Roy DeMeo

Does anyone know anything about the gangster Roy DeMeo?

Here is something I copied from a website that mentions DeMeo. He is the one that I heard scared some of the family heads because he enjoyed killing too much.


"Castellano, although adverse to using violence, did not shy from it. He turned to one of his serial killer hit squads, headed by Roy DeMeo, who specialized in murder-for-hire killing some 250 victims. DeMeo's style was to shoot his victims in the head, quickly wrap their heads in a towel, hang the victim upside down to drain the blood, and then butchered the body and placed it at the bottom of a landfill. Castellano ordered DeMeo to murder his son-in-law, Frank Amato, whom
he had heard was beating his pregnant daughter, Connie, and was having affairs. When Connie had a miscarriage, Amato's body disappeared on Sept. 20, 1980.

A federal probe of DeMeo in 1982 prompted Castellano to have DeMeo murdered when DeMeo refused to meet with Castellano to discuss the federal probe. DeMeo's body was found in the trunk of his car Jan. 10, 1983."

[ November 29, 2001: Message edited by: Don Marco ]

I just read a great book about the Roy DeMeo crew, Murder Machine : A True Story of Murder, Madness, and the Mafia, written by Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci. You should definatly check it out, I reccomend it to anybody. It is very well written, and really keeps your interest.

that book crossed the line into a little TOO graphic...good book...don't eat while reading it...

Rocky and Liz are right on. "Murder Machine" will tell you ALL you want to know about Roy and his bloodthirsty Canarsie crew. That guy Dracula... *shivers*

I know that his crew were supposedly going through hundreds a year, legend or fact, who knows. But DeMeo was definitely an animal; apparently towards the end of his life they were killing for pleasure rather than a purpose.
You should read about Richard Kuklinski, who met up with DeMeo, who took him out into one night to test who he was and asked to him to kill some stranger on sight, and when Richard Kuklinski did, DeMeo knew straight away that he was a killer like him. I also know that Castellano found it difficult to find someone to kill DeMeo; people like John Gotti didn't want to take the contract on him.

[ December 03, 2001: Message edited by: giovanni ]

If I recall correctly, and I may be wrong, but I think they ended up having someone from Roy's own crew do the contract on Roy.

"Boss of Bosses," the Castellano book by O'Brien and Kurins, has a pretty good description of DeMeo. Kuklinski's interview appeared in "New Jersey" Magazine not long ago. Another swell guy.

demeo was not the capo of the crew he was involved
with,gaggi was,demeo was a expert car theif and top earner for big paul,demeo was also the go between for paul and the WESTIES in hells kitchen,both the westies and demeo were expert killers until they started doing coke and drinking so much so that killing became a everyday thing,demeo would shoot his victims in the head wrap them in a towel and hang them in the shower upside down like a turkey,then he would hack them up and dispose of the body parts,
the westies once killed a bookie sawed his head off,put the head on the bar,put a smoke in his mouth and drank jamesons all night toasting their buddy,demeo was killed by his capo gaggi by order of paul,the GOTTI bros turned the job down,if they missed they feared paul would not back them up and they would be killed in return,kuklinski is a chronic liar and never did any jobs for demeo or the GAMBINOS,demeo did not have the power to hire hit men on his own,in all my readings and dealings not one oc family has admitted to using this mook!

Roy DeMeo: Assembly Line Hit Man
Legendary Gambino family hit man Roy DeMeo was once the most feared man in the mob. Federal authorities have estimated that his victim count neared 200, and he was easily one of the most brutal killers the Mafia had ever seen.

DeMeo was a top hit man for New York's Gambino family, and was devoted to his work. His was inventive and efficient, owing to what might be called his “assembly line” methods.

According the Carl Sifakis' The Mafia Encyclopedia, a former associate of DeMeo explained, “When the person would walk in, somebody would shoot him in the head with a silencer, somebody would wrap a towel around his head to stop the blood, and somebody would stab him in the heart to stop the blood from pumping.

“They would then drag him into the bathroom, put him in the shower, bleed him, pull him out, put him on a pool liner in the living room, take him apart, and package him.” Indeed, DeMeo's victims never came out in one piece, and were often hacked to small bits to facilitate the disposal process.

At one time a butcher's apprentice, DeMeo demanded that things be done his way, and taught his crew how to take a body apart bit by bit. He also showed them the finer point of putting the head into a trash compactor to further diminish the possibility of the victim being identified.

For these purposes, DeMeo kept a special “clubhouse,” a bar-turned-slaughterhouse where the hits could be carried out to DeMeo's exact specifications. When no one was being murdered, DeMeo's crew liked to invite their girls over for dates... just like any old clubhouse.

At first, DeMeo's efficiency and enthusiasm were thought to be assets to the Gambinos. He became one of Paul Castellano and Nino Gaggi's most trusted hit men and was given the most sensitive jobs. When Gaggi was tried on racketeering charges, DeMeo stepped in and assassinated three government witnesses. He also carried out personal killings for Castellano, including the murder of Castellano's son-in-law.

Most of DeMeo's victims were mobsters, including members of his own crew. But he would kill anyone who got in his way. If DeMeo even suspected someone of being an informer, that person disappeared for good.

Soon it became clear that DeMeo and his crew were running rampant, murdering for profit, for revenge, and even for plain old kicks. Federal authorities began investigating the DeMeo crew by the early 1980s, and Castellano, knowing that the trail would lead from DeMeo to Gaggi and from Gaggi to himself, tried to get DeMeo to tone down his operations. But no one could slow down Roy DeMeo. Instead, he became even more erratic. DeMeo was in it for pleasure by that point, and he liked to tell people about it.

Castellano called DeMeo in a meeting, but DeMeo never showed. Shortly thereafter, a bug in Castellano's home revealed that he was making attempts to put a contract out on DeMeo. No takers. DeMeo was too widely feared. Even John Gotti decided to pass on the contract.

Carl Sifakis reports that Castellano finally said to Gaggi, “Take care of him, Nino.” Gaggi was the only man DeMeo still trusted, and the only man who could get close to him. Business was taken care of, and on January 10, 1983, DeMeo's body was found in the trunk of his car.

Sources: The Mafia Encyclopedia by Carl Sifakis; “There's Something About Geno,” New York Magazine, Eric Konigsberg