| Vittorio Amuso | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 1934 (age 74) Queens, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Charge(s) | Murder, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, racketeering |
| Penalty | Life imprisonment |
| Status | Alive |
| Occupation | Boss of the Lucchese crime family |
Vittorio "Little Vic" Amuso (born 1934) is a New York mobster and, as of 2009, the reputed Boss of the Lucchese crime family. Amuso is currently serving life sentence at the United States Penitentiary #2 (USP-2) FCC, Coleman in Coleman, Florida on murder and racketeering charges. [1]
Contents |
Early life
Vittorio Amuso was born in 1934 in Queens, New York, a neighborhood under the control of Tommy Gagliano and Tommy Lucchese, the bosses of the Lucchese crime family, (back then it was called the Gagliano crime family), and became soon attached to the very same environment. In the late 1940s, he would soon become introduced to Lucchese family caporegime, Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo, as the family was taken over by Thomas Lucchese. Amuso, a short and young tough guy, would eventually be known as "Little Vic". Amuso would also be presented to Colombo crime family mobster, Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo, from Brooklyn, New York, as Gallo decided to "make" Amuso into the Colombo crime family and his crew, sometime in the 1950s. He is the brother of Lucchese crime family capo Robert Amuso.
Colombo family soldier
As a soldier for the Gallo brothers, Amuso would be thrown into a family of dissatisfaction and corruption, as Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo claimed war against longtime Boss, Giuseppe "Joe" Profaci and the old Profaci faction of the family, because Profaci took huge parts of Gallo's profit. Despite his size, Amuso would allegedly kill several members of the Profaci faction, but sent to prison sometime in the early 1960s, along with Joey Gallo and a dozen others for extortion charges.
Death of Crazy Joey Gallo
Upon his release in early 1971, Gallo came home to find the Profaci crime family under the control of former caporegime Joseph Colombo. Gallo would once again oppose his boss, and rumors would soon circulate concerning his part in the June 1971 shooting of boss Joe Colombo. With the shooting and paralyzing of boss Joe Colombo the crime family was overseen by consigliere Joseph "Joe Yak" Yacovelli, who soon promoted caporegime Vincenzo "Vinny" Aloi to the position of acting boss. Amuso was still very much involved with the Gallo crew, but on April 7, 1972, his caporegime Joseph "Crazy Joe" Gallo was shot to death in Little Italy Manhattan, New York, while he was celebrating his 43rd birthday. In 1973 highly feared and influential caporegime Carmine "Junior" Persico would become the new boss of the Colombo crime family, but a recent conviction would leave him incarcerated for nearly 5 years, and in his place Persico promoted old time caporegime Thomas DiBella as acting boss and overseer of the crime family until Persico was released from prison.
Defecting to the Luccheses
After the assassination of Joe Gallo, many Colombo crime family members, especially those in Gallo's old crew, became frightened and joined other crime families to avoid execution. Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo, one of the notorious Gallo brothers, decided to join the Genovese crime family in early 1972, as Amuso reportedly defected to the Lucchese crime family sometime during that year, who accepted his membership. The new reputed Boss was his old associate, Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo. Amuso started out in the crew of reputed Consigliere Christopher "Christie Tick" Furnari, who he had known since childhood, and became one of Furnari's top proteges along with Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso.
Vic's arrest and prison time
But on December 21, 1972, Amuso was arrested by police outside the "House on Morgan Avenue", a front for the "Bronx Connection" kickback scheme, selling prison paroles for as high as $20,000 to prison inmates. Presumably to meet with the building owner, Richard Curro, a city corrections officer and Lucchese family associate, who acted as liaison between inmates and the Luccheses, Amuso was in possession of a switchblade and a file folder of parole documents at the time of his arrest.
Less than five years later, Amuso was arrested with friend and Lucchese associate Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, for his involvement in a drug trafficking ring to smuggle heroin from Far East Asia on May 30, 1977. At the time of the Brooklyn mobsters' arrest, he had been found with three pounds of heroin in his possession. Reportedly, the heroin operation was headed by Amuso, his cooperator Casso, and two other associates of the Lucchese crime family. They were all sent to prison.
Mafia trial and Acting boss
On February 15, 1985, Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo along with Lucchese Underboss Salvatore "Tom Mix" Santoro and Consigliere Christopher "Christie Tick" Furnari, were indicted in the Mafia Commission Trial along with the top major heads of the Five Families. To replace him, Corallo put his protegé Anthony "Buddy" Luongo as acting boss sometime in early 1986, but toward December of that same year, Luongo disappeared. Rumor has it that Amuso, then Luongo's driver and bodyguard, killed him to gain the complete power of the Lucchese crime family. Amuso's associate, Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso was also reportedly involved in the Luongo incident. Amuso and Casso had long served Christopher "Christie Tick" Furnari as his proteges, as Furnari advised Corallo to make Amuso and Casso the new acting bosses of the family. To avoid any internal war of the family, Corallo made Amuso the new acting boss of the Lucchese crime family in late 1986, and the new official boss after his conviction on January 13, 1987, where Corallo and others were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Boss of the Lucchese family
The Cartel Windows case
After becoming Boss of the Lucchese crime family in 1987, Amuso made Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso his Underboss under his reign, and soon started one of the most bloody leaderships the family had ever seen, starting with the so called "Windows Case" in 1986, when Amuso felt that the Lucchese weren't getting enough profit from the operation, and demanded that Casso was to supervise Lucchese's share in the cartel. The Gambino, Colombo, Genovese and Lucchese families had together created a cartel in 1978, which eventually controlled over $150 million in contracts from the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The cartel monopolized the industry through Local 580, a Lucchese family-controlled local of the Iron Workers Union. Through the union, the cartel could solicit bribes, extort payoffs and enforce its monopoly. The cartel worked their controlled industry by charging a tax of approximately $1.00 to $2.00 for almost every window replacement, public and private, sold in New York City. The iron fists of Anthony Casso and captain Peter "Fat Pete" Chiodo raised Amuso's shares in the cartel.
Murder of Frank DeCicco
On April 13, 1986, the Underboss of the Gambino crime family, Frank DeCicco, was killed when a bomb in his car went off. The target was allegedly Gambino Boss John Gotti, who, with DeCicco, had organized the murder of former Boss Paul Castellano earlier, without the permission of the Commission. Reportedly, Amuso and Casso, along with Genovese crime family Boss Vincent "Chin" Gigante, had planned Gotti's execution, but killed DeCicco by a mistake. Although Casso later testifyed that both him and Amuso had conspired with Gigante, it was never raised at the trial, because Casso was dropped from the Witness Protection Program many years later.
Dispute with Accetturo
Toward the late 1980s, Amuso and Casso began arguing with the Caporegime of the New Jersey faction of the Lucchese crime family, Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo, about the profit Amuso received. When ordering Accetturo to raise the profit, Accetturo refused. Amuso then gave the order to "whack Jersey", meaning that the entire Jersey faction of the family should be eliminated. In the fall of 1988, the entire New Jersey crew was summoned to meet with Amuso in Brooklyn. Fearful of being massacred, everyone refused to go. Soon the entire New Jersey crew had gone into hiding, decimating the Lucchese interests in New Jersey. Amuso and Casso went on to eliminate anyone with even the merest suspicion that they might be defectors or if they were considered potential rivals. [2] Over the next 12 months, most of the New Jersey crew members came back to the family. Amuso told the returned crew members that Accetturo was an outlaw and needed to be disposed off. Amuso also sent hitmen to Florida, searching for Accetturo, however, what Amuso didn't realized was that Accetturo was jailed in New Jersey, for refusing to testify in front a state panel. Accetturo would later become an informant. Accetturo's former protégé and longtime rival, Michael "Mad Dog" Taccetta, who was also despised by Amuso, reputedly took over Lucchese's Jersey Crew, which is the nickname of their faction in Northern New Jersey, toward his conviction in 1993, before Accetturo eventually agreed to become an informant.
Fugitives and convictions
During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Amuso and Casso were indicted as part of a racketeering investigation. Acting on prior knowledge, Amuso and his Underboss went into hiding [3]. But the bloodshed of Vic Amuso and Tony Casso wasn't over yet, as Lucchese caporegime Peter "Fat Pete" Chiodo was charged with violations of the RICO act in 1991. At this point, Chiodo decided to plea guilty in return for a lighter sentence. Uncertain of Chiodo's loyalty and angry at his guilty plea, Amuso decided to have Chiodo killed. On May 8, 1991, three shooters shot Chiodo 12 times, but failed to kill him, as he became a government informant days later, and agreed to testify against several major heads of the Five Families, including Amuso, that same year. The testimony provided by Chiodo, was the entire Windows Case operation, several murder and conspiracy charges, loansharking and extortion, as well as money laundering and drug trafficking operations around Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan and the Bronx.
After the government apprehended Amuso in 1990 and Casso in 1993, Casso decided to turn state's evidence, as Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco, who was Amuso's acting boss at the time, also decided to cooperate with the authorities after Amuso became suspicious that D'Arco was an informant. According to D'Arco, he had been in a hotel room where a meeting was to take place, and reportedly saw the men were carrying guns under their jackets. Fearing that Amuso had sanctioned his murder, D'Arco turned state's evidence. D'Arco's testimony (and that of many others) proved to be devastating to Amuso's case, as he was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1992. [4]. His Underboss Anthony Casso was also sentenced to life imprisonment, after failing to uphold his end of the witness-deal he struck with the federal government. Amuso is currently serving his life sentence at a high security Federal penitentiary in Coleman, Florida. After the incarcerations of both Amuso and Casso, the US government learned that they each had, allegedly, ordered more than 10-12 slayings while they were fugitives and while on trial, using Mafia cops Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa as their personal hit men.
Imprisoned Lucchese Boss
New Lucchese Acting boss
After Amuso's indictment in 1991 with the testimony provided by former acting boss Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco, Amuso promoted his caporegime Joseph "Little Joe" DeFede, to acting boss, with the help of the Ruling Panel members, Steven "Wonderboy" Crea, Anthony "Bowat" Baratta, Salvatore "Sal" Avellino and Consigliere Frank "Big Frank" Lastorino in 1991. It was around this time that Lastorino used the indictments of Amuso and Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso to take advantage of the situation and gained much of the authority in the family when he aligned himself with Brooklyn faction leaders George "Georgie Neck" Zappola, Frank "Bones" Papagni, George Conte and Frank Gioia, Jr..
Fearing rivalry from Bronx
In early 1992, Amuso feared that rivalry was being developed in the Lucchese crime family, as some mobsters thought, with Amuso out of the way, that they could take over. The rivals were the old Bronx faction of the family, and Amuso felt he had to prove that he was still in charge. On April 3, 1992, Aniello "Neil" Migliore, one of the most powerful capos of the family, was celebrating the birthday of a friend's granddaughter in a Westbury, New York restaurant on Long Island. During the party, a gunman in a passing car fired one or two shotgun blasts through the restaurant window, hitting Migliore in the head and chest. Despite his wounds, Migliore survived. The attempt on his life did not sway Migliore away from the crime family though, as he kept operating throughout the 1990s. [5]
Bronx & Brooklyn rivalry
As Amuso allegedly attempted to kill Aniello "Neil" Migliore from the Bronx faction in 1992, he chose another Bronx faction-leader named Steven "Wonderboy" Crea as the new and powerful Underboss of the Lucchese crime family to keep rivals from the Bronx in line. However, this decision almost triggered a new war within the crime family, as Crea, along with Joseph "Little Joe" DeFede decided to turn the family's power center away from Brooklyn, New York and back to the Bronx faction where it had been for decades. This, however, didn't pleased impriosned boss Vic Amuso and his supporters within the Brooklyn faction. Crime family Consigliere, Frank "Big Frank" Lastorino saw to organize the murder of Steven Crea using capos George Zappola, Frank Papagni and Frank Gioia, Jr., and would further plan to use the death of acting boss Steve Crea to gain the control of the Lucchese crime family. US law enforcement also recognized these members as the actual leaders of the family at the time, and even picked them up on wires and bugs saying they were going to kill Gambino crime family boss John "Junior" Gotti, son of John Gotti, and his rival Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo to split up the Gambinos. This conspiracy also included Genovese crime family boss Vincent "Chin" Gigante and on-the-lam leader, Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso before he was apprehended. But due to massive indictments of the time, slashing all members of the three families involved in the conspiracy, the plot never succeeded, and Amuso kept running the family from prison as most of the conspirators themselves were sent to prison.
Restructure of the family
During the mid 1990s, the majority of the Brooklyn faction-leaders, many of whom were known Amuso's rivals, were sent to prison on various charges. To keep some sense of stability within the Lucchese crime family, Amuso promoted his loyal friend and Brooklyn capo Louis "Louie Bagels" Daidone to the position of Consigliere, replacing Frank Lastorino. Amuso also kept Joseph "Little Joe" DeFede as the crime family's Acting Boss. DeFede oversaw important crime family operations such as those in the Garment District, which brought in between $40,000 to $60,000 a month. Amuso also kept Stephen "Wonderboy" Crea of the Bronx, New York as the Underboss, overseeing the construction and union racketeering operations that made the crime family between $300,000 and $500,000 a month. Daidone was put in control of the crews and street soldiers that took care of all the debt collection and muscle work, basically the collection of gambling and loansharking debts, the extortion operations and allegedly murder for hire. After Daidone was promoted to the number three spot, Long Island caporegime Joseph "Joe C." Caridi stepped up to run Daidone's former crew.
Joe DeFede's imprisonment
On April 28, 1998, DeFede was indicted on nine counts of racketeering stemming from his supervision of the crime family rackets in New York's Garment District from 1992 to 1997. The prosecution reported that since the mid-1980s the Lucchese crime family had been grossing between $40,000 and $60,000 per month from the Garment District rackets they controlled. In December 1998, DeFede pleaded guilty to the charges and received five years in prison. Angry at his guilty plea, Amuso became uncertain of DeFede's loyalty to the crime family and in the future Amuso would regard DeFede as a traitor and thief.
Wonderboy's enormous profit
After the imprisonment of Joe DeFede in 1998, Amuso handpicked Bronx faction leader, Steven "Wonderboy" Crea as the new acting boss of the Lucchese crime family. Crea, a loyal Amuso Underboss began sending a larger amount of the crime family's profits to the imprisoned boss, which convinced Amuso that DeFede had been skimming profits from the crime family the whole time he was acting boss, so Amuso decided to put out a contract on DeFede's life in late 1999. On September 6, 2000, Crea and seven other Lucchese members were arrested and jailed on extortion charges. Crea was eventually convicted in 2001 and sentenced to 5 years in prison. Steven Crea was released from prison in 2006.
Daidone, DeFede and D'Arco
Following the imprisonment of Crea in 2001, influential Consigliere, Louis "Louie Bagels" Daidone was promoted to acting boss and began to run the day-to-day operations of the crime family. Daidone, at the time, one of the strongest and most dangerous crime family members, would continue to oversee the contract ordered by Amuso on imprisoned former acting boss Joseph "Little Joe" DeFede. DeFede did not know that Amuso had placed a contract on his life, but during DeFede's imprisonment he was demoted from capo to soldier and this alerted him to the possibility that he had fallen pout of favor with boss Vic Amuso and could be in serious trouble. Upon DeFede's release from prison on February 5, 2002 it was reported that the former Amuso ally immediately turned to the government for help and became an informant. Federal witnesses Joe DeFede and Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco gave the US government information regarding Lucchese controlled racketeering operations based around New York City, which helped the federal government continue their decimation of the old Amuso-faction. Both D'Arco and DeFede also provided information about rackets such as gambling, loansharking, extortion and even information about some old murders, which led to the indictments of Mafia cops, Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa. Eppolito and Caracappa were allegedly working for and taking large bribes from former Lucchese underboss Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso since the 1980s. The two highly decorated police N.Y.P.D. officers were apparently used by Casso and the Lucchese crime family to gain valuable information about ongoing police investigations and cases concerning New York mafia member. The two bad cops were also used to lure rivals and possible government informants to their deaths, and in some cases they apparently executed the victims themselves. Daidone received a life sentence in 2003 on racketeering and murder charges, while more than a dozen other prominent Lucchese crime family members were sent to prison during that same year on various charges.
The Committee/Ruling Panel
After the conviction and imprisonment of acting boss Louie Diadone in 2003, imprisoned boss Vic Amuso instituted a new Ruling Panel/Committee of influential capos to oversee and run the crime family's day-to-day activities. Prominent and senior Lucchese capos Aniello "Neil" Migliore, Matthew "Matt" Madonna and Joseph "Joey Dee" DiNapoli were handpicked by Amuso to lead the crime family. These senior capos were chosen as street bosses to work in tandem. Instead of placing one particular member in the official Underboss position Amuso divided the power between 3 influential capos. Migliore, a former Corallo loyalist and Amuso rival, is now said to be one of the most powerful mobsters in the Lucchese crime family.
Wonderboy's release
Upon the release of influential Lucchese member Stephen "Wonderboy" Crea in 2006, boss Vic Amuso decided to promote Crea and make him the official acting boss. Only this time the Ruling Panel/Committee would not be disbanded in order to aide Crea with the day-to-day activities of running the crime family. Also, Amuso allegedly ordered Crea to closely supervise Lucchese interests within the New York construction business in order to avoid any rivalries within the Lucchese crime family and the Five Families of New York, who control various aspects of the city's construction industry.
Current Lucchese Boss
As of 2008, while incarcerated for the rest of his life, 73 year old Vic Amuso is still reputed to be the official Sitting Boss of the Lucchese crime family. As of 2008, Stephen "Wonderboy" Crea is out of prison and free, and is still reputed to be the official acting boss of the crime family. Even though Vic Amuso has allegedly kept control of the Lucchese crime family for more than 20 years, Mafia expert Jerry Capeci describes his succession as Boss as one of the biggest mistakes in the crime family's history. [6]
Further reading
- Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864225-2
- Davis, John H. Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family. New York: Harper Torch, 1994. ISBN 0061091847
- Raab, Selwyn. The Five Families: The Rise, Decline & Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empire. New York: St. Martins Press, 2005. ISBN 0-312-36181-5
- United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi : Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 1988. [7]
References
- Devito, Carlo. Encyclopedia of International Organized Crime. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2005. ISBN 0-8160-4848-7
- Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005. ISBN 0-8160-5694-3
- Kelly, Robert J. Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000. ISBN 0-313-30653-2
- Raab, Selwyn. Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. New York: St. Martin Press, 2005. ISBN 0-312-30094-8
External links
- La Cosa Nostra – State of New Jersey Commission of Investigation 1989 Report The Lucchese/Corallo/Amuso Family
- Slate: Dispatches From a Mob Trial Anatomy of a Mafia mole by Dan Ackman
- Time Magazine: Blood in the Streets: Subculture of Violence
| Business positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Anthony Corallo |
Lucchese crime family Boss 1987-present |
Incumbent |
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