Joseph D'Amico

Joseph D'Amico (born 1955) a.k.a. "Joey Moak"" was a made man in the Bonanno crime family who later turned informant.

Mob bloodline

Joseph D'Amico is the cousin of Bonanno crime family capo Richard Cantarella, Anthony Mirra and nephew of capo Albert Embarrato. He is also a cousin of Paul Cantarella, Frank Cantarella and Joseph Padavano. He is not to be confused with Gambino crime family acting boss Jackie D'Amico, whom he is not related to.

Biography

Joseph D'Amico was born and raised in the Knickerbocker Village public housing tenement building where his uncle Albert Embarrato, Anthony Mirra, cousin Richard Cantarella and fellow mobster Benjamin Ruggiero resided at. He was a close friend of New York Post Supernintendant of Deliveries, Robert Perrino and Anthony Mirra. In the 1970s he met undercover FBI agent Joseph Pistone but did not suffer the vicious aftermath as his cousin Anthony Mirra did. He became a made member of the Bonanno crime family at the age of twenty-two in 1977. FBI undercover agent Joseph Pistone a/k/a "Donnie Brasco" reported that D'Amico's mafia memebership was bought by his mother for a $50,000 payment. In the early 1990s after being released from prison he worked as a delivery truck driver for the New York Post after being hired by Robert Perrino. D'Amico was a long-time street soldier who worked under his cousin Richard Cantarella. D'Amico became a government informant following the "flipping" of his cousin in 2003. After he became an informant, D'Amico pled guilty to perjury in 1987 and was sentenced to eighteen months, but served a little over a year.

Murdering Tony Mirra

Cantarella was given the contract to murder Anthony Mirra by boss Joseph Massino. The hit was in retaliation for the Donnie Brasco infiltration. After Massino murdered Napolitano the year before, Mirra went into hiding. Massino figured that Mirra would trust his own family, which is why he gave the assignment to Cantarella. On February 18, 1982 Cantarella lured Mirra into to a parking garage he owned in Lower Manhattan. As Cantarella and Embarrato kept watch outside, D'Amico climbed into Mirra's silver Volvo and shot him in the temple at point blank range.

When the New York Police Department (NYPD) tapped on Mirra's car window hours later, he looked as if he were sleeping: his head had fallen forward so his chin rested on his chest, and his eyes were closed. He was shot three times, two behind his ear and one in the cheek. A fourth bullet had lodged itself in his left knee. So much blood had drained down inside Mirra's jacket and into his pants that his yellow boxer shorts had turned red.

References

*"Feds Add Another Bonanno To The Bunch" GangLand News Column Online by Jerry Capeci April 17, 2003
*"Feds Waiting For Goldie" GangLand News Online Column by Jerry Capeci July 1st, 2004
*Crittle, Simon, "The Last Godfather: The Rise and Fall of Joey Massino" Berkley (March 7, 2006) ISBN 0425209393
*Pistone, Joseph D. and Woodley, Richard, "Donnie Brasco: My Undercover Life in the Mafia" Random House 1990 ISBN 5552531299