Francesco Raffaele Nitto, better known as Frank Nitti or “The Enforcer”, followed Al Capone as leader of the Chicago Outfit in the years after Prohibition. He was boss more in name than fact, but he left a major stamp on the city’s Mafia organization by the time he killed himself to avoid prison time. Frank…
Carlo Gambino –One the Sidelines Part 3 of 4
Early 1962 was the start of a Profaci family battle. Joe Gallo and his brothers battled with ailing Profaci crime boss Joseph Profaci over, among other things, the amount of money Profaci demanded from his family as tribute. In February 1962, the Gallo’s kidnapped Profaci underboss Joseph Magliocco and capo Joe Colombo in an attempt…
Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero – A True Account of Al Pacino’s “Lefty” in Donnie Brasco
Benjamin “Lefty” Ruggiero also known as “Lefty Guns, and “Lefty two Guns” was born in the Fourth Ward neighborhood of Little Italy, Manhattan on April 19, 1926. Ruggiero joined the Bonanno crime family at a young age serving as a street soldier under Michael Sabella. Ruggiero lived in an apartment complex called Knickerbocker Village located…
Giuseppe “The Clutch Hand” Morello – The First “Capo di Tutti Capi” of New York
Giuseppe “the Clutch Hand” Morello was born on May 2, 1867 in Corleone, Sicily. His biological father, Calogero Morello died when Giuseppe was just five years old. One year later his mother Angelina remarried to Bernardo Terranova, a member of the Corelonesi Mafia in Corleone. The two had three additional sons and two daughters during…
William Cutolo – Gangster and Leukemia Fundraiser
William Cutolo was born Guglielmo, in Basilicata, Italy. His family was related to the Italian Camorra mob boss Raffaele Cutolo. His father was involved in loan sharking and illegal gambling that eventually earned him a prison sentence. As an adult living in the United States Cutolo aligned himself with the Colombo crime family based out…
Alphonse “Sonny Red” Indelicato – Murdered by the Napolitano Crew
Alphonse “Sonny Red” Indelicato was born in New York City on February 25, 1931. His family name came from Siculiana, Agrigento, Sicily, however he never once visited. Indelicato was the father-in-law to Bonanno associate Salvatore Valenti and the ex-son-in-law of Bonanno capo Charles Ruvolo. He was also related to Gov. of Massachusetts Michael Dukakis’s education…
Ignazio Lupo – Implicated in the early 1900’s Barrel Murders
Ignazio Lupo was born to a middle class family in Province of Palermo, Sicily on March 19, 1877. From an early age he was involved in crimes ranging from simple robbery to theft. In 1889 Lupo is believed to have committed his first murder when a man named Salvatore Morello (unrelated to the Giuseppe Morello…
Bonanno Family History
The Bonanno Family is one of the “Five Families” that controls the east coast with the hub of activity in New York and New Jersey. They are part of the nationwide criminal syndicate known as the mafia or Cosa Nostra. The Bonanno’s have been around since the 1880’s but are most recently known for their…
Giacomo “Big Jim” Colosimo – Boss of the Chicago Outfit and Brothel Empire
Giacomo “Big Jim” Colosimo was an Italian immigrant Mafioso who got his start as a pickpocket and went on to build the Chicago Outfit, that city’s version of the American mob. He did it by pulling together a coalition of street thugs, pimps and extortionists to build a racket that has dominated organized crime in…
Joseph Anthony “Joe” Colombo Sr., Founder of “The Italian-American Civil Rights League”
Joe Colombo was born in Brooklyn on June 16, 1923. Much of his early life is unknown; he lived with his parents, and had no other siblings. His father was a member of the American mafia until his murder in 1938. In his younger years Colombo held several legitimate jobs. He spent time in the…