1. In interviews, and on the witness stand, Anthony Casso confessed involvement in the murders of Frank DeCicco, Roy DeMeo, and Vladimir Reznikov.
70 Facts About Anthony Casso
1. 2.
Anthony Casso admitted to several attempts to murder Gambino family boss John Gotti.
3.
In 1998, it was rescinded and Anthony Casso was dropped from the program after several infractions.
4.
Anthony Casso died in prison custody from complications related to COVID-19 on December 15,2020.
5.
Anthony Casso was born on May 21,1942, in South Brooklyn, in New York City, the youngest of the three children to Michael and Margaret Anthony Casso, nee Cucceullo.
6.
Anthony Casso's grandparents had immigrated to the United States from Campania, Italy in the 1890s.
7.
Anthony Casso's godfather was Salvatore Callinbrano, a made man and caporegime in the Genovese crime family, which maintained a powerful influence on the Brooklyn docks.
8.
Anthony Casso dropped out of school at 16 and got a job with his father as a longshoreman.
9.
Anthony Casso married fellow South Brooklyn native Lillian Delduca on May 4,1968.
10.
Anthony Casso was a violent youth, and a member of the infamous South Brooklyn Boys street gang.
11.
Anthony Casso later told Carlo that his father Michael visited him at the police station and tried in vain to scare his son straight.
12.
Anthony Casso soon caught the eye of Christopher "Christie Tick" Furnari, a Lucchese family mobster and leader of the "19th Hole Crew" in Brooklyn.
13.
Anthony Casso joined Vincent Foceri's crew that operated from 116th Street in Manhattan and from Fourteenth Avenue in Brooklyn.
14.
Shortly after becoming a made, Anthony Casso became close to another rising star in the family, Victor Amuso, and began a partnership that lasted for two decades.
15.
When Furnari was promoted to act as the Lucchese family's consigliere, he decided to promote Anthony Casso to succeed him as caporegime of the 19th Hole Crew.
16.
Anthony Casso declined, suggesting that Amuso be promoted instead; he subsequently became Amuso's trusted right hand.
17.
In December 1985, Anthony Casso was approached by caporegime Frank DeCicco regarding a planned coup in the Gambino crime family.
18.
Anthony Casso later told Carlo that he tried to talk DeCicco out of killing a boss without first asking for The Commission's permission.
19.
Amuso and Anthony Casso were chosen to handle the assassinations, and were instructed to use a car bomb to try and shift suspicion to Sicilian mobsters, or Zips, related to Castellano.
20.
Amuso and Anthony Casso made one attempt on the lives of Gotti and DeCicco, planting a bomb in DeCicco's car when the two were scheduled to visit a social club on April 13,1986.
21.
In November 1986, Lucchese family boss Anthony Casso Corallo sensed that the Commission Trial would result in a guilty verdict that would ensure the entire Lucchese leadership would die in prison.
22.
Anthony Casso turned down the promotion to boss and instead suggested that Amuso become the new boss.
23.
Amuso formally took over the family in 1987 and Anthony Casso succeeded Furnari as consigliere.
24.
Anthony Casso later took over as Underboss in 1989 after Mariano Macaluso retired.
25.
Anthony Casso controlled Greek-American crime boss George Kalikatas, who gave Anthony Casso $683,000 protection money in 1990 alone to operate a loan sharking, extortion, and illegal gambling organization in Astoria, Queens.
26.
Anthony Casso had a close alliance with Russian boss Marat Balagula, who operated a multibillion-dollar gasoline bootlegging scam in Brighton Beach.
27.
Anthony Casso demanded a percentage of everything Balagula was involved in.
28.
Anthony Casso insisted on being treated at his home in Brighton Beach, where he felt it would be harder for Reznikov to kill him.
29.
Anthony Casso later told Carlo that, to his mind, Reznikov had just spat in the face of the entire Cosa Nostra.
30.
For example, in the infamous "whack Jersey order", Amuso and Casso ordered Al D'Arco and the Vario Crew to murder the Lucchese family's entire Jersey Crew, after caporegime Anthony Accetturo refused a direct order to increase the family's share of their profits.
31.
Anthony Casso alleged during interviews with Philip Carlo that Accetturo had involved his wife in the running of the Jersey Crew and that therefore Accetturo alone was responsible for the contract put on her.
32.
In January 1991, Anthony Casso received an early warning, from a secret law enforcement source he referred to as his "crystal ball", about an upcoming federal indictment.
33.
Shortly before he and Amuso both went into hiding, Anthony Casso summoned Alphonse D'Arco, the caporegime of The Vario Crew, to a meeting at the Rodman gun at John Paul Jones Park, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
34.
Anthony Casso gave D'Arco a list of phone booth numbers and secret addresses and informed D'Arco that he was in charge of the Lucchese crime family until further notice.
35.
In early 1991, Amuso and Anthony Casso ordered the murder of made man and caporegime Peter Chiodo, a fellow Windows Case defendant who had pleaded guilty without asking their permission.
36.
Anthony Casso assigned the murder to acting boss Alphonse 'Little Al' D'Arco.
37.
Anthony Casso broke his blood oath and became a government witness, by his own account, to protect his family.
38.
Meanwhile, Alphonse D'Arco knew that Amuso and Anthony Casso blamed him for having failed to murder Peter Chiodo and grew certain that they were planning to kill him.
39.
In July 1991, in a Staten Island meeting, Amuso and Anthony Casso replaced D'Arco as acting boss with a four-man panel of capos.
40.
On July 29,1991, due to a tipoff from an unidentified Lucchese insider, Amuso was arrested and Anthony Casso became the de facto boss of the family.
41.
Anthony Casso, according to Carlo, had no desire to be boss of the Lucchese family and attempted to arrange for Amuso's escape from federal custody after his arrest.
42.
Also in 1993, Anthony Casso ordered George Zappola, Frank "Bones" Papagni, and Lucchese consigliere Frank Lastorino, to murder the Lucchese family's Bronx capo, Steven Crea.
43.
On January 19,1993, Anthony Casso was arrested while coming out of the shower at the house he shared with his mistress, Rosemarie Billotti, in Mount Olive, New Jersey.
44.
Anthony Casso had written down a detailed list of the Christmas tribute money he and Amuso had received from each Lucchese crew.
45.
Anthony Casso was held at New York's Metropolitan Correctional Center pending trial.
46.
Anthony Casso nearly walked out of jail, but was spotted by another guard and thwarted at the last minute.
47.
Gravano refused, as he reportedly feared that Anthony Casso would start killing members of his extended family.
48.
Anthony Casso was immediately moved to the Federal Prison at La Tuna, near El Paso, Texas and housed in the famous "Valachi Suite" as he debriefed.
49.
Anthony Casso further explained that Detectives Carracappa and Eppolito, who had served on the Federal Organized Crime Strike Force, had leaked the names of both Police and FBI informants, which had resulted in many other murders.
50.
Anthony Casso named scores of other mobsters he had conspired with, including Genovese boss Vincent Gigante.
51.
Anthony Casso confessed to having sent hitmen to Federal Prosecutor Charles Rose's home with the intention of having him murdered.
52.
Anthony Casso admitted to having plotted the assassination of Federal Judge Nickerson in order to delay his own trial.
53.
Anthony Casso initially confessed to twelve murders, but when pressed for details, he admitted to a further twenty-four.
54.
Anthony Casso denied all involvement in the murder of Peter Chiodo's uncle or in the arson at the home of Chiodo's elderly grandmother.
55.
Increasingly sceptical, the FBI Agents made Anthony Casso take a lie detector test, which he failed.
56.
Anthony Casso finalized a plea agreement at a hearing on March 1,1994, where he pleaded guilty to 70 crimes, including racketeering, extortion and 15 murders.
57.
Anthony Casso alleges that he further enraged the US government by accusing Gambino turncoat Sammy Gravano, who had denied ever having dealt in drugs, of buying large amounts of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana from Anthony Casso over two decades.
58.
However, Anthony Casso was vindicated to some extent when Gravano pleaded guilty in 2000 to operating a massive narcotics ring, which included selling ecstasy to adolescents.
59.
Anthony Casso was the second confessed underboss of a New York crime family to break his blood oath and turn informer, after Gravano.
60.
In 1998, Anthony Casso was removed from the witness protection program after prosecutors alleged numerous infractions, in 1997, including bribing guards, assaulting other inmates and making "false statements" about Gravano and D'Arco.
61.
Anthony Casso's attorney tried to get Judge Frederic Block to overrule federal prosecutors in July 1998, but Block refused to do so.
62.
Anthony Casso later told The New York Times organized-crime reporter Selwyn Raab that, before turning informer, he was seriously considering a deal that would have allowed him the possibility of parole after 22 years.
63.
Anthony Casso lost two subsequent appeals to get his sentence reduced.
64.
Anthony Casso began serving his sentence at the supermax prison ADX Florence in Florence, Colorado.
65.
Anthony Casso was transferred to the Federal Medical Center at the Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina, for the treatment of prostate cancer in March 2009.
66.
Anthony Casso was returned to ADX Florence in July 2009.
67.
In 2013, Anthony Casso was transferred to the Federal Residential Reentry Management Office in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
68.
On November 5,2020, Anthony Casso tested positive for COVID-19 while incarcerated, amidst the pandemic in Arizona.
69.
Anthony Casso was placed in medical isolation at USP Tucson.
70.
Anthony Casso died from complications related to COVID-19 on December 15,2020, at the age of 78.