Anthony " Fat Tony " Salerno (August 15, 1911 – July 27, 1992) was an American mobster who served as underboss and front boss of the Genovese crime family in New York City from 1981 until his conviction in 1986.
24-414: Fat Tony may refer to: Anthony Salerno , New York mobster also known as "Fat Tony" Fat Tony ( The Simpsons ) , a recurring gangster character in the animated sitcom The Simpsons Fat Tony (rapper) , American rapper from Houston, Texas Fat Tony & Co. , Australian television series Tony Mokbel , Australian crime figure Topics referred to by
48-687: A boss. After his conviction and imprisonment, Salerno's health deteriorated due to his diabetes and suspected prostate cancer . On July 27, 1992, Anthony Salerno died at the US Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield, Missouri . Salerno was buried at Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Throggs Neck section of the Bronx in New York City . Salerno is portrayed by Domenick Lombardozzi in
72-494: A former opera singer from Italy, lived in a house a few blocks away. Tieri claimed to be an employee of a sportswear manufacturer. In 1972, after the murder of Genovese acting boss Thomas Eboli , Tieri became the boss of the Genovese family. At that time, it was speculated that Gambino crime family boss Carlo Gambino had ordered Eboli's murder because Eboli owed him $ 4 million. According to this theory, Gambino wanted Tieri to be
96-683: A home in Miami Beach, Florida , a 100-acre (0.40 km ) estate and horse farm in upstate Rhinebeck, New York , the Palma Boys Club in East Harlem, and his apartment in the upscale Gramercy Park section of Manhattan . Salerno served as consigliere , underboss , and acting boss of the Genovese family. By the 1960s, Salerno controlled the largest numbers racket operation in New York, grossing up to $ 50 million per year. Salerno kept his headquarters at
120-520: A mild stroke and retreated to his Rhinebeck estate to recuperate. At the time of his stroke, Salerno was Genovese underboss. After Salerno's recovery from his stroke and the March 31, 1981, death of Genovese front boss Frank Tieri , Salerno succeeded him. Although law enforcement at the time thought that Salerno was the boss of the Genovese family, it was an open secret in New York Mafia circles that Salerno
144-590: A second federal racketeering indictment, which accused Salerno of having hidden controlling interests in S & A Concrete Co. and Transit-Mix Concrete Corp. in the construction of Mount Sinai School of Medicine , Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center , and the Trump Tower . Salerno was also accused of illegally aiding the election of Roy Lee Williams to the national presidency of the Teamsters Union . Salerno pleaded not guilty on all charges. In October 1988, he
168-569: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Anthony Salerno Salerno was born and raised in East Harlem , New York. In his youth, he became involved in gambling, numbers , loansharking and protection rackets for the Luciano family, which later came to be known as the Genovese family. Salerno was a member of the 116th Street Crew , headed by Michael "Trigger Mike" Coppola . Salerno climbed
192-534: The Mafia Commission would support him as boss if he assassinated Bruno. What Caponigro didn't know was that the Commission had no intention of sanctioning Bruno's murder. On March 21, 1980, Bruno was murdered in his car on a Philadelphia street. The Commission immediately summoned Caponigro to New York for a meeting; two weeks later, his body was discovered in New York with $ 20 bills stuffed in his orifices. However,
216-475: The Palma Boys Social Club in East Harlem and continued to work in these areas. The FBI accused him of heading a bookie and loan shark network that grossed $ 1 million annually. Salerno hired Roy Cohn as his attorney. On April 20, 1978, Salerno was sentenced to six months in federal prison for illegal gambling and tax evasion charges. In early 1981, after his release from prison, Salerno suffered
240-459: The New York families did achieve access to Atlantic City. Federal prosecutors eventually charged Tieri with being the head of a crime family that was involved in racketeering , extortion and illegal gambling . On January 23, 1981, the ailing Tieri, using a wheelchair and an oxygen tank, was convicted of violating the RICO Act . At the sentencing, Tieri's lawyers argued for leniency, saying that he
264-483: The boss of the Genovese family. However, most experts now believe that Tieri was merely a front for the Genoveses' actual boss, Philip "Benny Squint" Lombardo . Luigi Angelo Martino, "the architect" for money laundering for the Genovese family, served directly under him. Tieri was considered a low-profile and diplomatic mobster, a good earner for the family who believed in sharing wealth with his capos and soldiers . He
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#1733104849871288-525: The boss"—a clear sign that he was not the real leader of the family. However, according to Selwyn Raab , organized crime reporter for The New York Times , even though prosecutors erred in billing Salerno as the Genovese boss, this mistake would not have jeopardized Salerno's conviction at the Commission Trial or his 100-year sentence. In his book Five Families , Raab noted that Salerno had been tried and convicted for specific criminal acts, not for being
312-469: The community. Along with the other defendants of the trial, Salerno pleaded not guilty on July 1, 1985. On November 19, 1986, Salerno was convicted on RICO charges. On January 13, 1987, he was sentenced, along with six other defendants, to 100 years in prison without parole and fined $ 240,000. While awaiting the Mafia Commission trial, Salerno was indicted in a separate trial on March 21, 1986, in
336-564: The family ranks by controlling a possible million-dollar-a-year numbers racket operation in Harlem and a major loansharking operation. In 1948, Coppola fled to Florida to escape murder charges, and Salerno took over the crew. In 1959, Salerno was a secret financial backer of a heavyweight professional boxing title fight at New York's Yankee Stadium between Swedish boxer Ingemar Johansson and American boxer Floyd Patterson . No charges were filed against Salerno. Salerno divided his time between
360-479: The film The Irishman (2019), and by Joe Pingue in the film The Apprentice (2024). Frank Tieri (mobster) Frank Alphonse " Funzi " Tieri ( / t i ˈ ɛər i / ; born Francesco Tieri , Italian: [franˈtʃesko ˈtjɛːri] ; February 22, 1904 – March 29, 1981) was an Italian-American mobster who eventually became the front boss of the Genovese crime family of New York City . Tieri
384-535: The opening of Atlantic City, New Jersey to the New York crime families. The State of New Jersey had announced the introduction of legal casino gambling in Atlantic City and the New York families wanted to open operations there. However, Atlantic City belonged to the Philadelphia family and Bruno wasn't willing to share it. In March 1980, Tieri sent a message to Philadelphia's consigliere, Antonio Caponigro , that
408-413: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Fat Tony . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Fat_Tony&oldid=1192894615 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
432-533: The years, Lombardo used several front bosses to hide his real status from law enforcement, a practice continued when Gigante took over the family upon Lombardo's retirement in 1981. On February 25, 1985, Salerno and eight other New York bosses on the " Mafia Commission " were indicted in the Mafia Commission Trial . In October 1986, Fortune Magazine named the 75-year-old Salerno as America's top gangster in power, wealth and influence. For that reason, he
456-587: Was born on February 22, 1904, in Castel Gandolfo , Lazio , Italy, to Carmela Tofano and Augustino Tieri, and had two sisters, Assunta and Antonietta. He immigrated from Naples to New York City with his family in 1911. Tieri was denied US citizenship twice living as a resident alien in Brooklyn . Tieri lived in a modest home in the Bath Beach section of Brooklyn with his wife and two granddaughters. His mistress,
480-449: Was convicted and sentenced to 70 years in prison, including a $ 376,000 fine, and ordered to forfeit half of the racketeering proceeds (estimated to be $ 30 million). In 1986, shortly after Salerno's conviction in the Commission Trial, Salerno's longtime right-hand man, Vincent "The Fish" Cafaro , turned informant , and told the FBI that Salerno had never been the real boss of the Genoveses, but
504-422: Was convicted of armed robbery when he was aged twenty but avoided further indictments until the end of his life. Given that Tieri was a front boss, it is unknown how much power Lombardo allowed him. However, Tieri did have a reputation as an orderly and smart manager who used violence only as a last resort. In 1980, Tieri played a key role in the assassination of Philadelphia crime family boss Angelo Bruno and
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#1733104849871528-468: Was merely a front for Gigante. Cafaro also revealed that the Genovese family had been keeping up this ruse since 1969. An FBI bug had captured a conversation in which Salerno and capo Matthew "Matty the Horse" Ianniello were reviewing a list of prospective candidates to be made in another family. Frustrated that the nicknames of the wannabes hadn't been included, Salerno shrugged and said, "I'll leave this up to
552-556: Was merely a front man for the real boss, Vincent "the Chin" Gigante . For instance, Alphonse "Little Al" D'Arco , who later became acting boss of the Lucchese crime family before turning informer, told investigators that when he became a Lucchese made man in 1982, he was told that Gigante was the boss of the Genovese family. Ever since the death of boss Vito Genovese in 1969, the real family leader had been Philip "Benny Squint" Lombardo . Over
576-654: Was nominally the lead defendant in the trial. Many observers disputed Salerno's top ranking, claiming that law enforcement greatly exaggerated Salerno's importance to bring attention to their legal case against him. Salerno's bail request was denied and his attorneys appealed the decision all the way to the United States Supreme Court . However, in United States v. Salerno the Supreme Court ruled that he could be held without bail because of his potential danger to
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