1995 in organized crime

Events

March 16 - The New York State Senate began hearings investigating the presence of organized crime at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan. In 1994, former federal judge Kenneth Conboy supervised an investigation of the New York City District Council of Carpenters that revealed that Local 257 shop steward Anthony Fiorino was an associate of the Genovese Family and the brother-in-law of acting boss Liborio Bellomo, and that Local 257's former leaders Attilio Bitondo and Eugene Hanley were associates of captain Vincent DiNapoli.

Earlier in the month, IBT Local 807, which had jurisdiction over loading and unloading at the center, was placed under federal trusteeship after prosecutors alleged that the Local had been infiltrated by members of the Genovese, Gambino and Bonanno Families, and the Local’s leaders were extorting companies at the Center. The prosecutors pointed out that Local 807 official Michael Rabbitt had made Bonanno crime family soldier Armando Rea a business agent and threatened Colombo crime family captain Salvatore Miciotta with a work stoppage if he didn't pay bribes. Eventually, newly installed IBT President Ron Carey with the approval of George Pataki ousted Local 807's boss Robert Rabbit, Sr., a Genovese associate and convicted murderer, as well as his son Michael. The investigation likely spelled the end for organized crime dominance at the Javits Center.

March 18 - Lucchese crime family captain Joseph DiNapoli and his brother Louis, a Genovese crime family soldier, were indicted for using phony minority-owned firms to gain control of the city's asbestos-carting industry and win $ 5 million in city contracts.
April 13 - Gambino crime family associate Norman DuPont, the former manager of the Ravenite Social Club, was charged with murdering car service dispatcher Harmon Fuchs, to send a message to a mob rival that owed him a debt. DuPont would be convicted and sentenced to life in prison after former cohorts Anthony "Tony Nose" Persichetti and Guy Zappulla testified against him.
June 22 - Gambino crime family soldier Joseph Francolino who owned Duffy Carting and controlled the Association of Trade Waste Removers of Greater New York in Manhattan and the Queens County Trade Waste Association in Brooklyn, and Genovese crime family captain Alphonse Malangone, who controlled the Kings County Trade Waste Association and the Greater New York Waste Paper Association, were indicted for overseeing a mob cartel in the carting business. The two men would later be convicted and sentenced to serve time in the New York State Prison system.
June 24 - Sicilian mafioso and hitman, Leoluca Bagarella, is arrested and convicted of multiple murder and subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment.
August 3 - Cleveland crime family associate Chester "Zip" Liberatore was convicted of labor racketeering as business manager of Laborers Local 310 in violation of the Taft-Hartley Act. Both Liberatore’s father and uncle were made members of the Cleveland LCN family, and his uncle Anthony was sentenced to 10 years in 1993 for labor racketeering involving his control of Laborers Local 860.
August 16 - Patriarca crime family boss Francis "Cadillac Frank" Salemme was arrested in a Florida hideout for racketeering, extortion, loansharking, money laundering and gambling. Salemme would eventually turn informant and put many of the Patriarca Family’s most powerful members behind bars.
September 1 - The wife of Nitto Santapaola, Carmela Minniti, is killed by a hit team posing as policemen. They called at her house, pushed past her daughter and shot her dead. "She ran his affairs," said Liliana Madeo, author of a book on the Mafia's new women. "If she was just a little woman, she wouldn't have been killed." Santapaola’s rival Giuseppe Ferone (who had become a pentito) was one of the killers. Nitto Santapaola forgave his wife's killer in a letter he publicly red in court. Ferone’s son and father had been killed on the orders of Santapaola.
September 9-13 - Gambino crime family soldier/acting captain Joseph Corozzo pleaded guilty to running an illegal gambling operation and defrauding Bally Gaming, Inc. of Louisiana, out of money. Joseph Marcello, Jr., brother of former boss Carlos Marcello, also pleaded guilty. Pleading guilty later on would be Marcello Family boss Anthony Carollo, underboss Frank Gagliano and his son Joseph. The illegal Louisiana operation involved members of the Gambino, Genovese and Marcello crime families.
September 8 - Colombo crime family captain Thomas Petrizzo, soldier John Orena and associates Kenneth Paskewicz and James McNeil, the president of IBT Local 707, were indicted for conspiring to defraud the Long Island union of more than $1.5 million.
September 11-13 - Three psychiatrists declare that Genovese Family boss Vincent Gigante was unfit to stand trial. Gigante was facing two separate indictments in federal court in Brooklyn, a 1993 indictment charging that he conspired to kill eight mobsters and plotted the murders of two others, including John Gotti, and a 1990 indictment stemming from his involvement in the infamous Windows Scam.
November 21 - Philadelphia crime family boss [John Stanfa]] was convicted of racketeering charges, including conspiring to kill rival Gaeton Lucibello. Stanfa had been the chauffeur of former boss Angelo Bruno, and was slightly injured when gunmen killed Bruno with shotgun blasts while sitting in his car. Stanfa had the backing of the Gambino and Genovese Families in his war against rival Joseph Merlino. Stanfa’s successor was Ralph Natale and Natale’s underboss would be Joseph Merlino.
November 22 - Authorities concluded that Colombo crime family associate Frank O'Hehir committed suicide dying from a gun shot wound to the head while sitting atop his mother's grave in St. John's Cemetery in Queens. O'Hehir had recently pleaded guilty to selling guns for the Colombos.

Arts and literature

American Tabloid (novel) by James Ellroy
Excellent Cadavers (non-fiction book) by Alexander Stille
Casino (film) [1] starring Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Sharon Stone
Tough Guy: The True Story of "Crazy" Eddie Maloney (autobiography) by Eddie Maloney
The Usual Suspects (film) [2] starring Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey, Chazz Palminteri and Pete Postlethwaite

Births

Deaths

Joseph Schiro-Scarpa, New York drug dealer affiliated with the Colombo LCN Family and son of mobster of Gregory "The Grim Reaper" Scarpa, Sr.
Louis Raucci, Pittsburgh mobster involved in drug trafficking
Joseph Zingaro, Gambino crime family capo
William Camissano "Willie The Rat", Kansas City mobster
Dominic Musitano, Toronto mobster
Albert "Caesar" Tocco ,Chicago mobster and one time chop shop King of theChicago Outfit
Louis Grecco, Patriacra crime family associate
Frank Salemme, Jr., Patriarca crime family soldier and son of crime boss "Cadillac" Frank Salemme
Conrad Bouchard, Montreal mobster
September 1 - Joseph N. Gallo, Gambino crime family consigliere
November 22 - Frank O'Hehir, Colombo crime family associate
November 24 - Benjamin "Lefty Guns" Ruggiero, Bonanno crime family member