Surviving the Mob Read Free Page B

doing. They only asked about Nicky as an afterthought. Lenny was much more personable, no doubt about it.”

 

    4
Up and Coming
    After becoming a member of Nick Corozzo’s crew, Andrew refocused on enhancing his budding criminal career.
    He knew that stealing cars to sell whole or as parts could be a lucrative business. He also knew that in order to get started, the thieves needed enough space to operate and the skill to dismantle multiple brands of vehicles. Equally important, they had to know what vehicles and parts were in demand and how much money they would bring. And it was critical to have a client base to assure the rapid turnover of inventory.
    Andrew decided to take advantage of his newfound connections to get his education in the car-stealing business from an accomplished professional.
    “I figured I might as well learn from the best, so I hooked up with an older guy named Anthony Gerbino. Anthony’s street name was Beansy and he was affiliated with the Gambino’s Roy DeMeo crew. At the time they ran the biggest stolen car ring in the country. Anthony and I quickly developed a teacher-and-student relationship and became fast friends in spite of the age difference.”
    It was the right choice for Andrew. He learned quickly and by mid-1983, the 17-year-old had become one of the premier car thieves in New York City.

THE CAR BUSINESSES
    In the parlance of Andrew DiDonato and Anthony Gerbino, “drop-off” meant the delivery of a vehicle that had been ordered by a customer. Automobile junk yards and body shops were on their list of clients, as well as other thieves and private individuals.
    “We stole almost every night, doing drop-offs for neighborhood car shops and junk yards. We filled orders for DeMeo crew members too. One of them was Patty Testa, who was an auto-crime legend.”
    Testa ran a used-car dealership, Patty Testa’s Motor Car Service, and several of the vehicles they stole for him ended up on his lot with altered Vehicle Identification Numbers. Testa made a lot of money in the car business, both legal and illegal.
    “But when I got involved with Patty, the DeMeo crew was on its way out. Most of them were already under indictment. Patty himself got convicted on a federal racketeering charge in 1985 and went away for two years. When he got out, he switched to the Lucchese family.”
    Patty Testa was hit on December 2, 1992, murdered in the garage of his car lot. No one was ever charged for his killing.

    Depending on the make and model, Andrew and Anthony made between $300 and $500 per car when they filled orders for their drop-off customers. Their fee was relatively low per unit, but they made up for it in volume.
    “The way we worked the deliveries and getting paid was simple. The customers didn’t want the hot cars parked right in front of their businesses. We parked the vehicle a little way down the block and left the sun visor down to help the customer identify it. We made three or four deliveries a weekto most of these places. They paid us weekly, rather than having to make personal contact on each delivery.
    “We had higher paying customers too. Two brothers on Staten Island, who lived a few doors away from Gambino boss Paul Castellano, dealt in exotic brands like Porsche and Ferrari. They paid us three grand per unit. It was a good relationship and we delivered a lot of cars to them. And it was an all-cash business, of course.”
    In addition to the drop-offs, Andrew and Anthony also stripped or chopped cars.
    “Stripping a car meant we took most of the parts, but the car could still be driven. We usually took the wheels and tires and replaced them with what we called baloney [used] tires, so we could move the car around. Chopping a car meant we took everything; there was nothing left. We used to joke that we turned a chopped car into a Pepsi can.”
    Like good entrepreneurs, Andrew and Anthony invested some of their earnings to expand their business.
    “We rented garages to