Surviving the Mob (21 page)

17

So in early 1996, 31-year-old Andrew DiDonato was on the lam, a fugitive from justice for the second time in his life. And the law wasn’t all he had to worry about. Factions of the Lucchese and Colombo families wouldn’t have been at all unhappy if he were found dead in the trunk of an abandoned car. And some members of his own crew, including the boss, may have felt the same way.

What was it like being pursued by the law and at the same time not knowing if or when one of your own might put a couple in your head? “Take your most stressful day and multiply it by ten thousand. And then by ten thousand more. That’s what it’s like being hunted and not knowing who you can trust—and that your first misstep will probably be your last.”

Staying free and keeping alive cost money, lots of it. Andrew began preparing for living as a fugitive as soon as he received the bad news from his lawyer, Jo Jo Corozzo.

“When I hung up the phone from Jo Jo, I reached out to Tommy Dono and Benny Geritano and set up a meet. When we got together, they said the bank job had been successful. They gave me my end of the score and the rental car, so I could return it. I told them about the parole deal and that I didn’t know what the hell was goin’ on. They told me to lie
low until I could find out what kind of trouble I was in. Benny said I’d be able to contact him through his grandmother.

“Next I stopped at Fat Sal’s [Salvatore “Fat Sal” Mangiavillano] pizza joint near Riker’s Island. Fat Sal was a part of our bank crew that later became known as the ‘Night Drop Crew.’ He was an electronics guy and a wizard at disabling alarms. He and I both received full ends of the bank score even though neither of us were physically there. I told him about my problem and that I’d need to make some good scores in order to survive. He said not to worry about it, that we’d keep busy.”

Andrew initially believed he’d be able to generate enough money to cover the additional expenses he’d incur while being on the run. These included hotel and apartment rents, eating most meals out, and compensating people who helped him with temporary lodging or in other ways. But about two weeks later, an incident took place that struck very close to home and caused him to take a second look at the effect living the life was having on the person who loved him the most.

“My girlfriend Regina’s father was with the Genovese family and was incarcerated in a medium-security federal prison at the time. He knew that I was dating his daughter and I’d previously gotten his approval to marry her. One day in early April, I was visiting one of my sisters when Regina called. She said that one of her father’s friends, a guy named Charlie, had contacted her. He told her he needed to meet with me to deliver a message from her dad. Even though I was trying to avoid exposing myself to danger unnecessarily, out of respect for her father I said okay. But in my world, a person’s life was often taken by someone he trusted, someone he thought was his friend. With that in mind, I said the get-together would have to be on my terms. I wouldn’t call Charlie with the time and location of the meeting until the last possible minute. If he had bad intentions, I wasn’t going
to give him enough advance notice to put together a plan.

“A few days later I was again at my sister’s place and my mother was with me. I called Charlie and told him to meet me right away on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn. This is a busy six-lane street with lots of vehicle and pedestrian traffic. There were benches on either side of the road where people could sit, relax, and make small talk. I hung up the phone and was on my way.

“Charlie showed up alone and we sat on one of the benches and talked. He told me that word had reached Regina’s father in prison that I was in trouble with factions of the Colombo and Lucchese families. No one knew how far things might escalate. There was a possibility that I would be assassinated or a war could break out between them and my own crew. On top of that, the law was after me. And with my reputation for violence, they might shoot first and ask questions later. Like any caring father, he didn’t want his daughter to be in harm’s way. For that reason, he wanted me to stop dating her.

“I listened to Charlie closely and completely understood where Regina’s father was coming from. And then out of the corner of my eye I saw a woman sitting on the bench twenty feet away holding a handgun in her lap. It was my mother. If I could see the gun, so would Charlie if he looked in that direction. And if Charlie made any moves my mother thought posed a danger to me, she might come after him. If that happened, he’d probably try to defend himself and I’d have had no choice but to kill him. I quickly assured Charlie he could tell Regina’s father I wouldn’t see her again. I kept talking so his eyes stayed focused on me as I walked him to his car.

“When he was gone, I returned to the bench where my mother was sitting. I was angry. What the fuck did she think she was doing? But as I got closer, the anger turned to sadness as I saw her trembling and crying. We hugged and she literally collapsed in my arms.

“When she was able to talk, she admitted that she’d eavesdropped on my phone conversation with Charlie. She was afraid that I was being set up. She knew that I kept guns stashed around the various places I frequented. So as soon as I left my sister’s, she took one of the guns and followed me to the meet.

“My life had just reached an all-time low. It really hit home that the way I’d been living all these years was devastating my family. Here was my mother out on the street carrying a gun—ready to do murder to protect me. I think it was that moment that ultimately opened my eyes that being a part of this cancer called the Gambino crime family could never have a happy ending for anybody.”

While Andrew realized his chosen lifestyle was having a devastating effect on his mother, there didn’t seem to be a great deal he could do about it. He couldn’t simply throw away his guns and become a legitimate working man. He was facing as-yet unknown legal issues and his criminal colleagues weren’t exactly the let-bygones-be-bygones types. If he wanted to stay free and alive, it required a good and steady income. And in Andrew’s shoes, that meant he had to continue his criminal activities. It didn’t take him long to figure out a new angle that would greatly improve his financial position.

“A couple weeks after the incident with my mother on Ocean Parkway, I met up with an old friend I hadn’t seen in a while. He said he knew a guy who had a solid connection with a marijuana supplier from California. This guy could get five or ten pounds of marijuana shipped in at a time and it would provide a steady income. He gave me the guy’s phone number. I made contact with him and we opened up a business.

“Here’s how we set it up. The weed was mailed from California
to New York. We got the tracking number of the package and gave it to an accomplice working in a management position at the post office. He intercepted it and turned it over to us. We did a trial run with five pounds of marijuana. It worked perfectly and we started receiving regular shipments.

“With a steady income, I didn’t have to rely on my friends as much. I used some of the money to rent an apartment in Manhattan Beach in Brooklyn. Although Regina and me had stopped seeing each other, she put the apartment in her name. Nobody else knew I was living there and I never invited anybody over. It was my safe house.

“I continued to get word that Wild Bill Cutolo wasn’t happy with me. And Danny Cutaia and his crew were still pointing fingers at Mike Yannotti and me for Robert Arena’s murder. This stuff was causing a lot of stress, so I reached out to Nicky Corozzo. I asked him what I should do if I ran into one of those guys. First, he said no decision had been made about how to handle the Cutaia faction—whether to eliminate the whole crew, take them out one at a time, or what. There was nothing firm, but murder was in the air.

“He then explained the rules that were in effect until then. If I met them in a neutral area, I could only react to defend myself. If I saw them in a danger zone, I could shoot to kill without waiting for them to make the first move. A danger zone was around my mother’s or my sisters’ homes, where my son was living, or anywhere I was laying my head at night. If anybody came around those locations, they undoubtedly had bad intentions.

“I had a meet with Mike to discuss the whole situation. I told him it was nearing critical mass. I’ll never forget what he said to me. He said that if they came for me, it was only because they were going to clean house. He said he was the one who had to worry. And then he openly admitted that he had killed Robert. Even though I’d figured he was involved,
hearing it from his own mouth was a blow to me. I was so angry I wanted to shoot him right there and then. But I had to bite my tongue and act like it didn’t bother me. If he saw my emotions, he’d have felt justified in killing me. And this wasn’t the time for a shootout. I figured there’d be another time down the line.”

Andrew now had two issues of revenge on the back burner: Sammy Karkis and Mike Yannotti. The timing wasn’t right to take action in either case. But a third man seemed intent on forcing the fugitive gangster’s hand.

“My sister was in a bad way. She wasn’t the woman that I remembered from before I went to prison. My brother-in-law had done a number on her physically and emotionally. Her kids had seen some bad things go down in the house. When I warned him to clean up his act or get out of her life, I thought he got the message. He didn’t. The abuse continued. I thought it was time for him to go.

“Following protocol, I contacted Mike Yannotti, went to his house, and told him what I wanted to do. He said he’d run it past Nicky and see if he’d give his approval for the hit. Mike was already personally on board with the idea. We talked some more and developed a plan for the killing.

“My brother-in-law was an electrician. He respected and feared Mike. I knew that if Mike called him and said he needed some electrical work done at his house, he’d show up fast. He wouldn’t dare not to. When he arrived, Mike would have him pull his truck into the garage that was under the house and kill him there. We’d then get rid of his body and the truck. He’d just disappear and no one would ever know if he was dead or alive. We decided to do a dry run. I followed Mike down the stairs that led to the garage. It was pitch black—a perfect place for a killing.

“In a day or two, Mike got back to me and said Nicky had given me the green light to do the killing as long as it didn’t come back on the crew. For the first time in my life, I knew what it was like to hold that ultimate power. This wasn’t something I was ordered to do by someone else. It was my decision, and my decision alone, whether my brother-in-law lived or died.

“Mike told me that it was all up to me. If I wanted to go forward with the plan, he’d make the call to my brother-in-law right away, get him over there, and be done with it. But he suggested I think it over some more before I made up my mind. He pointed out that it wasn’t just my sister involved. She’d lose a husband, but the kids would also lose their father. If the truth ever became known or suspected by my family, the kids could end up hating me.

“Those were good points and I agreed to think about it. It was a very hard decision for me to make, because I couldn’t stand the thought of my sister being in pain and I knew he’d inflicted a lot of it on her. But in the end, I spared his life. I had the power of life and death in my hands and I chose to let him live. I gave him his walking papers and let it go.

“Looking back at it today, do I think it was the right decision? My sister still has emotional scars from what he put her through and it hurts me to see that. But their daughter was married recently and he was invited to the wedding. That makes me feel confident that I did the right thing.

“That experience gave me an insight into what it’s like to be an organized-crime boss—to have that kind of power over other people’s very lives. Just imagine having the ability to determine who lives and who dies. When those guys become bloodthirsty because their egos get the best of them, or maybe they’re mentally unbalanced, look at the destruction they can cause. It’s kind of a scary thought, isn’t it?”