Joseph Defede
During the late 90's, Amuso's relationship with DeFede began to sour. Suspecting that DeFede was hiding money from the family, Amuso replaced him as acting boss with Steven Crea, head of the family's powerful Bronx faction. Once Crea took over, family profits rose enormously. That was enough to convince Amuso that DeFede had been skimming; Amuso reportedly decided to have him murdered.
On February 5. 2002, DeFede was released from a Lexington, Kentucky prison medical center. Having heard of Amuso's plans to kill him, DeFede immediately became a government informant. DeFede explained the Garment District rackets and the protection rackets in Howard Beach, Queens. He also provided information leading to the convictions of Crea, Louis Daidone, Dominic Truscello, Joseph Tangorra, Anthony Baratta, and a number of family captains, soldiers and associates. While testifying against Gambino crime family boss Peter Gotti, DeFede exclaimed that all he made during his reign as acting boss was $1,014,000, or approximately $250,000 per year. DeFede also estimated that a low ranking family soldier would make on average $50,000 per year.
DeFede is presumed to be in hiding under the federal Witness Protection Program.
I was always a little sceptical of DeFede's numbers, considering how low they were for a guy who had been acting boss for that long. But these guys have a habit of being dishonest, especially about what they're bringing in. It's almost routine for mob guys to cry poor when they are hauled into court.
Here's a list of some of the income Amuso and Casso were receiving after the took over the Lucchese family -
$15,000 to $20,000 a month from Long Island carting shakedowns
$75,000 a month from shakedowns and sweetheart contracts at the airports
$20,000 a week from video poker machines
$245,000 a year from a major concrete company
$200,000 a year from one of their operators in the garment center
$100,000 from their underlings at Christmas
$600,000+ - the amount Greek gambling operators paid in tribute one year to be able to operate in Queens with permission of the Lucchese family.
