Vincent DiNapoli

Vincent DiNapoli (b. June 21, 1937) is a New York mobster and captain in the Genovese crime family, heavily involved in labor racketeering.

Early years

Growing up in the East Harlem section of Manhattan during the 1950s, DiNapoli was originally associated with the Lucchese crime family. He later switched to the Genovese crime family and became an associate of soldier Vincent "Fish" Cafaro, front boss Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno's top lieutenant.

Union Boss

In the late 1970s, Cafaro sponsored DiNapoli for family membership in the family and he was placed in Saverio Santora's 116th Street Crew. DiNapoli became New York's most powerful labor racketeer, earning himself and the Genovese family bosses millions of dollars from extortion, shakedown, bid rigging, and controlling companies. DiNapoli dominated the N.Y.C. District Council of Carpenters through his ally Teddy Maritas. Maritas later vanished, and Cafaro believes that DiNapoli had Maritas murdered because he feared he would cooperate with the feds.

One company that DiNapoli secretly owned, Inner-City Drywall, became one of the biggest developers in Harlem and the South Bronx, and received $32 million in city contracts in 1988 alone. However, in July, 1989, the company, along with DiNapoli crew members Louis Moscatiello and Benedetto Schepis, was indicted.

DiNapoli and Tony Salerno were the key figures representing the Genovese family in the concrete industry. Along with close associate Edward "Biff" Halloran, the men raked in millions, enough to have both Salerno and DiNapoli placed on the Forbes List of Richest Mobsters Top 10. Halloran's Certified Concrete, Co. was New York City's largest supplier of ready-mix concrete. Additionally, Salerno and DiNapoli, along with another associate, Nicholas Auletta, owned the Glen Island Casino, located in Westchester. DiNapoli also owned a restaurant on Gun Hill Road in the Bronx called "Il Boschetto". During his lockup in the Federal pen it was run by Burt Young the actor in the "Rocky" movies.

DiNapoli did not hesitate to use fear to keep the rackets in check. DiNapoli was suspected of ordering the slaying of Danny Evangelista, a dissident union leader from Local 385; Evangelista was shot to death while sitting at his desk in the Local. DiNapoli also gave the order to firebomb the home of another Local 385 member, Shaun Tones, who criticized various union officials.

In the early-1980's, DiNapoli became enraged when he lost out on a contractor who made a deal with Gambino boss Paul Castellano; the contractor, Frederick DeMatteis became one of Long Island's biggest developers. A conversation between members of the Concrete Club indicated that Castellano prevailed and kept DeMatteis as his partner: Tony Salerno: "Metro is Paul's, right?" Neil Migliore: "Metro's Paul's." Christopher Furnari: "It's Paul."

In 1992, during an investigation by Ronald Goldstock, New York City's construction industry investigator, it was learned that DiNapoli and Lucchese family captain Steven Crea co-owned a valuable housing development located on Scarsdale Road in Yonkers. It is clear that DiNapoli earned millions of dollars as a Genovese family capo and as New York City's most powerful labor racketeer. He secretly maintained interests in about a dozen construction companies and properties and housing developments.

Prison

DiNapoli was soon under federal scrutiny. They watched him meet Salerno and other top representatives of the Genovese, Gambino , Lucchese and Colombo crime families at the Palma Boys Social Club in East Harlem. In 1981, DiNapoli, his brother Louis, and District Council of Carpenters President Teddy Maritas, were indicted on labor racketeering and extortion charges in a RICO indictment. In 1982, Maritas disappeared shortly the trial was scheduled to start. After Cafaro became a cooperating witness, he charged that DiNapoli murdered Maritas. DiNapoli was worried that Maritas might cooperate with law enforcement and received approval from the Genovese hierarchy to kill him. Later in 1982, DiNapoli pleaded guilty to lesser charges and was sent to prison for five years. While in prison, his union rackets were managed by his brother Louis and Louis Moscatiello.

DiNapoli later became close to the next District Council President, Paschal McGuinness, and the two men continued to enforce a mob tax on all drywall construction in New York. DiNapoli also controlled Carpenters Local 257 through his associates Attilio Bitondo and Eugene Hanley, who were the Local Vice-President and President. DiNapoli used their positions to extort contractors operating on the East Side of Manhattan.

DiNapoli would again be convicted and sentenced to prison; his interests in the District Council would be absorbed by a close associate, Liborio Bellomo. DiNapoli's other brother Joseph "Joey Dee" DiNapoli is a powerful captain in the Lucchese crime family, and is suspected of running the family's day-to-day operations serving on a three man panel, which also includes Matthew Madonna and Aniello "Neil" Migliore.

Further reading

*Goldstock, Ronald, Martin Marcus and II Thacher. "Corruption and Racketeering in the New York City Construction Industry: Final Report of the New York State Organized Crime Task Force". New York: NYU Press, 1990. ISBN 0-8147-3034-5
*Jacobs, James B., Coleen Friel and Robert Radick. "Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime". New York: NYU Press, 1999. ISBN 0-8147-4247-5
*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
*United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Governmental Affairs. Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. "Organized Crime: 25 Years After Valachi: Hearings Before the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations". 1988. [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC19099088&id=DQeMhDjHx58C&q=%22Vincent+DiNapoli%22&dq=%22Vincent+DiNapoli%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&pgis=1]
*United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. "Labor Violence and the Hobbs Act: Hearings Before the Committee on the Judiciary". 1984. [http://books.google.com/books?vid=OCLC11402008&id=cDfz_F23nB4C&q=%22Vincent+DiNapoli%22&dq=%22Vincent+DiNapoli%22&ie=ISO-8859-1&pgis=1]

External links

* [http://www.nlpc.org/view.asp?action=viewArticle&aid=781 National Legal and Policy Center - Organized Labor Accountability Project Union Corruption Update]
* [http://boalt.org/bjcl/v6/v6jacobstohner.htm The Boalt Journal of Criminal Law Ten Years of Court-Supervised Reform: A Chronicle and Assessment] by James B. Jacobs and Kristin Stohne
* [http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1988/06/06/70628/index.htm CNN Money.com The Mafia's Bite of the Big Apple]