5 years late / D'Arco book

[Ozgoz]

I know I'm a bit behind the times here (was patiently waiting for the torrent to come out, I know Al wouldn't want it any other way lol) but a few things struck me from the book.

I know his whole premise for ratting is he thought he was going to be killed, but he said it himself, blood in blood out, so he should just admit he's a rat, by his own rules?
Secondly, he buttressed his ratting by one throw away line from Anthony Spero about killing kids and children, then referenced it a couple times in justification... that is weak, one comment from one guy in another family? People talk shit all the time.

Secondly, and I'm sure it's harder than it looks...... but how fucking useless can one group of gangsters be at killing people? What's with the stabbing? Surely that just makes it worse all round? And when they tried to kill him in the hotel room, and they were making personal jokes, seriously? I can't remember who it was (Lastorino and Avellino?) it's embarrassing to read. I'm not saying I could do it but they're supposed to be professionals lol..... or maybe it's all a rouse by D'Arco to support the notion they were trying to kill him to justify him ratting.

[bronx]

agree

[Ozgoz]

Same as the Pappadio murder.... by the time D'Arco hit him on the head 5 times he could've just shot him once. Less pain and fear for Pappadio, easier for D'Arco, and no clean up for Avellino lol. The whole episode is absurd.
As I say, probably all harder than it looks!

[Manf]

I don't believe they were planning to kill him the hotel room. Nothing about that makes any sense imo.

[Frank]

Same as the Pappadio murder.... by the time D'Arco hit him on the head 5 times he could've just shot him once. Less pain and fear for Pappadio, easier for D'Arco, and no clean up for Avellino lol. The whole episode is absurd.
As I say, probably all harder than it looks!

Is there any info about if Pappadio had taken over the Family as defacto boss.

[newera_212]

Same as the Pappadio murder.... by the time D'Arco hit him on the head 5 times he could've just shot him once. Less pain and fear for Pappadio, easier for D'Arco, and no clean up for Avellino lol. The whole episode is absurd.
As I say, probably all harder than it looks!

Is there any info about if Pappadio had taken over the Family as defacto boss.

no, but it mentioned his brother had done the same or was floated as a candidate when Lucchese himself died and Corrallo, Tramunti, et. al. were fighting cases. by the time Mike Pappadio was killed (in the book) he was basically legit -well, quasi legit- running whatever he had left in the garment center.

i thought the d'arco book was one of the better mob books there was, especially in the snitch-biography sub genre. i loved reading about the old new york...places and the culture of the city that was long gone before i was born. d'arco's memory when it came to those type of things was insane

re: the "hotel hit" - kinda crazy these guys would plan to stage a fake meeting and kill one or two people in the middle of a midtown hotel. seems retarded, but then again the higher ups at that time had a "by any means necessary" mentality. i dont know what to believe

[Ozgoz]

Yeah no definitely it was a treat for someone like D'Arco to recall all that stuff, rare and insightful.
I actually thought a lot of the writing from Capeci and Robbins was quite dry, like the book was just a great big long list of facts and descriptions not like murder machine which was like an intense novel.
But yeah kudos to D'Arco for bringing that history to the table

[AlexfromSouth]

D'arco had a few things wrong. Amuso's were from Canarsie not the navy yard. I found them in the 1940 census living some where on east 104th st and glenwood rd

[NYNighthawk]

D'Arco is a survivor and was able to save his immediate blood family via WITSEC. Gaspipe was a madman - he was having everyone killed. I believe they would have killed him in the hotel in midtown simply because Casso wanted it done yesterday! The Creas- father and son - are in a whole lotta trouble right now. No bail and the Meldish murder is not going away. Personally I see the Creas doing a D'Arco and flipping.

[JOJO]

The Kimberly Hotel is very quiet. I would know i lived there for 11 months during/after my divorce. There's no way anybody could a. shoot someone in there and b. get the body out. Some of the residences have terraces though.

[The Cat]

He would never been aloud to exit the rom if it was a hit

[richard_belding]

Also, the amount of guys in the room (something like 15?), in addition to men from other families.. a hit like that in front of that many higher ups seems damn questionable.

The whole DeSantis Godfather gunplay in and out of the bathroom.. why go through all that trouble? D'Arco may have been seeing things given he was paranoid at the time and likely was on the clock but i dont think he was set to be hit there

[newera_212]

Also, the amount of guys in the room (something like 15?), in addition to men from other families.. a hit like that in front of that many higher ups seems damn questionable.

The whole DeSantis Godfather gunplay in and out of the bathroom.. why go through all that trouble? D'Arco may have been seeing things given he was paranoid at the time and likely was on the clock but i dont think he was set to be hit there

i think there was only 5 or 6 people in the room. re: people from other families, i think they had a meeting with anthony spero and someone else about a inter-family gambling debt but that was either before desantis came up, or on a different day all together. i could be wrong, been years since i read the book, but i think they meet at the kimberley twice; the first time could have been the spero meeting?

[TommyNoto]

Same as the Pappadio murder.... by the time D'Arco hit him on the head 5 times he could've just shot him once. Less pain and fear for Pappadio, easier for D'Arco, and no clean up for Avellino lol. The whole episode is absurd.
As I say, probably all harder than it looks!

Is there any info about if Pappadio had taken over the Family as defacto boss.

no, but it mentioned his brother had done the same or was floated as a candidate when Lucchese himself died and Corrallo, Tramunti, et. al. were fighting cases. by the time Mike Pappadio was killed (in the book) he was basically legit -well, quasi legit- running whatever he had left in the garment center.

i thought the d'arco book was one of the better mob books there was, especially in the snitch-biography sub genre. i loved reading about the old new york...places and the culture of the city that was long gone before i was born. d'arco's memory when it came to those type of things was insane

re: the "hotel hit" - kinda crazy these guys would plan to stage a fake meeting and kill one or two people in the middle of a midtown hotel. seems retarded, but then again the higher ups at that time had a "by any means necessary" mentality. i dont know what to believe

That garment district business had a huge shylocking operation, basically a massive annuity . My guess is that's what the top guys goal was above all

[newera_212]

Same as the Pappadio murder.... by the time D'Arco hit him on the head 5 times he could've just shot him once. Less pain and fear for Pappadio, easier for D'Arco, and no clean up for Avellino lol. The whole episode is absurd.
As I say, probably all harder than it looks!

Is there any info about if Pappadio had taken over the Family as defacto boss.

no, but it mentioned his brother had done the same or was floated as a candidate when Lucchese himself died and Corrallo, Tramunti, et. al. were fighting cases. by the time Mike Pappadio was killed (in the book) he was basically legit -well, quasi legit- running whatever he had left in the garment center.

i thought the d'arco book was one of the better mob books there was, especially in the snitch-biography sub genre. i loved reading about the old new york...places and the culture of the city that was long gone before i was born. d'arco's memory when it came to those type of things was insane

re: the "hotel hit" - kinda crazy these guys would plan to stage a fake meeting and kill one or two people in the middle of a midtown hotel. seems retarded, but then again the higher ups at that time had a "by any means necessary" mentality. i dont know what to believe

That garment district business had a huge shylocking operation, basically a massive annuity . My guess is that's what the top guys goal was above all

damn, that makes sense. plus running shops and having a legit income source. had to be one of the best rackets in NY.

its a shame. i know with globalization and the de-industrialization of new york a lot of the garment center stuff is gone, but honestly guys like Pappadio et. al. probably had something to do with speeding up the demise. all the shit these guys were chiseling from, the costs got passed to the consumer. i love reading about these guys but jesus, they made NYC a very difficult place to live. lol