5552531299
External links
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