NJ Luchese Capo's Son Nailed with Marijuana

The Luchese soldier had 65 pounds of marijuana in his car.
Carlo Taccetta's father supposedly served as
the model for David Chase's Tony Soprano.

New Jersey troopers found 65 pounds of marijuana in a pickup truck on Saturday driven by Carlo Taccetta, a suspected soldier in the Luchese crime family and son of reputed Luchese capo Michael Taccetta, also known as "Mad Dog," a high-ranking member who controlled the family's New Jersey faction in the 1980s-90s and was one of the 20 defendants in the notorious trial considered to be the longest in U.S. history.

Carlo Taccetta, 41, of the Whippany section of Hanover, was stopped on West Bloomfield Avenue in Montville as part of an ongoing investigation Saturday, State Police said.

Troopers found the marijuana after Taccetta gave them permission to search his Dodge Ram pickup truck.



Taccetta was charged with possession of marijuana and possession with intent to distribute, and was sent to the Morris County Jail on $75,000 bail with no 10 percent option.

The case will be prosecuted by the Division of Criminal Justice, State Police said.

Carlo's father was involved with the Luchese's New Jersey faction, and is notable for allegedly having served as the inspiration for a classic HBO television series about a New Jersey mob boss, and also was a defendant in one of the longest trials in U.S. history, which also served as the basis for a film.

Michael Taccetta's mob nickname was "Mad Dog."
Michael Taccetta is considered to have been the model for the character of Tony Soprano of HBO's The Sopranos; he also was among the defendants in the absurdly long-lasting 1980s trial of the New Jersey-based Luchese crew that served as the basis for the lauded 2006 film Find Me Guilty, directed by Sidney Lumet and featuring Vin Diesel in the starring role of Jack DiNorscio, a then-member of the Luchese crew who since died. (The actor put 30 pounds on his frame and had to undergo three-hour makeup sessions to become his character; official transcripts from the trial were used to write the dialog for the courtroom scenes.)

As for the nonfictional Michael Taccetta, he'd been childhood friends with Anthony "Tumac" Accetturo; Taccetta would eventually join Accetturo's street crew in North Jersey.

In 1976, newly made boss Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo decided to strengthen his New Jersey faction, inducting Accetturo, Taccetta and several others into the Luchese crime family. Accetturo was put in charge of the North Jersey faction of the Lucheses, and Taccetta became his top protégé.

After a tumultuous period during the Vittorio "Vic" Amuso and Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso rein, in 1986, the same year of the Commission Trial in New York, Taccetta and Accetturo were arrested with 18 other Northern New Jersey Luchese mobsters. The indictment was the result of a four-year investigation and consisted of 76 counts of labor racketeering, illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, drug trafficking, money laundering, conspiracy and murder for hire.

The longest trial ever in the United States, it went on (and on) for more than 21 months. At the end, all 20 defendants were acquitted.

Then, in 1994, the entire New Jersey faction's administration was put on trial, including the elder Accetturo. In the end Michael got 25 years for racketeering, narcotics, extortion, loansharking, conspiracy and murder. The next year, he got 40 years, concurrent, for conspiracy to commit 10 murders.

Philly.com, in a 1995 article, described Taccetta as "the leader of an extremely violent faction of the Lucchese crime family that operated out of the Newark area. The group was said to use violence, including murder, to control extensive gambling, loan-sharking and extortion operations.

"Prosecutors said the murder-racketeering case last year was a prime example. In that case, Taccetta, his brother Martin and three others were charged in a racketeering scheme that centered on the 1984 golf-club- bludgeoning death of mob associate Vincent "Jimmy Sinatra" Craparotta"

Taccetta, 62, is imprisoned in New Jersey's South Woods State Prison in Bridgeton, New Jersey. He is up for possible parole in April of this year.

Comments

  1. Hey Ed... Do you know the meaning of "Mad Dogging"?

    mad dogging (urban dictionary)

    mad dogging or dogface as its called in prison is a expressionless glare ostensibly used to intimidate but is actually often a way for gay men to recognise each other if its combined with other signals such as a lock of eyes

    Mad dogging is a way for men who are not obviously gay to hit on each other.

    I wonder how that's worked out all these years for Michael?

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    Replies
    1. Nah! He was the inspiration for Tony not Vito! LOL!!!

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    2. To anon I respect your opinion -- but please watch the profanity.... I prefer we be more civil when we have differences in opinion.

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    3. Sorry Ed but I take offense to the idiot above who is calling a stand up guy who is doing his time like a man gay, and if Oobatz wants to know why they call him Maddog then he should go ask him and he will find out quick

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    4. Can't make it there on his release date...

      But I will be sure to send Flowers & Baloons to his "Get Out Of Jail" party. ;)

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  2. Leave the man alone he's done his time

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  3. He's done his time let him be he's my family don't appreciate comments

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