https://www.nytimes.com/1986/10/03/...of-mafia-boss-an-informer-testifies.htmlPERSICO OPPOSED 1979 SLAYING OF MAFIA BOSS, AN INFORMER TESTIFIES
By Arnold H. Lubasch
Oct. 3, 1986
An informer testified yesterday that Carmine Persico told him that he had voted against killing Carmine Galante, a Mafia boss who was shot to death in 1979.
The informer, Fred DeChristopher, was an insurance salesman married to Mr. Persico's cousin. He testified in Manhattan at the Federal racketeering trial of Mr. Persico and seven others charged with taking part in a ruling Mafia commission.
Mr. DeChristopher quoted Mr. Persico as saying that he had shared a prison cell with Mr. Galante and that ''he was a friend and the top man in the Bonanno family.''
''And quite frankly, I voted against him getting hurt,'' the witness quoted Mr. Persico as telling him. Testimony on Galante Killing
But Mr. DeChristopher said his brother-in-law, Andrew Russo, identified as a member of the Colombo organized-crime family, clapped his hands and displayed ''a big smile'' on learning that Mr. Galante had been killed.
