Vincent Cafaro

Vincent "Fish" Cafaro (b. August 27, 1933) was a New York City mobster and protegee of Anthony "Fat Tony" Salerno, a top lieutenant in the Genovese crime family. In 1986, Carago became a government informant. Cafaro grew up in the East Harlem section of New York. He became a made man, or full member, in the Genovese family in 1974 and was assigned to Salerno's crew, based out of the Palma Boys Social Club in East Harlem.

Labor Racketeer

From 1974 to 1986, Carfaro was influential in the N.Y.C. District Council of Carpenters rackets. Cafaro received payoff money from fellow East Harlem native and Genovese captain Vincent DiNapoli. DiNapoli's top associate, Teddy Maritas, was President of the District Council. Cafaro's representative in the Carpenters Union was Onofrio "Frankie Zip" Acramone. Cafaro would have Acramone set up meetings with other union officers to gain further influence in the union. Cafaro and Acramone worked with DiNapoli's representatives Attilio Bitondo, Anthony Fiorino, and Gambino crime family representative Carmine Fiore on labor rackets at the new Javits Convention Center.

Dinapoli eventually went to prison for labor racketeering; Maritas disappeared after being indicted. While DiNapoli was in prison, he learned that Cafaro was gaining influence in the District Council. Worried about his turf, DiNapoli took the problem to boss Salerno. Salerno sided with DiNapoli and forced Cafaro to return the union rackets to DiNapoli.

Government Informant

In 1986, Cafaro turned against the Genovese family. After being indicted on racketeering and drug charges, Cafaro decided to cooperate with the federal government [http://www.mafianj.com/sci89/genovesegigante.shtml] . Cafaro's son Thomas was indicted at the same case, and the feds offered to drop the charges against him. However, Thomas decided to plead guilty and face jail time to assure the Genovese family that he was still loyal.

Vincent Cafaro would later testify about the Genovese's involvement in large scale heroin trafficking, labor racketeering, their control over the New York District Council of Carpenters, and the family's organizational structure. Cafaro also exposed the Genovese family's control over the New York Coliseum and the Javits Center. He also described how Salerno, after suffering a stroke, became a figurehead for new boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante. This maneuver helped deflect law enforcement scrutiny of Gigante's affairs. [http://www.americanmafia.com/Feature_Articles_170.html] . So when Salerno was eventually convicted and given a 100 year sentence in the Commission case, the prosecutors were not getting Gigante, the real family boss.

In 1987, Cafaro temporarily renounced his agreement with law enforcement, then resumed it in 1989. In 1989 and 1990, Cafaro testified against Gambino crime family boss John Gotti and then disappeared into the federal Witness Protection Program.

Further reading

*Goldstock, Ronald, Martin Marcus and II Thacher. "Corruption and Racketeering in the New York City Construction Industry: Final Report of the New York State Organized Crime Task Force". New York: NYU Press, 1990. ISBN 0-8147-3034-5
*Jacobs, James B., Coleen Friel and Robert Radick. "Gotham Unbound: How New York City Was Liberated from the Grip of Organized Crime". New York: NYU Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8147-4247-5
*Jacobs, James B., Christopher Panarella and Jay Worthington. "Busting the Mob: The United States Vs. Cosa Nostra". New York: NYU Press, 1994. ISBN 0-8147-4230-0
*Jacobs, James. "Organized Crime and Its Containment: A Transatlantic Initiative". Lieden, Netherlands: Brill Academic Publishers, 1991. ISBN 90-04-08551-3
*Paoli, Letizia. "Mafia Brotherhoods: Organized Crime, Italian Style". New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0-19-515724-9
*Raab, Selwyn. "Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires". New York: St. Martin Press, 2005. ISBN 0-312-30094-8

External links

* [http://www.thelaborers.net/carpenters/background/carfaro/Carfaro_declaration-1990-8-28_Dir/Carfaro_declaration-1990-8-28_Page1.htm United States of America v. Vincent Cafaro and the District Council of New York City and Vicinity of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America] , United States Southern District Court of New York
* [http://www.thelaborers.net/court_cases/us_vs_salerno-1986-07-03.htm United States of America v. Anthony Salerno and Vincent Cafaro] , United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit