By David Amoruso

Alphnose "Little Al" D'Arco was born July 28, 1932 in Brooklyn, New York. As early as D'Arco could remember he hung around people who were either associates, members or even bosses of the Mafia. As he grew up in Brooklyn he made visits to bosses of all the 5 Families in New York. Pretty soon Little Al knew that this was the life for him, he too wanted to become a wiseguy, a made guy, he too wanted to belong to a Family. To become a member D'Arco first had to become an associate of one of the 5 New York Families. And so he did, he became an associate of the Lucchese Crime Family. As an associate D'Arco stood at the bottom of the food chain and could only do his best and hope that one day he would become a made guy, During his years as an associate D'Arco had spent some time in prison in the 1960s and when he got out he still had to wait for his membership. It wasn't untill 1982 that he became a made guy. At the age of 50 Alphonse D'Arco became a made guy in the Lucchese Crime Family under boss Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo, and he was assigned to the crew of capo Paul Vario (made famous worldwide by the movie Goodfellas in which Vario was played by Paul Sorvino).

After finally becoming a made guy D'Arco didn't have much time to enjoy it, in 1983 he was arrested for dealing heroine and sent to prison untill 1986. When he got out things started moving fast for Little Al, in 1988 D'Arco was appointed capo of Paul Vario's crew when he died, by his boss Vic Amuso who had become boss after the imprisonment of Anthony Corallo. D'Arco waited 50 (well 30) years to become made member, 30 years of waiting for that moment and now since he had been made things went fast: he had spent 3 years in prison, he had become a capo and the ride wasn't about to stop. In 1990 D'Arco's boss Vic Amuso and his underboss Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso went on the lam following a federal indictment and in 1991 Amuso appointed D'Arco acting boss of the Lucchese Crime Family to take care of the Family while they were gone. Now D'Arco was at his highest level, he controlled one of the 5 Families. In his 30 years of involvement with the Lucchese Crime Family D'Arco had learned all there was to know on how to run the business. The Lucchese Family made money through a variety of illegal activities including gambling, loansharking, and dealing in stolen property. Now D'Arco oversaw all of that and also had to somehow keep the real powers who were on the lam happy and content and this proved more difficult than anything.

When they were on the lam Amuso and Casso went crazy. They ordered mobster after mobster whacked because they thought they would flip or either had flipped. Casso was an extra pain in the neck as D'Arco recalled since he kept asking about money matters. As a result of Casso's badgering D'Arco started keeping records of money coming in and would send them to Casso he would also keep some copies himself. In 1991 D'Arco got word from Amuso that he should whack Lucchese capo Pete Chiodo. Chiodo had fallen out of favor with Amuso when he plead guilty in the same case that Amuso was now on the lam for. Amuso feared Chiodo would flip and so told D'Arco to take care of it. D'Arco tried, he even had his son in the hitteam, but failed. Chiodso survived the shotwounds and immediately called for the F.B.I. he had some stories to tell. When Amuso was finally arrested D'Arco thought he'd might get some easy time, he was wrong. While in prison Amuso started thinking about D'Arco and his time as acting boss and decided he wasn't happy with him. Amuso decided that D'Arco was to rule the streets as part of a 4 man ruling commission made up out of Steven Crea, Frank Lastorino and Sal Avellino. D'Arco felt uneasy with these new changes but decided to just go along with it. But when at meetings he saw how Amuso was trying to avoid him and this made D'Arco unsure of his future in the Mafia. But D'Arco decided to keep going with it, it was the life he chose and it probably was the stress that went to his head. On September 18, 1991 however when he attended a meeting at the Kimberley Hotel in New York he was sure it wasn't the stress. The meeting D'Arco was at went on into the early hours of the morning. D'Arco had no worries untill Michael DeSantis arrived, he noticed that DeSantis was wearing what looked like a bulletproof vest underneath his shirt and he also saw a bulge on his hip, which looked exactly like a gun. At this point D'Arco excused himself and ran. At home D'Arco packed his bags and drove his wife and his children to a hideout on Long Island. On September the 21st he went to the F.B.I. and decided to become a cooperating witness.

In his mob career D'Arco had been part of/committed 10 murders and also admitted to drug dealing and labor racketeering. At one trial D'Arco was asked by the prosecuting counsel if it was worth it, D'Arco answered:

"No. I’m sixty-five years old. What has it gotten me? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Yes, I have my wife and I have my son. But I was the one who got my son into the Mafia. And what did I accomplish by doing that? My son is a drug dealer! No, I’ve got nothing to show for it. What a waste of my life."

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