Frank "Punchy" Illiano (1928 – January 6, 2014) was a

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Captain with 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 ...

. During the 1960s and 1970s, he served as a top lieutenant to the Gallo brothers in their two wars with 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 du ...

leadership.

Biography

Illiano began his criminal career as a member of the Gallo crew in the Profaci crime family, later known as the Colombo family. Illiano earned the nickname "Punchy" as a result of a short

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

career. His capo was "Crazy Joey" Gallo, who would become infamous for his feuds with the Profaci family bosses. In 1957, Illiano may have participated in the murder of

Albert Anastasia Umberto "Albert" Anastasia (, ; ; September 26, 1902 – October 25, 1957) was an Italian-American mobster, hitman, and crime boss. One of the founders of the modern American Mafia, and a co-founder and later boss of the Murder, Inc. organizat ...

, boss of the

Mangano crime family The Gambino 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, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Ame ...

. Anastasia's underboss,

Carlo Gambino Carlo Gambino (; August 24, 1902 – October 15, 1976) was an Italian-American crime boss of the Gambino crime family. After the Apalachin Meeting in 1957, and the imprisonment of Vito Genovese in 1959, Gambino took over the Commission o ...

, plotted with

Joseph Profaci Giuseppe "Joe" Profaci (; October 2, 1897 – June 6, 1962) was an Italian-born New York City Cosa Nostra boss who was the founder of what became the Colombo crime family. Established in 1928, this was the last of the Five Families to be organi ...

, boss of the Profaci family, to murder Anastasia while he was at a Manhattan barber shop. According to

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

and

NYPD The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

sources, Profaci delegated the job to Joey Gallo, who allegedly included Illiano in the assassination. Gallo allegedly referred to the hit squad, including Illiano, as his "

barbershop quartet A barbershop quartet is a group of four singers who sing music in the barbershop style, characterized by four-part harmony without instrumental accompaniment, or a cappella. The four voices are: the lead, the vocal part which typically carries t ...

". Today, some sources believe that Joseph Biondo and other Gambino mobsters committed the murder. According to Colombo government informant Joseph Luparelli, during the late-1950s,

Joe Gallo Joseph Gallo (April 7, 1929 – April 7, 1972), also known as "Crazy Joe", was an Italian-American mobster and Caporegime of the Colombo crime family of New York City. In his youth, Gallo was diagnosed with schizophrenia after an arrest. He so ...

and Illiano got into a fight with a much larger man at a Chinese restaurant in

Little Italy Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood. The concept of "Little Italy" holds many different aspects of the Italian culture. There are s ...

. Luparelli had to help them subdue the guy. Gallo then used a kitchen cleaver to break open a storage room and shove the man inside.

First Colombo War

The First Colombo War started in February 1961, when the Gallos kidnapped several family leaders to force boss

to distribute profits more fairly. Profaci agreed to a settlement to gain his loyalists' release, then later in 1962 tried to murder Larry Gallo at a meeting in a bar. On January 29, 1962, Illiano and six other crew members rescued six small children from an apartment filled with smoke by a mattress fire. None of the children or mobsters were injured. During the First Colombo War, Illiano allegedly wounded Profaci mobster Hugh McIntosh in a sniper attack."Puparo presents: The Roaring 1960s"
Gangsters Inc. Illiano also allegedly planted a bomb underneath

Carmine Persico Carmine John Persico Jr. (; August 8, 1933 – March 7, 2019), also known as "Junior", "The Snake" and "Immortal", was an American mobster and the longtime boss of the Colombo crime family in New York City from 1973 until his death in 2019. He ha ...

's car. The bomb exploded but Persico escaped death. After Profaci's death in 1962, the conflict continued with Profaci's successor,

Joseph Magliocco Joseph Magliocco (born Giuseppe Magliocco; ; June 29, 1898 – December 28, 1963), also known as "Joe Malayak" and "Joe Evil Eye", was an Italian-born New York mobster and the boss of the Profaci crime family (later to become the Colombo cri ...

, until his 1963 death. On June 12, 1963, Illiano narrowly escaped assassination by a Profaci sniper. In December 1963, Illiano was arrested on

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 ...

, assault and weapons charges. On January 8, 1965, Iliano and 14 other crew members pleaded guilty to misdemeanor assault in regard to the gang war and were sentenced to six months in prison.

Second Colombo War

The Second Colombo War began after the 1971 shooting of boss

Joseph Colombo Joseph Anthony Colombo Sr. (; June 16, 1923 – May 22, 1978) was the boss of the Colombo crime family, one of the Five Families of the American Mafia in New York City. Colombo was born in New York City, where his father was an early member ...

, as many mobsters considered Joey Gallo to be a prime suspect. This time the Gallo's target was boss

. In 1972, Persico gunmen assassinated Joey Gallo at a Manhattan restaurant. After Gallo's death, Illiano and Albert Gallo arranged the attempted murder of several Colombo family leaders at the Neapolitan Noodle restaurant in Manhattan. However, when the hitman from Las Vegas went to the restaurant on August 11, 1972, he shot four innocent men by mistake, killing two of them. After the abortive Neapolitan hit, the other New York crime families decided to broker a peace agreement between the Colombo factions to end the bloodshed. As part of the agreement, Illiano and Albert Gallo joined the Genovese family with what remained of their crew.

Genovese family

During the mid-1970s, the

welcomed Illiano, Albert Gallo and other Gallo outcasts into its ranks. The Gallo crew had previously enjoyed a good relationship with Genovese leaders such as

Anthony "Tony Bender" Strollo Anthony C. Strollo (June 18, 1899 – disappeared April 8, 1962), also known as "Tony Bender", was a New York mobster who served as a high-ranking capo of the Genovese crime family for several decades. Biography Early years Anthony Strollo was ...

, Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello and Vincent "The Chin" Gigante. Illiano and Albert "Kid Blast" Gallo became made men and Illiano a capo. In the late 1990s, the imprisoned Gigante appointed Illiano as a street boss. As of 2010, Illiano was still operating a crew with Albert Gallo in

Carroll Gardens Carroll Gardens is a neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Taking up around 40 city blocks, it is bounded by Degraw and Warren Streets (north), Hoyt and Smith Streets (east), Ninth Street or the Gowan ...

, Brooklyn. The crew runs gambling and loan sharking operations in

, Manhattan and

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

Death

He died of an infection at a New York hospital in January 2014.

References