Dominick Trinchera

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Dominick Trinchera a.k.a. Big Trin (December 20, 1936 - May 5, 1981) was a Bonanno crime family capo who was murdered with Alphonse Indelicato and Phillip Giacconefor planning the overthrow of aspiring Bonanno boss Phillip Rastelli.

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[edit] Biography

Born in Rockland, New York, Trinchera was the son of an immigrant from Rome, Italy and an American woman from Upstate New York. A "monster of a man" who weighed 350 pounds, Trichera eventually was married and fathered several children, including a daughter Laura. During his early years with the Bonanno family, Trinchea was ineligible for full membership because he was only half Italian. However, faced with a shrinking pool of mob candidates, the New York Five Families decided in the 1970s that only the father had to be of Italian descent. It is unknown when Trinchera actually became a made man. Trichera controlled businesses in New Jersey, Brooklyn and Queens. He also owned a legitimate transport truck shipping firm which he sold in 1981, several weeks before his death, for $2.5 million.

On July 12, 1979 Trinchera, Giaccone, and Indelicato murdered Bonanno acting boss Carmine Galante at an Italian-American restaurant in Bushwick, Brooklyn along with his bodyguard and restaurant owner. It is suspected that the heads of the other New York families arranged Galante's death; they supposedly viewed Galante's greed and ambition as a threat to all their interests. After the Galante murder, a fight for control of the family started. On one side was mobster Rastelli, on the other side were capos Trichera, Giaconne, and Indelicato. In May 1981, Rastelli ordered mobster mobster Donnie Brasco, who was actually undercover FBI agentJoseph Pistone, to murder Trichera in Miami, Florida. However, the contract was called off; Rastelli loyalist Dominick Napolitano wanted to kill Trinchera, Giaccone, and Indelicato at the same time so as to destroy the opposition to Rastelli.

[edit] The Three Capos Murder

On May 5, 1981 Trinchera, Indelicato, Giaccone, and Bonanno mobster Frank Lino went to a peace meeting with the Rastelli faction at the 20/20 Night Club in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. Bonanno mobster Gerlando Sciascia met the men at the club and escorted them to a store room where Joseph Massino and other Bonanno gunmen were waiting to ambush them. As the men entered the room, Sciasca brushed his hand through his hair, giving Massino the prearranged signal. The gunmen rushed out and told the mobsters that it was a "stick up". As the guns were drawn, Sciascia, who had been walking arm and arm with Trinchera (a sign of mob civility), punched the massive capo. Trinchera then charged at the gunmen screaming, but took a shotgun blast to the torso and crumpled dead to the floor. Lino leapt over Trinchera' body, ran past mobster Salvatore Vitale at the front door,and fled the nightclub.

Mobster Benjamin Ruggiero later described the disposal of Trinchera's body; "I couldn't move him. But Boobie could, referring to Bonanno street soldier John Cersani. According to Ruggiero, there ...were little pieces of him lying around from the shotgun (blast). Boobie got blood all over him trying to pick him up... They cut him up and put him in green plastic garbage bags. I never saw anything like that in my life Donnie. Big Trin, was so huge. When that shotgun blast hit him, about fifty pounds of his stomach just went flying."

Trinchera's body was moved out the club front door into a Ford Econoline van and driven to a lot in Lindenwood, Queens, where Gambino crime family mobsters John Gotti and Gene Gotti arranged the burial. In December 2004, after some children discovered a body in the Lindenwood lot, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents (FBI) excavated the property and discovered the bodies of the three capos.

[edit] Justice for the Trinchera Family

In June 2005 Massino pleaded guilty in the Trinchera murder and was sentenced to life imprisonment. Before pronouncing the sentence, Judge Garaufis made these remarks, "The activities, rituals and personalities of the world of organized crime have been deeply romanticized in the popular media over the past 30 years. However, this trial, like so many trials before it, has portrayed the true nature of organized crime." The judge also read a letter by Laura Trinchera: "As for Mr. Massino, he had the opportunity to see his family grow.He took that away from us." When the verdicts were read, some Trichera family members clapped. "I'm happy I was here to support his mandatory life sentence," said Donna Trinchera. "I think he's a disgrace."

[edit] In popular culture

Trinchera was portrayed by George Angelica in the 1997 film Donnie Brasco (film).

[edit] References

  • Pistone, Joseph D. and Woodley,Richard Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia Signet (January 3, 1989)ISBN 0451157494
  • Crittle, Simon, The Last Godfather: The Rise and Fall of Joey Massino Berkley (March 7, 2006) ISBN 0425209393
  • "Booby's Folly" Gangland News Online Column January 19th, 1998 by Jerry Capeci
  • US Social Security Death Index

[edit] External links