Book Murder Machine Missed "Hell of a Lot," Montiglio Says

EXCLUSIVE:
Dominick Montiglio, for those not familiar, is the nephew of Anthony "Nino" Gaggi, a Paul Castellano loyalist and rising star within what Jerry Capeci has called the "white-collar wing" of the Gambino family during the reign of Big Paul..

Dominick Montiglio
Dominick Montiglio, former emissary to the murder machine...



Gaggi died in 1988, never attaining the position of underboss he'd long sought when he was close to the Gambino boss before the spectacular 1985 coup by John Gotti.

It's through Montiglio's eyes that much of Murder Machine is told.

Murder Machine relates the story of how, after Carlo Gambino died of natural causes in 1976, the ruling members of the Gambino Family met at Nino and Dominick's Brooklyn home ("the bunker") to name a new boss. 


Roy DeMeo also hunted people.

Gaggi expected the best but prepared for the worst. He taped a gun under the kitchen table and sent Dom upstairs to watch the front of the house from an upper-storey window armed with a machine gun. If there was shooting, he told Dom, take out anyone who departs through the front door. Dom was fully prepared to carry out his uncle's orders, even speculating how he'd be on the run for the rest of his life. Despite the tense build up, there was only a brief, somber discussion. Castellano was named the new Gambino boss. In turn, Aniello "Neil" Dellacroce remained as underboss of the family (by rights, many believed, Dellacroce should have ascended to the top spot).

Nino held up under questioning. The feds even admired his
formidable loyalty to the Mafia credo.

Gaggi was promoted to capo of Castellano's old crew and remained close to Castellano, hoping to become underboss eventually. However, the trouble that Roy caused Castellano (after ordering DeMeo's murder, Paul was later indicted because of Roy's massive car-theft ring) precluded Gaggi from ever assuming the position.

DeMeo and his crew are suspected of murdering as many as 100 people (although some estimates reach as high as 200) between 1973 and 1983. Dominick became a government witness in 1983 following his arrest for extortion. Montiglio returned to Brooklyn to become an artist.





COSA NOSTRA NEWSDescribe Roy DeMeo to us...we get two different views of him, one from Murder Machine, the other from Roy's son Albert in his book, For the Sins of My Father: A Mafia Killer, His Son, and the Legacy of a Mob Life

DOMINICK MONTIGLIO: Roy was a man who after a murder, would be in a rush to bleed the body out & chop it up so he could go home & eat dinner with his family, make love to his wife & then sleep like a baby! I mean that's how detached he was from killing people. It didn't bother him in the slightest & I think murder ended up becoming an adrenaline rush for him, he needed it. But when it came to family & friends he was fiercely loyal. After my uncle Nino ordered him to murder his protege Chris Rosenberg, he locked himself in his office & cried for 2 days cause he loved him so much. So he truly had two sides absolute remorseless killer & then absolutely 100% caring family man who would do anything for his family. Although I know that he got his son Albert to do a few things that really messed him up, I mean the kid wasn't cut out for that life & I think he ended up in a mental asylum.

CNN: So what did you think of Murder Machine? Did Jerry Capeci nail it? Also, we heard you scared the shit out of him when you two first met on the elevator... he'd called you a junkie or something in a story....

DM: As for Murder Machine I was really pushing for Philip Carlo to write that thing cause he would of nailed it as he grew up in the life. Jerry & Gene still produced a great book but I don't think they nailed it. A hell of a lot was left out... Great stuff!!

[As to the second question:] You heard about that, did you? [Laughs.] Yeah, I was pretty mad, I was gonna rip his head off but I calmed down. I dealt a lot of drugs but I never dealt heroin & he made me out to be a degenerate junkie... But I kinda have my hands tied as to what I can tell you, if you know what I mean.

CNN: Of course! So, can you give us a taste of what they left out?

DM: Ed it's ok you can ask me anything, just let me think of a few things, I got 100 stories just let me think of a good one. Anything else you wanna know?

CNN: There is one thing about Roy. One of the detectives who worked the case implied that Roy was cooperating.... He mentioned the recording system that DeMeo had installed in his car and how the tape was missing...

DM: There's no way in hell Roy would ever be a stoolie, absolutely not!





Comments

  1. I don.t know how u do it but to get these guys to talk about such things is awesome keep them coming Ed great stuff as always waiting for part 2. Philly

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  2. Isnt that why they whacked Roy,because when the feds were onto the car theft ring they felt he might not be able to do serious jail time and start talking.

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  3. I seeme to remember a piece on Montiglio's military career in the book "Stolen Valor" about fraudulent "war heroes" strongly implying Dom was in fact a fraud. I need to find the book. "Muder Machine" is a great read, but Albert's book is legitimately tragic.

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  4. I agree....I am a pretty hardcore mob buff and this site consistently has the most interesting and well-written pieces. I love Friends of Ours but Ed's pieces are more stylized and specific. Keep up the great work!

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  5. On that episode of mafia's greatest hits, that NYPD detective said he offered Demeo a deal and he refused and said he's a loyal soldier and when they call he'll go down like a loyal soldier...I tend to believe him !!

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  6. Istill can't figure out why in hell Nino,a capo would be going on a hit.A stupid move for him.

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  7. Good shit ed should do a forum like cicales murder machine is the craziest mob book i ever read

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  8. I think that was all bullshit about him getting whacked cause he might rat i think the other bosses were just scared and jealous of the power and fear he had with him and his crew but then again he let that finook fink vito in

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  9. I would love to read a new copy of Murder Machine with the things Dom says were left out!! One of my favorite mafia books, hands down!

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  10. I wonder, given Bilotti's fate, does Mr. Montiglio think now that maybe it wasn't such a bad thing not to have been made "Big Paul's" driver?

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  11. A revised edition of Murder Machine is definitely needed, if only to clear up the details of the death of DeMeo.

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  12. Maybe a little OT, but does anyone know who killed Joseph "Dracula" Guglielmo?

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  13. Don't think he was killed. You should read the book by Roy's son, Albert DeMeo. He says him and his father drove Joseph to the airport after the Cuban crisis. He took off, went on the lam. He was not killed in New York ....according to Al. I believe him...it's a good read too.

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  14. I'm a big believer in doubt. A tape recorder was in his trunk; I think there may be more to that but doubt we'll ever know. I don't think Castellano ever liked Roy but he did like his envelopes. Sammy the Bull does tell that story about Castellano tacitly revealing his hand by shoving the newspaper article about Roy's body being found in front of Sammy's face to see his reaction. And there is audio of Gotti's crew discussing their hesitation about hitting DeMeo for Paul. I think they were definitely scared of Roy, but Paul did have a reason to want Roy dead.

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  15. Paul Castellano apparently didn't think he'd stand up. Roy, the only one who could personally incriminate Castellano aside from Dom, was supposedly coming apart at the end, drinking and gobbling valium. Nino yelled at him one night when he caught Roy talking to feds who were watching a social club. He told Nino something like "I didn't say nothing!" And Nino said something like "You were talking to him for an hour (don't know how long it was). How can you talk to a guy that long and tell him nothing?"

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  16. There are to Versions of the detective accounts British version doesn't mention Roy being loyal soldier only the American version

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