Ronald Joseph Trucchio (born 1951), also known as "Ronnie One Arm" is a New York mobster who rose to the position of

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 head ...

in 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 ...

Biography

Trucchio was born in

Ocean Hill, Brooklyn Ocean Hill is a subsection of Bedford-Stuyvesant in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 16 and was founded in 1890. The ZIP code for the neighborhood is 11233. Ocean Hill's boundaries st ...

and raised in

Ozone Park, Queens Ozone Park is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens, New York, United States. It is next to the Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, a popular spot for Thoroughbred racing and home to the Resorts Wor ...

. As a child, Trucchio was hit by an automobile and sustained severe damage to the

scapula The scapula (plural scapulae or scapulas), also known as the shoulder blade, is the bone that connects the humerus (upper arm bone) with the clavicle (collar bone). Like their connected bones, the scapulae are paired, with each scapula on eithe ...

and

ulna The ulna (''pl''. ulnae or ulnas) is a long bone found in the forearm that stretches from the elbow to the smallest finger, and when in anatomical position, is found on the medial side of the forearm. That is, the ulna is on the same side of t ...

and

humerus The humerus (; ) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extremity consists of a roun ...

in the arm. These fractures left his arm partially paralyzed. The injury led to his nickname of "Ronnie One Arm"."Queens Father and Son Accused In Illegal Gambling Operation"
By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM New York Times December 10, 2002 Trucchio is the father of reputed Gambino Capo Alphonse Trucchio. He lived in South

Richmond Hill, Queens Richmond Hill is a commercial and residential neighborhood located in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens. The area borders Kew Gardens and Forest Park to the north, Jamaica and South Jamaica to the east, South Ozone P ...

as an adult. In 1988 Trucchio, a protegee of Gambino 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 ...

, was inducted into the Gambino family.

The Young Guns

In the mid-1990s, Trucchio was promoted to

and given control over the Ozone Park Boys, a Gambino crew in Queens. Trucchio reportedly drove around Ozone Park looking for recruits for his crew. He drove a silver

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

, wore $5,000 suits, and displayed thick rolls of bills. One police investigator compared Trucchio to

Fagin Fagin is a fictional character and the secondary antagonist in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel ''Oliver Twist''. In the preface to the novel, he is described as a "receiver of stolen goods". He is the leader of a group of children (the Artful Dod ...

, the 19th century London gang leader in the

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...

novel ''

Oliver Twist ''Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy's Progress'', Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is bound into apprenticeship with ...

''."Reputed Mob Recruiter Faces Trial For Scions' Sins"
by Ann W. O'Neill Sun-Sentinel January 10, 2005 The Ozone Park Boys specialized in

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

fraud In law, fraud is intentional deception to secure unfair or unlawful gain, or to deprive a victim of a legal right. Fraud can violate civil law (e.g., a fraud victim may sue the fraud perpetrator to avoid the fraud or recover monetary compens ...

and

wire fraud Mail fraud and wire fraud are terms used in the United States to describe the use of a physical or electronic mail system to fraud, defraud another, and are Federal crime in the United States, federal crimes there. Jurisdiction is claimed by the ...

. Trucchio and Alphonse ran an

operation that grossed approximately $30 million a year, with bettors who placed wagers as large as $15,000 on

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

games. Trucchio also owned a restaurant in Ozone Park that allegedly earned him $6.5 million but was forfeited by the Queens District Attorney due to charges of

tax evasion Tax evasion is an illegal attempt to defeat the imposition of taxes by individuals, corporations, trusts, and others. Tax evasion often entails the deliberate misrepresentation of the taxpayer's affairs to the tax authorities to reduce the taxp ...

and tax

. Also involved in criminal activities in

South Florida South Florida is the southernmost region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is one of Florida's three most commonly referred to directional regions; the other two are Central Florida and North Florida. South Florida is the southernmost part of th ...

, Trucchio's crew was frequently called "The Young Guns" and the "Liberty Posse".USA v. Ronald Trucchio, (11th Cir. 2007) Federal Circuits
V Lex In October 1995, Trucchio was allegedly involved in the shooting murders of three people in Florida. Gambino associate Mark Rizzuto was found dead in

Boca Raton Boca Raton ( ; es, Boca Ratón, link=no, ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. It was first incorporated on August 2, 1924, as "Bocaratone," and then incorporated as "Boca Raton" in 1925. The population was 97,422 in the ...

. Gambino associate and

strip club A strip club is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease or other Erotic dancing, erotic or exotic dances. Strip clubs typically adopt a nightclub or Bar (establishment), bar style, and can also ...

bouncer Vincent D'Angola, along with D'Angola's dancer girlfriend Jami Schneider, were discovered dead in D'Angola's

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

apartment. The Gambino family suspected the two men of skimming family profits and sent other Florida crew members to murder them. Schneider may have been an innocent bystander. By 1997, Trucchio was reportedly concerned about the number of violent acts being committed by crew members in Florida and directed Gambino soldier Michael Ciaccio to watch them. Years later, Ciaccio would testify against Trucchio in Trucchio's 2003 racketeering trial.

Convictions and prison

On December 9, 2002, Trucchio was indicted in New York state court on enterprise corruption, conspiracy, promoting gambling and possession of gambling records. The indictment stated that Trucchio conspired to engage in

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 ...

, murder, robbery, arson,

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, ...

kidnapping In criminal law, kidnapping is the unlawful confinement of a person against their will, often including transportation/asportation. The asportation and abduction element is typically but not necessarily conducted by means of force or fear: the p ...

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via insuffla ...

, tampering with witnesses, retaliating against witnesses, credit card fraud, intrastate travel in aid of

activity, interference with commerce by threats and violence, interstate transportation of stolen property, and thefts from interstate shipments. On April 14, 2003, Trucchio pleaded guilty to lesser charges. On October 29, 2003, Trucchio was sentenced to one to three years in state prison. On December 4, 2003, Trucchio and other family members were indicted in federal court in

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 census, making it the tenth ...

for the 1995 Florida murders, two armed robberies in New York, and the 2003 Bosshart murder in New York. On January 9, 2004, Trucchio pleaded not guilty in court to all the charges. In August 2005, Trucchio was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. In October 2006, Trucchio and other Florida crew members went on trial in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

on new federal racketeering and extortion charges. Truccchio was accused of using intimidation to gain control of

valet parking Valet parking is a parking service offered by some restaurants, stores, and other businesses. In contrast to "self-parking", where customers find a parking space on their own, customers' vehicles are parked for them by a person called a ''valet ...

services for hospitals, restaurants, and

adult entertainment The sex industry (also called the sex trade) consists of businesses that either directly or indirectly provide sex-related products and services or adult entertainment. The industry includes activities involving direct provision of sex-related ...

clubs in the

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...

area. In December 2006, Trucchio was convicted and in March 2007 was sentenced to life in prison. As of December 2011, Ronald Trucchio is serving a life sentence at the

United States Penitentiary 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 ...

(USP) in

Lewisburg, Pennsylvania Lewisburg is a borough in Union County, Pennsylvania, United States, south by southeast of Williamsport and north of Harrisburg. In the past, it was the commercial center for a fertile grain and general farming region. The population was 5,1 ...

.Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator
/ref> Trucchio reportedly underwent

hip replacement Hip replacement is a surgical procedure in which the hip joint is replaced by a prosthetic implant, that is, a hip prosthesis. Hip replacement surgery can be performed as a total replacement or a hemi (half) replacement. Such joint replacement o ...

surgery a few years earlier and is said to be in poor health.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Trucchio, Ronnie 1951 births American gangsters of Italian descent Gambino crime family Gangsters sentenced to life imprisonment Living people American prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by the United States federal government American people convicted of murder People convicted of murder by the United States federal government People convicted of racketeering American people convicted of tax crimes People from Ozone Park, Queens People from Richmond Hill, Queens People from Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn