MOBSTER Anthony Ruggiano Jnr grew up with the most notorious gangsters in New York, watching as they double crossed and murdered their way to the top.
His dad was a close associate of the real Goodfella Jimmy Burke, who is believed to have ruthlessly wiped out nine of the men he employed to carry out one of the biggest heists in US history.
The movie Goodfellas was based on the story of Jimmy Burke and his associatesCredit: Alamy
Roy DeMeo was linked to 200 murdersCredit: Supplied
Roy DeMeo committed grisly murders in the apartment hereCredit: Getty
But none of the men Anthony, 72, knew, including , were as dangerous as the less famous Roy DeMeo.
Anyone who did know DeMeo knew to be on their guard.
The DeMeo Crew is said to have been responsible for 200 murders from the late 1960s until his death in 1983.
As much a “serial killer” as a hitman, DeMeo would lure victims to an apartment next to the Gemini Lounge in Brooklyn.
There he or one of his team would shoot them in the head, slice their body down the middle and hang them upside down in the shower until they bled out.
It was known as the Gemini Method.
Anthony tells The Sun: “The most treacherous guy I ever met in the Mob was Roy DeMeo. I mean, he was chopping people up and killing people.
“He was a crazy, he was like a serial killer actually, he was bad news.
“When he would walk into the Ravenite Club the atmosphere would change, it would get quieter. He would always come in there by himself.”
The Ravenite Club in Little Italy in New York was where the would hang out.
It took a lot to unnerve the club’s regulars but DeMeo was such a “psychopath” he was to be feared.
Gambino boss Paul Castellano eventually decided he was too much of a loose cannon and ordered his execution.
The body of DeMeo, who had been shot several times, was found in the boot of a car with a chandelier on top of him.
Anthony was keen to become a Mafia man in his youthCredit: instagram/anthonyruggianojr
Frank Sinatra hangs out with mobsters Carlo Gambino and Jimmy (the Weasel) FratianoCredit: Getty
Life of violence
Such a violent end was not unusual for anyone who signed up for a life in the criminal underworld.
Anthony, who spent over 14 years in prison for various crimes including murder, says: “I saw people get murdered, I saw everything. I saw people get shot.
“I was in violent prisons, I saw a couple of people get stabbed with razors. It was part of the life I was in.”
It wasn’t the life his dad Anthony Ruggiano, who became a “made man” in the Mafia in 1953 the year Jnr was born, had wanted for him.
He was a crazy, he was like a serial killer, he was bad news
Anthony Ruggiano Jnr
He encouraged him to take up a trade such as bricklaying but Jnr wanted to join the mob.
His dad told him “If you want to work with me you have to be prepared to go to jail, it’s all part of the job.”
Jnr accepted the risk because he wanted the same special treatment that his dad received in the neighbourhood.
His jobs included loan sharking, illegal blackjack games, selling stolen goods and robbery.
Badfellas
Snr was a criminal partner of Jimmy Burke, who was portrayed by in director Martin Scorsese’s 1990 movie Goodfellas.
Jnr recalls: “I actually dated Jimmy Burke’s daughter when we were teenagers. Jimmy Burke was very dangerous.
“He was a psychopath and murderer – the whole crew was.”
Jimmy put together the 1978 theft of £4million in cash and £650,000 in jewellery from the Lufthansa terminal at JFK airport in New York .
At the time it was the biggest cash heist in the country’s history, which led to a huge police investigation.
I saw people get murdered, I saw everything. I saw people get shot.
Anthony Ruggiano Jnr
It was Anthony’s dad, who died in 1999, and his close associate Tony Lee who helped shift the jewellery.
Anthony says: “After they did the Lufthansa job they came to my father’s club Café Liberty to celebrate.
“Later on when they wanted to get rid of the jewellery, so they brought the jewellery to my father because Tony Lee had jewellery connections and my father and Tony sold it.”
Burke is said to have organised for members of the robbery team to be killed so they couldn’t implicate him in the plot.
The only thing that was off is how Joe Pesci looked
Anthony Ruggiano Jnr
If that’s true it worked, because he wasn’t convicted for any crimes in relation to the robbery. Instead Burke died in prison in 1996 while serving time for a different murder.
Anthony was impressed by De Niro’s portrayal of Burke in , but thinks Joe Pesci’s version of killer crook Thomas DeSimone was wrong.
He explains: “My father was friends with De Niro. His portrayal in the movie was good, he had his mannerism.
“The only thing that was off is how Joe Pesci looked. Tommy DeSimoune was tall and handsome, he wasn’t short like Joe Pesci.”
Celebrity life
John Gotti claimed to have got Brooke Shields’ telephone numberCredit: Getty
Former Mafia boss John Gotti was known as the Dapper DonCredit: Reuters
The Copacabana nightclub used to be run by the MobCredit: Alamy
One of the other elements of gangster life that Goodfellas gets right is the depiction of the famous nightclub in Manhattan.
The glamorous Latin-themed venue was where legendary singers such as Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis would entertain well-healed audiences.
Up until 1972 it was run by the Mafia and Anthony says: “My father would be drinking with Frank Sinatra . We were around celebrities. We used to go to Copacabana a lot. The Mob controlled it.
“When we would show up there a lot of times there would be famous people. Like the scene in Goodfellas when Henry goes to the Copa and the basement kitchen it was the same way as that.”
Anthony also hung out in nightclubs with John Gotti, who he first met when he was aged 12.
We were around celebrities
Anthony Ruggiano Jnr
The well-dressed head of the Gambino clan became front page news and once claimed that the actress Brooke Shields gave him her number.
Quick-witted Anthony made a joke out of the moment, recalling: “I was at the nightclub in Manhattan called Club 8 with John Gotti, a lot of celebrities used to go there.
“And we walked out and he pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket in front of me and I said, ‘What’s that?’
“He said, ‘Brooke Shields gave me her number.’ I said, ‘What are you going to do?’ He said, ‘What am I going to do? She’s the same age as my daughter.’
“I said, ‘Give me the phone number.’ And he laughed.”
Jail and drugs hell
Gotti died in prison from cancer aged 61 in 2002.
Anthony also eventually discovered that a life of crime does not pay.
He didn’t go straight after first spell behind bars was from 1978 to 1980 for breaking into a warehouse.
Instead he found himself getting hooked on cocaine and alcohol, while hanging out with rock stars at The Ritz club in New York.
In 1996 he was jailed again after pleading guilty to racketeering, having been part of the Gambino’s South Florida operation which was foiled by FBI wire-taps.
He served eight years and three months of his ten year sentence, but it wasn’t long before the police charged him again.
Anthony recalls: “I was home for about a year and I got indicted again this time for murder.”
Anthony Ruggiano Jnr was part of the Gambino criminal enterpriseCredit: instagram/anthonyruggianojr
The Mafia used the Ravenite Social Club as a HQCredit: Getty
Jimmy Burke was alleged to have had his crew bumped offCredit: Collect
Killer family
It was for an act of revenge.
The Anthony’s brother-in-law Frank Boccia had dared to attack his mother in 1988 following a row over money.
He says: “Frank Boccia was a very dangerous guy. He was a hijacker, an armed robber, he killed a few people.
“He put his hand on my mother, he hit my mother, choked her, he abused her and I found out about it.”
So did Anthony’s father, a loyal Gambino assassin, so John Gotti approved Boccia’s murder.
I just walked on and nodded to Skinny Dominick Pizzonia who then shot him
Anthony Ruggiano Jnr
Before they carried out the hit, the killers all turned out for a party to celebrate the baptism of his baby daughter.
A week later Anthony lured Boccia to his death, with the promise of some money in South Ozone Park, near JFK airport.
Tony Lee and a mobster called Dominick “Skinny Dom” Pizzonia joined him for the job.
Anthony alleges: “I drove him to Café Liberty and Tony and I walked him to the garden and as we walked back in Tony grabbed his arm and said he wants to talk to him.
“I just walked on and nodded to Skinny Dominick Pizzonia who then shot him.”
The confession
The body was dumped in the Atlantic Ocean and was never recovered.
It would take another 17 years for detectives to charge Anthony in relation to Boccia’s murder and this time he received no help from the mob.
John Gotti’s , who’d taken over the Gambino operation, took £1,400 from Anthony and refused to help pay for his lawyers.
He says: “They were going to throw me under the bus.”
Realising it was every man for themselves in the Mafia, he opted to co-operate with the (FBI) and gave evidence against Pizzonia in a 2007 trial.
My sister didn’t know what I had done
Anthony Ruggiano Jnr
It meant he finally had to tell his sister that he’d killed her husband Boccia.
Anthony says: “My sister didn’t know what I had done till I decided to cooperate with the government.”
Pizzonia, 84, was found not guilty of Boccia’s murder, but was convicted of conspiring in two other murders.
In return for helping the prosecution, Anthony only served 12 days in jail for the murder.
Going straight
After that he turned his back on crime for good, choosing instead to become a counsellor who helps people with their drink and drugs problems.
Anthony explains: “All that glitz, there’s no success story in the Mob.
“John Gotti died chained to a bed. My father died lonely. I spent 14 years of my life in prison. I missed my kids.
“It looks all great in the movies but in real life you hurt your own family, you hurt other families, it’s not what it’s made out to be.
It looks all great in the movies but in real life you hurt your own family, you hurt other families
Anthony Ruggiano Jnr
“Now I help people. It feels gratifying, it feels great, it feels like you are worth something.
“People give me feedback, they say how I’ve helped them so much and that to me is a great feeling compared to how I used to be.”
And having seen the cruel reality of the Mafia, Anthony is unimpressed by the glamorisation of criminal organisation in films and TV shows such as ’s hit series Tulsa King and The Life and Death of John Gotti, with John Travolta.
He concludes: “The movie starring John Travolta sucked. I couldn’t watch it. I turned it off. And Stallone’s Tulsa King, that’s all fantasy, that’s a comedy to me. ”
For more info on Anthony’s work visit www.anthonyruggiano.com
John Travolta played crime boss John Gotti in the dramaCredit: Splash News
Travolta and Kelly Preston with John Gotti JrCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Eze Chidiebere Paul
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