Lion in the Basement Growing up in the Gallo Crime Family
Page 11
Matty "the Horse"
Umbertos Clam House where Joey died
Mama Gallo leaving her son Joey's Wake
Pete The Greek leaving the Wake
Joey Gallo's on his the way to President Street for the last time
Joey Gallo: "Where would we be if it didn't end that night?"
CHAPTER 15
Meeting Emily: 1973
I met my girlfriend Emily Giglio: on March 4, 1973. I can't forget that date, it was my fathers birthday. I was at Sal's Pizzeria on Court Street and Sackett Street with my cousin Blake, eating pizza like we did every day. I saw a girl walking down Court Street, I said to Blake "look at that chick. shes got a nice ass." He said that he knew her, so he went over to Emily and her sister, then they all came over to the pizzeria, he introduced them to me. We then talked, her sister talked to me a little more at first, then Emily started to talk to me. I asked if she had a boyfriend, she said "not really." I said, 'Would you like to go out one night for a few drinks?' She looked at me and said 'I'm fifteen,' I said 'so what!' She laugh at me. I asked for her number, she said 'I'll see you in the neighborhood.' They said they had to leave so we said our good byes. After they left I asked Blake how he knew them, he said he didn't, he just went over to them and said I wanted to meet them, so they came over. I called him an asshole, we ate our pizza and went back to the poolroom.
A few weeks later I got her phone number from a friend of mine who worked at "Sals Flower Shop" on Court Street her name was Geraldine. I sent her over to Emily's house with a dozen roses and she got her number for me. About a month later Emily and I started dating. One day she told me that she was reading the paper about a Gallo guy who was arrested for murder. I told her that he was my Godfather, Bobby Darrow and I knew all about it. She knew that my father was with the Gallo's, you can't hide that it's a small neighborhood, but now my godfather is a murderer!
I got a funny look from her but it didn't go no further. She didn't know much more about the life, so I would say she was a little taken back.
She started to stay at the poolroom with me as much as she could, she was still going to school, and had to be home for dinner, then she would go out for a few hours and we would walk up to Brooklyn Heights, she had me walking every where! At the end of the year I had to stay on President Street more often, so I didn't get to see her much.
My mother found out that I was dating a girl and asked me for her number, my mother called her and told her that she was my mom and she was coming to pick her up and bring her to see me on the block, and was not taking no for a answer! My mom went to her house, blew the horn and Emily came out. My mom said "get in the car, and lets go," Em never met my mom, that must have been a shock! As they were getting to the block there was a police barricade. My mother said that the look on Emily's face was like she just wanted to die. Before they could get on the block the police had to question them, then they could cross the barrier. They finally got into Roy Roy's club. I looked at Em and saw her shaking, she just looked at me. We sat down in the club, I got her a glass of wine, she started to relax. Then all the guys started coming over to her, to meet her. I now can understand why she was a little overwhelmed. Roy Roy, Bobby Boriello, Steven Cirello, Bulleye, Punchy, Louie "The Syrian." Great guy's but no Valentino! She was young and wasn't brought up with gangsters, to me it was normal.
I would call it a little rough on her meeting characters from gangster movies but they were all really nice to her. She also met their girlfriends who came from across the street, they were in Blast's Club. The young guys had to stay in Roy's Club. When Emily got friendly with the other girls she used to come to the club on weekends to hang out. She would get a kick out of Armando "The Midget," she said he was really nice to her and she found him funny, along with his mother.
Emily was coming to the block often. One night while I was waiting for her. I went outside the club to get some fresh air and have a cigarette. I knew The Organized Crime Squad who were always on the block lurking, plus we were always locked down. You couldn't fart without their noses in your ass. I was on the corner when one of the dicks came over to me and said 'get off the corner,' I said "Are you kidding me, fuck no." So this big fucking Irishman said: "Again, get off the corner grease ball." I said 'fuck you!" I thought because I was a boxer at the Luna Boxing Club, I could handle him. He proceeded to beat me down the block into Roy Roy's Club, almost through the backyard doors. He stopped when Roy Roy and Punchy grabbed him and held him down, until someone got "another dick."
Well I was hurt pretty bad, the next day Louie "The Syrian" called my father and told him what happened. My father told Louie that he was coming to the block and there will be one dead Irishman. Louie grabbed Charley Bartell and told him that Ricky was in a rant. Charley, with 'four dicks,' were waiting for Ricky with their hands in the air saying Ricky we had him shipped out of here, he's gone. They all sat down, Ricky, Louie and Charley spoke for hours and all I saw was Ricky's hands going wild and we knew what his hands were saying. He was mother fucking this Irishman saying he was going to shoot him in his head and 'all of you dicks, go fuck yourself,' and 'if they didn't like it, go do what you want to do' (that's power). After they calmed Ricky down they really apologized. They had some coffee, then Dad came over to me and said: "Just remember we have all the time in the world and he lives as long as we say so! One year or maybe two, but you always have the time, maybe you'll forgive him." He pinched my cheek and went on his way. Well, it took about two weeks to recoup from my bumps and bruises.
After I healed I picked up Emily to go for a ride in my Cadillac, it was a green four-door, in very good shape, not bad for a nine year old caddy in 1973. It had a unique radio, it had a push button on the floor near the gas pedal that would change the radio dials. We had alot of fun with it as we were riding around. I told Emily that if you talk to the radio it would change the stations, so for the summer she would talk to the radio to make it change.
She really believed that if you spoke to the radio it would change the stations! I would push the button on the floor as she would speak to the radio, 'damn she was dumb!'
One night I was driving Emily home, it was about five in the morning we were at "Regimes Night Club" in the city. I get a call that Tony B and Louie got arrested and that I was needed to go to the precinct. So I rushed Emily home, as I was driving up Butler Street, a garbage truck was in the way, so I honked my horn and I asked one of the garbage guys if he could move in a little so I could get by. They told me to wait a minute, I said 'OK,' I waited about five minutes, then I asked them to pull in a little so I can try to get by. One guy got nasty and said to wait, so I pulled out my '25 auto' and shot at him. He jumped in the garbage bin with all the garbage and I went to the driver and said "move the fucking truck or I'm going to blow your fucking head off." He moved the truck. As I went by I looked in my rearview mirror and saw the guy getting out of the garbage bin, he was brushing the garbage off himself. As I got to the corner, I saw him give me the finger, for a second, I thought I should go back and kill him, the fucking balls! To give me the finger, but my head told me to go to the precinct. I let it go.
I got to the 76th precinct, I had to hide the gun so I put it under the dash near the radio, and parked and went in. I asked where Tony B and Louie were, they told me they were in the holding cells. As I went up the stairs the detective units-office door was open, I looked in and saw a big chalk board on the wall. On it was about 100 photos and names of all the guys from the Gallo's and me! As I got to Tony and Louie I asked what I can do for them, they said they wanted espresso and get some for the "dicks." I make a call to a friend who had a small store across from the 76th precinct and asked him if he could open the store so I can get the coffee for the boys. The old man was nice and rushed to open. I went back to the 76th as I walked in I saw the garbage men there making a complaint. I looked them right in the face and smiled. They looked at me and scratched their heads, like, this guy looks like the guy that just shot at
them. Thank God they didn't get my plate, or I was dead. As I went up the stairs I said to myself "What a perfect alibi!"
I was in the precinct and then when I went for the coffee, I walked out and saw the cops. I said hello, so the cops "saw me," I walked to the store. I could hear the guys yelling that a crazy man shot at them and almost killed them! I laughed my ass off as I gave Tony and Louie the coffee, they asked why I was laughing, I couldn't tell them, they would go nuts on me. I just said that the old man from the store said something funny to me. I asked them what else I can do, Tony said to go to Roy Roy's and tell him were here, he would know what to do.
So I went to Roy's Club on President Street and woke him up then told him. He said 'OK get some sleep, that I looked like shit and we would have to go bail them out soon.' The next day we went to the court house and bailed Tony and Louie out. They went to the club, and I went home because that night I was going to take Emily to see Jimmy Roselli, at the 802 Club in Bay Ridge in Brooklyn.
My father and mother were going to meet us at the 802 Club. Before the show Em and I went in the dressing room and sat with Rosellii, he asked for Ricky, I said, "they were on their way." When the show started Ricky and mom got there. Roselli stopped his song and said "Hey Ricky, you finally got here, you want me to start over." Ricky laughed, then sat and watched the show. After it ended we all went to the back to talk with Roselli. We had a few drinks, dad and mom left first, then me and Em left, in case Ricky was being followed, he didn't want us in harms way.
Emily and I on the Corner of Court Street and Douglas Street 1973
Blake, Me and Emily at the club on Baltic Street 1974
Me, Emily, Mom and Dad on our way to see Jimmy Roselli at the San Su San Night Club
Me and Emily at Coney Island 1974
My Godfather Bobby "Darrow" Bongivoni
A young Bobby "Darrow" when he was one of the Farragut Road Boys
Alleged Gallo Aide Held in Mob Killing By NICHOLAS GAGE
Robert Bongiovi, an alleged gunman who was Joseph Gallo the night he was assassinated last April, was charged yesterday with a murder that the police said might have links to the Gallo Killing.
Bongiovi, 36 years old was accused of Killing Sam Wuyak, night manager of the Broadway Pud, 133 West 45th Street, late Sunday night.
According to sources close to the investigation, Bongiovi and a second man, went into the bar and started talking to Mr Wuyak. The manger was heard telling the two men that he was a friend of Joseph Yacovelli, reputedly the acting boss of the Joseph Colombo Mafia "family"
Joseph Luparelli, a confessed particpant in the Killing of Gallo, has told the police that Yacovelli ordered Gallo's murder. After Mr. Wuyak mentioned his friendship with Yacovelli, the sources said, he was led by one of the two men to a restroom in the back of the bar. He was later found in the room with two bullets in his head.
Bongiovi was picked out, as being the man who led Mr Wuyak to the rest room by a woman who was in the bar at the time, sources said. The police were searching yesterday for the second man, who was said to be a close friend of Bongiovi.
Held Without Bail at his arraignment in Criminal Court yesterday, Bongiovi also known as Bobby Darrow was ordered held without bail for a hearing March 19. Robert Tannenbaum, the assistant district attorney in charge of the investigation, said in court that a grand jury had been convened to hear evidence in the case.
Bongiovi's lawyer, Robert I.Weiswasser, said his client had been invited to testify before the grand jury and "cordially declined". "This is not an isolated homicide case,"
Mr. Tannenbaum said. "It is in line with an execution -type murder." He said Bongiovi, whose address was given as 37 Paerdegat 11th Street, in Brooklyn, was a former bodyguard of Joseph Gallo and was with him the night he was Killed in Umberto's Clam House in the Little Italy section in lower Manhattan.
Mr. Tannenbaum said Bongiovi was with Gallo at the Copacabana night club that night, "but he did not accompany Gallo and his party to Umberto's Clam House because Gallo asked him to take home a young lady who was at the Copa."
Both Umberto's Clam House, where Gallo was Killed, and the Broadway Pub, where Mr. Wuyak was murdered, were said by police to be owned by brothers of Matthew Ianniello, who is listed by the Justice Department as a member of the Mafia family of the late Vito Genovese. Ianniello was at Umberto's when Gallo was Killed. Peter Diapoulas, a bodyguard of Gallo who accompanied him to the clam bar, was quoted by Mr. Tannenbaum astelling Ianniello: "I'm going to blow head off. You set Joey up,"
Mr. Tannenbaum said there had been a discussion about Ianniello before Mr. Wuyak was taken to the rest room on the night of the murder. The two men sought to Killlanniello or "send him a message," he said.
Mr. Tannenbaum said thet Bongiovi "escorted the deceased to the washroom and summarily executed him."
Luparelli, the confessed participant in the Gallo murder, said he had been in Umberto's when Gallo and his party came in, and he had rushed to a nearby restaurant to tell four members of the Colombo family.
The Colombo group, he said, blamed Gallo for the shooting of their leader at Columbus Circel on June 30, 1971.
Luparelli saisthe four men contacted Yacovelli, who told them to get guns and go Kill Gallo. Luparelli later turned himself into the Federal Bureau of Investigation because he thought his accomplices were going to Kill him.
In the war between the Gallo and Colombo groups that followed the murder of Joe Gallo, Bongiovi allegedly played a key role. Information uncovered by the F.B.I. showed that he was one of five Gallo men on whom the Colombo group allegedly issued murder contracts. Among the others was Albert Gallo 43 years old, who took over the Gallo group after his brother's murder.
Bongiovi was taking with Gallo in the group's headquarters, a social club at 76 President Street in the Carroll Gardens section of Brooklyn, when the police arrested him early yesterday morning on the murder charge.
THE NEW YORK TIMES MARCH 15TH 1973
CHAPTER 16
The Shit Hit the Fan in 1973
In 1973 the shit hit the fan, the second war between the Gallo's and the Colombo's was heating up, fueled now because a few of the Gallo crew members didn't want to stay with Blast. They didn't think Blast should be in charge of the family, so guys like Mooney, Sammy "The Syrian", Chitoz, Smokey and Tarzan, broke away.
The shooting would start soon, the fucked up thing about it was I grew up with these guys, and now they were coming back to kill us. The same guys you looked up to and hung out with or would die for, are now your enemy. What a fucking kick in the ass, who the fuck do
At first Louie "The Syrian" told me to stay on the block, then my father and the guys spoke about it and said it was better I keep doing what I was doing, again the young guys won't be involved. So just before I left, Charley Bartell from the Organized Crime Squad grabbed me and asked why I was going off the block, I said "you know I do one of the routes for Astro," he said 'OK' keep your nose clean! So I went and started doing the route and staying away from the neighborhood.
After the routes dad put me at a bowling alley. It was call "Leader Lanes" on Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn. I was staying at a bar with a friend of my fathers' who was the owner of the bar, his name was Cha Cha. He was an older fellow that was 'in the life.' while I was there guys use to bowl for money and asked me to bowl. I never bowled before so I said 'no,' a few weeks later Cha Cha said to me "I'm going to teach you how to bowl."
I never bowled before so I said 'no,' a few weeks later Cha Cha said to me "I'm going to teach you how to bowl." The first game I shot I bowled one hundred and eighty! He laughed and said 'beginners, luck,' well I averaged one hundred and eighty every game I shot! He said, 'I was a 'ringer', I said 'I'm not.' he said, 'I can get you to bowl alot better if you want,' I said 'lets go!' In two weeks I was bowling for money. We bowled as a team and before I got too drunk to bowl we won a lot of money, this made the weeks go by fast.
I left the bar because Cha Cha had a heart
attack, and was not able to be there any longer, I lost my "Rabbi" so I moved on. One day as I was doing the route on Court Street, I was at one of the newsstands delivering "Screw." When I was coming back to the truck, I saw Charley leaning on my jacket, that was laying on the seat. He said 'how is everything going?' I said 'fine,' he said 'you're going to go right back to the block'. I knew that his arms were laying on my pistol that was in my jacket and that I was fucked, but he gave me a pass. He was there to get me back to the block. The Law heard that it wasn't safe to be in the streets, that nobody was safe and things were getting a little out of control.
So I went to the block. When I got there, Charley was standing there with Roy Roy and Louie "The Syrian". Roy called me an asshole for not having the gun on me, he said "What are you going to do, say "time out," so I can get my gun". If you're going to have the gun, then have it on you. Louie told Roy to 'cut it out.' Then Louie said that he really didn't like me with a gun and Charley said I don't know what you fucking guys are talking about, then smiled and walked away. That night, Roy was ripping me a new asshole about the gun. The more we drank the funnier it got. By the end of the night we didn't even know what we were talking or laughing about.
Again, I was told to stay on the block, it's called "hitting the mattress". There was chicken wire on all the windows. We ate at "Lefty Big Ears" club at night. The food was great, just like a restaurant. I was in Roy Roy's club every night, I grew close with Roy Roy. He was a peculiar guy but he taught me a lot of things I needed to know. He still kept me away from most of the things going on. He would send Goombaile or Prosciutto or one of the other young guys to pick up some swag or numbers, because I was Ricky's son they treated me with white gloves.