Modern-Day American Mafia Murder Timeline (2000-2024)


January 26, 2000 — Chicago mob enforcer Ronnie Jarrett dies after fighting for his life in the hospital for over a month following being shot on his way to a mafia funeral on the city’s Southside on the morning of December 23, 1999. Jarrett was bad mouthing his bosses for not promoting him after years of heavy lifting on the Outfit frontlines doing dirty work for the Chinatown-26th Street crew and allegedly holding out on sharing profits from his drug dealing and gambling rackets.

July 29, 2000 — New England mafia associate Robert (Bobby Rogers) Santasky is shot to death inside the Medford Street Bar & Grill. Santasky allegedly had information on a 1999 mob-related slaying tied to a sub-faction of the DiNunzio crew out of Boston’s North End.

February 6, 2001 — Florida restauranteur Gus Boulis is killed by Gambino mobster Anthony (Big Tony) Moscatiello and his henchmen, Anthony (Little Tony) Ferrari and John (Pudgy) Fiorillo, over a beef related to Boulis’ sale of his casino-boat business. Boulis became a millionaire when he founded the Miami Subs fast food franchise and refused to share proceeds of his casino-boat cashout with the Gambinos..

February 15, 2001 — New York mob associate Frank Santoro is killed in a drive-by shooting while walking his dog in the Bronx. Santoro, a known drug addict connected to the Genovese crime family, had threatened to kidnap and kill then fast-rising Bonanno crime family soldier Vincent (Vinnie Gorgeous) Basciano’s son.

June 19, 2000 — Detroit strip club owner John (John-John) Jarjosa, Jr. is gunned down behind the wheel of a friend’s Corvette in Southfield, Michigan. Jarjosa, Jr.’s dad, was Detroit mob associate John (J.J.) Jarjosa, Sr., who weeks earlier reported to federal prison for a three-year bid on racketeering charges not long after a falling out with Tocco-Zerilli crime family leaders and a physical altercation with Allen (The General) Hilf, the Detroit mob’s biggest bookmaker and Jewish shot caller.

November 22, 2001.– Chicago mob lieutenant Anthony (Tony the Hatchett) Chiaramonti is shot to death inside the vestibule of a fried-chicken restaurant in Lyons Township, Illinois. Tony the Hatchett, a notoriously ferocious enforcer in the Chicago mafia’s Cicero regime, was feuding with Outfit bosses over video-poker machine routes and loan sharking territory. The week before his murder FBI agents watched on from their surveillance duty in a local pancake house parking lot when Chiaramonti shoved Grand Avenue crew hit man Francis (Frank the German) Schweis following a heated verbal altercation that started inside the restaurant and spilled outside for the federal surveillance squad to witness.

December 12, 2001 — Providence strip-club manager Pete DeVito is shot to death at close range inside the Squire Lounge in Revere, Massachusetts. DeVito managed Centerfolds strip club in Providence and was partying in the Boston area on the night he was slain. A week prior he had gotten into a spat with Boston mob soldier Billy (The Angel) Angelesco and ejected Angelesco from the establishment.

February 5, 2002 — Philadelphia mafia soldier Raymond (Long John) Martorano succumbs to his injuries sustained when he was gunned down behind the wheel of his Buick on his way to a doctor’s appointment two-and-a-half years earlier on January 17. Martorano was a veteran of the Bruno-Scarfo crime family and the consummate East Coast gangland politician who had gotten out of prison after nearly two decades away on a drug case and Philly mob brass worried was on the verge of launching a palace coup.

April 3, 2002 — Boston mob associate Mark Eldridge is shot to death inside Candelino’s Continental Cafe in Somerville, Massachusetts after an alleged falling out with the Patriarca crime family’s East Boston crew.

August 10, 2002 — Detroit mob associate Jerome (Jerry the Blade) Bianchette is shot-gunned to death at a Macomb County, Michigan construction site on. Bianchette was a bodyguard and collector for Tocco-Zerilli crime family underboss Anthony (Tony Z) Zerilli, who was convicted at a federal racketeering trial the previous week and about to report to do a five-year stint in prison. Bianchette got caught in the crossfire of the feud between Tony Z and his first-cousin, Detroit LCN Godfather Giacomo (Black Jack) Tocco that led to Zerilli’s deposal and shelving.

October 30, 2003, — New York mob associate Joe Gurino is shot to death inside a West Boca Raton deli by the deli’s owner, who claimed self-defense. Gurino had ties to former Gambino crime family boss John Gotti and beat a 1984 murder rap from a hit in Queens.

November 4, 2003 — Springfield (MA) mob associate Gary Westerman is bludgeoned and shot to death after years of cooperation with the Massachusetts State Police and then the FBI. Westerman was the brother-in-law to one of his killers, about-to-be-crowned baby-faced mob king Anthony (Bingy) Arillotta.

November 23, 2003.— Philadelphia mob associate John (Johnny Gongs) Casasanto is shot to death inside his South Philly home. The well-known renegade Casasanto was rumored to be engaged in a public romance with imprisoned Bruno-Scarfo crime family boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino’s wife and had been on the opposite side of a war Merlino fought for control of the Philly rackets years earlier. At the time of his murder, Johnny Gongs was attempting to transfer to the Gambino mob in New York City amid a cascade of issues between Casasanto and crime families in Philly and New York.

November 23, 2003 — Springfield (MA) mob skipper Adolfo (Big Al) Bruno is assassinated leaving his weekly card game in the parking lot of his headquarters at the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Society Social Club, gunned down by crazed local hoodlum Frankie Roche on contract from the Genovese crime family and Bruno’s protege Anthony (Bingy) Arillotta, who succeeded him as captain of the Springfield mafia crew. In the months preceding his killing, Big Al Bruno was at odds with his bosses in New York and the rank-and-file within his own regime.

December 22, 2003 — New York mob soldier Albert (Yonkers Al) Circelli is shot to death inside the famous Rao’s Italian restaurant in Harlem in a verbal spat turned murder when mafia associate Lou (Louie Lump Lump) Barone told Circelli to be quiet while a popular female restaurant regular sang a Barbara Streisand song. Circelli was in the Lucchese mob. Barone was connected to the Genovese crime family.

November 30, 2004 — New York mafia associate Randy Pizzolo is shot to death in Brooklyn on orders of incarcerated Bonanno mob acting boss Vincent (Vinnie Gorgeous) Basciano following a string of problems caused by Pizzolo with multiple mob figures in multiple crime families in a several-year period. One of those issues was botching a home-renovation job on Basciano’s Bronx home on the water, another was bragging he killed the son of Genovese mob power Dominick (Quiet Dom) Cirillo. The triggerman in the Pizzolo hit was young Bonanno enforcer Anthony (Ace) Aiello, the Bonanno’s “Luca Brasi” according to Basciano’s boasts, and the order was relayed from Basciano to the hit squad on the street through current Bonanno don Michael (Mikey the Nose) Mancuso, who would go on to succeed “Vinnie Gorgeous” as boss of the organization.

November 5, 2004 — New England mafia associate Patsy Squillante is murdered inside his home. Squillante owned the tavern “Bobby Rogers” Santasky was shot to death inside four years earlier and some in the Boston wing of the Patriarca crime family allegedly worried he was about to flip and give up information on the hit.

November 30, 2005 — New York acting mob capo Lawrence (Dairy Larry) Ricci is discovered in the trunk of his car in the days leading up to his racketeering trial. Ricci ran Genovese rackets in the Newark, New Jersey labor unions and reportedly upset crime family leaders by not accepting a plea deal in his case. Federal investigators publicly tabbed Westside capo Michael (Mikey Cigars) Coppola the No. 1 suspect in the Ricci hit, however, has never faced any charges in the homicide.

August 31, 2006. — Chicago mafia underboss Anthony (Little Tony) Zizzo went missing on his way to a sit down on Rush Street with the crime family’s acting boss Michael (Fat Mike) Sarno to be mediated by Chicago Outfit consigliere Joe (The Sledgehammer) Andriacchi in order to resolve differences related to a video-poker machine-route dispute.

January 20, 2007. — Detroit mob soldier Carlo Bommarito died of a suspected “hot dose” of heroin amid rumors he was cooperating with authorities in local narcotics investigations. Bommarito’s dad was Tocco-Zerilli acting skipper Frank (The Bomb) Bommarito, who allegedly signed-off on the hit.

April 3, 2007 — Buffalo mob associate Monty Massimi is gunned down as he left Jacobi’s Pizzeria. Massimi had recently been released from a 15-year prison term for his involvement in a 1989 armed robbery and was allegedly try to get back into the local drug game.

April 12, 2007 — New York mob soldier Frank Lagano is shot to death outside his Seville Diner in New Brunswick. Lagano was a member of the Lucchese crime family and suspected to be an informant for state and federal law enforcement. The Lucchese mob’s Jersey branch is suspected of handling the hit and possibly contracting it out to the Bloods street gang.

June 8, 2007 — New York mob bookie Rudolph (Rudy Cue Ball) Izzi is found shot to death in his home on. Izzi worked for the Genovese crime family.

April 29, 2008 — New York mob associate Louis (Lou the Jeweler) Antonelli is gunned down in Staten Island for failing to pay tribute to the Genovese crime family.

March 25, 2009 — Chicago mob associates Anthony Catalano disappeared after allegedly stealing a shipment of cocaine from a Cicero drug crew on-record with Outfit administrators. Catalano worked for alleged Elmwood Park crew mob associate Joe (Dr. Million Pills) Giacchino in a pill-mill operation and ran coke for the Cicero crew..

April 23, 2009 — New York mob loan shark Billy Romano and his girlfriend are bludgeoned to death inside their Brooklyn apartment.

July 2, 2009 — New York mob soldier Anthony (Little Anthony) Seccafico is shot to death waiting for a bus to work at a bus stop across the street from his home. Seccafico was a member of the Bonanno crime family and was feuding with current acting boss John (Johnny Joe) Spirito.

August 12, 2009 — Turncoat Chicago mob enforcer Jimmy (The Panda) LaValley is gunned down on a golf course in Florida in the Witness Protection Program. He was a collector for the Outfit’s North side crew. LaValley had been living in hiding since testifying against Outfit leaders in the 1990s.

June 10, 2010 — Philadelphia bookie and drug dealer Rocco Maniscalco is shot to death walking home from a South Philly bar where he had just watched a Philadelphia Flyers NHL Finals game. Maniscalco was allegedly resisting extortion efforts by the Philly mafia’s Borgesi crew.

July 4, 2010 — Connecticut mob associate and drug dealer Christopher Castellano is killed for the belief he was an informant. Castellano was connected to New York mobsters Salvatore (Fat Sal) Delligati and Robert (Gramps) DeBello of the Genovese crime family.

November 26, 2010 — Chicago mob collector Norberto (The Tank) Velez is gunned down in the hallway of his Wrigleyville apartment on Thanksgiving night. Velez was an enforcer for the Outfit’s Grand Avenue crew’s North Side rackets. Velez lived in the same apartment building near Wrigley Field where a fellow Grand Ave, enforcer resided. He was in debt himself at the time of his killing and Grand Ave. shot callers suspected he was skimming from his collection duties.

November 24, 2011 — Deported New York mafia don Salvatore (Sal the Ironworker) Montagna is assassinated in Montreal. Montagna landed in Quebec in 2009 after being booted from U.S. soil and quickly immersed himself in Montreal mob politics, joining a rebellion in the Rizzuto crime family. The Sicilian Rizzuto mob had once been a faction of the Bonanno crime family, the organization Montagna headed before being deported to Canada.

February 24, 2012 — New York mob soldier Joseph (Joe Phoenix) Rossi is shot to death by Gambino crime family lieutenant Nicholas (Nicky Skins) Stefanelli in the kitchen of his restaurant. Consumed by guilt over his status as a confidential informant for the FBI, Nicky Skins blamed Rossi (who helped run Gambino video-poker machine rackets) for being forced into informing, Nicky Skins committed suicide hours later.

December 12, 2012 — Philadelphia mob associate Gino DiPietro is murdered in South Philly, felled in a barrage of bullets getting into his truck in front of his home. DiPietro was a convicted drug dealer and informant who was in a personal spat with Philly mob soldier Anthony Nicodemo, who was convicted of being the getaway driver in the hit.

November 13, 2013 — New York mob associate Michael Meldish is gunned down behind the wheel of his car in Bronx. Meldish was the former leader of the “Purple Gang,” a mafia farm club out of Harlem and the Bronx in the 1970s. Lucchese crime family boss Matty Madona ordered the Meldish hit for an unpaid debt and Meldish’s refusal to follow orders. Madonna and Meldish were very close friends and business partners for decades before their falling out. Meldish was also feuding with Bonanno mob boss Michael (Mikey Nose) Mancuso.

June 30, 2016 — Iconic NYC pizza maker and Colombo mob associate Lou Barbati, is gunned down outside his home in Brooklyn in a slaying that remains unsolved and has very few leads. Years prior, Barbati’s pizza-sauce recipe was stolen by a former employee and Bonanno mob associate leading to a sit down in Staten Island to sort out the issue. One of Barbat’s financial backers’ daughters is married to Cololmbo enforcer Francis (B.F.) Guerra.

October 4, 2018 — New York mob associate Sylvester (Sally Daz) Zattola is shot to death in a McDonald’s restaurant drive-thru lane in the Bronx. Zattola was a high-ranking affiliate of the Lucchese and the Bonanno crime families heading many of their video-poker machine rackets. His son put the murder contract on his head to steal the business and it was carried out by the UBN street gang. “Sally Daz” had a close friendship with former Bonanno boss Vincent (Vinnie Gorgeous) Basciano when Basciano was a don, but even Basciano couldn’t protect him from his own progeny.

September 13, 2018 — Hamilton (ON) mob figure Al Iavarone is gunned down in his driveway, less than two weeks removed from traveling to California and getting “made” into the L.A. mafia at the request of crime families in Buffalo and New York City.

October 26, 2018 — New York mobster Vincent Zito is shot to death in his home. Zito was “on record” with the Lucchese crime family.

October 30, 2018 — Boston Irish mob boss James (Whitey) Bulger is beaten to death inside his federal prison cell in West Virginia, only hours following being transferred from a protection unit in Florida to general population in Hazelton FCI where there New Englanders waiting to kill him for his cooperation while he was leader of the Winter Hill Gang in South Boston and Somerville from the 1970s until the mid-1990s.

March 10, 2019 — New England mafia associate Napoleon (Nappy) Andrade is shot and killed in the parking lot of a Rhode Island halfway house weeks after release from a six-year prison term. Andrade was once a driver and bodyguard for Providence mob don Luigi (Baby Shacks) Manocchio and angered members of the Gambino crime family by being part of a robbery team that broke into a Gambino soldier Nicolo (Nick the Greaser) Melia’s Connecticut home prior to going to prison.

March 14, 2019 — New York mafia boss Frank (Frankie Boy) Cali is assassinated outside his Staten Island home by a deranged ex-boyfriend of his niece. Cali was acting boss of the Gambino crime family and came from the Sicilian wing of the Gambinos that grabbed power after the family’s flashy Gotti era..

Last known sanctioned hit was 2013, Meldish. Eleven years and counting, not that that's a bad thing.

Although Canada is more than making up for the mob hits.

Will we ever see another mob hit sanctioned here in the States? It has to happen eventually as someone will eventually order one. I would find it very hard to believe we won't see another one in our lifetime.

You don't think the Vincent Zito murder was sanctionned by the Lucchese ?

great list by the way. Thanks to RushStreet for posting it.

Im really curious to know more about the Catalano and the Velez murders.

Stango tried to kill Olivieri but the LE saved the dog.

In other times Stango would order to his son to kill Olivieri so he can show that is a tought guy and deserte to be made.