Neil Dellacroce an informant, fbi files?

[Antiliar]

The Double Life of a Don
Top Mobster Dellacroce was an FBI informer
Monday, Dec. 16, 1985

His name was Aniello Dellacroce, which in Italian means "little lamb of the cross," and he took pleasure in killing people. "He likes to peer into a victim's face, like some kind of dark angel, at the moment of death," a federal agent once said of the Mafia chieftain. As underboss of the Gambino clan, the most powerful of New York's five families, he was a member and chief enforcer of "the Commission," the 11-member council that reputedly oversees organized crime around the U.S. Occasionally disguised as a priest under the alias of Father O'Neill, a play on his first name, he traveled about the nation to impose edicts and settle disputes between rival Mafia clans. Few mobsters dared to argue with him. Dellacroce, who died in his sleep in a New York City hospital last week at the age of 71, played another role as well: for almost two decades he was an informant for the FBI.

Though Dellacroce was not very forthcoming about his own crimes, he offered the feds a wealth of information about those committed by his enemies and the Commission. After Carlo Gambino, the capo di tutti capi (boss of bosses), died in 1976, Dellacroce told the FBI that another would-be godfather, Carmine Galante, had been marked for death. Dellacroce had reason to know: plans for the Galante hit were hatched in his own headquarters, the Ravenite Social Club in Manhattan's Little Italy. The feds were able to isolate and protect Galante as long as he was in prison for parole violations, but after he was released in 1979 Galante was mowed down during an alfresco lunch in the backyard of a Brooklyn restaurant. Other information provided by Dellacroce gave the FBI leads on the still unsolved murder of Teamster Boss Jimmy Hoffa and helped break major narcotics cases, including the so-called Pizza Connection case against 22 U.S. and Sicilian mobsters for heroin trafficking.

Dellacroce's double life began one afternoon in the mid-1960s when a limousine swung up to the Ravenite Social Club. Out stepped a tall man in a somber suit carrying a Wall Street banker's briefcase. "Who's in charge here?" he demanded. Awed hoodlums ushered the uninvited guest to Dellacroce's table.

The bold stranger was an FBI agent named Pat Collins. Sitting down with Dellacroce, he began a slow courtship, gradually winning him over by convincing the wary Mafia leader that a private relationship with the federal authorities would not be a bad insurance policy in a high-risk career.

Unlike Teamster Union Boss Jackie Presser, who escaped prosecution on charges of padding union payrolls this year because he was an FBI informant, Dellacroce's cooperation did not keep him out of jail. In 1972 he was sentenced to five years in prison for income tax evasion. Collins had expected that one day Dellacroce would demand payment for his information, but that never happened. The veteran FBI agent died of a heart attack in 1980 at the age of 51. This year Dellacroce was ordered to stand trial on racketeering and conspiracy charges, along with ten other accused members of the Commission. Whether he hoped the payment would come in the form of exoneration from those charges will probably never be known. Before the trial could begin, the bloodthirsty Little Lamb slipped from the grasp of federal prosecutors.

http://content.time.com/time/subscriber ... 15,00.html

[Tonyd621]

The Double Life of a Don
Top Mobster Dellacroce was an FBI informer
Monday, Dec. 16, 1985

His name was Aniello Dellacroce, which in Italian means "little lamb of the cross," and he took pleasure in killing people. "He likes to peer into a victim's face, like some kind of dark angel, at the moment of death," a federal agent once said of the Mafia chieftain. As underboss of the Gambino clan, the most powerful of New York's five families, he was a member and chief enforcer of "the Commission," the 11-member council that reputedly oversees organized crime around the U.S. Occasionally disguised as a priest under the alias of Father O'Neill, a play on his first name, he traveled about the nation to impose edicts and settle disputes between rival Mafia clans. Few mobsters dared to argue with him. Dellacroce, who died in his sleep in a New York City hospital last week at the age of 71, played another role as well: for almost two decades he was an informant for the FBI.

Though Dellacroce was not very forthcoming about his own crimes, he offered the feds a wealth of information about those committed by his enemies and the Commission. After Carlo Gambino, the capo di tutti capi (boss of bosses), died in 1976, Dellacroce told the FBI that another would-be godfather, Carmine Galante, had been marked for death. Dellacroce had reason to know: plans for the Galante hit were hatched in his own headquarters, the Ravenite Social Club in Manhattan's Little Italy. The feds were able to isolate and protect Galante as long as he was in prison for parole violations, but after he was released in 1979 Galante was mowed down during an alfresco lunch in the backyard of a Brooklyn restaurant. Other information provided by Dellacroce gave the FBI leads on the still unsolved murder of Teamster Boss Jimmy Hoffa and helped break major narcotics cases, including the so-called Pizza Connection case against 22 U.S. and Sicilian mobsters for heroin trafficking.

Dellacroce's double life began one afternoon in the mid-1960s when a limousine swung up to the Ravenite Social Club. Out stepped a tall man in a somber suit carrying a Wall Street banker's briefcase. "Who's in charge here?" he demanded. Awed hoodlums ushered the uninvited guest to Dellacroce's table.

The bold stranger was an FBI agent named Pat Collins. Sitting down with Dellacroce, he began a slow courtship, gradually winning him over by convincing the wary Mafia leader that a private relationship with the federal authorities would not be a bad insurance policy in a high-risk career.

Unlike Teamster Union Boss Jackie Presser, who escaped prosecution on charges of padding union payrolls this year because he was an FBI informant, Dellacroce's cooperation did not keep him out of jail. In 1972 he was sentenced to five years in prison for income tax evasion. Collins had expected that one day Dellacroce would demand payment for his information, but that never happened. The veteran FBI agent died of a heart attack in 1980 at the age of 51. This year Dellacroce was ordered to stand trial on racketeering and conspiracy charges, along with ten other accused members of the Commission. Whether he hoped the payment would come in the form of exoneration from those charges will probably never be known. Before the trial could begin, the bloodthirsty Little Lamb slipped from the grasp of federal prosecutors.

http://content.time.com/time/subscriber ... 15,00.html

Thank I'm having trouble uploading images. It says uploaded completed then when I click submit it says not enough characters in post

[TommyGambino]

Complete bullshit, anyone believing that an FBI agent walked into the ravenite and convinced him to turn informant is retarded

[Tonyd621]

Complete bullshit, anyone believing that an FBI agent walked into the ravenite and convinced him to turn informant is retarded

Thats the supposed fbi agent that Carlos Marcello assaulted and got prison time over if I my memory serves me, who knows. The way he become an informer does sound like bs. Time magazine back then was a very reputable publication back then. I can't imagine then making that up. Maybe getting it wrong but making it up.

[Pmac2]

If hes feeding the fbi info why would they send him to prison for tax evasion. Then why after getting out of prison would he tell the feds carmine galantes gonna get killed when hes the driving force behind it

[mafiastudent]

Complete bullshit, anyone believing that an FBI agent walked into the ravenite and convinced him to turn informant is retarded

Thats the supposed fbi agent that Carlos Marcello assaulted and got prison time over if I my memory serves me, who knows. The way he become an informer does sound like bs. Time magazine back then was a very reputable publication back then. I can't imagine then making that up. Maybe getting it wrong but making it up.

Why isn't there a byline attached to the story? In addition, if Time ran this on the date the article lists, I can't imagine that no one else would've picked that up especially with everything that was going on at that time.

[Pmac2]

Dont makes sense probaly why no one ever believed it. I think gotti was picked up on wiretap talking about the article and how it was bullshit

[Antiliar]

Complete bullshit, anyone believing that an FBI agent walked into the ravenite and convinced him to turn informant is retarded

Thats the supposed fbi agent that Carlos Marcello assaulted and got prison time over if I my memory serves me, who knows. The way he become an informer does sound like bs. Time magazine back then was a very reputable publication back then. I can't imagine then making that up. Maybe getting it wrong but making it up.

Why isn't there a byline attached to the story? In addition, if Time ran this on the date the article lists, I can't imagine that no one else would've picked that up especially with everything that was going on at that time.

Time did publish the story. I put the link in my post. No idea why there's no byline, but not all writers get credit for stories, especially if it's from an outside source. In this case it could be FBI disinformation, maybe to influence John Gotti. It wouldn't be the first time the FBI put out disinformation.

[mafiastudent]

Complete bullshit, anyone believing that an FBI agent walked into the ravenite and convinced him to turn informant is retarded

Thats the supposed fbi agent that Carlos Marcello assaulted and got prison time over if I my memory serves me, who knows. The way he become an informer does sound like bs. Time magazine back then was a very reputable publication back then. I can't imagine then making that up. Maybe getting it wrong but making it up.

Why isn't there a byline attached to the story? In addition, if Time ran this on the date the article lists, I can't imagine that no one else would've picked that up especially with everything that was going on at that time.

Time did publish the story. I put the link in my post. No idea why there's no byline, but not all writers get credit for stories, especially if it's from an outside source. In this case it could be FBI disinformation, maybe to influence John Gotti. It wouldn't be the first time the FBI put out disinformation.

That's what I'm saying - in the direct article. I did go to the site to read it and that's where I saw there was no byline which I thought was odd for Time especially in that timeframe. Nowadays, sometimes there is no byline even in publications like Time but it usually will have by Time Staff or something like that. So, it's just weird to me.

[MightyDR]

Capeci and Mustain mention this in Gotti: The Rise and Fall. Castellano brought it up in a meeting with Gotti, DeCicco and Tommy Gambino. Gotti got mad and called BS, but Castellano said "Where there's smoke, there's fire."

Capeci and Mustain also say that "the article was just disinformation that some law enforcement source had fed some writer trying to enliven Neil's obituary notice."

[SonnyBlackstein]

Complete bullshit, anyone believing that an FBI agent walked into the ravenite and convinced him to turn informant is retarded

Absolutely agree.
The Fbi pulled up...... IN A LIMO, and in front everyone, asked, who's in charge (as if they wouldnt know) here!!??
Then proceeded to court him in plain view of the whole club??!

Farcical.

Make for a good movie, but thats about it.

The speculation of a high level 'Bino cooperator was DiBernado I believe from memory, though I find that with little base as well.

I think Dib cooperated when the FBI pulled up at his club in a stretch F150 and a guy in a Hawaiian shirt asked who wants to be a millionaire, Dib, already being a millionaire, misunderstood the question yelled 'me, me!' and fell hence thereafter into the government fold.

[Ryan98366]

Is there any truth to this? I couldn't find his fbi files in fbi section

This should be posted on GangsterBB. Neil was not an informant. C’mon!

[JoeCamel]

Where there’s smoke there’s fire. Almost 100% of the time. Maybe they were trying to protect dicicco or something throw the scent off

[Hired_Goonz]

Maybe he was a CI, a lot of legendary gangsters and "stand up guys" shared info with the feds when it served their purposes, but that Time article is complete horseshit.

[Tonyd621]

Where there’s smoke there’s fire. Almost 100% of the time. Maybe they were trying to protect dicicco or something throw the scent off

Frank Decicco was an informant?