Vinny Jr and Dom Cicale got into a fight with Nick Cirillo (he was high on crack during it) while Vinny Jr (Vinny Sr was boss and on the street) was up for induction into the Bonannos at the time. Cirillo went missing two weeks after.
People thought it was the Bonannos who whacked him initially, but then reports and wiretapped convos between Massino and Basciano Sr in prison confirmed the Genovese took out Cirillo Jr themselves, and the Genovese apologized to Basciano Sr for the incident according to the wiretaps.
Nicholas Cirillo's fate came up in a candid conversation between ex-Bonanno boss Joseph Massino and acting boss Vincent (Vinny Gorgeous) Basciano secretly recorded for the feds by Massino.
"That came from Dom, that came from Dom," Basciano told Massino in the January 2005 talk when asked who did in the mobster's son.
Massino, the highest ranking Mafia rat ever to testify in a New York courtroom was asked by prosecutor Taryn Merkl to explain what Basciano meant.
"I understand that he's telling me Quiet Dom killed his son," Massino testified in Brooklyn Federal Court.
Authorities have long suspected Nicholas Cirillo was whacked after an altercation in the Bronx with Basciano's son, Vincent Jr., and Bonanno captain Dominick Cicale.
Two weeks after the clash Nicholas Cirillo, then 41, vanished on Mother's Day 2004. His body has never been found.
Investigators have previously theorized that the elder Cirillo, who was estranged from his son, approved the murder because assaulting a made member of the Mafia carries the penalty of death. Cicale was already a wiseguy and Basciano's son was up for induction into the mob at the time.
Massino gestured with his hand like a gun when he asked Basciano: "Do we have anything to do with that [Nicholas Cirillo's murder]?"
"Absolutely not. C'mon," Basciano shot back.
Basciano told Massino he met with Dominick Cirillo about the beef and the Genovese family "came back and apologized to me."
http://www.fivefamiliesnyc.com/2011/04/tape-in-vinny-gorgeous-trial-reveals.html
