Killing traitors were his specialty as he rose up the mob ranks with his crew
He made killing “traitors” his specialty — and his Mafia bosses rewarded him handsomely.
As two factions of the Colombo crime family battled for control in the 1990s, street boss Thomas Gioeli “developed a crew of professional killers” to ward off insurgents, “committing murder and getting away with it,” prosecutor Christina Posa told a Brooklyn federal jury yesterday.
Gioeli — known as “Tommy Shots” — took “the bosses’ side,” and “that meant eliminating traitors,” Posa said in her opening statement at the murder racketeering trial of Gioeli and one of his accused henchmen, Dino Saracino.
In the destructive, bloody free-for-all that followed, Gioeli proved his loyalty to the old regime by orchestrating a series of mob hits — truly “horrific acts,” the prosecutor said.
Gioeli, 59, and Colombo soldier Saracino, 39, known as “Little Dino,” a reputed member of the hit squad Gioeli recruited, went on trial yesterday for a total of six murders. They also face a slew of racketeering, extortion and other charges.
Amid the climate of suspicion and insecurity fueled by the Colombos’ civil war, the family’s leadership decided one of its highest-ranking mobsters had to go, prosecutors said.
Underboss William “Wild Bill” Cutolo “posed a threat” because he was “wealthy and powerful,” and the family’s leadership thought he might make a move to take over the family, prosecutors said.
So on May 26, 1999, Cutolo was lured to Saracino’s basement apartment in Bensonhurst, where a revolver was placed against his temple and a single shot fired, prosecutors said.
Gioeli had enlisted his hit squad to carry out Cutolo’s murder, and Saracino was front and center, the feds say.
The mobsters allegedly hog-tied Cutolo’s body with duct tape, put plastic bags over his head and torso, and buried him in a wooded area adjacent to an industrial section of Farmingdale, LI, where they poured lime into the grave to hasten its decomposition.
The remains went undiscovered for nearly 10 years.
Defense attorneys countered that the feds have no physical evidence conclusively linking Gioeli and Saracino to the six charged mob murders. The only thing the government can rely on are witnesses who are ex-mobsters, “psychopaths,” and “liars,” the defense team told jurors in opening statements.
Both Gioeli and Saracino also are accused in the murder of NYPD Officer Ralph Dols, who was killed for marrying the ex-wife of a Colombo consigliere. They also are charged with participating in the rub-out of Colombo associate Richard Greaves.
In addition, Gioeli is accused of three other hits — Michael Imbergamo and John Minerva on March 25, 1992; and Frank “Chestnut” Marasa, who was ambushed and murdered on a Brooklyn street on June 12, 1991, in a revenge hit.
As two factions of the Colombo crime family battled for control in the 1990s, street boss Thomas Gioeli “developed a crew of professional killers” to ward off insurgents, “committing murder and getting away with it,” prosecutor Christina Posa told a Brooklyn federal jury yesterday.
Gioeli — known as “Tommy Shots” — took “the bosses’ side,” and “that meant eliminating traitors,” Posa said in her opening statement at the murder racketeering trial of Gioeli and one of his accused henchmen, Dino Saracino.
MOB MAYHEM: Thomas Gioeli (left) and Dino Saracino are on trial in Brooklyn for murder.
Gioeli, 59, and Colombo soldier Saracino, 39, known as “Little Dino,” a reputed member of the hit squad Gioeli recruited, went on trial yesterday for a total of six murders. They also face a slew of racketeering, extortion and other charges.
Amid the climate of suspicion and insecurity fueled by the Colombos’ civil war, the family’s leadership decided one of its highest-ranking mobsters had to go, prosecutors said.
Underboss William “Wild Bill” Cutolo “posed a threat” because he was “wealthy and powerful,” and the family’s leadership thought he might make a move to take over the family, prosecutors said.
So on May 26, 1999, Cutolo was lured to Saracino’s basement apartment in Bensonhurst, where a revolver was placed against his temple and a single shot fired, prosecutors said.
Gioeli had enlisted his hit squad to carry out Cutolo’s murder, and Saracino was front and center, the feds say.
The mobsters allegedly hog-tied Cutolo’s body with duct tape, put plastic bags over his head and torso, and buried him in a wooded area adjacent to an industrial section of Farmingdale, LI, where they poured lime into the grave to hasten its decomposition.
The remains went undiscovered for nearly 10 years.
Defense attorneys countered that the feds have no physical evidence conclusively linking Gioeli and Saracino to the six charged mob murders. The only thing the government can rely on are witnesses who are ex-mobsters, “psychopaths,” and “liars,” the defense team told jurors in opening statements.
Both Gioeli and Saracino also are accused in the murder of NYPD Officer Ralph Dols, who was killed for marrying the ex-wife of a Colombo consigliere. They also are charged with participating in the rub-out of Colombo associate Richard Greaves.
In addition, Gioeli is accused of three other hits — Michael Imbergamo and John Minerva on March 25, 1992; and Frank “Chestnut” Marasa, who was ambushed and murdered on a Brooklyn street on June 12, 1991, in a revenge hit.
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