Frank "Franky the Beast" Scarabino (born 1956) is a New York City mobster and former

soldier A soldier is a person who is a member of an army. A soldier can be a conscripted or volunteer enlisted person, a non-commissioned officer, or an officer. Etymology The word ''soldier'' derives from the Middle English word , from Old French ...

in the North Jersey based DeCavalcante crime family,

Background

Since the late 1970s, US law enforcement listed Scarabino as an associate of the crime family based in the Northern New Jersey area, and linked him with reputed 'made men' Anthony "Marshmallow" Mannarino and Anthony "Tony" Capo sometime in the mid 1980s, as well as recognizing him as a member of the DeCavalcante crime family, under reputed captains

Philip Abramo Philip Abramo (born 1945), also known as "The King of Wall Street" and "Lou Metzer", is a caporegime in the New Jersey DeCavalcante crime family who was allegedly involved in security fraud and murder. He is the capo of the DeCavalcante family's cr ...

and

Anthony Rotondo Anthony Rotondo (born 1957) is a former capo in the DeCavalcante family of New Jersey and police informant. Early life Anthony Rotondo lived with his father Vincent "Jimmy the Gent" Rotondo, and his father expressed wishes for his son to beco ...

Murdering Fred Weiss

According to US law enforcement, in August, 1989, Scarabino was involved in a

conspiracy A conspiracy, also known as a plot, is a secret plan or agreement between persons (called conspirers or conspirators) for an unlawful or harmful purpose, such as murder or treason, especially with political motivation, while keeping their agree ...

along with soldiers

Anthony Capo Anthony "Tony" Capo (1959/60 – January 23, 2012) was an American hitman in the DeCavalcante crime family who later became a government witness and entered the Witness Protection Program. His aliases included Marshall Beach, Mathew Beach and Wade B ...

, James "Jimmy" Gallo, Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo, captain

and even Stefano "Steve the Truck Driver" Vitabile, the reputed family consigliere, which involved murdering Fred Weiss, a private sanitation magnate considered for becoming an informant. The hit was requested by reputed

Gambino 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 ...

boss

John Gotti John Joseph Gotti Jr.Capeci, Mustain (1996), pp. 25–26 (, ; October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002) was an American gangster and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. He ordered and helped to orchestrate the murder of Gambino boss ...

of New York, and Giovanni "John the Eagle" Riggi, boss of the DeCavalcante family, accepted his request, and contracted Scarabino, Capo, Gallo and Palermo for the task. Scarabino, still only a family associate, reportedly agreed and on September 11, 1989, Scarabino and others shot and killed Weiss in front of his

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 ...

home; however, it is Palermo, Capo and Gallo who are mostly credited for Weiss's murder.

Criminal Activities

During the 1990s era, Scarabino is to have been inducted into the DeCavalcante crime family, under reputed captains

of Elizabeth, New Jersey and

of the New York faction in

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 ...

. At the time, Scarabino's criminal activities were labor and construction

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercive, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. Originally and of ...

, illegal gambling, loansharking,

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence; the bulk of this article deals with such cases. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, ...

and

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification (jurisprudence), justification or valid excuse (legal), excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person wit ...

, as he reportedly conspired to murder Daniel Annunziatta and even former acting boss and captain, Gaetano "Corky" Vastola, in the early 1990s on the orders of

John D'Amato John "Johnny Boy" D'Amato (died January 1992) was a New Jersey mobster and former acting boss of the DeCavalcante crime family. After being recruited by Gambino crime family boss John Gotti to take over the family, he was suspected of engaging in ...

, who had been recruited by

into take over the DeCavalcante crime family after the imprisonment of Riggi in 1990. According to US law enforcement, Scarabino also helped organize the murder of former family

underboss Underboss ( it, sottocapo) is a position within the leadership structure of certain organized crime groups, particularly in Sicilian, Greek, and Italian-American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the boss. The underbo ...

, Louis "Fat Lou" LaRasso in 1991, in aid of the

operations that

took over in New York. It was around this time that Scarabino bought his residence in Staten Island, New York.

Indictment & Witness Protection

On October 19, 2000, a pile of federal indictments were launched at over 50 members of the DeCavalcante crime family, with predicates in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO statutes), as Scarabino was charged with extortion, illegal gambling, conspiracy to commit bookmaking and loansharking activities. He was also charged with the murder of Fred Weiss, as well as conspiracy to the attempted murders of Daniel Annunziatta, Gaetano "Corky" Vastola and Louis "Fat Lou" LaRasso. Four days prior to his arrest, Scarabino was ordered to kill the wives and children of Anthony Capo (a known cooperator) and Anthony Rotondo (a suspected cooperator). This order so disturbed and repulsed Scarabino he chose to become an

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a “snitch”) is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law-enforcement world, where informan ...

and testify against his former associates of the DeCavalcante family. As of 2008, Frank Scarabino is presumably participating in the Witness Protection Program.

References

External links

ganglandnews.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Scarabino, Frank 1956 births American gangsters of Italian descent People from Elizabeth, New Jersey Criminals from New York City DeCavalcante crime family Living people People who entered the United States Federal Witness Protection Program