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

[Little_Al1991]

Amuso was calling some of the older Bronx old timers in, who were all gazillionares, for an accounting and breakdown of their rackets...and they balked. Going to go out on a limb and speculate that a lot of people in that family got used to autonomy and not kicking up what they should have been, for years, and Amuso rightfully as a boss should, was trying to get his arms around it. Instead he was met with blatant disrespect and he acted the only way acceptable in that life.

I think this is likely pretty accurate.

Hard to say those two destroyed the family when Vic is still boss, still carries a lot of weight/respect, had and probably still has respect from the other familes, etc. Here I was on these boards back in like 2009-2010 thinking Amuso was just rotting away by himself in Jail and people like Crea and DiNapoli were in official positions running everything, and the Brooklyn guys who were coming home around that time were going to be shelved LOL. "Bronx told Brooklyn to kick rocks" , we find out none of that was remotely true at all

Ditto. I was singing the tune that Amuso was GONE and Crea was 100% official. Guys like PB didnt help. All bullshit.


Rocco, cat got your tongue?

PB clearly disliked Vic and Gas, he didn’t have good things to say about them.He was also so biased towards the Bronx Faction.He disregarded what the FBI and Jerry Capeci said about Vic Amuso being the boss and went onto claim that Crea was the boss.

[newera_212]

Amuso was calling some of the older Bronx old timers in, who were all gazillionares, for an accounting and breakdown of their rackets...and they balked. Going to go out on a limb and speculate that a lot of people in that family got used to autonomy and not kicking up what they should have been, for years, and Amuso rightfully as a boss should, was trying to get his arms around it. Instead he was met with blatant disrespect and he acted the only way acceptable in that life.

I think this is likely pretty accurate.

Hard to say those two destroyed the family when Vic is still boss, still carries a lot of weight/respect, had and probably still has respect from the other familes, etc. Here I was on these boards back in like 2009-2010 thinking Amuso was just rotting away by himself in Jail and people like Crea and DiNapoli were in official positions running everything, and the Brooklyn guys who were coming home around that time were going to be shelved LOL. "Bronx told Brooklyn to kick rocks" , we find out none of that was remotely true at all

Ditto. I was singing the tune that Amuso was GONE and Crea was 100% official. Guys like PB didnt help. All bullshit.


Rocco, cat got your tongue?

PB clearly disliked Vic and Gas, he didn’t have good things to say about them.He was also so biased towards the Bronx Faction.He disregarded what the FBI and Jerry Capeci said about Vic Amuso being the boss and went onto claim that Crea was the boss.

In fairness to him, when he wasn't locked up, Crea was actively involved with the admin for essentially as long as any of these Boards have existed . Maybe the people that poster knew thought Crea was the official boss themselves. We've seen a lot that even if someone does have some sort of connection whether it's really trivial or not, the scope is always going to be limited . One thing he did used to say was that Crea's son was not involved and was a good, legit guy. That's partially true as well, as one of Crea's sons falls into that category - the other son obviously got caught up as a Capo allegedly ordering a murder. I really think that unless you were in direct contact with the Admin and/or were involved with the Brooklyn crews who had direct contact with Amuso - there was probably no real way for anyone to know the extent of Amuso's involvement ...potentially including associates and even Soliders of certain crews of the family. I'm not saying Amuso was some shadow boss or using Genovese tactics, but for an associate in the Bronx who is focused on working certain rackets only and dealing with a certain guy only... there's no reason for anyone in that position to know who the Boss is outside of gossip. Maybe the Bronx guys didn't gossip (LOL)? Maybe the Bronx guys were just doing their own thing and only dealing with Crea ,not worrying about where the money may go after him.

All that's certain is that Amuso is and was the boss and the family wasn't as fractured as we thought - although they did seem to be geographically isolated from one another and run 'fiefdoms' more so than a combined family. Pennisi's visited the social club up there a few times but it sounded like he really had nothing to do with any of the Bronx guys - I remember on some livestream Q & A's people were asking him about Bronx crew guys and a few of them he said he had only heard of them, and heard of them through public info *after* he had left the life.

[newera_212]

Not sure where to put this, but it's somewhat relevant to Casso at least - but did anyone catch the live stream with Calandra and Tommy Dates re: the Mafia Cops case? I gotta say I've moved past a lot of these podcasts... but Jesus... this one was great. I haven't read any of the books about the Mafia Cops so maybe this was covered already, but to me, I feel like Dates covered a lot of new ground and has some really great info. Just little extra details about some of the murders, their victims, etc. They are going to do a 4-5 part series on it.

Dades really doesn't seem like a bad guy at all. He mentioned that Casso's 302s exceeds well over 200 pages or something like that and he hasn't read them all - but that'd be awesome to track that down. Also would be great to see some of the paperwork surrounding the "Lucchese 22" plea - 6 Lucchese guys global plea'ing to 22 murders combined (this was what led to people like Lastorino and Zappola seeing the light of day)

[Pmac2]

i remeber reading gangland way back in 2012 or 2014. someone corrected capeci and gangland. jerry wrote when vic amusos wife died crea and everyone in the family showed up to the wake. he stated that amuso was still official boss back then but jerry was saying amuso was only a figure head but he was wrong from what pennisi says

[Little_Al1991]

Amuso was calling some of the older Bronx old timers in, who were all gazillionares, for an accounting and breakdown of their rackets...and they balked. Going to go out on a limb and speculate that a lot of people in that family got used to autonomy and not kicking up what they should have been, for years, and Amuso rightfully as a boss should, was trying to get his arms around it. Instead he was met with blatant disrespect and he acted the only way acceptable in that life.

I think this is likely pretty accurate.

Hard to say those two destroyed the family when Vic is still boss, still carries a lot of weight/respect, had and probably still has respect from the other familes, etc. Here I was on these boards back in like 2009-2010 thinking Amuso was just rotting away by himself in Jail and people like Crea and DiNapoli were in official positions running everything, and the Brooklyn guys who were coming home around that time were going to be shelved LOL. "Bronx told Brooklyn to kick rocks" , we find out none of that was remotely true at all

Ditto. I was singing the tune that Amuso was GONE and Crea was 100% official. Guys like PB didnt help. All bullshit.


Rocco, cat got your tongue?

PB clearly disliked Vic and Gas, he didn’t have good things to say about them.He was also so biased towards the Bronx Faction.He disregarded what the FBI and Jerry Capeci said about Vic Amuso being the boss and went onto claim that Crea was the boss.

In fairness to him, when he wasn't locked up, Crea was actively involved with the admin for essentially as long as any of these Boards have existed . Maybe the people that poster knew thought Crea was the official boss themselves. We've seen a lot that even if someone does have some sort of connection whether it's really trivial or not, the scope is always going to be limited . One thing he did used to say was that Crea's son was not involved and was a good, legit guy. That's partially true as well, as one of Crea's sons falls into that category - the other son obviously got caught up as a Capo allegedly ordering a murder. I really think that unless you were in direct contact with the Admin and/or were involved with the Brooklyn crews who had direct contact with Amuso - there was probably no real way for anyone to know the extent of Amuso's involvement ...potentially including associates and even Soliders of certain crews of the family. I'm not saying Amuso was some shadow boss or using Genovese tactics, but for an associate in the Bronx who is focused on working certain rackets only and dealing with a certain guy only... there's no reason for anyone in that position to know who the Boss is outside of gossip. Maybe the Bronx guys didn't gossip (LOL)? Maybe the Bronx guys were just doing their own thing and only dealing with Crea ,not worrying about where the money may go after him.

All that's certain is that Amuso is and was the boss and the family wasn't as fractured as we thought - although they did seem to be geographically isolated from one another and run 'fiefdoms' more so than a combined family. Pennisi's visited the social club up there a few times but it sounded like he really had nothing to do with any of the Bronx guys - I remember on some livestream Q & A's people were asking him about Bronx crew guys and a few of them he said he had only heard of them, and heard of them through public info *after* he had left the life.

For me, what makes it clear is the type of guy that Vic Amuso is.Vic is definitely not the type of guy to ever be a figurehead but I think it comes down to a lot of misinformation going around about Vic.We definitely don’t have the true story about Vic who’s been the boss of the Lucchese Family since 1986…Crea is not an Amuso loyalist but it’s clear that he really respects Amuso even back when we didn’t have information from Pennisi which proves it.Amuso allegedly promoted Crea to Capo, he also made him the Acting Consigliere of the family when Vic and Gas became fugitives.Matthew Madonna who at the time people thought he was either the Underboss or Acting Boss.Madonna only went to the top because Amuso put him on the ruling panel.Well actually I should kind of rephrase that.Madonna deservedly became a big guy in the family but at the end of the day it was Vic who put him there in 2004, this information was publicly known back then.Also, once the FBI and Jerry Capeci said that Vic Amuso is the boss i would like to respectfully say that it should have been settled right then and there but instead PB thought he knew better than both of them and said Crea was the boss (and no I am not taking a shot at PB) I am interested in hearing his current thoughts on the Lucchese Family and the takeover by DeSantis but he hasn’t made any comments about it

[Little_Al1991]

i remeber reading gangland way back in 2012 or 2014. someone corrected capeci and gangland. jerry wrote when vic amusos wife died crea and everyone in the family showed up to the wake. he stated that amuso was still official boss back then but jerry was saying amuso was only a figure head but he was wrong from what pennisi says

That was a fantastic article, the title was “ Vic Amuso Begins His 24th Year In Federal Custody As Luchese Family Boss”
Here’s the entirety of it for anyone who hasn’t read it.

Next Monday marks the 23d anniversary of the day when two young FBI agents standing at a shopping mall outside of Scranton, Pennsylvania made one of the great collars in mob history. The target was Vittorio (Vic) Amuso, the fugitive boss of the Luchese crime family who had been on the lam for more than a year. All agents Stephen Byrne and Cindy Peil had to go on were some old photos. But they also had listened to a recording of Amuso talking on a wiretap. So as soon as they heard the distinctive high-pitched voice of the man wearing shades and a baseball cap speaking on a mall payphone they knew they had their man.

The 79-year-old wiseguy has been behind bars ever since. But while the feds can take a gang land chief out of circulation, they can't take his Mafia crown away from him. And from that day forward, even though he's been in federal custody for nearly a quarter century, Vic Amuso has remained the undisputed boss of his crime family.

That's right, uninterrupted. Despite what you may have read earlier — right here in Gang Land — Amuso's reign has been continuous since he took over in 1986 after his predecessor, Antonio (Tony Ducks) Corallo, was convicted in the historic Commission case, sentenced to 100 years, and ceded his lofty post to Amuso. Despite pressure from some underlings, and the difficulty of running a crime family from cells in the multiple prisons where he's been confined since his 1992 conviction, Amuso has retained his spot atop the battered borghata.

In other words, scratch that erroneous report that appeared here back in February, 2012 that Amuso had been replaced by longtime acting boss Steven (Stevie Wonder) Crea. Wrong. Maybe it was wishful thinking on the part of some otherwise usually reliable sources, but it turns out the rumors of Little Vic's alleged demise as Luchese boss were greatly exaggerated.

Don't get the wrong idea: Gang Land did not receive an official communique on the subject from Amuso, who is serving his life sentence these days at a medium security prison in Maryland. And neither Crea, 66, nor Matthew Madonna, 78, who sources say is Stevie Wonder's right-hand-man and serves as Amuso's "street boss," have contacted us either. Law enforcement authorities also offered no official comment on the matter.

But enough sources have since come forward to dispute the earlier claim about Amuso stepping down, that we now set the record straight: Vic Amuso remains the official boss of the Luchese crime family.

The closest thing to an official confirmation about Amuso's status came in April from the testimony by FBI agent Kenneth Terracciano at the racketeering trial of Luchese mobster Nicodemo Scarfo Jr. in Camden Federal Court. Terracciano, a Newark-based G-man, offered a simple declarative sentence on the matter: Amuso, he said, "is the boss of the Luchese family."

That claim has since been bolstered by several well-placed law enforcement and underworld sources, all of whom agree that Vic is still on top.

Not only is he still running the show, Amuso has no intention of giving up his post until he leaves the custody of the federal Bureau of Prisons, "one way or the other," said one law enforcement official. Sources say Amuso's mindset is the same as two contemporary mob bosses who died in prison, John Gotti and Vincent (Chin) Gigante, as well as Colombo boss Carmine (Junior) Persico, who's been incarcerated since 1984.

"By now," added the official, whom we'll identify as LEO#1 (Law Enforcement Official #1), "Vic knows he's not walking out; he's getting out in a body bag."

"There is no doubt, Vic is the man, end of story," agreed a second longtime mob buster who's been making cases against New York wiseguys for more than 20 years. "Vic has always been the (Luchese) boss," said LEO#2.

The longtime mob buster, as well as a third official, LEO#3, noted that when Amuso's wife Barbara died two years ago, it was "standing room only" at the one-day wake at the James Romanelli-Stephen Funeral Home on Rockaway Boulevard in Ozone Park on March 2, 2012. Mrs. Amuso, 69, was laid to rest the following day at St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale.

Barbara Amuso, who was a vocal supporter of her husband at trial, and who got into a shouting match with prosecutor Charles Rose outside the courtroom after her husband was sentenced to life for ordering nine mob murders and numerous other crimes, died on February 29, 2012 — six days after Gang Land's faux pas that her husband had stepped down.

"Amuso sent out word that he wanted everyone to show up, and the place was packed," said LEO#2. "The Lucheses showed up en masse," added LEO#3, who noted that a "sprinkling" of Gambinos from the Howard Beach, Queens area, where both Gotti and Amuso lived, also paid their respects.

Sources say that like virtually the entire crime family, Crea, the Bronx-based former boxer who owned construction companies and made millions of dollars though bid-rigging, price-fixing and kickback schemes involving construction industry union officials, and Madonna, attended the wake.

All of that jibes with what one underworld source (call him UW#1) told us: "Vic is still in the chair, still running the show," he said. "They (Luchese mobsters) don't like the fact that he's still calling the shots, but he's not giving it up. He's the boss," said the mob associate, a longtime cohort of the Luchese and Bonanno crime families.

It all makes sense to former FBI supervisor George Gabriel, who spearheaded the investigation that ended with John Gotti being sentenced to life in prison.

Gabriel, who was on the FBI team that scooped up turncoat acting Luchese boss Alfonso (Little Al) D'Arco two months after Amuso was arrested, told Gang Land he is not surprised that Amuso is holding on to his official title. D'Arco later was the key witness against his old mob boss at trial.

"Amuso and John Gotti are both cut from the same cloth, or similar cloth," said Gabriel.

"They both have the kind of ego that wouldn't let them walk away from being the boss of the family even though the rules of Cosa Nostra dictate that they should step down when they get life incarceration, or even a very long sentence for the good of the crime family," said Gabriel.

"And Vic knows, like John knew, that if you give it up, not only are you out of sight, you're out of mind," said Gabriel. "The only way to insure that their own family is taken care of is to hold onto the reins of the crime family, and maintain the access to the crime family's money."

Amuso went on the lam in May of 1990 when he learned he was about to be hit with racketeering charges. The plan was for him and his number two, Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso to lay low long enough so that they could learn from the trials of those they left behind the kind of evidence the feds had against them.

But that plan went awry at 11 AM on Sunday, July 28, 1991 when agents Byrne and Peil showed up at the Viewmont Mall just off of Interstate 81 in Dickson City, PA. Sources say the agents went there after the FBI received an anonymous letter pinpointing a specific pay phone where "a fugitive New York organized crime boss" would be receiving a phone call.

Like a kidnap ransom note, the missive consisted of letters cut from newspapers and magazines. It arrived at the Queens-based squad on the previous Friday. Considered a likely wild goose chase, rookie agents Byrne and Peil were selected to handle the Sunday morning assignment. The thinking was there was "little chance of success," recalled a former member of the Luchese family squad (dub him LEO#4).

In addition to looking at photos of Amuso, Byrne and Peil listened as one agent played them a tape recording of Amuso's voice that had been picked up on a wiretap. The older agent offered a comparison: Amuso, he said, "sounds just like the guy with the high-pitched voice on the Bowery Boys," referring to one of the characters in the slapstick movies about kids from the lower East Side, said LEO#4.

At the mall, the agents weren't sure they had their man. Amuso showed up wearing a cap, Aviator sun glasses, shorts, and a T shirt. He could have been any suburban dad stopping off at the mall on a family errand. Then they sidled up to him. As they drew near, they heard the same "high pitched voice" they had heard two days earlier. Bingo.

Amuso was placed under arrest. The boss clammed up right away. He didn't say a word to the agents, or anyone else for the next 24 hours, said LEO#4. It wasn't until Scranton Federal Judge William Nealon told him he would have to wait four days in a local jail for "an identity hearing," that he finally piped up. "I'm Vic Amuso," he said in his squeaky voice.

"All I remember about the arrest is that they did an excellent job," said John Kapp, a former supervisor of the FBI's Luchese family squad. "They gave up a weekend, they moved on a tip that the FBI had received, and they arrested the boss of the Luchese crime family."

Make that the still reigning boss of the Luchese crime family.

[Little_Al1991]

Not sure where to put this, but it's somewhat relevant to Casso at least - but did anyone catch the live stream with Calandra and Tommy Dates re: the Mafia Cops case? I gotta say I've moved past a lot of these podcasts... but Jesus... this one was great. I haven't read any of the books about the Mafia Cops so maybe this was covered already, but to me, I feel like Dates covered a lot of new ground and has some really great info. Just little extra details about some of the murders, their victims, etc. They are going to do a 4-5 part series on it.

Dades really doesn't seem like a bad guy at all. He mentioned that Casso's 302s exceeds well over 200 pages or something like that and he hasn't read them all - but that'd be awesome to track that down. Also would be great to see some of the paperwork surrounding the "Lucchese 22" plea - 6 Lucchese guys global plea'ing to 22 murders combined (this was what led to people like Lastorino and Zappola seeing the light of day)

A tv show or a movie will be made about the Mafia Cops.Terrence Winter is involved in the project along with Sammy The Bull Gravano as a consultant and Tommy Dades is also on the project.

[johnny_scootch]

Crea is not an Amuso loyalist

I’d say Crea was the main Amuso loyalist all those years.

[Pmac2]

the gaspipe 302's are out there somewhere. the federal prosecutors had to give them to any defendant who requested them for a trial and gaspipe gave up alot of guys. we need those to be located and published it would solve everything. 1 being how amuso became boss.

[Little_Al1991]

Crea is not an Amuso loyalist

I’d say Crea was the main Amuso loyalist all those years.

When DeSantis sent the message to Vic which said “There are guys out here loyal to you who want to bring the family back to Brooklyn” It was referring to guys such as DeSantis,Dellorusso,Zappola and Frankie Bones.By the time that message was sent in 2017, the Lucchese Family actually had 0 crews in Brooklyn which is crazy…They all respected Crea but he wasn’t technically seen as an Amuso loyalist

[Little_Al1991]

the gaspipe 302's are out there somewhere. the federal prosecutors had to give them to any defendant who requested them for a trial and gaspipe gave up alot of guys. we need those to be located and published it would solve everything. 1 being how amuso became boss.

An FOIA request has been made for Anthony Casso https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-sta ... 009/#comms
Though I highly doubt they will really release a lot of information that we want to see.Casso’s allegations about a corrupt FBI Agent McCane certainly won’t be on there though of course that is if Casso did tell prosecutors about it because they claim he never once said anything about a corrupt FBI Agent.
A lot of the information will be redacted once anything about Gaspipe is released

[Snakes]

the gaspipe 302's are out there somewhere. the federal prosecutors had to give them to any defendant who requested them for a trial and gaspipe gave up alot of guys. we need those to be located and published it would solve everything. 1 being how amuso became boss.

An FOIA request has been made for Anthony Casso https://www.muckrock.com/foi/united-sta ... 009/#comms
Though I highly doubt they will really release a lot of information that we want to see.Casso’s allegations about a corrupt FBI Agent McCane certainly won’t be on there though of course that is if Casso did tell prosecutors about it because they claim he never once said anything about a corrupt FBI Agent.
A lot of the information will be redacted once anything about Gaspipe is released

I hope this person is still gonna be interested in these records 15 years from now because that's probably when they will see the first release.

[johnny_scootch]

They all respected Crea but he wasn’t technically seen as an Amuso loyalist

How exactly are you determining what he was seen as?

If we go by actions alone he was as loyal to Amuso as any other member of that family you could name, it’s part of the reason he was so respected.

[Little_Al1991]

They all respected Crea but he wasn’t technically seen as an Amuso loyalist

How exactly are you determining what he was seen as?

If we go by actions alone he was as loyal to Amuso as any other member of that family you could name, it’s part of the reason he was so respected.

That is true, he was very loyal to Amuso but when that letter was sent, it is important to point out that it was done behind Crea’s back from what we know.The Amuso loyalists all knew about it, DeSantis,Dellorusso,Zappola,Papagni.The guys who are seen as Amuso loyalists are the guys from the old Brooklyn crew.I understand your point about him being loyal to Amuso, which he was, absolutely no doubt he was.
I should have rephrased that sentence about Crea not being seen as an Amuso loyalist, that was an assumption made by me and the reason I said it is because of the points that I have made which suggest that while he was very loyal to Amuso, he wasn’t technically seen as an Amuso loyalist.

[funkster]

Not sure where to put this, but it's somewhat relevant to Casso at least - but did anyone catch the live stream with Calandra and Tommy Dates re: the Mafia Cops case? I gotta say I've moved past a lot of these podcasts... but Jesus... this one was great. I haven't read any of the books about the Mafia Cops so maybe this was covered already, but to me, I feel like Dates covered a lot of new ground and has some really great info. Just little extra details about some of the murders, their victims, etc. They are going to do a 4-5 part series on it.

Dades really doesn't seem like a bad guy at all. He mentioned that Casso's 302s exceeds well over 200 pages or something like that and he hasn't read them all - but that'd be awesome to track that down. Also would be great to see some of the paperwork surrounding the "Lucchese 22" plea - 6 Lucchese guys global plea'ing to 22 murders combined (this was what led to people like Lastorino and Zappola seeing the light of day)

Thanks for the recommendation, this was a good episode...just finished.