William "Wild Bill" Cutolo (June 6, 1949 – May 26, 1999), a Brooklyn-born mafioso in the Colombo crime family, chose the wrong side in the Colombo war -- the third Colombo war, actually -- which began when acting boss Vic Orena decided he wanted to take over the family from jailed-for-life boss Carmine "The Snake" Persico, who had visions of setting up a Mafia dynasty by making his son, Alphonse "Little Allie Boy" Persico, the boss. The war, which shot up the streets of New York City from 1991 to 1993, ended when Orena was sent to prison for life; the Snake prevailed.

Wild Bill, a major player for the Orena faction, was busted from Capo to Soldier as part of the peace treaty. But the general respect Cutolo generated as a gangster, as well as his popularity in the family and other crime families, made Allie Boy promote him to Underboss. In reality, the Persicos were setting Cutolo up, using the promotion and passage of six years since the end of the war to put him off guard.

In 1999, Cutolo was summoned to a meeting with the younger Persico. Cutolo was last seen en route to that meeting (ironically, Feds had been tailing Cutolo on the last day of his life, but Cutolo ditched them -- and in all fairness, the Feds had no idea their subject was about to fall off the face of the earth). In 2004, Allie Boy Persico and the family's Underboss John "Jackie" DeRoss were indicted for conspiring to murder Cutolo. Testifying against Persico were Cutolo's son plus former Gambino captain Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo, who attended the same meeting and was told Wild Bill was "gone."

On December 28, 2007, Persico and DeRoss were convicted of Cutolo's murder, and both were eventually given life imprisonment -- even without a body. In October 2008, federal agents started searching a field in East Farmingdale, New York, based on the kinds of tips they always get about "mob graveyards." This tip, however, was on the money: human remains were discovered wrapped up in a blue tarp. A forensic dentist confirmed that the body was Wild Bill Cutolo's.

His son, William P. Cutolo Jr. actively worked to help the FBI nab the criminals who were responsible; Cutolo Jr. and probably most of the Mafia and half the police force knew it had to be Allie Boy no matter how solid his alibi appeared (he was supposedly meeting with his attorney when Wild Bill was meeting his end). Police primarily had circumstantial evidence, since there was no body during the actual murder trial.