Al D’arco

3/4 of the way through his book.

Am I the only one that gets the picture that this guy was a complete brokester until he made capo? He more or less admits it.

Really good book and the way capeci gives us multiple views on the same situation is great even when Al is made to look bad (when he’s bullying people in prison etc). Als mob memory is amazing too. The level of detail you get is so good.

Flipped pretty quick though, should’ve rolled the dice and moved to Arizona or somewhere without flipping! Especially considering how he was so against informants.

Finally how stupid did that Michael pappadio seem? He was told multiple times he would be killed and wouldn’t give it up. His older brother was killed for the same reason more or less by the same family. Michael basically committed suicide.

Yeah I got the same sense when I read his book

but little al knew casso had fbi agents and cops on his payroll. its how al got the info about the luchese soldier in LA. casso gave him the parole office address for the guy. casso got it from the mafia cops his crystal ball he called it. think they even found out casso tracked down pete savino the main witness in the windows case. they had him in hawaii, casso found out that guy from the bypass gand was coooperating with the feds they killed him quick. that saved them from indictments. amuso and casso were getting alot from the bypass gang thiunk they formed it

great book. little al was pocketing more then he should have when he got bumped up to acting boss. i bet his restaurant was bleeding his pockets. yaeh when he took over the vario crew he hit the lotto had alot of earners in it. probaly guys way more qualified to be capo, but al could be controled

He definitely hit the lotto with the vario crew compared to what he was on.

Agreed, he was put there for loyalty only, as he weren’t an earner, weren’t a leader, and wasn’t a tough guy from reading the book..

And even though he knew cassO had the crystal ball, given all the bs he mentions about ratting earlier in his career, the fact he’s a supposed student of the life, and the murders he had conspired on, he ratted very quickly without even attempting to hit the road.

exactly.. his own son knocked off the guy in LA so he knew how far amuso and casso's reach was.. if they could get you across the entire country there's not many places for you to go. never knew they found where pete savino was though, that's wild.

they even had a union guy rightly pegged as a rat. or i think he wasnt at first but then he started talking to like state investgators they killed the guy weeks later. think he testified in front a grand jury. but from all my reading there was guys like mike salerno, bruno facciolo, and a few others who were labeled rats and killed for reasons they didnt want the family to know. bruno was killed cause he was shaking down a friend of mafia cop louie eppolito. when he was asked to stop he didnt listen. the cop told casso hes a rat. salerno was a threat and or not kicking up evrything he was making. something about illegal dumping. he was making a killing and wasnt sharing

So are most of the hits done by Casso legitimate ?

Did he find out through PD that these guys were rats along with not doing what they were told ?

the guy mike salerno was a capo. how else could they kinda justify to the other capos will killed him cause he wasnt sharing all his rackets or he was to strong. they would look weak so fuck it label him a rat and kill him. thats 1 guy who should have just been demoted but amuso and casso knew they were probaly going to prison for awhile over the window indictment. like galante tried to take over the family whe rustelli went to jail for 7yrs

Asked for details about Italian syndicates D'Arco gave the names of 26 different mafia factions in Sicily. He then listed the cities and neigborhoods where their American representatives could be found.He also identified to the DIA two dozen American mobsters who had originated in Italy.

D’Arco was that knowledgeable about the Sicilian mafia? I know they had some crews in America at the time but I didn’t know he was deeply involved with them.

great book. he liked to toot his own horn alittle but solid read. a glimpse into the luchese family from the 70tys to vic n casso ran it into the ground

He learned the Calabrese dialect as a kid that would have helped.

I don’t remember him actually giving all 26 names and locations in the book just that he knew of them. I would love to see a list if there was one.

Listened to the audio book a while back. Very interesting, especially the beginning. Sad toward the end. His kid was a junkie, his daughter in law died young from drugs I think. I wonder if that played a role in him flipping. Just wanted out. But I really liked when he talked about the old guys in Brooklyn when he was coming up.

I agree. His stories about Little Davie Petillo were great as well.

Only in the life do big earners have to take orders from brokesters like Al.

It's a good book that Vario crew should have been Bruno Facciola's.I had also read somewhere they did (casso and Amuso) know where Pete Savino was hiding

Yes the mafia cops the 2 dirty detectives told casso savino was in Hawaii he passed it on to benny eggs but the westside didnt want to do it. Amuso was putting any guys that could takeover in a capo position. If you notice i think all amuso and casso pivked fir capos was basically guys they made or were close to. Bruno was made back in the 50tys way before them but was close in age. He was killed because louie eppolito said he was a rat. The feds came out in the trial and basically said bruno was shaking down eppolitos friends so he told casso brunos a rat and he got killed

Good book !!

I just found out one of those "Mafia cops" was Fat Andy in Goodfellas. Eppolito was it? I guess the writing was on the wall even then because I'm sure all kinds of Lucchese people played extras in Goodfellas.

For real lmao. Nobody knew or paid close attention to them after the turn of the century

Those mafia cops were evil. Guy got killed for no reason

He died in 2019 I don't think he was a brokester he made money had a great restaurant in Little Italy.

I believe The Chin tried to push for the lucchese's to kill Savino in Hawaii but they were pissed at Gigante and passed it up.I had not heard that Facciolo was shaking down Eppilito's friend and he then told that he was a rat.That makes sense.The way they killed him was brutal.those 2 cops got off too easy some people should have to suffer in life and those two should have been killed

That’s a good point. Certain Calabrese dialects are Sicilian. I don’t recall if he spoke about the zips in his book though.

Yaeh i cant remeber were i read it either capeci or one of the papers the feds said eppolitos friend was being shaken down by bruno and the cop asked casso to tell gim stop and he did but a year or 2 later bruno was shaking the guy down so epolitto told burt kaplan brunos a rat so casso had no choice. Surposely amusos the guy who wanted the bird in his mouth he also wanted them to kill a bruno friend who was gay and put a dildo in him im not making that up either

I never understood the sexual stuff, why would they put stuff in him. That’s like being as strange as they thought he was.

Why did they give a shit if a guy fucked guys, dogs, dolls or anything...I find it strange to want to know or have an opinion on any of that and then preform a weird act on him.

I dont want to know anything about anyone’s sex issues.

That's true. They passed on it because they warned him about Savino. Chin's one big mistake as boss.

1 big mistake that ended his career. Never understood why he didn’t believe it. The Guy was an associate, what was the hesitation to hit him about. For such a shrewd ruthless throw drug dealer brothers off roofs type of guy Why did he not hit the guy?!

In a sit down with the bonnanos they told the chin et al that one of their proposed associates was a rat and they immediately whacked the guy. So it wasn’t like he weren’t open to listening..

Maybe the windows money blinded him. But then again he wasn’t a greedy boss.. who knows eh

From what I understand he was just genuinely fond of the guy, and that was a rarity for him considering he kept everyone at arm's length save for a few of the older Village and Downtown guys. He refused to believe it and he died in prison because of it. Huge mistake, and a fucking head scratcher for anyone remotely interested in this shit lol.

Thanks Pizza for the insight. Fascinating stuff.

After Pappa was killed Chin personally took him under his wing, a strange move for a boss to begin with. He then tested his loyalty few times and and probably decided he was to be trusted. Savino was also a charmer and had an enjoyable personality.

Mangano was even telling the Chin.He took Savino in a basement and put a pistol in his mouth.That Savino must have had a silver tongue man but he convinced them in that basement he was strait somehow

It’s a very big head scratcher. I’m not that knowledgeable on the situation but for a boss to be so close with an associate just does not seem very old school. The boss was supposed to isolate himself from everybody outside of his top administration. There is definitely more that I don’t know.

Also have you had the wiretap between mangano and saviino where savino says Vincent and managano is like what the hell are you doing don’t say that guys name. Savino was brazen!

You know Pizza,we haven't had a lot of conversation over the years but like the others I find your post very informative and I pay attention to your words.It seems in another thread years ago you had said that Gigante was just about at the point to strike Casso and Amuso.And Al D'arco inflated himself a bit.Hopefully,I remember somewhat correctly.I wish history would have been different.Amuso,Casso and the Mafia cops should have been slaughtered in my opinion

Allen Darco said on TV “do not let casso become a made man because he is too crazy” then vic amuso made him anyways

OMG PIZZA YOUR POSTS ARE AMAZING!!!!!!

I think Furnari made Casso, not Amuso. They were both moving up the ranks at the same time weren’t they? And Idk how much I believe that statement. Casso clearly became crazy with his power because after a while he was just killing everybody. But at the point he was being made, what was it that signaled him being more crazy than almost anyone else in that life at the time? And he was a big earner especially with his stake in Marat Balagula.

Pizza’s posts have always been great ever since I’ve been here. I never heard about Gigante wanting to take out Casso and Amuso but would not doubt it. Would’ve been tough since they were always on the lam. If I could think of a motive for Gigante it would be because they were facing so much time for killing anybody and everybody so he was afraid they’d talk or one of their paranoid confidants would(See D’Arco). Casso might not have appeared to be that smart but I think he would’ve been ready for war if it came to that. I agree with your last sentence though memphis. Same goes for many others.

They didn't put a dildo in him, but he was shot in the dick. The guy was flounderhead Visconti, Amuso had him killed for doing gay stuff in prison. The Facciolo killing was brutal, you can see from his remains the man died in absolute terror, I believe Lou bagels Daidone did the killing. D'Arco book was good, but " The Brotherhoods" was better.

I found Casso's book to be a great read, despite Carlo's amateur writing ability and Casso's deranged take on things. The Amuso/Casso reign wasn't very long but it was full of action and makes a great read. You had the attempted hit on Casso, and his get back, the mafia cops, beef with Jersey crew, killing DeCicco thinking it was Gotti by a bomb made by a guy with barely any info on (Herbert Pate), those two going on the run, guys getting whacked across the country, the list goes on.

Facciola murder is discussed at around 33 min mark. His body in a trunk is later shown.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x108cdc
Diadone was in his crew yes? Brutal.

It was a great book. I wish someone would write even more on Casso if that’s possible.

casso's daughter is married to a genovese soldier who is actice so will probaly never be hearing from him again. surposely casso regrets his decision to flip and how can he not, look at all cassos killers and bascially all the luchese guys who were charged in the mid 90tys conte, lastorino, bowatt, the guy who boss today desantis and like a dozen others all took big plea deals some 15+ some almost 25 even the guy who shotgunned the 2 innocent garbage guys on long island frank pearl there all free today. casso says he was offerd 26yrs or 24 before he flipped in 93 94 he would have been out atleast 5 yrs ago maybe more....

heres a good hypothetical. if casso didnt flip.... who he be the acting boss today? he had the power i think he could have worked out whatever difference he had with amuso well being in jail( side note theres some guy outside my apartment puking everywhere should i help idk pass but im registerd to votte today. fuck it im going full crazy bernie im pushing 40ty so gotta go politco) yaeh amsuo guy is boss today desantis. i also dont think crea sr should have been found guilty of the meldish murder and i think theres gonna be a apeeal even the judge might say it

3 vodka and sodas in ...

go celtics

Living the good life!

Yeah, I wish the book had a more esteemed author, no disrespect to Carlo, the guy was going through a horrible disease. Casso's story is so freaking interesting he has enough of a story to write another book. His years on the street were action packed, all that stuff I mentioned, and that's not all of it. He was also one of leaders of the Bypass gang who were making huge scores from sophisticated robberies. All the treacherous shit he did, like having Patty Testa killed.

@Pmac if Casso didn't flip I believe one of his Brooklyn guys would be running the show today. He was close with Frank Lastorino, George Conte, George Zappola, Frank Papagni, and Mike DeSantis. They were all serious gangsters who did a lot of heavy lifting for Casso. They were all standup guys in that life and took a ton of time. I've said it a few times on this forum; they are some lucky dudes all things considered. They were involved in all types of crimes, including numerous murders, which could've easily put them away for life, but they pled out and got to go home. Hell, even Frankie Federico has been out of prison for a few years, and he was a shooter in a brutal double murder of two freaking civilians and went on the run for a decade. Casso himself might've been out today if he didn't flip and screw around with the Government instead of taking a plea deal like the other guys mentioned.