Hugh MacIntosh

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Hugh "Apples" MacIntosh (or McIntosh) (1927 - 6 November 1997) was a close associate of Colombo crime family boss Carmine Persico.

Due to his father being Scottish and not Italian, MacIntosh was never brought into the Mafia as a made man, but in his work as driver, bodyguard and enforcer for Persico, and also due to his enormous stature (he wore a size 52-inch suit), he commanded a great deal of respect from the Cosa Nostra members he worked alongside.

In July 1963, MacIntosh was almost a victim of the Gallo-Profaci War that threatened to tear the Colombo family apart during the 1960s, when he was ambushed and wounded by Joey Gallo's men but managed to escape. His resilience was demonstrated on numerous occasions throughout his life - he once apparently drove himself to Coney Island Hospital while suffering from a gunshot wound to the groin. He was imprisoned for six years in 1969, for hijacking.

The RICO trials of the 1980s put paid to the criminal activities of a number of Mafia men, including MacIntosh. Along with Persico and his son Alphonse, Gennaro "Gerry Lang" Langella, Andrew Russo and others, MacIntosh faced up against racketeering and related charges in 1985. MacIntosh's lawyers attempted to argue his case in a different way to his co-accused, but a convoluted defence involving plea bargaining and attempted use of the double jeopardy laws proved fruitless - MacIntosh was imprisoned for nine years, in a case centred around the bribery of an undercover Special Agent of the Internal Revenue Service, Richard Annicharico.

MacIntosh was paroled in December 1992. He suffered numerous health problems during the 1990s and apparently eschewed the criminal lifestyle, but was sent back to prison in September 1997 for breaking the terms of his release by meeting with Carmine Persico's nephew Daniel. Two months later, McIntosh died of natural causes at a Springfield, Missouri hospital, on Thursday 6 November, 1997.