Nicholas Marangello (died December 30, 1999), also known as "Nicky Glasses", "Nicky Cigars", "Nicky the Butler" and "Little Nicky", was the

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 under ...

of the

Bonanno crime family The Bonanno 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, and in the United States, as part of the criminal phenomenon known as ...

under Carmine Galante and saw himself demoted after Galantes death. He's the father-in-law of

Robert Perrino Robert Francis Perrino, also known as "Bobby Perrino" (February 9, 1938 in Fordham, Bronx – May 4, 1992 in Port Richmond, Staten Island) was the superintendent of deliveries at the ''New York Post'' from the 1970s until 1992, when he was murdere ...

and grandfather of Nicola Langora.

Biography

Marangello was born on the

Lower East Side, Manhattan The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Traditionally an im ...

Knickerbocker Village Knickerbocker Village Limited is a housing development situated between the Manhattan Bridge and Brooklyn Bridge, in the Two Bridges section of the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. Although the location was generally considered to f ...

and lived there until his incarceration in the 1990s. He was a small man with slicked back hair, thick glasses and a sharp nose. Because of his thick prescription glasses, it gave people the impression that he was always staring. Marangello was identified as a made member of the Bonanno family by the

FBI 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, t ...

since the 1960s and started as a personal driver for boss Joe Bonanno. He operated a prosperous large-scale

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 gambling operation in

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 ...

and later expanded to

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

. After Carmine Galante became boss of the Bonanno family, Marangello was promoted as

. He associated himself with the Sicilian faction of the Bonanno family and operated out of the ''Toyland Social Club'' located at 94 Hester Street in Chinatown, New York. He used Toyland as his personal office. He never had anyone visit the social club unless it was concerning business. He occupied the

Toy Association The Toy Association is an American trade association A trade association, also known as an industry trade group, business association, sector association or industry body, is an organization founded and funded by businesses that operate in a s ...

hobbyist A hobby is considered to be a regular activity that is done for enjoyment, typically during one's leisure time. Hobbies include collecting themed items and objects, engaging in creative and artistic pursuits, playing sports, or pursuing oth ...

club from 12:30 to about 4:00 or 5:00 in the afternoon from Monday to Friday. Mobsters would come, take care of their business and then leave. He was underboss from 1974 to 1979 until Galante was murdered. Undercover FBI agent Joseph "Donnie Brasco" Pistone got to meet Marangello regularly to report the figures of Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero's weekly bookmaking operations. In the 1990s Marangello and longtime friend and Bonanno

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 ...

Michael Sabella Michael "Mikey Cigars" Sabella (1911–1989) was a caporegime in the Bonanno crime family and a relative of Philadelphia crime family mob boss Salvatore Sabella. Biography Early years Born in Little Italy, Manhattan to Sicily, Sicilian parent ...

were given a sentence of four to eight years stemming from

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 ...

charges. After Marangello retired, he was replaced by Stefano Cannone. Marangello's most notorious loan shark customer was Bonanno street soldier Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero. Ruggiero was a degenerate gambler and by 1977 was indebted to Marangello for $160,000 from the horse races at the Aqueduct Racetrack. Ruggiero's gambling addiction was such that it delayed his induction into the Mafia as 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 oa ...

." Until he could pay his debt, Ruggiero could not be "made" and was therefore "put on the shelf." By the summer of 1977, Ruggiero successfully paid back a majority of his debt to Marangello and was finally initiated into the Bonanno family. By the following year in 1978 he had fallen back into debt again from his addiction. As a result, Marangello arranged to have a portion of his criminal operations to be directly applied to Ruggiero's enormous debt.

References

*Crittle, Simon, ''The Last Godfather: The Rise and Fall of Joey Massino'' Berkley (March 7, 2006) *Pistone, Joseph D.; & Woodley, Richard (1999) '' Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia'', Hodder & Stoughton. {{DEFAULTSORT:Marangello, Nicholas Year of birth missing 1999 deaths Bonanno crime family American gangsters of Italian descent