Luchese Acting Boss Daidone Serving Life
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| Louie Daidone |
His reign was relatively short.
In the end, while in his early 50s, he was sentenced to three life terms and two 20-year terms, all running concurrently (well, thank god for that!)
I always remembered him for doing a favor for a friend that involved beating the crap out of a landlord for not stopping someone for playing their music too loud.
In court documents, the prosecutors said that as a favor to ''a person close to Daidone,'' emissaries from the crime family went to a Brooklyn landlord, warned him that music was being played too loudly in his building, and told him he would be hurt if the noise continued.
When the music continued in the early part of 2002, according to the prosecutors, an associate of the crime family returned to the landlord, and ''assaulted him, striking him repeatedly in the face and leaving him bleeding outside his home.''
Daidone's path could've been very different. According to Al D'Arco, in the days before he flipped, he and Steve Crea had talked about whacking Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso and Vittorio "Little Vic" Amuso. The two were willing to shoot it out, winner take all, if they could recruit a third man, namely, Louie Bagels.
He and Al decided it was time for new management.
If Louie "Bagels" Daidone, a burly then-soldier who'd been made on the same day as Al -- the two remained friendly and loyal to each other, at least until a certain point in time -- had not casually declined Al's tacit offer to launch a takeover, mob history might have altered course. But in the end, Al and Steve were alone and knew they were powerless to change the family's management.
Which was the point all along, as the fleeing Casso-Amuso team first purged the family of all its "rats" -- the Luchese family's muscle, whose names were given to Gaspipe via his crystal ball -- the so-called "Mob Cops." In other words, Gaspipe's "rats" not so coincidentally were also the family's key shooters.
Al knew Gaspipe had access to intel. But in the end, Gaspipe, shall we say, didn't limit himself to what his informers told him; he also had an agenda. When he and Amuso had to lam it as the Windows case rose before them, they made sure to first eliminate the family's heavy hitters -- the crews that had both the skill and muscle to assume control of the family.
For Steve Crea, not killing the Luchese bosses proved to be the better move. He's boss of the family today. Daidone, we already know his story. As for Gaspipe, for all his palaver, he tried to flip, but, as noted in "Mob Boss
, some guys are "just too evil to put on the stand."Gaspipe couldn't stop laughing as he told the hysterically funny story of how he slaughtered a young man, first shooting him, then dumping him in a grave and sticking a dirt-filled shovel in the young man's mouth when he sat up. Casso held him down with the shovel while others continued to bury the victim, still alive.
On OpenJuriste you can learn in detail about some Luchese crime family history:
This case requires us to confront again the "relatedness" requirement for establishing a pattern of racketeering activity for purposes of obtaining a conviction under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), 18 U.S.C. § 1962. Appellant Louis Daidone was charged with racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, witness tampering by murder, conspiracy to make extortionate loans, and conspiracy to collect extensions of credit by extortionate means. A jury convicted Daidone of all five charged offenses, and this appeal followed. For the reasons set forth below, the judgment of the district court is affirmed.
I. BackgroundDaidone, a member of the Luchese1 organized crime family, was charged in a five-count indictment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Count One charged him with participating in a racketeering enterprise in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c); Count Two charged him with racketeering conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d); Count Three charged him with witness tampering by murder in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(a)(1); Count Four charged him with conspiracy to make extortionate loans in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 892; and Count Five charged him with conspiracy to collect loans by extortionate means in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 894. A jury convicted Daidone of all five counts, and the district court sentenced him principally to imprisonment for three life terms and two twenty-year terms, all to run concurrently.
The facts underlying Daidone's conviction, which we view in the light most favorable to the government, see United States v. Eltayib, 88 F.3d 157, 171 (2d Cir.1996), are straightforward. As a member of the Luchese Organized Crime Family, Daidone orchestrated the murders of Luchese associates Thomas "Red" Gilmore and Bruno Facciolo, and was involved in loansharking operations. The predicate acts for the RICO convictions, which 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961(5) & 1962(c) require the government to prove, were the Gilmore murder, the Facciolo murder, and the loansharking, charged as Racketeering Acts One, Two, and Three, respectively. The witness tampering conviction is based on the Facciolo murder, and the convictions on Counts Four and Five arise from Daidone's loansharking operations.
A. The Murder of Thomas Gilmore
Thomas Gilmore ran a chop shop and operated a limousine service. After various Luchese members became suspicious of Gilmore in late 1988, then-boss Vic Amuso instructed Daidone to kill him. After one failed attempt, in February 1989 Daidone and two associates hid at Gilmore's house to await his return. Under Daidone's supervision, the two associates ambushed Gilmore as he returned to his apartment and shot him three times in the head. Gilmore died within minutes.
B. The Murder of Bruno Facciolo
Later in 1989, Luchese leaders learned that another family associate, Bruno Facciolo, was cooperating with authorities regarding an investigation in California into a murder orchestrated by the Luchese family. Daidone, on the orders of his superiors, designed a ruse to trap and kill Facciolo. Specifically, Daidone pretended he needed a formal introduction to a mafia member from another crime family, and he asked Facciolo to make this introduction for him. Unaware of Daidone's true intent, Facciolo drove him to a local garage. Once there, Daidone restrained Facciolo while Lasorino, a Luchese associate who had been waiting at the garage, stabbed him repeatedly in the chest. Lasorino then shot Facciolo in the head and chest, killing him. Finally, Daidone placed a dead canary in Facciolo's mouth in an effort to warn others not to "sing."
C. The Loansharking
The government's evidence showed that as early as 1988 Daidone was extensively involved in making and collecting various extortionate loans. In June 1996, even though Daidone was in prison, he had around $80,000 in loans owed to him by others. The government established at trial that between 1997 and 1999 Daidone was involved in a number of extortionate loans, which varied in amount from $25,000 to a proposed two-million dollar deal.
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I. BackgroundDaidone, a member of the Luchese1 organized crime family, was charged in a five-count indictment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Count One charged him with participating in a racketeering enterprise in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(c); Count Two charged him with racketeering conspiracy in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1962(d); Count Three charged him with witness tampering by murder in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1512(a)(1); Count Four charged him with conspiracy to make extortionate loans in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 892; and Count Five charged him with conspiracy to collect loans by extortionate means in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 894. A jury convicted Daidone of all five counts, and the district court sentenced him principally to imprisonment for three life terms and two twenty-year terms, all to run concurrently.
The facts underlying Daidone's conviction, which we view in the light most favorable to the government, see United States v. Eltayib, 88 F.3d 157, 171 (2d Cir.1996), are straightforward. As a member of the Luchese Organized Crime Family, Daidone orchestrated the murders of Luchese associates Thomas "Red" Gilmore and Bruno Facciolo, and was involved in loansharking operations. The predicate acts for the RICO convictions, which 18 U.S.C. §§ 1961(5) & 1962(c) require the government to prove, were the Gilmore murder, the Facciolo murder, and the loansharking, charged as Racketeering Acts One, Two, and Three, respectively. The witness tampering conviction is based on the Facciolo murder, and the convictions on Counts Four and Five arise from Daidone's loansharking operations.
A. The Murder of Thomas Gilmore
Thomas Gilmore ran a chop shop and operated a limousine service. After various Luchese members became suspicious of Gilmore in late 1988, then-boss Vic Amuso instructed Daidone to kill him. After one failed attempt, in February 1989 Daidone and two associates hid at Gilmore's house to await his return. Under Daidone's supervision, the two associates ambushed Gilmore as he returned to his apartment and shot him three times in the head. Gilmore died within minutes.
B. The Murder of Bruno Facciolo
Later in 1989, Luchese leaders learned that another family associate, Bruno Facciolo, was cooperating with authorities regarding an investigation in California into a murder orchestrated by the Luchese family. Daidone, on the orders of his superiors, designed a ruse to trap and kill Facciolo. Specifically, Daidone pretended he needed a formal introduction to a mafia member from another crime family, and he asked Facciolo to make this introduction for him. Unaware of Daidone's true intent, Facciolo drove him to a local garage. Once there, Daidone restrained Facciolo while Lasorino, a Luchese associate who had been waiting at the garage, stabbed him repeatedly in the chest. Lasorino then shot Facciolo in the head and chest, killing him. Finally, Daidone placed a dead canary in Facciolo's mouth in an effort to warn others not to "sing."
C. The Loansharking
The government's evidence showed that as early as 1988 Daidone was extensively involved in making and collecting various extortionate loans. In June 1996, even though Daidone was in prison, he had around $80,000 in loans owed to him by others. The government established at trial that between 1997 and 1999 Daidone was involved in a number of extortionate loans, which varied in amount from $25,000 to a proposed two-million dollar deal.
Click here to read full report
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