Crea as Boss?

[Angelo Santino]

What I always found intriguing was that it was Funari's proteges who took over.

This speaks to Chris's point, was Funari the most respected? Feared? Despite ONLY being consigliere?Why HIS proteges and not the Bronx or Harlem guys'?

Christy Tick was respected, feared and any other positive adjective you could throw at a gangster. I put him in a category with guys like Neil Dellacroce and Sonny Franzese in terms of street status.

I think after Luongo is out of the picture the reason those spots went to Amuso and Casso was because of Casso's reputation. He really was the Mickey Mantle of the mafia for a time. Very promising member with enormous potential, literally a five tool Mafioso.

What faction of the Luccheses did Tick come from? Was he close to Corallo and did he rely on Furnari as a counselor or was the promotion political a la caponigro? Furnari as I recall had or was allowed to have one made member under him, he chose Casso and Amuso took capo? According to Casso's book I believe. Was Furnari meeting with other groups or did he function as an arbitrator within his own group? Maybe he didn't act "like a consig" at all and instead was the defacto head of his (Brooklyn??) faction?.... I never looked into him, I'm just raising questions that might give us an operational sense of the role he played. And maybe if someone flips in the future these might be questions worth asking.

[CabriniGreen]

How do you feel about Natale as a front for Merlino?

[Angelo Santino]

How do you feel about Natale as a front for Merlino?

He had the title of boss and was on probation for most of his tenure which limited his ability. Organizationally, he was the boss, Operationally he was confined to his drug deals with Daidone at al, leading for Merlino to act more in a leadership capacity. Merlino become official only after Natale flipped.

Natale, in both his book and interview, really doesn't discuss his tenure as boss: meetings, administration, just the Sodano murder. I think this might have been because he was confined to Jersey. Due to probation, he was forbidden from meeting with people. Had he not been on probation he might have been in Phila. more and given the opportunity might have been not so Uncle Jun-ish. Who knows. Like Previte said: "Ralph might have been a bullshit artist, but make no mistake, he was a stone cold killer."

[chin_gigante]

In the breakdown of some of Natale's 302s on LCN Bios he describes the underboss position as functioning in the same way as a street boss, supporting that analysis of the Natale-Merlino dynamic leading up to Natale's arrest

[johnny_scootch]

What faction of the Luccheses did Tick come from? Was he close to Corallo and did he rely on Furnari as a counselor or was the promotion political a la caponigro? Furnari as I recall had or was allowed to have one made member under him, he chose Casso and Amuso took capo? According to Casso's book I believe. Was Furnari meeting with other groups or did he function as an arbitrator within his own group? Maybe he didn't act "like a consig" at all and instead was the defacto head of his (Brooklyn??) faction?.... I never looked into him, I'm just raising questions that might give us an operational sense of the role he played. And maybe if someone flips in the future these might be questions worth asking.

Christy Tick is a Dyker Heights/Bensonhurst guy so one could assume he was a member of the Brooklyn crew under Torrido Curiale up until it either split possibly when Curiale stepped down (Vario/Furnari) or he was given a whole new crew at some point. Another possibility is Furnari while being a 'Brooklyn guy' was actually in the Harlem crew run by Vinny Foceri. This is the crew that Casso is placed in when he is made its said to have been headquartered out of Harlem and the 19th Hole in Brooklyn. So it's possible the Brooklyn portion of this crew was given to Christy Tick at some point rather than it breaking off from the historical Lucchese Brooklyn regime. I can't speak to any of the reasons why Corallo chose him or his exact functions as consigliere but I am very confidant he was not the de facto leader of the Brooklyn group because Paul Vario was at least equal in power to him if not more so.

When Furnari was promoted to consigliere he asked Casso become captain of his crew but Casso didn't want the politics to effect his earnings so he suggested Amuso and Casso went direct with Furnari.

[Angelo Santino]

What faction of the Luccheses did Tick come from? Was he close to Corallo and did he rely on Furnari as a counselor or was the promotion political a la caponigro? Furnari as I recall had or was allowed to have one made member under him, he chose Casso and Amuso took capo? According to Casso's book I believe. Was Furnari meeting with other groups or did he function as an arbitrator within his own group? Maybe he didn't act "like a consig" at all and instead was the defacto head of his (Brooklyn??) faction?.... I never looked into him, I'm just raising questions that might give us an operational sense of the role he played. And maybe if someone flips in the future these might be questions worth asking.

Christy Tick is a Dyker Heights/Bensonhurst guy so one could assume he was a member of the Brooklyn crew under Torrido Curiale up until it either split possibly when Curiale stepped down (Vario/Furnari) or he was given a whole new crew at some point. Another possibility is Furnari while being a 'Brooklyn guy' was actually in the Harlem crew run by Vinny Foceri. This is the crew that Casso is placed in when he is made its said to have been headquartered out of Harlem and the 19th Hole in Brooklyn. So it's possible the Brooklyn portion of this crew was given to Christy Tick at some point rather than it breaking off from the historical Lucchese Brooklyn regime. I can't speak to any of the reasons why Corallo chose him or his exact functions as consigliere but I am very confidant he was not the de facto leader of the Brooklyn group because Paul Vario was at least equal in power to him if not more so.

When Furnari was promoted to consigliere he asked Casso become captain of his crew but Casso didn't want the politics to effect his earnings so he suggested Amuso and Casso went direct with Furnari.

Very informative! Thank you.

[AnIrishGuy]

Christy Tick is still alive right?

[johnny_scootch]

Christy Tick is still alive right?

As far as I know he's living out his final years in peace somewhere.

[Manf]

He died like 2 years ago

[johnny_scootch]

He died like 2 years ago

Good call somehow that completely faded from my memory.. He'd probably be almost 100 by now those old guineas were tough as nails they don't make them like they used to.

[Super]

Huge earner kept his mouth shut had a big crew was involved in everything had his finger in every pie.

[JeremyTheJew]

I never believed the whole Casso passed up capo and boss spot. I think that he just said that or it's another thing that author made up like he was accused of doing. But I can see Casso lieing and telling him that also.

In Mob Boss it said that Crea met up w D Arco and was going to make a plan to kill amuso and Casso.

So all that being said.... And with the new admin position... I don't think Crea was admired by Amuso as much as what whlas previously said

[B.]

With information like this, I "leave the door open," same goes for the "DeCavalcante being the first Family" or "Carlo creating Acting Positions" and whatever else. On the surface, if we're going for a black and white yes and no then all of these can be labeled as false. Digging beneath surface we might find elements of truth. I'm open to the idea that events did happen in these cases but the information went through a game of Chinese Whispers and it got misconstrued. Maybe Ligambi did speak with Merlino in '04 about some important "change", maybe the DeCavalcante's were the first at something in NJ, maybe Carlo having Castellano as Acting Boss while not away was a Gambino family first? We won't know until someone who was there can clarify.

Carlo Gambino was the acting boss himself for a period after Anastasia's death, though there was no official boss. Joe Bonanno used John Morale as his acting boss when Bonanno was on the west coast and on his frequent travels years before Castellano became acting for Gambino. Of course Vito Genovese set up an acting boss and acting underboss when he went to prison.

I think the "sosituto" role we've discussed is proof enough that an "acting" boss or captain has always been an option. That Gotti tape excerpt seems to suggest Gambino was reluctant to promote guys in an official capacity, though Gotti wasn't made when Gambino was boss and I don't know what evidence there is that Gambino wouldn't allow an official underboss and consigliere? Dellacroce and Gallo were both official by the later 1960s. It could sort of play into your other thread about Gotti, Massino, and Scarfo limiting official promotions while they were in prison -- Gambino wasn't in prison, but he was sick and semi-retired so it's possible he had a similar strategy but again I can't think of much evidence.

Christy Tick is a Dyker Heights/Bensonhurst guy so one could assume he was a member of the Brooklyn crew under Torrido Curiale up until it either split possibly when Curiale stepped down (Vario/Furnari) or he was given a whole new crew at some point. Another possibility is Furnari while being a 'Brooklyn guy' was actually in the Harlem crew run by Vinny Foceri. This is the crew that Casso is placed in when he is made its said to have been headquartered out of Harlem and the 19th Hole in Brooklyn. So it's possible the Brooklyn portion of this crew was given to Christy Tick at some point rather than it breaking off from the historical Lucchese Brooklyn regime. I can't speak to any of the reasons why Corallo chose him or his exact functions as consigliere but I am very confidant he was not the de facto leader of the Brooklyn group because Paul Vario was at least equal in power to him if not more so.

When Furnari was promoted to consigliere he asked Casso become captain of his crew but Casso didn't want the politics to effect his earnings so he suggested Amuso and Casso went direct with Furnari.

I'd never considered whether Furnari may have been part of a non-Brooklyn crew originally. We know during the Amuso/Casso leadership they had no problem assigning the New Jersey membership and some other non-Brooklyn members to the D'Arco crew and Carmine Taglialatella claimed to have been made into the Vario crew even though he was from East Harlem. Taglialatella said they had to get permission from captain Paul Correale in East Harlem because Taglialatella was from his territory. We know their crews have always been based mainly around geography but it's not a hard rule so without definitive info your theory is worth considering.

Also, good find on the Pennisi excerpt. On a functional level Crea was the "boss" even to the Brooklyn membership, though if we were to put them on a formal chart we would of course place Amuso at the top. It's clear that Crea continued to acknowledge Amuso's position, which is important. Sort of like Dellacroce, who was seen as the #1 man in his faction but famously said "the boss is the boss."

[CabriniGreen]

I always suspected Amusos respect was maintained because he did the family a HUGE favor when he shelved Gaspipe....

[JeremyTheJew]

I always suspected Amusos respect was maintained because he did the family a HUGE favor when he shelved Gaspipe....

It was a little too late dont ya think???

I don't understand AT ALL where his allegiance came from....

He was the boss the whole time.... "The boss is the boss" so how'd he let Casso almost destroy the whole fam