- Richard Cantarella
Richard Cantarella, also known as "Shellackhead", (b. 1944) was an New York mobster who became a caporegime for the
Bonanno crime family and later a government witness.Biography
Cantarella was born to a Mr. Cantarella from
Giarre ,Italy and Mrs. Mirra fromFlorence, Italy on theLower East Side, Manhattan and raised inKnickerbocker Village , apublic housing development that was home to many Bonanno family members. A skinny kid with jet-black hair, Cantarella got the name "Shellackhead" from the hair oil that he used. In 1963, Cantarella started working at the nearby "New York Post " distribution center as a delivery truck driver. The Bonanno family controlled the distribution center through a local union of newspaper workers. Cantarella and his cousin, Bonanno mobsterJoseph D'Amico , would serve as “hired muscle” on the newspaper's loading docks for over thirty years. Starting in 1988 and lasting until 1991, Cantarella became a so-called “tail man”, a worker who rides on the back of the delivery truck and unloads the newspaper bundles. However, Cantarella paid a laborer $20 a night to do the work while he collected his $700 a week in wages.Cantarella is a brother to Frank Cantarella and cousin to Bonnano soldier
Anthony Mirra and uncle to Bonanno soldier Joseph Padovano. Cantarella's uncle is Bonanno capoAlfred Embarrato . Cantarella is married to Lauretta Castelli and is the father of Bonanno crime family mobsterPaul Cantarella and daughter Tracey.Entrepreneur
During the late 1970s, Cantarella became friends with Manhattan City councilman
Richard Mazzeo , the Director of Real Estate for theCity of New York 's Marine and Aviation Department. Mazzeo controlled the dispensing of leases for newsstands and parking lots at the terminals for theStaten Island Ferry , which commutes between Manhattan and Staten Island inNew York Harbor . In return for granting leases, Mazzeo received largekickback s from the leasees. Cantarella had told Mazzeo that a newspaper vendor at theLower Manhattan terminal was operating an illegalsportsbook operation. This information allowed Mazzeo to break the vendor's lease and evict him. In return, Mazzeo installed Cantarella as the vendor's replacment. By the 1980s, Cantarella controlled newspaper stands on both Staten Island and Manhattan. Cantarella and Mazzeo became close friends and briefly shared an apartment inUpper Manhattan . The two men made hundreds of thousands of dollars on their lease scams.However, things changed in 1983. Mazzeo lost his job, was convicted of tax charges, and spent six months in jail. Mazzeo started using illegal drugs and Cantarella started worrying that Mazzeo might become a government witness. After consulting with other Bonanno members, Cantarella decided to murder Mazzeo. On the evening of Nov. 14, 1983, Cantarella, Embarrato, D'Amico, and Patrick Romanello met Mazzeo at a sanitation garage in
Bushwick, Brooklyn . Mazzeo was meeting them at the upstairs garage office to see about getting a job. As the men walked down the stairs, Cantarella shot Mazzeo in the head. After shooting and stabbing the body several times, they loaded it into a black plastic bag and dumped it. The body was discovered five days later.Executing his cousin Tony
In 1982, the Bonanno family was rocked by the revelation that one of their associates for several years,
Donnie Brasco , was actually aFederal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) undercover agent namedJoseph Pistone . Cantarella's cousin Mirra was among those responsible for introducing Brasco into the family. After the family executed capoDominick Napolitano , another Brasco friend, the terrified Mirra went into hiding. Family bossJoseph Massino ordered Cantarella to murder Mirra. On February 18, 1982, Cantarella convinced Mirra to meet him at a parking garage inLower Manhattan . As Cantarella and uncle Alfred Embarrato kept watch, D'Amico climbed into Mirra's silverVolvo and shot him in the temple at point blank range.Family crime wave
Beginning in 1991, Cantarella started using his son as an accomplice in many of his criminal operations. In 1994, Cantarella and other mobsters kidnapped a wealthy businessman at his office, drove him home, forced him to deactivate the burglar alarm system, and robbed him of cash, jewelry and other valuables. As part of the plan, they forced the victim to start paying
protection money to Cantarella.Cantarella also extorted $250,000 from another businessman, using part of the stolen proceeds to purchase a 1962
Pontiac convertible automobile for his wife."New York Post" investigation
In 1992, the
State of New York started investigating allegations of racketeering and fraud at the "New York Post". The target was the Bonanno family and its control of the newspaper. During the investigation, the family became concerned that Robert Perrino, a delivery superintendent at the paper, would cooperate with prosecutors. Perrino had been operating a number of criminal scams at the Post, victimizing both fellow employees and the company. Perrino's main contact with the Bonanno family wasSalvatore Vitale Vitale approached Canterella and asked him if he would murder Perrino. Vitale suggested to Cantarella that he could take Perrino's job at the Post. Cantarella, a lifelong friend to Perrino, raised no objections. Vitale then told Bonanno
consigliere Anthony Spero that Cantarella wanted to eliminate Perrino. Spero gave Cantarella permission and the following week Perrino disappeared. In December 2003, Perrino's skeleton was excavated from the floor of a construction company inStaten Island . Perrino had been shot multiple times to the head.Government witness
With the imprisonment of Vitale in the early part of this decade, Cantarella became acting
underboss for the family. However, in October 2002, Cantarella was himself indicted on racketeering charges that included the Perrino murder,arson ,kidnapping ,loansharking ,extortion ,illegal gambling , and money laundering. In December 2002, Perrino accepted a deal to avoid prison time and became a government witness along with his son Paul and his wife. In early 2003, the Bonanno family realized that Cantarella had become an informant.In June 2004, Cantarella testified at the murder trial of Bonanno boss Joseph Massino, admitting in court his own role in the 1983 Mazzeo killing. In July 2007, Cantarella testified at the murder and racketeering trial of Bonanno mobster
Vincent Basciano . As of 2008, it is assumed that Canterella and his family are part of aWitness Protection Program .References
*Crittle, Simon, "The Last Godfather: The Rise and Fall of Joey Massino" Berkley (March 7, 2006) ISBN 0425209393
*"It's A Family Affair" GangLand News The Online Column Jerry Capeci October 10, 2002
*"Feds: Yes, We Have Some Bonannos" GangLand News The Online Column Jerry Capeci January 9, 2003External links
* [http://wings.buffalo.edu/law/bclc/web/nycantarella.htm The PEOPLE of the State of New York vs.Richard CANTARELLA]
* [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column386.htm This Week in Gangland: Unusual Mob Hit Solved 20 Years Later] by Jerry Capeci
* [http://www.nypost.com/seven/07042007/news/regionalnews/mob_name_game_regionalnews_stefanie_cohen.htm MOB NAME GAME:'GORGEOUS' WAS ONCE 'PILLS' PUSHER] By STEFANIE COHEN
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