RE-POST: The Rise and Demise of Tony Caponigro

[Amershire_Ed]

Cleaning out some files and thought this would be a good place to post this excerpt so it's retrievable...


According to Leonetti in "Mafia Prince" page 94: (3 reasons for double cross of Caponigro)

1. Scarfo, etc. taking over Philly mob swings their vote to the Genovese, which gives them more control of Commission

2. Scarfo, etc. taking over Philly mob means he also takes control of HEREIU Local 54 (which they were beefing with Bruno about) and that would benefit the Genovese who later received money out of the union from Scarfo

3. Taking out Caponigro meant the Genovese could take over his gambling/loansharking operations in North Jersey (which they had beefed about in the past when Caponigro won the sitdown)

I just re-read this book recently and it’s kinda cool to see a real time re-telling of the details surrounding Chin’s ascent to the throne. Even in 1979 and 1980, Leonetti and Scarfa could recognize Gigtante was a fucking force to be reckoned with. Scarfa thought everyone was a jerkoff and almost comes off as star struck when he talks about Chin and Manna. Their deception and treachery was legit first class.

[B.]

The original posts here were written on the old board, circa early 2010s, so keep that in mind.

We now know Caponigro and Luciano were under Anastasia and the Gambino family before Philly.

[Ivan]

I was surprised by how good Leonetti's book was. Figured it would be a bunch of self-serving nonsense, but other than the "my uncle made me do it" bullshit (I personally think Leonetti is a psychopath and his criminality is innate, as is his uncle's, and they share the same "crime genes" from the same bloodline), it's pretty straightforward believable.

[Manf]

Why wasn't the Gambino family more involved in the aftermath of Bruno's murder? Seems odd they just let the Genovese family deal with it.

[Super]

I agree manf Gambino and Bruno had business and was close i thought the relationship was the same with Paul.