Anthony Capo

Anthony "Tony" Capo (born 1958) is a former "soldier" in the DeCavalcante crime family who later agreed to become a government informant.

Made Man

A resident in the South Beach area of Staten Island, Capo was first suspected as an associate of the DeCavalcante crime family of New Jersey during the early 1980s, with the evaluation of powerful Elizabeth faction leader, Giovanni "John the Eagle" Riggi, as the new Boss of the DeCavalcante family, after the retirement Simone "Sam the Plumber" DeCavalcante. He was said by known associates to be a cocaine addict and a psychopath involved in extortion and loansharking. Sometime in the late 1980s, US law enforcement listed Capo as a soldier in the DeCavalcante family. [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column229.htm]

A favor for John Gotti

After being recognized as a made man in the DeCavalcante crime family by US law enforcement, the New Jersey crime family were reached out to by new reputed Gambino crime family boss John Gotti, in 1989, to do a favor for him; the execution of Fred Weiss, a private sanitation magnate considered a candidate for becoming an informant. According to prosecutors Miriam Rocah, Michael McGovern and John Hillebrecht, the late Gambino crime family garbage king and reputed captain, James "Jimmy Brown" Failla, was the catalyst for Gotti’s request, and in dialogue with members of the DeCavalcante crime family. On September 5, 1989, in his home, Riggi told captain Anthony Rotondo, "that the DeCavalcante family had to get the job done at any cost", according to an FBI report obtained by Jerry Capeci. After impressing the importance of the effort on Rotondo and selecting mobsters for the task, Riggi instructed Rotondo to tell DeCavalcante associate, Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo, to visit Riggi the following day. (This is according to a report by FBI Agent Nora Conley.) On September 11, one day after Rotondo spotted Gambino crime family mobsters on the prowl near Weiss’s Staten Island home, the DeCavalcante hitmen Capo along with James "Jimmy" Gallo and Vincent Palermo moved into high gear, climbed into his car and shot Weiss repeatedly, killing him instantly. It was after this incident that Palermo was inducted into the family. [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column182.htm] [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column343.htm]

Criminal activities

As Capo went on to work for both D'Amato and reputed captain Anthony Rotondo of the powerful Elizabeth faction, he was involved in large labor racketeering, illegal gambling, extortion and loansharking activities, although Capo also ran a crew of DeCavalcante family associates in the New York area and not in New Jersey. Capo was also highly involved with reputed Gambino crime family mobster Joseph "Joe" Watts, in a lucrative loansharking racket that allegedly earned more than $12 million between 1986 and 1994. [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column229.htm]

John D'Amato's murder

After longtime boss Giovanni Riggi went on to be indicted for labor racketeering and extortion charges later that year, Gaetano "Corky" Vastola, stepped up as the new Acting boss of the North Jersey Mafia while Riggi was on trial. It was around this time, rival Gambino crime family boss John Gotti reached out to several members of the family, in an attempt to gain full control of it. One of these mobsters, were D'Amato, who reportedly conspired with Gotti and his Underboss Salvatore "Sammy the Bull" Gravano into murdering Vastola. (Gotti was later convicted of this conspiracy.) [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column182.htm] Soon, Riggi was convicted of his charges and sentenced to 15 years in 1990, which meant that Vastola kept running the day-to-day activities. Only after Riggi's conviction, Vastola was convicted in major extortion charges and sentenced to eight years in prison. From behind bars, Riggi promoted D'Amato as Acting boss of the DeCavalcante crime family. [http://www.angelfire.com/blog/organizedcrime/decavalcante/newlayout.html]

Later, in 1991, D'Amato came into an argue with his girlfriend, same girlfriend who captain Anthony Rotondo turned out to be involved with, who told him that when she and D'Amato were out at clubs in nights, D'Amato would be swinging and have sex with other men. Reportedly, Rotondo became highly upset and shared it with the current administration members Giacomo "Jake" Amari, the reputed Underboss, and Stefano "Steve the Truck Driver" Vitabile, the powerful Consigliere, who acted on prior knowledge and decided to have D'Amato murdered while informing the incarcerated Riggi. In January of 1992, D'Amato was reported missing. His body has never been found, although US law enforcement recovered his car and some of his blood in it. [http://www.angelfire.com/blog/organizedcrime/shots/033107.html] [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column232.htm] [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column182.htm]

Capo later testifyed that he, again along with Vincent Palermo and James Gallo, shot and killed D'Amato personally in D'Amato's car, and his body was disposed of by Capo along with that of Anthony Rotondo. Reputed acting underboss Giacomo Amari stepped up as new Acting boss in 1992, and was considered the most powerful member of the DeCavalcante family.

The power vacuum

However, with the sudden death of Amari in 1997, Riggi and Stefano Vitabile constructed a "Ruling Panel" that included captains Vincent Palermo, Girolamo Palermo (no relation) and even the powerful Newark faction-leader Charles "Big Ears" Majuri. But Majuri wanted to control the entire DeCavalcante family himself, and therefore he reached out to soldier James Gallo in order to have his rival Vincent Palermo murdered. Gallo instead told Palermo of the plot, who then decided to have Majuri murdered instead. Palermo and Gallo reached out to Capo, who along with Gallo and soldier Joseph Masella, were to shoot Majuri outside his home on Palermo's orders. However, all three hitmen waited outside Majuri's home for hours, ready to take him down, but decided it was not the time and not the place, and drove away. Masella later reported to Palermo, who was hiding in Florida, that the murder had failed. Majuri was left off.

Indictments

However, after massive indictments were put on 40 members of the DeCavalcante crime family, including Capo, were charged with labor racketeering, extortion, loansharking and several counts of murder and conspiracy to commit murder. Every captain in the family was named in the indictment, as well as dozens of soldiers. Capo was charged with committing the murders of Fred Weiss and John D'Amato, but also charged with the involvement in the murders of Louis LaRasso and Joseph Masella, and the attempted murders of Charles Majuri and Frank D'Amato. Risking life imprisonment, Capo was the first of three reputed members of the DeCavalcante family to turn state's evidence in the massive indictment towards the crime family of North Jersey. The other two were his captain Anthony Rotondo and Acting boss Vincent Palermo. Capo went on to testify against dozens of members of the DeCavalcante family, as well as other members of the New York families, in return for all charges against hin being dropped. [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column229.htm]

Anthony Capo is presumably participating in the Witness Protection Program.

References

External links

* [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column229.htm This Week in Gangland: A Soprano Singing Star] by Jerry Capeci
* [http://www.ganglandnews.com/column232.htm This Week in Gangland: An Unspeakable Crime] by Jerry Capeci
* [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/05/01/national/main551842.shtml CBS News: Mob Boss 'Hit' Over Gay Encounters]
* [http://www.nj.com/sopranos/ledger/index.ssf?/sopranos/ledger/index.ssf?/sopranos/stories/mafiosi_20030509sl_decavalcante00.html The Star-Ledger: Mob Story - How a crime family turned dysfunctional] by ROBERT RUDOLPH