Dominick "Baldy Dom" Canterino (Born January 4, 1929 – June, 1990) was a
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 he ...
in the
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 ...
.
He was born to first-generation Italian immigrants from
Perugia
Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia.
The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and pa ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. A Genovese captain from
Bensonhurst
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 22n ...
who ran the family's
Greenwich Village Crew
The Greenwich Village Crew is a crew within the Genovese crime family, active in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan. It was originally controlled by Don Vito Genovese from the early 1920s until his arrest in the late 1950s.G. T. Harrell. ''F ...
, Canterino was a regular at
Sullivan Street
Sullivan Street is a street in Lower Manhattan, which previously ran north from Duarte Square at Canal Street, but since around 2012 begins at Broome Street, to Washington Square South, through the neighborhoods of Hudson Square, SoHo, the So ...
's Triangle Social Club, the
de facto
''De facto'' ( ; , "in fact") describes practices that exist in reality, whether or not they are officially recognized by laws or other formal norms. It is commonly used to refer to what happens in practice, in contrast with ''de jure'' ("by la ...
headquarters of the Genovese family.
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) surveillance regularly spotted Canterino at 3:00 am, driving Genovese boss
Vincent Gigante
Vincent Louis Gigante (; March 28, 1928 – December 19, 2005), also known as "The Chin", was an American mobster who was boss of the Genovese crime family in New York City from 1981 to 2005. Gigante started out as a professional boxer who fough ...
to a friend's townhouse in Manhattan. Canterino once told the FBI that he worked as a dockworker and foreman, and once "did time as a thief". An FBI report also notes, "Canterino discussed the problems of being married and having a
girlfriend on the side, which included having to split time between the two on holidays."
In December 1988, Canterino and
Morris Levy
Morris Levy (born Moishe Levy; August 27, 1927 – May 21, 1990) was an American entrepreneur in the fields of jazz clubs, music publishing, and the independent record industry. Levy was cofounder and owner of Roulette Records, founding partner ...
, president of Roulette Records, were convicted of conspiring to extort $1.25 million from
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...
record producer Frank LaMonte in
Camden, New Jersey. Canterino was sentenced to 12 years in prison.
On May 31, 1990, Canterino was indicted for
racketeering in the Windows Case. Through their control of a local construction union, the Genoveses and three other New York crime families were fixing prices (and allocating work) that contractors offered the
New York City Housing Authority
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is a public development corporation which provides public housing in New York City, and is the largest public housing authority in North America. Created in 1934 as the first agency of its kind in the U ...
for installing new thermal pane windows in city housing projects. The mob families grossed tens of millions of dollars from these contracts.
After the trial had begun, Canterino suffered a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
and was dropped from the case.
"Prosecution Summation in Bid-Rigging Trial"
By ARNOLD H. LUBASCH ''New York Times'', September 29, 1991 Canterino retired and became inactive. He died June, 1990.
References
* Spin Magazine "Back in the Days of 88" December 1988
{{DEFAULTSORT:Canterino, Dominick
1990 deaths
Genovese crime family
American gangsters of Italian descent
People of Umbrian descent
1929 births
People from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn