Craig Anthony Fiato, also known as Anthony the Animal and Tony Rome, was an American mobster and hitman [1] for the Los Angeles crime family who later became an undercover informant and government witness. In the words of retired FBI undercover agent Bob Hamer, "Anthony Fiato was a major player in that whole organized crime scene" in 1980s Los Angeles. [2]
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
The Los Angeles crime family, also known as the L.A. Mafia, was an Italian American criminal organization based in California, as part of the American Mafia. Since its inception in the early 20th century, it has spread throughout Southern California. Like most Mafia families in the United States, the L.A. crime family gained power bootlegging alcohol during the Prohibition Era. The L.A. family reached its peak strength in the 1940s and early 1950s under Jack Dragna, who was on The Commission, although the L.A. family was never larger than the New York or Chicago families. Since Jack Dragna's death, the Los Angeles crime family has been on a gradual decline, with the Chicago Outfit representing them on The Commission.
Fiato grew up in Boston to law-abiding parents. At age 17, his family moved to Hollywood. Under his mentor Michael "Mike Rizzi" Rizzitello, Fiato rose in rank to enforcer and street boss of Rizzi's breakaway Los Angeles crew. [3] Fiato worked with mobsters Anthony "The Ant" Spilotro, "Handsome Johnny" Roselli, Rizzitello, Joey Gallo, Peter Milano, J.R. Russo, and "Jimmy the Weasel" Fratianno, among many others. Fiato was a feared member of the Los Angeles crime family. Consigliere Jack LoCicero sponsored Fiato's membership into the Los Angeles crime family. [4] Fiato was a major gangster with close ties to the Patriarca crime family and Joseph "J.R." Russo, [5] the Gambino crime family through Aniello Dellacroce, [6] and the Los Angeles crime family through his mentor Rizzitello. [7]
Michael Anthony Rizzitello, also known as "Mike Rizzi", was an Italian American mobster in the Los Angeles crime family. Rizzitello's criminal record stretched back to 1947. He was also featured in several biography novels by mobsters-turned-informants Jimmy Fratianno, Anthony Fiato, and Kenny Gallo (Breakshot).
Anthony John Spilotro, nicknamed "The Ant", was an American mobster and enforcer for the Chicago Outfit in Las Vegas, Nevada, during the 1970s and 1980s. His job was to protect and oversee the Outfit's illegal casino profits, when some of the casinos were run by Frank Rosenthal. Spilotro replaced Outfit member Marshall Caifano in Las Vegas. Spilotro eventually ran afoul of his organized crime overseers who disapproved of his handling Las Vegas affairs, and who arranged his murder in 1986. Spilotro served as the basis for the character Nicky Santoro in Martin Scorsese's mafia classic, Casino (1995).
John"Handsome Johnny"Roselli, sometimes spelled Rosselli, was an influential mobster for the Chicago Outfit who helped that organization control Hollywood and the Las Vegas Strip. In the early 1960s, Roselli was recruited by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in a plot to assassinate Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Turning informant after his brother Larry became an FBI informant and gave up their rackets, Fiato put away many major mob gangsters in both Los Angeles and Boston. After joining the witness protection program, Fiato became a tabloid celebrity thanks to his testimony at the O. J. Simpson murder case, his appearance on the Howard Stern Show, and his relationship with Denise Brown, the sister of Simpson's murdered ex-wife. [8] Fiato also cooperated with journalist John L. Smith, who wrote his biography The Animal Hollywood: Anthony Fiato's Life in the Mafia.
Boston is the capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city proper covers 48 square miles (124 km2) with an estimated population of 685,094 in 2017, making it also the most populous city in New England. Boston is the seat of Suffolk County as well, although the county government was disbanded on July 1, 1999. The city is the economic and cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Boston, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 4.8 million people in 2016 and ranking as the tenth-largest such area in the country. As a combined statistical area (CSA), this wider commuting region is home to some 8.2 million people, making it the sixth-largest in the United States.
Witness protection is protection of a threatened witness involved in the justice system, including defendants and other clients, before, during, and after a trial, usually by police. While a witness may only require protection until the conclusion of a trial, some witnesses are provided with a new identity and may live out the rest of their lives under government protection.
The O. J. Simpson murder case was a criminal trial held at the Los Angeles County Superior Court. Former National Football League (NFL) player, broadcaster, and actor O. J. Simpson was tried on two counts of murder for the June 12, 1994, slashing deaths of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ron Goldman. On the morning of June 13, 1994, the couple was found stabbed to death outside Brown's condominium in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. Simpson was a person of interest in their murders. He did not turn himself in, and on June 17 he became the object of a low-speed pursuit in a white 1993 Ford Bronco SUV owned and driven by his friend Al Cowlings. TV stations interrupted coverage of the 1994 NBA Finals to broadcast the incident. The pursuit was watched live by an estimated 95 million people. The pursuit, arrest, and trial were among the most widely publicized events in American history. The trial—often characterized as the trial of the century because of its international publicity similar to that of Sacco and Vanzetti and the Lindbergh kidnapping—spanned eleven months, from the jury's swearing-in on November 9, 1994. Opening statements were made on January 24, 1995, and the verdict was announced on October 3, 1995, when Simpson was acquitted on two counts of murder. Following his acquittal, no additional arrests related to the murders have been made, and the crime remains unsolved to this day. According to USA Today, the case has been described as the "most publicized" criminal trial in history.
