Was Dellacroce an infomer?

[Confederate]

Many of the top guys had friendly relationships with FBI. In a way, they believed it may curry them some favor or leniency for any potential future indictment/conviction. It wasn’t as uncommon as you would think. It’s called playing both sides of the fence Super. I concur with Pogo, it wouldn’t surprise me to hear any mob chieftain did that.

Including possibly Accardo or DiFronzo. F.B.I. Agent Roemer was in love with Accardo to the point of nausea. lol

[Confederate]

This article was recently done by our own BH poster Ed:

http://mafiahistory.us/rattrap/ptmannarino.html

Great article! Thanks for posting it JCB. I really like all of Ed's articles. Burnstein's articles are vastly inferior compared to Ed in my opinion.

[DPG]

It has been established that it was a a Gambino informant who gave up the Commission meeting. The informant most likely being DeCicco. As for Dellacroce being an informant it wouldn't surprise me in the least he also gave up info as well.


Here is a great breakdown on DeCicco being an informant that B. post a while back.
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This topic still interests me and I can't remember the last time I brought it up, so I'll bring it up again.

Gus Sclafani, whose mother-in-law was able to get secret information from her job at the federal court, claimed to have info that Frank DeCicco was an informant. He made this claim before Paul Castellano died, I believe, and then Gotti/DeCicco had him killed shortly after the family takeover for spreading this rumor.

Now, Sclafani must have known how dangerous this information was. Even before Castellano died, DeCicco was one of the top rising stars in the family and was among the most popular members even in the opposing factions of the family. Sclafani knew that spreading a rumor like this could have some severely negative consequences for himself, but apparently the other information he provided to people like Corrao, etc. was very much correct. He must have strongly believed this was true before he opened his mouth about it.

When this comes up, I'm pretty sure the jerkoffs start saying "DeCicco was a stand-up guy! No way!" and even other mobsters apparently felt that way, enough to kill Sclafani over the rumor.

But here are a couple of things to consider:

**** An existing informant tipped off LE about the Staten Island Commission meeting. Aside from those who attended the meeting, all of whom ended up charged in the Commission Case, DeCicco is the only person we positively know of who knew about the time and location of the meeting. The meeting was facilitated by the Gambino family, and DeCicco, who had the run of Staten Island, served as a chauffeur and point of contact for those who attended. It is highly unlikely any of the men at the actual meeting tipped off LE considering they all got sentenced to 100 years in prison as a result. We also don't know of anyone else aside from DeCicco in the Gambino family who knew that the meeting was happening, let alone the specifics of the time/date/location, all of which DeCicco had to know considering his support role at the meeting. Of course it is possible that other people knew, but my point is he is the only person that we positively know of who knew these details.

**** As I said before, Sclafani's other information was correct. He had an inside connection that gave him secret information known to the feds, and his other info prior to the DeCicco rumor was apparently legitimate and helped NY mobsters stay one step ahead of the government. Why would this be wrong? And why would he spread a rumor that could get him killed if it was based on flimsy facts?

**** We know DeCicco was a rulebreaker. He was one of the principal conspirators in the Paul Castellano hit and without him it's possible John Gotti may not have even had the balls to do it, not to mention the fact that it was DeCicco who set Castellano up at Sparks Steakhouse. DeCicco was the reason Gravano and possibly others went along with the plan as well. Someone who is willing to break the cardinal rule of killing a boss might also break other cardinal rules, don't you think? Like say, informing on the bosses of the five families when they have a Commission meeting? Gravano certainly fell into the same category and look what he ended up doing.

We'll never know the answer to this, but as we find out more and more people were CIs, it looks more and more like DeCicco was a rat who informed on the Commission meeting and who knows what else.Top

**** When the feds bugged Paul Castellano's home, they had an informant who told them exactly where Castellano talked business with his capos, so that's how they knew where to put the bug. Not that many people were invited into Paul Castellano's home, let alone for high-level meetings, but who was one of his regular trusted visitors and knew Castellano's routine at home? Frank DeCicco. He even appears in two of the few photos that have surfaced from inside of Castellano's house.

What info did dellacroce give up?

Believe Pogo simply forgot to put an if in the sentence. Would not be surprised if he gave info.

[DPG]

This article was recently done by our own BH poster Ed:

http://mafiahistory.us/rattrap/ptmannarino.html

Is 'Ed' his name on here? Had a few questions for him.

[willychichi]

This article was recently done by our own BH poster Ed:

http://mafiahistory.us/rattrap/ptmannarino.html

Is 'Ed' his name on here? Had a few questions for him.

Yes that's him.

[B.]

Wouldn't be surprising at this point if Dellacroce gave up info, as others have said. Informants/witnesses are often killers and otherwise known as tough guys. It could be that sociopathic tendencies lend themselves to both killing your associates and hurting them legally. I believe the newspaper article about Dellacroce said he had been informing for decades. Consider that Dellacroce was in an incredibly difficult position after the Anastasia murder, with the Robilotto/Rava faction he was a part of potentially going to war with the Biondo/Riccobono/Gambino faction. There then appears to have been in-fighting between Robilotto and Rava, with both ending up dead. Dellacroce somehow was able to negotiate himself into a favorable position with the new regime and it doesn't seem too crazy that he may have been making negotiations "outside" the mafia as well but who knows. Other unlikely informants like Bill Bonanno and others began to cooperate under similar circumstances.

As for the article itself, some aspects of it sound ridiculous, like the agent rolling up to the Ravenite. That said, it is hard to believe the journalist made the entire story up himself just to fuck with everyone. It's more likely a source in LE dropped the info to him. Whether or not an LE source would have the motivation to give Dellacroce/the mafia a black eye is another question. Would be curious if JD or HK or anyone has seen any informants in old docs who could potentially fit Dellacroce's profile.

Re-reading my old post about DeCicco, I sounded a bit too "convinced" that DeCicco was an informant, but I did want to make the argument even though there may have been other candidates we're not aware of. DeCicco does seem to have been at the center of several "interesting" situations. The agents said the Commission informant was a "Mr. G" in their book (which contained admitted lies/misinformation) but that could stand for anything, including "Gambino". Greg Scarpa was not in a position to know about a Commission meeting from any of the available information we have. He was already suspected of being an informant by the Colombo leadership and there's no reason to believe he was close enough to the Colombo representatives to hear about the time/date/location of a Commission meeting. I'm not sure if the public Scarpa files cover the exact timeline of that Commission meeting but I've read through most of his info on the 1980s and haven't seen anything about it.

[SonnyBlackstein]

bronx had some points.

Personally, Dellacroce an informat? If it’s purely circumstantial then the case could be made against anyone. And considering it’s speculation at this stage, you have to lean towards innocent until proven guilty.

Great claims require great evidence.

[B.]

As for DeCicco, this all comes from Sclafani's mother-in-law providing him with some kind of information that led him to believe DeCicco was an informant and he spread this rumor despite DeCicco's reputation and standing in the family. Having not seen the actual information Sclafani was provided, I can't comment on it, but apparently she provided him with previous information that proved to be accurate. Circumstantial evidence links DeCicco with LE actions that could only have been taken with specific knowledge from a highly-placed informant and these actions are from the same period as Sclafani's information about DeCicco. I am not convinced it was him, but he is a strong candidate... especially given that he was accused by a member with LE resources.

[Lupara]

This brings up an interesting question: could the supposed mistake of killing DeCicco actually have been a targeted hit? Not only to send a message to Gotti, but also for his betrayal of Castellano and for being a snitch? People in the other families finding out about him being an informer through their own contacts within LE? Perhaps the Mafia cops working for Casso provided the info?

[CabriniGreen]

You mean targeted specifically for informing? Because I think they were trying to kill him and Gotti together...

[DPG]

This brings up an interesting question: could the supposed mistake of killing DeCicco actually have been a targeted hit? Not only to send a message to Gotti, but also for his betrayal of Castellano and for being a snitch? People in the other families finding out about him being an informer through their own contacts within LE? Perhaps the Mafia cops working for Casso provided the info?

If this was the case don't ya think Casso would have brought it up? I mean he was making sure he got his 15min. Surprised he hasn't spoken alot more over the years.

[moneyman]

According to this NY Times article, a bug was put in the Ravenite as far back as 1980. Unless I'm mistaken, Dellacroce doesn't get busted until 1984 on tax evasion and then the following year gets indicted in the commission case. Who knows what happened to this particular bug, but the possibility exists that an active bug was in the Ravenite from 1980 -1984 and Dellacroce doesn't get arrested... makes you think he could have been an informer.

https://www.nytimes.com/1985/12/04/nyre ... igure.html

[DPG]

You mean targeted specifically for informing? Because I think they were trying to kill him and Gotti together...

From all accounts I've seen, other than Gotti Jr. recent show, Gotti was the only target. I mean if your trying to kill 2 guys, then you blow up a car with 2 guys in it.

[bronx]

DPG jr gotti made up some "facts" on that show

[bronx]

everyone who had been involved with pauls hit was going to be killed..gotti, decicco dead, gravano, lino dead , borriello dead , although was not part of the hit team was thought to be by a newspaper story to be on it, but was a close gotti guy ,he was getting killed , and gotti jr later on..jr was and is trying to convince the world his father was not a target? yeah everyone loved john, chin the most