Gambino after Anastasia hit

[OcSleeper]

It was Carmine's brother who was made into the Bufalino family not Buffalo in 1971.

[Shellackhead]

It was Carmine's brother who was made into the Bufalino family not Buffalo in 1971.

Bufalino Is Pittsburgh?

[Pogo The Clown]

Scranton


Pogo

[InCamelot]

Not aware of DeFilippo being a captain but he was an influential soldier on 18th avenue. May have been with the Ferrara crew, not sure.

I don't think there was any continuity with the zip crew beyond representing 18th ave.

Wow coincidentally LCNBios has a new post about Louis DeFilippo: https://lcnbios.blogspot.com/2022/10/lo ... mbino.html

You're right B he seems to have remained a solider, in Joe Franco-Carmine Lombardozzi--Jimmy Brown's crew apparently. And the attempt on Dellacroce doesn't seem to have to do with the Anastasia + Rava hits directly.

Very interesting article.

It does look like when the 'zips' arrived on 18th they were closet to Jimmy Brown's crew and possibly Castellano's. I wonder if that suggests an answer to the debate about whether John Gambino was happy about the Castellano hit or not. Although I think I did read that John Gambino and Jimmy Brown didn't necessarily get along.

[TSNYC]

Would love to get insight about the murder contract on Dellacroce. Who gave the order? Who was also present for the order being given. Also love to know which associate saw the hit team coming. Good stuff. Great write up by LCN bios

[bn]

As for the Anastasia faction, this is what I've deduced:

- Tommy Rava, John Robilotto, and Neil Dellacroce were the main leaders of the Anastasia faction after the murder. The Anastasia faction of course predated his murder.

- Joe Franco and Carmine Lombardozzi had been earlier members of this faction before Anastasia's murder but Franco betrayed Anastasia and got him killed. Franco dies, but Lombardozzi appears to have aligned himself with the Gambino-Riccobono faction. Ed suspects (as do I) that Lombardozzi "testified" on behalf of Riccobono that Anastasia did indeed put a contract out on leaders of that faction, which a boss did not have the right to do without Commission/consiglio approval.

- According to Magaddino, Rava was a capodecina overseeing a group of many other captains. Robilotto was also a captain and Dellacroce was apparently a soldier under Rava. Rava hid out in Florida.

- John Robilotto decided to "come in" and make peace with the acting leadership under consigliere Carlo Gambino. As a result, Rava and Dellacroce ordered Robilotto's murder. Robilotto was extremely well-liked inside and outside of NYC, with various sources disturbed by it even years later.

- A source was told (I suspect he may have been involved) that Rava decina member Toddo Aurello and a hit team tracked Rava down in FL and killed Rava and an unidentified man. He was never found.

- Another source said Rava was taken to a FL funeral home where Joe Indelicato and Tommy Altamura put him in a coffin and stabbed him with icepicks. They then disposed of his body in the ocean.

^^^ I suspect these two different accounts can be reconciled, i.e. Aurello shot Rava to death, his body was taken to the funeral home where the disposal team (Indelicato + Altamura) were waiting and they stabbed him with the icepicks to ensure he was dead before getting rid of the body

- Dellacroce "comes in" after the Rava murder and is promoted to capodecina. In 1962, Angelo Bruno describes Dellacroce as a "capodecina di capodecina", very similar to the way Magaddino described Rava as a captain overseeing a faction of captains.

- Dellacroce is later made underboss where he continues to oversee a faction of captains until his death though it appears this faction shrunk to a couple of main crews.

- Jimmy Squillante was part of the Anastasia faction and suspected of the Scalise murders, but Joe Valachi said he was murdered after being called to an arguimendo where Squillante disparaged Anastasia. Valachi felt that Squillante was killed at least in part because of how flimsy his loyalties were and the way he spoke against his former boss. Who knows?

I've received information that Neil Dellacroce 'ratted' / snitched on Tommy Rava, who ordered Robilotto killed, and as a result a dispute arose and Dellacroce had a contract on him. Was this previously known?

CI Says that Pete DeFeo cancelled the contract on Dellacroce.

[B.]

It was more or less known that Dellacroce turned against Rava, with the Robilotto murder being a likely turning point, and it makes sense Dellacroce had a contract on him given everything that faction was up to but nice to see it laid out explicitly.

DeFeo and Dellacroce were once inseparable, meeting with each other daily at each others' Little Italy clubs, so it fits that DeFeo intervened on his behalf. It's standard practice during mafia conflict for a member to go to an influential member of another Family for protection and to serve as an intermediary. Dellacroce himself served in a similar capacity for Frank Lino during the 1981 Bonanno conflict.

[bn]

It was more or less known that Dellacroce turned against Rava, with the Robilotto murder being a likely turning point, and it makes sense Dellacroce had a contract on him given everything that faction was up to but nice to see it laid out explicitly.

DeFeo and Dellacroce were once inseparable, meeting with each other daily at each others' Little Italy clubs, so it fits that DeFeo intervened on his behalf. It's standard practice during mafia conflict for a member to go to an influential member of another Family for protection and to serve as an intermediary. Dellacroce himself served in a similar capacity for Frank Lino during the 1981 Bonanno conflict.

Thanks for the answer.

In the same report it said that in the early 1950s, Antonino Conte and Frank Scalise had an argument and Scalise raised his hand to Conte, which resulted Scalise's murder. I've never heard this theory before. Do you think this is probable? or was it something else got Scalise killed?

[B.]

Could be something to it, never heard that.

I've shared before that I'm a skeptic when it comes to Scalise "selling buttons", as Valachi clarified in his testimony that this wasn't the actual sale of memberships but Scalise partnering with associates and subsequently proposing them. If this is what was taking place, Scalise was essentially inducting guys for being "earners" which would have been resented by guys who earned membership the hard way but it's much different from literally accepting a sum of money in return for initiation into the mafia.

Something was boiling under the surface, though, as Scalise was murdered by Anastasia then Scalise's relative Joe Riccobono was slated for murder which led Riccobono to organize Anastasia's murder. I don't think it's coincidental that Anastasia was gunning for two leaders of the Scalise-Riccobono clan around the same time. What's interesting is that Nino Conte was linked to the Scalises and Patsy Conte was one of the names accused of "buying" his membership but if the account you found is even partially true there were serious problems between the Contes and Scalises.

[bn]

Interestingly enough there are reports of Genovese members paying $5,000 for their buttons during this time period. Perhaps 'buying' memberships, whether literally accepting a sum of money, or inducting earners, is more common than previously thought.

Another report says that Tommy Eboli went to Italy to consult with Joe Adonis before giving the hit on Anastasia. The CI says that Larry Gallo was originally given the contract but that other people carried it out.

[B.]

I believe it was a culture shift in the mafia that was relatively new or became bigger around the 1950s.

The traditional mode of recruitment was to bring in relatives, paesani, and/or dedicated men who had proven themselves through violence. The idea of inducting guys simply for generating money was foreign to the traditional mafia and would have been met with pushback, leading some members to form resentment and generalize that guys were "buying" memberships even if it wasn't a literal transaction where they bought membership.

Keep in mind too that all of these proposed members would have been known in their neighborhood, had their names put on a list, and then had to be vetted by every Family, so the process would have made it difficult for someone to simply "buy" their button through a direct financial transaction.

Valachi was inducted for participating in a murder to it makes sene he'd see these later members as "buying" their buttons and generalize it that way even though he also clarified they were made for being earners who became business partners with Scalise, thus qualifying for membership.