Mafia psychopaths

In addition to the latest topics like smartest mobster, dumbest, etc. I would like to add a new one: Mafia psychopaths.

With psychopath I don't mean "he killed someone so yeah he's a psychopath"...

What I mean is this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopathy

People kill eachother all the time, but only a small percentage would really classify as a true psychopath.

The most visible symptons are the inability to feel shame or guilt, poor social skills, but especially for psychopaths in the mafia the most common one is they usually have the habit of fucking things up very badly...

Here's a list of mobsters I'm pretty sure they could indeed be classified as psychopaths:

Albert Anastasia
Carmine Galante (was apparantly diagnosed as a psychopath)
"Mad" Sam DeStefano
Anthony Spilotro
Tommy DeSimone

Possible psychopaths:

Roy DeMeo
Jimmy Burke
Nicky Scarfo
Sammy Gravano
Anthony Casso
Vito Genovese
Toto Riina

Add Tommy Pitera to that list

franzeese sr.

I am surprised no one from the Demeo crew is on that list.

In Murder Machine, I think it is believed and quoted that the FBI believed that 3 to 4 of them would qualify as serial murders.

Dellacroce

Scarpa

I totally forgot Roy DeMeo, I will add him to the list of possible psychopaths.

Mafia associates Lepke Buchalter, Abe Reles and the rest of Murder Inc.

Joel Cacace. Murdering your own hitmen as precaution, in the vein of Jimmy Burke. Who should also be added to the list. Gerry Pappa seems to have been born a regular guy, who went crazy after the death of Jimmy Emma. I would assume William Daddano Sr. as well.

Really? He was such a sweetheart.

You're right about Burke, that's another presumed psychopath. Added.

Frank Calbrese, Sr fits the bill.

I think a lot of these guys weren't hugged enough as children. Probably didn't get enough titty milk either.

how could u add roy to a possiable pshycopath list? he was a true pschyco

I'm not sure about him really being a psychopath. He killed a lot of people, but that doesn't necessarily have to make you a psychopath. Most of the murders he commited were ordered I believe.

Another example is Toto Riina. He probably ordered more murders than anyone else in the history of the mafia. But this guy was a master in shaping alliances with others which suggest he knew how to deal with people, something most psychopaths have trouble with.

It's likely these guys were psychopaths, but I'm not convinced.

Eh. When DeMeo ordered a hit, he really meant "back me up when I kill him". Riina is a sociopath if you ask me. Complete disregard for the lives of others, cares more about getting ahead than avenging minor insults. Reason I suggested William Daddano Sr is only because he's constantly likened to a made Mad Sam, even if there isn't much information on his personalit. Still, it's a suggestion I'm not even sure about.

alot of his hits were unsanctioned. including women, innocent vaccum salesman, people that punched him in the eye, other made men.....perhaps you and i have a dif idea of pshyco paths.

[b]Albert Anastasia
Carmine Galante (was apparantly diagnosed as a psychopath)
"Mad" Sam DeStefano
Anthony Spilotro
Tommy DeSimone

how ever i agree 100% that all these men on this list were true blues.

It's debatable how much murders he and his crew commited. Some sources estimated the number to reach 200, but only about 40 or so are documented. And I believe most of those murders were ordered by others.

But again, a killer isn't necessarily a psychopath and a psychopath isn't necessarily a killer.



That's exactly the same thing. The definition of a psychopath is that it's genetical and you're born as one. A man like Toto Riina grew up in very difficult circumstances and became involved in the mafia at a very early age. So growing up while witnessing cruel things like murder, torture, etc can do crazy things to you're mind. Eventually, you can get used to such an environment. So that's why I'm not convinced that he really is a psychopath. But like I said, it's likely.

Many wiseguys have very big ego's. So I think killing someone who punched you in the eye isn't that unusual in the mafia.

But I agree on the other things. I don't know that much about Roy DeMeo (haven't read murder machine) so that's why I can't be sure yet.

i understand. i def respect your decision to state your opinion. i would highly suggest reading murder machine tho. imo one of the best.

+1

I highly recommend Murder Machine. Great book.

Another possible psychopath: Joe Massino.

You really need the disability to feel no shame or guilt to rat on everyone you know.. And didn't he order the murder of Gerlando Sciascia because Massino thought he was questioning his authority?

Well according to Massino, Sciascia was murdered for murdering somebody himself. He is said to have questioned Massino's leadership abilities and supposedly bitched about TG's cocaine problem as well. I'm guessing all of it played a factor in his murder.

But I have to agree with you about the rat thing. There has to be something really fucked up with your mind if you're willing to rat on the people you grew up with.

Tony Mirra
The only person he was ever nice too was his Momma

Pino Greco and Filippo Marchese who ran the “room of death” in Palermo. Marchese snorted cocaine while watching his victims being tortured and Greco cut of the arm of a 15-year-old boy before killing him so he “couldn’t use this arm to avenge his father murdered on Totò Riina’s orders”.

Ok in that case, I'm gonna mention Randy Pizzolo, who shamelessly ripped off his own mother.

Tony Mirra
Tommy Pitera
Roy Demeo
Tommy Desimone

Nuff Said

I thought I was stating ones that have not been mentioned but I was wrong, the obvious ones are:

Gaspipe
Tony Spilatro
Mad Sam
Jimmy Burke
Carmine galante

Its funny, I sit here and try to think of someone from the Genovese family and I cannot. Probably why they remain a power, no maniacs that draw heat.

The closest one would be Vito Genovese. Didn't he kill a man so he could get his wife?

Yes.
He wanted the wife so he simply had the husband clipped and then married her a fortnight later.
I think Frank Costello told Vito exactly what he thought about it too (It would draw the attention of the cops)

Yes, Vito Genovese is probably on the list too. He did kill a man to get the woman who would become his wife.

I say probably because when his wife double crossed him when he went to jail, he did not have her killed. A true psychopath would have killed her.

The Genovese idiots from Springfield that killed Bruno may qualify. IMO, the Genovese's have had more strategists and tacticians than all the other families combined. They have had some wily and cunning SOB's.

How about the Irish-American Eddie Cumminskey?
He was a loon and reputedly is the one who schooled Jimmy Coonan in dismemberment?
(Coonan did NOT learn that trick from Roy DeMeo as you may think)

Another possible psychopath who I forgot to mention:

James "Whitey" Bulger

The Mafia doesn't want psychopaths. It needs people who are loyal, dependable, and trustworthy, and they test candidates rigorously to verify that they are "stand-up guys". But the Mafia recruits exclusively from the criminal population, so obviously a lot of psychopaths will slip past the screening process, more so than what you'd see in a legitimate corporation. The psychopaths who make it in are liable to get whacked because they are the ones skimming money, neglecting appointments, or disrespecting their colleagues.

Well said. A member of the Mafia who´s killing for the Mafia should not automatically be categorized as a psychopath. Murder is (and has always been) a necessity to maintain rules and laws within the Mafia. It doesn´t take a psychopath to pull a trigger. I´m sure most of these guys have issues of many kinds but to categorize all of them (including the killers) as psychopaths is to simplify a human´s complexed nature.

I agree. The Mafia does not want psychopaths. Generally the Mafia is looking for stand up guys who can contribute to the organization´s wellbeing.

With that being said, I´d like to welcome you aboard, Bifford.

Harry "Pittsburgh Phil" Strauss

Definitely. Psychopath. Sociopath. Liar. disgusting man.

Another "Psychopath" was Mad Sam Destefano from Chicago, he had built a soundproof torture chamber in his basement

Not only that, when his wife pissed him off once didn't he kidnap a black man and forced him to have sex with his wife while he watched. And If memory serves me correct didn't he also serve coffe with urine in it to FBI agents? That is one sick dude!

I watched the mobsters episode on him and he even raped a woman in a bar after they got into an argument. Definately a sadist.

This guy apparantly forced his woman to piss in a cup of coffee that was meant for visiting FBI agents.

He should have been taken out the William action Jackson way.

Mad Sam even tortured one of his own men when he found out the guy had been witholding some money from him.
He had him tied naked to a radiator and turned the heating right up.
Finally, the victims family were brought in to urinate on him to "cool him down"

Sam was one evil dude!

If a killing is done because someone runs over your child and kills them and then runs away and tries to hide, then kill the motherfucker.

If a person would rape your sister, I say stick a butcher knife up the guys anus and rip out his intestines.

If a guy was going around the neighborhood terrorizing innocent people, and doing bad stuff to them, Hunt him down and put a bullet in his head. No questions asked.

Does that make me a psychopath?

No, that just makes you a very protective person

Destefano was just pure evil

The Westies in general were pretty psychotic. They even kept dismembered limbs as trophies. Here's a story about Cummiskey, after he dismembered a former gang member :

''The following day, Coonan and Cummiskey went out for a drink with Billie Beattie at the Sunbrite Bar. Allegedly, they brought the head of Dugan with them, set it down on the bar stool, ordered his favorite whiskey, lit one of his cigarettes and put it in his mouth. They are reputed to have said that "Although he fucked up, he was still a good Irishman".''

Sam must of been a Prick Expert from all dicks he saw

I would do the same if I really loved the women and knew she felt the same way.

He definitely had some sort of sexual deviancy issues. He was even convicted of a rape when he was 18.

ahhh amore...Vito had a style!

Richard Kuklinski, Giovanni Brusca and Leonardo Vitale.

They're all fucking pyschotic. Plus, They're also all cowards; stick a .38 long nose up one of their asses & see how brave he is?

It's easy to be tuff when you outnumber & outgun your opponent, ask any cop.

they are not all psychotic

Scarpa and Bulger were worst. Scarpa gave up everyone for years, and justified it by calling self some sort of secret agent, according to his son. Bulger still seems totally unrepentant, and like Scarpa he gave up many friends, and it seem she was good at lying to agent handling him, by giving made up info on Boston Mafia.

Giovanni Brusca

Giuseppe Greco

Abraham “Kid Twist” Reles