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Louis Vallario, also known as "Big Louie" and "Big Lou" (born 1942), is a member of the Gambino crime family who was a top aide to boss John Gotti and Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano in the late 1980s.
Vallario was born in New York to first-generation immigrants from Piedmont, Italy. As a child, Vallario was friends with future Gambino mobster John Gotti. During the 1970s, Vallario joined the Aurello crew of the Gambino family in the Bensonhurst and Red Hook sections of Brooklyn. Vallario's illegal activities included loansharking, illegal gambling, bookmaking, and labor racketeering. Vallario was a close criminal associate of Frank Fappiano, Edward Garafola, Thomas Carbonaro, and Joseph D'Angelo. When Gravano later became a government witness, he refused to testify against Vallario.
In 1986, Gotti murdered boss Paul Castellano and took over the Gambino family. Gravano then became consigliere and Vallario took over Gravano's crew. Vallario reportedly became one of Gotti's top aides. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Vallario became a prominent figure in the construction industry and enjoyed major influence over the New York City labor unions.
In 1991, dozens of members of the family were indicted and sent to prison on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) charges, such as racketeering, extortion, loansharking, illegal gambling, conspiracy and murder for hire. Gravano eventually turned state's evidence, as Gotti and Consigliere Frank "Frankie Loc" LoCascio were sentenced to life imprisonment in 1992, the same time as Vallario was charged with racketeering.
In 1996, Vallario was promoted to the Gambino "Ruling Panel" with mobsters Steven "Stevie Coogan" Grammauta and Michael "Mikey Scars" DiLeonardo, John "Jackie Nose" D'Amico and Peter Gotti. John Gotti created the panel to assist his son John "Junior" Gotti, as acting boss. Vallario sat on the panel until 2002.
In April 2001, Vallario was indicted in a corruption case against officials of Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 32B-32J. Prosecutors charged that corrupt members of this local enriched themselves through no-show jobs. Vallario pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years probation.
In 2002, Vallario was indicted for murder, extortion, loansharking, bribery and illegal gambling. On April 23, 2004, Vallario pleaded guilty to the 1989 Weiss murder. [1] A recycling executive and former city editor of the Staten Island Advance, Weiss was involved with the Gambino family in an illegal landfill scheme. Boss John Gotti ordered Vallario to kill Weiss because Gotti feared Weiss might become a government witness. Vallario shot Weiss to death outside Weiss's home on Staten Island. Vallario was sentenced to 13 years in federal prison.
As of December 2011, Vallario is incarcerated in the Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Fort Dix, New Jersey. On October 15, 2013, he was released from prison. [2]
John Joseph Gotti Jr. was an American gangster and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. He ordered and helped to orchestrate the murder of Gambino boss Paul Castellano in December 1985 and took over the family shortly thereafter, becoming boss of what was described as America's most powerful crime syndicate.
Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano is an American former mobster who became underboss of the Gambino crime family. As the underboss, Gravano played a major role in prosecuting John Gotti, the crime family's boss, by agreeing to testify as a government witness against him and other mobsters in a deal in which he confessed to involvement in 19 murders.
The Gambino crime family is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. The group, which went through five bosses between 1910 and 1957, is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963, when the structure of organized crime first gained public attention. The group's operations extend from New York and the eastern seaboard to California. Its illicit activities include labor and construction racketeering, gambling, loansharking, extortion, money laundering, prostitution, fraud, hijacking, and fencing.
The Genovese crime family, also sometimes referred to as the Westside, is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City and New Jersey as part of the American Mafia. They have generally maintained a varying degree of influence over many of the smaller mob families outside New York, including ties with the Philadelphia, Patriarca, and Buffalo crime families.
Nicholas "Little Nick" Corozzo is an American New York mobster who is a captain in the Gambino crime family.
The Colombo crime family is an Italian American Mafia crime family and is the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City within the criminal organization known as the American Mafia. It was during Lucky Luciano's organization of the American Mafia after the Castellammarese War, following the assassinations of "Joe the Boss" Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano, that the gang run by Joseph Profaci became recognized as the Profaci crime family.
Frank "Frankie Loc" LoCascio was an American mobster in New York who became the Consigliere to the Gambino crime family boss John Gotti.
John "Jackie" D'Amico is a New York City mobster and caporegime who served as street boss of the Gambino crime family from 2005 to 2011. "Street boss" had been the family's number one position ever since official Boss Peter Gotti started serving a life sentence in prison.
The DeCavalcante crime family, also known as the North Jersey Mafia or North Jersey crime family, is an Italian-American Mafia organized crime family that operates mainly in northern New Jersey, particularly in Elizabeth, Newark, West New York, and various other North Jersey cities and the surrounding areas in North Jersey. It is part of the nationwide criminal network known as the American Mafia. It operates on the opposite side of the Hudson River from the Five Families of New York. It maintains strong relations with many of them, as well as with the Philadelphia crime family and the Patriarca crime family of New England. The Decavalcantes are considered by some to be the "Sixth Family".
Michael DiLeonardo is a former Italian-American mobster who rose to position of caporegime in the Gambino crime family. In the early 2000s DiLeonardo turned government witness and decided to cooperate with the FBI and managed to convict over 80 mobsters. He was temporarily in a witness protection program.
Thomas Francis Gambino is an Italian-American New York City mobster and a longtime caporegime of the Gambino crime family who successfully controlled lucrative trucking rackets in the New York City Garment District. He is the son of Carlo Gambino and nephew of Paul Castellano.
Joseph Armone, also known as "Joe Piney" and "Shorty", was an American mobster in the Gambino crime family of New York City who served as underboss between 1986 and 1990, and consigliere from 1990 until his death in 1992.
Leonard "Lenny" DiMaria, also known as "Prateek" and "the Conductor", is a New York mobster and Caporegime in the Gambino crime family. He is considered by law enforcement to be a close associate of Nicholas Corozzo and has served as his right-hand-man for almost 30 years.
George "Big Georgie" DeCicco was a New York mobster and longtime captain in the Gambino crime family. DeCicco is one of the last captains of the old John Gotti administration in the 1980s who have not been under any indictment until now. DeCicco is the brother of former Gambino underboss Frank DeCicco, who was killed in a car-bomb meant for his boss John Gotti, ordered by then boss of the Genovese crime family who is now deceased, Vincent "Chin" Gigante, and Lucchese crime family leaders Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso as revenge for the murder of former Gambino crime family boss, Paul Castellano, a strong ally of both the Genovese and Lucchese crime families.
John "Johnny Boy" D'Amato was an American mobster and former acting boss of the DeCavalcante crime family in New Jersey from 1990 to 1992. D'Amato was a prominent made man of the DeCavalcante family and appointed head by Giovanni Riggi under the influence of Gambino crime family boss John Gotti. D'Amato was suspected of engaging in homosexual activity and assassinated in Brooklyn in January 1992.
Anthony "Tony" Capo was an American hitman in the DeCavalcante crime family who later became a government witness and entered the Witness Protection Program. His aliases included Marshall Beach, Mathew Beach and Wade Beach.
The Lucchese crime family is an Italian-American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City in the United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. Members refer to the organization as the Lucchese borgata; borgata is Mafia slang for criminal gang, which itself was derived from a Sicilian word meaning close-knit community. The members of other crime families sometimes refer to Lucchese family members as "Lukes".
The Genovese crime family's New Jersey faction is a group of Italian-American mobsters within the Genovese crime family who control organized crime activities within the state of New Jersey. The New Jersey faction is divided into multiple crews each led by a different caporegimes who oversees illegal criminal activities in labor racketeering, illegal gambling, loansharking and extortion. Since the prohibition era the Genovese family's New Jersey faction has maintained a strong presence in the Northern Jersey area. A number of members within the New Jersey faction like Guarino "Willie" Moretti, Gerardo "Jerry" Catena and Louis "Bobby" Manna held positions within the administration of the Genovese family. From the 1990s until his death in 2010, Tino "the Greek" Fiumara was one of the most powerful caporegimes in the New Jersey faction.
