Lucchese Family

Back to the Lucchese Family this week.  Carmine Avellino, the younger brother of Sal Avellino (who used to be then-boss Tony "Ducks" Corallo’s driver and confidant).  It was in Sal’s Jaguar that they used to talk Mafia business which was valuable in taking down Tony Ducks in the Commission case.  Carmine followed the rest of his family into the Lucchese Family and into the Carting Rackets.  They sought to control all the carting (garbage hauling) on Long Island, and they came close to succeeding.  

When Tony Ducks went away for life in the Commission case, he first appointed Buddy Luongo as boss.  Buddy soon disappeared and that put Vic Amuso in the top spot.  Vic upped his long time partner Gaspipe Casso as the underboss.  

They soon decided that something in the Garment rackets had to change.  That something was a long time family member named Michael Pappadio.  Michael was a oldtimer who knew the “rag trade” inside and out.  He had virtually run the Lucchese's garment center racket for 30 years until Vic and Gas took over.  Soon some associate started telling them that Michael was holding back cash from the family.  They knew next to nothing about the rag trade, but what they did know is that it brought in a huge amount of cash.  They were basically drug dealers who made big money and had survived the commission case unscathed, so they were able to take over the family.

Carmine Avellino and his brother Sal were very close to Pappadio, so they were tapped to set him up for murder.  The place they chose was a Bagel Bakery in South Ozone Park Queens that Carmine had some ownership in.  On May 13, 1989, the day before Pappadio's birthday, Carmine led him into the bakery.  As soon as he entered, he yelled, “Surprise look who's here!”  Al D'Arco rushed forward with a heavy copper cable covered in rubber and smashed him on the head.  He didn't die easy, but he did die after George Zappola shot him with a 357.  Carmine went through his pockets and handed Zappola a small book and other things to be given to Gaspipe.

Today Carmine is back to his old tricks and he has been arrested for having two associates rough up two elderly shylock customers.  I always find it funny when the government uses the elderly card because Carmine is 70 years old.  They used that in California on Jimmy Caci: they claimed he deserved a longer sentence because he went after elderly people for something.  Jimmy was close to 80 when this happened so it was a waste of paper.  

Carmine had Daniel Capra and his brother Michael deal with the debtors who had started to cooperate with the FBI.  The FBI took them down and they held Carmine without bail until his daughter put up her house as a million dollar bond.  Now he is free with restrictions, but free.  

There are a lot of senior Lucchese Family members free now, so we should be seeing some big FBI operations coming down soon!

George Conte

There is a man in a halfway house in Phoenix that has a lot of people worried. There are guys worrying in the Bronx and Brooklyn because this guy is the real deal. Who is he? He is George Conte 45096-053 and he is 53 years old and he will be free on March 10, 2014. George or "Goggles" as he is known because of his thick glasses -  but don't let that fool you.  George Conte and his partner in crime George Zappola were in Whitestone, Queens when Democratic District leader James D. Bishop was backing his car into a space at the apartment building of a friend. They fired a barrage of 8 bullets through the drivers side window.  The 380.cal bullets smashed into James D. Bishop's body killing him instantly.

George Zappola

Why did these two Lucchese family members murder James D. Bishop? He was the Secretary Treasurer of the International Brotherhood of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 9. This Union has 6,000 members and it was virtually controlled by the Lucchese family for decades. They were the ones who decided who did what in the Union and they looted it, rigged paint bids and everything else they could do to steal money. 

Gaspipe

James D. Bishop decided to help investigators looking into the Lucchese family's control of the Union and with that he signed his death warrant. Gaspipe Casso did not trust him, so that means he was was not long for this world.  George Conte has told people in the past that Gas (Gaspipe) had him killing guys once a week and he couldn't make any money.  He was a busy man because when he took the global plea with the rest of Lucchese administration he was looking at being charged with 4 murders and a couple of attempted murders on his own guys in the Lucchese family.  They had a defendant's meeting when they were talking about the plea and one of the Avellinos didn't want to take the plea (in a global plea all the defendants have to take the deal or it is off the table) George grabbed him and told him if he didn't take the plea he would kill him right there.

George's Mr. Nice Guy act did not end there. He and the other Brooklyn Capos did not like the fact that after Gaspipe went away the power of the family shifted back to the Bronx with Steve Crea and his faction running the family. Steve Crea is more what Tommy Lucchese had in mind for the future of his family.  Steve is in construction and that is where the big money comes from for the family. So George and the others decided to kill Steve Crea but it never went down.

Steve Crea "Wonderboy"

George was in on another almost killing. Patrick "Patty" Testa was a former Gambino associate who transferred to the Lucchese family. He was a courier for Vic Amuso when he was on the lam, but Vic went down. Patty was killed in his Brooklyn car lot by a gunman who shot him 9 times. Gaspipe put out the word that it was the Gambinos who killed him in retaliation for a killing.   Frank Lasterino the Consigulare of the Lucchese family put out the word that a guy in Nicky Corrozo's crew car was seen by Patty's lot before the killings. They then planned to kill Nicky Corrozo and Junior Gotti. This plan also fizzled because Gaspipe had Patty killed and probably gave up Vic.

George was again indicted while in custody for being the Capo in charge of a Brooklyn Crack Cocaine crew led by Lucchese Soldier Jimmy "Frogs" Galione. The crew flooded the streets of Brooklyn with crack and they extorted all the dealers they could find. They brought in about 100,000 dollars a week but at what price? These are men of honor? Soon this prince of a man will be free but I am sure that some of his own "friends" are planning to send him back as soon as possible.

One final well known story around Brooklyn is when Sal Cutia was asked to kill someone but did not have what it takes to do the work. So he approached George and offered him 50,000 dollars to do the work.  George laughed and told others about him because he saw him as weak.