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116th Street Crew

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116th Street Crew
Founded byMorello crime family [1]
Founding locationUnited States New York City
Years active1890s-present
TerritoryEast Harlem and other various neighborhoods in Upper Manhattan and The Bronx.
EthnicityItalian, Italian-American made men and other ethnicities as "associates"
Membership (est.)Unknown
Criminal activitiesRacketeering, Bookmaking, loansharking, extortion, gambling, conspiracy and Labour Racketeering
AlliesLucchese, Gambino, Bonanno and Colombo crime families.
RivalsVarious gangs.

The 116th Street crew, is a powerful crew within the Genovese crime family.[2] In the early 1960s the crew split into two with some members remaining with the 116th St. Crew while others joined the new Palma Boys (or Salerno crew). The Palma Boys were led by Anthony Salerno and based out of the Palma Boys Social Club located 416 East 115th Street, East Harlem in Manhattan, New York. The original 116th St. crew, remained under control of Capo Saverio Santora operating from East Harlem and The Bronx.

History

The 116th Street Mob

Main article: Morello crime family

In the early 1890s, a group of five brothers (Antonio, Nicholas, Giuseppe and half-brothers Vincenzo and Ciro Terranova) arrived in New York City from Corleone, Sicily.[1] The Morello-Terranova brothers soon started taking over the growing Little Italy in East Harlem, by using the black hand technique of extorting small business and running illegal gambling operations. The group became known as the 116th Street Mob (or Morello gang), with there increasing power the Morello's sought to control the Lower Manhattan's Little Italy. The Little Italy in lower Manhattan was under the control of Ignazio "Lupo the Wolf" Saietta,[3] before a gang war reputed the two sides decided on joining forcing. Giuseppe Morello became the Capo di tutti capi (or boss of bosses), but before long he and Ignazio Saietta were arrested and charged with counterfeiting in 1910.[1][4][5]

Nicholas "Nick Morello" Terranova took over the 116th Street Mob, and became in boiled in the Mafia-Camorra War.[1][6] The War was between the Sicilian Morello-Terranova family and Brooklyn Camorra gangs led by Pellegrino Morano. Each side wanted to completely control all the Italian gangs in New York City and across the United States. On September 7, 1916 Nicholas Terranova was murdered, giving the Camorra gangs the advantage.[1][6] The next leaders of the Morello family were brothers Vincenzo and Ciro Terranova. They continued the war and within month's police began arresting top members of the Camorra gangs.[6] This allowed the Sicilian to maintain dominance and control over New York City and the remaining Camorra gangs joined forces with Sicilian gangs.[6] Vincent continued operating from Brooklyn and Ciro continued expanding his operations in East Harlem and The Bronx.[1][4][6]

The Artichoke King

Ciro "The Artichoke King" Terranova controlled the 116th Street Crew during the prohibition era.

Coppola's policy racket

Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola, was a top lieutenant in the 116th Street crew of Ciro Terranova. He took over the crew sometime between 1932 and 1936, Terranova was being "put on the shelf" (meaning forced into retirement) by the new Luciano-Genovese-Costello regime of the Luciano crime family. Coppola was also supervising the illegal number racket that was once controlled by Dutch Schultz before his murder. The number racket controlled bookmaking and illegal gambling throughout Harlem and South Bronx making thousands of dollars a year.

When boss Vito Genovese was imprisoned in the late 1950s, various influential members began running the crime family through a ruling panel/committee. The panel consisted of acting/front boss Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli, underboss Gerardo "Gerry" Catena and consigliere Michele "Big Mike" Miranda while others served in the advisory capacity, Mike Coppola was considered an influential capo and was used to help the panel. In the early 1960s Mike Coppola was imprisoned on tax evasion charges and followed in the footsteps of his predecessor Ciro Terranova, being put on the shelf after his release from prison in 1963. Coppola later moved to South Florida and effectively retired. His crew after his demotion split, with his vast illegal interests being divided between Anthony Salerno and Saverio Santora.

Palma Boys crew

Anthony Salerno

Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno, started as a soldier in the 1930s under capo, Michael Coppola. As years went by Salerno work his way up the ranks of the crew and the crime family, controlling his own lucrative gambling and loansharking operations. In the early 1960s his capo Coppola was imprisoned on tax evasion charges and demoted of his rank. The crew then split, allowing Coppola's top lieutenants to break up his vast illegal interests that included his numbers empire. Salerno effectively broke away from the 116th Street Crew forming the Palma Boys Social Club Crew located at 416 East 115th Street in East Harlem.

Anthony Salerno, and his brother Cirino (known as "Charles" or "Charlie Speed") led this new crew, but stayed closely aligned to the remaining 116th Street members that also operated in East Harlem. He was usually found sitting out front on patio furniture smoking his ever-present cigar holding meetings with underlings or in the kitchen cooking some Italian dish for the boys. The Salerno brothers oversaw a multi-million dollar gambling racket based in East Harlem that expanded into the South Bronx. Tony Salerno's gambling empire included numbers, bookmaking and floating dice games. Even when the East Harlem neighborhood went from a predominately Italian to a predominately Black neighborhood Salerno managed to hold onto their interests and employ over 200 people in their street rackets.

Anthony Salerno was a highly respected and feared gangster and well known New York Mafia powerhouse who continued to rise through the ranks of the Genovese crime family becoming consigliere from 1972-75, underboss in 1975 and eventually the acting–front boss from 1981-86. In the late 1970s the FBI managed to place a bug (or listening device) in his East Harlem headquarters of the Palma Boys Social club. By the early 1980s Salerno had been caught on the bug discussing crime family affairs and business with various members, including top underlings such as capo Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello, Salerno driver and right-hand-man Vincent "Fish" Cafaro and even Lucchese crime family boss Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo, whose own Jaguar, where Corallo conducted much of his affairs had also been bugged. In February 1985 the information obtained through the FBI bug was used to eventually indict Salerno and the bosses of New York's Five Families, who sat on The Commission. The Mafia Commission Trail began in September 1986 and ended in November. Tony Salerno, along with five other New York bosses were convicted under the RICO statute and sentenced to 100 years in prison in January 1987.

The two crew's merge

By the 1990s, with Salerno having been imprisoned and dying on July 27, 1992, the East Harlem-based Palma Boys Crew which Tony Salerno led for over 25 years was once again merged with the remnants of the old East Harlem–116th St. crew once led by Terranova and Coppola. The influential 116th St. crew is now led by powerful Genovese crime family caporegime Liborio "Barney" Bellomo, who is currently in prison, but various acting leaders such as Frank "Farby" Serpico and Ernest "Ernie" Muscarella. This crew based in East Harlem and the South Bronx has become a powerful force within the Genovese crime family and for just over a decade, from 1991 to 2002 its leaders were part of a ruling panel/committee used to run the crime family. The crew leaders were promoted to acting bosses or street bosses for imprisoned boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante, who died of natural causes in December 2005, while still in prison. The crew still continues to carry a great deal of influence over various rackets such as numbers, bookmaking, loansharking, extortion, and union and labor racketeering in New York's underworld, bringing in millions of dollars in illegal profits for the Genovese crime family.

Historical leadership of the 116th Street Crew

Capos of the 116th Steet Crew

  • 1893–1909 – Giuseppe "the clutch hand" Morello (Capo di tutti capi from 1898-1909 until he was imprisoned on counterfeiting charges)
  • 1910–1916 — Nicholas "Nick Morello" Terranova (killed in Mafia-Camorra war on September 7, 1916)
  • 1916–1935 – Ciro "The Artichoke King" Terranova (controlled the artichoke racket; he retires in 1935, later dies in 1938)
  • 1935–1962 – Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola (controlled "numbers racket", imprisoned in 1962 and demoted, later dies in 1966)
  • 1962 – The Crew Splits into two ("116th Street Crew" and the new "Salerno Crew")
  • 1962–1981 – Saverio "Sammy" Santora (promoted to Underboss in 1981-1986; died in 1987)
  • 1982–present – Liborio "Barney" Bellomo (moved the 116th street crew's base into East Bronx; served as Acting Boss 1990-1992 then promoted to Street Boss 1992-present; imprisoned 1997-2008)[7]
    • Acting 1992–1998 – Ralph Coppola (murdered in 1998)[7]
    • Acting 1998–2002 – Frank "Farby" Serpico (acting street boss 1998-2002; died in 2002 of natural causes)[8][9]
    • Acting 2002–2003 – Ernest "Ernie" Muscarella (acting street boss 2002-2003; imprisoned 2003-2008)[10]
    • Acting 2003–2004 – Louis Moscatiello (imprisoned; deceased)[11]
    • Acting 2004–2008 – Arthur "Artie" Nigro (imprisoned projected release date 2-28-2011)[7][12][13][14]

Capos of the Salerno Crew

  • 1962–1987 – Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno (served as Consigliere 1972-1975; Underboss 1975-1980; Front Boss 1981-1987; jailed in 1987 in the Mafia Commission Trail and died on July 27, 1992)[2]
    • Lieutenant 1960s–1970s – Cirino "Charlie Speed" Salerno (Anthony Salerno's brother)
  • 1972–1974 – Antonio "Buckaloo" Ferro (promoted to Consigliere from 1975-1978, then retires)[2]
  • 1974 – Merged back into the 116th Street Crew – under capo Saverio "Sammy" Santora[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f GangRule.com - The Morello Gang: Early Years (1900-1910)
  2. ^ a b c d e Declaration of Vincent Cafaro 8-28-1990. Laborers for Justice 1997-2006.
  3. ^ Herbert Asbury. The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld. Alfred A. Knopf, 1928.
  4. ^ a b David Critchley. The Origin of Organized Crime: The New York City Mafia, 1891-931. New York, Routledge, 2008.
  5. ^ Mike Dash. The First Family: Terror, Extortion and the Birth of the American Mafia. London, Simon & Schuster, 2009.
  6. ^ a b c d e GangRule.com - The Struggle for Control 1910–1918.
  7. ^ a b c Lukas I. Alpert. Mafia takes a big hit-jailed Don 1 of 32 nailed by Feds. February 24, 2006. New York Post.[1]
  8. ^ Greg B. Smith. Genovese family keeps its chin up Gigante becomes top don as Gotti fades. August 12, 2001. New York Daily News.
  9. ^ Mike Claffey. Snitch Stole 3 years of Mob secrets. January 28, 2002. New York Daily News.
  10. ^ Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator - Ernest Muscarella
  11. ^ Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator - Louis Moscatiello
  12. ^ Bruce Golding. Genovese Mob boss indicted on racketeering charges. February 17, 2010. New York Post. [2]
  13. ^ Reputed Genovese boss Arillotta Turncoat status solidified. May 9, 2010. Mafia News Today.
  14. ^ Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator – Arthur Frank Nigro
  • Sifakis, Carl. The Mafia Encyclopedia:Second Edition. Checkmark Books, 1999.
  • Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianopolis, Alpha, 2002.
  • Raab, Selwyn. The Five Families. New York, St. Martins Press, 2005.
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