Vincent "Marbles" Dragonetti

The Gambino Family is always a fun topic.  This week is a story about Vincent “Marbles” Dragonetti, Little Nicky Corozzo’s son in law.  

Vincent became known as Marbles when he was in his teens because of his bad skin.  He had big pimples and boils so the name stuck.  Marbles was not like most crime famimly guys, because he also had a regular job working in landscaping.  He worked with his father and brother in the business until his father passed away.  He then partnered up with his brother and they ran it together.

He was a regular guy in the crew who used to move cocaine with Mario, another crew member. Selling drugs is supposed to be forbidden, but this was before he was really close to Nicky.  The Sicilians who now run the family come from a deep heroin selling background, but I guess that does not count either.   

Gambino Capo Little Nicky Corozzo had a daughter. Little Nicky’s daughter Bernadette had been dating a man who was killed at Wheelers Bar in Sheepshead Bay.  She met Marbles and they started to get serious so Nicky brought him closer to him. Nicky started grooming him.  He still did a lot of credit card fraud and his first real pinch was credit card fraud on Long Island.  

Nicky set him with a lot of landscaping accounts in Howard Beach, John Gotti’s old neighborhood.  Then he helped Marbles open a nursery on Utica in Brooklyn.  Marbles moved up the ranks pretty quick without getting his hands real dirty.  Marbles used to sell slugs for parking meters and now he was taking care of a shylock customers of Little Nickys. One of the guys Little Nicky gave to him was a guy who had a 60k loan out.

Other guys in the crew started to stay away from Marbles because he would report everything about them to Little Nicky.  Marbles had stopped being one of the guys and became the ears and eyes of the boss.

It would not be long until Marbles was inducted into the Gambino Family.  It pays to marry the boss's daughter because it takes most guys many years of work to get inside.  Marbles was soon heavily involved in the labor racketeering, which is still a huge money maker for the Gambino Family.

One of the crimes the FBI went after him for took place in Brooklyn.  Here is how it went down.  Sitt Asset Management had a condominium complex on Ave P in Brooklyn. Marbles and some others had ACE, a Gambino controlled subcontractor, file a lien against another Gambino Controlled contractor named DURAMAX for work that they had never really done.  This was to force Sitt to pay so they could get bank financing without a problem.

Sitt, without knowing that it had been scammed, paid ACE $120,000 to remove the lien.  This is an old Mob trick called “Create and Alleviate.”  One Mob guy or company creates a problem and another steps in to fix the problem.  The problem is that it costs money and after paying once it never stops.   Marbles was able to get ACE to give him $40k of the $120k, not bad for doing nothing.  He used threats which were caught on tape that went like this.  “I dont know anyone who gets hurt unless they have to get hurt.”

The FBI caught Marbles walking out of his house in February 2008, and as soon as Bernadette saw this go down she was on the phone to Little Nicky. Little Nicky fled so fast that he left his wallet in the house. Little Nicky ended up turning himself in to the Feds.  Little Nicky would end up taking a 13 year plea deal.  Marbles lucked out with the judge and he ended up with 200 hours of community service because of Hurricane Sandy.  

A lot of people think the Mob is dead but they are still doing business as usual.

Chickie DeMartino

The Colombo War did a lot of damage to the family.  Last week I told some of the Michael Persico story.  A lot of those crimes date back to the war and the FBI keeps getting these guys for their crimes.  One of those surviving a long sentence is Vincent “Chickie” DeMartino, but he went on trial with Wild Bill Cutolo and crew for their part in the war.  They were acquitted of the racketeering charges.   

Chickie had a long history of run ins with the law starting with his first prison stint.

In 1984 Jack Graziano, Gabe Scianna and Chickie were dealing in stolen cars. Jack Graziano was supposed to distribute the proceeds but he didn't do it quick enough so Chickie told him he would kill him.  The FBI had a wiretap and caught this on tape.  Chickie and Gabe went to Jack's home with baseball bats and smashed every window in his house along with his car.  One of Jack’s children was hurt by the flying glass.  

A five man hit team was waiting for Vic Orena, Boss of the rebel faction of the Colombo Family, Vic spotted them and was able to drive away before they could shoot him.  One of those on the hit team was a Persico loyalist named Hank “The Bank” Smurra.

Chickie was fresh out of prison for a bank robbery conviction and he had just been inducted into the family. He had decided to stick with the rebel faction and he became one of their most ardent supporters.  

When the rebels decided to hit one of the Persico’s most dangerous Capos - Greg Scarpa, Chickie was on the hit team.  Chickie was in the van that brought the shooters to Scarpa’s home.  He charged out with the others but one of the men was nervous and his gun went off when they were getting out of the van.  Greg Scarpa was able to drive away.

They decided to go after Hank Smurra who had been with the hit team that let Vic get away. Hank was in Sheepshead Bay getting some donuts with Mike “Black Mike” Calla when Chickie walked up to the car and blasted him.  Black Mike was able to run away without getting hit by the shots.  

He was in on a planned hit on two of Greg Scarpa’s men, but while they were waiting one of the team’s pistols misfired, so they called it off.  Chickie was running and gunning until he was arrested with a pistol along with others.  The whole time Chickie was running around blasting people he was on parole.  

Chickie’s run came to an end after the Colombo War.  He had a long time beef with Joe “Joe Campy” Campanella so after Wild Bill Cutolo disappeared, he lobbied for the death of Joe Campy.  The Persicos gave him the hit.  So he had his associate borrow his wife’s blue mini van and they caught up with Joe Campy on the beach.  Joe was placing a beach chair in his trunk when the blue van stopped and the door slid open.  Chickie let his hate for Joe Campy overcome his common sense so he yelled “Joe Campy” before firing, and this gave Joe time to raise his arm and run.  He only wounded Joe Campy and there were a lot of witnesses, so it was not to hard to track the men down.

Chickie will be released from Butner FMC on January 1st, 2025 and he will be 69 years old.  Maybe age will slow him down.  Chickie was beaten up in prison by John Baudanza and a friend, but knowing John, he “Japped him”

Joel Cacace aka Joe Waverly

Never kill a prosecutor or anyone in law enforcement. That is a pretty clear rule that mafia families have followed. Not because they care, but in self interest.  They know that all law enforcement, and even the public, will turn on them.   In New York there is one family that did not follow that rule, and that is the Colombo Family.

There have been a few other unintentional cases where law enforcement lost lives, but none of the other families directly targeted Law Enforcement.  Rudolph "Rudy" Santobello and his buddy where in the middle of a kidnapping when an off duty NYPD officer Alfred Loreto stumbled onto the scene and was murdered. Rudy initially received life, but he beat the case on appeal and went on to have a long run with the Genovese Family. 

Then you had Costabile "Gus" Farace who was the first man to murder a DEA Agent in New York.  Gus had a set up a deal with a DEA Agent named Everrett Hatcher who was undercover.  They arranged a meeting in a remote location on Staten Island but the surveillance team lost Everrett.  Gus drove by Everrett's car on the side of the road and opened fire from a van killing him. Law Enforcement turned up the pressure on the Mafia and they ended Gus's run in Bensonhurst.

Joel Cacace aka Joe Waverly

That brings us to Joel "Joe Waverly" Cacace, a real upstanding human who at 72 is locked up until at least 2020 and is now facing more time than he will ever be able to serve.

The Colombo Family has been led by Carmine "The Snake" Persico and the Persicos never follow the rules. Carmine had a brother named Alphonse or Allie Boy, who has since passed on to the big nothing.  Allie had been on the lam for 7 years until 1987 when he was caught and sentenced to 25 years in Federal Prison.  This is where the story gets murky, because William Aronwald was the head of the Southern District Organized Crime Strike Force, but he did not do much with Carmine.  He did help put Allie Boy away, but for some reason after Carmine was locked away forever in the commission case, he sent word to Joe Waverly that he wanted William Aronwald murdered because he disrespected the Colombo Family.  It is kind of strange if you look at Mr. Aronwald’s cases, he actually prosecuted Neil Dellacroce twice.  So it would seem that the Gambino's would be the ones with greater reason for the beef.

Joe Waverly is no ordinary mobster, back in the 1970's he had a florist shop in Sheepshead Bay and one day he was waylaid by 3 men trying to rob his shop.  He was shot in the chest but he wrestled the pistol away, killed the robber who shot him and shot at the others who ran away.  Joe then drove the dead robber to the local police precinct where he was quickly taken to the hospital for his wound.   

Joe survived that escapade and his legend continued to grow.  So when Carmine sent word that he wanted William Aronwald murdered, Joe took action.  He enlisted three Colombo Associates Vincent Carini, Eddie Carini and Frank Smith.  These guys were the real deal, shooters and good at hits.  He gave them a slip of paper with the name Aronwald and the address of the Brooklyn law firm he shared with his father George Aronwald.  They followed Aronwald from his Brooklyn Office and shot him in a laundromat near his home.  The only problem?  It was the elder George Aronwald, not the younger William Aronwald who was the former head of the Organized Strikeforce.  

The other four Mafia Families in New York were enraged that they killed the wrong man, and even more enraged that they had killed a judge.  They wanted those that took part in the murder gone.  So Joe had another set of killers grab the Carini brothers.  It was a brutal slaying because both brothers were found in cars but both had major defensive wounds on their hands and arms showing that they put up a fight.

I wonder why the Mafia Commission did not do more.  Why didn’t they make Carmine Persico step down?  Why did they do nothing to Joe Waverly who organized the hit?  Maybe there is more to this killing.  The Gambinos had more cause to act, but why bother?  Joe Waverly felt so bad for the Carini brothers that he married Eddie Carini's widow.  Joe also had the brothers killer’s killed in Brooklyn not long after the murder.

Joe's reputation soared after this and his crew was loyal to him.  He was close to Vic Arena and when Vic and Bill Cutolo revolted against the Persico rule, Joe joined them.  He saw Persico loyalist Capo Greg Scarpa driving down the street and he fired shots at him but missed.  Greg would catch up with Joe again in Brooklyn and they exchanged shots, this time with only Joe getting hit.  Joe drove himself to the hospital and was patched up.  Joe, being the good guy he is, later shifted sides back to the Persico side.  Joe would be upped to the Consigliare position in the family after the war.  

Joe's wife divorced him and soon she married a Police Officer named Ralph Dols, and they lived in Sheepshead Brooklyn.  Joe was insanely jealous. so he sent word that he wanted Ralph Dols dead.  The tale told by one of the shooters, Big Dino Calabro, is that Colombo Underboss Tommy "Shots" Gioli gave him the order, the address and slip of paper with Ralph Dols licence plate number on it.  They could not find Ralph Dols, so Joe called Dino in for a talk.  Dino then stepped up his efforts to get Ralph Dols.  They found out where he parked his car on the street, they had someone shoot out the street light with a BB Gun so it would be dark.  Ralph Dols came home from work, parked his car, got out of his car and was getting ready to shut his door when Big Dino Calabro, carrying a 44 Magnum, and his cousin, Little Dino Saracino, armed with a 45 Auto, walked toward him.  Ralph Dols asked what was up and they opened fire on him.  He fell on the hood of his car and they shot him a couple more times.  They took off, but Ralph Dols managed to get to his house before collapsing in his doorway.  

The hit squad had no idea Ralph Dols was NYPD and they had no idea it was a jealous lovers revenge, they thought it was dealing with Colombo Family business.  Today Joe Waverly aka Joel Cacace is on trial for the murder of Ralph Dols. Tommy Shots and Little Dino were found not guilty of the murder, but were found guilty of racketeering.  Maybe this time it will be the end of Joel Cacace aka Joe Waverly.

This is what the Mafia has become: honorless slayers of law enforcement, they are just like all other low level street gangs.