Free Mafia Men - Hoodwinkers, suckers and scams (True Crime) by Gordon Kerr Page B

racketeering. The Jersey boys were summoned to a meeting, but suspecting the way the meeting might end – in their massacre – they decided not to RSVP and went into hiding.
    It was Little Vic, on the run with his underboss, Anthony ‘Gas Pipe’ Casso, following an indictment for racketeering, murder, extortion, labour pay-offs and tax fraud, who ordered the hit on Fat Pete, and acting boss, Alphonse ‘Little Al’ D’Arco put together a team that included his son, Joseph. Fat Pete had made the mistake of pleading guilty to charges under the RICO Act – the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act – the only one of fifteen accused to do so. Pleading guilty would get him a lighter sentence and would also save him a fortune on legal fees.
    While he was recovering in hospital, Charles Rose, the Assistant United States Attorney, tried to persuade him to become a government witness. Even though he knew that it had been the Lucchese bosses who had ordered his death, he was still reluctant to turn on his former associates. His mind was focused somewhat, however, when two mafiosi turned up in his lawyer’s office with a chilling message for Chiodo. ‘Tell him his wife is next,’ they said. Naturally, Chiodo began to waver.
    He agreed to become a government witness and they got his wife out of the way, entering her into the Witness Protection Programme. But the Lucchese hoods did not let that stop them. They decided to go after other members of Chiodo’s family. This was surprising as it was completely against the unwritten Mafia code. They firstly tried to kill Fat Pete’s sister, Patricia Cappozalo, but only succeeded in seriously wounding her. She had been dropping off her children at school and was shot as she returned home afterwards. Having failed once, they succeeded with their next effort, murdering Chiodo’s uncle, Frank Signorino, stuffing his body into rubbish bags and leaving it in the boot of a car where it was found later.
    D’Arco was horrified by these actions as he realised that all it would achieve would be a reaction from the authorities and the strengthening of Fat Pete’s resolve. He was even more disturbed when he was shown other plans by the fugitive Amuso and ‘Gas Pipe’ Casso. They presented him with a list of forty-nine people that Gas Pipe wanted killed. What made it worse was that a number of the names on the list were members of the Lucchese Family. When asked why, Casso replied simply that they were ‘creeps’. ‘When I come home,’ he said, ‘I’m going to have a party and invite all the creeps I want to kill. Then I’ll kill them all.’ They talked about bombing Gambino Family boss, John Gotti. These men were seriously losing it, D’Arco thought.
    D’Arco’s failure to kill Peter Chioda had huge implications for his future. Amuso was finally captured in Scranton, Pennsylvania following a feature on him on the television show, America’s Most Wanted . On 18 September, his trial was underway for rigging bids on public works in New York. That day, D’Arco was attending a meeting at the Hotel Kimberly in mid-town Manhattan. He felt a strange atmosphere as he waited for the meeting to start. Everyone was exuding nervous energy and among the other attendees, men he had known and worked with for many years, was one with a distinct bulge under his shirt. Guns were banned at Family meetings, but D’Arco was certain that the bulge was a weapon. The Lucchese Family at that time was an edgy operation where the normal conventions and rules no longer applied.
    The man with the bulge in his shirt went into the toilet in the suite where the meeting was being held. D’Arco watched him carefully when he emerged. The bulge had gone. That meant only one thing – someone else was going to pick up the weapon from the toilet and come after him. He had to somehow get out of that room and find his driver and his car. He made an excuse and slipped downstairs, but they were nowhere to