Chris Paciello (born Christian Ludwigsen,
[ September 7, 1971) is an American former ]Cosa Nostra
The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily ...
associate, member of The Untouchables car-theft ring, and government informant who was convicted of racketeering. During the 1990s, and again in 2012, he became a prominent night club owner in the South Beach section of Miami Beach, Florida.
Biography
Background
Paciello was born Christian Ludwigsen in 1971 in Borough Park, Brooklyn
Borough Park (also spelled Boro Park) is a neighborhood in the southwestern part of the borough of Brooklyn, in New York City. The neighborhood is bordered by Bensonhurst to the south, Dyker Heights to the southwest, Sunset Park to the west, ...
, the first of three sons born to Marguerite (née Paciello) and George Ludwigsen, and spent his childhood there. His father was a heroin addict and a small-time criminal who was arrested for burglary, auto theft, and drug charges in the 1980s. By age 15, Paciello was himself stealing car radios, and then cars.
When he was 16, his mother left the family and Paciello moved to Staten Island. Three years later, he left home and changed his last name from Ludwigsen to Paciello, his mother's maiden name.[ His elder brother, George Ludwigsen, was convicted of bank robberies in ]Hallandale, Florida
Hallandale Beach (formerly known simply as Hallandale) is a city in southern Broward County, Florida, United States. The city is named after Luther Halland, the son of a Swedish worker for Henry Flagler's Florida East Coast Railroad. As of the 2 ...
and Gulfport, Mississippi
Gulfport is the second-largest city in Mississippi after the state capital, Jackson. Along with Biloxi, Gulfport is the co-county seat of Harrison County and the larger of the two principal cities of the Gulfport-Biloxi, Mississippi Metropolit ...
in the 1990s.
New York crimes
Paciello had connections to the New York Cosa Nostra
The Sicilian Mafia, also simply known as the Mafia and frequently referred to as Cosa nostra (, ; "our thing") by its members, is an Italian Mafia-terrorist-type organized crime syndicate and criminal society originating in the region of Sicily ...
crime families. On Staten Island, Paciello joined the New Springville Boys
LUSS
, a gang with affiliations to the Bonanno crime family
The Bonanno crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the " Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, and in the United States, as part of the criminal phenomenon known as ...
. In December 1992, he participated in a $300,000 bank robbery at a Chemical Bank in the Staten Island Mall
Staten Island Mall is a shopping mall in New Springville, Staten Island, New York City, opened in 1973. It is the only indoor shopping mall in the borough. It is the largest retail center on the island and is the site of the island's third-largest ...
.[
In February 1993, Paciello was charged with murder. He had planned a home invasion on Staten Island and served as a driver. Paciello had information that the target, Sami Shemtov, who owned several adult entertainment stores, kept large amounts of cash at his house. An accomplice, Thomas Reynolds, who in 2004 was sentenced to 42 years in prison, shot Sami's wife, Judith, in the head, killing her, when she answered her door. In February 1994, Paciello and his gang robbed a ]Westminster Bank
Westminster Bank was a British retail bank which operated in England and Wales from 1834 until its merger into the National Westminster Bank in 1970; it continued to exist as a dormant registered non-trading company until 4 July 2017 when it ...
in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn
Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd ...
, stealing $300,000.
South Beach
Impressed by the new techno
Techno is a Music genre, genre of electronic dance music (EDM) which is generally music production, produced for use in a continuous DJ set, with tempo often varying between 120 and 150 beats per minute (bpm). The central Drum beat, rhythm is typ ...
style nightclubs in New York, Paciello decided to open his own club in Miami Beach, Florida. Using money from the Westminster Bank robbery, Paciello opened the nightclub, Risk, in the South Beach section in November 1994. Unknown to his fellow gang members, Paciello had also started providing information about them and their Cosa Nostra contacts to the Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
(FBI).
In late November 1995, Paciello opened a new nightclub, Club Liquid, in South Beach, bringing in local celebrity Ingrid Casares as a partner. Liquid soon became a center of Miami's South Beach nightlife in the 1990s. The singer Madonna, a friend of Casares, was a frequent guest.
In 1996, William Cutolo, a powerful leader of the Colombo crime family
The Colombo crime family (, ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City within the criminal organization known as the American Mafia. It was duri ...
in New York, told Paciello that he needed to start paying tribute to him. However, the New York Gambino crime family was one of Paciello's early financial backers. In a Brooklyn meeting with acting Colombo boss Alphonse Persico and Gambino representatives, Paciello was allowed to choose affiliation with the Colombos. Neither family was aware that Paciello was still working for the FBI.
Prison
On December 1, 1999, Paciello was charged in New York in the 1993 murder of Judith Shemtov and robbery, in which he was the driver. In an effort to hold Paciello behind bars until his trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jim Walden introduced evidence to demonstrate that Paciello had threatened witnesses, sold narcotics and had direct links to Mafia boss Alphonse Persico and the Bonanno and Gambino crime families. This request was denied on December 16, 1999, and Paciello was freed on a $3 million bond but forced to remain in jail until a hearing in New York the following week.
In October 2000, Paciello pleaded guilty to a single racketeering charge and was sentenced to ten years in prison, a lenient sentence as a government witness. He admitted driving the getaway car after the attempted burglary of the Shemtov home on a tip that her husband had $200,000 stashed in a safe. One of the bandits shot Shemtov in the head. Paciello later fingered two made
Made or MADE may refer to:
Entertainment Film
* ''Made'' (1972 film), United Kingdom
* ''Made'' (2001 film), United States Music
* ''Made'' (Big Bang album), 2016
* ''Made'' (Hawk Nelson album), 2013
* ''Made'' (Scarface album), 2007
*'' M.A.D.E. ...
members of the Bonanno family, which led ultimately to the takedown of almost the entire upper echelon of the organization, including family boss Joseph "Big Joe" Massino. Paciello's cooperation with the federal government was "unprecedented", according to a March 2004 letter by his then-lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, to the court that would sentence Paciello in connection with the murder and robbery charges related to Judith Shemtov. Brafman estimated that "more than 70 people" had been "prosecuted directly and indirectly as a result of aciello'scooperation", which was reportedly confirmed in a letter from the U.S. District Attorney's Office in Brooklyn.
In September 2006, he was released after serving six years in prison and placed on parole
Parole (also known as provisional release or supervised release) is a form of early release of a prison inmate where the prisoner agrees to abide by certain behavioral conditions, including checking-in with their designated parole officers, or ...
.
He moved to Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
, where he owned two Cristoni pizzerias, both now closed. He was arrested over a street fight in 2008, but no charges were filed. Paciello was previously linked with Madonna and Sofia Vergara
Sofia ( ; bg, София, Sofiya, ) is the capital and largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain in the western parts of the country. The city is built west of the Iskar river, and has ...
romantically.
More recently
On March 6, 2012, Paciello opened a new restaurant, Bianca, in the Delano Hotel
The Delano South Beach hotel was an upscale resort located in Miami Beach, Florida. Delano was a part of the Morgans Hotel Group collection prior to MHG being purchased by SBE Entertainment Group. SBE Entertainment has since sold the hotel t ...
in South Beach. He made the following press statement:I regret the mistakes I made in the past. I am working hard to make a positive impact and to build a new life for myself in Miami. I am grateful to the many people here who have welcomed me back with open arms, and look forward to a positive future.
Paciello is a co-owner of new night club "Rockwell" in South Beach, with his partner from Montenegro. In December 2012, he and a partner opened "Story", another South Beach nightclub.
Popular culture
In film
*The year 2000 remake of the 1974 film '' Gone in 60 Seconds'' was inspired by The Untouchables car theft ring.
*The 2007 film Kings of South Beach is based on Paciello's story, with Jason Gedrick
Jason Michael Gedrick (born February 7, 1965) is an American actor best known for his work on the television series '' Murder One'' and '' Boomtown'', and the motion picture '' Iron Eagle'' as Doug Masters.
Early life
Jason Michael Gedroic was ...
playing him.
In books
* In ''Clubland: The Fabulous Rise and Murderous Fall of Club Culture'', Paciello's role in the Shemtov murder and his prosecution by Walden
''Walden'' (; first published in 1854 as ''Walden; or, Life in the Woods'') is a book by American transcendentalist writer Henry David Thoreau. The text is a reflection upon the author's simple living in natural surroundings. The work is part ...
.
In television
*In episode 1.9 of the Investigation Discovery
Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Amer ...
television series, '' I Married a Mobster'': ''Love Hurts'' (airdate 7 September 2011), Love Majewski (now a cast member of ''Mob Wives
''Mob Wives'' is an American reality television series that premiered on VH1 on April 17, 2011. The show focuses on the lives of several women residing in the New York City borough of Staten Island, whose family members and husbands have been arr ...
'') described her relationships with Paciello and Ray Merolle, Jr.
*His Case is featured on the Season 1, Episode 6, titled "Mother of All Sins", from the Show, '' Deadly Sins'' (2012).
* Documentary series from Court TV (now TruTV
''MUGSHOTS: Chris Paciello – The Mob Over Miami''
episode (2013) at FilmRise
FilmRise is a New York City–based film and television studio and streaming network, which has become one of the largest independent providers of content to ad-supported streaming (AVOD) platforms, in addition to providing the largest free direc ...
.
*In Season 4, Episode 9 of the Investigation Discovery
Investigation Discovery (stylized and branded on-air as ID since 2008) is an American multinational pay television network dedicated to true crime documentaries owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. As of February 2015, approximately 86 million Amer ...
television series, ''Vanity Fair Confidential'': "The Disco Inferno" (air date April 2, 2018).
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paciello, Chris
1971 births
Living people
Bonanno crime family
Colombo crime family
Gambino crime family
American gangsters of Italian descent
Nightclub owners
American restaurateurs
People from Borough Park, Brooklyn
People from Staten Island