Twentieth Avenue Crew Question

[Adam]

I was rereading Calco's book last night and it's mildly interesting. It's loaded with the normal mob witness delusions of grandeur. But he was writing about the conflict between the Bonanno Bath Avenue crew and the Colombo Twentieth Avenue crew which is kind of interesting. It also gets mentioned briefly in the Paciello book. But Calco relates Paulie Gulino and "Frankie" gunning down two Twentieth members and killing an "OJ" and wounding a Dino. Then in retaliation "Frankie" getting killed by Twentieth members. Now I think it's clear that the "Frankie" was Frank Marasa in 1991 that Dino Calabro killed. But I was trying to figure out who the "OJ" Twentieth member was who was killed. I assumed the Dino who was wounded was Dino Saracino but I could be wrong. And did anyone ever put together a list of who was in the Colombo Twentieth crew? Just curious.

Adam R.

[gohnjotti]

It was Awjab “O.J.” Ennab.

[chubby]

Dino was either Calabro or saracino. Both were with 20th ave

[gohnjotti]

Dino Calabro was the one who pulled the trigger on Marasa. He pleaded guilty to it and testified to it in Tommy Gioeli's trial. He emptied out a .38 and his hit partner Richie Greaves emptied a .380. Gioeli supposedly gave them instructions and advice on the hit. Thomas 'Irish Tommy' McLaughlin was the hit team's driver, and Calabro's implication of McLaughlin to the murder is what compelled McLaughlin to flip and wear a wire. Dino Calabro has named Joseph 'Joey Caves' Competiello as being involved in the hit, not as a shooter AFAIK. Competiello, another government witness, denies all involvement. A guy named James Calderone accidentally blabbed to a DEA informer in 2012 that himself, Calabro, and Competiello were behind the hit, excluding McLaughlin, Gioeli, and Greaves. Calderone was never charged with the murder but Gioeli's defense lawyers tried to use the tape-recorded remarks to prove Gioeli's innocence. Gioeli was found guilty of murder conspiracy in the Marasa hit, not murder itself.

It's a very convoluted set of testimonies and stories, but I hope this clears things up.

[chubby]

Violent time. I heard some of the kids under froggy gallione like Mikey derosa and then teamed up with the bath ave kids to go at 20th ave since they both had beef.

[chubby]

This is what I've been told about the beef between bath ave and 20th..The long standing beef between bath ave & 20th ave goes back to a fight on bay 50th involving Chestnut a bath ave kid which eventually ended up with chestnut getting killed by some 20th ave kids. but what reignited the beefwas a fight Tommy renolds had in the Vegas diner on 86st & 16th ave where he ended up stabbing one of the 20th ave kids with a fork. (This incident is talked about on the inside the mob episode on the bath ave crew talking about Reynolds stabbing him in the eye with a fork)

[Adam]

Dino was either Calabro or saracino. Both were with 20th ave

If it was Calabro I would have thought that would have been reported while covering his testimony. Him getting wounded. More dramatic. Thats why I assumed Saracino.

[newera_212]

Saracino was the one wounded with OJ, i remember reading that somewhere else and it being the reason for why Marsara was hit in retaliation.

Id like to know what the boxer Paulie Maglinacci's ...the fighter from Brooklyn who had that big fight with Broner 5 or 6 years ago...what his relation to Saracino is. I heard they were close and Maglianacci is involved in Saracino's kid's life

also curious to know what Saracino's wife looks like lol. apparently she was a dime back in the day and was involved with helping those guys collect money when they were locked up.

I know at least one of Saracino's brothers was made . were any of Calabro's brothers? he has a few younger brothers. all the young brooklyn kids at that time...each family had a group of wild kids operating right on top of one another in gravesend / bensonhurst. plus over the bridge the D'Avanzo set. must have been a crazy ass time. Cutolo had a crew of kids too doing the same shit, but werent rivals to Bath Ave, like the 20th ave Colombo guys were. I think Cutolo's guys actually worked with Bath Ave; Dom Dionisio was 'point man' for extorting and taxing drug dealers at Limelight, while Jimmy Calandra's brother was working the door. its just astonishing that in such a small area you had almost 50 kids all making big money like that, going hard at a young age. that was just one area in one boro too...im sure Queens and the Bronx had sets of kids doing the same. the 90s must have been some time...

[Uncle Pete]

Saracino was the one wounded with OJ, i remember reading that somewhere else and it being the reason for why Marsara was hit in retaliation.

Id like to know what the boxer Paulie Maglinacci's ...the fighter from Brooklyn who had that big fight with Broner 5 or 6 years ago...what his relation to Saracino is. I heard they were close and Maglianacci is involved in Saracino's kid's life

also curious to know what Saracino's wife looks like lol. apparently she was a dime back in the day and was involved with helping those guys collect money when they were locked up.

I know at least one of Saracino's brothers was made . were any of Calabro's brothers? he has a few younger brothers. all the young brooklyn kids at that time...each family had a group of wild kids operating right on top of one another in gravesend / bensonhurst. plus over the bridge the D'Avanzo set. must have been a crazy ass time. Cutolo had a crew of kids too doing the same shit, but werent rivals to Bath Ave, like the 20th ave Colombo guys were. I think Cutolo's guys actually worked with Bath Ave; Dom Dionisio was 'point man' for extorting and taxing drug dealers at Limelight, while Jimmy Calandra's brother was working the door. its just astonishing that in such a small area you had almost 50 kids all making big money like that, going hard at a young age. that was just one area in one boro too...im sure Queens and the Bronx had sets of kids doing the same. the 90s must have been some time...

Very interesting post Newera. I’m a big fan of Paulie. He’s an underrated fighter considering his opponents and his hand issues. One of the best jabs of our time in my opinion and to top It off he had huge balls and never ducked anyone. He’s also the best commentator in the business. Guy knows boxing through and through. You ever check out his podcast, From Brooklyn to the world? It’s great. His rants are pretty epic to say the least lol. He drops some gems about growing up in Bensonhurst too. You figure a world champion boxer from Bensonhurst, he’s friendly with a every connected guy in the neighborhood haha. Cool to learn he was actually really close to Dino

[gohnjotti]

None of Dino’s brothers are made but Anthony ‘Nooch’ Calabro was an associate and loanshark at the time of his 2011 street.

[chubby]

Yeah a few years ago I saw some pics of malignaggi with saracinos son taking him to some fights at the barclays. Honestly Dino and him probsbly grew up together.

[Benito]

Who were the members of the twentieth avenue crew?

[newera_212]

Who were the members of the twentieth avenue crew?

im sure it was bigger but afaik the members we've known via guys flipping and murder indictments are:

Dino Calabro, Dino Saracino, Richie Greaves - dead, at the hands of the previous two names, Tommy McLaughin (Tommy Gioeli's cousin), Joey "Caves" Competiello, this OJ asshole who got killed, possibly Saracino's brother Sebastian, possibly Calabro's brother Enzo, and im guessing a few others.

Colombo affilliated, under Big Dino Calabro, who was an official associate of Gioeli. So ultimately their whole connection was through Gioeli. Gioeli made a lot of money off these kids. Calabro was the first to get made, later Dino Saracino and Competiello got made. Competiello and Calabro both relocated to Farmingdale and moved on the same street that Gioeli lived on. I think Sebby Saracino was made at one point eventually, but I could be mistaken

From all accounts this was a truely deplorable crew. really low down grimey, true street level guys. In that documentary with Mikey DeRosa he said his Lucchese backed crew had beef with them, although it was for no reason really and he said "they were kids just like us, grew up just like us, doing the same exact things we were doing, a few blocks away"

I'd like to know if there are any other currently active, made Colombo members who came up in this crew? I thought Giovanni "johnny brains" Cerbone was a member of this crew, but he could have just been a Staten Island guy placed in Calabro's crew, kinda like Mickey Souza.

[Benito]

Who were the members of the twentieth avenue crew?

im sure it was bigger but afaik the members we've known via guys flipping and murder indictments are:

Dino Calabro, Dino Saracino, Richie Greaves - dead, at the hands of the previous two names, Tommy McLaughin (Tommy Gioeli's cousin), Joey "Caves" Competiello, this OJ asshole who got killed, possibly Saracino's brother Sebastian, possibly Calabro's brother Enzo, and im guessing a few others.

Colombo affilliated, under Big Dino Calabro, who was an official associate of Gioeli. So ultimately their whole connection was through Gioeli. Gioeli made a lot of money off these kids. Calabro was the first to get made, later Dino Saracino and Competiello got made. Competiello and Calabro both relocated to Farmingdale and moved on the same street that Gioeli lived on. I think Sebby Saracino was made at one point eventually, but I could be mistaken

From all accounts this was a truely deplorable crew. really low down grimey, true street level guys. In that documentary with Mikey DeRosa he said his Lucchese backed crew had beef with them, although it was for no reason really and he said "they were kids just like us, grew up just like us, doing the same exact things we were doing, a few blocks away"

I'd like to know if there are any other currently active, made Colombo members who came up in this crew? I thought Giovanni "johnny brains" Cerbone was a member of this crew, but he could have just been a Staten Island guy placed in Calabro's crew, kinda like Mickey Souza.

Interesting, thanks for the info new-era. I never really took an interest in the Turks of the mafia. However after reading a little bit here and there about the Bath Ave crew. It sort of grabbed my attention at the brutality and hoodlum like attitude they portrayed.

[newera_212]

Who were the members of the twentieth avenue crew?

im sure it was bigger but afaik the members we've known via guys flipping and murder indictments are:

Dino Calabro, Dino Saracino, Richie Greaves - dead, at the hands of the previous two names, Tommy McLaughin (Tommy Gioeli's cousin), Joey "Caves" Competiello, this OJ asshole who got killed, possibly Saracino's brother Sebastian, possibly Calabro's brother Enzo, and im guessing a few others.

Colombo affilliated, under Big Dino Calabro, who was an official associate of Gioeli. So ultimately their whole connection was through Gioeli. Gioeli made a lot of money off these kids. Calabro was the first to get made, later Dino Saracino and Competiello got made. Competiello and Calabro both relocated to Farmingdale and moved on the same street that Gioeli lived on. I think Sebby Saracino was made at one point eventually, but I could be mistaken

From all accounts this was a truely deplorable crew. really low down grimey, true street level guys. In that documentary with Mikey DeRosa he said his Lucchese backed crew had beef with them, although it was for no reason really and he said "they were kids just like us, grew up just like us, doing the same exact things we were doing, a few blocks away"

I'd like to know if there are any other currently active, made Colombo members who came up in this crew? I thought Giovanni "johnny brains" Cerbone was a member of this crew, but he could have just been a Staten Island guy placed in Calabro's crew, kinda like Mickey Souza.

Interesting, thanks for the info new-era. I never really took an interest in the Turks of the mafia. However after reading a little bit here and there about the Bath Ave crew. It sort of grabbed my attention at the brutality and hoodlum like attitude they portrayed.

Yeah I always wondered about these kids. There were hundreds of kids like that (still are to a smaller degree) but I wonder if their involvement in LCN was overstated. They were more into money and crimes than LCN “culture” - when you read about someone like Spero in relation to Bath Ave crew it sounds like he was the guy running the whole thing, but taking money from those kids was just a small part of what he had going on. The guy was acting boss at one point for Christ’s sake. Not a lot of these kids went on to be made guys. The 20th ave crew probably had the most amount of associates that became made men; says a lot more about the Colombos than it says about the character of the kids themselves