How Vic Amuso became the boss according to Vincent “Fish” Cafaro

[Little_Al1991]

"I also know Vic Amuso, who succeeded Buddy Luongo (Anthony Luongo) as boss of the Lucchese family. I remember discussing Luongo and Amuso with "Ralph the General" (Ralph Tutino), a Lucohese associate who was recently convicted in New York on federal drug charges. In December 1986, Ralph told me "Buddy's missing - he had an appointment in Brooklyn with Little Vic (meaning Amuso) and he never came back.“

A few days later, Ralph told me that Eddie Coco, "Mac" (Mariano Macaluso), and Vic Amuso were now running things for the Lucchese family. Luongo was never heard from again. Sammy Santora later told me that Luongo bad been murdered and that he believed that "the guy from Brooklyn" was responsible. I know "the guy from Brooklyn" to be "Little Vic" (Victor Amuso), the then consigliere of the Lucchese family.

Amuso’s mentor was "Christy Tick", who was and still is in prison, who backed Amuso in his bid for power. Eddie Coco is the power behind Amuso. Even though Amuso is boss, he takes counsel from Eddie Coco."

This is from “25 years after Valachi“ A chart of the Lucchese Family was shown from 1987 which identified Joseph Abate,Samuel Castaldi,Peter DiPalmieri,Anthony Luongo and Michael Salerno as Capo’s on one side of the chart and on the other side of the chart it identified Samuel Cavalieri,Joseph DiPalermo,Paul Vario and Robert Amuso as Capo’s

[Shellackhead]

No point in those veteran mobsters like
Furnari & Coco in advising Amuso because he was controlled by Casso. Casso said jump & Vic asked how high.

[Little_Al1991]

No point in those veteran mobsters like
Furnari & Coco in advising Amuso because he was controlled by Casso. Casso said jump & Vic asked how high.

I don’t believe he was totally controlled by Casso but it’s clear that Casso did influence him

[joeycigars]

Eddie Coco, "Mac" Mariano Macaluso , Any pictures of this guy ? never seen one ,

[Shellackhead]

No point in those veteran mobsters like
Furnari & Coco in advising Amuso because he was controlled by Casso. Casso said jump & Vic asked how high.

I don’t believe he was totally controlled by Casso but it’s clear that Casso did influence him

You know what I think? After Buddy got clipped I think Casso had all the attention & acumen to lead the family but he instead gave it to Vic. Vic knew that Casso had more weight street smarts & respect than he did so that’s why he listened to Casso so much. There’s no way that all those guys that Casso clipped were informants. Those guys have been around for decades & were huge earners. Or maybe the information he was getting from the Mafia Cops was legit?

[Pmac2]

It came out in the mafia cops trial louie eppolitto asked bruno faccillo to stop shaking down a friend of his and bruno disregarded it. So louie went to casso and fingerd bruno a informant. So he got whacked. Vic amuso kinda went the extra yard an told the killers to put a canary in his mouth. Makes you wonder if there was a little personal between the 2. But again casso give the info to amuso.

[Little_Al1991]

No point in those veteran mobsters like
Furnari & Coco in advising Amuso because he was controlled by Casso. Casso said jump & Vic asked how high.

I don’t believe he was totally controlled by Casso but it’s clear that Casso did influence him

You know what I think? After Buddy got clipped I think Casso had all the attention & acumen to lead the family but he instead gave it to Vic. Vic knew that Casso had more weight street smarts & respect than he did so that’s why he listened to Casso so much. There’s no way that all those guys that Casso clipped were informants. Those guys have been around for decades & were huge earners. Or maybe the information he was getting from the Mafia Cops was legit?

That’s what Casso claims, he claims that he even turned down the boss position but Casso has made a lot of claims, some of them have turned out to be a lie.In his book, he talks badly about Amuso but Vic Amuso has been the boss since 1986…Vic still carries a lot of respect today.I don’t think that Casso had “more weight street smarts and respect” Vic shelved Casso and that was it, Casso couldn’t do anything about it

[Little_Al1991]

It came out in the mafia cops trial louie eppolitto asked bruno faccillo to stop shaking down a friend of his and bruno disregarded it. So louie went to casso and fingerd bruno a informant. So he got whacked. Vic amuso kinda went the extra yard an told the killers to put a canary in his mouth. Makes you wonder if there was a little personal between the 2. But again casso give the info to amuso.

Official court documents have shown that Bruno was technically considering to become an informant. The Mafia Cops had told Casso that Bruno was planning on cooperating.According to “Facciolo v. City of New York” “On or about August 24, 1990, defendants Caracappa and Eppolito, then members of the NYPD, illegally used a confidential NYPD database to determine that Bruno Facciolo was planning on cooperating with the government against members of organized crime. Compl. ¶¶ 2, 18. Caracappa and Eppolito then informed Anthony Casso ("Casso"), a high-ranking member of an organized crime family in New York City, of Bruno's intention.”
A canary was put into his mouth as a warning to everybody else who was considering becoming an informant

[Pmac2]

Interesting. Guess they prevented it

[Luca]

There has to be more to this story. My personal opinion, I don’t think Tony ducks or any of the old timers wanted these guys at the top. I think they strong-armed their way to the top and none of the other crews had the muscle or the desire to fight them for it. They were burglars and drug dealers. Why would any of the family elders want them running things? Vic and gas were just the most vicious. Also, were they really as big of earners as everyone says? There were allot of millionaires in this crime family, were they really bringing in as much money as Casso claims? Who knows….it is interesting though.

[Shellackhead]

There has to be more to this story. My personal opinion, I don’t think Tony ducks or any of the old timers wanted these guys at the top. I think they strong-armed their way to the top and none of the other crews had the muscle or the desire to fight them for it. They were burglars and drug dealers. Why would any of the family elders want them running things? Vic and gas were just the most vicious. Also, were they really as big of earners as everyone says? There were allot of millionaires in this crime family, were they really bringing in as much money as Casso claims? Who knows….it is interesting though.

They were proteges of Christy Tick, who was Consigliere when the commission case was going on. So naturally he would put both of them up to take over. & you’re right about Corallo not liking guys like Casso & Vic because of drugs. But remember the other candidate, Anthony Luongo was whacked so he had no other option.

[Pmac2]

we debated this forever. most people think the order to kill anthony luongo came from ducks. ducks also appointed vic amuso so who knows. there was some type of diasgeement between tony ducks and his underboss santoro around the commission trial

[Uforeality]

Casso was a homicidal maniac and snitch. And he wasn't even a good snitch either.

[Little_Al1991]

There has to be more to this story. My personal opinion, I don’t think Tony ducks or any of the old timers wanted these guys at the top. I think they strong-armed their way to the top and none of the other crews had the muscle or the desire to fight them for it. They were burglars and drug dealers. Why would any of the family elders want them running things? Vic and gas were just the most vicious. Also, were they really as big of earners as everyone says? There were allot of millionaires in this crime family, were they really bringing in as much money as Casso claims? Who knows….it is interesting though.

I think a lot of it comes down to Christie Tick Furnari, as Corallo’s Consigliere it’s clear that he had Corallo’s ear and by that I mean he would be willing to listen to him.He must have definitely told Corallo to consider Vic and Gas for the boss position but as for what happened to Luongo, I remember seeing a great post about it which detailed all of the sources which spoke about Luongo’s disappearance

[johnny_scootch]

Why would any of the family elders want them running things?

You’re looking at things in hindsight. At the time Tony Ducks was going down Gaspipe was absolutely revered on the street, think Mickey Mantle or Joe Namath but a wiseguy. Him and Vic were a good team and they were Christy Ticks protégés that’s why they were given the family.

Im not sure if this is true but the way I always understood what happened to Buddy Luongo was that Buddy was angling to take control of the family supported by Tom Mix but something happened between Tom and Tony Ducks and so Tony had Vic kill Buddy.