Crazy - Blog 2.0 - Gangsters Inc. - www.gangstersinc.org
2024-03-29T08:35:01Z
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Genovese Mob Boss Fat Tony’s Crazy Christmas Card
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/genovese-mob-boss-fat-tony-s-crazy-christmas-card
2020-12-21T16:00:00.000Z
2020-12-21T16:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-mob-boss-fat-tony-s-crazy-christmas-card"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237025287,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237025287?profile=original" width="520" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>Ah Christmas! ‘Tis the season to be jolly. Genovese mob boss “Fat Tony” Salerno knew that all too well and pulled off a Christmas prank both edgy and extremely funny.</p>
<p>As a leading member of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family">Genovese Crime Family</a> Anthony Salerno had enormous power. Not just in the criminal underworld, his corrupting influence extended into the legitimate world of construction, waste management, and various unions that gave him control over a wide array of businesses.</p>
<p>Yet, despite all that power, he still had to answer to a man above him. <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/genovese-boss-vincent-chin">Vincent Gigante</a> was the true boss of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Genovese" target="_blank">Genovese Family</a> and was using Salerno as his front, his man on the streets, and the one who would take the hit when the FBI came knocking.</p>
<p>This wasn’t a sign of disrespect, though. Everyone knew the reasons behind it and for Salerno it came with the job. He was loyal, had sworn an oath and was never going to break it. He respected “Chin” Gigante and his boss respected him back. He could trust him.</p>
<p>In <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LCN" target="_blank">La Cosa Nostra</a> there are not many people you can trust.</p>
<p><a href="http://t.co/8oQrLl0a6f" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237026056,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237026056?profile=original" width="300" /></a>Besides Salerno, Gigante had another layer of protection against the Feds: His crazy act. For several decades, he managed to trick shrinks, doctors, judges, cops, and the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=FBI" target="_blank">FBI</a> into thinking he was a nutcase and unable to keep a job, let alone run a criminal brotherhood consisting of hundreds of members.</p>
<p>Gigante would wander the streets in a dirty bathrobe. Talking to parking meters, sometimes even urinating in public, he was quite the sight. In no way, shape, or form did he even remotely resemble a Mafia boss.</p>
<p>While the outside world discussed whether Gigante was crazy or not, whether he led a criminal empire or just the empire of dwarfs and unicorns in his head, the mob knew the truth. And in the 1980s, Tony Salerno was going to have some fun with Chin’s act.</p>
<p>The old man put on his pajamas, a robe, a baseball cap which he turned backwards, and put a cigar in his mouth. He then took a photo which you can see on the right. He sent this photo as a Christmas card to several fellow mobsters who no doubt recognized the man Salerno was impersonating and had to laugh at the scene.</p>
<p>Chin undoubtedly saw the card as well. And though he was a secretive man who hated outlandish behavior, there was no backlash at Salerno. Gigante could appreciate a good joke once in a while. Especially from his dear colleague Fat Tony.</p>
<p>In 1986, Salerno was convicted in the Commission Case and sentenced to 100 years in prison. He died there in 1992 at the age of 80.</p>
<p>Vincent Gigante’s crazy act officially ended in 2003 when he admitted lying about his mental health. He died two years later at age 77.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-genovese-crime-family">Genovese crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
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“The Mover” - Profile of Chicago Outfit consigliere Marco D’Amico
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-mover-profile-of-chicago-outfit-consigliere-marco-d-amico
2020-04-27T12:30:00.000Z
2020-04-27T12:30:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
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<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-mover-profile-of-chicago-outfit-consigliere-marco-d-amico" target="_blank"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237139274,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237139274?profile=original" /></a>By David Amoruso for <a href="http://www.gangstersinc.org" target="_blank">Gangsters Inc.</a></p>
<p>He was one of the last old school Chicago Mafia leaders to pass away, media wrote when Marco D’Amico died on April 22, 2020. It was a cliché that – between the lines - revealed the downfall of a once mighty criminal empire. One that D’Amico played an important part in.</p>
<p>Born on January 1, 1936, Marco D’Amico fit right in with some of the crazier gangsters operating in Chicago. That says a lot, seeing how the city was home to torture-murderers like <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Spilotro" target="_blank">Tony Spilotro</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chicago-soldier-mad-sam" target="_blank">“Mad Sam” DeStefano</a> and a boss like <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/chicago-boss-joseph-lombardo" target="_blank">Joey “The Clown” Lombardo</a>, who never missed a chance to live up to his nickname, but would just as easily smile-kill you, if needed.</p>
<p><strong><span style="font-size:14pt;"><a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237139480,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237139480?profile=original" /></a>Biting the finger off a cop: charges dropped</span></strong></p>
<p>D’Amico (right) earned his crazy stripes in 1983 when he got pulled over by a police officer on suspicion of drunk driving. The cop had seen correctly that D’Amico was intoxicated, but the mobster wasn’t about to get busted for something as insignificant as a DUI.</p>
<p>So, he pulled a: “Do you know who I am?!” on the officer. Stunned, the cop replied he didn’t know nor that it mattered. D’Amico then went straight for the cop’s finger and bit it off. Like a madman.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/untouchable-little-jimmy-profile-of-chicago-mafia-boss-james-marc" target="_blank">Untouchable "Little Jimmy"</a> - Profile of Chicago Mafia boss James Marcello</strong></li>
</ul>
<p>After this violent incident, D’Amico was proven correct in using the “Do you know who I am?!” line. He indeed had a lot of pull. After biting off the finger of a cop, the charges were dropped. Some guys were above the law, it seemed.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Shakers and movers</strong></span></p>
<p>It was indicative of the power of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview" target="_blank">Chicago Outfit</a> of the 1980s. Back then, it not only ruled the underworld in Chicago, but multiple <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Casino" target="_blank">casinos</a> in <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Vegas" target="_blank">Las Vegas</a> as well. It still had corrupt contacts in law enforcement, the courts, and even in politics.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-beginnings-of-tony-spilotro-s-infamous-hole-in-the-wall-gang" target="_blank"><strong>The beginnings of Tony Spilotro's infamous Hole in the Wall gang</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>This created the perfect working environment for a mobster like D’Amico. From <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Gambling" target="_blank">gambling</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Loansharking" target="_blank">loansharking</a> to <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=Extortion" target="_blank">extortion</a> and violence, D’Amico had all the freedom he needed. And back up as well, of course. As a made member of the Outfit’s Elmwood Park crew, he could rely on plenty of muscle. D’Amico himself brought plenty to the table as well, earning the nickname “The Mover” because he always got things <a href="http://www.facebook.com/GangstersInc" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237139498,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237139498?profile=original" /></a>done.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>No Nose</strong></span></p>
<p>His biggest ally in the crew was <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/longtime-chicago-mob-boss-john-no-nose-difronzo-dead-at-89" target="_blank">John “No Nose” DiFronzo</a>, who would eventually become the boss of the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview" target="_blank">Chicago Outfit</a>. John Binder, a historian and expert on the Chicago underworld, told <a href="https://abc7chicago.com/marco-the-mover-d'amico-dead-outfit-chicago-mob/6126739/" target="_blank">ABC7 Eyewitness News</a> that: “D'Amico was close to John DiFronzo for quite some time. His own money was (as an investor) in the large-scale marijuana farms the Outfit ran in Inverness and Carol Stream some years ago, alongside that of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/longtime-chicago-mob-boss-john-no-nose-difronzo-dead-at-89" target="_blank">John DiFronzo</a> and his brother Joe. He was also part of John DiFronzo's inner circle, meeting with him every day at the old Loon Cafe and after that in another near west suburban location for an extended lunch.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ:</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/al-capone-s-beer-wars-chicago-s-prohibition-era-gangland-laid-bar" target="_blank"><strong>Chicago’s Prohibition-era gangland laid bare by mob historian John Binder in new book</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>But times were changing fast. <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blog/list?tag=LCN" target="_blank">La Cosa Nostra</a>’s power and influence were dwindling fast. D’Amico was confronted with the new reality in which mobsters actually had to face justice for their crimes in the mid-1990s when he was hit with racketeering charges. Gone were the corrupt contacts. Gone was the protective shield of omerta, the code of silence. If he would have gone to trial, he faced snitches and overwhelming evidence.</p>
<p>The Outfit just wasn’t what it used to be. D’Amico pleaded guilty in 1995 and was sentenced to 12 years behind bars. He was released in 2005.</p>
<p><span style="font-size:14pt;"><strong>Consigliere</strong></span></p>
<p>By that time, the <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview" target="_blank">Chicago Outfit</a> was in bad shape. Operation Family Secrets had decimated its top leadership and uncovered many of the underworld’s most guarded conspiracies. DiFronzo and D’Amico were still going. The two mob leaders were seen meeting together in public as late as 2009. But the days of brazen robberies and bombings were far behind them.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>READ: <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-hook-life-and-bloody-crimes-of-feared-chicago-mafia-enforcer" target="_blank">The Hook</a>: Life and bloody crimes of feared Chicago Mafia enforcer</strong> <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-hook-life-and-bloody-crimes-of-feared-chicago-mafia-enforcer" target="_blank"><strong>Harry Aleman</strong></a></li>
</ul>
<p>As a senior figure in the Outfit, D’Amico’s opinion and insight were valued by younger mobsters. According to various sources, he still held the position of consigliere at the time of his death on April 22, 2020. He was 84.</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-chicago-outfit-overview">Chicago Outfit section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
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Profile: Colombo family associate Thomas McLaughlin
https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/profile-colombo-family-associate-thomas-mclaughlin
2016-02-14T08:00:00.000Z
2016-02-14T08:00:00.000Z
Gangsters Inc.
https://gangstersinc.org/members/GangstersInc
<div><p><a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/profile-colombo-family-associate-thomas-mclaughlin"><img class="align-center" src="{{#staticFileLink}}9237057072,original{{/staticFileLink}}" alt="9237057072?profile=original" width="400" /></a>By David Amoruso</p>
<p>Colombo crime family hitman Tommy McLaughlin disappeared into the Witness Protection Program last Friday. Gangsters Inc. bids him farewell with a profile.</p>
<p>Thomas McLaughlin (photo above) began his criminal career as a member of a street gang called the Bay Parkway Boys. An innocent enough sounding name, but these boys quickly moved on to more serious acts than throwing eggs at houses. McLaughlin, especially, when he hooked up with wiseguys from the notorious <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family">Colombo crime family</a>.</p>
<p>The Colombo mob had a violent history dating back to the days when Colombo soldier <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/mafia-rebel-crazy-joey-gallo">“Crazy Joe” Gallo</a> took on Colombo family boss Joseph Profaci. The war was paused when Gallo went to prison and Profaci passed away, only to be set ablaze once more when Gallo was released and butted heads with then-boss Joseph Colombo.</p>
<p>On the streets, McLaughlin had earned a reputation as a tough kid with a quick temper. He’d fit right in with the crazy Colombo bunch. He had his chance to prove it in the early 1990s, when the third <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family">Colombo family</a> war broke out between the Persicos - <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/colombo-boss-carmine-persico">father</a> and <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/colombo-boss-alphonse-persico">sons</a> - and their loyalists and Victor Orena and his renegades, McLaughlin found himself in an orgy of violence that left ten mobsters and two innocent bystanders dead in the streets.</p>
<p>McLaughlin himself participated in two murders during the war as a member of <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/colombo-capo-gregory-the-grim">Gregory Scarpa</a>’s crew. Scarpa was known as <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/the-fbi-s-secret-thirty-year-relationship-with-a-mafia-killer">The Grim Reaper</a> and was one of the deadliest mob soldiers ever to walk the streets of New York. McLaughlin would come over to his house on a regular basis and began dating Scarpa’s daughter Linda.</p>
<p>With a father-in-law like Scarpa, McLaughlin had all the connections he needed. But he had one more, his cousin, <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/colombo-boss-thomas-tommy">Thomas Gioeli</a> was a fast-rising Colombo wiseguy as well. </p>
<p>Unfortunately for him though, authorities had him in their sights. In 1996, they busted his drug operation and sent him to prison for the next 14 years. While behind bars he married Linda Scarpa, but the marriage did not last.</p>
<p>Upon his release from prison in 2008, after having proven himself as a standup guy and a man capable of murdering for the organization, McLaughlin expected to be welcomed back by his mob colleagues with open arms and a cushy job or payday.</p>
<p>He was wrong.</p>
<p>Though his cousin <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/colombo-boss-thomas-tommy">Thomas Gioeli</a> was now boss of the family, their bond wasn’t tight. What made life in the new millennium even worse for McLaughlin: Many Colombo mobsters had flipped and turned government witness.</p>
<p>Including capo Dino “Big Dino” Calabro, who implicated him in the murder of Frank “Chestnut” Marasa, who was shot to death in front of his Bensonhurst home on June 12, 1991, a victim of the mob war.</p>
<p>Disappointed with the Mafia and confronted with the outlook of spending the rest of his life in prison, McLaughlin took matters into his own hands and contacted the FBI: He wanted to join Team America.</p>
<p>Starting in 2009, he wore a wire and taped scores of gangsters saying incriminating things. Because of his cooperation it was not him, but his cousin <a href="http://gangstersinc.ning.com/profiles/blogs/colombo-boss-thomas-tommy">Thomas Gioeli</a> who went to prison for the killing of Marasa.</p>
<p>McLaughlin’s work and testimony earned him a new life in the witness protection program with his new wife and their family.</p>
<p>The judge presiding over his case called McLaughlin’s cooperation “historic” and felt confident that McLaughlin had “gone straight and is going to stay straight.”</p>
<p>46-year-old McLaughlin was short about his exploits, stating in court last Friday, “I just want to apologize for my past and look forward to the future.”</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Back to the <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/the-colombo-crime-family">Colombo crime family section</a> on Gangsters Inc.</strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out the latest news on organized crime and the Mafia at our <a href="https://gangstersinc.ning.com/blog/list/tag/news">news section</a></strong></li>
<li><strong>Check out our <a href="https://gangstersinc.org/blog/gangsters-inc-on-social-media">social media channels</a></strong></li>
<li><strong><a href="https://gangstersinc.org/profiles/blogs/about-gangsters-inc">About Gangsters Inc.</a></strong></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Copyright © Gangsters Inc.</strong></p></div>