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..
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| 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.
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.
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| 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).
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| 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 NEWS: Describe 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...
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 NEWS: Describe 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.
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!