Michael Sabella

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Michael "Mimi" Sabella was a former Bonanno crime family caporegime of the Bonanno crime family and is a relative of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania mob boss Salvatore Sabella.

1 Early years
2 Restaurant in Little Italy
3 Confrontation with Johnny Roselli
4 Later years
5 References
6 External links

[edit] Early years

Born in Little Italy, Manhattan to a Sicilian emigrant James Sabella who was a sidewalk soldier for the Colombo crime family while it was under the rule of Joseph Magliocco. His father became notorious as one of the mobsters that were implicated and sent to prison for drug trafficking by the testimony of mobster turncoat Joseph Valachi in 1959. Michael Sabella became a soldier for the Bonanno family serving under boss Joseph Bonanno. He was involved in gambling and loansharking during the 1950s. After Bonanno retired, Sabella was promoted to caporegime under the new boss Carmine Galante. Sabella worked closely with Nicholas Marangello, Galante's consigliere.

[edit] Restaurant in Little Italy

In 1979, Sabella became the owner of Casa Bella, an upscale restaurant in Little Italy, Manhattan. The name means "Beautiful House" in Spanish and Italian. The name has a double meaning, as Ca' Sabella also means "Here's Sabella."^[1] During the annual San Gennaro feasts he would close his restaurant to the public because he hated tourists.^{[citation needed]}.

[edit] Confrontation with Johnny Roselli

During the 1977 San Gennaro feast, Italian crooner Jimmy Roselli parked his Cadillac in front of Casa Bella and started selling his records out of the car trunk to festival goers. When Sabella saw this, he was outraged. He went outside and told Roselli, "Put the f**king trunk down because you're f**king embarrassing me by trying to sell your own f**king records here on the street!" Roselli immediately closed the trunk and drove off.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Later years

After the murder of Galante in 1979, Sabella was replaced as capo by former protegee Dominick "Sonny Black" Napolitano and demoted to the rank of soldier. Sabella remained a low level figure throughout the 1980s, possibly because of his close association with Galante. In the early 1990's, Sabella and Marangello were both sentenced to five years in prison for gambling and violating RICO statutes. Sabella was released from prison and reportedly retired from organized crime.