Hickey DiLorenzo/Ralph DeSimone

[Browniety86]

Does anyone have any info on these two hits the Genovese carried out?

[Raven]

Al D'arco talks about the DiLorenzo hit in his book and stuff about it can be found online. Never heard of Ralph DeSimone.

[eboli]

Does anyone have any info on these two hits the Genovese carried out?

This is an excerpt from my Bellomo writeup. It sums up the story behind the DeSimone hit.

In January 1991, Alphonse 'Little Al' D'Arco, a future government informant, was the newly appointed acting boss of the Lucchese crime family. D'Arco had a meeting with James 'Little Jimmy' Ida, then the Genovese crime family consigliere. Ida passed to Little Al a list with names of organized crime associates proposed for membership in the Genovese borgata. D'Arco shared the list's contents with the rest of the Lucchese administration to see if anybody had any problems with the proposed inductees. When Anthony 'Bowat' Baratta, who was the family's acting underboss, saw the name of Ralph DeSimone on the list, he exclaimed 'He's a rat!'.

An interfamily meeting was arranged in February 1991 to discuss the DeSimone problem. The Genovese were represented by Bellomo, Ida, and acting underboss Michele 'Mickey Dimino' Generoso. D'Arco, Baratta, and acting consigliere Steven 'Stevie Wonder' Crea Sr. showed up for the Lucchese. According to D'Arco, Baratta told everybody that DeSimone was a government informant. The Genovese leaders asked him if he was sure to which Bowat confirmed that he was. James Ida said, 'Could you get us the minutes?', implying they needed some time to reach a decision. At that point Generoso stepped forward and stated that 'We will take care of it', ending all deliberations about DeSimone's future. Alongside his short statement, Mickey Dimino made a motion with his hand and index finger like he was pulling the trigger of an imaginary gun. After Generoso's hand gesture, Ida said, 'Yeah,' and with that verbally confirmed the ruling. Everybody else nodded in agreement. Ralph DeSimone's fate was sealed.

On June 13, 1991, Ralph 'Cousin' DeSimone Jr., fifty-five, of Fort Lee, NJ, was found dead in the trunk of his car. His murder was dubbed a 'gangland-style execution' by the police investigators. DeSimone was kidnapped the previous day from the parking lot of a local business he owned, the 'Brushless Car Wash', located at 1620 Bergen Boulevard in Fort Lee. Later the same day he was allegedly murdered at Genovese crime family soldier Louis Ruggiero's New Jersey home. Desimone's son, Anthony, received a ransom demand of $150,000 a few hours after his father's disappearance. The police investigators speculated that the ransom note was just a distraction. Ralph DeSimone's body was found the next day. His Lincoln was abandoned in the long-term parking lot at LaGuardia Airport opposite the Delta Airlines Terminal. He was hogtied and had a plastic bag over his head. DeSimone was shot to death multiple times from a short distance, including twice in the head. At the time of his murder, he was identified by the New York Police Department as a convicted narcotics trafficker and a Gambino crime family associate, but his involvement in organized crime wasn't limited to the Gambinos. DeSimone was also associated with the Genovese crime family captain John 'Buster' Ardito's crew. They were partners in loansharking and narcotics trafficking.

[Raven]

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[Browniety86]

Hickey was the one they claimed was losing his mind and talking openly in meetings abt drug dealing with Raffie Cuomo right?

[Pogo The Clown]

So they whacked one of their guys just on the word of Baratta? Strange. Was it ever revealed if DeSimone was an informant?


Pogo

[eboli]

So they whacked one of their guys just on the word of Baratta? Strange. Was it ever revealed if DeSimone was an informant?


Pogo

It was never confirmed that DeSimone was a CI. Ida was found guilty for being part of the murder conspiracy against him and during the trial it was revealed that DeSimone was indebted to some wiseguys. His loansharking and drug distribution operations weren't doing great and might've played a part in his murder, or at the very least helped fuel the suspicions of him being a rat. DeSimone's brother Joe inherited some of these illegal operations. In 2000 he was busted alongside his son and his son-in-law Joe Caridi from the Lucchese for loansharking and running a drug ring in Englewood Cliffs.

[Browniety86]

So they whacked one of their guys just on the word of Baratta? Strange. Was it ever revealed if DeSimone was an informant?


Pogo

It was never confirmed that DeSimone was a CI. Ida was found guilty for being part of the murder conspiracy against him and during the trial it was revealed that DeSimone was indebted to some wiseguys. His loansharking and drug distribution operations weren't doing great and might've played a part in his murder, or at the very least helped fuel the suspicions of him being a rat. DeSimone's brother Joe inherited some of these illegal operations. In 2000 he was busted alongside his son and his son-in-law Joe Caridi from the Lucchese for loansharking and running a drug ring in Englewood Cliffs.

Eboli, who was Angelo Prisco's cousin that got hit when Tony D Palumbo went straight to Chin with the beef? Was skimming why he was hit? Sanguillo or something like that I think was his last name...

[Pogo The Clown]

Thanks for the additional info Eboli.


Pogo

[eboli]

So they whacked one of their guys just on the word of Baratta? Strange. Was it ever revealed if DeSimone was an informant?


Pogo

It was never confirmed that DeSimone was a CI. Ida was found guilty for being part of the murder conspiracy against him and during the trial it was revealed that DeSimone was indebted to some wiseguys. His loansharking and drug distribution operations weren't doing great and might've played a part in his murder, or at the very least helped fuel the suspicions of him being a rat. DeSimone's brother Joe inherited some of these illegal operations. In 2000 he was busted alongside his son and his son-in-law Joe Caridi from the Lucchese for loansharking and running a drug ring in Englewood Cliffs.

Eboli, who was Angelo Prisco's cousin that got hit when Tony D Palumbo went straight to Chin with the beef? Was skimming why he was hit? Sanguillo or something like that I think was his last name...

Angelo Sangiulo. He was straight up robbing Genovese gambling joints in the Bronx. Palumbo, who was acting capo, went to Chin and explained the situation. Chin tasked Prisco to murder Sangiulo because Sangiulo was Prisco's cousin and therefore his responsibility. Prisco's crew members John Letto and Paul Gaccione were the physical perpetrators. The hit happened in June 1992 in the back of a van driven by Gaccione when it was parked at a Macdonald's parking lot in Pelham Bay.

Letto, Gaccione and Sangiulo drove to the parking lot from Prisco's Westchester Square social club 'The Angélique', if I remember the name correctly. Sangiulo was lured in the van under a pretense they were helping him to deal with another person he had a beef with. Sangiulo was expecting they were going to hit the other guy, instead he was shot in the head by Letto when a subway train passed above them. Prisco drove the getaway car.

[Browniety86]

So they whacked one of their guys just on the word of Baratta? Strange. Was it ever revealed if DeSimone was an informant?


Pogo

It was never confirmed that DeSimone was a CI. Ida was found guilty for being part of the murder conspiracy against him and during the trial it was revealed that DeSimone was indebted to some wiseguys. His loansharking and drug distribution operations weren't doing great and might've played a part in his murder, or at the very least helped fuel the suspicions of him being a rat. DeSimone's brother Joe inherited some of these illegal operations. In 2000 he was busted alongside his son and his son-in-law Joe Caridi from the Lucchese for loansharking and running a drug ring in Englewood Cliffs.

Eboli, who was Angelo Prisco's cousin that got hit when Tony D Palumbo went straight to Chin with the beef? Was skimming why he was hit? Sanguillo or something like that I think was his last name...

Angelo Sangiulo. He was straight up robbing Genovese gambling joints in the Bronx. Palumbo, who was acting capo, went to Chin and explained the situation. Chin tasked Prisco to murder Sangiulo because Sangiulo was Prisco's cousin and therefore his responsibility. Prisco's crew members John Letto and Paul Gaccione were the physical perpetrators. The hit happened in June 1992 in the back of a van driven by Gaccione when it was parked at a Macdonald's parking lot in Pelham Bay.

Letto, Gaccione and Sangiulo drove to the parking lot from Prisco's Westchester Square social club 'The Angélique', if I remember the name correctly. Sangiulo was lured in the van under a pretense they were helping him to deal with another person he had a beef with. Sangiulo was expecting they were going to hit the other guy, instead he was shot in the head by Letto when a subway train passed above them. Prisco drove the getaway car.

With Tony D being an acting capo, he had the luxury of being direct with the boss? Or did he actually break protocol and should have reported the transgression to his official captain? Chin seemed like such a stickler for Cosa Nostra rules...

[eboli]

With Tony D being an acting capo, he had the luxury of being direct with the boss? Or did he actually break protocol and should have reported the transgression to his official captain? Chin seemed like such a stickler for Cosa Nostra rules...

Palumbo was reported to have been a Gigante loyalist. Very close with Cirillo and Pagano, who were direct with Chin and were important pieces of his power base.

[Browniety86]

With Tony D being an acting capo, he had the luxury of being direct with the boss? Or did he actually break protocol and should have reported the transgression to his official captain? Chin seemed like such a stickler for Cosa Nostra rules...

Palumbo was reported to have been a Gigante loyalist. Very close with Cirillo and Pagano, who were direct with Chin and were important pieces of his power base.

The more and more I read, I've really underestimated how much of a power Danny Pagano is in that family...he was relation to Andy Gerardo if I remember correctly

[eboli]

With Tony D being an acting capo, he had the luxury of being direct with the boss? Or did he actually break protocol and should have reported the transgression to his official captain? Chin seemed like such a stickler for Cosa Nostra rules...

Palumbo was reported to have been a Gigante loyalist. Very close with Cirillo and Pagano, who were direct with Chin and were important pieces of his power base.

The more and more I read, I've really underestimated how much of a power Danny Pagano is in that family...he was relation to Andy Gerardo if I remember correctly

Pagano's father had a lot to do with. He was Centorino's main guy in the carting industry. By the late 1980s, Danny Pagano took over for him and he was still in his 30s then. After his father died and Centorino died, and the Greenwich Village Crew was disbanded, all the guys he was close with like Cirillo, Prisco, Dentico became captains. He found himself in the middle of the large faction that was controlling the family. Probably would've been an important admin member if he wasn't busted.

[Philly d]

So they whacked one of their guys just on the word of Baratta? Strange. Was it ever revealed if DeSimone was an informant?


Pogo

It was never confirmed that DeSimone was a CI. Ida was found guilty for being part of the murder conspiracy against him and during the trial it was revealed that DeSimone was indebted to some wiseguys. His loansharking and drug distribution operations weren't doing great and might've played a part in his murder, or at the very least helped fuel the suspicions of him being a rat. DeSimone's brother Joe inherited some of these illegal operations. In 2000 he was busted alongside his son and his son-in-law Joe Caridi from the Lucchese for loansharking and running a drug ring in Englewood Cliffs.

Eboli, who was Angelo Prisco's cousin that got hit when Tony D Palumbo went straight to Chin with the beef? Was skimming why he was hit? Sanguillo or something like that I think was his last name...

Angelo Sangiulo. He was straight up robbing Genovese gambling joints in the Bronx. Palumbo, who was acting capo, went to Chin and explained the situation. Chin tasked Prisco to murder Sangiulo because Sangiulo was Prisco's cousin and therefore his responsibility. Prisco's crew members John Letto and Paul Gaccione were the physical perpetrators. The hit happened in June 1992 in the back of a van driven by Gaccione when it was parked at a Macdonald's parking lot in Pelham Bay.

Letto, Gaccione and Sangiulo drove to the parking lot from Prisco's Westchester Square social club 'The Angélique', if I remember the name correctly. Sangiulo was lured in the van under a pretense they were helping him to deal with another person he had a beef with. Sangiulo was expecting they were going to hit the other guy, instead he was shot in the head by Letto when a subway train passed above them. Prisco drove the getaway car.

With Tony D being an acting capo, he had the luxury of being direct with the boss? Or did he actually break protocol and should have reported the transgression to his official captain? Chin seemed like such a stickler for Cosa Nostra rules...

If he reported it to the official captain what would the point of being acting? He was made acting by Chin.