The crew was originally led by Armand Rava. After Rava´s murder in late 1957, the crew split between Neil Dellacroce and Anthony Rizzo. Guys like Petey "Pumps" Ferrara, Jimmy "Brown" Failla and Salvatore "Toddo" Aurello ended up under Rizzo. But these guys listed below reported to Dellacroce (there may have been others but these are the ones I know about):

* Frank "Frankie Martin" Barranca (1928- ) Son of Stefano Barranca, made guy in the Bonanno Family. Frank Barranca was once put on a hit list by Larry Gallo due to a conflict in the numbers operation. Barranca and his brother operated out of Red Hook, Brooklyn, same territory as the Gallo brothers. In 1969, An informant said that Barranca was Dellacroce´s number one guy. The informant had knowledge of a meeting taking place down in Florida in 1969 between Barranca, Tony Plate and Santo Trafficante for the purpose of discussing a purchase of a hospital complex located in North Dade, Florida. Barranca lived at 228 Warren Street, Brooklyn. He may be still alive today.

* Joseph S. Barranca (Dec 29, 1929 - ) The brother of Frank. Lived at 475 Henry Street, Brooklyn. He was listed by the FBI as a made Gambino member in the 1960s, but not listed on LE charts later in the 1980s. May be still alive today.

* Joseph Vincent Bisogno (Dec 18, 1931 - Aug, 1969) Before moving to Miami, Florida, Bisogno lived in Flushing, Queens. He was known as an enforcer. In addition to a federal narcotic conviction, Bisogno also had arrests for assaults and murder. In 1968. Secret Service agents raided a hotel room in Miami, occupied by Bisogno, and seized 300.000 US dollars in counterfeit money. Bisogno was arrested, indicted, convicted and sentenced to a 10 year prison term in 1969. Bisogno may have been murdered, I have no details of his death.

* Michael "Mike Tally" Caiazza (March 23, 1912 - April 28, 1994) Lived in Richmond, Staten Island. Caiazza owned bakeries on 3rd Avenue in Brooklyn. He took over the crew when Dellacroce was bumped up to underboss. Interestingly enough, Caiazza was demoted as crew leader by Dellacroce later in 1985 when Caiazza took counsel from Castellano on who to temporarily put in charge of his crew, which made Dellacroce furious.

* Michael Vincent Catalano (Feb 7, 1918 - May 15, 1998) One of the crew members who lived in close vicinity of Dellacroce´s Social club at Mulberry Street, just across the street actually. While already in jail for extortion, he was indicted 1n 1970, with Dellacroce and Angelo Bruno, the Philadelphia boss, on charges of criminal contempt. Later, also this time with Dellacroce, he was indicted on tax evasion conspiracy charges and was found guilty. He received a two year prison term.

* Michael Cirelli (March 1, 1908 - Feb 19, 1988) Cirelli was the owner of the apartment above The Ravenite that was used in the late 1980s by Gotti for secret talks.

* Edward Rocco "Eddie Ottawa" Consalvo (May 11, 1920 - Feb, 1981) Before moving to Richmond, Staten Island, Consalvo resided at 215 Mott Street. He was once employed as a longshoreman. He was probably the uncle of Carmine and Frank Consalvo, two brothers who both met mysterious deaths in 1975. Received a suspended sentence and placed on a two year probation in 1952 for possession of untaxed alcohol. In 1956, Consalvo was a suspect in the Abe Telvi murder. According to informants, Consalvo was driving the getaway car. If I´m not mistaken, Lucchese mobster Jimmy Plumeri was the godfather of Consalvo´s son Anthony.

* William Charles Cottone (April 14, 1915 - Feb, 1985) Lived at 10 Elizabeth Street and was a regular at a social club located at 121 Mulberry Street, owned by Gambino captain Joe Gennaro. This seems to suggest that Cottone was a Gennaro crew member but later (after Gennaro´s death) likely transfered to Dellacroce´s crew.

* Ettore Luigi "Eddie" DeCurtis (June 21, 1913 - July 1985) A prolific money maker, DeCurtis was a financier of pornographic lierature, films and homosexual bars. He ran several crap games throughout Brooklyn, Manhattan and Staten Island and was also known as a bookmaker. Lived at 185 West Houston Street. Three years after his death, DeCurtis´ son Gregory was shot to death while sitting in a stretched limo.

* Guido Mario "Dolls" DeCurtis (1914 - March 16, 1977) A brother of Eddie and a partner of his in numerous rackets. Guido was shot to death on Lexington Avenue near East 27th street on March 16, 1977.

* Carmine Dellacroce (Dec 2, 1905 - Jan 1969) Brother of Neil. Lived in Valley Stream, Nassau, LI. In 1937, Carmine Dellacroce was accused of hitting a man on the head with a hammer during a fight and sentenced to a 6 months prison term.

* Anthony "Tony West" DeLutro (Apr 9, 1927 - March 26, 1997) Another crew member who lived close by the Ravenite. In 1965, Tony DeLutro with eight others, was convicted of looting NJ post offices. It was said that the burglaries cost the government more than 158.000 US dollars in stolen postage stamps and blank money orders. DeLutro was given a two year prison term. Also in 1965, DeLutro was caught up in the big heroin case emanated from the Patsy Luca case. But I don´t know if he was found guilty or acquitted. In 1975, DeLutro was indicted in the same heroin case as Frank Lucas, found guilty and sentenced to 20 years in prison.

* Cataldo "Charlie The Animal" DeLutro (Nov 27, 1916 - April 14, 1987) A brother of Anthony, known as a shylock collector with a fearsome reputation. With Dellacroce, muscled in on various establishments when the owners could not repay loans. One of these establishments was The Jazzland, a night spot located in Midtown Manhattan. In 1970, DeLutro was sentenced to 8 years imprisonment, but I can´t find any details about the case. He lived at 55 East Houston Street in Manhattan.

* Carmine "Charley Wagons" Fatico (Jan 19, 1910 - Aug, 1991) Known as a hijacker who controlled gambling activities for the Gambino Family/Dellacroce faction in the East New York/Brownsville sections of Brooklyn. Fatico was given a crew to run probably sometime in the early 1970s and inducted the Gotti brothers and Angelo "Quack-Quack" Ruggiero amongst a few others. Lived in west Islip, out on Long Island.

* Donato "Danny Wagons" Fatico (July 10, 1920 - March 24, 2006) Brother of Charley Wagons. His rapsheet is pretty extensive and includes unlawful entry, convictions for assault, bookmaking, operating an illicit still and numerous gambling offenses. In 1977, Danny Wagons was sentenced to 3 years in prison after been convicted of operating a high stakes crap game. In the 1980s, Danny lived at 97-11 Lefferts Boulevard, Queens. (Ozone Park section.)

* Giacomo Morelli (May 13, 1912 - ?) A crew member who lived close to the Ravenite, at 235 Mulberry Street.

* Anthony "Fat Andy" Ruggiano (Aug 16, 1926 - March 19, 1999) Ruggiano was big into gambling, loansharking and drugs. Like Carmine Fatico, Ruggiano was given a crew to run probably in the early 1970s and inducted the Corozzo brothers and others. In 1987, Ruggiano pleaded guilty on racketeering charges and received 17 years in prison. He was released in 1997.

* Vincent J. Yacono Sr (Sep 8, 1926 - July 29, 1992) Yacono was caught up in the big French Connection case back in the late 1950s. He lived in the same South Brooklyn neighborhood as the Barrancas (at 503 Henry street). As a youth, Yacone was arrested for grand larceny after stealing 308 pounds of Italian cheese. He was also arrested for supplying two hoods with a 38 caliber revolver, used when the hoods hijacked a police officer´s patrol car.

Hairy great fucking post bro. Great breakdown on each guy too. I had no idea how many crews had ties to dellacroce. I remember always hearing about how much influence he had over the so called blue collar faction but this really expands into that well. The Aurelio crew, gennaro crew, petey pumps crew, ruggiano and Fatico crews all were at the very least influenced by Neil no wonder caste llano felt he needed to make him underboss. I would compare him to Nicky corozzo today, very similar amount of influence considering all the capos now who came up under the brothers. All in all great post man

Not positive but I think Angelo Ruggieros father is named Salvatore.

Thanks bro! It´s fun doing these kind of posts.



You may be right. Frankie Reno, mentioned above, may have been an uncle of Quack-Quack.

Do you know if Anthony rizzo is related to john rizzo? The one who took over joe the blondes crew?

Yes he is. Rizzo´s father, John Rizzo Sr, was Anthony Rizzo´s son.

Thank you for this

Good list. i knew the fatico brother were close to dellacroce but didnt realize they were originally from Neil's crew

Good list but why was the crew split between Neil Dellacroce and Anthony Rizzo.

Great list Hairy thanks again,i love these type of lists from you like the Colombo war casualties list and the Vic and Gas murders lists, keep itup please . As Skinny said i'm also surprised about the amount of crews that started from Neils crew, i remember people talking about the Greenwich Village and 116th street crews being split up but this seems different since the guys under him became capo while he was still alive.

Hard to say. It may have been a result from negotiations between Dellacroce and Gambino. The Dellacroce faction wanted more of their guys into positions of power.

Another reason may be that the guys who ended up under Rizzo, resented Rava´s powerplay in the first place and were scared of serving under Dellacroce. By letting Rizzo head this group, they were protected by Gambino. This makes sense actually because it was rumored that some members of Rizzo´s crew were the ones who some years later were behind the Dellacroce murder attempt when somebody fired shots into The Ravenite Social Club.

It could also have been a typical Gambino Machiavellian move of divide and conquer. By splitting up the former Rava crew, Gambino took in Rizzo´s crew in his fold, making Dellacroce weaker.

One interesting thing to note is that the members who ended up under Rizzo, were based out of/around Bensonhurst, Brooklyn while the ones under Dellacroce were based out of other parts of Brooklyn (East NY/Brownswille/South Brooklyn) and the Little Italy section of Manhattan. The split may have come simply out of geographical proximity. Perhaps the crew members based in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn were not keen on reporting to a guy who was based in Manhattan?



You´re welcome buddy. I think it was all negotiations between Dellacroce and Gambino (and later Castellano) that resulted in Dellacroce having more of his guys in positions of power. That way the power was divided so that the members (particularly the ones in Dellacroce´s faction) would feel more secure.

good information

Great info Hairy, thanks for your efforts.

I have mentioned before an assassination attempt on Dellacroce. Found a couple of articles dealing with this. The first one, published in Niagara Falls Gazette in Feb 1970, deals with Dellacroce´s attempt to dethrone Gambino from his position.
The second one, published in Oswego Palladium in Sep 1972, deals with the murder attempt on Dellacroce. If somebody has more details on the murder attempt, and the circumstances surrounding it, please share!

Very interesting story about Dellacroce's alleged attempt to dethrone Carlo.

I've seen very little written about this. But if true, it would help explain why Neil was overlooked for the top spot, in lieu of one of Carlo's trusted relative.

Yes. It puzzles me that this, regardless if it´s true or not, is something that is not mentioned or discussed in Mafia books for example, to a greater extent. If true, I´m thinking Joe N. Gallo, the consigliere at the time, must have played a great part in convincing the two factions to settle the problem peacefully. Another Gambino member who may have played a similar part is Jimmy "Brown" Failla. He pops up as an acting underboss to Castellano in between Gambino´s deathbed wish and the elevation of Castellano to official boss. (Failla was originally an Armand Rava crew member, just like Dellacroce.)

It could have been disinformation from the FBI or simply a misinterpretation of evidence. The committee didn't reveal its source so we won't know who told it.

I think if Gambino wanted Dellacroce dead then he would have been killed or disappeared. If Gambino ordered someone to tell this Lombardo guy to shoot up the Ravenite, then it seems to me Lombardo would have been protected, not killed for doing what he was told. It is an interesting story though.

Can anyone get anything on a Peter Monteleone...he was a made man in the Bonanno crime family and very good friends with Anthony"Old Man"Spero and Benjamin Ruggiero

You could be right. I wish there were more info on this though.

That is the first time I've seen that too. Would love to find more of it if possible.

Very interesting stuff, good post

Always been interested in learning more on Joe N. Gallo and Dellacroce's days as a powerful capo

theres a book, i forget the title southend, but i think it was mainly abt gotti castellano hit etc and they had a few chpterd devoted to not crazy joe gallo, he ended his life with a nice coffee,sepresso shop, running book and as consigliere. were almost neighbors now it seems, im in the berkshires currently,so anytime ya come this way let me know,we will have a deca-hella fun day

hairy, great post, awesome, in fact if this article is half true, which i assume it is because the AP/FBI wouldn't lie,(sarcasm) it shows why mr. niel didnt get the top spot, but looking back, gotti at the time was a punk, compared to castelllano, who wanted to change w the times,white collar stuff and gotti ,a,street guy couldn't grasp that! he (paul) knew the days of hijacking trucks was numbered,and new endeavors were on the horizon,it woulda changed the future of the gambinos

HairyKnuckles,I loved the newspaper articles you posted. Hats off to a fine research job. Stuff like this is what makes me a forum junkie.
I got a kick out of the description of Gambino as having a "chronic cardiac condition". Reminds me of Hyman Roth "dying of the same heart attack for twenty years". Also mentioned was the deportation order that Gambino was under and which was still in effect when he died.
The stuff regarding Neil's beating and the attempts on his life was new to me. We see Dellacroce as the feared, ruthless killer that everyone was afraid of,but it's a nice reminder that at one time,he was no different than any thug on the street.
Again thanks for the good work!

You´re welcome guys and thanks for all the positive feedback.

Thinking about the (alleged) Dellacroce murder attempt, I´m starting to lean towrds what Faithful posted. Stories like that would come out occasionally, planted by law enforcement, investigatotors or sometimes newspapers just to make a splash. These kind of stories sometimes helped LE to gather information and newspapers gladly printed them, because they helped sell papers.

Gambino or Dellacroce?

I've been scratching my head over why crime historians haven't discussed this article, even if to say that it's incorrect.

For 1970 standards, it was pretty detailed. You would figure that authors, like S. Raab and John Davis, would have included this story in their books. As it stands, there aren't many theories on why Dellacroce was passed over.

When I google the story, nothing comes up.

After reading about that murder attempt, I searched some more and found this article:

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=w_4sAAAAIBAJ&sjid=rswFAAAAIBAJ&pg=952,3184192&dq=dellacroce&hl=en

I know I don't know enough like I should, but what role did they have in killing Galante or is that article just wrong?

Dellacroce definitely had a role in killing Galante because Bruno Indelicato was spotted at the Ravenite after the hit.