Tony Fiato

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Anthony Ralph "Tony" Fiato (born August 31, 1949),also called "Tony the Animal", or "Tony Rome", is a former mob enforcer and FBI informant. He enabled the FBI to capture and convict nearly 70 underworld figures. He is known for dating or escorting Denise Brown, and testifying in the O.J. Simpson murder trial.

Fiato grew up in Boston's Hanover Street area. At seventeen, he moved to Hollywood. He rose in rank to enforcer and street boss. He worked with mobsters Anthony Spilotro, John Roselli, Mike Rizzitello, Peter Milano, and Jimmy Fratianno. Fiato's violent life of crime is graphicly depicted in The Animal In Hollywood : Anthony Fiato's Life in the Mafia, by John L. Smith.

When Fiato turned FBI informant, he and his brother Larry Fiato were placed in the federal witness protection program. He provided evidence that resulted in the arrest of some of his best friends and confidants in the mafia. Fiato was involved in the investigation of the murder of actor Frank Cristi. Tony Fiato claimed that Norman Freeberg attempted to hire Fiato on the contract on Cristi's life. Fiato rejected the offer.

Fiato says Denise Brown was his girlfriend, but she said that isn't true. Witnesses and photos show the two together.

In the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Tony and Larry Fiato testified on September 19. They claimed that they heard detective Philip Vannatter say he suspected that O.J. Simpson murdered Nicole Brown, revealing that perhaps Vannatter was not impartial. Judge Ito ordered the press to turn off the television camera and microphones to protect the Fiato brothers from endangerment, if their identities became widely known.

[edit] Further reading

• Hunt, Darnell M. O. J. Simpson Facts and Fictions: News Rituals in the Construction of Reality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. ISBN 0-521-62468-1