Louis Vallario, also known as "Big Louie" and "Big Lou" (born 1942), is a member of the

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 ...

who was a top aide to 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 ...

and Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano in the late 1980s.

Criminal history

Vallario was born in New York to first-generation immigrants from

Piedmont, Italy it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

. As a child, Vallario was friends with future Gambino mobster John Gotti. During the 1970s, Vallario joined the Aurello crew of the Gambino family in the

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 22nd ...

and Red Hook sections of

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 ...

. Vallario's illegal activities included

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 ...

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 ...

bookmaking A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays off bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795. Range of events Bookm ...

, and labor

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 ...

. Vallario was a close criminal associate of Frank Fappiano, Edward Garafola, Thomas Carbonaro, and Joseph D'Angelo. When Gravano later became a government witness, he refused to testify against Vallario. In 1986, Gotti murdered boss

Paul Castellano Constantino Paul Castellano (; June 26, 1915 – December 16, 1985), was an American crime boss who succeeded Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family. Castellano was killed in an unsanctioned hit on December 16, 1985. Early life Cast ...

and took over the Gambino family. Gravano then became consigliere and Vallario took over Gravano's crew. Vallario reportedly became one of Gotti's top aides. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Vallario became a prominent figure in the construction industry and enjoyed major influence over the New York City labor unions.

Gotti's fall

In 1991, dozens of members of the family were indicted and sent to prison on

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was en ...

(RICO) charges, such as

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, ...

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 ...

and

murder for hire Contract killing is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or persons. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of payment, monetary or otherwise. Either party may be ...

. Gravano eventually turned state's evidence, as Gotti and

Consigliere Consigliere ( , ; plural ) is a position within the leadership structure of the Sicilian, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word was popularized in English by the novel ''The Godfather'' (1969) and its film adaptation. In the novel, a c ...

Frank "Frankie Loc" LoCascio were sentenced to

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence of imprisonment for a crime under which convicted people are to remain in prison for the rest of their natural lives or indefinitely until pardoned, paroled, or otherwise commuted to a fixed term. Crimes for ...

in 1992, the same time as Vallario was charged with racketeering. In 1996, Vallario was promoted to the Gambino "Ruling Panel" with mobsters Steven "Stevie Coogan" Grammauta and Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo, John "Jackie Nose" D'Amico and

Peter Gotti Peter Arthur Gotti (October 15, 1939 – February 25, 2021) was an American mobster. He was the boss of the Gambino crime family, part of the American Mafia, and the elder brother of the former Gambino boss John Gotti. Early life Gotti was born ...

. John Gotti created the panel to assist his son John "Junior" Gotti, as acting boss. Vallario sat on the panel until 2002.

Convictions and prison

In April 2001, Vallario was indicted in a corruption case against officials of

Service Employees International Union Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of member ...

(SEIU) Local 32B-32J. Prosecutors charged that corrupt members of this local enriched themselves through no-show jobs. Vallario pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years

probation Probation in criminal law is a period of supervision over an offender, ordered by the court often in lieu of incarceration. In some jurisdictions, the term ''probation'' applies only to community sentences (alternatives to incarceration), such ...

. In 2002, Vallario was indicted for murder, extortion, loansharking, bribery and illegal gambling. On April 23, 2004, Vallario pleaded guilty to the 1989 Weiss murder. A recycling executive and former city editor of the

Staten Island Advance The ''Staten Island Advance'' is a daily newspaper published in the borough of Staten Island in New York City. The only daily newspaper published in the borough, and the only major daily paper focused on a borough, it covers news of local and ...

, Weiss was involved with the Gambino family in an illegal

landfill A landfill site, also known as a tip, dump, rubbish dump, garbage dump, or dumping ground, is a site for the disposal of waste materials. Landfill is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of the waste ...

scheme. Boss John Gotti ordered Vallario to kill Weiss because Gotti feared Weiss might become a government witness. Vallario shot Weiss to death outside Weiss's home on

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 ...

. Vallario was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison. As of December 2011, Vallario is incarcerated in the Fort Dix

Federal Correctional Institution The Federal Bureau of Prisons classifies prisons into seven categories: * United States penitentiaries * Federal correctional institutions * Private correctional institutions * Federal prison camps * Administrative facilities * Federal correctio ...

(FCI) in

Fort Dix, New Jersey Fort Dix, the common name for the Army Support Activity (ASA) located at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, is a United States Army post. It is located south-southeast of Trenton, New Jersey. Fort Dix is under the jurisdiction of the Air Force A ...

. On October 15, 2013, he was released from prison.

References

External links

New York Times: Using an Informer, U.S. Agents Charge 45 in Mafia Crimes
By ALAN FEUER {{DEFAULTSORT:Vallario, Louis 1942 births American gangsters of Italian descent Gambino crime family Living people American people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by the United States federal government People of Piedmontese descent

Criminal history

Gotti's fall

Convictions and prison

Further reading

References

External links