Lucchese Acting Boss Reveals How Much He Really Made

[jmack]

Wonder how much interest you make on them 12 million a year

About 50k per month, not compounded. That’s at a conservative 5% return, and no change in the principal.

He may be worth 10’s of millions, but a billion dollar estimate is laughable.

[johnny_scootch]

Richard Cantarella testified that he made around $500,000 during his entire time in the life and Sal Vitale guessed he made around 2 to 3 million during his time. Both were roughly referring to a 30 year period.

500,000 over 30 years is ridiculously low. Less than 17k per year! Cantarella had a no show job at the NY Post for many years plus the Newsstands at the ferry terminals he took over. He was partners with Massino Vitale and Barry Weinberg in a bunch of parking lots and they extorted Weinberg for over a million on top of whatever legit cash they were getting from the lots. All the extortions he did with Richie Mazzeo and then all the run of the mill crimes he commited not to mention he was a captain for a few years and would have gotten some tribute from the soldiers in his crew.
5 million would be more believable imho and even that might be to low.

He was never considered a brokester and 17k per year you’re broke as fuck.

[Wiseguy]

Richard Cantarella testified that he made around $500,000 during his entire time in the life and Sal Vitale guessed he made around 2 to 3 million during his time. Both were roughly referring to a 30 year period.

500,000 over 30 years is ridiculously low. Less than 17k per year! Cantarella had a no show job at the NY Post for many years plus the Newsstands at the ferry terminals he took over. He was partners with Massino Vitale and Barry Weinberg in a bunch of parking lots and they extorted Weinberg for over a million on top of whatever legit cash they were getting from the lots. All the extortions he did with Richie Mazzeo and then all the run of the mill crimes he commited not to mention he was a captain for a few years and would have gotten some tribute from the soldiers in his crew.
5 million would be more believable imho and even that might be to low.

He was never considered a brokester and 17k per year you’re broke as fuck.

Yeah, I don't remember Cantarella ever saying $500k, but if he did, he's lying (if he's talking total earnings). The guy was a millionaire. That's well documented.

I don't know how well Vitale saved his money but $2-3 million total earnings over 30 years doesn't seem believable either, especially since he rose very high.

I believe Messino's $10 million worth when he was busted but, even then, you have to remember that was how much he had accumulated in total assets by that point (mid-2000s) and didn't count the rest of the disposable money spent over the years on food, vacations, etc.

[Ivan]

as Wiseguy was getting at I do believe the public has an inflated idea of what mafia members and even leaders made during the so-called peak of Cosa Nostra

The public has that misperception because the public thinks that getting rich is the point of being a mobster/gangster or a mafioso. It isn't.

[Little_Al1991]

as Wiseguy was getting at I do believe the public has an inflated idea of what mafia members and even leaders made during the so-called peak of Cosa Nostra

The public has that misperception because the public thinks that getting rich is the point of being a mobster/gangster or a mafioso. It isn't.

What is the point of being a mobster in ur opinion? It seems as if these guys just want to be somebody in life or something along those lines.
Andy Mush Russo saying in 2010 “I can’t rest, I can’t walk away.”

[B.]

Status, influence, respect, etc. in the subculture. Sometimes they have a sense of duty/responsibility. Sam DeCavalcante's brother told the FBI Sam gravitated toward the life because he felt obligated to follow the tradition. When these guys flip they often say what they miss most is the respect and status they had.

In line with this thread -- as the Bonanno CWs have pointed out, "kicking up" is somewhat mythologized and a lot of their income is what they generate on their own even as admin members. Like the gambling money Massino got for example was from a partnership he had with Patty DeFilippo, not DeFilippo "kicking up", but on the other hand the Bonanno admin did tax the joker poker operations to fund their war chest.

[B.]

Richard Cantarella testified that he made around $500,000 during his entire time in the life and Sal Vitale guessed he made around 2 to 3 million during his time. Both were roughly referring to a 30 year period.

500,000 over 30 years is ridiculously low. Less than 17k per year! Cantarella had a no show job at the NY Post for many years plus the Newsstands at the ferry terminals he took over. He was partners with Massino Vitale and Barry Weinberg in a bunch of parking lots and they extorted Weinberg for over a million on top of whatever legit cash they were getting from the lots. All the extortions he did with Richie Mazzeo and then all the run of the mill crimes he commited not to mention he was a captain for a few years and would have gotten some tribute from the soldiers in his crew.
5 million would be more believable imho and even that might be to low.

He was never considered a brokester and 17k per year you’re broke as fuck.

Yeah, in his case I suspect either he is grossly underestimating or he was interpreting "organized crime" proceeds in the most narrow sense. He may not have seen the NY Post gig and parking lots as "organized crime" even though he used the mafia to that end.

[Ivan]

Status, influence, respect, etc. in the subculture. Sometimes they have a sense of duty/responsibility. Sam DeCavalcante's brother told the FBI Sam gravitated toward the life because he felt obligated to follow the tradition. When these guys flip they often say what they miss most is the respect and status they had.

These are all very important factors, but biggest IMHO is comfortable middle-class existence without the 9 to 5 bullshit, and maybe even the satisfaction of know you're getting away with that, along with how such satisfaction synergizes with their status/influence/respect in the subculture.

Some of them do get rich, but getting honest-to-god rich eventually is probably not even in the top five actual motives for actual mobsters.

Dominick Montiglio: This life of ours is a losing proposition.
Henry Borelli: Maybe, but it beats workin'.
Dominick Montiglio: I guess you have a point.
Henry Borelli: Here, Cape, have some toot.

[Uncle Pete]

I think these guys like Canterella may be referring to the amount of money they saved or had on them when they flipped.

These are street guys, when you make fast money, you spend it just as fast. No way this guy wasn’t gambling a shit ton of his money away, going out to clubs, strippers, buying jewelry and living the lifestyle with 500k over 30 years.

[Cheech]

Richard Cantarella testified that he made around $500,000 during his entire time in the life and Sal Vitale guessed he made around 2 to 3 million during his time. Both were roughly referring to a 30 year period.

What's hard to gauge is exactly how they're measuring it. They couldn't have been referring to their total income so they may have been talking about explicitly illegal/criminal activity or being given money opposed to generating it themselves, hard to say without deeper inquiry. Also possible of course they were downplaying their income but as Wiseguy was getting at I do believe the public has an inflated idea of what mafia members and even leaders made during the so-called peak of Cosa Nostra.

Ive read that testimony and that part gets referenced a lot. But i dont think it’s the right context. He had parking lots and a no show job at the newspaper. You dont get that if youre an average joe

[Little_Al1991]

Jimmy Calandra did time with Richard in the Witsec unit and said that Richard loved money, that’s what he was about.
Cicale has mentioned that Cantarella was wealthy

[Pmac2]

I remember seeing cantarella mansion on Staten island. I believe it had a elevator. Whatever the quote about 500k is taken out of context. That guy made alot of money I guess considered a earner. Maybe he's talking 500k is what he made on paper in his lifetime. He made way more then that

[Little_Al1991]

According to the May 2019, testimony of government witness and former Lucchese soldier John Pennisi the Lucchese family operates with a total of seven crews – two in The Bronx, two on Long Island, one in Manhattan, one in New Jersey, and one Brooklyn crew.

This indicates that a good amount of money is coming in today still

[B.]

Richard Cantarella testified that he made around $500,000 during his entire time in the life and Sal Vitale guessed he made around 2 to 3 million during his time. Both were roughly referring to a 30 year period.

What's hard to gauge is exactly how they're measuring it. They couldn't have been referring to their total income so they may have been talking about explicitly illegal/criminal activity or being given money opposed to generating it themselves, hard to say without deeper inquiry. Also possible of course they were downplaying their income but as Wiseguy was getting at I do believe the public has an inflated idea of what mafia members and even leaders made during the so-called peak of Cosa Nostra.

Ive read that testimony and that part gets referenced a lot. But i dont think it’s the right context. He had parking lots and a no show job at the newspaper. You dont get that if youre an average joe

I agree, there is no way he made only $500,000 over that span of time even if he was using a narrow definition of organized crime. Either he misunderstood the question and meant he averaged about 500k a year, wasn't thinking about the bigger picture of mafia-generated income, or he was trying to downplay what he made.

Vitale was more specific, as he said there were years where he definitely made less than 100k.

[BobbyPazzo]

Avellino is a billionaire?

I've heard it several times. I thought it total nonsense, but I heard it enough times where I had to question my own knowledge on it, cause I don't actually know.

I mean, the biggest one I heard of was Ponte, I think....

That’s crazy. Is it all mostly from carting? Or am I thinking of someone else.

I wouldn't call it a fact. You might wanna ask one of the researchers, Wiseguy or someone else adept with the details.

It's just something I've seen repeated over and over, so I kinda said..." Well, I guess it's possible if Ponte was a billionaire".....I don't think so, but I don't know for sure either...

Ponte was a billionaire. I know first hand. I grew up with the family.