Dominick Cersani

Domenick Rocco Cersani also known as "Remo" (c. 1893 – 1963) was a Italian-American Colombo crime family capo and the mentor of Jimmy Burke. He was involved in forgery, extortion, loansharking, bookmaking, money laundering and hijacking.

Biography

Cersani was born in Lower East Side, Manhattan in Monroe, New York, but later moved to Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. He is described by Henry Hill as the "best friend" of Jimmy Burke. In Nicholas Pileggi's biographical book "Wiseguy: Life In A Mafia Family" little is mentioned of Dominick and Henry refers to him by his Italian nickname "Remo". He was married to a woman named "Marie" during sometime in 1930 and remained married until his gangland execution.

In September 1949 his soon-to-be protege Jimmy Burke, who was 18 years old at the time, was arrested for trying to pass $3,000 worth of fraudulent checks in a Ozone Park, Queens bank. He also was a silent partner in several South Ozone Park, Queens garment district factories and Robert's Lounge. In the 1940s Dominick headed a gang of professional counterfeit check cashers in Bensonhurst.

Dominick would later move from the mob-infested neighborhood of Bensonhurst and relocated with his wife to the classier neighborhood of Ozone Park to be closer to Jimmy Burke. Because of his youth and innocent appearance Dominick had used the young Jimmy Burke as a "passer".

When Jimmy was brought to the squad room on the second floor of the 75th Precinct the detectives cuffed Jimmy's hands behind his back and began punching him in the stomach in an effort to get him to implicate Dominick in the counterfeit check scheme. Jimmy took the beating and refused to talk. He was sentenced to five years in Auburn Correctional Facility for bank forgery. It was his first trip to a federal adult prison and not a juvenile detention center as before. This turned out to be his break into the underworld of New York: his refusal to "rat" (inform) on his accomplices gave him a reputation as a "stand up guy", meaning he would not cooperate with the police and therefore could be trusted by other criminals.

In prison he mixed with a number of Lucchese crime family and Colombo crime family mobsters and performed many contract killings. Being of Irish descent, Burke could not become a full-fledged member of the Mafia, as only Italians were accepted into their ranks.

But it is said that if Jimmy Burke was Italian, Dominick and Paul Vario would have gladly vouched for him to become a made man. However, they were happy to have associates of any ethnic background so long as they made money and did not cooperate with the authorities. Dominick dubbed him "The Irish Guinea", the nickname was soon adopted by the other mobsters, including members of the Lucchese crime family.

The day Jimmy entered the prison he was greeted by a welcoming committee made up of a dozen of the prison's toughest prisoners. Two of the mobsters in the committee, who were later discovered to be criminal associates of Dominick, approached Jimmy and told him that if had any problems during his prison stay, that he should come see them. This was Jimmy's introduction to the mob.

Later Dominick would vacation regularly during the holidays with Jimmy and Mickey. It is through Dominick that Jimmy was introduced to Richard Eaton in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1962. He was a regular habitue of Robert's Lounge and friends with Henry Hill and Thomas DeSimone.

While serving his five year sentence at the Auburn Correctional Facility, Jimmy was suspected to have murdered several suspected prison informants on behalf of Dominick which earned him immense respect from the Colombo crime family. He was described by Henry Hill as "very cheap" who Hill as an adolescent served sandwiches and drinks to Dominick, Paul Vario, Peter "The Killer" Abbandante and the other mobsters at the Euclid Avenue Taxi Cab Company. In the way Nicholas Pileggi wrote the biographical "Wiseguy" in free verse style, it is hard to pinpoint exactly when Burke ordered Dominick's murder and how old Burke's mentor was. The murder of Dominick was the first experience that Henry Hill witnessed first-hand of his friend Jimmy's murderous and sociopathic nature. Remembering Dominick's murder would play a crucial part later on when Henry Hill agreed to become an informant in 1985 after arrested for drug trafficking. Jimmy Burke's business relationship with Richard Eaton remained after he murdered Dominick. Like his old business partner, Jimmy would murder Richard Eaton in 1979 following the Lufthansa heist.

Dominick's betrayal

Dominick Cersani was arrested with a small load of hijacked goods. In exchange for lightening his sentence he informed the New York Police Department about a trailer truckload that his friend Jimmy Burke was putting together. Jimmy got suspicious when his friend invested only $5,000 into the $200,000 load of merchandise. Dominick usually purchased 50% or at least a third of the hijacked goods they stole together. When Jimmy asked him why he wasn't buying as much into the load as usual, Dominick explained his reasoning to Burke as "not needing that much". Then when Burke and his hijacked transport truck was stopped by the police en route to the warehouse for unloading, the fact that Dominick had somehow not invested in that particular shipment raised Burke's paranoid suspicions. It was Dominick's betrayal and his addiction to speed and heroin that later increased his paranoia about associates informing on him. Jimmy became anxious enough to inquire with the corrupt Queens County District Attorney as to the source of information that led to his subsequent hijacking arrest and indictment. The District Attorney confirmed that it was his mentor Dominick that had informed on Jimmy's load in return for lessening his own upcoming hijacking indictments. Within a week after Burke discovered his friend's treachery he was murdered. That same week that Burke had him murdered Dominick gave Jimmy and his wife a round-trip ticket to Florida as a wedding anniversary present. Henry Hill would later state in his autobiography "Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family" commenting about the murder of Dominick, "When you are about to get whacked, no one tells you. It is not like in the movies where there is a big argument and someone ends up getting killed. Your killers come as your friends. They come as your family members. They come with smiles. They come at a time when you are at your weakest point. They also have known you all your life".

Gangland slaying

The night of his murder Henry Hill, Jimmy Burke, Tommy DeSimone and another man suspected of being Anthony Stabile or Stanley Diamond were playing poker in Robert's Lounge. Jimmy then suggested to the men that they "take a drive". As they prepared to leave the lounge, Jimmy motioned Tommy DeSimone and another guy, suspected of being Stanley Diamond or Anthony Stabile to come along with them. Dominick got into the front passenger seat and Tommy and Jimmy sat in the rear. The three drove to the parking lot of their dress factory, Moo Moo Vedda's located next door, at Linden and Lefferts Boulevard. Tommy garroted Dominick with piano wire. Dominick put up a fight, kicking and swinging in the imminent throes of death. Just before he died Dominick soiled his pants. This onslaught of released feces and urine stank up the Cadillac horribly making Henry Hill sick to his stomach and vomit. Tommy and Jimmy buried Dominick in the enclosed backyard of Robert's Lounge under a thick layer of cement next to the bocce courts. Jimmy showed no remorse in murdering his mafia mentor and closest friend, other than his capo Paul Vario. From then on, every time Tommy and Jimmy played together, they would say sarcastically down at his makeshift grave in a joke they shared between the two of them, "Hi, Remo, how yeah doing?" Nobody was ever tried or convicted for the murder of Dominick. The remains of Dominick have never been found. Then either Burke or DeSimone had the car compacted at Clyde Brooks's Auto Bargain Scrap Yard in Starrett City, Brooklyn. After Dominick was murdered, Henry Hill took over his position as distributing the stolen merchandise with James Santos and John Savino.

Portrayal in film

The mention of Dominick is excluded from the film "Goodfellas". The manner of his death was later used to portray the grisly murder of Martin Krugman in the aftermath of the 1978 Lufthansa heist. After Thomas DeSimone (portrayed by actor Joe Pesci garrotes the unsuspected Martin Krugman portrayed by Chuck Low as "Morrie Kessler", he shoves an ice pick in between the first and second vertabrae of his neck, finally killing him. He is murdered while in the company of Jimmy Burke and Frankie Carbone played by Frank Sivero who is loosely based on Richard Eaton and Paolo LiCastri. It is thought by police that Richard had absolutely nothing to do with the murder of Dominick and this was given as Martin Scorsese's creative film license.

References

* "Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family" by Nicholas Pileggi
* http://www.familyhistory.com/surnames.asp?surname=Cer