Hello all. While doing my weekly Cosa Nostra readings I came across an article about a one Mr. Salvatore Scarpa, the brother of the rat hitman Gregory "the Grim Reaper" Scarpa. Salvatore was supposedly a made man in the Colombos like his brother and he was whacked in the late 80s during a botched hold up by 3 African Americans and 1 masked man who was most likely a mafioso. This was a definite hit and immediately reminded me of when Roy DeMeo wanted oseph Brocchini killed and did the dead and made it to look like a botched robbery.
So does anyone have any info on Sal and his case? Who killed him? From the limited data I could find besides the original article from the 80s about his murder, the info points to his own brother Greg. Supposedly because Sal had sensed (correctly) that Greg was a rat. How low can Scarpa go if this is indeed true. Thanks in advance.
On Wednesday January 14, 1987 Sal Scarpa’s life violently came to an end.
Four gunmen three of whom were reportedly African American and one with a mask entered the crowded Brooklyn Social Club and ordered everyone to lie face down on the floor. They proceeded to carry out the robbery robbing everyone but Sal. The masked man looked over at the person holding the gun and pointed to Sal Scarpa directing the assassin to his target. Words were reportedly exchanged and then Sal was shot twice in the head and once in the back. The police arrived shortly thereafter and different parties were interviewed as Sal was taken to Maimonides Medical Center and pronounced dead shortly after 2 A.M.
The newspaper reports claimed it was a botched robbery but I didn’t think so I thought it was a hit and the police had immediate suspicions as well. What didn’t make since to me though was that Sal’s Brother Gregory was not upset about this and did little to nothing to solve his own brother’s murder. While I suspected that Greg may have been somehow involved I had no motive and no information to substantiate my suspicions.
But in 2006 I caught a big break in the case. Someone came forward with a critical piece of information that gave me the motive and substantiated my suspicions. I learned that the lone masked man was Phillip “Philly†Paradiso, who was an FBI informant at the time of the murder. FBI Agent George Hanna was the handler for Paradiso. I also learned that a detective contacted Agent Hanna to ask him if his informant had ever pled to any other murders and the answer was no. He further asked Agent Hanna if he could speak to Paradiso and the answer was once again a stern no. O
ne of the men that had been in the club and interviewed that night was Ronald “Messy Marvin†Moran. He too became a cooperator several years later in 1997 after being arrested in a forty man take down in a joint NYPD/DEA case that took place in October 1996. Moran was able to identify Paradiso the night of the robbery as being the lone masked man. At one point after Sal’s murder Paradiso was arrested and had a gun on him at the time of his arrest.
Another informant by the name of Frank Hydell also learned while he was investigating his own brother’s death that the gun that Paradiso was “pinched†with the night of his arrest was the same gun that was used to murder Sal. Frank Hydell had all the paper work on it but then he made bail and was killed in 1998.
I determined the motive being a conflict that arose between Sal and his brother Greg when Greg found out through his “law enforcement source†that Sal’s good friend Matty Ianiello (not to be confused with Matty “the horse†Ianiello) was an informant. Greg knew his brother was close to Matty and knew that they were doing business together so Greg told Sal to stay away from Matty. This angered Sal and he made it clear to Greg that he did not believe him. But Sal went even a little further than that and told someone that he thought Greg was an informant and he was going to go to someone about it. Word got back to Greg about what Sal was going to do and this is what pushed Greg to order his brother’s murder and proceed to kill Matty Ianiello. Matty Ianiello owned REDACTED. Shortly before Greg ordered his brother’s death Greg murdered Matty Ianiello.
The night of Matty’s murder Greg had a mask on and waited for Ianniello to pull up in front of his house and shot him. Ianiello’s son in law wrestled with Greg Sr. and tried to take off his mask. Greg threw him to the ground and told him if he moved he would die also.
Matty was fatally wounded and his case went into obscurity within the REDACTED Precinct which has been known for a long time for REDACTED.
Now there was an FBI informant killed because Greg’s “law enforcement source†told him about Matty’s informant status and shortly thereafter Greg’s brother Sal was killed on the orders of Greg Sr. Gregory Scarpa Sr. was also an FBI informant at the time of his ordering his brother’s murder.
But in the 1990’s a man being held for different murders doing twenty-five to life wrote a letter to the REDACTED and the REDACTED office and it stated the exact circumstances revolving around Sal’s murder. In the letter he admitted to being the shooter and it named Philly Paradiso as being in the club. The REDACTED office sent two guys from the homicide squad to interview him. Alarmingly and for unknown reasons Gregory Scarpa was not arrested nor was Philly Paradiso both of whom were government informants at the time of the murders.
Copyright 2006 Angela Clemente
