Why was Tony Caponigro set up?

We've all heard the story of what happened when tony Caponigro killed Angelo Bruno. Why would funzi tieri set up Caponigro like that? I know tieri wanted atlantic city but why do it in that fashion? Then tieri denies giving permission for the hit on Bruno, I imagine it wasn't a pleasant end for Tony Bananas. The Philly mob never recovered from the aftershocks. It just seemed like a pretty hardcore scenario for the genovese family to be associated with.

He broke the rules

The geneveses just used capinegro as a pawn and when they were done with him they feed him to the wolves.

Damn siggies.

??? I thought he went and asked for their permission and then after the fact the Genovese denied giving an ok....

So you're calling them liars....look at what happened to the last guy who called them a liar.

Lol

No, I'm just asking for clarification. I thought he was double-crossed..?

Yeah he was they used him to take Bruno out, and like stated above they disposed of him once they had no more use of him.

In reality though, tieri's plan probably brought an assload of heat, not just to Philly either.

If I were Capognigro I would of went into that meeting armed with a couple gernades with deadman switches.

I heard that tieri had a personal beef with Bruno or something. They were both associated through Carlo gambino. When Carlo died it was open season on Bruno I suppose.

The Gambino's later did something similar when they used Jonny Keys.
They sent Sammy Gravano to befriend him and "promise" him that Paul Castellano was gonna back him.
Sammy then turned on him and whacked him as per Big Pauls instructions

Yes, he was double crossed. Considering the greed and lust for money associated with the mob, the events were hardly surprising.

Reminds me of when Tony Soprano whacked Phil without approval from the commission. It's only fiction, but the NY capos that gave him the go ahead probably denied it....leading to the diner scene.

Tony Caponigro controlled a huge bookmaking and numbers operation in northern New Jersey. Jersey City and Newark. That area is also full of Genovese guys. The Genovese guys wanted those money making rackets for themselves. When Bruno was alive, a sit down was held, where Carlo Gambino used his influence with the Comission to get a favorable ruling for Caponigro, against Funzi Tieri. Meaning, Caponigro got to keep his rackets. When Carlo Gambino died, Bruno (Caponigro) lost their protector. This is when the Genovese made their play to take over the northern NJ rackets. They had Bruno and Tony Cap killed. They also were able to work with Scarfo to get access to Atlantic City rackets.

@garyh that's fucked up. Shit like that made has set lcn on the path of decline.

Wow I didn't know that. Thanks

Good point Gary. Castellano was very trigger happy when he had to be despite being a white collar boss

silent is right on funzi wanted that book. frank tieri def knew how to play the game...cunning individual

Why was Caponigro set up? Because they could, for the reasons outlined by SilentPartnerz above, and because Caponigro was an ignorant greedy bastard. The Genovese's played him like a cheap harmonica.

This ^

He actually went to Tieri for permission,not the Commission.
Tieri told him that the Commission was in favor of the hit and that he would be the new Boss. When Bananas went to New York to actually meet with the Commission,Funzi sold him out and told the other Commission members that he never gave the OK for the hit.
Caponigro was a fool to take Tieri's word as opposed to hearing it from the full Commission.

He was probably under the impression Tieri was fam.boss.any good info out on johnny keys Simone. Gravano said he hated killing him that he was cosa nostra all the way.think he would have bn a good boss had he knocked off scarfo or some1

Right on the money..first guy to get it right

After double-crossing Caponigro,the Genovese Family reaped the major benefits mentioned above----the very lucrative North Jersey book and a piece of AC.A lot of sources say Bruno wasn't gonna share AC with anybody,but it's more likely that he was only gonna share it with the Gambino Family,as he was very close with Carlo Gambino and many of his relatives,including Paul.A couple of investigators have written books with details about numerous side partnerships(including drugs)Bruno had over a period of many years exclusively with Carlo's blood relatives.

A lot of it had to do with the genivese family controlling the Philly mob so they could get there vote on the commission the north jersey book went to blackie di Napoli a Philly guy who the genovese family controlled , he had been one of the yardville 7 along with genovese consigliere bobby manna

Three words: funz of tieri

Find it weird commision maybe didnt find it suspicous caponigros mentioned of tieri, like he pulled that name out of a hat.

I read somewhere that in the late 70's and early 80's Philly was on the commission and would always vote with the Gambino's. Paul and Bruno were seen many times having dinner together and they had a very strong working relationships. There's no doubt that the West Side wanted to end that by having Bruno whacked.

Sorry if this is a little OT, but how come Stanfa got a pass for the Bruno hit? His connections were to the Gambino Familiy, weren't they? Is that what saved him?

Word had it that both the Gambinos and important people in Sicily spoke up for Stanfa and assured that he was spared.Long John Martorano too----he was Bruno's regular driver and had driven him to Cous' that night,but begged off driving him home.Long John also told Mario Riccobene when he was trying to get him to set up his brother Harry that "Angie" was one of the 5 whackings he had participated in up to that point.It's long been suspected that Long John was the one who made the call to say that Bruno was on his way home.