Colombo crime boss Thomas Gioeli gave sign to kill while praying in garden of Long Island church
In the garden outside a Long Island church, Colombo crime boss Thomas Gioeli folded both hands to pray — or placed just one over his heart to kill.
Mafia killer Dino "Big Dino" Calabro recounted the wordless 1999 gesture that permanently silenced Colombo capo William "Wild Bill" Cutolo in an infamous ‘90s mob hit long shrouded in secrecy.
The unholy, one-handed message from Tommy Shots was delivered inside the grotto at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Massapequa, L.I., the chief witness against Gioeli testified Tuesday.
The admitted killer of eight also testified about another spectacular ‘90s mob slaying: the killing of a city cop who married the ex-wife of a jealous Colombo consigliere.
In the Cutolo hit, Calabro recalled his summons to meet Gioeli at the church. “That’s the garden where Tommy would go to pray,” he recalled.
Gioeli placed a hand over his heart — a signal that he wanted somebody whacked. He then held up four fingers, indicating that Cutolo — who was missing part of his middle finger — was the target.
The plot involved luring Wild Bill to a Brooklyn home and eliminating him as a threat to then-acting boss Alphonse Persico’s rule atop the Colombos.
Gioeli drove Cutulo to the death house for a purported sitdown between Persico and Wild Bill. Calabro recounted greeting Cutolo in the driveway of the home.
“We shook hands,” Calabro said. “He said, ‘Allie’s here, right? Where are we going?’
“He went in, and I followed him and pulled out my gun and shot him in the head. He just went ‘Whoa,’ and fell backward into the closet.”
To cover up the crime, Cutolo’s watch, beeper and jewelry were mixed into a bucket filled with concrete and dumped off a Brooklyn pier.
The body was wrapped in garbage bags, hog-tied and buried in Farmingdale, L.I. Gioeli waited at a Dunkin’ Donuts while his henchmen put Cutolo into the ground, Calabro said.
Under cross-examination, cold-blooded killer Calabro said he forked over more than $750,000 in crooked gains to the government — not including the $65,000 stolen by his brother, Enzo.
Calabro also said he expected a better sentencing deal than the one given to Bonanno gangster Salvatore Vitale: seven years for 11 murders.
“You want an apology from the government, too?" asked defense attorney Adam Perlmutter.
Calabro earlier recounted his outrage over the 1997 hit ordered on “a Mexican guy who worked in a Queens social club.”
The victim turned out to be off-duty New York police officer Ralph Dols.
Calabro was stunned to learn that he joined in the killing of a cop. He even recalled asking Gioeli if
they should whack the mobster who gave the order, Colombo consigliere Joel "Joe Waverly" Cacace.
Gioeli “took a step back, he listened, and it was never brought up again,” he testified.
The Cutolo killing boosted Calabro’s murderous rep, and he became a made man at a ceremony in 2000. But after achieving his lifelong goal, Calabro’s bloodlust disappeared.
“I was tired of killing,” he testified. “I was tired of being used.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/colombo-crime-boss-thomas-gioeli-gave-sign-kill-praying-garden-li-church-mob-pal-article-1.1051663#ixzz1qMOcCfgI
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