Gerard "Jerry" Chilli, Reputed Bonanno Capo, Died Yesterday: Sources


Bonanno crime family capo Gerard "Jerry" Chilli died yesterday in Florida
Gerard "Jerry" Chilli


Former Staten Island resident and reputed Bonanno crime family capo Gerard "Jerry" Chilli died yesterday in Florida of cancer, according to Cosa Nostra News sources.

Chilli, 81, was reportedly last living in Hollywood, Fla., based on news reports.

He died of throat cancer, according to sources. "Cigars got him," said one former Bonanno crime family associate, who added that Chilli had been in the hospital for the last couple of months.


An alleged longtime Bonanno crime family member, Chilli was in and out of prison over the past few decades.

Jerry Chilli wasn't promoted to anything in 1979 (we goofed, using information from an online forum); Chilli, in fact, was shelved by none other than former caporegime Alphonse "Sonny Red" Indelicato, who would be murdered with two other capos a couple of years later. Chilli was shelved for getting into a barroom altercation with a Gambino associate, according to an ever-reliable Cosa Nostra News mob source. Chilli was a made guy at the time, obviously, and after having words with a Gambino associate in a Staten Island watering hole, Chilli forgot about it, not realizing the repercussions of his actions due to the special status of Joe Watts....

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Chilli visited New York from his Florida home in December 2012, while on probation after a prison stint for extortion, as was reported.

FBI agents, surveilling him, spotted Chilli with Bonanno mobsters Anthony Rabito and Peter Lovaglio.

As a result, in May 2013 Brooklyn federal prosecutors hit Chilli with probation violation charges. He was arrested in Florida.

Chilli notoriously served as a mentor to Costabile "Gus" Farace, Jr.; it's been reported that Chilli played a role in setting up Farace's murder after the drug-dealing mob associate became a fugitive after shooting a DEA agent to death.


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