No sympathy for sick mobster Domenico Cutaia

A once-powerful Lucchese crime capo now suffering from an advanced stage of multiple sclerosis was sentenced on Friday to three years in prison for bank fraud.
Domenico (Danny) Cutaia, 72, hobbled into Brooklyn Federal Court with a walker hoping to get off with a sentence of home confinement.
Federal Judge Brian Cogan noted that the gangster is a “pretty hardened criminal,” but acknowledged that he was looking at a man who was seriously ill and clinically depressed.
“What kind of message are we sending if we allow someone to commit crimes for 40 years, and when they get caught, they say, ‘I’m too old and in poor health’ to go to jail,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Goldberg argued. “He should not be able to use health and age as a sword and a shield.”
Cutaia reportedly had held a position on the Luchese crime family’s ruling panel in the past.
The judge reluctantly agreed.
“He’s a tough guy. … That’s who he is and who I have to sentence,” Cogan said.

Three busted building inspectors - all with apparent ties to Lucchese family - had prior raps

Three of the six city building inspectors busted in a recent corruption sweep were hired even though they had rap sheets, a Daily News investigation found.

The issue has become more important in the wake of allegations that corrupt inspectors took cash to overlook violations or speed permits

All Buildings Department job applicants must disclose any previous arrests and submit to background investigations that include fingerprinting and criminal database searches, spokesman Tony Sclafani said Read The Full Story

nicholas Guido Lucchese Hit

On Christmas Day, 1986, police discovered the body of Nicholas Guido, an innocent victim of a Mafia mistaken identity killing. Guido was murdered on the orders of Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, who believed another man with the same name had tried to kill him.
Information on the wrong NIcholas Guido was provided to the Lucchese family by mob cops Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa.

Domenico "Danny" Cutaia , Lucchese Crime Family

Domenico "Danny" Cutaia is a Brooklyn mafioso and captain in the Lucchese crime family., A former bodyguard and chauffeur for capo Paul Vario, Cutaia soon had his own crew based in Brooklyn. In 1990, the family's acting boss, Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco, appointed Cutaia, then a family soldier, to a position within the family's "Construction Panel", which was headed by capos Dominic Truscello and Steven Crea.In the mid-1990s, Cutaia was arrested for loansharking.. Cutaia, was released from prison after a two year sentence for extortion. He was supposed banned from communicating with family members it was reported that Cutaia was the primary liaison between jailed boss Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and three capos, Aniello "Neil" Migliore, Joseph "Joey Dee" DiNapoli and Matthew Madonna, who are currently running the Lucchese crime family in his absence .On February 28, 2008, Cutaia, was indicted in the Eastern District of New York, on federal racketeering charges, some of which date back to the 1980s, including loansharking, extortionate collection of credit, extortion, marijuana distribution conspiracy, illegal

Joseph "Little Joe" DeFede

Born in 1934, DeFede grew up in the Queens borough of New York City. In his early days, he operated a hot dog vendor truck in Coney Island, Brooklyn, running numbers on the side. A close friend and handball partner of Lucchese leader Vittorio "Vic" Amuso, DeFede was inducted into the family in 1986 after Amuso became boss. DeFede's rise and fall in the New York mob can all be attributed


In 1994, Amuso was convicted of federal racketeering and murder charges and sent to prison for life. Amuso then named DeFede his acting boss to replace Alphonse D'Arco, who had become a government witness. Amuso chose DeFede because he needed a weaker and more controllable man at the top.
On April 28, 1998, DeFede was indicted on nine counts of racketeering stemming from his supervision of the family rackets in New York's Garment District from 1991 to 1996. The prosecution reported that the Lucchese family had been grossing $40,000 per month from Garment District businesses since the mid-1980s. In December 1998, DeFede pleaded guilty to the charges and received five years in prison. He was released in 2002.


During the late 90's, Amuso's relationship with DeFede began to sour. Suspecting that DeFede was hiding money from the family, he replaced him as acting boss with Steven Crea, head of the family's powerful Bronx faction. Once Crea took over, family profits rose enormously. That was enough to convince Amuso that DeFede had been skimming; Amuso reportedly decided to have him murdered.

On February 5. 2002, DeFede was released from a Lexington, Kentucky prison hospital and having heard of Amuso's plans to kill him, immediately became an informant. DeFede explained the Garment District rackets and the protection rackets in Howard Beach, Queens. He also provided information leading to the convictions of Crea, Louis Daidone, Dominic Truscello, Joseph Tangorra, Anthony Baratta, and a number of family captains, soldiers and associates. While testifying against Gambino crime family boss Peter Gotti, DeFede exclaimed that all he made during his reign as acting boss was $1,014,000, a measley $250,000 per year. DeFede also stated that, based on his estimates, a low ranking soldier will average about $50,000 per year.

DeFede is presumed to be in hiding under the federal Witness Protection Program.

Eugene Castelle aka Boopsie"

Eugene Castelle (born 1960), also known as "Boopsie" and "Bubsie", is a New York mobster who served as a caporegime and then an acting boss with the Lucchese crime family
A resident of Staten Island Castelle operated loansharking and number racket activities out of a small storefront in the Bath Beach neighborhood of Brooklyn. Castelle also managed a group of narcotics distributors in Brooklyn. Castelle was a close associate of Lucchese mobster Joseph Tangorra
In 1997, Castelle was charged with bribing jail guards to smuggle food and steroids to Lucchese family members who were incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. However, the charges were eventually dismissed.
In 2001, Castelle pleaded guilt to racketeering charges and was sent to federal prison. On August 28, 2008, Castelle was released from prison.

Peter "Fat Pete" Chiodo

Peter Chiodo

Peter "Fat Pete" Chiodo (born 1940) was a capo in the Lucchese crime family who later became a government witness.
In 1991, Chiodo was charged with violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). At this point, he decided to plea guilty in return for a lighter sentence. Uncertain of Chiodo's loyalty and angry at his guilty plea, Lucchese crime family leaders Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso decided to kill him. They ordered the current acting boss of the family Alphonse 'The Professor' D'Arco, to take him out, D'Arco was surprised by Casso's decision to kill Chiodo as they had been good friends for years. Following Casso's order so he himself did not get whacked D'Arco ordered the hit. On May 8, 1991 three shooters shot Chiodo 12 times, but failed to kill him, doctors credited Chiodo's obesity for saving his life. He is the nephew of Lucchese crime family mobster Frank Signorino and brother to Patricia Capozallo.
Following this assassination attempt, Chiodo decided to become a government witness, it was the only way it seemed he could survive. In an attempt to thwart Chiodo's plans Casso and Amuso had D'Arco get some soldiers to threaten Chiodo's family. Quickly his family were whisked into the Witness Protection programme, his uncle and sister decided to risk life on the street, Amuso and Casso then had Chiodo's uncle killed in an unsuccessful effort to dissuade him and his sister Patricia Capozallo was shot in the arm, back and neck by a masked gunman but it failed to kill her. Chiodo provided valuable evidence that helped convict both Amuso and Casso as well as many other gangsters. He had to be flown around in a special plane while a witness because of his weight. Chiodo is currently in the Witness Protection Program. He was sentenced in September 2007 on racketeering charges but will serve no prison time due to his agreement to testify.