I Spy

Ralph D'Amato was a gangster associated with Frankie Yale and Al Capone. It was with the latter that he was arrested just after Christmas of 1925 for the murder of White Hand gang members Richard "Pegleg" Lonergan, Neil "Needles" Ferry and Aaron Harms in the Adonis Social Club.

By the mid-twenties the relationship between Yale and Capone had started to sour. When Capone's alcohol trucks, supposedly being protected by Yale, began to get hijacked, Capone started getting suspicious. He called on Ralph D'Amato to spy for him. Sure enough, D'Amato was able to report that Yale was indeed the one behind the hijackings.

Unfortunately for D'Amato, Yale found out that he had a spy in his midst. The gang leader rectified the situation on July 7, 1927. Shortly before midnight, D'Amato was speaking to two men on a corner. They parted ways, but the men followed him and opened fire. D'Amato was hit in the neck, stomach and side. The gunmen ran back to the corner and jumped into a sedan and escaped.

D'Amato was about forty-years old and lived with his dad and sister. He had six arrests under his belt and did a year in prison for possessing narcotics.

Ralph D'Amato

A Boss Buys it

Eighty-nine years ago today one of New York's Mafia bosses was bumped off in Brooklyn. Giuseppe Piraino, known as the "Clutching Hand" because of some gnarled fingers on his right hand, was said to have inherited the Bay Ridge liquor traffic after the demise of Frankie Yale. Supposedly he had just exited a gangland summit where he agreed to stop operating in other Mafiosis territory but refused to split the profits he made from venturing into their locale.  It is also possible that he was a victim of the Castellammarese War, that was then in progress.

Whatever the reason, Piraino was crossing the street when the shots rang out. Three slugs entered the area of his heart and two more went into his chest. According to a witness, after Piraino was struck, the mob boss swayed, then turned back to where the shots came from and fell face up into the gutter dead.

Southside Johnny

Johnny Genero was called a minor Southside racketeer. Southside of Chicago that is. For a minor racketeer he was involved in some major trouble. In addition to whatever nefarious activities he took part in, he was brought in for questioning regarding the murder of Brooklyn mob boss Frankie Yale as well as being indicted (but exonerated) for election day terrorism.

Genero also kept bad company. He was involved somehow with James Belcastro, aka "King of the Bombers." This relationship went south however because Belcastro set up a meeting with Genero  on January 29, 1930. The reason? Belcastro wanted Johnny to meet a few guys. They met at a restaurant and a few minutes after Belcastro left, Genero walked out to his car and met the two men. Instead of handshakes, the two men greeted Johnny with bullets. Five of them. Genero went to the hospital and the family gathered. He was given the Last Rites. We know Belcastro set up Johnny because Johnny sang to the police. Assuming that he was dying he told the law that Belcastro "Put him on the spot" and that the shooters were, Louis De Lucca and Angelo Lucia. To everyone's surprise Genero pulled through. Apparently Johnny got amnesia during his recovery, because nothing came of his statement.

About a year later on January 11, 1931, Belcastro was shot numerous times by two guys as he entered his car outside his brother in-laws house. Was Genero behind the shooting? Who knows, unlike Johnny, Belcastro didn't talk. However, a few months later, eighty-eight years ago tonight to be exact, Genero was driving his car, a companion in the seat next him, when a roadster containing four men, two in the front, two in the rumble seat pulled up. After a short chase the roadster caught up to Genero's car and the men opened fire. This time the Last Rites were for the last time.

Johnny Genero