Anthony Aiello

Anthony “Ace” Aiello (b 1976) is an an alleged "soldier" in the New York Bonanno crime family of La Cosa Nostra who allegedly murdered a mob hitman. [According to an affidavit of FBI special agent Jeffrey Sallet.]

Criminal Background

Aiello grew up in the Middle Village, Queens. His father was Antonino Aiello, a convicted heroin trafficker who owned several pizza restaurants in Queens. As a teenager, the young Aiello worked in a bagel restaurant while participating in local street gangs such as the Giannini Crew and the Middle Village Boys. ["Gang Land", Fathers & Sons Lessons of Crime, by Jerry Capeci. February 17, 2005] One adult friend of Aiello's was Baldo Amato, a soldier in the Bonanno family who owned a cafe frequented by gang members. During the 1990's, Amato started grooming Aiello to become a member of the Bonanno family.

In 1997, Aiello's advancement into the family was halted when he was sentenced to prison for armed robbery. Aiello was released from prison in July 2001 and underwent probation until August 2004. Federal prosecutors believe that Aiello was formally inducted into the Bonanno family during his probation period. Aiello soon developed a fierce reputation within the family, with another mobster likening him to the fictional hitman, Luca Brasi, in the 1970 film "The Godfather". . ["P-S News Updates". Agents nab mob hitman suspect in Madison County, March 22, 2005. Syracuse.com]

FBI Manhunt

During 2005, Aiello became the object of an international manhunt by FBI agents looking to arrest him for the execution style murder of mob associate Randolph (Randy) Pizzolo, whose body was discovered in the Greenpoint, Brooklyn on December 1, 2004. It has since become known that Pizzolo was murdered by the Bonannos because he bragged about his role in the murder of Nicolas Cirillo, the son of Genovese crime family Acting Boss Dominick Cirillo. Suspecting he was about to be hit with federal murder charges, Aiello disappeared on January 28, 2005 – the day after former Bonanno boss Joseph Massino was identified as a turncoat and capo Dominick Cicale and acting boss Vincent Basciano were charged with ordering Pizzolo’s murder. Tapes of recorded conversations between the two men show that Basciano believed that "Dominick and Ace," meaning Cicale and Aiello, committed the Pizzolo murder.

Arrest and Trial

On March 18, 2005, Aiello was finally arrested by twenty officers from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the United States Marshals Service, the New York State Police, and the Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office at a home in Lakeport in Central New York. ["P-S News Updates". Agents nab mob hitman suspect in Madison County, March 22, 2005. Syracuse.com]

Aiello is now scheduled to go on trial in 2008 for the Pizzolo murder and for plotting to kill a federal prosecutor, Assistant United States Attorney Greg Andres. According to an April 2 letter from former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, the government would not seek the death penalty against Aiello. [ Prosecutors Plan To Seek Death Penalty for 'Vinny Gorgeous'. Investigations News Story. WNBC April 2, 2007] As of October 2007, Aiello is incarcerated in the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York awaiting trial.

Notes

ee also

*Bonanno crime family

External links

* [http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/LocateInmate.jsp Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator Website]
* [http://ganglandnews.com/column420.htm This Week in Gangland: Fathers & Sons And Lessons Of Crime] by Jerry Capeci
* [http://tonydestefano.com/_wsn/page4.html "The Last Godfather" website]