Thomas Agro (November 29, 1931 – August 31, 1987), also known as "Tommy A", "T.A.", "Tipp", and "Thomas Ambrosiano", was a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

gangster with 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 ran lucrative bookmaking and gambling operations in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Biography

In 1975 or 1976, Agro became a "

made man In the American and Sicilian Mafia, a made man is a fully initiated member of the Mafia. To become "made", an associate first must be Italian or of Italian descent and sponsored by another made man. An inductee will be required to take the oat ...

," or full member, of the Gambino crime family. Agro was sponsored for membership by Joseph N. Gallo, the family

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 ...

and worked under

Joseph Armone Joseph "Piney" Armone (September 13, 1917 – February 23, 1992), also known as Shorty, was an American gangster in the Gambino crime family who served as underboss. Biography Background Born on the Upper East Side, Manhattan, Armone earned hi ...

, one of

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 ...

's most trusted associates. While Agro was never promoted above street-level soldier, he enjoyed a privileged relationship with family boss Paul Castellano. During this period, Agro was sent to prison for bookmaking. By 1976, Agro was dividing his time between New York and

Palm Beach County, Florida Palm Beach County is a county located in the southeastern part of Florida and lies directly north of Broward County and Miami-Dade County. The county had a population of 1,492,191 as of the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous county ...

. In Florida, Agro chose mobster Joseph Iannuzzi as his representative. Iannuzzi enjoyed the attention and respect he received when Agro was in Florida. The two mobsters frequented the top nightspots and betting tracks. It was while at the

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around a track. There are two forms of greyhound racing, track racing (normally around an oval track) and coursing; the latter is now banned in most countries. Tra ...

tracks that Agro coined Iannuzzi's nickname, "Joe Dogs". Iannuzzi was given free rein to operate on behalf of Agro and the Gambino crime family. Iannuzzi operated bookmaking and loansharking while engaging in the occasional robbery and burglary. When Agro's sponsor, Joe N. Gallo, visited Florida, Iannuzzi would look after him. In 1980, the Agro/Iannuzzi relationship began to fizzle. Agro had previously lent Ianuzzi a sizeable amount of money to be used to facilitate a loanshark book. Ianuzzi was supposed to pay Agro several percentage basis points ("points") a week. Ianuzzi would then offer loans to fellow criminals and gamblers at several additional points. The difference, called the "spread," would be Iannuzzi's profit. Ianuzzi would hold several weeks' or months' worth of interest ("vig"), delivering it to Agro whenever he visited New York. At other times, Agro would visit Iannuzzi in Florida to collect the interest. Agro had plans to invest the illegal interest into legitimate businesses. However, Ianuzzi soon fell several months behind in delivering the money to Agro. Later in 1980, while visiting New York, Ianuzzi deliberately snubbed Agro. On January 19, 1981, the enraged Agro found Ianuzzi at the Don Ritz Pizzeria on

Singer Island, Florida Singer Island is a peninsula on the Atlantic coast of Palm Beach County, Florida, in the South Florida metropolitan area. Most of it is in the city of Riviera Beach, but the town of Palm Beach Shores occupies its southern tip. Its latitude of ...

and severely beat him with a

baseball bat A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal club used in the sport of baseball to hit the ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than in diameter at the thickest part and no more than in length. Although histor ...

. After surviving this attack, Ianuzzi decided to start working as an informant for 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). Since Ianuzzi had been assaulted with a bat, the FBI agents appropriately dubbed the case Operation

Home Run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

. Ianuzzi now paid Agro the delinquent money (with funds supplied by the FBI), and Agro welcomed him back to the family. Ianuzzi now wore a hidden listening device whenever he met with Agro and other Florida mobsters. On one tape, Agro told Iannuzzi that he had survived the January attack only because the pizzeria owner's wife entered the room. On one occasion, Agro confessed to the murders of Lucchese associates Anthony DeSimone and

Thomas DeSimone Thomas DeSimone (May 24, 1950 – disappeared January 14, 1979) was an American criminal associated with New York City's Lucchese crime family who is alleged to have participated in both the Air France robbery and the Lufthansa heist. He also co ...

. However, Ianuzzi was not recording at that moment, so Agro was never convicted of these murders. In 1984, Agro was prosecuted at the Home Run trials in Florida for loan sharking, extortion, and attempted murder. After being sentenced to fifteen years in a federal

penitentiary A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

, Agro fled to

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, where he was joined by LuAnn. The couple later moved to the

Nuns' Island Nuns' Island (officially Île des Sœurs; ) is an island located in the Saint Lawrence River that forms a part of the city of Montreal, Quebec. It is part of the borough of Verdun. History Originally called Île Saint-Paul in honour of the f ...

section of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

, where he deserted LuAnn for another woman, Ann Okcha. Later in 1984, the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

(RCMP) arrested Agro. He was soon repatriated to the United States and sent to prison. In 1986, Agro was released from prison due to an inoperable

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

. On February 11, 1987, Agro pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges in a court session held in his hospital room at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Agro died later in 1987.

In popular culture

* In the 1990 film ''

Goodfellas ''Goodfellas'' (stylized ''GoodFellas'') is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Nicholas Pileggi and Scorsese, and produced by Irwin Winkler. It is a film adaptation of the 1985 nonfiction book '' Wis ...

'', the character "Vinnie" (played by

Charles Scorsese Luciano Charles Scorsese (May 8, 1913August 23, 1993) was an American film actor. He was the father of filmmaker Martin Scorsese . Biography Scorsese was born in New York City, the son of Teresa and Francesco Scorsese, Sicilian immigrants fro ...

, the father of director

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...

) is based on Agro. Vinnie is seen cooking sauce while in prison and when the character Tommy DeVito (based on

) is murdered. * Agro is portrayed by Ron Gabriel in the 2001 film ''

Boss of Bosses ''Boss of Bosses'' is a 2001 American made-for-TV movie about the life of former Gambino crime family boss Paul Castellano directed by Dwight H. Little. It stars Chazz Palminteri as Paul Castellano, Patricia Mauceri as his wife Nina, Mark Margol ...

''.

Biography

In popular culture

References

Further reading