Ranking the Most Powerful Underbosses in Mafia History

➡ The text is about the author’s experiences and knowledge of the mafia, specifically the roles and rankings within the organization. He explains the positions of boss, underboss, consigliere, capo regime, and soldier, and how they interact. He also discusses his own role as a capo regime, or street boss, and plans to talk about various underbosses he’s familiar with. The author emphasizes that his knowledge comes from personal experience and conversations with others in the mafia.
➡ This text discusses various influential figures in the world of organized crime, their roles, and their impacts. It mentions individuals like Anthony Queso, Vito Genovese, Neil Delacroix, and Carmine Galenti, among others, detailing their activities, positions, and eventual fates. The text also explores the dynamics of power, influence, and violence within these criminal organizations. Lastly, it provides personal insights and opinions on these figures, their actions, and their significance within the context of organized crime.
➡ The speaker discusses his experiences with various figures in the criminal underworld, including Carmine Persico, Sammy Gavano, and others. He mentions conflicts and reconciliations, particularly with Sammy, and their decision to resolve issues privately rather than on social media. The speaker also evaluates these figures based on their influence and power, categorizing them as power players, contenders, or big timers. He emphasizes the respect these figures commanded, despite their criminal activities and frequent incarcerations.
➡ The text discusses various individuals who held the position of ‘underboss’ in different mafia families. Joe Piney, Steven Stevie Correa, Sally Avellino, Sally Mush Musaccio, Carmine Sessa, Sally Bugs Brigulio, Joey Caridi, Jerry Lang Langella, Frank Punchy Eliano, Joey Gallo, and the author’s father, John Sonny, are all mentioned. Their roles, reputations, and impacts on their respective families are discussed, with some being praised for their power and influence, while others are criticized for their actions.
➡ The speaker is discussing his father’s influence and power within the Colombo crime family. Despite his father’s short tenure as underboss due to legal troubles, he was highly respected and wielded significant power. The speaker believes his father would have become the boss had he not been in prison when the previous boss was killed. He also highlights his father’s legendary status, his role in negotiating the release of kidnapped members during a gang war, and his unwavering loyalty to the family, even in the face of imprisonment.

He was one of the few guys, and I do say that few guys that would stand up like that. No matter what you did to him, he wasn’t going down. So I just said I couldn’t put him in that category. But I’m rethinking this because of his legend on the street. And he was a ruthless guy, no question about it. And he got killed in 1979, you know, in that restaurant. That famous picture of him laying down in the restaurant and outdoors with a cigar hanging out of his mouth. But where would I put him? Sammy and I got into it.

As you know, we. We got off on the wrong foot when this whole YouTube, you know, social media thing started. But let me. Let me say this. I want to clarify one thing too, about Sammy and about this whole YouTube thing. To begin with, an underboss under Carlo Gambino. He was quiet. He was one of the old timers that flew under the radar. Very, very smart guy. And I would have to put him, as I have zero respect for him, none whatsoever. I wouldn’t even put they should separate category for him. Terrible. Absolutely terrible. Everyone, welcome to another sit down with Michael Francis.

Hope everybody is doing well. All is very good, very blessed on this end. And as always, my friends, I give all the praise, honor, glory, and thanksgiving to our God for that. Hope everybody is doing well. And not too long ago, I did a. A video about, you know, the good bosses or the great bosses, and they’re not too two good bosses in all of the families throughout this country, mostly in the northeastern area and also in Chicago. And I thought I would put a list together of under bosses, and I’m going to rate them the same way that we rated the bosses.

It was very interesting. People really enjoyed it. And I know when I get into the mob stuff, a lot of my followers really enjoy that. But let me first explain to you what the role of an underboss is, because this, you know, there’s a lot of information out there. A lot of people read, you know, the, the media or they watch a movie or they get information on social media. It’s not always accurate. People believe me on that. But, you know, in the family, you have really five rankings. You have a boss, an underboss, a consulari, a capo regime, or capo and a soldier.

That’s it. There’s no lieutenants, there’s no sergeants, there’s no generals, none of that. Those are the five ranks. And of course you have a lot of associates, but they weren’t guys that took the oath. Those are the five rankings of the guys that actually took an oath, like I did 50 years ago, Halloween night last year. Those are the rankings. What is the job of an underboss? Well, the boss appoints his underboss, and let me tell you how that goes. Normally, he’s handpicked from the boss. Whoever he wants to put there as underboss, he puts in.

But sometimes he’s got to be a little bit political about it and make sure he appoints a guy that the men under him think deserves it. You know, that’s important too, because you don’t want to get a boss. A boss doesn’t always want to put his handpicked guy in there that may not be popular in the ranks. He might get criticized for it, you don’t know. But normally the underboss is handpicked by the boss, his guy that he can trust, and so on and so forth. And his job really is to be the second in command.

He can have a seat on the commission because he is with the boss. If the boss, for some reason can’t participate or can’t carry out his duty as boss, the underboss will normally be the acting boss. He would take over in that regard. So he’s really the second in command. Very powerful position. Obviously, I want you to know about the consigliere. This is important. You may not know this, but the consigliere is supposed to be the advisor to the boss and advisor to the family. He’s also supposed to be the interim or the buffer between the men and the boss.

In other words, if a soldier, a capo, has a problem with the boss, he’s supposed to go to his consigliere to resolve it. But it’s not a good move, because if you got a problem with the boss, you don’t want to tell anybody. You certainly don’t want to tell the consigliere, because once again, the consiglieri is normally handpicked by the boss, his right hand guy. So you don’t want to be complaining about the boss anytime at all. You never want to do that, and especially not to one of the boss’s most loyal guys. And that’s the consigliere.

But that’s his role. He’s the family advisor, you know, and I think you’ve seen that depicted in movies. If you see the movie Gotti, you know, the 1996 movie Gotti with Armando Saint that I’m always bragging about, you’ll see the. The Gonzaglieri Advises Carlo Gambino during that sit down meeting with, with Della Croix and Gotti about Gotti, you know, taking somebody out. So there’s just want you to understand the rankings and what the position actually means. Copper Jean. You know, and I get hit up on this all the time because the media, social media, they put me down as the boss or a boss.

Not the boss, but a boss. Well, I was a copper regime. Technically, what the copper regime is, is a street boss, meaning that the soldiers that are assigned to you by the boss are under you. You are their immediate boss. So technically, you are a boss. You’re not the boss of the family, but you are a boss because you have a crew of men under you and you have a crew of made men under you. So you are a boss in that regard. Everybody, every time they put me down as mob boss, everybody goes crazy. You weren’t the boss.

I, I don’t call myself a boss. I was a copy regime. But that’s what it means. It’s a street boss. You’re the immediate boss of the soldiers and the associates under you. And your soldiers are not allowed to go directly to the boss. They have to come to you first. And if they go to the boss and they bypass their copy regime, they’re in trouble. Most of the time you don’t do that. You got to follow protocol. So for all of you out there that get offended or get your nose up in order to. Because they call me a boss, I hope you understand that a cop regime is a street boss.

So don’t get insulted or don’t get offended by it. It’s not a big deal. But today we’re going to talk about underbosses and some that I know, some that I’m familiar with because I may have spoken to my father. Other guys in the life, obviously this could be a big list. There was a lot of underbosses from the 40s right up through the 90s, you know, mid-90s. I’m not putting them all on the list. Some of you may come back and say, oh, I never saw him as an underboss. Well, why would you? You weren’t in the life.

You saw something on social media. Maybe you read the media, you know, maybe you read something about him. He was never listed as an underboss. Well, I know differently. He might have been underboss for a week, might have been for two days. Maybe he wasn’t listed. But if he’s on this list, he served as underboss for some period of time. So understand that they’re in no particular order. I put 20 of them and I put 20 that I’m more familiar with. There were some others that I knew, but I wasn’t really familiar at all with them.

So, you know, I didn’t put them down. Did I meet every single one of them? No, I did not. Okay, being straight upfront with you there, but like I said, I know of them, about them, spoke to my dad, spoke to Andrew Russo, spoke to people in the life that had experience with them, some of the old timers that might have been under them. So that’s how this is comprised. So I want you to understand that didn’t know every one of them on there. Many of them that I did know, but that’s how the list is comprised.

So we have the rankings. Let me tell you what they are. We have goat greatest of all time. Not going to see too many on that list. We have big timer and, you know, they were big guys, they had a lot of influence, but they weren’t the greatest of all time. We have a power player that they wielded some power and they certainly deserve recognition. Were they really that, you know, important? We’ll see. And then we have a contender. Maybe they were only up there for a short time. Maybe the time got cut short. Who knows who got killed, who went to jail early, whatever.

And then we have a show off. You don’t want to be on that list so you understand what the categories are. So I’m going to go down the list. They’re not in any particular order. And then I have one bonus one at the end. The world doesn’t need another wine. It really needs a reason to raise a glass again, A reason that’s real. A reason that means something. Because most people, they drink to forget. We drink to remember where we came from, what we stand for and who we still fight to become. We don’t follow trends, we break them.

Our bottles don’t look like anyone else’s because our story, it isn’t like anyone else’s. It’s about freedom, about redemption, about family. That’s what’s inside every bottle. So to the ones who think different, who live different, who drink different, some. Foreign. Let’s go to one that everybody’s familiar with and that’s gas pipe Anthony Queso. He was a Lucchese family guy who was there from the 70s through 93 when he finally flipped. Now, Queso, listen, I had not run ins with him. Obviously I knew him. He was semi involved in the gas business. When he became an informant.

He puffed it up like he was the architect of the gas tax fraud. He. He absolutely was not. It’s not true at all. There were a few guys in that business. I always say this. I wasn’t the only guy. I just think me and my partner did it the best. We lasted quite long. We made a lot of money. A lot of other guys that were doing it would come to us, you know, to buy from us for advice. We had 18 companies licensed. They didn’t have that amount of companies. I had a connection to get it done.

I think that we had the best system. And I think, you know, from what the government says, they said that we had the best system also. But Gaspipe was somehow involved. One of the guys, one of the Jewish guys was with him, or Russian guys, I should say, was with him. But he wasn’t really intimately involved in it. But he was the underboss for a while. You know, he was, you know, pretty treacherous guy. He was under Vicar Mussomel. And according to law enforcement and according to what I know on the streets, you know, he whacked a lot of guys.

I mean, I have to say that, you know, the story with him turned informant, testified or was going to testify against a lot of guys, and then they threw him out of the witness protection program. There’s a story as to why they threw him out of the witness protection program. Having to do with Sammy the Bull. Not going to get into that. I don’t know if it’s true or not. It doesn’t matter. But. But that’s him. And eventually he died in prison. I think he got three or four life sentences. But where would I put him? I would have to put him as a power player because he did, you know, he did have some power during that time, obviously.

And, you know, but these guys that flipped and I don’t know. But let’s put him down as a power player because he did wield a considerable amount of influence when he was on the street. Let’s move on. Vito Genovese, everybody knows who he was. Well, Michael, he was the boss. Well, yeah, but first he was the underboss under Luciano and Frank Costello, remember, very powerful under Lucky Luciano. His power came from Lucky Luciano, who was the architect of the commission. You know, the story with Lucky and then, you know, the story with him and Frank Costello.

You know, they were at odds for a while. He tried to hit Frank Costello. Frank left the life as a result of that. He was a drug dealer, no question. And, oh, and I tell people Listen, we weren’t involved in drugs during my era. Every. Everybody comes back and says, what about Vito Genovese? I concede to that. He was dealing with drugs. He did go away for drugs. He died, I think, in the 60s. He did take control of the family after Costello left. So he was the underboss first and then he became the boss. But that’s the story with him.

And. And then we know the succession after that. All right, where would I put Vito? I got to put him as a big timer. He went from boss to underboss. He’s certainly not the greatest of all time. He was always in trouble, you know, you know, violent guy. He believed in violence. And anybody that thinks violence first, and that’s the way to solve all the issues in that life, I don’t put him down as the greatest. I think that’s not smart. And we’ve seen that throughout the history of La Cosa Nostra. Anybody that, you know, were so violent and thought that that was the first course of action, they didn’t last.

All right, let’s move on. Okay, now we come to one of my favorite guys, Neil Delacroix. I had the pleasure of meeting Neil. I did not know him well. You know, he was Carlo Gambino’s underboss. He was very, very well respected. He was later Paulie Castellano’s underboss. He was a mentor to John Gotti. He served as underboss for a while. I really like Neil. He was an old time guy. I. Everything I heard about him was very positive. I didn’t know many people that had a bad word to say about him. Very, very well respected. And listen, anybody that was under, you know, Gambino and under Castellano, you got to give him a lot of credit.

I’m going to put him up there as one of the greatest of all times. And of course, you know, he was John Gotti’s mentor. But I think. I think Neil deserves a lot of credit for his accomplishments in that life. And I know people say, come on, Michael, he was a bad guy. Listen, we’re all bad guys at one time. But he accomplished a lot in that life. He died of natural causes. He didn’t die in prison. That in itself is a lot. You know, just like Carlo Gambino, you know, boss for 20 years, dies, you know, at his home in.

In Massapequa, Long Island. So I put him down as one of the greatest of all times, without a doubt, Frankie DiCicco. You know, he was a Gambino guy. He was John Gotti’s underboss for a while. And then what happened? He got assassinated in that car bombing that was meant for John Gotti. They say it was set up by Chin Gigante mad at John Gotti. Why? Because he took out Castellano without being sanctioned by the entire commission. You don’t normally do that. So he was in trouble. My boss, Carmine Perso, didn’t like the move. I know that there was a lot of, you know, bad talk about Gotti making that move.

Chin really didn’t like it. So he puts a hit on Gotti. Unfortunately, it was decicco that went into the car and he got blown up. But Frankie DiCicco was a good guy. I knew him. I liked him. He wasn’t really well known on the street, so I think. I think I’d have to put him down as a power player. No, you know what? Let me change that. Let me put him down as a contend. Because I think if decicco was alive and that didn’t happen to him, I think he would have went on to be the boss.

That’s. That’s my opinion. People around might say no, but that’s my opinion. He was. He was a pretty good guy. So let’s put him down as. As a contender because he would have went, you know, a lot further. But unfortunately, his life was cut short. All right, let’s move on. Bonanno guy, Carmine Lilo Galenti. I knew Carmine Gallanti. I. He was an old timer. But I went with a guy one time to meet with Carmine because they wanted to borrow money. Carmine was a big shylock. And I sat down with him in a restaurant for about four hours, and he was just a gosh, a fountain of wisdom about that life.

And I was a younger guy. Of course, he knew my father, liked my father. So he just sat down and he just gave me some really good insight into the life. I had just been straightened out when I sat down with him. I met him lobby two or three times after that. You know what happened to him? He got killed later on. But I liked him a lot. He was the underboss. He was a heroin trafficker, that’s for sure, unfortunately. And he was a ruthless guy, no question about it. And he got killed in 1979, you know, in that restaurant in Brooklyn, I believe it was.

And that famous picture of him laying down in the restaurant, that outdoors, with a cigar hanging out of his mouth. But where would I put him? You know, I’d have to put him as a power player. You know? Really? Yeah. I think he was a power player. I think that that fits with him because, again, he didn’t really have a chance. He was in jail for a while. So, you know, these guys that could have went further, their life was cut short. Just like Carmine Persico, my guy, you know, he was in and out of jail.

So, yeah, he was the boss of the family. But what, you know, he couldn’t really get to what he was really capable of because the guy was always in jail. He’s in jail, he’s out of jail, he violates his parole. You know, if you met Junior, you knew him for a short time, and then he was gone. That was it. So I would put him in that position. Power player. All right, let’s move on. All right, now we come to somebody that everybody’s familiar with, and certainly I am now, and that’s Sammy Gavano. You know the story with Sammy.

He became the underboss after Frankie DiCicco was killed. And look, Sammy was. Was pretty well known on the street. I didn’t know him on the street. I heard of him, obviously. But let me. Let me say this. I want to clarify one thing, too, about Sammy and about this whole YouTube thing to begin with. Sammy and I got into it as, you know, we. We got off on the wrong foot when this whole YouTube, you know, social media thing started. We did something with Patrick Bed David that was hugely successful, I have to say. And we went at it, you know, during that time, and it was real.

You know, you can see it. You can get it someplace that Patrick bet David offers it. And then he and I got on a very heated discussion on YouTube, and we went at it face to face on YouTube, you know, whatever that is. And I have to say this. I’m embarrassed by that. I really am. We shouldn’t have done that. And after that happened, Sammy and I got together and we patched it up, and we both realized, you know what? This is not the way we’re supposed to do. We don’t settle our issues on social media.

And the reason I’m saying that now, we become good friends. I don’t care. You know, you could talk about Sammy. You could talk about me. We became good friends. I happen to like Sammy. I like his family very much. I’ve said that. His daughter, you know, Karen, was terrific on an interview I did with her, Gerard. I like them very much. I like them, and I like Sammy a lot. And these guys on YouTube that want to talk about each other and call names and All Sammy doesn’t really do that. He tells a lot of stories and he does things, but it’s just.

It’s uncalled for. You know, I said this to people that have taught. Look, you got something to say to me, make believe we’re back on the street and get in touch with me. I’m very public. My number is out there. You can reach me. You can call me. You got a beef with me, you want to tell me something, come and talk to me. Tell me whatever you want. But to do it on social media, I just thought, it doesn’t make any of us look good. It doesn’t make some of the. Whatever respect we had on the street.

It doesn’t make us look good now. And I don’t go for it. And so that little head. But at least when Sammy and I went at it, we went at it head to head. It was me and him. I wasn’t talking about him afterwards, he wasn’t talking about me afterwards. But we went at it face to face on, you know, on. On the Internet. So I just wish that everybody would stop that. I really mean it. It doesn’t do anybody any good. You know, there’s plenty of other content you can talk about. We don’t need to knock each other, you know, we really don’t.

And I think a lot of the guys are realizing that there’s some guys that, you know, that. That we didn’t get off on the right foot. We patched it up. And there’s guys that, you know, I talk to now that didn’t say some nice things about me before, but, you know, I think that’s the better way of handling. So when it comes to Sammy, I just wanted to bring that up. But let me tell you about Sammy. He didn’t have enough time on the street to really, you know, you know, to really present himself as underboss.

I mean, that thing went down fast. Of course, being John Gotti’s underboss is not great, because John Gotti was immediately, you know, in the media immediately, a major target of law enforcement immediately. So anybody around him, you know, had a spotlight on him. So, you know, and that. That was Sammy also. So, you know, where would I put him in the rank of old? He was a smart guy on the street, smart business guy. No question about it. I’m not going to comment on all the other stuff, because everybody knows it. It’s nothing to comment about.

But I would. I would call Sammy. I would love to put him in two categories, maybe as a contender And a power player, but I really can’t do that. Let’s put him down as a. As a power player because he, he did real. A lot of influence at that time. He was the underboss. So let’s put it there. Who knows? I mean, if he didn’t get into all of this trouble, would he become the boss of the family if John got away and he didn’t? Who knows? I mean, if Jon didn’t get away and he did, who knows? But definitely put him as a power player.

I think that’s the right category. Okay, this is a Lucchese guy who I met, you know, briefly one time. And this is Salvatore Tom. Mick Santoro, Very well respected guy. He was an underboss to Tony Ducks Corallo. He was a central figure in the Mafia Commission trial. And very well respected guy, carried himself well. He was one of the old timers. I definitely put him in as. As a big timer. He definitely was very well respected. Another guy, very well respected. Venero Beneg’s Mangano Genovese family ran daily operations while Gigante pretended to be insane. He was under the chin and he had a lot of power.

I met him a couple of times. I liked him. He was very, very quiet. He was very wealthy. He made a lot of money. Gosh. You know, because he. He lasted so long under the chin and chin was so powerful. I think I have to put him in there as one of the greatest of all time. Some people are going to come on. Michael. No, I think so. He lasted a long time up until the commission case. No, I’m sorry. He lasted a long time, up until the holder stuff with the chin. I think I’d have to put him in there as one of the greatest underbosses.

And this was due to a lot of stuff I heard on the street. His name kept coming up. Maybe we’ll talk to Benny Eggs about it. Benny Eggs. Benny Eggs. I heard it so many times. Very well respected guy. I know my father liked him, so I put him up there as one of the greatest. All right. Philip. Rusty Rastelli, a Bonanno guy. I knew Philip. I knew Rusty, I should call him. He came from the Greenpoint area. Nice guy. In jail a lot, so he didn’t have a chance to do much. My cousin Tutti, who was also a made guy, his name was Carmine Francis, was very, very close to him.

And it was through Tutti that I met him a couple of times. You know, he was. He became the boss at one time, but he was. He was in prison for most of his reign there. So I would put Rusty as. I put him as a power player without it. You know what? Let’s put him in as. As big timer. Because if you go from underboss to boss, you deserve to be a big timer at that point. Again, couldn’t do much. Wasn’t extremely effective because he was in jail most of the time. Okay, Frankie Frankalock Locasio, you’ve heard his name before.

Gambino, guy who’s yonder boss and consigliere at one time to John Gotti. So he was both at one time. You know, what happened with him? He ended up being indicted with Gotti and he ended up dying in prison. Very well respected guy. Another guy that people talk very well about on the street. I’d have to put him down as a big timer. Didn’t have a long time as underboss, obviously, for a lot of reasons, but I put him down as a. As a big timer. Joseph Joe Piney, Armon, you know, another old timer, you know, very well respected also.

You know, I, you know, I’m saying that. But these old timers that, that tried to fly under the radar and wielded a lot of power and people had a lot of respect for, you know, they. They lasted fairly long, you know, and he was, again, a guy that was always spoken of very well, at least in my circles. The people that knew him, I knew my father spoke very well about him also. Andrew Russo spoke very well about Joe Piney, you know, good guy. And he was an underboss again with Gotti for a while. Gotti had a lot of underbosses during his short time, and he was a good earner and he kept things kind of stable behind the scenes because with Gotti, everything was going crazy.

So Gotti had a couple underbosses during his short time as boss, but, hey, that’s how it goes. So where would I put Joe? I put him as. Oh, gosh, I’d have to put him as a power player. He wouldn’t be a big timer because he just. He just didn’t carry himself that way, let’s put it that way. But I put him definitely as a power player, obviously. Okay, Lucasia, guys. Steven Stevie Correa, he was there from 1980s through, I think, 2000s. He was, he. I don’t know if he’s alive or dead, but he was very, very strong in the construction industry in the Bronx.

He was very powerful in the unions, and he was Lucasian, the boss for a while. I Would put him as a. As a real power player. Sally Avellino, he was a Lucchese guy. I knew Sally well. He was very involved in the garbage unions. I shouldn’t say union, the association. He was, you know, very well respected guy, too. I liked him a lot. You know, the story when he was in with Tony Ducks and he had the. The Jaguar, and the Jaguar was bugged, and a lot of information that came through, conversations between Tony Ducks and Sally Avellino were part of the commission case.

So he wasn’t. He was frowned upon because of that. But, hey, what could the guy do? He brings his Jaguar, his car in for maintenance, and the FBI gets in there and they bug the car. And it was very, very damaging. But he was a key figure. He was underboss for a short period of time. Sally Avellino. So I would put Sally as a contender. Contender for sure. Salvatore, Sally Mush Musaccio, he was a Genovese guy, longtime underboss, and he stayed under the radar, and he was big time in Manhattan and the Bronx. He died of natural causes, I think it was 2007.

But very powerful guy, flew under the radar. And I would put him as a. As a. Again, a power player only because, you know, some of these guys that were very quiet, they didn’t appear to be big timers, but in essence, he might have been. But, you know, where am I going to put him? What category? I put him in there as a power player. We have more power players than ever. All right, Carmine Sessa, he was an underboss in my family through. Through the third Colombo War. I don’t like this guy at all. His brother, Michael Cessa, I did a video on him, and I’m trying to get him out of prison.

Carmine Sessa became an informant. Heard a lot of guys, including his brother Michael, who’s also a made guy in a Colombo crew who’s done 33 years in prison and should be home right now. Horrible what happened to Michael. I’m disgusted with Carmine. Really disgusted with him. Should be ashamed of himself, what he did. And I want to. I don’t want to get into it all right now, but again, skipping over to Michael, I’m praying, you know, he got such a bad deal with this dirty, rotten, you know, prosecutor Wiseman Comey, all of these guys that suborned perjury and did everything possible, you know, hid Brady material, discovery material I wouldn’t give.

He would have never got convicted if these guys were on the level. But Carmine Sessa testified against a lot of guys. He did a lot of damage. He was the underboss for a little bit of time. I have zero respect for him, none whatsoever. And I wouldn’t even put. There should be a separate category for him, but put him in there as a show off because that’s the lowest category that we have. He should be ashamed of himself. I’m surprised he was even an underboss for a time, but he was terrible. Absolutely terrible. All right. Salvatore, Sally Bugs, Brigulio Genovese guy.

He was in Tony Pro’s crew from the 60s through the 70s. And he was a hitman. Suspected hitman. And Jimmy Hoffa’s death. I don’t know this for a fact, I’m not going to say it for a fact, but I think it’s pretty good information. And I’ve said this before. The actual hit, the order that came down to hit Hoffa came from the Genovese family. And it came from Tony Salerno. Absolutely. So you know the story with Tony Pro. Tony Pro hated Jimmy Hoffa. Briguglio was in his crew. Could very well have been one of the guys.

I know one of the guys. I don’t want to say definitively that Brugiglio was one of them, but I think it’s a good. A good bet. If you think so. If you. If you want to throw him in that category. Yes. And where would I put him? I put him in there as a contender, without a doubt. He wasn’t a show off, but he was a contender. Joey Caridi. I know Joey Caridi too. He was a Lucchese guy. He was the modern, modern era underboss. He oversaw operations in New York City and New Jersey. And he was a smart business guy that I knew.

I had a couple of sit downs with him. Smart business guy, I can tell you that. And where would I put him? I would definitely put him as a contender. He was up and coming. Now he gets the kind of personal. Because we get to my underboss. At one time it was underboss under Carmine Persico. And that was Jerry. Jerry Lang Langella. And I like Jerry. I liked him a lot. He was kind of an aloof type of guy. He. He went. He did everything by the book. He was fair with me. I had no complaints.

He ended up, you know, on a commission case. I think he had two trials. He went away forever. He died in prison along with Persico. They were very tight, him and Persico. I’ve got some information lately that I hope doesn’t involve him. I’m not going to talk about it right now. It’s about Persico, it’s about Scarpa, and it’s not good news. It’s not something that I’m. As a matter of fact, I’m disgusted with it. I don’t know if Jerry Lang was part of that. I’m doing my research on it now, and hopefully what I do find out is that he’s not part of it.

That’s what I’m hoping. But while I was under him, and again, I reported to him sometimes, he was fair with me. He was an aloof type of guy. He wasn’t an easy guy to warm up to. He was a tough guy, no question about it. But he was the underboss under Persigo. And where would I put him? I would put him as a big timer, in my view. And some people may say, come on, you know, wasn’t the most powerful family, but I put him as a big timer. Jerry had a lot of power. He was a smart guy.

Now we go to Frank Punchy Eliano. I didn’t know him. He was a Colombo guy. Didn’t know him, but he was kind of a legend. And he served as acting underboss for a while. My father told me that it was absolutely true. And he was once with the Gallows, and then during the Profaci War. After that he switched over to the Colombo crew and, you know, from what I hear, was a good guy, really good guy. Again, I didn’t know him at that time, but I would put him down, as I would say, as a contender.

He got cut short. He wasn’t around that long, but I put him down as a contender when I say he wasn’t around that long in that position. I think he died in the 2000. I’m not even sure when he passed away, but he, and people may not know this, but he did serve as underboss for quite some time. Next, Joey Gallo, Gambino family guy from the 50s right through the 80s, not the crazy Joe Gallo from the Colombos. This is a Gambino guy, very, very well respected. He was an underboss under Carlo Gambino. He was quiet.

He was one of the old timers that flew under the radar. Very, very smart guy. And I would have to put him as one of the greatest of all times because of how long he lasted, the power that he had, the way he maintained control, was able to stay under the radar. Talked about him a lot on the street, I should say a lot of talk about him on the street always very positive, and he lasted. So, you know, you got to say that that family, during Gambon Gambino’s reign, you know, they. They were one of the greatest of all time.

No question about it. You got to give Carlo a lot of credit, you know, and now he come to somebody. Something very personal to me. And this is number 21. We just went through 20, but this is number 21. And that, of course, is my father, John Sonny Francis. He was the underboss under Joe Colombo for a short time, not long enough, because my dad, you know, always got in trouble. When Joey became boss, my father was already under investigation and in trouble. I don’t know that Joe Colombo would have picked my father. Not because there was any animosity, but my father was very, very powerful and very, very well liked.

He had no choice. You had to make my father the underboss. Whether he would have picked him or not, I don’t know. I mean, I knew they got along, don’t get me wrong. And I love Joe Colombo. He was a mentor to me when my father went away with the whole Italian American Civil Rights League. But my father really had a lot of power on the street. And I’m not saying anything out of school. I’m not being biased about it. It was just the truth. Had my father been on the street when Joe Colombo was killed, I believe my father would have been the boss.

100% believe that. And I’m going to be talking about some things in the very near future that. That make me suspect that even more. And it has to do with Persico and a couple other things. But, you know, I can’t rank my father as the greatest of all times because he wasn’t there long enough. You know, my father’s story, you know, he was legendary. 50 year sentence, would never open his mouth. Died with his boots on at 103, did 40 years in prison. Of course, the cops went to him, the FBI. He said, don’t bother me.

I’m never going to mention anybody. That’s just how he was. He died with his boots. And he was one of the few guys, and I do say that few guys that would stand up like that, no matter what you did to him, he wasn’t going down. So I would say that my father was one of the greatest of all times. I just said I couldn’t put him in that category. But I’m rethinking this because of his legend on the street. Now, he didn’t have enough time to be underboss. He would have been a terrific underboss. He was a terrific underboss.

The family was in very high regard, the Colombos, when my father was the underboss, as was he, you know, so my father wielded a lot of power. And I want to tell you this. During the Colombo Profaci War, Sally, the Sheik Masaccio, who was my father’s mentor. He was my father’s mentor. There was a time when the gallows had kidnapped five guys. Joe Colombo being one of them, and Sally Masaccio and my father, okay, were the guys that negotiated their release. They negotiated their release from the Columb. From the Gallows. And Joey Gallo wanted to kill them all.

It was his brother, you know, Kid Blast Albert Gallo, that said, no, we can’t do that. That’s going to be death if we do that. And it was Sally Masacho. And my father. My father was very well respected by the Gallows, so he was able to be part of that negotiation for that in itself. I mean, if that didn’t happen, who knows how that war would have ended up? I don’t know. So I’m. You can put an asterisk next to this. I’m not doing it for bias. I’m doing this because of my father’s legend. I was reluctant at first because they said, oh, come on, you’re being biased at your father.

But, you know, look, everybody knows my father’s story on the street. Legendary. People loved him, stood up, was a good underboss during that time. Brought a lot of prestige and respect and respect to the family. In the wake of the Gallo Profaci War, when Joe Colombo was just installed as boss, Carlo Gambino liked him. Excuse me. I met Carlo Gambino with my dad. So I’m going to. I’m going to hear what you have to say about this. But I’m going to take the risk of putting my father in there as one of the greatest of all times.

And listen, he lasted till 103. I mean, come on, you know, in and out of prison, on parole, the whole bit. Let’s put him up there and give me your comments. Let me see what you have to say about him. I always hear good things from all of you about my father. Again, legend on the street. So let’s see how this turns out. But I want to hear your comments. And again, don’t tell me who I left off the list. I know that we didn’t get to everybody. I told you in the beginning, some of them I knew, some of Them? I don’t know.

Some of them I knew just from many conversations that I heard about them. So this is the list that I compiled. We can put another 50 on there. If we go through the whole Cosa Nostra and through all the, you know, if we go to Chicago and everything else, we’re going to have a lot of people on the list. I didn’t do that. I stuck with, you know, mostly New York. So that’s it. That’s my list. That’s it for today, my friends. And give me your comments. I want to hear them. How do I always leave you? Same way.

Never going to change. Be safe. In light of all the stuff that’s going on now, please listen to what I tell you. Don’t be, you know, don’t be fighting with the cops. The cops have a gun. They can shoot you. They’re licensed and legally authorized to shoot you if they think they’re in harm’s way. Don’t fight with the police. Please don’t do that. It’s not smart. Protest the right way. Don’t get in their face. You’re not going to accomplish anything. You’re going to lose every single time. So be safe, be healthy. That’s all you hear about now is health, health, health, health, health.

Believe it. Get into it. Be hail. Be healthy, be safe, be healthy. God bless each and every one of you. You know the drill. Family, friends, you know, neighborhoods, cities, communities. And yes, God bless America. See you next time. Take care. Sa. Sam.
[tr:tra].