Do anyone know when Joe Yacovelli was made? He was consigliere of the Colombo's from 1963-1972. He was born in 1929, and was pretty young to be consigliere. He also became Acting boss after the shooting of Joe Colombo and i believe was a main suspect in ordering Joe Gallo's murder.

Was he ever a Capo? Would like more info. Thanks!

Yes he was a capo before being made consigliere.He was made sometime in the 50s probably.He could have not been a consigliere without being made.He was a little italy guy i think,and yes he had his hand in killing Joe Gallo.Gallo was killed by a guy named Joseph Luparelli,he was Yacs chofeur or bodyguard or both.There a lot about him in The Scarpa fbi files

I recall reading where joe had given the ok to kill joey gallo,someone had called him from umbertos. probably ["matty the horse" illiano] and yacovelli okayed the killing. I believe I read it in the book "joey" by Donald goddard.

Do you know the specific year he became a capo? In the late 50's or early 60's? And why was he appointed as consigliere so young? I'm sure there were a couple old timers back then who could have claimed that position.

Think when colombo took over in 63 64 he broke all profacis and Joe mals capos and started over. Made scarpa do a count of every guy in the family. Colombo was young boss to born in 24. Scarpa files detail almost everything that happens in that family oonce Joe tookover. And the to were friends.

Profaci made Greg a capo rite before he died but when Colombo broke them scarpa never rose above soldier again.

Thats right,Joe broke all of the former old timer Profaci captains and went with the new guys.He liked Joe Yac a lot.

He had scarpa do numbers check,and there was 108 colombo familly soldiers.Colombo crated 10 crews suposedly,with 10 soldiers in each something like that.He put some guys directly under him so he could control them.
I dont know when Yac was made a capo,but if i had to guees i would say around 1963 or so.Whenever Joe Colombo got to power.Colombo was actually not a bad familly boss in his day,The italian league got his mind f..... up.
Also Carmine Persico was made a capo in 63 or 64,and he was even younger than Yac.

He was a very competent mobster. And he really hated Joey Gallo. During the second Colombo war, Yacovelli staked out and killed Ali Waffa, Joey's bodyguard, all the way in Hoboken New Jersey. He is still listed as a soldier during the Valachi hearings and I believe the Waffa murder happened while still a soldier. He was bumped up pretty quickly, and then again to Consigliere at the urging of Carlo Gambino. All I can say is he got the job done with Gallo.

I had some notes on Yacovelli on my old comp. I swear his name came up after he retired to Florida when some idiot tried to use his name to collect a debt. I can look in to that.

Also talking about Carlo Gambino,his godson was Vinny Aloi.He was a very succsefull mafioso himself,born 1933.His brother Benny born 1935 got indicted on the famous windowns case.
Am listing those two because like Yac the were young guys bumped up by Joe Colombo.

Alex is right. Yacovelli was made in the 1950s and at some point (around 1963/1964) was a member of Joe Colombo´s crew. After Colombo was made boss, Yacovelli was probably under John Misuraca who had previously been underboss to Magliocco but demoted by Colombo to captain. In 1965, John Misuraca was again demoted, this time to soldier and Yacovelli took over his crew. When consigliere Benedetto D´Allesandro stepped down in 1969, Yacovelli was made the new consigliere. He was 41 at the time.

Interesting spelling of his last name, Yacovelli. I´m sure though that back in Italy, his last name was originally spelled Iacovelli.

He was extremely well liked, not only by the members of the Colombo Family but also by top guys in other NY Families. Carlo Gambino being one of them. I believe Yacovelli was around during planning of the Anastasia hit and his willingness to do the "work" may have contributed to Gambino liking him. He was also close to Gigante and Dom Alongi. In the 1950s, it looks like Yacovelli was a partner in a car theft ring headed by Alongi.

I think he stands in a league above many other mobsters. good point about colombo being underrated too (purely in terms of competence) because he had a knack for structure while most bosses tend to just sit back and collect money. Even profaci didnt give a fuck who was capo, who wasnt. he just shot his way through opposition rather mindlessly and it dearly cost him during the gallo wars. Colombo on the other hand shrewedly maneuevered plays throughout the family by rearranging its structure and even bumping up some old phased out guys (believe some of them were gallos, harry would know). Unfortunate joey was just a bit of a bastard and would stir up conflict regardless. Look at it this way, the guy inherits a family by ratting on another mob boss (from capo no less) that has a history of wars and infighting and manages to keep the peace and gain a level of prominence in the process. He did have commission backing but its still fairly impressive. He definitely thought outside the box in terms of family sructure, rocky miraglia I believe was a capo with no crew because joe knew he could trust him...again my research is off the top of my head so corrections are welcome.

the colombo family in the 60s and the profacis from the 40s on to be honest, thats my favorite era of any five family to study. You can really put a distrinct trait to every single mobster active at the time. There's a reason so much of GF2 was based on the colombos of this era, it makes for a great tale. The 2 gallo wars and the late profacis reign would make a way better book than say, whatever bonanno and garafolo were doing at the time.

Just read that Yacovelli's successor as boss was Joseph Brancato who only stayed 5 months before being jailed for murder. Never heard of him before, I thought the next boss was DiBella.

What murder was Brancato convicted for? Murder convictions for high-ranking mafiosi were quite rare back then.

Good post HK, I was under the impression that Yacovelli was given part of the Jersey crew in the family and that Salvatore Lombardino Jr. took over the rest of the crew as an acting capo to the crew, as a way for Colombo to avoid another war in the family, as the Jersey crew had strong blood relations with the Profaci brothers (Joe, Salvatore, and Vincenzo). John Misuraca was demoted from Underboss to Capo when Colombo took over, but asked Colombo if he could step down from being a capo to soldier as he could not keep driving to NYC once a week for the Colombo family meetings. In 66' Yacovelli became Capo over part of the Jersey crew, in a large part do to how the Gambino's and the Genovese respected him. In 69' seven of the capo's in the family, a majority voted for Yacovelli to become Consigliere. Joe Colombo wanted Yacovelli to become the family's Consiglieri, but remembered how Joe Bonanno had placed his son Salvatore in that position in his own family without taking a vote by his capos. Yes Yacovelli did get the job done with Joey Gallo, but had to flee New York, as it had pissed off the Genovese family, that they were not contacted about the hit taking place at Ianniello's restaurant, on such sort notice, an informant gave his name as the one that ordered the Gallo hit to NYPD, and he feared that he would be connected with the murder of Emanuele Cammarata in Florida. Unsure of the reason behind the Cammarata hit, there is a rumor that Cammarata was planing on returning to New York and was going to support the Gallo's in the Second war.

John Brancato I believe was convicted on the Joey Gallo murder.

Heres a little article,it mentiones Joseph Yac,and Luparelli.Also its a story about Carmine Dibiase.So enjoy and have a happy new year.

http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/give-a-man-a-gun-the-story-of-carmine-dibiase

Thank you. The way I understand it to be is that Misuraca, when demoted by Colombo, took over Salvatore Lombardino Sr´s crew (basically the NJ guys plus Yacovelli who was based in Manhattan). In this same crew was Salvatore Lombardino Jr (the son of Lombardino Sr) who in 1969, when Yacovelli was made consigliere, took over the crew.
Any way, I´m so freaking wasted right now (we´re starting early in Sweden) I can´t seem to think straight right now. Happy New One all!