Alphonse Indelicato

Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato (born February 25, 1931 in New York City , † May 5, 1981 ) was a mobster of the New York mafia family Bonanno and held the position of a capo . He became known to a large public through the work of the undercover agent Joseph Pistone alias Donnie Brasco. He was murdered in 1981 as part of a power struggle within the family.

Life

family

Indelicato's family came from Sicily , in the province of Agrigento . He was the father-in-law of Bonanno associate Salvatore Valenti and the ex- son-in-law of Bonanno-Capo Charles Ruvolo. Indelicato was related to Gerald Thomas Indelicato, an adviser to Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, and Giuseppe Indelicato, a heroin dealer. Indelicato's first marriage was to Ruvolo's daughter, with whom he had his son Anthony "Bruno" Indelicato . Indelicato later married Margaret Elizabeth McFhadden, but the two later became estranged. Indelicato introduced his son to organized crime from a young age . Father and son worked together in the Bonanno family.

Habitus

Born in New York City's Little Italy , ( Manhattan ) neighborhood , he was a stocky man with broad shoulders and dark hair. On his left arm he had a tattoo of two hearts and a dagger and a second tattoo: "Holland 1945." The meaning of the second tattoo is unclear. He preferred light, garish casual clothes, orange T-shirts, bright red shorts, baseball jackets, striped tracksuits, multi-colored socks, and blue jeans.

Indelicato was especially fond of a pair of bespoke red leather cowboy boots that are believed to be the reason for his nickname "Sonny Red". Other gangsters described Indelicato as opinionated, charismatic, and cocky. Indelicato was a violent man, he once struck an ice pick through the chest of a victim and nailed the body to the floor so that a jack had to be used to remove it.

Career

In 1950, Indelicato was convicted in New York of possessing heroin and served six months in prison. On December 26, 1951, Indelicato took part in a shootout in a social club in which one person was killed and others injured. Indelicato later identified the wounded victim as the shooter. Indelicato was convicted of murder and attempted murder and was sentenced to 12 years serving in Sing Sing State Prison . In 1966, Indelicato was released from prison and given life probation.

Over the next 15 years, Indelicato built a strong power base in the Bonanno family. He gathered men around him who were dissatisfied with the boss Philip Rastelli. This had murdered the Bonanno boss Carmine Galante in 1979 , as he had tried to expand his sphere of influence, which caused the resentment of the other New York families . His murder left a power vacuum in the family.

Indelicato could count on the support of at least four bonanno capos. Indelicato stood in opposition to the Capos Joseph Massino and Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano .

Indelicato had built a solid power base to take power in the family. He also developed good relationships with the other Five Families of New York, including high-ranking members of the Colombo family . Indelicato and his rivals in the Bonanno family had benefited from their association with Montreal heroin dealers . In late 1980 or 1981, Indelicato allegedly received $ 1,500,000 worth of heroin from Gerlando Sciascia and Joseph LoPresti. At the time of his murder, Indelicato was under observation for his alleged role in the killing of Colombo capo Joey Gallo (1972).

The three capos murder

After Philip Rastelli took power in the family and became boss in 1979, the family was split into two factions: those born in the USA on the one hand and the Sicilian immigrants (Zips) on the other, who rallied around Alphonse Indelicato . On May 5, 1981, the three rebel capos of the Zips faction, Indelicato, Philip Giaccone and Dominick Trinchera , were lured into a trap in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn and murdered. That put down the rebellion. Indelicato's son Anthony "Bruno" Indelicato had also been invited, but he stayed away from the meeting.

According to Pistone, the murderers responsible were: Dominic Napolitano, John Cersani , Joe Massino, Salvatore Vitale , Joseph DeSimone, Nicholas Santora , Vito Rizzuto , Louis Giongetti, Santo Giordano and Gerlando Sciascia . Ruggiero and Cersani were greasy and were responsible for the body removal along with Napolitano, James Episcopia and Robert Capazzio.

Indelicato is said to have had a premonition and advised some of his men to stay away from the meeting. They are said to have spread across Indelicato's Staten Island territory on the day of the murder .

estate

19 days after the murders, children playing found body parts in a dump of rubbish in Ozone Park , Queens . Indelicato could be identified using fingerprints. Giaccone and Trinchera were not found until 2004.

In 2004, informant Sal Vitale stated that Massino had commissioned several murders; including the three capos murder . His son, who initially fled the Bonnanos to Florida, was later pardoned and later even became a capo of the family.

Adaptations

Indelicato was portrayed as Sonny Red in the film Donnie Brasco directed by Robert Miano . The three capos murder is shown in a slightly different way. Unlike in the film, it took place in a restaurant and not in the basement of a private house.

literature

• Pistone, Joseph: Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia , Random House Value Publishing (February 1990) ISBN 5-552-53129-9
• Crittle, Simon, The Last Godfather: The Rise and Fall of Joey Massino Berkley (March 7, 2006) ISBN 0-425-20939-3
• Pistone, Joseph D .; & Brandt, Charles (2007). Donnie Brasco: Unfinished Business , Running Press. ISBN 0-7624-2707-8 .
• DeStefano, Anthony. The Last Godfather: Joey Massino & the Fall of the Bonanno Crime Family . California: Citadel, 2006.
• Raab, Selwyn. Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires . New York: St. Martin Press, 2005. ISBN 0-312-30094-8

Individual evidence

1. ↑ James B. Jacobs: Mobsters, unions, and feds: the Mafia and the American labor movement . NYU Press, 2006, ISBN 0-8147-4273-4 , p. 38 ( preview on Google Books )
2. ^ Remains of Mafia captains identified . In: CNN , December 22, 2004. Retrieved August 20, 2012. "The New York Medical Examiner's Office has identified the skeletons of Philip" Phil Lucky "Giaccone and Dominick" Big Trin "Trinchera, two Mafia figures believed to be the victims of a gangland shooting more than 20 years ago, FBI officials said Tuesday. ... "