Charles V. Errigo

Charles V. Errigo (February 23 1928 – August 1985), also known as "Charlie the Jap" and "Charlie Flip", was a New York mobster with the Lucchese crime family who specialized in stealing shipped goods.

Biography

Born in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, Errigo was the son of Sicilian-American immigrants from Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily. Errigo soon joined the Lucchese family working as a mob associate under caporegime Paul Vario and mob associate Jimmy Burke. In the 1960s Errigo became a cargo agent for Sea-Land Service, Inc, earning the nickname "Charlie Flip". His job was to process cargo manifests and assist in ramp operations.

Errigo soon became very wealthy selling shipping containers, or "igloos", to the Lucchese family. Burke and mob associate Henry Hill were his best customers. Errigo became involved in wide scale grand theft auto, transport truck hijacking, the selling of stolen merchandise, and human trafficking with Edguardo Rigaud in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Errigo adopted the nickname "Charlie The Jap" during the Vietnam War when he was sending numerous shipping containers to Southeast Asia for the military. Errigo would post a long list of items that were in demand on a wall at The Bamboo Lounge in Brooklyn. Dealers in stolen goods such as John Savino, Dominick Cerami, Lawrence "Larry" Bilello, Hill, or Burke would receive premiums if they quickly purchased goods on this list. One of his biggest customers of hijacked stolen cigarettes was Robert McMahon. Errigo dealt in clothing, seafood, fabrics, cigarettes, coffee, records and cassettes, liquor, televisions and radios, kitchen appliances, meat, shoes, children's toys, jewellery and watches and stolen securities.

Errigo privately owned and managed a seedy South Ozone Park, Queens saloon which became a mob hangout. Errigo was close to Burke, who was involved with drug trafficking in cocaine, heroin and Methaqualone. In 1980, Errigo allegedly planned to help Burke murder Hill at Errigo's saloon. Hill found out about the murder plot and became an Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) witness. Errigo was later arrested for his cocaine drug trafficking based on testimony from Hill. In 1985, before his indictment, Charles Errigo was shot to death by unknown gunmen on the Lower East Side, Manhattan. It is suspected that Burke or Vario ordered Errigo's execution. No one was ever indicted or charged with the Errigo murder.

References

*Pileggi, Nicholas, "Wiseguy: Life In A Mafia Family", Corgi (1987) ISBN 055213094X
* US Social Security Death Index
* http://pub13.bravenet.com/forum/1108663621/fetch/418730/2