Robert DiBernardo
Robert DiBernardo (May 31, 1937 - June 5, 1986) was a caporegime in the Gambino crime family. He gained notoriety when he was involved in a real estate business deal with John Zaccaro, the husband of Geraldine Anne Ferraro, a Democratic politician and a former member of the United States House of Representatives who at the time was 1984 Vice Presidential candidate for Walter Mondale.
Biography
Rise
DiBernardo's early life is a mystery. He ran a pornography racket for several years up to the time of his death. He was reported to be one of the biggest pornographers in the United States.
John Zaccaro and the real estate scandal
Shortly after the 1984 Democratic National Convention, during the last week of July, questions were circulating about Geraldine Ferraro's personal finances, those of her husband real estate developer John Zaccaro, and their separately filed tax returns.[1] (While the Mondale campaign had anticipated some questions, the drawn-out vice-presidential selection process had not fully vetted her on this aspect.[2]) Ferraro said that she would release both their returns within a month, but maintained that she was correct not to have included her husband's financial holdings on her past annual Congressional disclosure statements.[1] Notice of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's past investigation into Ferraro's 1978 campaign funds were exposed.[1] On August 12, Ferraro announced that Zaccaro would not in fact be releasing his tax returns on the grounds that to do so would disadvantage his real estate business and that such a disclosure was voluntary and not part of election law;[3] she then quipped, "You people who are married to Italian men, you know what it's like."[4] No campaign issue during the entire 1984 presidential campaign received more media attention than Ferraro's finances.[5] The exposure would have the effect of diminishing Ferraro's rising stardom, removing whatever momentum the Mondale–Ferraro ticket gained out of the convention, and delaying the formation of a coherent message for the fall campaign.[6] Her husband's business relationship with the notorious pornographer and organized crime figure DiBernardo ended the debate during the 1984 vice-presidential debate. On November 6, Mondale and Ferraro lost the general election. They received 41 percent of the popular vote compared to Reagan and Bush's 59 percent, and in the Electoral College won only Mondale's home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia.[7] Ferraro failed to carry her own congressional district, which always tended to vote Republican in presidential races.[8] Ferraro's presence on the ticket had little measurable effect overall.[9] She was later replaced by Democratic politician Mary Rose Oakar.
Assassination
Gambino underboss Sammy Gravano had a sitdown with boss John Gotti, telling him that he learned from caporegime Angelo Ruggiero that DiBernardo was being subversive. Gravano pleaded to have DiBernardo whacked, which a reluctant Gotti okayed. June 5, 1986 DiBernardo was lured to the basement offices of Gravano's drywall company on Stillwell Avenue in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. Acting as if it were a regular business meeting, Gravano told Joseph Paruta to get DiBernardo a cup of coffee. Paruta, who was known as "Gravano's Personal Luca Brasi" got up, but instead of getting the coffee, took a .38-caliber revolver from a cabinet behind DiBernardo and shot him in the back of the head. Gravano claimed that he later learned that Ruggiero was $250,000 in debt to DiBernardo and realized Ruggiero may have fabricated the orders from Gotti or simply lied to Gotti about what DiBernardo was accused of saying in order to erase the debt and improve his own standing in the family. In any event, DiBernardo's death proved profitable for Gravano, as he took over the deceased man's control of Teamsters Local 282, leading to speculation by many, particularly Gotti, that Gravano fabricated the situation for his own profit.[10]
Popular culture
In the 1996 HBO original movie Gotti made for television, actor Frank Vincent portrays DiBernardo. In Witness to the Mob, actor Tony Kruck portrays him simply as "Di Bernardo".
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Gerth, Jeff and Blumenthal, Ralph (1984-07-26). "Rep. Ferraro's Transactions Detailed in Public Records". The New York Times.
- ↑ Goldman and Fuller, The Quest for the Presidency 1984, p. 213.
- ↑ Raines, Howell (1984-08-14). "G.O.P. Seizes 'Genderless Issue' of Tax Returns to Attack Ferraro". The New York Times.
- ↑ Ferraro, My Story, pp. 156–158.
- ↑ Patterson, Thomas E.; Dani, Richard (1985). "The Media Campaign: Struggle for the Agenda". In Nelson, Michael (ed.). The Elections of 1984. Congressional Quarterly, Inc. ISBN 0-87187-330-3. p. 119.
- ↑ Scala, Dante, J.; Shade, William and Campbell, Ballard C. (eds.) (2003). American Presidential Campaigns and Elections. M.E. Sharpe Inc. ISBN 0-7656-8042-4. p. 966.
- ↑ Germond and Witcover, Wake Us When It's Over, p. 537.
- ↑ Ferraro, My Story, pp. 312, 313.
- ↑ Light, Paul C.; Lake, Celinda (1985). "The Election: Candidates, Strategies and Decisions". In Nelson, Michael (ed.). The Elections of 1984. Congressional Quarterly, Inc. ISBN 0-87187-330-3. pp. 103, 107–108.
- ↑ Maas, Peter. Underboss: Sammy the Bull Gravano's Story of Life in the Mafia. New York City: HarperCollins, 1996. ISBN 978-0-06-093096-7.
Other references
- Goombatah: The Improbable Rise and Fall of John Gotti and His Gang by John Cummings and Ernest Volkman
- Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family by John H. Davis
- Boss of Bosses: The FBI and Paul Castellano by Joseph F. O'Brien and Andris Kurins
- Frontline interview of Bruce Taylor in June 2001
- Perlez, Jane (1984-04-10). "Woman in the News: Democrat, Peacemaker: Geraldine Anne Ferraro", The New York Times.
- Ferraro, Framing a Life, pp. 65–67.
- "Ferraro, Geraldine Anne, (1935 - )". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2008-08-30
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