Frank Tieri (mobster)

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Alphonse Frank Tieri, aka "the Old Man" and "Funzi" (February 22, 1904 - March 31, 1981) was a New York mobster who eventually became a front boss of the Genovese crime family. Tieri was the first mobster to be convicted under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Born in Naples, Italy, Tieri's family immigrated to New York in 1911. Tieri was denied US citizenship twice living as a resident alien in Brooklyn. Compared to some of the more flamboyant and violent Mafia bosses such as John Gotti, Tieri was considered a fairly low-profile and diplomatic mobster. He was convicted of armed robbery when he was aged twenty but otherwise managed to avoid attracting too much attention to himself, living in a modest home in Brooklyn.

In 1972, aged sixty-seven, Tieri became head of the Genovese Family after his predecessor Thomas Eboli was murdered. It is alleged that Carlo Gambino ordered Eboli's murder because he regarded him as a liability and wanted Tieri to take over. However, today, most experts believe that Philip Lombardo had been the family boss since the late sixties and Tieri only replaced Eboli as the new front boss.

Tieri is suspected of ordering the murder of Angelo Bruno, the head of the Philadelphia crime family, so that the Genovese family and their allies in the Gambino crime family could start operations in Atlantic City, where Bruno had previously had jurisdiction. Bruno was shot to death at point-blank range by a shotgun in 1980.

Although Tieri claimed to be an employee of a sportswear manufacturer, federal prosecutors charged Tieri as the head of one of the largest crime families in the US, its illegal activities including extortion, illegal gambling, fraud, narcotics, and murder.

In January 1981, the ailing Tieri was convicted of violating the RICO act and sentenced to ten years imprisonment. Tieri's lawyers argued he was sick, and dying, but prosecutors told judge he was acting, and judge ruled in prosector's favor. On March 31, 1981, only two months after his conviction, Tieri died of natural causes at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York.

[edit] Further reading

  • Capeci, Jerry. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864225-2
  • Jacobs, James B., Christopher Panarella and Jay Worthington. Busting the Mob: The United States Vs. Cosa Nostra. New York: NYU Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8147-4230-0
  • Milhorn, H. Thomas. Crime: Computer Viruses to Twin Towers. Boca Raton, Florida: Universal Publishers, 2005. ISBN 1-58112-489-9
  • Raab, Selwyn. Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. New York: St. Martin Press, 2005. ISBN 0-312-30094-8

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Thomas Eboli		 Genovese Crime Family Boss
1972-1981		 Succeeded by
Philip Lombardo