Anthony Dilapi

Anthony Dilapi

Most people in Los Angeles have never heard of Anthony Dilapi.  When he was killed nobody had any idea why he was killed.

Dilapi was 53 years old and worked as a used car salesman while living just off Sunset Blvd in Hollywood.  Anthony had moved to Los Angeles from New York to start over just like so many others before him.  Anthony had a secret that not many knew, he was a soldier in the Lucchese Family.  Anthony had been a well respected earner in the New York Garment Center for the Lucchese Family.  

The old Lucchese Family under Tommy Lucchese specialized in Unions and labor racketeering.  The next crop of leaders learned their job well under Tommy and they controlled a vast empire in the Garment Center.  Anthony Corallo aka Tony Ducks knew what a man like Anthony Dilapi was worth.  Anthony was the kind of guy he wanted in his family.   Times changed in the world of the Mafia in the 1980's when the FBI stepped up their war and the US Attorneys learned how to use the RICO Act to crush the families.  Tony Ducks was caught up in the Commission case thanks to an FBI bug in Salvatore Avellino's Jaguar, which he used to chauffeur Tony Ducks around a couple of times a week.  

Gaspipe

Tony Ducks knew he would be convicted in the case so in order to keep the family going he appointed a new boss before he was locked up.  In 1986 he appointed Anthony Luongo as acting boss, but he soon disappeared and most think the powerful Capo Victor Amuso was behind it.  

Victor Amuso, known as Vic, was a heroin dealer who back in 1977 had been caught with 3 pounds of the drugs alongside his best friend Anthony Casso, who was also known as Gaspipe, or Gas.  He was known as Gaspipe because his father used to install gaspipes in homes so people could get free natural gas from the city that wasn’t metered.  His, son, who helped him, became known as Gaspipe, a name which he hated.  In reality, he should have just been known as “pipe” because for years, the word on the street was that he was smoking crack.  To demonstrate how crazy Gaspipe was, while locked up he tried to bribe a guard to help him escape, and when that failed, he then put together a team that was going to attack the transport van taking him to court and his idea was for his guys to murder all the guards in the van with him.  When the other families caught wind of his plan, they put a stop to it immediately, they could not accept the amount of heat this would draw to all the crime families.  

This type of character was not the kind of soldier that Tommy Lucchese had in mind to lead the family into the new century, but this was what they had to work with after the FBI took down the leadership.  These two cavemen did not respect or understand the Union racketeers, they wanted to work the street rackets and bring the family power base to Brooklyn.  

Anthony Dilapi was a power in the Garment Center who worked with Tommy Gambino who had married Tommy Lucchese's daughter and took over the Garment Center with his trucking and Union activities.  Dilapi made cash but in 1980 he received two 5 years sentences for labor racketeering and by the time he was released things had changed.  Dilapi was from the powerful Bronx based Lucchese Crew and Vic and Gaspipe did not like or trust them.  Dilapi was summoned to a meeting with with Vic and Gas but he knew that they were on a killing spree so he never went.  Anthony then picked up and left for Los Angeles where he intended to start a new life free of crime.  He just left and he was good at being secretive but that would not be enough.

Vic and Gas were petty vindictive guys who would go to extraordinary lengths to make a point and teach a lesson.  They also had a secret weapon, two NYPD Detectives on their payroll Louie Eppolito and Stephan Caracappa.  These two were tasked with the search for Anthony Dilapi and they searched all over for him.  They called other departments and did computer searches using their positions as Detectives.  You have to wonder why was it so important to Vic And Gas to get him. They were really into showing the others in the family they were in charge and had zero tolerance for subversion.  The two Detectives soon found out that Anthony Dilapi was living in an apartment off Sunset Blvd in Hollywood. 

They summoned Little Al D'Arco who gave the contract to his son.  They went out to Los Angeles and stayed with a porn producer that was close to the family.  This guy was the son of a well respected Lucchese soldier who had been shot and left for dead in New York.  He survived and was sent to live in Los Angeles where he had a duplication lab for porno.  The hit team stayed at his house and the pistol was sent to him via UPS.

They stalked Anthony Dilapi and on the afternoon of February 4th with the backdrop of a little rainfall in Los Angeles, Anthony walked into the darkness of his underground garage.  A masked gunman who was waiting jumped out and shot him in the face 4 times and then the body four more times.  He left the pistol and took off back to the porn guys home. LAPD had the pistol but they never charged anyone with the murder even though everyone knew who did it.  When Little Al D'Arco flipped he made the deal for his son so the FBI never went after him for murder.  They could have gone after the porn guy.  Now that the Mafia Cops story is known why haven't they gone after the porn guy?  Oh I hear they lost the pistol.

Today, both Vic and Gas are locked up for life for racketeering.  One last note: Gas became what he most despised: a rat.  Unlike the rest of the guys who flipped, he could not ever tell the truth so he was never given any consideration or a reduced sentence.