Ronald Jerothe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ronald "Foxy" Jerothe (born John R. Gerote) (September 8, 1954 - December 18, 1974) was the protege of infamous mafia don John Gotti who was killed in 1974 by psychopathic Lucchese crime family associate Thomas "Two-Gun Tommy" DeSimone over a dispute involving Jerothe's sister.

Little is known other than he was a friend of Gotti and a made-man. At the time of his murder he had been 'skimming' the proceeds of the Gambino family's hijacking operations; this enraged the Gotti brothers, all mafiosi. He was a member of the Bergin Crew, who operated out of John Gotti's club, the Bergen Hunt and Fish Club, in Ozone Park, Queens. Jerothe's primary racket was hijacking.

Jerothe's sister had been dating Tommy DeSimone. Following a break-up, Tommy had assaulted Jerothe's sister, provoking Jerothe to threaten to murder DeSimone. DeSimone heard of the threat and went to visit Foxy. As soon as Jerothe opened the door house, he punched DeSimone between the eyes. DeSimone revealed a .38 caliber pistol and shot Jerothe three times, twice in the head.

Despite the fact that the Gotti brothers were angry over Jerothe's drug skimming, they were willing to exact revenge as a matter of principle because DeSimone had murdered a Gambino member without permission. In addition, DeSimone, in 1970, had killed William 'Billy Batts' DeVino, another made member of the Gambino crime family.

After getting permission from DeSimone's capo, Paul Vario, to murder DeSimone, Gotti dispatched Tommy Agro to kill him. DeSimone was lured to Agro under the pretense of becoming a made-man. On January 14th, 1979 DeSimone disappeared. Agro had murdered him and allegedly thrown his body, weighted down, into the sea. Tommy Agro also murdered his brother Vincent DeSimone and had plans to kill his brother Robert DeSimone.