Tony Caponigro?

It's mentioned that when summoned to the Triangle Social club, Chin asks Tony Bananas to explain himself & Tony looks at Funzi saying u gave me permission

Whereupon Funzi plays dumb and says "I told u to straighten it out not
whack the guy"

So two things happened, if Chin knew from the start there wouldn't be any need to question Caponigro. Funzi wanted the New Jersey bookmaking territory to himself and set up the triple cross

Or

Chin told Funzi to set it all up... But then if he did, he wouldn't have felt the need to
go after everyone involved so mercilessly.. Perhaps to cover his tracks and send a message "u can't whack a boss"

But personally I feel Funzi acted alone... Out of greed

Thoughts?

Gigante maybe wasn't involved...But I ask myself whether Phil Lombardo was in it with Tieri?

Tieri was 76 years old then, so I don't know that the theory that he did it all on his own holds up too good, although he may well have initiated it, I still believe it was a top brass Genovese plot.

It made sense for them too, the Genovese knew they couldn't move in on the Bruno family and its prized north jersey territory because of its alignment with the Gambinos, and the fact that Caponigro had a very strong presence there which made his elimination a dangerous proposition. Extremely cunning plan and it worked to a tee.

It was a Genovese plot, not a Funzi plot. Funzi Tieri wanted the Jersey bookmaking territory, yes, but if he'd gotten it, it would've benefited all of the Genovese , including the Chin with him being boss. A meeting was set up in NY prior while Carlo was still alive, Angelo Bruno was representing Tony Caponigro, long story short, Carlo ruled in favor of Bruno and Caponigro and Caponigro kept his bookmaking territory. After Carlo died, the Chin became the head of the Commission and the most powerful boss in NY. Odds are , Funzi & Chin collaborated with the Caponigro plot , as not only would the bookmaking territory add to the Genovese income, the removal of Bruno allowed Chin to place a boss in Philly that would be loyal to him. And that's exactly what happened. Bruno was removed, Phil Testa was pretty chosen by the Genovese to head Philadelphia and the Genovese family became very influential to the Philadelphia family. And Chin probably killed all those involved simply to save face and his reputation.

Carlo died in oct 76 tieri was his brooklyn friend i guess from a million aurgs on the board phil lombrdo was the reL boss. Scarpa swore it was tieri. I dont know but i kinda belive there was a genovese 3 top guys around when bruno got whacked fat tony chin and tieri o lombardo

After i think tommy ryan eboli got killed the genovese where relly sneaky cause i tbink gambino wanted the hit nd they fell for his okay dokey

Nice summary, this is very accurately what happened as I've come to understand it as well. Whether or not it was out of spite on Tieri's part over the initial ruling from Carlo can only be speculated on, however, Chin was certainly involved. As Leonetti's book describes it, Caponigro was summoned to the Triangle Club to answer in front of Tieri, Bobby Manna & Chin. Funzi definitely didn't pull this over on Chin I think saw him as replaceable and with good reason.

According to Leonetti in "Mafia Prince," there were three reasons for the Caponigro set up by the Genovese family.

1. Testa, Scarfo, etc. taking over Philly mob swings their vote to the Genovese, which gives them more control of Commission.

2. Scarfo, etc. taking over Philly mob means he also takes control of HEREU Local 54 (which they were beefing with Bruno about) and that would benefit the Genovese who later received money out of the union from Scarfo.

3. Taking out Caponigro meant the Genovese could take over his gambling/loansharking operations in North Jersey (which they had beefed about in the past when Caponigro won the sitdown).


It certainly seems this was a power play by the top guys in the family and not just Tieri alone. Especially when you consider it was Chin's crew who took out Caponigro.

The Genovese family had Ralph blackie Napoli put in charge after caponigro was murdered , he was close to manna because they had been in jail together and part of the yardville 9

On top of all that, when Gravano killed Johnny Keys, Keys blamed the problems in Philadelphia all on the Genovese family, Chin specifically.

"Vincent Gigante - had conned this Tony Bananas that the commission sanctioned the hit on Bruno. How the Chin conned the commission by volunteering to do an investigation and taking out Tony."
From Underboss

Carlo died in 76, Bruno died in 1980. By this point I don't think Lombardo was "the real boss". Fat Tony was either AB, or they had the three man panel, either way, by the early 80's they were acting for the Chin. Chin's new book has him being named official boss around this time, '81 to be specific, and power was probably heavily leaning in his favor in 1980. To be more specific, from Fish Cafaro's testimony we know Fat Tony was removed from his AB position in 1981 after suffering a stroke, this decision was made by Chin, Lombardo, Bobby Manna, and Sammy Santora in conjunction. That was also the year Lombardo retired. So Chin was definitely boss some time in 81, and brought Salerno back to front for him.

The OP question of whether not Funzi Duped Chin - Based on what Leonetti says in Mafia Prince the answer is No.

According to the book, Manna asked Scarfo if there were problems down in Philly with Bruno would he be with Manna? Or something like that. Basically Manna tipped his hand to Scarfo that someone wasn't happy with Bruno.

So, by deduction, because there are no facts- Manna and tieri knew. Therefore Chin and Salerno knew

Off subject that philly guy eugene milano took the stnd at chins trial. That was tieri and lombardo call with chin n manna as conduits seems like fat tony was probaly busy with the concrete club

Gino Milano came in AFTER all that stuff happened. Therefore he wouldn't have any firsthand knowledge of anything Genovese related from the early 80's.

Wait a minute: IF we believe the book, then Chin allegedly wasn't on it, otherwise why would he be surprised and ask Tieri "what is he talking about, Frank?" during their interrogation of Caponigro, while discussing the Bruno murder? I mean, there was no need to pretend, they were alone in the room in 4: Caponigro, Tieri, Gigante and Manna. If Gigante was on it, he could well admit it in those circumstances and tell Caponigro "we just duped you into killing Bruno but you will pay the price because nobody is going to know or believe you anyway".

I don't recall that sentence ever being in the book of Chin asking Tieri that. Not in Mafia Prince anyway. I'm almost certain that line of Chin asking Tieri "what's he talking about Frank" isn't written. In fact, in Mafia Prince, Phil Leonetti also says that Chin, Tieri and Bobby manipulated the whole thing, as seen here...




https://books.google.com/books?id=2KM_BA...tti&f=false

You got me, it is in there. Chin was probably being facetious, because he was definitely in on the plot, which Leonetti also attests to. Guess that was all a part of Chins genius.

Here is the page:
https://books.google.it/books?id=2KM_BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA94&lpg=PA94&dq=Funzi+Tieri+Mafia+Prince+Philip+Leonetti&source=bl&ots=GfQLsyaFfY&sig=954dp93vDIbWqC1kWlXanOOlCew&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=snippet&q=%22talking%20about%22%20frank%20caponigro&f=false



Maybe Gigante was being ironic then, don't know...

EDIT: posted the wrong link initially, have checked it now page 95 anyway

Don't know why doesn't the link work properly, it seems to have made the page wider with its length. Damn bugs...

I imagine the Genovese had to have plausible deniability because, as we know, Bruno was close to the Gambinos and would have seen the move for what it was if they believed Tieri had given the ok for the hit.

I read that Bruno and Castellano were very tight, Paul was seen in Philly many times having dinner with Bruno. At the time Philly was on the commission, probably because of the Bonanno issues and sometime Bruno wouldn't even attend commission meetings and the Gambino's would carry his vote for him and they always went with whatever the Gambino's did. I'm sure the westside wanted to break up that little partnership.

I heard that too, but that Castellano would only go out there when Carlo was alive. Didnt hear much about him doing so afterwards.

What I read was well after Carlo was gone, like early 80's. It was probably a win/win. Bruno had Paul on his side and Paul controlled a commission vote.

The Gambino's
couldn't have been that close with Bruno during Paulie's reign? Considering it was the Gambino's that got John Stanfa his pass especially later on when Scarfo took over (okay it's never been establish if Stanfa was on on the hit)

But considering he was the driver and only got fragment injuries....
Not to mention Leonetti claims Stanfa was one of those that went to meet with the Westside but ducked out when they went to call him (Bobby Manna thought it was Scarfo himself) at the time

Bruno was killed much earlier than Castellano and as far as we know, other than a proxy vote maybe , Castellano did nothing for retribution or to get his commission vote back. So it doesn't seem like they were that close . May I ask , what is it that you read that said Bruno & Castellano had that much of a relationship?


And I used to think Stanfa was in on the hit, but I've since changed my opinion on that. Him being there doesn't mean he was in on it necessarily. Him and Bruno basically lived on the same 2 block radius, from what I've read on the hit. And Bruno asked Stanfa for the ride, Stanfa didn't just offer to do so. Had it not been for Stanfa's quick thinking, he probably would have been killed too, but as soon as he heard the shot and felt something hit his arm he opened his door and ran and never looked back. Yes he was seen in the hospital with Sindone and Salerno but they couldve easily been asking him to keep his mouth shut. And I think its only Anastasia who says Stanfa used to be seen by surveillance in NY with Caponigro, I don't know how true that is. Those within the Philly mob like George Fresolone don't believe Stanfa was in on it. So the jury is still out on that, it definitely hasn't been proven either way.

Actually the line about Gigante asking Tieri what the matter was about is simply the story that was given Scarfo by Manna. And the Genovese brass, while close to Scarfo, had no compunctions about lying to him on certain things (like the Castellano hit being approved).

Basically we only know about the likely triple cross of Caponigro based on Scarfo's connecting of the dots from what he was told by the Genovese, I don't think they ever spelled it out to him, he was just street-smart enough to put it all together in the grand scheme of things.

Gigante, Salerno, Tieri and Manna were all in on the hit. Remember Manna asked Scarfo how would he feel if God forbid something were to happen to Bruno where would tge Families stand.

Chin gave the order for Caponigro to be tortured. I don't think Chin knew anything and Frank and Manna set everything up.

If they killed a boss without getting their bosses approval, they would have been killed right along side Caponigro !!

Frank and Manna didnt kill anyone, Tony killed Bruno. Chin really wanted to make an example out of Caponigro.

Bruno was killed in 1980...so maybe late 70s.