Angelo Sepe
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Angelo 'John' Sepe (January 14, 1941 Brooklyn, New York - July 18, 1979 Bensonhurst, Brooklyn). He is a suspect in the Lufthansa heist. He was murdered in 1984 in his basement apartment.
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[edit] Family Background:
Angelo Sepe's ancestors "Philipe Sepe" and "Josephine Marino" were both villagers from outside Marigliano, in the province of Naples, Campania or from Caserta, Italy. They were married and decided to travel to the U.S.A. and start a new life in America as a married couple. They travelled from Marigliano in the early 1800's by ocean charter to New York City. Upon their arrival Phillipe and Josephine settled in Brooklyn. In Brooklyn they gave birth to their children, "Vincenzo" born c.a. (1871), "Rose" born c.a. (1872), and then had the siblings, "Jack", "Anthony", "Marie" and "Florence." The Sepe family ancestors then split up, some staying in Brooklyn, while others settled in New Jersey.
[edit] Troubled Childhood
Angelo who stood at 5'5 suffered from an inferiority complex which gave him anger management issues. He was a listener of rock and roll and disco which he would play to drown out the words of conversations he held in his Thunderbird after discovering that it had been bugged. Angelo had always lived the life of an outlaw. He was one of the children from the neighborhood who was always in trouble. As he became an adolescent he was invariably identified as a "tough" and brought into the precinct for routine beatings whenever some neighborhood store burglary or assault moved the stationhouse police into action. As he grew older the arbitrary beatings by police stopped, but there was rarely a time in Angelo's life that he was not under some kind of police scrutiny. He was always under suspicion, arrest or indictment for one crime or another. He had been reporting to probation and parole officers since his teens. He had been arrested and questioned so often for so many crimes that he had little fear or mystery about the inside of a precinct squad room. When he was arrested he usually knew the arresting officers. He had the unlisted numbers of his lawyer and bailbondsman committed to memory.
[edit] Portrayals in Film
Angelo Sepe was an associate of the Lucchese crime family after meeting Jimmy Burke while incarcerated in 1972 and a became a participant in the infamous 1978 Lufthansa Heist, following which he and his nineteen year old girlfriend, Joanne Lombardo, distant relative to Chicago Outfit mob boss Joey Lombardo were murdered in the aftermath. Angelo's character is portrayed as "Frankie Carbone" by Frank Sivero and "Johnny Roastbeef" played by Johnny Williams in Goodfellas. His character-wife is Marie Michaels. His character, as portrayed in Goodfellas also shares character traits of Bonanno crime family assasin "Paolo LiCastri" a Palermo drug trafficker who was brought also in on the Lufthansa heist because "Frank Carbone" speaks broken-English-Italian like the zips, as what Polao LiCastri was, by what the Vario Crew and other mobsters refered to them as. In the film The Big Heist he is portrayed as "Angelo J. Sepe" by Robert Morelli. His girlfriend, a distant relative of Chicago Outfit don Joey Lombardo, "Joanna Lombardo" born (1965) from Long Island, New York is played by Nicole Burdette.
[edit] Criminal Involvement
He had an arrest sheet dating from when he was only fourteen years old, for such offences as larceny and burglary. Before the Lufthansa heist, Sepe helped Tommy DeSimone in an attempt to shake-down Martin Krugman by beating one of his employees, Frank Menna. The attempt was unsuccessful and Krugman threatened Jimmy Burke that he would report him to the District Attorney. Angelo was a friend and fellow hitman of Tommy DeSimone. Sepe helped murder Parnell Edwards with Tommy DeSimone and allegedly helped in the murder and at least the first unsuccessful attempt to murder book maker Martin Krugman at Robert's Lounge. Jimmy Burke, who ordered it was convinced by Henry Hill to spare him because of the money Krugman was earning through his bookmaking and loansharking racket. Jimmy Burke and Tommy DeSimone would later follow through with their plan and murder Krugman a short while later.
Shortly before Sepe's dissapearance and suspected murder he bought a 1979 Thunderbird for $15,000 cash. This attracted the attention of the police for his role in the murder. He is also suspected of being involved in helping Jimmy Burke murder his front-man and con-artist Richard Eaton. Before he was murdered he was being charged for having posssesion of a concealed weapon. He never married but had two girlfriends, Hope Barron from Mattituck, New York and Joanna Lombardo. He is suspected of burying his share of the loot in the backyard of Hope Barron's bungalow which they shared at the time.
Sepe was mentored by the infamous hitman and racketeer James Burke, he knew Henry Hill and worked alongside the powerful Capo, Paul Vario. He had a passion for stray animals, including turtles, birds and rabbits and provided a haven for them in his Ozone Park, Queens home. Henry Hill aslo states that Sepe, like Lufthansa heist suspect Louis Cafora was a more severe cocaine addict than himself, indulging in more than Hill's ten-grams-a-day.
Following the Lufthansa Heist it is alleged that he accompanied Tommy DeSimone to the apartment of gofer Stacks Edwards, where Tommy DeSimone fired 6 bullets into the head and chest of Edwards on the orders of Jimmy Burke. He also helped DeSimone murder Martin Krugman, Theressa Ferrara, Paolo LiCastri and supposedly Louis Cafora (and his wife) on the orders of Jimmy Burke including a warehouse foreman with DeSimone.
[edit] Activities Collateral to the Lufthansa Heist
Sepe and "Joanna Lombardo" born c.a. 1965 Long Island, New York were murdered on July 18, 1984 in Sepe's basement apartment on 20th Avenue in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. In the book The Heist it is claimed that a week prior to Sepe's death, Sepe had robbed a connected drug dealer. Two Mafia killers with pistols equipped with silencers came for revenge. Volkman and Cummings say that, “Before he could ask the hoods not to harm his girlfriend, they put three bullets into his head. Then they walked into a tiny sleeping alcove. One of the gunmen put his gun into the open mouth of the sleeping girl and pulled the trigger.” He is one of the suspects in the heist who had outlived the aftermath of the robbery, which included fellow criminal associates, Jimmy Burke (incarcerated and died in prison), Henry Hill (turned states evidence and was relocated), he helped set up the robbery, and Tommy DeSimone who would later be killed by the Gambino crime family in retaliation for killing William Devino in an unrelated situation. Angelo most likely survived the immediate aftermath because he did not agree to cooperate with the FBI, unlike Louis Cafora or threaten Burke like Martin Krugman. After Hill became an informant the FBI had recorded conversations with Sepe and Thomas Stabile under the orders of Jimmy Burke to murder Hill.
[edit] References
Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi
