Vincent DiNapoli
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Vincent DiNapoli grew up in East Harlem during the 1930s. DiNapoli was originally associated with the Lucchese crime family until he became an associate of Genovese crime family soldier Vincent Cafaro, who was known as "Fish", and was Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno's top lieutenant.
Sometime in the late 1970s, Cafaro sponsored DiNapoli for membership in the family, and thereafter, DiNapoli was placed in Saverio Santora's 116th Street Crew. From the late 1970s, DiNapoli had managed the Genovese family's interests in the NYC District Council of Carpenters. Eventually, DiNapoli was promoted to captain and became the single most powerful racketeer in the New York construction industry. DiNapoli and Genovese soldier Louis Moscatiello formed Local 530 of the Operative Plasterers & Cement Masons International Association, which promptly asserted union jurisdiction over all drywall work, enabling the Genovese family to extort contractors and to enable DiNapoli controlled companies to avoid using the AFL-CIO associasted tapers union.
DiNapoli was often seen by federal investigators meeting with Salerno and other top representatives of the Genovese, Gambino, Lucchese and Colombo crime families at the Palma Boys Social Club in East Harlem. In 1981, Vincent DiNapoli, his brother Louis, a Genovese family soldier and District Council of Carpenters President Teddy Maritas, were indicted on labor racketeering and extortion charges. In 1982, Maritas disappeared before facing trial. After Cafaro became a cooperating witness, he explained in a written declaration that DiNapoli was worried that Maritas might cooperate with law enforcement and received approval from the Genovese hierarchy to make Maritas disappear. Later that year, DiNapoli pleaded guilty to lesser charges and was sent to prison. While in prison, his union rackets were managed by his brother Louis and Louis Moscatiello.
DiNapoli became close with the next District Council President, Paschal McGuinness, and together the two men were able to continue to enforce a mob tax on all drywall construction in New York City. DiNapoli also controlled Carpenters Local 257 through his associates Attilio Bitondo and Eugene Hanley, who were the respective Vice-President and President of the local, and used their positions to extort contractors operating on the East Side of Manhattan.
DiNapoli would again be convicted and sentenced to prison, and his interests in the District Council would be absorbed by a close associate and former soldier in the 116th Street Crew, Liborio Bellomo. DiNapoli's son, Vincent DiNapoli, Jr., would also become a made member of the Genovese family in Bellomo's crew and would become involved in union rackets in Manhattan and the Bronx. DiNapoli, Jr. would also serve at times in an acting captain capacity with the imprisonment of Bellomo, Moscatiello, and other leading Genovese figures in the Harlem/Bronx crew. Also, DiNapoli's other brother Joseph DiNapoli is a powerful captain in the Lucchese crime family, and is suspected of running the family's day-to-day operations serving on a 3 man panel, which also includes Matthew Madonna and Aniello Migliore.
[edit] Further reading
- Goldstock, Ronald, Martin Marcus and II Thacher. Corruption and Racketeering in the New York City Construction Industry: Final Report of the New York State Organized Crime Task Force. New York: NYU Press, 1990. ISBN 0-8147-3034-5
- Jacobs, James B., Coleen Friel and Robert Radick. Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime. New York: NYU Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8147-4247-5
- 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
- United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi: Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. 1988. [1]
- United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Labor Violence and the Hobbs Act: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary. 1984. [2]
