I want to add that Frank Lino, who testified about Sonny Black´s murder in court, never mentioned his hands being chopped off. Neither did Frank Coppa (if memory serves) who also was on the murder scene. This is kinda strange since if his hands were chopped off that would have made a big splash, at least with the media. OR, they did mention it, but was never reported by the media and therefore not (to us) available in any of the partial transcripts that can be found in books etc.

I have always been wondering how exactly did the Sonny Black murder actually take place. The informants who testified got the gun caliber and the number of shots wrong, so they either made everything up because they weren't present during the murder, or the body found wasn't Sonny Black at all. Massino was the main defendant in that case. When he flipped, did he in any way explain the discrepancies?

I don´t think he did.

Another strange thing is that apparently the dead body´s shoe size didn´t match with Sonny Black´s but I can´t recall where I read that.

HK so are we going to just say that the hands being chopped off is a MYTH? I can accept that.

^^^ I really don´t know. But for sure, there are discrepancies surrounding the Sonny Black murder/testimonies given by witnesses.

Here is something I found that gives a pretty good description of the body found that is ALLEGEDLY Sonny Black:

Body of an unidentified victim of a homicide, discovered 8-12-82 in a remote area within the confines of the 122 PCT. The deceased was found wrapped in a Bellevue Hospital Mortuary Bag.
Adult Male, White, about 5'7", Slim build.
Death by gunshot wound to the head.

When the police pulled the soggy corpe out of the mud and laid it on a bed of leaves, it was unrecognizable. An autopsy conducted the next day found the body was so decomposed and filthy, the skin color was difficult to determine. The entire body is blackish in color, with tan-white greasy areas. The medical examiner had trouble telling if the dead person was a man or a woman. The external genitalia are consistent with those of a male. They are very friable and are falling apart on examination. The body's fingers were also missing
The eyeballs were sunken, the nose decomposed; the tongue was protruding from the mouth. A full body X-ray revealed "metallic fragments" inside the man's skull, which was then cut away for further inspection. A deformed bullet was found in the right frontal area of the brain. Eventually, the medical examiner was forced to resort to dental records to identify the body. Five days before Pistone would take the stand, the medical examiner made his determination: the dead man was Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano.

The dirt-covered man's clothing included a dark pair of trousers, a dark V-neck T-shirt, a pair of slip-on leather shoes and a leather belt. ALSO, a metal bracelet with chunky, flat links worn on the right wrist.

(The Last Godfather book)

Thanks for posting this. I find it interesting. Sometimes when victims gets hit in the head, they cover the head with their hands. It´s a pure reflex action. It´s possible I guess that when Sonny was shot he was also shot through his hands or fingers causing parts of them to be blown away. But how this later turned into "Sonny Black´s hands were chopped off" ( ) is beyond me.

HK, I my wrong or didn't Pistone also claim that Sonny supposedly took off all his jewelry before he went to his last meeting? What about this "Metal bracelet with chunky, flat links" that he had on his wrist?

Excellent observation! I missed it myself. Yep, that´s another thing that may not be true.

well, ive always heard that sonny blacks hands were cut off. but that post by the Brooklyn dame, proves otherwise, his hands were intact on his body.

Binnie and from whom did we hear this from? Is the same person that we heard he arrested over 250 mobsters and did the Pizza Connection case and the Commission case?

If there was still any question about the identity of that body, I'm sure they would have done a DNA test all these years later just to be sure.

As far as the hands being on or off, who knows? But if they were off, take it from a guy who spent 25 years in funeral service. Extremities have been known to fall off a floater here and there, then get carried away by wildlife.

PB doing the DNA test makes sense. The family would have wanted the test done if there were any doubts. So are we all in agreement that it was the body of SB and that the hands were not cut off only his fingers were falling off. He took off his jewelry, his ring and his watch but the bracelet probably didn't have much value either sentimentally or dollar wise so that's why it was still on his right wrist? There was only ONE bullet found which I am sure someone can explain, not me, I am no ballistics expert.

PB--have you ever watched "Six Feet Under"? It was a drama series on running a funeral home. If you haven't watched it rent it on Netflix.