Lion in the Basement Growing up in the Gallo Crime Family

by Frank DiMatteo

  On August 17th 1961, Sally D'Ambrosio and John Scimone invited Joe Jelly out fishing on Sally D's boat. While out on the boat Sally shoots Jelly, then chops him up and puts him in a 50 gal, drum and drops him in the ocean not before first cutting off his ring finger and wrapping it up. Not knowing what just happend to Jelly, on August 20th 1961, Larry gets invited to the "Sahara Lounge" a bar in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn to have a meeting with Scimone and Carmine.

  No ones around but Albert "kid Blast," to take Larry to the meeting. Larry made a rule that none of the brothers would go anywhere together at this time, so Larry goes by himself "bad move." I asked Ricky, Where were the guys from the crew? Why did Larry have to go alone? he was the boss. Wheres Dell, or Chico. Dad said "Larry was like that," no fear and trusting, he got the call, and went, well... guess what happened! Sally D, Scimore, and Carmine Perscio was there and while Larry was talking to Scimone and Carmine, Sally puts a rope around Larrys' neck and tried to kill him. If not for a beat cop checking on the bar at the same time Larry would have been dead. Sally then runs out, shooting one of the cops, and gets away. Larry survived but had a mark around his neck for the rest of his life. Right after this happened Larry gave the nickname of the "The Snake" to Carmine.

  On the same day, Alfonso, one of the guys from the Gallo crew took Joey's car to go pick up some guns at the "Carribean lounge" in Bed Sty, and was shot at. The Profaci men, shot thinking it was Joey, so they tried to kill Larry and Joey the same day.

  Later the next morning a car drove by and threw out a package in front of Jackie Charcolette, Larry and Joey got the message that "Jelly sleeps with the fish."

  Then some low key guys with Joey, Marco Morelli and Tony DiCarlo get whacked by Carmine and Jiggs Forlano they would hit any body around the Gallos.

  After sitting low for a month, figuring out what to do, not knowing who was with who anymore, Joey's plan was just to kill everyone. He wanted to go in their homes, and clubs. At this point they were mad as hell at old friends, more then Profaci, now it was just to kill.

  In October 1961, Punchy, Chitoz, and Joey Magnasco are driving up Union Street looking for Harry Fontana "a capo" in the Profaci family. He was suppose to be backing Larry and Joey but he was not helping as much as he could have. We could see he was avoiding us, they found him on the corner of Union Street and Forth Avenue in front of the Union street diner Joey Mags jumps out of the car and starts arguing with Harry. In the heat of the argument, Harry's body guard shoots Joey killing him on the spot. How I know this, my mother and I were visiting my mothers girlfriend's Chickie and Lillian at their apartment, at the corner, and we were standing 20 feet away, when we saw Joey yelling and falling to the ground. I knew they were friends of my father, I didn't know why, but I saw him die there, I was young so it didn't really affect me.

  In October, 1961, Larry, Joey and Albert Gallo and crew members Armondo, Anthony "Abby" Abbatemarco, Anthony Garguilo, John "Mooney" Cutrone, Alfonso Serrantino, Lenny dell, Sally Mangianelli, Frank "Punchy" Illiano, Vincent Regina, Joey Carna, Larry Carna, were arrested at their club, on President street by Chief Inspector, Raymond Martin. They were held on $25,000 bail. The charges material witnesses in a gang war. Joey went wild in the court building, saying that the cops were harassing them. He had Mondo at his side. Joe Iovine fought the charges and had them released.

  In December 1961, Carmine and Sally D dressed up like women, jumped in a car and went looking for Joey, to kill him before he leaves for prison, they couldn't find him.

  On December 21st, 1961, Joey Gallo got 7 sentenced to 14 years on his extortion charges. Joey being Joey could have fought it, but he wouldn't let his lawyers work it out. It was like Joey wanted to go to jail. Larry told Joey it would be easier for them to kill you in jail. He was just fucking crazy! I was little when he left for prison but I didn't forget the pinch he gave me on my cheek, it hurt for a week! Those blue eyes gleaming, and his, you don't forget shit like that. I didn't even know who they really were, I thought they were "uncles." My father didn't take it to bad when Joey left. He wasn't close with Joey, he was new, and warmed up to Larry.

  Larry was calm and level headed Joey wanted to kill everyone, and I mean everyone!

  My father was now apart of what they termed back then, as "The Sixth Family". What that was suppose to mean is in, New York, there were five organized crime families. My father was associated with a rebel crew that was connected to the "Pafaci Crime Family", that whole idea was unheard of.

  The Gallo crew then broke off from the Pafaci's and the crew rose from the streets of South Brooklyn, on the infamous President Street. The crew was headed by Larry Gallo and his two brothers, Joey "Crazy Joe" Gallo, and Albert "kid Blast" Gallo. They had 10 shooters, and around fifty guys with them. They were head of a crew that feared no one, and bowed to no one, not even Carlo Gambino the head of all the crime families!

  So, the war continued and every one was staying on the block, in February of 1962, a couple of the guys were coming back from getting some groceries and heard some kids screaming from a house on the block. They ran inside the club and told Blast that there was a fire! Punchy, Blast, Larry, Abby, Lenny Dell, Roy Roy, ran out to see what was going on. Hearing the screams they all ran into the house to the top floor broke open the door, they found the apartment filled with smoke! Lenny and Roy Roy tried to put out the fire, while Punchy, Larry and Blast, grabbed the kids that were in the apartment, and ran out saving the kids! The "news" people got wind of it and wanted to do a photo shoot with the mother and kids with the guys. Larry didn't want to be in the photo, so it was done twice, once with Blast, Punchy, and Abby, then a shot with Punchy, Blast, Angelo, Lenny Roy Roy and Alfonso. They were hero's for a day!

  On April 8th 1962, we lost Allie. Vito Genovese ordered the hit on Tony Bender. Tony got whacked because Vito thought he set him up on his drug pinch, plus Tony was gaining strength as the under boss. With some "capo's" in the family, Vito also felt Tony was too close to the renegade Gallo brothers. His involvement with Albert Anastasia, selling buttons for cash didn't help, it was time for Tony to go.

  For the next couple of months Carlo Gambino, and a few more bosses went to Profaci to try to convince him to end his war with the Gallo's. They said it was no good for business, Profaci out right refused. A few months later, on June 6th, 1962, Profaci dies of cancer. Profaci's brother in law Joe Magliocco took over the family, without the "commissions" approval and still continued the war with us. Magliocco was even a bigger prick then Profaci, he was one of the guys we kidnapped, and he pissed his pants while kidnapped, so he had no love for the Gallo brothers. The rest of the year goes by with little headway in a peace agreement Larry has guys all over the streets looking for Profaci man with orders to shoot on site.

  In March 1963, Joey sent a team to kill Carmine Persico, they put a bomb under Carmine's car not knowing that his Caddy was made with a steel plate under the drivers seat. When the bomb went off the plate saved Carmines life. All he got was a concussion and loss of hearing, and a little blood, but walked away. Punchy, Ricky and Chitoz just watched in shock.

  On May 19th, 1963 Ricky was chosen to be one of the assassins on the famed Carmine "The Snake Hit". In retaliation, Mooney send Ricky, Punchy, Chitoz, and Pete the Greek to ambush Carmine Persico. They used a panel truck to pull up along side his car one night and opened fire, hitting him in the face, hand and shoulder. Ironically, Persico also survived his hit again! With Carmine in the car, was Sal D'ambrosio, who got hit too, but walked away. Ricky goes on the lam to California.

  In June, after Punchy got shot at, Chitoz finds, and whacks Vincent Di Tucci a "Profaci" guy who was accused of shooting at Punchy. Or was he the only one Chitoz could find that night! I didn't see my father for three months, he came back to New York in late September when he gets word from Larry.

  Magliocco dies of a heart attack on December 28th, 1963. Joe Columbo becomes boss of the "Profaci" family, then renaming it the "Columbo" family.
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br />   Columbo, with the help of the "Patriarca" family from Rhode Island, send Nicky Bianco to negotiate a "peace agreement" with Larry and Blast. The war was over!, still the Gallo brothers kept their crew together on President Street running it as if it was "The Sixth family".

  Joe the "boss" Profaci

  Giuseppe Magliocco under boss to Profaci

  Frankie "Shots" Abbatemarc

  Tony Bender backed the Gallo Brothers during the War

  Carmine "the Snake" Persico

  Joe Colombo New Boss of the Profaci Family

  Larry Gallo leaving the Sahara Lounge after being Strangled

  Joey picking up Larry from the Hospital August 17, 1961

  Father Benny Calleja giving Last Rites to Joseph Magnasco October 4, 1961

  Blast, Punchy, and Butchy November 17, 1961 Driving Away after being Release for Consorting

  Smokey, Larry Gallo, Butchy in Court

  Joey, Larry Dell, Chico, at a Court Hearing

  Punchy, Mooney, Louie The Syrian, in Court

  Punchy's Mug Shot

  Abby, Blast and Punchy posing for the Dailey News after saving some kids from a fire on President street

  Angleo, Lenny Dell, Blast, Punchy, Roy Roy second photo from saving the kids from a fire February 1962

  Joey Gallo and Sidney Slater in court

  Nicky Bianco instrumental in the Gallo "peace deal"

  Alphonse, Mooney, Blast,

  Butch, Chico, Mondo, Larry In a Police Lineup August 23, 1961

  CHAPTER 7

  The Coco Poodle

  In late 1964 the Gallo crew headed to "The Coco Poodle" a bar on Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn, owned by George "The Jew" Cohan. It was an old place with a four by four front window over looking the the street. The bar took up more then half the place, it had a great jukebox, with Jimmy Roselli, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jerry Vale, alway playing. The place was a magnet for broads they would come from as far as New Jersey to hang with "wiseguys". These broads weren't ashamed to let you know why they were there, you knew you were going home with one of them at the end of the night. Across the street was "Georges 24 Hour Diner", so we always had a good meal even at five o'clock in the morning.

  While at the "Poodle", Larry hears that there was an Italian singer in Hoboken New Jersey, that was coming up fast and was really good. So Larry grabbed my father and Punchy and went to a lounge in Hoboken to meet Roselli, it went well. Larry then helped set up gigs for Roselli in New York. We had "carte blanche" to all of Jimmy's shows, front seats till the day he retired. After a while Jimmy Lefty and Pete Carvella became managers for Jimmy Roselli. We went to dinners with Roselli and his wife, back stage at all the shows for drinks, when Roselli sang at the "San Gennaro Feast" we were there. At one of the clubs, one night, Roselli had his seven year old daughter, up on the stage singing, and she was good!

  Many years later while my father was on the lam, Roselli came to my engagement party to say hello, and take some photos, he was a nice guy, no matter what some people say.

  My father was staying at "The Poodle", a lot. He would pick up Larry and go there and have meetings with the rest of the crew. There was a lot of guys going there. Little Angelo, Cockeyed Butchie, Ralphie Goodness, Stanley "The Hat", Mooney, Punchy, Tony Bernardo, and Roy Roy, trust me there were a lot of characters there. They would do a score and bring all kinds of swag there, like diamonds, gold, watches, TV's, men's suits, cigarettes, guns, they'd ever steal fucking dogs and cats if it could be stolen and sold! They brought so much shit to the bar that I thought it was a fucking store!

  While at the "Poodle", Larry Gallo, Roy Roy and Ricky used to do cigarette runs to Carolina. They used Larrys "Chrysler", they would pull out the back seat and fill the back with cartons of cigarettes. At first it was Larry with Roy Roy, then Ricky and Roy Roy went. They would bring back a load and sell them in the clubs. Cigarettes were cheap at the time, but they still made money. At one point, they needed so many cartons they had to rent a van. At that point, Roy Roy and Ricky were doing the runs two times a week. After a while the law got wind of it on what would be their last run. The law was following. It was late at night, Roy saw them following, so to lose them they made a few turns, got lucky and lost them. Ricky then pulled over at a rest stop, they had a can of paint in the van, so they painted the van a different color! They also had a second set of plates, after painting the van they got back on the road heading back to Brooklyn. When they got back they dropped off the load. when Roy Roy and Ricky got to President Street the law was waiting for them. Two detectives were standing with Blast. Blast told them to "tell the dicks how they got away", Ricky and Roy Roy clammed up, again Blast told them to "tell the law", they said "Blast, what the fuck are you talking about"! Then Blast told them that the law said "that if they stop going on the runs, they wont arrest anyone", but they had to tell them how they got away. So Ricky and Roy Roy told them how they did it. Every one got a laugh out of it and that was the end of the bootleg cigarette runs.

  A couple of months before the 1965 blackout, I met Sonny Girard, he brought a ton of mens clothing into the bar for the boys to buy. He had suits, overcoats, ties, sports jackets, hats, "you wore it, he'll bring it" and all good stuff, he was a real character.

  The night of the 1965 blackout we were at the "Coco Poodle", Dad was there with some his friends drinking. Dad was always drinking, planning what places they were going to rob before the lights came on. All I know, the next day the bars basement had a lot of new stuff! There were tools, car rims, gold serving trays, woman's clothes they even had a 3 ft. Frankenstein model, they gave it to me. They had it standing at the bottom of the stairs of the bar, man I thought everything was great.

  At the end of 1966, I didn't see my father for a couple of weeks. Mom told me he was on a trip with "the boys" then when I saw the guys come over the house and give Mom money, and say to her "he would be on the lam," hiding out for a little longer until they fixed the problem! Apparently a guy named "Fat Louie" fucked with him and got hurt real bad and they were waiting to see if the guy was going to die. The moron, they said got shot 3 times, but the bullets didn't hit any vital organs, so they had to wait to see what to do. If he lived he might open his mouth to the law. A few weeks later he made it and kept his mouth shut. So Dad was back and it was good to see him. I heard the guy died about a year later, Roy Roy said it couldn't happen to a nicer guy. The prick lived 364 days too long. He was a real asshole. His uncle was with a big shot from the Gambino family, that's why he made it to twenty years old, or he would have been dead by 12, the prick!

  One night my Mom gets a call that Ricky got shot, but was ok, again he had to go on the lam. What happened was Ricky and Roy went to do a piece of work ("go kill someone") and Ricky got shot in the knee. So they called a doctor that had an office on President Street. They took him there, the doctor gave Ricky something for the pain then put a belt in his mouth. The doctor then took a small hammer and chisel and knocked out the bullet that was in the bone of Ricky's knee! While he was laying on the table he had to piss, so he pissed in a pan that Blast had to hold, then take it and throw it away.

  That was the joke after it was over, that Blast had to carry Rickys piss, man that must have hurt. All that pain, and these guys are still joking, I should have known then that these guys weren't normal! They stopped the bleeding and went on the lam, til everything cooled down.

  When Ricky came back to the "Poodle" he gets into a argument with Mooney. Mooney wasn't liked by anyone, he was a "made man" that got no respect and had a bad attitude. Ricky then leaves to go get a gun, he was coming back to kill Mooney. As soon as Ricky leaves Larry gets a call that Ricky and Mooney had a beef. When Ricky got back to the bar, Larry was standing outside, it was 3:00 in the morning. Larry grabbed Ricky aside and asked him "whats he doing" Ricky said "nothing," Larry then said "I know that Mooney is a asshole but he's a made man, and with me, so forget about what you want to do"! Ricky smiled and went in the bar and had
a drink with Larry. Mooney was long gone, it was over for now.

  One night my Mom was waiting for Ricky at the "Coco Poodle". My Mom was sitting with the owner George Cohen. This guy came in, he was the owner of a local used car dealership, that was near the bar. Ricky came in with Larry Gallo, Larry wanted a drink before going home. Larry was having his drink when this car dealer said the wrong thing to Larry. Ricky asked George to lock the door, they told my Mom to go behind the bar and "pretend" to serve drinks. Larry turned to Ricky and told him not to butt in. Ricky did as he was told, Larry was the boss. Larry then turned and beat the guy till he broke every bone in his body! Then told him "you think you're tough with your fucking mouth, this is what you get, and if you call the cops that's fine, I'll come to your home and kill you"! Then they threw him in the street.

  1968 was a crazy year. Ricky went to do a piece of work, as he was going to whack a guy he had the gun near his ass, and he shot himself in the ass! Bobby Bornhold took him to a hospital, and before the cops came, he ran out of the hospital. I remember him coming home with Bobby, Ricky, lying on the couch and he put a belt in his mouth pouring some scotch on the hole and with pliers pulling the bullet out, then packing it with gauges, drinking the scotch and going to sleep!

  Bobby Bornhold was a young hood coming up, staying with my father. He was a tall, young, blond haired guy, a nice guy. One night Ricky came home and told some of the guys that Bobby shot and killed a cop, on a stickup. He was caught at the end of it, he gets a life bid, that was the end of him.