"Real-Life Tony Soprano jailed in connection to 1984 murder says dental records switched to frame him"

Mob experts said iconic TV mob boss Tony Soprano, played by the late James Gandolfini closely resembled NJ mobster Martin Taccetta. AP

The tooth shall set him free!

A real-life Tony Soprano who has been cooling his heels in prison for decades in connection with the 1984 golf club beating death of a Toms River used car salesman is now reportedly claiming he was at the dentist at the time of the slaying — and his dental records were secretly changed to sink his alibi.

Martin Taccetta, 72, of Florham Park, insisted he was framed by prosecutors for any evil deeds related to the rub-out of Toms River auto dealer Vincent “Jimmy Sinatra” Craparotta, the Asbury Park Press reported.

Craparotta, 56, was beaten to death by men with golf clubs at his Route 9 car lot on June 12, 1984, reportedly to scare his nephews into paying tributes to the Lucchese crime family from earnings on their video poker machines, the report said.

Taccetta was a capo in the Lucchese crime family running the gang’s NJ operations.

Martin Taccetta, 72, claims his dental records were doctored and he deserves a new trial.

In a 2000 Post story about “Goodfellas Who Might Be Role Models,” mob experts — who formerly worked with New Jersey’s Organized Crime Task Force — said iconic TV mob boss Tony Soprano, played by the late James Gandolfini, closely resembled the charismatic Taccetta.

Taccetta and two other reputed members of the Lucchese crime family were charged with Craparotta’s murder.

They stood trial in Superior Court in Ocean County in 1993, along with two other alleged mob associates charged with racketeering and extortion offenses.

Taccetta beat the murder rap, but the jury found him guilty of racketeering, conspiracy, and extortion.

He received the harshest penalty of all the defendants — life plus 10 years.

The government presented testimony from former Mafia underbosses that Taccetta told them he and an associate “whacked” the victim “over some Joker Pokers” and used golf clubs rather than baseball bats to do the job because “bats break,” the Jersey media outlet reported.

Taccetta claims the assistant attorney general who prosecuted him in 1993 hid from him an FBI report that concluded his dental records — which he says proved he was at his dentist’s office an hour away when Craparotta was killed — were secretly altered, the report said.

Mob experts said the cocky, charismatic Taccetta was the real-life Tony Soprano, the iconic TV mob boss from New Jersey played by the late James Gandolfini, (above). 3
Mob experts said the cocky, charismatic Taccetta was the real-life Tony Soprano, the iconic TV mob boss from New Jersey played by the late James Gandolfini, (above).
WireImage
Taccetta claimed he learned of the FBI report in recent years through a Freedom of Information Act request and he deserves a new trial, the published report said.

“The evidence at trial included testimony that co-defendant Thomas Ricciardi, another member of the Lucchese crime family, had beaten Craporatta to death with a golf club while yelling, “pay your debts,” according to NJ Appellate Division court papers.

Ricciardi, described as a high-ranking enforcer for the Lucchese crime family, was the only one of the three charged with Craparotta’s murder to be convicted of it, the Asbury Park Press reported.

https://nypost.com/2023/10/21/mobster-jailed-in-connection-to-1984-murder-says-he-was-framed/

If I'm not mistaken, the guy's been down already almost 30 years.

Thats a long time!

I'm curious. Does anybody know if Marty's brother Mike is still behind bars?

I know they both did a ton of time, but I'm not sure of his status. Is he home? Is he still in jail?

Somebody just told me that Michael Taccetta got released in 2014.

Still, he spent a lot of years behind bars.

Yeah, I'm with him now. We're at a cigar lounge shooting the shit.

As George Carlin would say, "Some people are really fu**ing stupid."

Martin was supposed to have a hearing about this back in September, but I haven't heard anything more about it.

I don't think they killed him to scare his nephews into paying tribute, I'm thinking they were hoping that would happen as an added bonus. I think they just got tired of him being a deadbeat. As a side note, gangsterreport.com erroneously said that Craparotta was a made Lucchese member. I wonder if they fact check anything over there, or blatantly make stuff up on purpose.

I, for one, cannot speak to any of that because I don't follow them, per se.

But Liggio, I thought "Gangster Report" was your good friend? I remember months back that you touted that site posting their articles here. What happened, you fell out of love?

They post some interesting stuff but I'd still proceed with caution and research the things they say.

Yeah, thats what you say now. But I remember back then you were extremely adamant about all their stories and their reliable "sources." In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd have thought you had a financial or other vested interest in seeing them succeed because of your daily dedication to literally posting up dozens upon dozens of their articles. So now you got me curious. What happened? Why the sudden change up?
--
Don't misunderstand me, I wish Gangster Report all the luck in the world. God bless him. I hope he does very well with his site. Thats not the point I'm trying to make here.

My question is why do you waffle all the time. Not only about this, but about a variety of thread subjects, not the least of which was how you so adamantly defined how "active" and "vibrant" the Italian organized crime business was nowadays, while myself and some others here repeatedly explained to you that Cosa Nostra and "Traditional" organized crime as we know it, is largely dead in the water...and has been for some years already.

You fought everybody tooth and nail like an adolescent child, having a tantrum, any time someone on the forum would dare speak about their eminent demise.

Then, suddenly, almost like you had an "epiphany" of sorts, suddenly you're now spouting the exact same thing out of your mouth like you've always known it. Why do you constantly waffle back and forth about everything?

Once again, we're all here to gain more knowledge about the subject of organized crime...and thats a good thing. I only wish that you'd keep a more open mind towards things sometimes. Because there are so many subjects that we could all interact nicely on together, understand?

Yes, bud, I get it.

Good, I'm glad.

And as far as I'm concerned..."No harm, No foul." I'm cool with you, ok.

NYM, I would say it's because on one hand, they seem to be largely dead in the water, then on the other hand, something happens to where my jaw drops and I'm like, how the hell did they manage to pull that off in today's world. I think we should avoid speaking in absolute terms. What I'm saying, there's the one extreme, where people say that it's anything like it was, then there's the other extreme, where we say that it's completely dead.

If history proves anything to us and allows us to compare between the volume of "mobsters" still active on the streets today, as well as the amount of criminal rackets still available to them, compared to yesteryear, it proves one thing... without a doubt - proof positive - the number of participants still involved in Italian organized crime has dropped a lot and the "quality" of member is almost a joke at this point. But more importantly, the overall volume of the rackets they once ran compared to today, had dropped down to almost zero!!! And thats a hard fact that cannot be disputed by any serious student of organized crime worth his salt.

Do they still make a good "score" on occasion. Yes. A rare few of them (a very rare few of them.) But is the overall majority of their membership still earning well and banging' out profits on a steady basis like they did several decades ago? No way! No How!...Not even close.

In fact, the majority of guys still operating on the streets of NYC nowadays are, for the most part, in tremendous financial hardship. Most are broke, or just eking out a bullshit living at best...and thats another fact!

Back to the point of this original thread...

Who thinks there's merit to Taccetta's claim of a frame-up?

I believe they went there to assault him and TR got carried away.

Regarding this guy how could this be possible?

Who the fuck did Tony work for? The DeCalvacante's or was he part of a Jersey Crew that worked for the Lucchese's?

Marty was framed. Rocciardi admitted Marty wasnt there. This is serious, and compromises the integrity of the judicial system.

Taccetta did participate. No doubt about it. Craparotta was the single biggest bookie in Ocean County in those times. He was definitely no used car salesman. There were multiple issues going on there, he was to be beaten to scare his nephews into paying for operating their business on the Point Pleasant boardwalk. Which he refused to get involved in. Then he was also claiming he was with the "Bruno" family and at times he was with the "Lucheses'". Then the "Bonnano's" all of which was false. Whichever family he could say he was with which would help him the most say he was with. Ultimately "Fat Tony" settled the beef and made a ton of money as the broker. In the end Craparotta couldn't keep his mouth shut and Martin went too far. that's the reader's digest version. Martin is guilty as sin in my opinion, Ricciardi and his brother are both rats and were involved in the S. Hall fire investigation. But that's another story for another time.

I didn't know that Craparotta was that big a bookmaker.

I thought his trouble started after the Taccetta's and Acceturo attempted to "shake down" a piece of the lucrative joker-poker gambling machine business he and his nephews ran across NJ.

My understanding was that he repeatedly resisted their overtures, to the point they decided to give him a "work out" to send the message home once and for all...and that they went too far with it, beating him to death with golf clubs.

NYMafia, my understanding is he was the biggest bookmaker in the county, at the time especially in the Lakewood/Toms River area. He also played a very dangerous game of "Being" with not one but a few families depending on who he was speaking to. He was no used car salesman. The whole Fat Tony encounter is very interesting and involved a few made guys from other families (not Genovese) bringing the issue to him to settle. I have a book somewhere about it along with articles I'd have to find to elaborate on it. My memory is also that there "may" have been a Jewish gangster backing his larger bets as well. I say may, because I don't know if my memory is correct on that part. If anyone else knows about Craparotta please post. I'll look for the info this weekend.

Who are you speaking about? Who's the Tony you're referring to?

Interesting. I never read or heard about any of that. But, definitely try and find more about it for us, ok? Thanks

NYMAFIA, my apologies but this silly thing called work got in my way. To start with (because too long to write and it's fascinating reading) google www.nj.gov/sci/pdf/annual3-1972.pdf. If you don't want to read through the entire report search "Craparotta". When you get finished let me know I'll refer you to a few more things. You'll find this guy was way bigger than most know. Let me know your thoughts. BTW thanks for all your posts great stuff. Majicrat

Keep in mind there is a tendency for them to call plenty of people the biggest of whatever their racket.

Thank you majicrat