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”

Colombo War: A Father-Son Story (Part II)

Bill Sr (Wild Bill)'s Club

Later on the same night that Bill Cutolo Sr disappeared, Joe Campy was at Bill Sr’s club.  When Bill Sr never showed up to his own club where he was known to never miss an evening mingling with his own crew, Joe knew right away that he was never coming back.

Later that evening Jackie DeRoss made an appearance at Bill Sr’s club.  From the way he was acting he confirmed Joe Campy’s worst suspicions.  Jackie began by asking various people if they had seen Bill Sr, and then he did something that seemed even stranger and out of place.  He began asking guys for their cell phones.  He would page Bill Sr from their cell phones. Joe Campy knew this was not a sincere move, because two months earlier, Jackie DeRoss, along with another Colombo higher up, had approached Campy and asked him if he would participate in the murder of Bill Sr.  This put Joe Campy in a very precarious situation.  He did not know if it was a trick, where he would go back and tell Bill Sr, or if it was a trick for the Persicos to get him to do it, and then kill him anyways.  He never committed either way and just kept his mouth shut.  The Persicos, after not getting an answer from Joe Campy, came up with another plan.  Allie Boy was getting ready to do an 18 month prison sentence for a problem he had in Florida.  So they informed Bill Sr that he would be appointed acting boss.  Bill Sr believed it.  He even told a few people about it.  So, the important Colombo administration meeting scheduled for the next day, was not only to make a few guys into the family, it was also supposedly to appoint Bill as acting boss while Allie Boy was away for 18 months.  Bill Sr was put completely at ease by believing this news, and didn’t question any of the strange signs that had been happening.  

Joe Campy

The following day, Bill Jr  located his dads’ car at a repair garage.  He wanted to get inside it and have a look.  The first thing he noticed in the car was a bunch of scuffs and foot marks that seemed to point towards a struggle in the front seat.  Bill Jr also wanted to get into the car to take a look inside a secret compartment where he believed his dad was carrying 50K in cash.  He couldn’t figure out how to open the compartment, so he would need to come back.  In the meantime, Jackie DeRoss told everyone to stay away from the car.  By now, the FBI and the police were also on the lookout for Bill Sr.  The day of his dissapearance the NYPD organized crime task force had been following Bill Sr, but had lost him over by the repair shop where his car was found.  The whereabouts of Bill remained a mystery.

The Persico’s were very afraid of Bill Sr because he was well liked by the rank and file and he made cash.  Bill Sr was also very well liked by the other Crime Families in the Tri State area.

The Gambino Family backed him in the war, they wanted Carmine to step down as boss.  They would much rather have done business with Bill Sr than the Persico’s.

Bill Jr had a Long Distance Phone card business with Vinnie Oceans from the Decavalcante Family. One backstabbing Persico friend was also in the business and that was George Tropiano.  A couple years later I would be in the next generation of the same business and the FBI raided it and took boxes of material pertaining to Bill Sr.  I boxed up George Tropiano’s crap in his desk and I’m sure it was thrown out.  George hated Bill Sr behind his back, but when I was there George had cancer.  Maybe he did the world a favor and kicked it.  

There is no honor in the Cosa Nostra it is a fairy tale. There is a saying in Brooklyn that the quickest way to get clipped is to have a Persico owe you money.

Carmine Persico

There were rumors in Brooklyn that Bill Sr had skipped town because of a pending indictment, that he was in Italy or on an Island.  Bill Jr knew this was crap and soon he was approached by the FBI.  

Many people do not understand what it is like to be in his situation and they call him names and figure he is weak.  Bill Jr would have been the next one in the Cutolo Clan to disappear.

Jackie DeRoss had said something off-hand a month before Bill Sr had vanished.  He asked Billy Jr when he was going to get straightened out or made into the family.  This was a way for the Persico’s to get rid of him much quicker.  Bill Jr went to see Jackie DeRoss at his Flower Stand and Jackie knew he was very angry. I am sure Jackie figured he was ready to sling some iron.  

Jackie pleaded ignorance but Bill Jr Knew he was full of crap because Jackie was the guy who took his fathers place.

Jackie had done a long stint and came back broke and he coveted what Bill Sr had put together while he was away.  He became very jealous of Bill Sr as evidenced by his going to his wife’s home and demanding Bill Sr’s cash. He even looked under floorboards.  Bill Jr had started wearing a wire by this time and this was all caught on tape.

One day Bill Jr went to his father’s Union office and Kitty told him that someone was in the office.  What Bill Jr saw when he walked into the office was a grossly obese sweating Persico named Frank.  Bill Jr exploded and started yelling at him.  Frank “Piggy” Persico told him to relax that he was just doing what he was told by those higher up.  Bill Jr told him to leave, so he made a call and then he left.  I am glad to report that Piggy Persico is now where he belongs and that is in the ground.

So Bill Jr did what was best for him and his family, Most people will never know how hard a choice it is to break every rule that you ever knew.  When guys make the choice to flip it is not just a spur of the moment thing.   People who look down on people who do should put themselves in the shoes of those who do.  Most people who read this blog will never have faced death or being around these treacherous people.  Billy Jr made the only choice he could make.

I was around a guy who had his father killed by the Gambino’s for nothing but greed on Sammy The Bull’s part.  The guy was around the Colombo’s and he was in the life.  He knew who did the hit and yet he never did a thing.  

You cannot beat these people like that.  Next week we will close out the Father Son Columbo story with Part 3.

Colombo War: A Father-Son Story

I write about the Mafia in its true form.  You can read it and see for yourself what is true, or you can choose to believe what some know-nothing Hollywood scribe churns out.  I love to read and laugh at books by a newspaper writer or a scholar, who has never lived the life.  They only know what they read or are told.  How many crews were they with?  I write about what I know and my information comes from who I know.  

The Colombo Family I know and the players I know.  Wild Bill Cutolo aka Billy Fingers or just plain Dad to Bill Cutolo Jr was a charismatic Colombo family Mobster who shot to the top by playing it right. Nobody knew him better than his son Bill Jr. Bill Cutolo Sr disappeared on May 26, 1999 in Bayridge Brooklyn.  

The main players on the dark side of his life story were Allie Boy Persico (the son of Carmine “Gimpy” Persico, aka The Snake), Jackie DeRoss, Tommy Geoli and Dino Saracino.   

Jackie DeRoss

Allie Boy Persico

In 1999, Bill Cutolo Sr was the underboss of the Colombo Family. The signs began showing in early May of that year when Jackie DeRoss was making rounds in Brooklyn asking guys what they had going with Bill Sr.  This was a move by the then Capo Jackie to try and get a grip on some of the rackets Bill Sr controlled.  Joe Campanella or Joe Campy (a made member of Bill Cutolo Sr’s crew) saw what Jackie was doing and spoke about it to Bill Jr.  Joe Campy was reluctant to share his thoughts with Bill Sr because Bill Sr had been best man at Jackie DeRoss’s wedding.  Joe didn’t want to stir trouble between two friends, so he went through Bill’s son instead of directly to Bill Sr.

Bill Jr also had a bad feeling when he heard the news from Joe Campy.  Bill Jr had been at his fathers place playing pool when he saw an old fashioned popcorn machine he had never seen before, and asked his father about it.  Bill Sr told him Allie Boy Persico the Colombo Family Boss had sent it over as a gesture of good will.  This did not sit well with Bill Jr who had never liked Allie Boy and felt that he could not be trusted because of his weak girl like handshake.

Earlier in the same decade (1191-1993) Vic Orena and Bill Cutolo Sr had led a civil war for control of the Colombo Family but had lost.  A lot of the men sided with them in this fight against the ruling Persico clan because many felt the Persicos had run the family into the ground.  The Persico's, led by the imprisoned-for-life Carmine Persico, had benefited from their murderous Scarpa Crew faction led by Greg Scarpa.  Joe Campy had been with a team of shooters that had failed to murder Greg Scarpa after the opening shots of the war.

Bill Cutolo Sr aka Wild Bill

The war lasted two years until the violence became so bad the FBI and NYPD stepped up prosecution on the family. By that point twelve people had been murdered and sixteen others had been wounded.  The other four Crime Families in the City asked the Commission to end the war because of the added heat from law enforcement it was drawing.  The Persico's had won overall, but at a huge cost.  The family was in shambles and no one was making any money because they were all spending their time fighting.  Contrary to popular Hollywood mythology, the soldiers in the war were not taken care of by the higher ups, and most families were given less than $200 a week and had to resort to survival on food stamps, as they had no life skills to get regular jobs.  The Persico's moved Bill Cutolo Sr to the number two position of Underboss as a “gesture of peace”.  In reality, they were following the old adage of keep your friends close and your enemies closer.  

Bill Cutolo Jr

On the day Bill Sr disappeared he had last spoken to his son that morning.  He planned to get a haircut and go to his union office.  When Bill Sr. walked into his union office, his personal secretary, Kitty, received a call from a man whose name she did not recognize, but Bill Sr. said to go ahead and put through to him.  A few minutes later Bill Sr walked out telling Kitty he had to attend a meeting, and gave her no other details.  Later the same afternoon, Bill Jr beeped his dad several times and got no response.  Bill Jr instantly realized something was not right, so he called his mother who had spoken to Bill Sr. earlier and he had told her he was on his way to a meeting.  Bill Jr knew his dad’s schedule of meetings, and was aware of a big Colombo family administration meeting the following day, but knew there were no meetings scheduled that day.  He continued to beep his dad all afternoon and evening, and tried his mother again around midnight and found she had still not heard from his dad but was not too concerned.  

To be continued....