1. William Cutolo, known as "Billy Fingers" and "Wild Bill", was an Italian-American mobster in the Colombo crime family of New York City who rose to the position of underboss and was heavily involved in labor racketeering.
35 Facts About William Cutolo
1. 2.
William Cutolo, christened Guglielmo Cutolo, was born in Potenza in Basilicata and raised in the Brooklyn borough of New York City.
3.
William Cutolo had three daughters and a son named William Jr.
4.
In 1990, William Cutolo had his third daughter, Dana, with his wife Bette Anne Fox, from Brooklyn.
5.
William Cutolo was a fundraising chairman and board member for the National Leukemia Research Association in Garden City, New York.
6.
William Cutolo sat on the Medical Advisory Committee as Chairman of "Team Leukemia", and was associated with the New York chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Rye Brook, New York.
7.
William Cutolo helped raise $400,000 for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 204 as well as many other locals over the years.
8.
In 1988, William Cutolo was honored as the National Leukemia Association's Man of the Year.
9.
William Cutolo rose up the ranks of the Colombo crime family during the late 1980s under acting boss Victor Orena.
10.
Originally a soldier in captain Pasquale Amato's crew, William Cutolo soon became one of the family's more powerful leaders.
11.
William Cutolo was successful because he made much money and commanded a crew of hitmen.
12.
William Cutolo's crew included Joseph Petillo, Dominick Dionisio, Michael Spataro, Ralph Guccione, Vincent "Chickie" DeMartino, Michael Donato and his son William Cutolo Jr.
13.
William Cutolo earned the nickname "Billy Fingers" because he was missing one finger and another one was mutilated due to an occupational accident at a hamburger store.
14.
In 1989, William Cutolo earned his nickname "Wild Bill" after beating a man with a baseball bat.
15.
William Cutolo was fond of cowboy boots and frequently wore a large brown ten-gallon hat.
16.
William Cutolo operated Bill's Friendly Bocce social club in the Bath Beach section of Brooklyn as his headquarters.
17.
William Cutolo was the best man at mobster John "Jackie" DeRoss's wedding, the man who would eventually participate in his murder.
18.
Unyielding in negotiations and harsh with his crew members, William Cutolo made no secret of his ambition to become boss of the Colombo family.
19.
However, in 1990, William Cutolo resigned his positions the day before the Teamsters Union was planning to expel him for organized crime ties.
20.
William Cutolo gained control of District Council 37, a local of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.
21.
William Cutolo was not afraid to use intimidation to maintain power.
22.
In 1990, William Cutolo sent thugs to beat up 72-year-old Vincent Parisi, the head of a Laborers Union local with colon cancer.
23.
William Cutolo was later accused of using the union's name to receive money from companies seeking to avoid union organizers.
24.
William Cutolo extorted money from companies such as Embassy Terrace, a Brooklyn caterer.
25.
William Cutolo was in severe financial trouble when it approached Cutolo for help.
26.
In return his investment, William Cutolo gained control over the enterprise.
27.
William Cutolo controlled several restaurants and nightclubs In New York and Miami, Florida.
28.
In 1991, William Cutolo became enmeshed in a bloody war for control of the Colombo family.
29.
On November 18,1991, in response to the Orena attack, William Cutolo sent a team to ambush Persico loyalist Gregory Scarpa as he was driving with his daughter and granddaughter.
30.
Five days after the Scarpa hit, William Cutolo led a hit team that killed Persico loyalist Henry Smurra outside a Brooklyn doughnut shop.
31.
Investigators concluded that William Cutolo was personally responsible for three of the 12 murders committed during this conflict.
32.
Carmine Persico was angry that William Cutolo had called him "a rat" for admitting the existence of the Cosa Nostra at the 1985 Mafia Commission Trial.
33.
The Persicos and DeRoss were afraid that William Cutolo would seize control of the family in Alphonse Persico's absence and decided to murder William Cutolo.
34.
William Cutolo's mechanic dropped him off at a park in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn where the meeting was set to take place.
35.
In 2008, nine years after his murder, William Cutolo was interred at the Cemetery of the Resurrection, Staten Island.