Salvatore Avellino

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Salvatore Avellino, Jr.

Salvatore Avellino in a mid-1980s FBI mugshot
Born (1935-11-19)November 19, 1935
St. James, New York
Other names Sal

Salvatore Avellino, Jr. (born November 19, 1935 St. James, New York), also known as "Sal" is a mobster and former caporegime in the Lucchese crime family who was involved in labor racketeering in the garbage and waste management industry in Long Island, New York. [1] Avellino also served as right-hand man and chauffeur to boss Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo.[2]

Lucchese family capo

Over the years, Avellino and his relatives established a stranglehold on the waste hauling business on Long Island. To gather evidence against Avellino, members of the New York State Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) used undercover informant Robert Kubecka, the owner of a Suffolk County, New York garbage hauling business. Since the 1970s, Kubecka had refused to participate the mob control of the waste hauling business and had suffered extensive harassment as a result. In 1982, Kubecka, agreed to wear a surveillance device during meetings with the mobsters. Although Kubecka was unable to get close to Avellino himself, the information Kubecka gathered eventually persuaded a judge to allow a wire tap on Avellino's home phone in Nissequogue, New York. The home phone tap was also disappointing to the agents; however, it did reveal that Avellino was driving boss Anthony Corallo around all day in Avellino's car.[3]

In 1983, members of the New York State Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) installed an electronic surveillance device inside the dashboard on Avellino's Jaguar while he and his wife were at a dinner dance. Agents then listened to many conversations between Corallo, Avellino, and other mobsters as they drove around the city. Avellino was very curious and was constantly asking questions about the operation of the family and the Mafia Commission. From these recorded conversations, OCTF learned the Commission's internal structure, history, and relations with other crime families. These conversations were shared with federal prosecutors and provided them with invaluable evidence against Corallo and other family bosses in the 1986 Mafia Commission trial.[3][4]

In 1985, Avellino was promoted to capo.[5]

Waste Hauling Industry

Salvatore Avellino oversaw operations of Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 66 in Long Island. His younger brother Carmine Avellino and his son Michael Avellino followed him into the waste management rackets. For nearly 15 years, Avellino used aggressive strong-arm tactics to keep Long Island's waste hauling industry under Lucchese family control. Avellino's wife Elaine was the owner, along with other relatives of the SSC Corporation in Holtsville, New York, one of the largest waste haulers in the region.[6] In 1983, Avellino ordered his son Michael and son-in-law Michael Malena to set fire to competitors' garbage trucks.

During one recorded phone call, Avellino explained the Lucchese plans for the waste hauling industry on Long Island to an associate:

"We're gonna knock everybody out, absorb everybody, eat them up, or whoever we, whoever stays in there is only who we allowing to stay in there."[7]

Avellino was involved in the infamous Mobro 4000 garbage scow incident of 1987 which made the national news for weeks.

Kubecka and Barstow murders

In 1986, facing evidence from the car recordings, Avellino pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges of using coercion to prevent Kubecka from bidding on waste hauling contracts on Long Island.[8]

In mid 1986, Avellino asked Lucchese underboss Anthony Casso permission to murder Kubecka. Avellino was afraid that Kubecka was going to provide evidence in new criminal and civil cases. Casso agree to the killing. Allegedly on August 11, 1989, Lucchese gunmen Rocco Vitulli and Frank "Frankie the Pearl" Federico burst into Kubecka's office, where he and his brother-in-law, Donald Barstow, were working. Both Kubecka and Barstow were shot to death.[3][9]

Prison

On April 13, 1993, Avellino was indicted in federal court on racketeering charges involving the 1989 Kubecka and Barstow murders.[10] Avellino pleaded not guilty to both charges. However, in February 1994 Avellino pleaded guilty to helping plan the two murders and was sentenced to ten years in federal prison.[11]

On July 16, 1999, Avelino was indicted again in federal courts on 15 counts of racketeering in the waste hauling industry from 1983 to 1998.[12] In March 2001, Avellino pleaded guilty to using threats of violence to run his Long Island waste hauling business from federal prison. As part of a plea deal, Avellino was to serve five more years in prison after the end of his racketeering sentence. On October 13, 2006, Avellino was released from federal prison.[13]

References

  1. ↑ "Mob, Murder and Garbage: A Connection Is Reordered" By Joseph P. Fried. New York Times. January 9, 1995
  2. ↑ "The Lucchese Family" TruTV Crime Library
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Raab, Selwyn (2005). Five families : the rise, decline, and resurgence of America's most powerful Mafia empires (1st ed. ed.). New York: Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 0-312-30094-8. 
  4. ↑ Feuer, Alan (September 1, 2000). "Anthony Corallo, Mob Boss, Dies in Federal Prison at 87". New York Times. Retrieved 30 November 2011. 
  5. ↑ Rico Complaint to be attached to consent decree
  6. ↑ Eight L.I. Trash Haulers Agree to Monitoring Plan" By JONATHAN RABINOVITZ New York Times March 3, 1994
  7. ↑ director, from the New York State Organized Crime Task Force ; Ronald Goldstock, (1990). Corruption and racketeering in the New York City construction industry : final report to Governor Mario M. Cuomo. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-3034-5. 
  8. ↑ Lubasch, Arnold H. (August 18, 1992). "U.S. Wants Mafia Leader Out of L.I. Trash Business". New York Times. Retrieved 30 November 2011. 
  9. ↑ Lyall, Sarah (August 11, 1989). "Trash Hauler And Relative Killed on L.I.". New York Times. Retrieved 30 November 2011. 
  10. ↑ Fried, Joseph F. (April 13, 1993). "Reputed Mafia Leaders Charged in Killings". New York Times. Retrieved 30 November 2011. 
  11. ↑ Fried, Joseph P (February 17, 1994). "Guilty Plea Set in Garbage-Collection Killing". New York Times. Retrieved 30 November 2011. 
  12. ↑ "GANGSTER, KIN CHARGED IN SANIT WAR" By JERRY CAPECI New York Daily News July 16th 1999
  13. ↑ "Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator "Salvatore Avellino"". Bop.gov. 2006-10-13. Retrieved 10-3-2012. 

Further reading

  • Fox, Stephen. Blood and Power: Organized Crime in Twentieth-Century America. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1989. ISBN 0-688-04350-X
  • Raab, Selwyn. Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. New York: St. Martin Press, 2005. ISBN 0-312-30094-8
  • Jacobs, James B. and Friel, Colleen. Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated From the Grip of Organized Crime. New York: NYU Press ISBN 0-8147-4247-5
  • Davis, John H. Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN 0-06-016357-7

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