I think DeMeo is notoriously overrated as a mobster. Yeah he was a good criminal - a killer and a money maker. But it was obvious he would have never been pegged under any circumstance for a leadership position. He wasn't even a capo and only through a stroke of luck combined with attrition was the only way he'd probably ever make capo. If he wasn't killed when he was, Gotti probably would have had him killed a few years later for something or other. and that whole thing about Gotti and Co. turning down the DeMeo murder contract because they were afraid - I don't buy that. I'm guessing that there is a 90% chance there as another untold reason. Gotti had some hitters around him, maybe not as methodical as DeMeo's killers but he still had killers none the less.

I agree with you about Demeo not being able to rise to a higher position in the mafia because of his uncontrollable nature. But he still was one of the most feared guys in mob history, sure he wasn't a captain but anybody who kills that much and makes that much money is gonna be talked about. also I hate to break it to you but gotti was definetly afraid of demeo and would never take the contract to kill him. thats not an opinion its a fact from a wiretap of gene Gotti saying that john was wary of trying to take on roy demeo since demeo and his crew are an army of killers and gottis crew had only killed around 10 people. Another guy gotti feared is Casso who after a botched attempy on his life started taking out gambino members and gotti/gravano started ducking him. But back to demeo i don't think its a matter of "overrating" demeo. He is talked about because he killed like 200 people and made money

The killing of Testa was the worst. Dam you Joey Punge.

I felt the same way at first. But you have to realize, when you think about it. Testa was no angel, and karmically speaking, he had it coming more than the 'reluctant gangsters' like Pat the Cat and Tommy Delgiorno. Whilst he was good for the family, he wasn't good for the city, and often contemplated storming in to rival's houses and slaughtering each family member. He laughed at the Enrico Riccobene suicide, which was an actual tragedy. Pungitore is no good though.

i read that vic and gas had plans to kill the entire jersey faction on their family because the "boss" of the jersey faction was not kicking enough up. it was to my understanding taht they tried to summon like 30 guys from jersey all at once to slaughter them. tacetta supposedly ordered them not to go. let me think where i got this from. if im remembering incorrectly i will be the first to admit. but of course just because i read that somewhere and took it to be true doesn't mean that it is....ya know lots of bullshit written.

Phat, I watched the National Geographic program "Manhattan Mob Rampage" in which Tommy Ricciardi relates the "whack jersey" story. He makes seem as if he was in charge and made the decision.

If I recall, Selwyn Raab relates some of this in 5 Families, and suggests that it was Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo who made the decision not to go to the meeting. I thought that Tumac was in Florida at this time, and appointed Taccetta (his protege) as boss of the Jersey faction.

I am just not sure, who was calling the shots at the time. IMO, it was either Taccetta or Accetturo.

As far as mob work goes then DeMeo was about as nasty as they come - he also had a feared crew working for him.
Yes its true he would never have risen any higher in La Cosa Nostra but neither would Gotti if it hadnt been for Mr Dellacroce.
Gotti was afraid of DeMeo.

AS for someone mentioning the Gemini Twins going to jail at a young age, they were only in their early 30's I think!
Henry Borelli was only a handful of years older.

I just wish someone would speak up about what happened to Dracula (Joe Guglielmo).
He was last seen in 1983, Albert DeMeo claimed he dropped him at the airport and never heard from him again.
Either he dissappeared to some backwater village out west or he returned to NYC where the Gemini Twins caught up with him!

From what I've read Taccetta and Accetturo had a major falling out, Taccetta was Aceetturo's protege but started losing power and influence to Accetturo Jr. Amuso and Casso went after Accetturo because he wasn't kicking up enough money to them, Accetturo had a relationship with Tony Ducks similar to the one Harry the Hunchback had with Angelo Bruno. Tommy Riccardi and Accetturo didn't become rats until they lost a case that was going to send them away for decades, which is often over looked.

I've not read all the posts so im not sure if this ones been mentioned but i would say the complete stranger that albert anastasia had killed for ratting on someone he didn't even know.

Totally agree that the assassination of Frank Piccolo was one of the worst decisions Paul made...

In he words of the dearest departed Rodney King, "Can't We All Just Get Along?" I think in the recent years, we've learned that every murder is a HUGE liability. Rats, wiretaps, forensics…. In my opinion it's much easier to just put a guy "on a shelf". I think the only reason to push a button should be because you caught him with a wire. In that instance it's just a matter of self preservation and preservacione della borgata.

Angelo Bruno

Danny Greene had to be killed. He was taking over rackets and moving in on Cleveland family territory. The mistake was taking so many attempts to kill him. Also ordering Ray Ferritto to be killed (prompting him to flip) was a bad decision.

I seriously doubt that Pitera was offered a deal.He got convicted of multiple murders so I doubt they'd have let a madman like that ever go free. Probably do like with Casso and let him rat then lock him up for life anyways.


As for Demeo, he was a sociopath. He would have ratted given the chance imo. Guys like that, tough or not, always look out for themselves only. From what i've heard they killed him because he was looking at well over 100 years on auto theft alone and he had brought a ton of heat on the Gambino Family with all those missing bodies.

One of the Gemini twins(sorry but cant remember which) is at the a medium security prison where Persico is. Medium security isn't all that bad. It's still prison, but you can make some friends and watch tv and all that. The ones who got it bad are Casso and Vinny Gorgeous who are in ADX Florence forever. That place is hell.

It would have been a worse decision to give him a pass. He might have been old school, a rising star in the family and wouldn't have flipped, but the mistake he made was too big and too public to ever be allowed to slide.

The thing to remember is just how precarious things were for the leadership faction. They'd just opened a civil war in the family and there was no way that they could have let Sonny live. Too many questions would have been asked about their judgement and possibly their loyalty. I don't think he would have had a chance without all the faction fighting but with it he had even less.

Got it. It took a year (wow), but here you go.

Colombo soldier Ralph Scopo on Roy Demeo: " Being that he got picked up, they figure maybe this guy will rat. That's bullshit. But not to take the chance they went and killed him."

In chicago, Tony Accardo tried to kill Al Pilotto because he was afraid Pilotto might rat. Accardo had to kill off all the conspirators to make it look like he was still on Pilotto's side. In the end, Pilotto stood up and took his sentence, but not before half the Southside was wiped out, the hitman turned states evidence, and the Calabreses beat one of them to death. It's just shoddy work as far as Chicago goes.

All USPs are kinda like ADX in one way or another though. Somebody asked, but Pitera is locked up at USP Allenwood.

for me the biggest mistake was to kill DeMeo, that made a lot of money with the drug in addition to car theft, as long as the Big Paul accepted the agreed percentage of the drug trade (formally banned), until he had fear and ordered the murder of Roy; pun another mistake was the murder of Anthony Spilotro, he was an old school man, and would not flip.

A lot of people would disagree, he was very loose and out of control by 1983. Also many believed he would of flipped.

i think that the mobs worst decision to whack a guy was the Genovese assassionaiot attempt on Costello's life...after that everything went down.A mobsters worst idea in other cases such as Castellano/Demeo or Aiuppa/Spilotro is "why take a chance"...and thats it,your gone

I don't think Tony Spilotro would have sold anyone out.

tommy shots whacking wild bill

Scarfo wacking Testa was the worst one I can think of. Testa was a straight up Soldato.

Persico ordering Aronwald's murder was really stupid. Touching law enforcement only makes the antimafia angry.

Leo Moceri and Danny Greene Cleveland Bombing Wars.

Greene or Nardi gave Ritson the green light to eliminate Leo Moceri. I think Hans Graewe was riding shotgun.
Killing Moceri forced Licavoli to get off his complacent azz and go to war.
The Cleveland Mafia flexed their muscle and won the battle with Nardi/Greene.
But going to war vs Nardi/Greene led Licavoli to make some aging and certinally not young guys like Calandra and Lib.
the 2nd part was the decision to whack Danny Greene.
After Nardi got it, he was a non factor. They really feared Nardi.
Greene was gonna move to Texas any how.
They should have let Greene go on his way.
But Ferritto and Cisternino messed up equally in the murder of Greene.
the getaway and Joe Blow car were registered sequentially.
Ferritto forgot to destroy important paperwork.
Ferritto flipped and the rest is history. House of cards came tumbling down with some assistance by Jimmy Frattiano.

Great thread.I think whoever said Bruno was a great answer.I really cant believe noone has said Bugsy Siegal.I mean the man found Vegas and the bosses killed him thinking he had made a huge mistake.He was young.No telling what else he would have accomplished

Bugsy didn't found LV - http://gaming.unlv.edu/papers/cgr_op02_gragg.pdf

Well it never happened but the threat of Dutch Schultz killing Thomas Dewey cost him his life..That dude was just crazy. Him killing Dewey could of brought them all down...That was a good call on their part

\
I believe Senter is at Allenwood Pa and Testa in North Carolina which I think is medium security