Surviving the Mob Read Free Page A

the high-school prom and hung around with his nephew. But he’d never met Nicky before.
    “They used to hold meetings at a private social club every Tuesday and Saturday. The meetings started around eleven in the morning and went until four or five in the afternoon. The crew members and others they did business with attended.
    “One Saturday morning, I was riding in a car with some of the crew. I knew they had to go to the meeting, so I told them to drop me off and I’d see ’em later. One of the guys said that Nicky mentioned they should bring me along. So I went.
    “When we got to the club, I was introduced around. Everybody socialized while Nicky conducted business in another room. He called in his people one at a time. In private he told them what he wanted done; they let him know if they needed something from him. If he had a job that involved more than one guy or the entire crew, he called them all in at once.

    “Nicky approached me around mid-afternoon and took me into the other room. He said he’d heard a lot about me and knew I was acquainted with his nephews. I was doing some good things. ‘You’ve got a friend here,’ he said.
    “Then he told me that if I ever needed anything to come to him. If I needed stolen merchandise disposed of, come to him. If somebody was giving me trouble, come to him. Whatever I needed, come to him.
    “After that he told me about the Tuesday and Saturday meetings. I’ll never forget what he said. ‘These meetings are important. You’ll meet a lot of people and make a lot of friends. Some of them may need your help sometime. Think of it as going to school. You’ll learn valuable lessons here, so don’t miss. If you miss, you’re not being a good friend.’
    “When I left the social club that day, I was officially part of Nicky’s crew. I was an associate of the Gambino organized-crime family.”

NICKY AND LENNY
    Who were these men whom Andrew describes as co-captains of his Gambino family crew? The following is a brief look at their backgrounds and status around the time Andrew became affiliated with them.
    Nicholas “Nicky” Corozzo was born in Brooklyn, New York, on March 17, 1940. His brother Joseph “Jo Jo” Corozzo joined Nick in his affiliation with the Gambino family and rose to be the criminal organization’s consigliere. Nicky’s son-in-law, Vincent Dragonetti, also reputedly became a Gambino associate. And his nephew, Joseph Corozzo Jr., later became involved with the family as a high-profile defense attorney. In the early 1980s, Nick was a chief rival to John Gotti and the two men despised each other. The politics of the situation prevented Nick’s official advancement to capo.
    Lenny DiMaria was a year younger than Nicky. The closefriends shared the leadership of a Gambino street crew as unofficial capos. In 1981 Lenny was arrested on federal charges of possession of contraband cigarettes. Convicted at trial, he was sentenced to serve 10 years in a federal prison. However, he remained free pending an appeal.
    The case was argued in the Second Circuit on November 23, 1983, and decided on February 6, 1984. The conviction was affirmed and Lenny had to surrender and begin serving his sentence. Thus, for most of Andrew’s time with the crew, he was under the control of Nicky Corozzo.
    Andrew believes Lenny’s forced absence from the crew had an adverse affect on his life.
    “Lenny was approachable. He was down to earth. You could talk to him about personal things, like if you were having trouble at home. But Nicky wasn’t like that. He was in gangster mode all the time. Everything had to be done according to protocol. You had to be very careful of what you said to him. He sometimes took things you told him as signs of weakness. And Nicky didn’t want any weak members in his crew.
    “Lenny was popular with guys from other crews, but a lot of them didn’t like Nicky. Even while he was in prison, guys asked me what we heard from Lenny and how he was