Lenny & Little Nicky: Then & Now

Little Nicky

"I am living the life that I wanted." - Little Nicky

Those were his words to his associate one day in the nineties in Brooklyn, New York. That was then: when he was on the street as a Capo in the Gambino Family, soon to be acting Boss. Fast forward to today: he is 73 years old living in the FCI Loretto with 9 more years inside. It has been a long run for Nicky who was born in the East New York, Brownsville area of Brooklyn in 1940. He and his brother Joseph aka JoJo made their name and money in gambling. JoJo is rumored to be a street craps whiz who made the Gambino craps games profitable. The games lost money until JoJo stepped in and ran them right.




Nicholas became known as Little Nicky because of his diminutive size 5 foot 5 inches tall and weighing a soft 170lbs. But he was no push over. Little Nicky was always in gangster mode, he was gangster 24/7. He was proposed to be made in the late 70's but he told the powers-that-be that he could not do it unless they made Lenny DiMaria because he would not be where he was without Lenny. So they made them both and soon Little Nicky had a vast gambling network in Brooklyn and Queens that included bookmaking, numbers, a horse room and shylock. He became a huge earner for the family and when his Capo Fat Andy went on the lam and joined a biker gang, he and Lenny reported directly to Neil Dellacroce, the legendary underboss of the Gambino Family. This made those in power take notice of what he was doing and the cash he was able to generate.He liked to recruit young guys, guys that he saw some criminal spark inside. So he gathered a good crew of capable guys like Mike Yannotti and he was soon a powerhouse in the family that the higher ups looked to when they needed work done.

Lenny

Leonard "Lenny" DiMaria has been Little Nicky's right-hand man for 30 years. He started off not as a criminal but as a train conductor working on the Long Island Railroad. He soon became a trusted Gambino associate along with Little Nicky. Lenny was the opposite of Little Nicky who was always gangster, Lenny is more gregarious and likeable. When Lenny and Little Nicky were on trial in 1985 with John Gotti, Lenny would stand up and thank each witness for coming to the trial. They were ultimately acquitted of all charges but years later turncoat Sammy Gravano would tell the Feds that he bribed the jury Foreman to secure an acquittal.When Gene Gotti, the drug dealing brother of John Gotti, went away on Heroin dealing charges, Little Nicky and Lenny started running his crew. Lenny was always more well-liked than Little Nicky among the rank and file.They built up their gambling network and soon they had a huge shylock business thriving in New York. Little Nicky sent Lenny and two other Capos down to Florida where they formed the South Florida Crew. They were huge earners and did well until it all came crashing down.
A lot of guys in the Mafia like to claim they have nothing to do with drugs and a lot of the public buys this load of crap. Little Nicky had guys all over the five Boroughs shaking down drug dealers. He used to have them give cash as a Christmas gift or throw it into the kitty for the crew but he knew exactly where the cash was coming from. When dealers who had been ripped off or extorted came to him he would get back their drugs from his guys and get a taste of the cash. He liked to play both sides against each other. One thing he did know was the rules of La Cosa Nostra and he knew how to use them to his advantage. When his guy Mikey Y shot a guy with the Lucchese Family and left him for dead in a Brooklyn parking lot, he had a sitdown with the Lucchese family. It was during that sitdown that he told the Lucchese guys that if they couldn’t get a hold of their guys to call them off, they would be dead. If you were in his crew and he didn't like you, he would still go to bat for you because he didn't want to appear weak or wrong. He would close his social clubs and take a meeting late at night off parkways around New York. He used to drive by his guys’ places and check up on them at night.

Mikey Y

Little Nicky ordered the killing of Lucchese associate Robert Arena because he said Robert had something to do with the killing of one of his crew members. Robert also stole a large amount of marijuana from a dealer associated with his crew and when ordered to give it back he refused. Robert Arena would be gunned down in his car in the Mill Basin area by Mikey Y along with a friend named Tommy Maranga. Nicky would plead guilty to taking part in planning the killing. Nicky became a Capo after John Gotti went away. He was on the ruling panel for awhile and then he was tapped as boss. He finally had made it to where he dreamed of being, but it was not to last. He had befriended a trucking guy named Joey V while locked up, but when Joey V was faced with new drug charges he decided to wear a wire. Nicky was boss for a week. When he gets out he will find that the family has changed and he will be in his 80's, Lenny today is free and completing his parole.

Milwaukee Phil

3600 Fluer Drive, Des Moines, Iowa

To the kids who lived at 3600 Fluer in Des Moines, Iowa the smiling man was known as Phil, but to the outside world he was known as Milwaukee Phil.

Milwaukee Phil was not a person to take lightly.  He had worked for Al Capone, but it would be his cousin Lou Fratto who brought him into the Outfit.  Soon he was working with two other old friends of Lou Fratto, Sam "Teets" Battaglia and John Marshal Caifano as an enforcer, mainly in Milwaukee and Chicago.  They saw that he was very good at taking care of whatever task he was given.  Many jobs required him to take trips to 3600 Fluer in Iowa which was a good meeting place because there was no surveillance there at all, and no heat.  This was the home of Lou Fratto, who was his cousin and the boss of the Iowa Mafia.

Phil was much more than an enforcer because he could think on his feet.  He soon started working for Jake "Greasy Thumb" Guzik who ran the "Corruption Squad" for the Outfit.  This was probably the most important Crew in the Outfit because they handed out the cash to law enforcement and politicians to keep the wheels greased.

The grease or payoff was what kept the Outfit on top for so many years and this is the real reason they kept away from drugs.  It was easy for a Judge to give a guy a slap on the wrist for gambling or Shylocking but selling hard drugs would never work the same.  These were important times in Phil’s life because he learned how the administration kept the Outfit on top.  When Jake “Greasy Thumb” Guzik died he was replaced  by another fixer, Llewelyn Morris Humphreys or Murray Humphreys aka The Hump.  Once again, the Outfit chose a non-Italian to handle their payoffs.     

The Hump

Phil would learn two important things from The Hump.  One was Union takeover and the other was the art of staying in the shadows, because the Mafia was intended to be a secret organization.  The Hump also had a favorite quote, "The difference between guilt and innocence in any court is who gets to the judge first with the most".

Phil must have taken the Hump’s advice to heart because he was quietly building an empire of vice in Milwaukee where he controlled a large gambling and shylock territory and it has been said that he was in control of a lot of the high end prostitution.  He worked with the leaders of the Milwaukee family but he was always an Outfit man.

It was at this time that he started working with Charles "Chuckie" Nicoletti dealing with The Outfits headaches that they could not payoff.  In May of 1962 Phil and Chuckie were taken in and questioned by police when they were caught sitting in a car.  The car turned out to be a "Hitmobile"  The car was designed with hidden gun racks, secret compartments, controls to turn off and on headlights and tail lights basically everything you needed to carry out a hit.  They told police that they were waiting for a friend.  The terrible twosome must have been good at their job because in nearly two decades of "Work"  they were brought in numerous times and questioned about murders but they were never charged.  Phil was said to have carried out up to 14 hits for the Outfit.

Phil soon found himself working with another non-Italian, this time a Greek named Gus Alex who was tough and carried out many hits and was very good at corrupting the people he needed.  Gus took over being in charge of Chicago’s non-Italian connected guys when The Hump died of a sudden heart attack caused by some overzealous FBI Agents who pushed him too far and his heart could not take the stress.

Gus Alex

Gus Alex’s most famous hit was probably when he and Lenny Patrick shotgunned James Ragen, the owner of the racewire in the street which he would not sell to the Outfit.

Milwaukee Phil learned a lot from Alex that would serve him during his rise in the Outfit.  In 1967 Lou Fratto was indicted along with the Milwaukee Mafia Boss Frank Balistrieri and Kansas City Boss Nick Civella on ITAR Charges because of a 300lb con man named Allen Rosenberg.  

It has been said that Phil helped put an end to the Conman who was found in March of 1967 riddled with bullets and handcuffed to a car.  Lou would pass away in November of that same year.  Milwaukee Phil had left a trail of murder and mayhem in the 1960's, one of the most famous was the M&M where he and Tony Spilatro used a vice on the head of a Chicago hood to get him to tell them who his partner was in murdering an Outfit guy.  The hood gave up his friend and they were both found with their throats cut.  

At the end of the decade Phil had moved into the top spot of the Outfit but his reign would be short lived. Despite controlling restaurants, nightclubs and stripjoints, Phil was convicted of extortion and sent to prison.  He would die while locked up in 1971.

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.

Iowa Family

Everyone knows that the Mafia is in Chicago and New York, but most people do not know that there were 26 Families around the country.  A lot of them have died out and the descendants have moved on to live productive, law abiding lives.  These families did not disappear because of competition from other groups, they just died out because they no longer had a pool of poor hungry men to take their place in the family.

Charlie "Cherry Nose" Gioe

The Iowa Family is one of those La Cosa Nostra Families.  It was based in Des Moines, Iowa and the first recorded boss was Charles "Cherry Nose" Gioe who was put in place by Al Capone.  Des Moines is strategically situated as the crossroads of America, all roads come together there for freight.  This location was really important after prohibition when mobsters had all been running trucking companies to get their booze to market.  This would also lead to their control of the unions.  

Things would soon change in Des Moines.  Louis Fratto, Aka Lew Ferral, Aka Cock-eye would come into town after being on the lam from some gambling charges (originally from Chicago and then Milwakee).  He would first work with Charlie Gioe in Des Moines until it was decided that he would replace Charlie.

Charlie wanted to go to Beverly Hills to work with the Movie studios for the Outfit. He would made a lot a money for the Outfit before the whole shakedown went bust.  He had made a lot of money for himself and he had invested it well. Charlie was one of the first investors in a company that would put whipped cream in a can.  He wanted other Outfit guys to invest in it and he asked Lou Fratto.  They all thought he was crazy but time would tell because that company was Reddi Wip.  

Frank Sinatra, Frank "One Ear"

In 1936 Lou would become boss of the Iowa family after being given the position by Paul Ricca and Anthony Accardo.  Lou took over what Charlie had built, but he brought in his own guys. There was a sizable Italian population at the time but he liked to work with Jews, so besides his core group of his brother Frankie “One Ear” Fratto, “Milwaukee Phil” Alderisio, Johnny Marshall and a few others, he would not make any new guys in Des Moines.  

The rackets were great in Des Moines but the legitimate business was better.  Lou was able to become the beer distributor for a number of named brands.  Lou was very close to the Labor Leader named Barney Baker. Barney would become important later in many things including the assassination of John F Kennedy. He was known to have spoken to Jack Ruby before the Assassination in Dallas.  Barney was also involved in the Boxing game when he was said to be close to Sonny Liston before he lost to Ali.

Lou Fratto quickly made himself part of Des Moines society.  Lou was made a lifetime member of the Chamber of Commerce and during World War Two he raised over 1 million dollars in War Bonds.  He also recruited 75 men to join the Navy at the same time.

Lou Fratto and a Boxer

He had games going on all over and when two of his men Hymie Wiseman and Al Cramm were arrested in a gambling house they were quickly released and the charges against Lou were dropped. The administration of the Outfit were soon sent away for extorting the Movie Industry and one of those men was Charles Gioe, his former boss.  

Lou would be the man entrusted with bringing the payoff money to the Lawyer so the Outfit guys would be released.  Charles Gioe wanted to be back in charge of Iowa and he stuck his nose in some Union business in 1954.  On the night of August 18 1954 Charles was out to dinner with Hymie Wiseman and another man when they got into a car and another car pulled alongside and emptied a magazine into the car killing Charles instantly. Hymie was not hit and later was questioned by police but that proved to be a waste.  Lou was arrested for the murder of his former boss but there was no evidence so he was released.

He worked with Hoffa and the Teamsters, he worked with New York leaders like Tony "Ducks" Corallo, Joey Glimco and Tony "Pro" Provanzano.  He had a spectacular career as the leader of the Iowa Mafia family but it would end on November 24 1967 when he passed away from cancer.

On the Left: Hymie Weisman, On the Right: Dead Charles Gioe

Lou's brother Frank "one ear" Fratto was his number two man so he stepped up to handle the family business with Lou's oldest son Frankie Fratto Farrell.  Sadly, Frankie would only live until 1969 when he was on a plane with Boxing Champ Rocky Marciano when it crashed.  Frank stepped up again until his death in May of 1996 at the age of 81.

Iowa has changed much like the rest of America and the Cosa Nostra.  Iowa will join other places where the Mafia is now part of History like San Jose, San Francisco, Denver, Erie, Pennsylvania, Dallas, New Orleans and soon maybe Los Angeles.  I cannot do this family justice on this blog but please go to http://www.midwestmafia.com for more information.

Beer Company Trucks