Patrick Testa
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Patrick 'Patty' Testa (March 11, 1957 – December 2, 1992) was a New York gangster who belonged to the violent DeMeo crew of the Gambino crime family before transferring to the Lucchese Family. He was the brother of imprisoned-for-life Gambino mobster Joseph "Joey" Testa.
[edit] Career
In the early 1970s, Testa and Joe joined Roy DeMeo's crew, which specialized in stolen cars. The crew was also blamed for between 75 to 200 murders, but none were ever linked to Testa. In the early 1980s, Testa was indicted on charges of transporting stolen vehicles across state lines. He pleaded guilty and received only one year in prison during to his youth.
In 1984, Testa and other members of the DeMeo crew were indicted on Federal racketeering charges. In 1985, Patrick entered a guilty plea prior to trial and went to prison for two years. In 1987, after his release, Patrick joined the Lucchese Family. Serving in a crew headed by the fierce reputed Consigliere, Frank "Big Frank" Lastorino, Patrick was close to many members of the crime family's hierarchy; he often ferried messages between them while they were fugitives. Patrick later served as a courier for imprisoned Lucchese boss Vittorio "Vic" Amuso.
[edit] Murder
On December 2, 1992, Patrick Testa was in the garage of his used car lot in Brooklyn when a gunman approached him and fired into his head and back multiple times, killing him. Authorities believed that Testa was murdered by the Gambino crime family in retaliation for a car bombing engineered by the Lucchese leadership that killed Gambino family member Frank DeCicco [1], however, Testa's superiour Frank "Big Frank" Lastorino was mainly suspected to commit the murder on the orders of the family Underboss, Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso, in an attempt to split up the relations between the Lucchese and Gambino crime families. Frank Lastorino was never convicted for Testa's murder.
[edit] Sources
- Murder Machine by Gene Mustain & Jerry Capeci, 1993, ISBN 0-451-40387-8.
- Lucchese Emissary Becomes Mob-War Casualty. (December 3, 1992). The New York Times.
