On April 7, 1972, Colombo crime family racketeer Joseph “Crazy Joe” Gallo (below) was gunned down in Little Italy—celebrating his 43rd birthday at Umberto’s Clam House, no less.
His murder had to be avenged. So on August 11, a hit man was hired to take out the four Colombo loyalists behind Gallo’s slaying.
The hit man was told to go to Neapolitan Noodle, at 320 East 79th Street, and that his four targets were sitting at the bar.
The Colombo mobsters had been at the bar—but they got up and went to a table. Four kosher meat sellers who had nothing to do with the mafia took their places, each having a drink while waiting for their wives.
But the hit man didn’t realize this and gunned down the four meat sellers. Two died and two were wounded. No one was ever charged for these accidental, gruesome slayings.
Tags: New York in the 1970s, Crazy Joe Gallo, Umberto's Clam House, Neapolitan Noodle, Joey Gallo, Colombo crime family, mobsters of the 1970s, Manhattan mob wars, Mafia hits in New York City, famous mob hits
March 5, 2010 at 5:23 am |
[...] What happened when Gallo loyalists tried to avenge his murder? Here’s the story of a hit gone very, very wrong. [...]
March 9, 2010 at 2:55 am |
Joey Gallo and his crew ran the redhook section of broolyn for years, and supposedly were part of the crew that hit Albert “The Mad Hatter” Anastasia of famed Murder, inc…quite a legacy.
March 9, 2010 at 2:58 am |
Joey Gallo and his crew ran the redhook section of brooklyn for years, and supposedly were part of the crew that hit Albert “The Mad Hatter” Anastasia of famed Murder, inc…quite a legacy.
October 21, 2010 at 1:50 pm |
Check out never-before-published images of “Crazy Joe” and his gang in the new photo book “New York City Gangland” by Arthur Nash.
Preview it at http://www.NYCGangland.com
November 4, 2010 at 2:57 pm |
Organized crime amongst Italian immigrants was becoming popular on the LES, East Harlem and later South Bronx. One character to draw a lot of attention was Ignazio Saietta a.k.a “Ignazio Lupo” and “Lupo The Wolf” Born on March 19, 1877 in Sicily Ignazio was destined to follow Sicilian traditions and become part of the mafia. He was an avid extortionist and murderer who was eventually recognized as one of the most notorious New York mafia bosses in the early 1900s.
Ignazio fled to America in 1889 after killing a man named Salvatore Morello, who was part of an opposing family. He was only 12 at the time, but was full of ambition and knew his future was looking bright. When he immigrated to the U.S. he continued his mafia career and strived to become a successful New York mob boss. Ignazio became a feared extortionist and gang leader by his late teens and made a name for himself on the lower east side. At the tender age of 20 he attained the “mob boss” title within Little Italy; which was where he and his mafia group based the headquarters of their operations. These included extortion, theft, burglary, the arranging of the Italian lottery, loan-sharking and a countless amount of murders.
Saietta was the suspect of at least 60 murders, and it is thought that he killed many more. However, he was never official caught until 1910, when the Secret Service arrested him for running a counterfeiting ring in the Catskills. He was sentenced to serve thirty years, but was granted parole in 1920