Louis DeSorbo
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Louis "Big Louie" DeSorbo (March 9, 1939-April 3, 2003) was a New York mobster associated with the Genovese crime family who specialized in labor racketeering.
DeSorbo's most profitable schemes involved labor racketeering. For several decades, it is believed that every major construction project in New York City was controlled by the one of the five mob families. Mobsters paid off or threatened union leaders to receive payment cut whenever a union group got a construction job. Mobsters often infiltrated the union leadership. Once the Cosa Nostra controlled a union, it could control an entire industry. DeSorbo could force workers to slow or halt construction projects if contractors or developers didn't make the right payoffs. DeSorbo also had access to huge union pension funds.
DeSorbo was best known for his brother-in-law, John Matarazzo, one of Upstate New York's best known gangsters. DeSorbo reportedly worked in illegal gambling with Matarazzo, Dick DeVito, and his oldest son, Dino "Combo" DeSorbo.
Louis DeSorbo died on April 3, 2003.