It happened on January 4, 1982. According to federal prosecutors, Thomas “Tommy Shots” Gioeli and some Colombo family cronies tried to knock off Joseph Peraino Sr. and Joseph Peraino Jr. on a Gravesend street.
The Perainos were fellow mobsters accused of stealing profits for the mob-financed porn classic Deep Throat.
Apparently the Perainos saw the hit men coming. They fled in the opposite direction, taking shelter on the porch at 431 Lake Street (below), reports a 1999 Village Voice article.
The hit men fired several shots on the porch, killing the younger Peraino and paralyzing his father.
They weren’t the only ones left for dead. A bullet went through the front door and cut down Veronica Zuraw, a 53-year-old ex-nun who lived in the house with her accountant husband.
Zuraw, known as Sister Adelaide when she was part of the Brooklyn Diocese, had been folding laundry when she heard banging on her door.
She was on her way to see what the commotion was when she was struck.
Gioeli adamantly denied killing Zuraw and has never been charged with her death—though a mob informant reportedly said Gioeli feared he was going to hell for murdering an ex-nun.
He stood trial this spring for a host of other crimes, including murder, but was only convicted of racketeering.
Ephemeral New York 