Mobsters who hated their nicknames

Now, it's known that "Gaspipe" Casso, "Little Nicky" Scarfo and "Joe Bananas" Bonanno hated their nicknames. Are there any mobsters who hated the nicknames they often got?

And how did Bonanno get his "Joe Bananas" nickname?

'Crazy' Phil Leonetti didn't like his nickname and asked his uncle Nicky Scarfo if he could do something about the radio dj how gave it to him.

Scarfo said: ''Are you, no pun intended, crazy? Guys would kill for such a nickname..''

So Phil left it the way it was and was Crazy Phil ever since.

He told this story on several mob documentaries..

You also have the famous stories about Ben Siegel who would punch people if they called him 'Bugsy' to his face..

From what Dom Cicale said, Vinny Basciano also didn't really like the name 'Gorgeous' and no one uttered it in his presence..

Recently I heard of a guy in the Philly mob who's nickname is 'Snitch', I don't know how he feels about it but I can't imagine he is too fond about it LOL

Majuri couldn't of been happy with his

Charles "Big Ears" Majuri

Whitey Bulger is the first to come to mind

No one ever used the name Vinny Gorgeous in the street. Ever. The media and the Feds hung that name on him because, among a dozen other legit businesses, he owned a beauty parlor over here on Tremont. The name of the place was "Hello, Gorgeous." They saw it, so they ran with it.

You'd be surprised how many of these alleged nicknames are fabrications. No one ever called Angelo Priso "The Horn," either. If you knew him well, you called him Ange. If you didn't know him, you didn't address him as anything. Because you'd never get a response other than a curt smile. Period.

Speaking of nicknames, I like it how they tried to explain Richie "The boot" Boiardo's one: according to one version, it's because he stomped or kicked to death his victims with those boots, while Boiardo himself said it wasn't "boot", but "booth", because his friends always called him to the telephone booth to receive calls from admirers. For some reason I rather believe the first version.

Don't know the story behind The Pollack. I'm sure Neil Dellacroce didn't like being called that.

What about ''Benny Squint'' ''Cockeyed Phil'' Lombardo. Sure you wouldn't utter that in his presence for the lucky few who knew and saw him.

I also read Carmine Persico didn't like to be called "the snake" and preferred "junior". No idea why, "the snake" isn't "rat" or "cockroach", imo it's a cool nickname, poisonous snakes are deadly and anyway it's an animal that represents being cold and sly and being able to dodge dangers or weasel the way out of difficult situations.

Steven "Snitch" Frangipani got that name supposedly for telling on someone to the teacher over an eraser or something random like that back in grade school... I think people mostly call him "Goggs" though, which was derived from goggles because he wears glasses all the time. Like Pizzaboy mentioned, the media often gives These names. For instance, "Handsome Stevie" is Steve Mazzone's nickname, but supposedly isn't called that ever except for in the newspapers, etc. For the most part, people just simply call him "Stevie". They used to call Fat Ange Lutz "Liar Liar" because he was always lying and never told the truth. Another interesting perspective is when the guys say one thing but in reality the name has another meaning such as Nick "The Crow" Caramandi. He would go on to tell people that he got the name "Crow" because he shrewd and wise like a crow when in fact the name was actually given to him because of his dark features (black hair and dark complexion) like a crow. Sort of ironically fitting looking back as he ended up ratting and singing like a bird/crow when he flipped and helped to take down the majority of the Scarfo Mob.

loads of nicknames guys dont like

William Cammisano one time boss of kanas city mafia cant have liked his nickname "willie the rat"


junior gotti hated it when corezzo and those guys called him "baby huey"


joseph "mousie" massimo one time underboss of philly mob cant have like the name mouie

No Willie hated the nickname, if you new him you called him Willie, if your knew him and were under 18 you called him Mr. Cammisano unless he told you different, if you didn't know him you usually didn't speak to him, he had a very intimidating demeanor.

Nobody called Bill Cutolo 'Billy Fingers' in real life, despite the papers using it sometimes.


And speaking of that crew, no one calls Dom Dionisio 'Black Dom', he was always called 'N-word Dom', or just 'Big Dom'. I'm guessing that ended up sanitized for public consumption by wtiters along the way. Back in grade school days where he got the name nobody gave a shit about being PC.

No one called Nicky sr. (little Nicky) to his face . No one called Phil (Crazy Phil) but Lawrence was called Yogi" and we also introduced him to guys close to us as Yogi.

But all the guys that were made and all the guys that hung with made guys did not use nicknames like we did with guys on the street that we grew up with ,I guess thats why Yogi did not mind he had that name when he was young...

Everyone called the Blade the Blade or Nick that is one exception, his son was called penknife" and people would call him that and he would take it but only after his dad was away did this happen.

Then he was made" and he moved to Philly so I dont know what went down there.

But they only hurt "bad people".

That radio DJ was a bad man.

Come on MOE" we all know thats not true ...just like the cops that beat the shit out of people for us for years ...same...all the same ...good people are good people bad people are bad...all in the genes !!!

And the crow looked like a crow ,Big nose dark circles under his eyes(always wore glasses) face shape ....makes you wonder when and who gave him the name cos back in the day there was a cartoon with crows and sure looks like him.

they defo hurt alot of innocent guys esp back in the 80s in philly tommy del used to bully locals or scarfo having joe sodanos father shot that was wrong


biggest examples of the mob killing decent guys are the colombos killing that excop because he was fucking joey cs ex wife and that judges father. Also the lucheses shooting the petes chidors sister or when those two Innocent guys got killed (though they were naivve) the guy who had them whacked was tony ducks driver

the crow did look like a crow defo i remember looking at picture of him and charlie white

i have not seen a picture of him without glasses

And there was that kid working in a bagel shop who was killed in the crossfires during the Colombo war in the 90's...

Pretty sure there was at least one other innocent injured during a shooting during that time period.

Everett Hatcher killed in the line of duty.....

That period during the mid 80's to the mid 90's was very bad for the mob directly and indirectly killing and maiming innocents.

No one dared call Capone "Scarface" if they expected to survive. "Snorky" was what he preferred.

No one ever called mike T " mad dog". Thats bull shit.
No one called gotti " the dapper don". He was called johhny .
The feds create these names as well when doing undercover. Instead of saying joe russo over a radio, they might say " joey jackets" because he is wearing a jacket and the other joe isnt. These nick names are nonsense ( for the most part).
That said, there were a lot of nick names because so many italian hoods back in the day had a thousand petes, joes, vinny', nicks, johns, and joey's. The best way to distinguish was by a certain trait they posesses( johnny black/ jet black hair) or joey " arms" because of his muscles. These were basicqlly street corner names.

Vic Amuso was christened "The Deadly Don" when he was on trial.

I remember there was a contest in Philly Daily News in the mid-90's to give John Stanfa a nickname because he didn't have one yet.

I called him johnny " prison".

My favorite one to laugh at is when you seems Stevie reffered to as Wonderboy LMFAO

john liked being called chief , udietz, when he became boss.

Fucking absurd.

there are plenty of guys who like their monikers, and some that don't i think on the over all it is equal.

Seriously?



I fucking love this guy (PB that is).



Helen always appreciate your posts, you're a credit to this board. Always interested in your contributions. My thanks.

Anyone with the nickname little or fat.

How about Anthony the Ant Spilotro or Paul the Waiter Ricca?

Agree, never fingers, rediculous. It would have been insulting.

Wild Bill was used however.

mostly wild bill,

Except his wife.

If you catch my drift.

Harry "the hunchback" Riccobene

Thank you Sonny, sincerely. I enjoy your posts too