1. Angelo Ruggiero was a member of the Gambino crime family and a friend of John Gotti's.
36 Facts About Angelo Ruggiero
1. 2.
Angelo Salvatore Ruggiero was born at Lutheran Hospital and raised in the East New York section of Brooklyn.
3.
Angelo Ruggiero's father was a first-generation immigrant from Naples, Italy who was not involved in organized crime.
4.
Angelo Ruggiero's cousins include Gambino underboss Aniello Dellacroce, and Sean and Shannon Connelly.
5.
Angelo Ruggiero grew up with future Gambino boss John Gotti and underboss Sammy Gravano.
6.
Gotti and Angelo Ruggiero were convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison.
7.
Angelo Ruggiero was suspected in the 1980 disappearance of John Favara, a neighbor of Gotti's who had killed Gotti's 12-year-old son Frank in a car accident.
8.
Angelo Ruggiero was later the subject of a government undercover investigation.
9.
Angelo Ruggiero's uncle, Aniello Dellacroce, was an original supporter of Gambino boss Albert Anastasia's who became underboss under Anastasia's successor, Carlo Gambino.
10.
Dellacroce's relationship with Angelo Ruggiero was tested when Peter Tambone, a Angelo Ruggiero associate, was arrested for narcotics trafficking.
11.
Angelo Ruggiero would have probably put him on a shelf somewhere and appease Paul that way.
12.
Angelo Ruggiero would listen to his uncle's protege and childhood friend, John Gotti, insult Dellacroce about his "La Cosa Nostra bullshit".
13.
When Dellacroce was dying, Angelo Ruggiero was a constant visitor to his bedside until his death on December 2,1985.
14.
Angelo Ruggiero followed up by pressuring the American Mafia Commission to issue a firm Mafia-wide ban that would carry an instant death penalty.
15.
Angelo Ruggiero sneered that Castellano was a "milk drinker" and a "pansy".
16.
Angelo Ruggiero frequently insulted Gotti behind his back, which was recorded on FBI wiretaps.
17.
Angelo Ruggiero was considered John Gotti's biggest ego booster among his close associates, despite the behind-the-back barbs.
18.
Angelo Ruggiero later became a father figure to John Gotti Jr.
19.
Angelo Ruggiero later helped murder Gambino crime family street soldier Anthony Plate, with John Gotti and Wilfred Johnson, for his uncle Dellacroce in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
20.
The tapped telephone in Angelo Ruggiero's home was listed in his daughter Princess Angelo Ruggiero's name.
21.
On December 1,1984, the Angelo Ruggiero wiretap was removed because he moved from Howard Beach, Queens to Cedarhurst, New York, to a house he was having renovated.
22.
Angelo Ruggiero told informants it was a good move for him and that the FBI would not know where he lived.
23.
Angelo Ruggiero obtained a pasted-together version of the last of the FBI's six Angelo Ruggiero electronic-surveillance affidavits.
24.
Dellacroce tried to placate Castellano, saying that there were many personally embarrassing moments on the tapes that Angelo Ruggiero did not want anyone to hear.
25.
Angelo Ruggiero said that he wanted the tapes not to justify murdering him, but for his lawyers who were trying to suppress the introduction of his own tapes in the upcoming 1985 Mafia Commission Trial.
26.
Angelo Ruggiero accused his uncle of betrayal for even entertaining the thought.
27.
Angelo Ruggiero told his lawyers he would kill them if they gave up the tapes.
28.
In June 1986 Angelo Ruggiero successfully arranged the murder of Gambino crime family capo, Robert DiBernardo.
29.
Angelo Ruggiero wanted it done right, he wanted it done right, and he wanted me to do it.
30.
Insulted, Angelo Ruggiero decided to have Casso murdered, a task entrusted to Michael Paradiso, one of John Gotti's oldest friends.
31.
The investigation into Angelo Ruggiero suddenly held promise in leading to indictments of major family operatives.
32.
Angelo Ruggiero was known as a constant chatter-box, providing a running commentary on everything going on around him, hence his nickname "quack quack".
33.
From prison, Gotti ordered the murder of Robert DiBernardo by Gravano; both DiBernardo and Angelo Ruggiero had been vying to succeed DeCicco as underboss until Angelo Ruggiero accused DiBernardo of challenging Gotti's leadership.
34.
Sammy Gravano then heard that John wanted to have Angelo Ruggiero murdered for allowing himself to be recorded by the FBI.
35.
Gravano convinced Gotti that because Angelo Ruggiero was dying of cancer that it was not even worth it to carry out the execution.
36.
On Monday, December 4,1989, Angelo Ruggiero died of cancer in Howard Beach, Queens, at the age of 49 years.