anthony casso wife
Casso died Tuesday at age 78,. During his career in organized crime, Casso was regarded as a "homicidal maniac" in the Italian-American Mafia as he admitted to the government responsibility for 36 murders but most likely committed many . A man who loved his work, he sat down and prepared a killing plan. The power base of the family, long cemented in Harlem and the Bronx, swung over to the Brooklyn faction, by far the most violent and unpredictable bunch of thugs and killers in the clan, with Anthony Casso as perhaps the worst by far. Anthony The sonof murderous Luchese gangster Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso is one step closer to being kicked out of his Brooklyn home by his mob-turncoat landlord. Upon realizing that Balagula wasn't there, Reznikov launched into a barrage of profanity and stormed back to the parking lot. Amuso had transferred Michael Pappadio into this crew from his Harlem based one, in order to keep a close eye on him. For a few years in the 1980s, Anthony Casso was one of the most ruthless hitmen and Mafia underbosses New York City had ever seen. He said Kaplan has never paid a dime for the house or its upkeep. Casso later told Carlo that his father visited him at the police station and tried in vain to scare his son straight. Casso has given New York Times bestselling author Philip Carlo the most intimate, personal look into the world of La Cosa Nostra ever seen. Anthony (Gaspipe) Casso and Burton Kaplan (r.), who borrowed $150,000 from Casso to pay for the wedding of his daughter, Deborah Kaplan, (below). Casso later told Carlo that, to his mind, Reznikov had just spat in the face of the entire Cosa Nostra. As part of the plea deal, Cassocopped to 72 countsona slew of mob-related charges, including racketeering, extortion and murder. [65][66] Shortly afterward, Judge Block sentenced Casso to 455 years in prison without possibility of parolethe maximum sentence permitted under sentencing guidelines. This was an arrangement by John Gotti. Casso alleged during interviews with Philip Carlo that Accetturo had involved his wife in the running of the Jersey Crew and that therefore Accetturo alone was responsible for the contract put on her. Besides this, he owned several boats and a cargo jet. Most of the insurance money, over $300,000, went to pay off this loan, rather than the numerous creditors of the business. Not only did he milk huge revenues out of this bustling commercial centre in mid town Manhattan, he also operated a very lucrative loan sharking business among the teeming streets, one that grossed millions of dollars each year. Back in mid of 2019, she was also hired by WTAE-TV as a noon news anchor. Casso was born on May 21, 1942, in South Brooklyn, in New York City, the youngest of the three children to Michael and Margaret Casso (ne Cucceullo). The origins of the Luchese family, sometime near the beginning of the 20th Century, began in the teeming streets of East Harlem, centred on and around 107th Street. The year they married, Michael arranged for an imposing, four bed, four bath brick and stone Colonial to be built in the exclusive Bayside Gables complex in Queens. It would be Tony Corallos last decision regarding the family he had served for almost fifty years. Mr Gribbs who took over the family leadership after the death of Tommy Luchese, and prior to Tony Corallo. By the time Anthony Casso was diagnosed with COVID-19 on Nov. 5, 2020, he was already wheelchair-bound and plagued by issues with his lungs. . The 3,000-square-foot, two-family house features three bedrooms, a kitchen and 1 bathrooms upstairs, plus a downstairs studio with a kitchen and bath. Casso later told Carlo, however, that he tried to talk DeCicco out of killing a boss without first asking for The Commission's permission. Angered by the incident, he went on a manhunt for those that had planned to kill him. Privacy Policy. I surely hate myself, day after day. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); Thanks for contacting us. It seems she had advised him to take a plea in a case and he did not consult with his boss, Anthony Casso. He also demanded a percentage of everything Balagula was involved in. Anthony Casso was pretty much born into the life, he managed to become the Underboss of the Lucchese Family and along the way murder 36 people but in 1994 he made the decision to cooperateThis went against everything he had stood for, this went against his fathers morals and everything that Cassos life was about but he did it for his own selfish reasons and paid the price for it in the worst way possible. Anthony Casso Jr., 33, lives in the house, his childhood home, with his wife and baby. In a murderous campaign generated by Amuso and Casso to eliminate anyone they suspected of disloyalty they arranged the murders of nine men, tried, unsuccessfully to wipe out the head of their New Jersey crew along with his son and another aide, and organized the killing, again unsuccessfully, of capo Pete Chiodo,( a man Amuso had himself sponsored into the family,) although he was shot twelve times in the attempt, tried to kill his sister, and finally were setting up a hit on DArco himself, when he became aware of the danger he was in and turned himself into the FBI. In July 1991, in a Staten Island meeting, Amuso and Casso replaced D'Arco as acting boss with a four-man panel of capos. Like always, the feds have downplayed my cooperation, he whined. His godfather was reportedly Salvatore Callinbrano, a capo in the Genovese crime family. Kaplan's lawyer, Michael Rosenthal, declined to comment yesterday, but in court papers he denied Casso Jr.'s most explosive allegation - that Kaplan borrowed $150,000 from the elder Casso to pay for his daughter's wedding. He had four different telephone lines installed in his home, and they seemed to ring non-stop every day. Amuso handed over the working details of the hit on Michael Pappadio to Anthony Casso, a serial killer with possibly dozens of victims to his credit. Balagula, a Soviet Jewish refugee from Odessa, had arrived in the US under the Jackson-Vanik Amendment. Moving rapidly upwards on his career path, by the time he was 33, Amuso was a big time heroin dealer, like so many of his peers in the Luchese family. In the end, Anthony Casso pleaded guilty to 72 criminal counts that included racketeering, extortion, and 14 counts of first-degree murder. Former Lucchese mobster Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso a bloodthirsty underboss who was behind dozens of gangland killings and even employed two NYPD detectives as mafia hitmen has died behind. A classic hit was the one on Anthony DiLapi. "I help them and I get life without parole," he said. As Carmine Avellino led Michael through the bakery towards the rear office area, DArco sprang out from behind a pillar and started bashing Michael around the head with the makeshift sap. The Lucchese crime family mobster didnt care if he violated sacred Mafia codes and killed civilians on the mere suspicion they were informants. As the years went by, Casso started to become sick and eventually in 2009 he was taken to a federal medical centre in Butner because of prostate cancer.In the same year, he was taken back to ADX but then in 2013, he was taken to a halfway house.Throughout the years, he became sicker and sicker eventually to the point where he needed a wheelchair, his kidneys were functioning at one third of a capacity among many other things.Casso passed away on December 15th,2020, from complications relating to COVID-19 among many other things.So Anthony Cassos cooperation landed him into ADX from 1998 until 2013,led to the death of his wife and washed away everything he had earned within his mob life and in his own words I am truly regretful for my decision to cooperate with the Government. I believe the decision to cooperate tore away at him every single day of his time in federal prison. Kaplan said in court papers that when he was released on bail last year he decided "the Casso family had lived for free in my house long enough.". In early 1991, Amuso and Casso ordered the murder of made man and caporegime Peter Chiodo, a fellow Windows Case defendant who had pleaded guilty without asking their permission. [28], In January 1991, Casso received an early warning, from a secret law enforcement source he referred to as his, "crystal ball", about an upcoming federal indictment. Heresy information subsequently confirmed that the killing had taken place. [16] According to Casso, DeCicco alleged during their meeting that Castellano's carelessness in allowing his own house to be bugged was reason enough to kill him. For some reason, the name of the man who disposed of Michaels body was never disclosed. The ultimate treachery which was the hallmark of his chosen profession. His belief in the sanctity of the rules of Cosa Nostra seduced him into assuming his crime family position was inviolable. D'Arco explained that his life was in danger and that the Lucchese family had started killing the entire families of suspected informers, which had never previously been allowed. I know for certain, had my father been alive, I would never have done so. He lived with his wife Barbara in Howard Beach in Queens. By Thom L. Jones for Gangsters Inc. In one of the most outrageous cases of police corruption in history, Casso repeatedly used the cops as his personal "crystal ball" to help track down Mafioso traitors and informants and then. Anthony Casso was a loan shark before joining the Lucchese crime family and rising in the ranks to become an underboss. It seems that the only people the Government awards freedom to are the ones who give prejudiced testimony to win convictions. And in 1993, Casso admitted to killing at least 36 people he suspected of being informants and ordering the execution of 100 more. [13], When Furnari was promoted to the Lucchese family's consigliere, he asked Casso to take over the 19th Hole Crew. However, Casso was thrown out of the witness protection program in 1998, after prosecutors accused him of a litany of infractions, such as bribing prison guards, assaulting rival mobster inmates and providing false information. He chose a senior capo, Anthony Buddy Luongo to be his successor, and passed the word down to the troops. However, with Casso's guilty plea, O'Connell said they had Casso "tied up six ways to Sunday. Kaplan's daughter, Deborah, is now a respected Manhattan Supreme Court justice. The decision clears the way for Kaplan to evict Casso Jr., his wife and infant son, then sell the Bergen Beach home. As a protg of Furnari, he was also involved in gambling and drug dealing. [59], At the beginning of the first session, Casso joked, "Every time I stepped out of the house I committed a crime. Even among fellow mobsters, Casso was known as a homicidal maniac, according to the testimony of stoolie Burton Kaplan, who served as intermediary between Casso and the mob cops. Kaplan acknowledged at the trial this year of NYPD Detectives Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa that in the 1985 house transfer, the elder Casso gave him $200,000 in cash to put in the bank and pay back to Casso in checks, as a fake mortgage. Cosa Nostra profits from the industry managed by the Luchese family, belonged solely to the official bosses, the permanent administration members as recognized by the Commission or ruling body, of the mob. Or it could be the $1,000,000 bill he handed over to Casso. In fact, there was nothing Anthony Casso hated more than informants. Andimo had risen through the ranks to be powerful enough to apparently sit on the board of directors of the mob family, a group referred to as the administration. He was also very tight with many powerful Cosa Nostra figures, including Vito Genovese, who replaced Frank Costello as the head of their family, in 1957. Years later, in the 1980s, Anthony Casso got himself involved in a clash with a feared gang called the Gambino family. Luongo was never heard from again. Casso dropped out of school at 16 and got a job with his father as a longshoreman. He was approached to aid in the killing of the gangs leader Paul Castellano. Again, through control of trucking companies, as well as union control, the Gambino family became a major force alongside the Luchese family in this major New York industry. For some strange reason, with all the wealth in the family, Frances worked part-time as a computer data entry operator at Liz Roberts Apparel in Manhattan, and even stranger, as a part-time counter help at The Bagel Club on 35th Street, in Bayside. It was at DArcos de-briefing by his FBI handlers that the details of Michael Pappadios murder came to light. Anthony Casso was a member of the Lucchese crime family. His overheads were high-the $2 million Queens house; an apartment at 35 Park Avenue, Manhattan; a condo in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, a house in the Hamptons; the cars, Haydesa Severo, the housekeeper-the list seemed endless. "[53][3] While remaining in prison, Casso was placed in the witness protection program. E-mail me when people leave their comments , Inside the Montreal underworld: The Rizzuto Mob & the Hells Angels, On the trail of the Italian mafia's dirty money, The "secret" murder of Philly mob boss Joey Merlino's crew, Documentary | Millennials in Mexico - born into the world of drug cartels, How New York gangs use social media to recruit, intimidate and to glamorize their lifestyle, Narco-Propaganda is Fuelling Mexicos Drug War, Meeting With A Sinaloa Cartel Hitman Goes Wrong: Inside Los Chapitos vs Rafael Caro Quintero, How The Hells Angels Actually Works | How Crime Works | Insider. I have disgraced my family heritage, lost the respect of my children and close friends, and most probably added to the sudden death of my wife and confidant for more than 35 years. Even though he is the boss, Vic takes counsel from Coco. He never returned home. For the next 30 years, Casso was a free gangster. He was the youngest child to Margaret Casso and Michael Casso. While his longshoreman father tried straightening him out of his teenage gangsterdom in the South Brooklyn Boys gang, Casso was soon poached by the Lucchese family. Speculation is that he may have been carrying on an affair with Casso's wife and or because he was a relative of Pete Chiodo. [51], Casso was held at New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center pending trial. He was first spotted by Gambino associate Nino Gaggi who tempted him into the family through loanshark projects. [69], Casso began serving his sentence at the supermax prison ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado. He later confessed that he was responsible for the murder of Roy DeMeo, Vladimir Reznikov and Frank DeCicco. A few weeks after Luongos disappearance, Tony Corallo was being urged by his familys administration to sort out the boss replacement situation, with most of the agitation coming from the Brooklyn crew that had been run by Buddy. The under boss of the family, Salvatore Tom Mix Santora, had grave reservations about Amuso, but was himself in prison, so had little control over the course of events. By the early 1930s, Tommy Luchese, working under Tommaso Gagliano, (who headed up the old 107th Street mob,) as his under boss, was exerting a major stranglehold on the district, through his political manoeuvring with Tammany Hall leader Jimmy Hinds, and indirectly though his contacts in mayor William ODyers office. His murder was never solved. In the mid-1970s and 80s, Casso rose through the ranks of the Lucchese family, serving as captain andconsigliere and eventually as underboss. [11][12] Shortly after becoming made, Casso became close to another rising star in the family, Victor Amuso, and began a partnership that would last for two decades. I remember discussing Luongo and Amuso with Ralp the General (Ralph Tutino,) a Luchese associate who was recently convicted in New York on federal drug charges. Casso was assigned to Vincent Foceri's crew that operated from 116th Street in Manhattan and from Fourteenth Avenue in Brooklyn. When anyone asked about his work, he simply told them he was employed in the garment district. He was charged by the feds in 1990 and went on the lam, using information from the crooked cops to help him evade arrest until 1993 when he was nabbedat a mistress home in Mount Olive, New Jersey. You must be born into the family of the Walkers. Afterward, he took up the path of being an informant with the hopes that his sentence would be lenient on him. He was a domineering personality, whose word was never questioned. And this is how things stood in1989. Anthony Casso in 1989. In one such example, he along with two associates, and legitimate garment operators, incorporated a firm called Fashion Page. [13], In December 1985, Casso was approached by caporegime Frank DeCicco regarding a planned coup in the Gambino crime family. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. 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[21] Then, on June 12, 1986, Reznikov entered the Rasputin nightclub in Brighton Beach and placed a 9mm Beretta against Balagula's head, demanding $600,000 in exchange for not pulling the trigger. He refused to answer questions without his attorney present, but admitted that unlike his brother, he was not involved in that life. Special Agent John Flanagan knew of course that Fred had been present at the meeting on Cleveland Place, when Vittorio Amuso chased his brother from the garment industry, and that Fred must have known the inevitability of the events that would eventually unfold, almost certainly resulting in his brothers death. Anthony Salvatore Casso (May 21, 1942 December 15, 2020), nicknamed "Gaspipe", was an American mobster and underboss of the Lucchese crime family. In an interview with Philip Carlo, Casso recalled, "Most all men in my life, everyone I know, had girlfriends. He sold heroin, marijuana, and cocaine. 'The Day The Music Died': Inside The Tragic Story Of Buddy Holly's Death, The Most Shocking Christopher Columbus Facts That The History Books Ignore, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch. Prior to his marriage to Lillian, Casso had a serious relationship with fellow South Brooklyn native Rosemarie Billotti, whose parents hoped he would marry. Casso Jr., who still lives in the house with his wife and infant son, is fighting eviction proceedings started by Kaplan. "Don't concern yourself. "[24] Balagula responded, "You're sure? While D'Arco was named to this panel, he remained certain that Amuso and Casso no longer trusted him. Maybe in that split-second he had a glimpse of his older brother, Andimo, dying on the roadway, in front of his home. Even though he is the boss, Vic takes counsel from Coco. As he assumed control of the family, Amuso turned more and more to Sidney Lieberman, a personal friend and Luchese associate, concerning matters in the garment industry, and Pappadio and Lieberman began more and more attempting to undermine each other in their dealings with the new administration. During the arrest, he had about $340,000 in cash. The day before, she had been visited by Agent Gandolfo and Agent Sharon L. Bonville and told that the FBI had information confirming that her husband was in fact dead, and not simply a missing person. His attorney Bruce Baron also is seeking a stay of the trial in Brooklyn . He was arrested for attempted murder in 1961, but was acquitted when the alleged victim refused to identify him. From 1999: After his government-informant deal fell through, mob boss Anthony Casso, who admitted to participating in the murders of 36 people, told Ed Bradley he was the one cheated. In November 1986, Lucchese family boss Anthony Corallo sensed that the Commission Trial would result in a guilty verdict that would ensure the entire Lucchese leadership would die in prison.