About The MOB
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Anthony D'Andrea
? to 1921.
Anthony D'Andrea was an early member of the Chicago branch of the Unione Siciliana.
He was convicted of countefeiting in 1902 and released by the Theodore Roosevelt administration after serving just 13 months. He stayed involved in Unione affairs and in local politics until his murder in 1921.
Phil D'Andrea
Phil D'Andrea became Chicago's Unione president in 1934, when the organization was in a decline. He was one of a group of Chicago crime leaders charged with extortion in the show business industry in 1943.
Raffaele Danniello
Daniello was a member of the Brooklyn Camorra group led by Pellegrino Morano. He participated in the feud between that gang and the Sicilian Morello Mob in Manhattan. Facing murder charges, Danniello fled New York in 1917 and trusted in his Camorra associates to support him and his family. Morano was stingy, however. Disheartened, Danniello took his story to the police. He and Tony Notaro testified against their former bosses as the Brooklyn Camorra leadership was tried and convicted in 1918. It was through Danniello's testimony that police were able to link a series of murders to the war between the Sicilian Mafia and Neapolitan Camorra.
Salvatore D'Aquila
1873 to Oct. 10, 1928.
"Toto", "Tata"
Palermo-born D'Aquila ran a cheese importing business in New York when he wasn't occupied with the day-to-day business of one of the more successful Mafia organizations.
D'Aquila became boss of all bosses in the U.S. Mafia some time after the jailing of Ignazio Lupo and Giuseppe Morello in 1909. (There is some suggestion that he wasn't the first to try for that open office.)
D'Aquila allegedly meddled extensively in the business of other American crime families. He is believed to have inserted his own loyal followers as spies into other families. (See: Gentile, Nick, Vita di Capomafia.)
While D'Aquila did not succeed in uniting all of the city's Mafiosi, he did not have a serious open challenge for about a decade, when Giuseppe Masseria and former D'Aquila henchman Umberto Valenti opposed him with the support of Morello (just out of prison) and others. D'Aquila had earned their enmity by proclaiming a death sentence against the former boss of bosses and all who followed him.
Valenti and D'Aquila set aside their differences and cooperated in a war against Masseria. Masseria survived the momentary setback and succeeded in an assassination of Valenti.
Not much is known about D'Aquila. It appears he lost much of his authority to Masseria in the early 1920s and then was eliminated by Masseria forces (or allies) in 1928.
While a number of D'Aquila loyalists sided with Brooklyn Castellammarese leader Salvatore Maranzano, the old D'Aquila unit was officially taken over by Masseria supporter Al Mineo and his right-hand man Steve Ferrigno.
After the deaths of Mineo and Ferrigno, the unit was run by Frank Scalise during the later Castellammarese War and was then turned over to Vincent Mangano in the 1931 underworld reorganization. It survives to this day as the Gambino Family.
Nick Del Gaudio
? to c. 1916
DelGaudio was a Neapolitan Camorrist operating in Manhattan in the early 1900s. While details are unknown, he is believed to have crossed the Lupo-Morello Mafia in Italian Harlem. His subsequent murder sparked a feud between Sicilian and Neapolitan criminal groups in New York City.
Brooklyn Neapolitan leader Pelligrino Morano in 1917 allegedly said he wanted the Morellos dead to avenge Del Gaudio's murder.
The feud seems not to have involved all Sicilian and Neapolitan groups in the city. The Morello mob cooperated with a number of Neapolitans in Manhattan, and the Morano organization apparently did not go to war with the Castellamarese Sicilian organization believed to have been thriving in Brooklyn at the time.
Aniello Dellacroce
March 14, 1914, to Dec. 2, 1985.
"Neal"
Dellacroce, who learned his craft under Albert Anastasia, was the longtime leader of a faction within the Gambino Crime Family of New York.
As the representative of the second most powerful wing of the family, Dellacroce served as underboss to Carlo Gambino. Though Gambino is widely thought to have had a hand in the 1957 death of Anastasia, there was no open conflict between Gambino and Dellacroce.
Upon Gambino's death, the old Anastasia faction felt Dellacroce should be elevated to Family boss. However, he stepped aside for Gambino relative Paul Castellano. If there were hurt feelings, Dellacroce hardly let on. He insisted that his supporters, who were based at the Ravenite Social Club on Mulberry Street, remain loyal to Castellano.
Dellacroce died of natural causes on Dec. 2, 1985, clearing the way for his followers to act against Castellano.
Frank DeSimone
1909 to Aug. 4, 1967.
DeSimone, an attorney, became the Los Angeles Mafia boss after the 1957 death of Jack Dragna. His reign marks the beginning of a long decline for the Family later called "the Mickey Mouse Mafia."
One of DeSimone's earliest acts as crime boss was attendance at the ill-fated 1957 Mafia convention in Apalachin, NY. L.A. mafioso Simone Scozzari, with whom DeSimone is often confused, was also in attendance at that convention.
DeSimone died of natural causes on Aug. 4, 1967, leaving the Los Angeles Family to Nicolo Licata.
Gaspar DiGregorio
c. 1905 to June 11, 1970.
DiGregorio, a relative of the Bonannos and Magaddinos, seized control of the Bonanno crime Family in New York after Joe Bonanno disappeared in the early 1960s. Joe Bonanno's son fought the takeover and the so-called Banana Wars were the result.
Joe Bonanno re-emerged in 1966 and promised to get his Family in order. The Commission, which had initially welcomed DiGregorio's takeover of the Bonanno clan (Carlo Gambino, Tommy Lucchese, Stefano Magaddino and Joe Colombo might have encouraged DiGregorio in order to destablize the Bonannos who often stood in their way), quickly withdrew their support.
DiGregorio was ousted, suffered a heart attack and became entirely unimportant in the underworld. His rebellious faction within the Bonanno Family was briefly led by Paul Sciacca.
After several years of quiet living with family on Long Island, DiGregorio succumbed to lung cancer at St. John's Hospital in Smithtown on June 11, 1970.
Giuseppe and Salvatore DiMarco
In underworld legend, the DiMarcos were two unfortunate New York Mafiosi who attempted to secure the title of boss of all bosses without the approval of Ciro Terranova and were killed for it.
Whether the DiMarcos actually sought the Mafia top spot or whether they committed some other offense against the underworld establishment is not known. However, it appears unlikely that Terranova would have defended the boss of bosses title. At the time of the DiMarcos' deaths, the boss of bosses position was held by Salvatore D'Aquila of Brooklyn, no friend of Terranova.
Terranova reportedly had Joe DiMarco gunned down in his gambling establishment July 25, 1916. Police discovered the corpse of Salvatore DiMarco under the Queensboro Bridge a few months later.
Johnny Dioguardi
April 29, 1914, to Jan. 12, 1979.
"Johnny Dio"
Dioguardi was a fierce and resourceful capo in the Lucchese Crime Family who helped tie American organized labor to organized crime.
In the 1950s, Dio was one of the country's more powerful labor racketeers, and he aided Jimmy Hoffa's climb to the Teamster presidency through strongarm tactics and election fraud.
The racketeer's strength was diminished after he ordered an attack on crusading journalist Victor Riesel. Sulfuric acid was thrown in Riesel's face in April of 1956, permanently blinding the newsman. The deed was tracked back to Dio, and the American press - including Riesel, who continued to crusade through the media - hounded him from that point on.
Dioguardi was convicted of labor extortion and conspiracy early in 1958. He was sentenced to serve 15-30 years in prison. During the trial, his connections with Hoffa were uncovered.
While in prison, Dioguardi was also convicted of income tax evasion in 1960. He was sentenced to four years and a $5,000 fine for that offense. White collar offenses continued to come to light. Dio earned additional jail time and fines in 1967 for bankruptcy fraud and in 1968 for defrauding investors in a car-leasing company.
Dioguardi died while in federal custody on Jan. 12, 1979.
Giuseppe DiPrimo
"DiPriemo," "DiPrima"
DiPrimo was a New York City counterfeiter associated with the Giuseppe Morello mob, who was jailed in the early 1900s.
During the course of his counterfeiting investigation, Secret Service Agent William Flynn allowed DiPrimo's underworld associates to believe that he was providing evidence against them. DiPrimo's perceived violation of the underworld code led to the brutal Mafia slaying of his brother-in-law Benedetto Madonia (the "Barrel Murder").
Newspapers of the time, unaware of Flynn's manipulations, attributed Madonia's killing to a squabble over counterfeiting racket proceeds. In a series of articles published years later, Flynn fessed up to the divide-and-conquer effort that cast suspicion on DiPrimo and triggered the death of Madonia.
Morello enforcer Tomasso Petto was indicted for the Madonia murder. Of the suspects arrested, he was the only one still bearing incriminating evidence - a pawn ticket for DiPrimo's watch. But Petto escaped prosecution by changing his name and fleeing to northeastern Pennsylvania. (At the time of the arraignment, police had been led to believe that Petto was in custody. But they actually held a different man of similar build.)
DiPrimo reportedly swore revenge against the Lupo-Morello organization for Madonia's death. It was widely believed that he tracked Petto to Pennsylvania and killed him there in October 1905. However, the timing was wrong for DiPrimo to be the killer, as he was still in prison at the moment Petto was shot and stabbed to death at his home.
DiPrimo might have supplied later evidence that resulted in the 1909 counterfeiting arrests of Lupo and Morello and much of their gang.
Released from prison, DiPrimo fled back across the Atlantic. He was reportedly later gunned down in Italy.
Giuseppe Dovi
Feb. 11, 1889, to Oct. 22, 1946.
"Joe Bruno"
Dovi was a key man in the Philadelphia organization of Salvatore Sabella. Sabella stepped down at the conclusion of the Castellammarese War in 1931.
Dovi's role in the Philly mob is unclear between 1931 and 1936. Some sources believe he competed with John Avena for dominance in the regional Mafia.
When Avena was killed in 1936 - the result of a feud with the Lanzetti brothers that began during Salvatore Sabella's reign - Dovi became the undisputed authority in the Philly Mob.
"Joe Bruno" would rule the Philadelphia underworld for a decade until his death of natural causes.
Jack Dragna
April 18, 1891, to Feb. 23, 1956.
Dragna was the leader of the Sicilian Mafia in southern California from the mid 1930s until the 1950s.
He was born in Corleone, Sicily, in 1891 and came to the United States with his family early in life. The family returned to Sicily in 1908, and Dragna sailed back to the U.S. for good in 1914.
He might have been affiliated with the Capone gang in Chicago early in his career but then headed westward.
He was convicted of attempted extortion in 1915 and jailed from 1916 until the dawn of the Prohibition Age. After Prohibition, the L.A. Mafia was slow to take advantage of legal gambling in Las Vegas, allowing eastern Mafiosi (and their representative, Benjamin Siegel) to stake claims there. The L.A. mob was happy to operate gambling ships off the California coast instead - a practice that continued from the 1920s until summer of 1939.
While Dragna maintained control over Mafia matters within his territory, he had a great deal of trouble expanding his interests. His forces proved unbelievably inept at eliminating gambling competitor Mickey Cohen in the late 1940s and early 1950s (the tax man got rid of Cohen in 1951). Las Vegas - located practically in Dragna's backyard - was gobbled up by others.
Dragna died in 1956, leaving uncertain leadership in Los Angeles. Some say Frank DeSimone stepped into the boss's job. Others insist that Simone Scozzari (also known in some circles as "DeSimone") held the position.
