Angelo "Gyp" DeCarlo (September 2, 1902 – October 20, 1973) was a member of the
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
Genovese crime family
The Genovese crime family, () also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American M ...
who dominated
loansharking
A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law.
Description
Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...
operations in
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
during the 1960s.
[
The subject of a two-year federal undercover operation, DeCarlo's conviction revealed widespread corruption of New Jersey public officials and tied singer ]Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Chairman of the Board" and later called "Ol' Blue Eyes", Sinatra was one of the most popular ...
to organized crime.
Early years
DeCarlo was born in Hoboken, New Jersey
Hoboken ( ; Unami: ') is a city in Hudson County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 60,417. The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program calculated that the city's population was 58,690 i ...
on September 2, 1902. He represented Genovese family business interests in the New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
underworld; he was an associate of Abner "Longey" Zwillman and Gerardo Catena
Gerardo "Jerry" Catena (January 8, 1902 – April 23, 2000) was an American mobster and a top member of the Genovese crime family during the 1950s and 1960s, along with Thomas Eboli, Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli, Philip Lombardo, Philip "Benny Squin ...
. DeCarlo was an excellent cook; his specialty was fried pasta
Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, are som ...
with anchovies
An anchovy is a small, common forage fish of the family Engraulidae. Most species are found in marine waters, but several will enter brackish water, and some in South America are restricted to fresh water.
More than 140 species are placed in 1 ...
. His wife died mysteriously after giving birth. He reportedly later married a woman named Frances Ryan and had two children. His arrest record included income tax evasion
Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the tax ...
, breaking and entering
Burglary, also called breaking and entering and sometimes housebreaking, is the act of entering a building or other areas without permission, with the intention of committing a criminal offence. Usually that offence is theft, robbery or murder ...
, counterfeiting
To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...
, robbery
Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or by use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the perso ...
, and liquor law violations. DeCarlo owned the La Martinique Tavern in Mountainside, New Jersey
Mountainside is a borough in Union County, New Jersey, United States. The borough is located on a ridge in northern- central New Jersey, within the Raritan Valley and Rahway Valley regions in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Un ...
Based in New Jersey, DeCarlo rose to the position of caporegime
A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to capo or informally referred to as "captain" or "skipper", is a rank used in the Mafia (both the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia) for a ''made member'' of an Italian crime family who head ...
, or captain, of a crew. He achieved this promotion by gaining control over the loansharking
A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high interest rates, has strict terms of collection upon failure, and generally operates outside the law.
Description
Because loan sharks operate mostly illegally, they cannot reasonably ...
, or "juice" racket, illegal gambling
Gaming law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law, c ...
, and murder for hire. DeCarlo also systematically eliminated his rival mobsters during the late 1950s.
Mob career
Wiretapping
Between 1961 and 1963, federal agents began wire tap
Telephone tapping (also wire tapping or wiretapping in American English) is the monitoring of telephone and Internet-based conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitorin ...
ping conversations between DeCarlo and his mob associates. These wire taps revealed corruption among law enforcement, prominent businessmen and state officials including Newark
Newark most commonly refers to:
* Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States
* Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area
Newark may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Niagara-on-the ...
Mayor Hugh Addonizio
Hugh Joseph Addonizio (January 31, 1914 – February 2, 1981) was an American Democratic Party politician who was sentenced to prison for corruption. He was the 33rd Mayor of Newark, New Jersey, from 1962 to 1970, and a U.S. Congressman from ...
and influential Hudson County
Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in ...
politician John J. Kenny. Both Addonizio's and Kenny's political careers ended after the wire transcripts were published. The transcripts also mentioned Sinatra. On one tape, DeCarlo discussed methods for committing murder; he described a so-called "humane" hit in which he shot a victim through the heart. According to DeCarlo, it was a painless way to die.
Saperstein death
In September 1968, DeCarlo and his men brutalized Louis Saperstein, who owed DeCarlo $400,000. Government witness and former mob associate Gerald Zelmanowitz
Gerald is a male Germanic given name meaning "rule of the spear" from the prefix ''ger-'' ("spear") and suffix ''-wald'' ("rule"). Variants include the English given name Jerrold, the feminine nickname Jeri and the Welsh language Gerallt and ...
described an intense beating of Saperstein in DeCarlo's office due to a $5,000 monthly interest payment. Zelmanowitz said Saperstein was lying on the floor, looking purple, his tongue hanging out, and he was covered in blood and spit. On November 26, 1968, Saperstein died of arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As and atomic number 33. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in combination with sulfur and metals, but also as a pure elemental crystal. Arsenic is a metalloid. It has various allotropes, but ...
poisoning. That same day, the FBI received a letter from Saperstein that detailed his problems with DeCarlo. In March 1970, DeCarlo was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment.
Presidential pardon
After DeCarlo served 18 months in prison, President Richard Nixon
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a representative and senator from California and was ...
commuted his sentence to time served (two years of a 12-year sentence), ostensibly due to his poor health. ["Release of Mafia Boss by Nixon Upsets and Puzzles Justice Aides", ''Los Angeles Times'', April 3, 1973, p. I-5] DeCarlo himself claimed to be dying of cancer (which turned out 10 months later to be true). Disregarding the usual protocol, U.S. Attorney General
The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...
Richard Kleindienst
Richard Gordon Kleindienst (August 5, 1923 – February 3, 2000) was an American lawyer, politician, and U.S. Attorney General during the early stages of Watergate scandal, Watergate political scandal.
Early life and career
Kleindienst was born A ...
approved the pardon request and sent it to White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
Counsel John Dean
John Wesley Dean III (born October 14, 1938) is an American former attorney who served as White House Counsel for U.S. President Richard Nixon from July 1970 until April 1973. Dean is known for his role in the cover-up of the Watergate scandal ...
. Dean then delivered the request directly to Nixon. It was rumored that Vice President Spiro Agnew
Spiro Theodore Agnew (November 9, 1918 – September 17, 1996) was the 39th vice president of the United States, serving from 1969 until his resignation in 1973. He is the second vice president to resign the position, the other being John ...
, a personal friend of Frank Sinatra, persuaded Nixon to approve the request. Special Watergate
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. The scandal stemmed from the Nixon administration's continual ...
Prosecutor Archibald Cox
Archibald Cox Jr. (May 17, 1912 – May 29, 2004) was an American lawyer and law professor who served as U.S. Solicitor General under President John F. Kennedy and as a special prosecutor during the Watergate scandal. During his career, he was a p ...
later investigated the DeCarlo pardon, but found no evidence of corruption.
In December 1972, DeCarlo was released from prison. He died, from cancer, in Mountainside, New Jersey
Mountainside is a borough in Union County, New Jersey, United States. The borough is located on a ridge in northern- central New Jersey, within the Raritan Valley and Rahway Valley regions in the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2010 Un ...
on October 20, 1973. This was five days before a deadline to pay a $20,000 fine from his 1970 conviction. He was buried in Gate of Heaven Cemetery
Gate of Heaven Cemetery, approximately 25 miles (40 km) north of New York City, was established in 1917 at 10 West Stevens Ave. in Hawthorne, Westchester County, New York, as a Roman Catholic burial site. Among its famous residents is b ...
in East Hanover, New Jersey
East Hanover Township is a township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 11,157, reflecting a decline of 236 (−2.1%) from the 11,393 counted in the 2000 Census, whic ...
. The funeral was scheduled for the afternoon but was held in the morning because "the family just didn't want any more publicity."
In popular culture
DeCarlo is portrayed by actor Christopher Walken
Christopher Walken (born Ronald Walken; March 31, 1943) is an American actor. Prolific in film, television and on stage, Walken is the recipient of numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Awar ...
in the 2014 film ''Jersey Boys
''Jersey Boys'' is a jukebox musical with music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe, and book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice. It is presented in a documentary-style format that dramatizes the formation, success and eventual break-up of th ...
'' about Frankie Valli
Francesco Stephen Castelluccio (born May 3, 1934), better known by his stage name Frankie Valli, is an American singer, known as the frontman of the Four Seasons beginning in 1960. He is known for his unusually powerful lead falsetto voice.
...
and The Four Seasons.
See also
*
{{R from move ...
*
*Clarke, Thurston and Tigue, John J. Jr. ''Dirty Money: Swiss Banks, the Mafia, Money Laundering, and White Collar Crime''. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1975.
*Kwitny, Jonathan. ''Vicious Circles: The Mafia in the Marketplace''. New York: W.W. Norton, 1979.
*Volz, Joseph and Peter Bridge. ''The Mafia Talks''. Greenwich, Connecticut: Fawcett, 1969.
*Zeiger, Henry A. ''The Jersey Mob''. New York: New American Library, 1975.
*Kelly, Robert J. ''Encyclopedia of Organized Crime in the United States''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2000.
*Sifakis, Carl. ''The Mafia Encyclopedia''. New York: Da Capo Press, 2005.
*Bureau of Narcotics, U.S. Treasury Department, "Mafia: the Government's Secret File on Organized Crime, HarperCollins Publishers 2007
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