Dominick Petrilli
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Dominick "The Gap" Petrilli (d. December 9, 1953) was a New York mobster who participated in the infamous mob hit on boss Joe ""The Boss" Messeria during the Castellammarese War. Petrilli was also an early associate of mobster/government witness Joe Valachi.
Petrilli got his nickname "The Gap" after losing two front teeth knocked out in a childhood fight. Petrilli first met Valachi in Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. Once both men were released, Petrilli reportedly sponsored Valachi for membership in Gaetano Reina's criminal organization. During the 1920's, Reina was allied with Masseria, a powerful and ambitious New York gang lord. When Reina began exploring different alliances, Massseria murdered him and installed a loyalist, Joseph Pinzolo, as boss of Reina's gang. Pinzola's appointment inflamed the Reina gang and on September 5, 1930, Petrilli murdered Pinzolla. As a result of these actions, New York was plunged into the Castellammarese War. In 1931, Petrilli and Valachi, now aligned with Castellammarese leader Salvatore Maranzano and mobster Charles "Lucky" Luciano, murdered Messaria, ending the war. At this point, Petrilli became part of the new Luciano crime family, the predecessor to the modern Genovese crime family.
In 1942, Petrilli was arrested in Tucson, Arizona on narcotics charges and sentenced to five years imprisonment. Petrilli would inform on several organized crime figures and associates shortly before being deported to his native Italy by federal authorities. In 1953, after illegally reentering the U.S, Dominick Petrilli was murdered in a bar in the Bronx by three gunmen.
