Remo (mobster)

"Remo" a.k.a "Rocco" was a made member of the Lucchese crime family who served under capo Paul Vario. Little is known about Remo’s background other than that he was married and was a hijacking associate of Jimmy Burke. After arriving to the U.S. he settled in Long Island, Manhattan in the same neighborhood as Jimmy Burke.

Biography

He was a close friend of Paul Vario, Jimmy Burke who was his business partner and Lufthansa employee Robert McMahon who he had been introduced to by Burke. He was a habituate of Robert's Lounge in the early sixties and was involved in hijacking and dealing in swag merchandise with Jimmy Burke and to a lesser degree Henry Hill. No dates are mentioned but his murder seems to have had occurred in the early 1960's. Remo’s last name was a mystery to Henry Hill and Jimmy Burke’s fellow associates. Remo’s death in reality, mimics the on-screen death of the Morrie Kessler character based on Martin Krugman who is portrayed by Chuck Low in Martin Scorsese’s "Goodfellas". Remo was garroted by Tommy DeSimone and defecated all over the interior of Burke’s Cadillac DeVille before he died. Henry Hill was a witness and accessory after the fact to this murder which he was cleared of when he became state’s evidence. Scorsese would later use "Remo" as a character based on real life mobster Joe Aiuppa in his 1995 film "Casino", played by Pasquale Cajano, a film also featuring "Goodfella" actors, Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci. Remo’s role in "Goodfellas" is one of the few characters excluded from the "Goodfellas" feature film including Richard Eaton, Paolo LiCastri, Theresa Ferrara and Francis James Burke. This is most likely due to time constraints. Remo’s body was buried under the bocce ball courts behind Robert’s Lounge, before Burke went to prison in 1971 it was exhumed and buried again at an unknown location including the body of sixteen year old Michael "Spider" Gianco.

References

* "Wiseguy: Life In A Mafia Family" by Nicholas Pileggi