| Alphonse D'Arco | |
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FBI surveillance photo |
Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco (July 28, 1932), also known as "The Professor", is a New York mobster who became the acting boss of Lucchese crime family. He was the first boss, acting or otherwise, of a New York crime family to become a government witness.
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Born in Brooklyn, New York, D'Arco grew up near the Brooklyn Navy Yard and attended a Catholic grammar school. D'Arco's criminal career started at age 14, when he beat another boy with brass knuckles. At age 15, he dropped out of high school.[1] In 1951, during the Korean War, D'Arco served two years as a volunteer in the U.S. Army. After an honorable discharge from the army, D'Arco returned to Brooklyn and got married. He and his wife had five children.[2] One of his sons, Joseph D'Arco, became a member of the Lucchese family.[3]
D'Arco became a Lucchese associate during the 1950s when the family was led by boss Tommy Lucchese. In 1959, D'Arco met future Lucchese boss Victor Amuso. In the 1960s, D'Arco was convicted on drug-related charges and spent several years in prison. After his release, D'Arco returned to the Lucchese family, which was then run by boss Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corralo. On August 23, 1982, D'Arco became a made man in the Lucchese family and a soldier in the Brooklyn-based crew of caporegime Paul Vario.[4]
In the 1980's, D'Arco opened an Italian restaurant, La Donna Rosa, in Little Italy, Manhattan. It would serve as a frequent Lucchese meeting place.[3]
D'Arco became involved in bookmaking, loansharking, occasional drug deals and other criminal activities.[5] During his criminal career, D'Arco would be involved in ten murders. His criminal record would include extortion, murder, murder conspiracy, robbery, arson, tax evasion, counterfeiting, narcotics trafficking, burglary, hijacking and assault.[6] In 1983, D'Arco was convicted of heroin trafficking and was sentenced to several years in prison. He was released in 1986.[5]
In 1986, Victor Amuso took control of the Lucchese family and Anthony Casso became underboss. In 1988, Amuso promoted D'Arco to capo of the old Vario Crew. In 1990, Amuso selected D'Arco to organize a "Lucchese construction panel". A committee of Lucchese family members, the panel would oversee the Lucchese-controlled unions and construction companies and co-ordinate joint business ventures with the other Five Families of the New York Cosa Nostra.
By the mid 1980's, D'Arco was becoming a rich man due to the earnings from his crew and from his own loanshark portfolio. Soon D'Arco was gather tribute from the Lucchese crews for Amuso and Casso. On one Christmas, D'Arco gathered a $100,000 holiday gift for the two leaders from all the capos.[3]
In August 1990, D'Arco facilitated the murder of Lucchese mobster Bruno Facciola. Amuso suspected Facciola of being an informant and ordered his death. Facciola tried to run away when he knew he was about to be set up, but he was tackled and dragged back into the garage, where he was stabbed and shot. On Amuso's instructions, the hitmen placed a dead canary, the sign of an informant, in Facciola's mouth after they killed him.[7][2]
In January 1991, Amuso and Lucchese underboss Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso received an early warning about an upcoming federal indictment and went into hiding, leaving D'Arco as the acting boss.[7] [2] D'Arco would meet with them twice in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and several times at safe houses in Brooklyn.[8] In the summer of 1991, D'Arco met with warring factions in the Colombo crime family to mediate a peace agreement. However, Casso sent him on this mission in hopes that the Luccheses could grab some Colombo rackets.
Through their ruthlessness and brutality, Amuso and Casso generated many internal conflicts in the Lucchese family and broke down the unity and loyalty of its members. Family members felt the two bosses were greedy and paranoid, ordering too many murders to make themselves feel secure.
In early 1991, Amuso became falsely convinced that Lucchese capo Peter Chiodo had become a government witness and ordered D'Arco to kill him. In May 1991, Chiodo was shot 12 times, but survived the attack.[9] Chiodo then became a government witness, and testified in June 1991 at a Lucchese trial.[10]
Amuso and Casso sent more hit orders to D'Arco. Amuso ordered the family's entire New Jersey faction, the Jersey Crew, killed after it refused to increase the family's share of their profits (the infamous "whack Jersey" order).[7] Casso gave D'Arco a list of 49 people he wanted killed—half of whom were Lucchese wiseguys. Amuso then ordered D'Arco to bring in a bomb expert from Philadelphia in order to blow up Gambino boss John Gotti. All of these actions convinced D'Arco that Amuso and Casso were no longer acting rationally.[11] Later, D'Arco explained his role in the family:
"When a job needed to be done, whenever they needed to do something unpleasant to someone, I was the prick chosen by them."[12]
D'Arco knew that Amuso and Casso blamed him for the failed attack on Chiodo, and believed they were waiting to kill him. In July 1991, in a Staten Island meeting, Amuso and Casso replaced D'Arco as acting boss with a four man panel of capos.[13]
On September 18, 1991, D'Arco attended a meeting of Lucchese leaders in Manhattan's Kimberly Hotel. D'Arco noticed that one man had a bulge under his shirt—a sure sign that he was carrying a gun. The man then went to the bathroom—and when he came back, the bulge was gone. D'Arco realized this was a classic setup for a hit; the next person to go into the bathroom was likely to come out blasting. Convinced his life was threatened, D'Arco rushed out of the hotel.[2] His driver was nowhere to be found—another indication that D'Arco had been marked for death.[11]
The next day, FBI agents warned D'Arco that he was in danger.[7] Too fearful to go to the main FBI office in Manhattan, D'Arco went instead to an FBI office in New Rochelle, New York and offered to become a government witness. Except for $55,000, D'Arco was forced to leave his fortune behind.[13] At the time, he was the highest-ranking member of the Cosa Nostra to break his blood oath and testify against the mob.
Over the next ten years, D'Arco testified in a dozen trials along with many grand jury hearings and other legal proceedings.[14] His testimony helped convict Amuso, acting Colombo crime family boss Victor "Little Vic" Orena, Bonanno crime family consigliere Anthony Spero, Genovese crime family consigliere James Ida and Genovese boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante.[15] D'Arco also testified at the trial of Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, the two corrupt NYPD detectives who provided Casso with information.[2]
D'Arco is participating in the federal Witness Protection Program. According to government sources, D'Arco has been an excellent witness and has not committed any more criminal acts.[14] At one of his trials, a prosecutor asked D'Arco if the mob life was worth it, and received this reply:
"No, I'm 65 years old. What has it gotten me? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Yes, I have my wife and I have my son. But I was the one who got my son into the Mafia. And what did I accomplish by doing that? My son is a drug dealer. No, I've got nothing to show for it. What a waste of my life." [5]
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