Francesco Manzo

Frank Leone Manzo-Manza, also known as "Frankie the Wop" and "Frank Manze" (born February 2, 1925) is New York mobster from Bensonhurst, Brooklyn who became a caporegime with the Lucchese crime family.

Biography

Frank Manzo worked for Paul Vario in the 1960s and 1970s in what was one of the most violent "street crews" in New York. Manzo stood 5'6", had blue eyes, and weighed approximately 145 pounds. Manzo engaged in numerous criminal activities; assaulting striking workers on picket lines, extorting loan shark payments, threatening independent criminals, murdering potential witnesses to family crimes, and burying executed mob informants. Manzo also helped extort restaurants and buy into independent "fronts" that Vario would take over and control. Manzo became a close friend of Lucchese mob associate and future government witness Henry Hill, as well as mob associates Jimmy Burke, and Thomas DeSimone.

Manzo served for several years as a union delegate for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America. However, a labor racketeering conviction based on the testimony of mobster Louis Fratto forced Manzo out of the union. Manzo then bought the "Villa Capra" restaurant in Cedarhurst, New York Town of Hempstead, New York, which then became a popular Lucchese family hangout. Hill described Manzo as having "... a down-to-earth demeanor about him. He dressed and acted like your stereotypical blue-collar working man. He could be seen on a daily basis carrying packages of groceries into the kitchen of the Villa Capra, acting as a parking valet for the customers of his restaurant, wiping the crumbs off tables and working day and night in the kitchen of his own home".

Kidnapping at The Suite

In 1972, while drinking at The Suite, a night club owned by Hill, Manzo was kidnapped by Colombo crime family mobster Thomas Genovese and several of his men. Genovese contacted Lucchese boss Carmine Tramunti and demanded $100,000 in ransom. Tramunti paid the ransom and Manzo was freed.

In 1980, Manzo pleaded guilt of racketeering for attempting to extort payments from trucking firms at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Brooklyn and was sentenced to twelve years in prison. In 1983 Manzo was heard to boast in an FBI wiretap, "We rule this airport". On April 8, 1987 Manzo was banned from New Jersey casinos due to his history of involvement with organized crime.

Gambino or Lucchese affiliation

In "Crime Magazine: An Encyclopedia on Crime: Jimmy McBratney A Footnote to Mob History" by Allan May and "John Gotti New York Mafia:" Chapter 5: The "Death of Many Gambino" also by Allan May it is said that Manzo is a capo of the Gambino crime family. But Francesco's April 8, 1987 New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement Exclusion Notice Manzo is listed as a "soldier" in the Lucchese crime family as of 1985, and it is mentioned in " Wiseguy: A Life In A Mafia Family" by Nicholas Pileggi.

He is not related to the Ward 6 Councillor Frank Manzo of Sault Saint Marie, Ontario.

In popular culture

Manzo is portrayed as the character "Frankie The Wop" by actor Tony Lip in Martin Scorsese's 1990 film "Goodfellas".

References

* "Crime Magazine: An Encyclopedia on Crime: Jimmy McBratney A Footnote to Mob History" by Allan May
* "John Gotti New York Mafia:" Chapter 5: The "Death of Manny Gambino" www. crimelibrary.com by Allan May
* Pileggi, Nicholas, "Wiseguy: Life In A Mafia Family", Corgi (1987) ISBN 055213094X
* "For the Sins of My Father: A Mafia Killer, His Son, and the Legacy of a Mob Life" by Albert DeMeo

External links

* [http://www.njdge.org/exclusion/manzo_f.htm New Jersey Division of Enforcement Exclusion List]
* [http://www.dailyscript.com/scripts/goodfellas.html "Goodfellas Script"]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE2DB163FF93AA35753C1A960948260&scp=4&sq=Frank%20Manzo&st=cse New York Times: Metro Datelines; 5 Plead Guilty In Airport Trial]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE5DA173FF931A25753C1A961948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=4 New York Times: CRIME AT KENNEDY: SCAMS, DRUGS AND THE MOB] By ELIZABETH NEUFFER