Anthony Casso amd Frank DeCicco

Strange that Casso helped orchestrate Frank DeCicco's murder. Both Casso and DeCicco were very tight in the 70's. They both did a lot of bank jobs and hiJacking together as a team. They were tight.

Don't mean a thing in that life.

Now I'm the LAST guy to quote a freakin movie. But it's like Pacino said in "Donnie Brasco," You go in alive, you come out dead, and it's your best friend that does it.

Philip Carlo on Casso and De Cicco's relationship.

Casso was a handsome man; striking; cute. He was fastidious in his grooming; meticulous; scrupulous even. He had affairs with many Russian models but Lilian was the only person he ever truly loved. "I fucked a lot of women but they never meant shit to me. Lilian was the only woman I ever cared about." Casso opined. De Cicco was in Casso's firing line. Casso was still fuming over Jimmy Hydell's attempt on his life. Seething; raging even. De Cicco was going to pay for this. De Cicco was not as clever as Casso. Casso made more money and was tougher. Casso ordered the hit. Patsy boss Vic Amuso was in the car with brother Bobby and Herbie Pate. Amuso told Pate to press the switch that would trigger the bomb. Casso lambasted Amuso. Chastised him; harangued him even. "I am the real boss." Casso said to Amuso as Vic cowered in the seat. "Yes boss." Amuso replied, trembling in fear. Casso composed himself and ordered Pate to press the switch. Casso had a square jaw. He was so handsome; virile; balls the size of cantaloupes. He had....

"Gaspipe: Love Letter to a Psychopath," by Philip Carlo .

I know he's dead and all, but that hack should STILL be ashamed of himself for that book.

I think someone had a crush on Gaspipe. Looking at you Phillip Carlo.

That passage sounded fake as could be.

I cannot believe that. No way Amuso said that to Casso, no fuckin way.
Also, " strikingly handsome " ???? C'mon. Never heard anyone comment on Casso's good looks. That guy Carlo must of been half a fag.

It's satire. I was making fun of Carlo's writing style and how much he rides Casso's dick in his book about him.

If you took a shot of whiskey every time Carlo complimented his looks and personality in that book or all the times Carlo justified all of Casso's actions - no matter how crude - you would die of liver failure.

Was very disappointed in this book. Always wished a real writer or journalist had written about it. Although I didn't like Darcos book so who knows

I shouldn't say I didn't like Darcos book but I was hoping for more. I think having two writers on that book hurt it a little

What did D'Arco say about Amuso?

Carlo's book on Casso totally glossed over Amuso as boss and basically called him a submissive idiot; which I find hard to believe seeing as he was the biggest earner in the family, headed a sophisticated heroin trafficking operation, was a bodyguard for Tramunti and Luongo and remained boss twelve years after going to prison.

Casso was very clever and cunning. Make no mistake, he was a huge earner and feared.
That said, he never would had belittled Amuso. Vic was boss and he was respected.

he said he met Vic before he became boss and he was into drugs...once he became boss he said he Vic couldnt look him in the eye and basically was Casso's patsy.

i read this last october so i could be a little off...would have to look again

wasnt a memorable book...another rat boasting is what i took of it

but the difference between al is he wasnt under investigation or arrested, he just knew he would be killed soon

i know everyone says Gotti was terrible but Vic and Gas set them back years...worst bosses ever.

they wanted to kill all of jersey...i dont remember darco bringing that up too much

he talked mostly about his son (junkie) and his restaraunt. a lot is when he was in jail as well.

Yeah the Luchesses would be in a lot better shape than they already are if Vic and Gas weren't in charge. They were complete paranoid psychopaths. Why didn't somebody like Migliore take over after Corallo?

He didn't want an admin position, happy to be a captain. He's always been a HUGE earner and one of the top guys in the family since the 70's, no point in being boss.

Top rated video on Frank "Frankie Cheech" DeCicco

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJmnr9nL9D0

Thanks, nice video. You identified Corozzo as DeCicco a couple of times, fyi.

Really? I am always afraid of that. Its not like these guys pose for a lot of pictures and when you look on the internet, many of the photos are misidentified. Thanks for the heads up.

Corallo chose buddy luongo as his successor but amuso whacked him , after that corallo had little choice but to hand over the reigns to amuso and casso

I was just talking about this and remaking how the book was a sick, strange piece of apologetics for gaspipe. The funny thing is GGBB was generally favorable toward this book.

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=750955&page=1

Now is that really such a surprise?

Is there any information about this Buddy Luongo? I'v never seen much about him. Only that he was picked as Corallo's successor before his death. I believe that he was also only a Captain at the time also.

What do you guys think is more likely?

Vic Amuso couldn't look Al D'Arco in the eye, the inference being that he was somehow intimidated by him.

Vic Amuso wouldn't look Al D'Arco in the eye because he was disgusted by how he kept on botching the hits he was being assigned.

Al and Gaspipe have differing versions of events. Frankly, I am more inclined to believe Al was scared shitless of Casso and Amuso and is lying in his book to give himself more credibility. The man raised a junkie for a son!

An average librarian probably more intimating than Al D'Arco. I didn't read his book but he was called the professor for a reason- ie that he was a joke that appointed boss only because Gas and Vic decided he was too weak to be an actual threat to runaway with the family.

I'm not as knowledgeable about the mafia as some of the people here but Salvatore Avellino strikes me as a guy that could have made a decent boss. Even Bowat. Yay? Nay?

Avellino was probably a little bit too white collar. And too many people hated Bowat, even back then.

Again, I think the issue was that Salvatore Avellino had real credentials. Vic and Gas couldn't just bully him into doing their bidding without question. Because he had stature, he was a threat to take the family from them if given the big seat. On the other hand, Al was made around his fifty birthday for a reason. His chances of developing a spine were zero.

Same really goes for Baratta. Being part of the Bronx faction didn't help either, which was a feature in almost getting crea killed too.

I liken what happened in the Lucheese family under vic to what happens in third world dicatorships. Young talent often has to be taken out because people with actual skills and knowledge are dangerous to the folks in charge. Instead you are left with a ton of Al D'Arcos running around, mediocre middle managers that are too incompetent to ever take power from the great leader.

But his biggest mistake was aligning himself with Brooklyn. That a Harlem guy ended up siding with those maniacs was an embarrassment. And now he's pretty much a man without a country because of it.

Anyone know what crew Baratta's in? Who he's with?

Cheers.

He was a captain, took over Tony "Higgins" Castaldi´s crew around 1981. Born around 1939. A Bronx guy. There was a Michael Luongo (possibly a made guy) who was kidnapped and held for ransom in the late 1960s in much same way as a couple of other mob kidnappings around the time. He survived. I believe this Michael Luongo to have been Buddy´s uncle. PB, being a Bronx guy with life experience and all that ( ) , do you remember the story?

Oh, I forgot to mention. I posted a picture of Luongo in the "rare picture thread" some time ago. View it here:

http://www.gangsterbb.net/threads/ubbthr...true#Post716687

Thanks for the info. Luongo must have been pretty close to Corallo at the time to be a Captain and picked as his successor. I did forget he was pretty much the only choice since the administration were going to prison for life.

Yeah, I was a little kid in the '60s. But I do remember hearing that story from my Dad and my Uncle.

Now Buddy I remember well. And Mike was his uncle for sure.

Maybe this is a stupid question.... but who was Amuso's consiglieri in the 80's and early 90's?

Frank Lastorino.

Oh, big Frank. I just can't see him as a consigliere for some reason. He's younger than Amuso and he looks too much of a muscle guy to have that role. I pictured an older and shorter looking guy with glasses lol.

I love that surveillance pic of Amuso, Casso and Lastorino where Amuso looks like Johnny Sack and Lastorino looks like Furio.

Lastorino was acting consigliere later, in the early 1990s, before being demoted due to his conviction. Before him, Mariano Macaluso served as acting consigliere (for Furnari). He was demoted by Amuso and replaced by Casso. Casso was however soon promoted to underboss. The position of consigliere seems to have been vacant thereafter until Lastorino was given the spot.

On Luongo, it looks like Corallo appointed him the acting boss around 1986. When he was killed, he was buried somewhere and never found. In fact he was never, officially anyway, reported as missing until much later (for some reason). We know now that Amuso/Casso was behind the disappearence of Luongo but we can´t be sure that Corallo knew that in 1986.

Right, Hairy. The way he posed the question was late '80s, early '90s. And the best answer for that time frame was Lastorino because of the vacancy in the post Furnari years .

And let's be honest, with Casso the Consigliere spot was strictly a cosmetic position anyway. He wasn't taking anyone's advice about anything. He didn't want counsel. He wanted "Yes Men."

^^^ I´m just filling in some blanks PB. :-)
And here´s some more. If you take a look at the 1991 chart in the D´Arco book, Steven Crea is listed as a captain/acting consigliere. So apparently, Crea held that spot for a short while, in between Casso and Lastorino.

I know .

I noticed that too, Hairy. And it was widely known back then that Stevie carried a lot of weight here in the Bronx (especially considering that he was still fairly young back then).

But an administration spot? Even an acting administration spot? Under those maniacs?

I'll need a little more convincing to put much stock in that claim (from Capeci and D'Arco, not from you ) .

I thought Eddie Coco served as Consigliere before Casso was put into the position. Coco serve as Consigliere while Anthony Corallo, Salvatore Santoro and Christopher Furnari were on trial in the Commission Case. I think he served in the year 1986-1987 before later stepping down for Casso.

It´s possible I guess that Coco served in the administration on acting basis while the bosses were on trial. But according to a government report I just read, Macaluso was the acting consiglere around 1987 til 1988, when he was demoted. He also served, according to this same report, as the acting underboss during this time. Could be that Coco served in this role, before Macaluso. But I can´t say for sure.

The whole administration was sent away after the Commission Trial. The logical successor would have been the underboss or consigliere, but they also got 100 years each along with Corallo. The new boss had to be a capo.

Ok, everything is coming together. I guess once Furnari was put away in the Commission trial, The order of Consigliere's(Official and Acting) had to be something like this.

1986 — Eddie Coco on an acting basis before retiring that same yr.
1987-1988 - Macaluso before getting pushed out by Amuso.
1988 - Gaspipe Casso?
1989-1993 - Lastorino?

Coco and Macaluso pretty much were pushed out and set into retirement because of their age. They were in their late 70's to maybe early 80's. These two also served under the peaceful reign of Gagliano, Lucchese and Corallo. Can't understand why they would have served under Casso and Amuso who destroyed the family.

That's true.

It happens. These guys get put out to pasture all the time when they're too old to earn. But because of a few anomalies, namely in the Genovese family (QD, Mario, Benny, take your pick), many people buy into the idea that an incontinent 90 year old with Alzheimer's is still gonna be active. It's honestly not very common. Crooks want to enjoy their golden years, too .

No, Lastorino was later, from 1993 til 1994. And according to D´Arco (let not PB see this post...) Steve Crea was acting consigliere in 1990 (for a short time).

Actually, Furnari was still the offical consigliere, the guys mentioned above were only acting consiglieres. From 1991 til 1993, the Family had a ruling panel running the Family, so no consigliere was needed.

Too late, I already saw it .

Damn it!

Nothing gets by you, PB.

Ah, I understand.