Lupertazzi crime family
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The Lupertazzi crime family, is a fictional mob family from the HBO series, The Sopranos. The Lupertazzi crime family is a major partner of the DiMeo Crime Family and one of the Five Families. They are larger and more powerful than the DiMeo family.
It is assumed that the other crime families in New York are fictional; however, there have been references to real-life mob figures John Gotti, Joe Massino, and Paul Castellano. At least three or four other families are known of; the Tarese Family, the Mangano Family (which historically was headed by Vincent Mangano a forerunner of the Gambino crime family), and the Paglieri Family. One was run by George Paglieri until his retirement, and another is controlled by John Sacrimoni's brother-in-law, Andy, whose last name and family is not known. He may be the brother of Ginny Sack and Anthony Infante, or the husband of an unnamed sister of Johnny's. Due to its large size, the Lupertazzi crime family likely represents either the Gambino or Genovese crime families.
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[edit] History and structure
The Lupertazzi Family is based in Brooklyn, Queens, and Long Island (as well as having at least one crew operating out of Florida). The Family was headed by Carmine Lupertazzi Sr. until his death in 2004. The Lupertazzi Family is known for their close dealings with the DiMeo Crime Family, particularly on the Esplanade construction site and HUD projects in Newark, New Jersey. The Lupertazzi Family consists of around 200 soldiers.
The Lupertazzi Family has gone through some internal friction over the years, with Boss Carmine Lupertazzi and his underboss, John "Johnny Sack" Sacramoni, each reaching out to North Jersey Boss Tony Soprano to perform a hit on the other. Neither hit ended up being carried out. The Family fell into disarray after Carmine Sr.'s death when his son, "Little" Carmine Lupertazzi, came up from Florida to try and take control from Johnny Sack, who had been eyeing the top position for years. Key crews in the Family split loyalties: capos Phil Leotardo and Jimmy Petrille sided with Johnny Sack in the conflict, while capos Rusty Millio, Jerry Basile and consigliere Angelo Garepe sided with "Little" Carmine. Tony Soprano came to Johnny Sack with a compromise: there would be a power-sharing situation with Little Carmine, Johnny, and Angelo holding the title as boss and decisions being made with the consent of at least two bosses. Johnny Sack refused, insulted by the proposition.
Associates loyal to Little Carmine, Lorraine Calluzzo and Jason Evanina, were killed on the orders of Johnny Sack as punishment for kicking up to Little Carmine. As payback, Rusty and Angelo reached out to Tony Blundetto, an associate in the DiMeo Crime Family and cousin to Tony Soprano, to kill Joey "Peeps" Peparelli, an associate close to Johnny Sack. Phil and Billy Leotardo retaliated by stuffing Angelo inside a car and shooting him in the head. Tony B., a close friend of Garepe from their time in prison, then went after Phil, wounding him and killing Billy.
After the attacks on Garepe and the Leotardo brothers, Little Carmine retreated back to Florida. Johnny Sack was installed as official boss of the Lupertazzi Family. His first order of business was to take revenge on Tony B., by means of torture and murder from Phil. Tony Soprano, unwilling to allow Phil to do that to his cousin, refused to give up Blundetto, who had gone into hiding. Leotardo responded by attacking Soprano associate Benny Fazio, sending him to the hospital with a skull fracture. Facing increased pressure from his own family, Tony shot and killed Tony B. himself with a shotgun blast to the head. Phil was outraged, but Johnny Sack met with Tony to re-establish business with the North Jersey Boss. At that meeting, the F.B.I. raided Johnny Sack's home and arrested him. It was later revealed that Jimmy Petrille, prospective consigliere to Johnny Sack and a friend of his father, had given 18 years worth of information to the federal government.
With Johnny Sack in jail and awaiting trial, Phil Leotardo was named Acting Boss of the Lupertazzi Crime Family. Despite holding a grudge after the death of his brother and a minor incident involving Acting Capo Gerry Torciano and Hesh Rabkin, Phil maintained a working relationship with the Soprano Family.
Johnny Sack, fearing another uprising from Rusty Millio, reached out to Tony Soprano through Phil to whack the rebellious capo. After refusing Phil, Tony agreed to put out the hit when Johnny talked to him at his daughter, Allegra's wedding (which Johnny was allowed to attend for six hours provided he pay for security costs). When the feds interrupted Allegra's wedding car to take Johnny back to prison, John burst into tears. Phil made it a point after the wedding to speak out on his diminished regard for his boss.
Tony Soprano made good on his promise to Johnny, and sent two men from Naples to whack Rusty Millio and soldier Eddie Pietro outside of his home. However, more tension arose between the two families when Phil's cousin-in-law and the captain of the top earning Aprile crew, Vito Spatafore, was outed as a homosexual.
In the winter of 2006, Boss John "Johnny Sack" Sacrimoni plead guilty to 47 RICO predicates, receiving a 15 year sentence. As part of the plea, he admitted that he was a member of La Cosa Nostra. When hearing this, Lupertazzi Family members denounced their boss, saying that he broke the vow of silence.
Becoming virtually the Boss of the Lupertazzi Family, Phil immediately started flexing his power, renegotiating no-show jobs shared with the Soprano Family and whacking Aprile crew captain Vito Spatafore before Tony could get the chance to settle things within his own family. In retaliation, Tony planned on hurting Phil financially, but his plans were complicated when Carlo Gervasi and Silvio Dante killed Dominic "Fat Dom" Gamiello, a soldier in the Lupertazzi Family.
Tony Soprano officially responded to Vito's death by blowing up a Sheepshead Bay wire room operated by Phil Leotardo. Leotardo and his gumar (Mistress/lover) were approaching the business as it exploded but were unharmed.
Subsequently, a sit-down was arranged by Little Carmine Lupertazzi between Phil and Tony Soprano. A truce was almost agreed until Lupertazzi brought up the death of Leotardo's brother Billy Leotardo. Phil was enraged and left the sit-down after insulting both Soprano and Lupertazzi.
Later, Phil Leotardo convened a war council with consigliere Albie Cianflone, and captains Butch DeConcini and Gerry Torciano. DeConcini pushed hard for Tony Soprano, or someone high up in the Soprano family, to be whacked while Phil blanched at the thought of whacking a boss. However, Phil was hospitalized thereafter when he suffered a massive coronary. When Tony Soprano visited Phil in the hospital to make peace, he seemed receptive, but DeConcini was openly confrontational.
In late 2007, Phil returned to Brookyln after undergoing heart surgery and several months of physical therapy. He found the family in disarray under the highly controversial leadership of Faustino 'Doc' Santoro. While there was some expectation that Phil would return to his position of boss, the stress of his heart attack had caused him to lose all interest in the job. Phil prepared to support his protegee Gerry Torciano in his bid for boss, and was emphatic in stressing that being a boss, 'health-wise, is a young man's game.' However, Leotardo's and Torciano's plans were ended when Santoro had Torciano murdered at a dinner with Soprano Family consilgiere Silvio Dante. The fact that Dante's life was imperiled prompted Tony Soprano to appeal to Little Carmine to take the reins as boss of the Lupertazzis. However, Little Carmine explained to Tony that during his war with Johnny, his wife had appealed to him to quit so that she would not lose him.
Although he had been boss only in name, the death of Johnny Sack further destabilized the Lupertazzi Family as he left behind no clear successor. With his protegee and successor dead and Little Carmine unwilling to take over, Leotardo re-examined his motives and prepared to go to war with Santoro. After deciding to get back in the game, Phil bided his time, working under Doc Santoro until the old man's arrogance got too much to handle. Having enough, Phil ordered his soldiers to kill Santoro once and for all, so driven by Butch DeConcini, the hitmen murdered Santoro and an associate outside a massage parlor, leaving him dead on the sidewalk.
After Phil rejects Tony's offer of compromise on an asbestos removal project he then refuses to meet with Tony after he brutally beats one of Phil's men, Coco, for threatening Meadow Soprano. Phil responds by putting a hit on Tony Soprano and two of his closest associates, Bobby and Silvio. The hits on Bobby and Silvio go nearly as planned with Bobby killed and Silvio incapacitated. Tony and Paulie had a sitdown with Butch, Albie, and Little Carmine, brokered by NY Boss George Paglieri, to negotiate a peace. Unhappy with Phil's leadership, they allowed Tony to have Phil executed, though Butch refused to give the exact location of where Phil was. Phil was shot in the head by DiMeo soldier Walden Belfiore while he was exiting his family sport utility vehicle at a gas station. His wife, the driver, was so distraught that she exited the SUV while it the transmission was still in drive. The vehicle rolled forward, the passenger side rear wheel crushing Phil's head. His twin grandchildren, riding in car seats, were unharmed but for experiencing a slight bump. The new boss of the family is unknown, but most likely former underboss Butch DeConcini.
[edit] Current Organization
[edit] Administration
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- Butch DeConcini — Underboss (2006–present)
- Albie Cianfalone — Consigliere (2006–present)
[edit] Emeritus
- Philip "Phil" Leotardo — Boss (2007), Acting Boss (2004–2007 deceased)
- Faustino "Doc" Santoro — Boss (2007), Underboss to Phil Leotardo (2004–2007 deceased)
- John "Johnny Sack" Sacrimoni — Boss (2004–2007), Underboss to Carmine Lupertazzi (pre-1999–2004, deceased)
- Carmine Lupertazzi — Boss (Unknown–2004, deceased)
- Angelo Garepe — Consigliere to Carmine Lupertazzi (Unknown–1986, 2004, deceased)
- Jimmy Petrille — Consigliere to Johnny Sack (2004, FBI informant, possibly under witness protection)
[edit] Crews
[edit] Leotardo Crew
Based in Brooklyn.
It is unknown who took over the Leotardo Crew when Gerry Torciano was killed and Phil became Boss.
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- Raymond "Ray-Ray" D'Abaldo — Soldier
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- Anthony — Associate
- Jimmy Lauria — Associate
- Jason Masucci — Associate
- David Pasquale — Associate
- Muzzy Nardo — Associate
- Peter "Petey B." Bucossi — Associate
[edit] Former Capos
- Phil Leotardo — (Unknown–1984, 2004) promoted to Acting Boss "[[deceased]]"
- Gerry Torciano — (2006–2007, deceased)
[edit] Former Soldiers
- Albie Cianfalone — Soldier (Unknown–2006) promoted to Consigliere
- Dominic "Fat Dom" Gamiello — Soldier (Unknown–2006, deceased)
- Billy Leotardo — Soldier (Unknown–2004, deceased)
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- Joseph "Joey Peeps" Peparelli — Associate (Unknown–2004, deceased)
[edit] Lupertazzi Crew
Based in Miami.
[edit] Former Associates
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- Lorraine Calluzzo — Associate (Unknown–2004, deceased)
- Jason Evanina — Associate (Unknown–2004, deceased)
[edit] Millio Crew
Current captain unknown; possibly defunct.
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- Mook — Soldier or Associate
[edit] Former Capos
- Rusty Millio — Capo (Unknown–2006, deceased)
[edit] Former Soldiers
- Eddie Pietro — Soldier (Unknown–2006, deceased)
[edit] Basile Crew
Based in Freeport, Long Island.
- Jerry Basile — Capo
[edit] Santoro Crew
Current captain unknown; possibly defunct.
- Faustino "Doc" Santoro — Underboss (Unknown–2007) Promoted to Boss
[edit] DeConcini crew
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- Dominic — Soldier
- Salvatore "Coco" Cogliano — Soldier (unknown-2006 deceased)
