Louis Facciolo

Louis Facciolo also known as "Louie" (born 1941 in Canarsie, Brooklyn – died August 1990, in Flatlands, Brooklyn) was a Gambino crime family mob associate who served under capo Leonard DiMaria and brother of Lucchese crime family mobster Bruno Facciolo who shot to fame when it became known that he was murdered by the NYPD "mafia cops".

Biography

Facciolo owned part of the Portofino Soccer Club, a social club on Flatlands Avenue in Canarsie, Brooklyn. Salvatore Visconti and Steven who ran it were successful dealers of stolen goods. The club was named after Portofino, a small Italian fishing village, comune and tourist resort in the province of Genoa on the Italian Riviera where Salvatore and Albert's immigrant parents originated from. Previously he had managed and owned a restaurant named The Spice of Life located at 32 Cedar Street in Hanover, New Jersey which is still in operation as of 2007. Carlos Facciolo, Salvatore and Giuseppe had opened the club after getting permission from Louie Facciolo in South America. The Gambino crime family agreed to accept $250-a-week in protection money to allow them to operate the social club on Bruno's turf. Louie enjoyed acting the role of a made man even though he wasn't and fraternized with Salvatore and Steve. Louis Facciolo and Salvatore Visconti had been close friends for decades. For three decades, they and their brothers, the late Alfred Visconti and Bruno Facciolo, had been associated with the Lucchese crime family. In the early 1990s Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso and Louis Daidone of the Lucchese crime family thought that Bruno Facciolo and Alfred Visconti were government informants. Louis's brother Bruno was found shot to death in August 1990. He was murdered by the NYPD "mafia cops". His corpse was left in the trunk of his car with a canary stuffed in his mouth because Casso suspected him of being a government informer.

Louis Facciolo is the father of VH1 Mob Wives star Carla Facciolo.

Generosity to friends

His close lifelong friend Alfred Visconti was gunned down at his Bensonhurst, Brooklyn apartment building in March 1991. At the time Alfred's brother, Lucchese crime family mobster Salvatore Visconti was not financially secure. So Louie gave more than $10,000 to Salvatore for Alfred's funeral and his wake which was held at Guarino's Funeral Home.

Salvatore becomes an informant

Salvatore Visconti enticed his friend Louis and 46 other alleged thieves and gangsters including Angelo McConnach into a Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sting operation in which $6 million in stolen goods was recovered. In 1993 Bruno's friend Salvatore who had been an informer for some time, agreed to become a cooperating witness and set up an FBI agent who would play a big time fence to the Gambino crime family's Canarsie, Brooklyn-based crew. He approached Louie Facciolo and said he was now flush and wanted to pay him back for Alfred's funeral. Louie also brought his Gambino capo Leonard DiMaria into the sting.^[1][2]

References