@RealMobStories Real Mob Stories with James Proctor had the pleasure of interviewing former Mob Associate Frank DiMatteo. Frank has an interesting and colorful past along with his father Ricky DiMatteo. Ricky started out as a member of the Joey Gallo crew and took part in the second Colombo War which involved the Joey Gallo Crew against Joe Colombo and the Colombo Family. After Crazy Joey Gallo’s rubout at Umberto’s in 1972, the Gallo crew was broken up with Ricky DiMatteo and Frank DiMatteo joining Albert “Kid Blast” Gallo with the Genovese Family. Eventually, Ricky and Frank leave the Genovese family due to Vincent “Chin” Gigante’s ban on dealing. As Free Agents in Brooklyn, they were pursued by several crime families including the Luccheses but at the end of the day, they decided to go with the Elizabeth, New Jersey Based DeCavalcante family. A couple of things made this arrangement practical. One, the DeCavalcante family actually had a crew based out of Brooklyn in addition to Manhatten. Second, Ricky DiMatteo was close friends with Vincent “Jimmy the Gent” Rotondo. After his unfortunate demise in 1988, that crew was placed under Jimmy the Gent’s son, Anthony Rotondo. Anthony Rotondo was college educated and the mob was not his initial career path. However, he needed to protect his father’s rackets. Ricky DiMatteo became a mentor and Consigliere of sorts for Anthony Rotondo since Anthony was very green. James Proctor talks with Frank DiMatteo about his life in the DeCavalcante family including the history of the Jersey based family that expanded under the leadership of Sam the Plumber DeCavalcante. Even though the commission had put a ban on making guys which is closing the books between 1957 to 1976. This ban had taken place in part due to a lot of changes going on in Cosa Nostra including Albert Anastasia and Frank Scalice selling buttons. Also, you saw the attempted rubout of Frank Costello who retired and inevitably the rubout of the Mad Hatter himself Albert Anastasia. YOu had new leadership on the Commission including Carlo Gambino and Vito Genovese. Joe Profaci would soon pass away too and Joe Colombo would become the boss of the Colombo family after the war. Part of the changes which took place in the 1960s was that Sam Decavalcante would have the DeCavalcante family recognized as a legitimate crime family and he would even be included on the commission. Another interesting tidbit is that the commission allowed Sam the Plumber to increase the number of made men inducted into the DeCavalcante family which increased its membership from 25 made men to 50 made men. Eventually Sam the Plumber goes to prison, and he gets out and dies. John Riggi is made the boss with the blessing of the Gambino family. However, John Riggi goes to prison himself and the family eventually puts John D’Amato in as the acting boss. John D’Amato was close to Gambino Boss John Gotti. John D’Amato ends up getting clipped in 1992 due to a nasty rumor that he was gay. This rumor was supposedly told to Anthony Capo, a soldier within the DeCavalcante family and he told the administration of the Decavalcante family what he heard, and the family decided to get rid of John D’Amato. We talk to Frank DiMatteo about the reasons for this rubout of a mob boss. In addition, he talks about his relationship with infamous gangsters such as Jimmy Gallo, Anthony Rotondo, Rudy Ferrone, and even Vinny “Ocean” Palermo. This is part one of a two-part interview. We talk about his new book coming out called Red Hook. We also discuss his relationship with infamous mobsters such as Anthony Capo. Please like and subscribe to Real Mob Stories with James Proctor. Please leave your thoughts in the comments below and we will respond to them. Thanks for watching this exclusive interview.
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