Surviving the Mob by Dennis Griffin Read Free Book Online Page A

alleged 15 racketeering acts, in at least two of which each defendant participated.

WITNESS INTIMIDATION
    During the summer, Andrew had to come to the rescue of two of his crewmates, Anthony Gerbino and Mike Yannotti. His assistance was required to discourage a witness, who had seen the pair attempt to steal a car, from cooperating with the police.
    “We had a customer order for a red Mercedes convertible. A neighbor of crew-member Vincent Dragonetti had that exact car. We tried to steal it once, but had to abort; thevehicle had a second alarm we weren’t prepared for. We left some tools behind, so the owner was aware of the attempt.”
    One afternoon Anthony and Mike passed that same car parked on the street and tried to steal it again. They popped the hood to see if they could get it started. That drew attention from some of the business owners and pedestrians, so they gave up and left the scene. When the owner arrived and realized there had been another attempt to steal his car, he took action to identify and punish the thieves.
    The owner canvassed the area looking for witnesses who could identify the culprits. He found one at the U.S. Military recruiting station. One of the recruiters said he had seen the two guys and would be able to identify them. The owner also filed a complaint with the 69 th precinct, which had an Auto Crime Task Force that was already investigating the Gambino and Lucchese car thieves. He even put up reward money for information leading to an arrest.
    “All that heat hurt business,” Andrew recalls. “And then we heard that there was a witness who was going to finger Anthony and Mike. They found out it was the recruiter and asked me to do whatever it took to get him to keep his mouth shut.
    “At this point, my relationship with Mike was strained over some personal issues. You see, Nicky liked his crew to work well together, but not to be too close. Nicky knew that if two guys were fast friends and one of them had to go, the other guy might not be willing to do the work [the killing]. So he became an expert at instigating and causing friction when he sensed crew loyalty might be in question. He put a little wedge between me and Mike, making us more like rivals than friends. That didn’t matter, though. There was too much at stake for me to refuse to help. It was also a way for me to extend an olive branch to Mike, so I agreed.
    “The next day I walked into the recruiter’s office, using the ploy that I was interested in enlisting. After a half-hourconversation, I lured the recruiter outside where my fellow crew member Mario was waiting. We pounced on the guy before he knew what was happening and beat him with our fists and a lead pipe, warning him that if he didn’t keep quiet about the car incident, we’d come back and kill him. The recruiter never came forward as a witness and no charges were filed against Anthony or Mike for the attempted theft.”

EXPANSION
    As 1985 wore on, Andrew became less involved with the car business. He still helped Anthony Gerbino deliver stolen parts, do drop-offs, and move cars around. However, the reduction in the amount of time he devoted to car theft didn’t mean he was getting lazy or having second thoughts about being a criminal. Far from it. Andrew was using the extra hours to increase his drug activities and to add a new business to his repertoire: shylocking.
    Andrew made friends with some of the guys in the Carmine Persico faction of the Colombo family and they started networking their drug businesses. He became more directly involved in the drug operations and was making lots of money. Then he got permission from Nicky to start putting some serious money out on the street.
    “After Nicky was indicted in March, things got pretty tight. Even though he was out on bail, the heat was on and he knew he had to be very cautious about what he did. Business suffered and he expected everybody to keep a lower profile and tighten their belts. He gave me the