Colombo Mobster: Albert (Gooch) Mugnolo

Albert (Gooch) Mugnolo was a top-ranked associate of the Colombo Family, who was engaged in a wide variety of Cosa Nostra rackets but most active in gambling rackets like bookmaking and policy-numbers, as well as strong-arm work and counterfeiting. He also figured into a major highly-publicized 1961 gambling raid that involved a cross section of the city’s top mobsters and gamblers.

Albert (Gooch) Mugnolo -- aka The Gooch, Al Mugnolo, and Albert Dominick Mugnolo (TN) -- was born in Brooklyn on July 26, 1933. His parents were twenty-nine year old Leonard Tito Mugnolo and twenty-eight year old Lydia Rita (nee’ Marra) Mugnolo. He was one of two sons and a daughter. His siblings were named Leonard Jr., and Marie, respectively.

Albert grew up in the Red Hook section of South Brooklyn, a gritty rough-and-tumble neighborhood located by the waterfront docks along Gowanus Bay.

Albert D. Mugnolo

As a youth he worked for a time as a longshoreman and then as an apprentice for the Bricklayers Union, Local #9.

In 1956, he married Marienne Polodak and they had one son together, but Al and Marienne later divorced. He eventually got married again to a woman named Josephine Anna Lombardo, and they had two children together — both daughters — who they named Diedre and Danielle.

All through the 1950s and early sixties, Mugnolo lived and primarily operated in Kings County. In 1961, he was residing at 73 69th Street, Brooklyn.

By the the late 1960s, Albert relocated from Brooklyn out to Nassau County on Long Island, where they purchased a small cape-cod style house, at 24 West Maple Street, Valley Stream. Their move was spurred by Albert’s parents, who had moved out to the Northport area of Suffolk County, Long Island a few years earlier.

Mugnolo’s home in Valley Stream, L.I.

Mobbed-Up!

New York City law enforcement sources say that during the course of his underworld career, Mugnolo was engaged in a variety of criminal activity but that he was most active in gambling rackets like bookmaking and policy-numbers, as well as strong-arm work, counterfeiting, and later, the pornography racket.

At one point, knowledgeable underworld sources say Mugnolo had been in line for formal induction into the ranks of Cosa Nostra. Nobody is sure whether or not Mugnolo was ever “straightened out” as Mafia jargon goes, but regardless, at the very least, Mugnolo was considered to be a top-ranked associate of Brooklyn’s Colombo Crime Family.

In fact, his criminal credentials were impressive enough, according to rackets squad investigators, that he once reportedly served for a time as the personal bodyguard and chauffeur to Family boss Joseph A. Colombo .

Arrests, Trials, and Tribulations

Over the course of his criminal career, Mugnolo was known to have racked up at least ten arrests for such charges as disorderly conduct (twice), bookmaking (four times), consorting with known criminals, atrocious assault and battery with a car, criminal possession of counterfeit money, and criminal contempt of an investigative grand jury. He was convicted at least six occasions: three times for bookmaking, disorderly conduct, counterfeiting, and contempt of court.

By at least the mid-1950s, Mugnolo had been identified by detectives with the New York City Police Department’s Intelligence Unit as a “criminal associate” of the old Joseph Profaci family of Brooklyn who was known to be closely affiliated with key members of the notorious “Gallo Brothers Gang,” including Albert (Kid Blast) Gallo, who was a personal friend.

But, according to knowledgable sources, he was most likely a direct subordinate of soldier Carmine (The Snake) Persico , in whose crew he was suspected of serving in.

Mugnolo was thought to have gotten his start as a member of a gambling ring controlled by Persico — then a fast-rising star in the old Profaci Family — who, at that time, was operating in conjunction with a powerful Family caporegine by the name of Nicholas (Jiggs) Forlano .

Sources with the New York Police Department say that as a young hoodlum, Albert Mugnolo was occasionally used by the “South Brooklyn Crew” for various types of strong-arm work and intimidation.

In fact, he was once one of six young local hoods arrested for crashing their vehicle into a picket line of striking union workers who were protesting unfair working conditions in front of a local company. At the time of this incident, the local police didn’t realize that Mugnolo was part of a larger underworld effort to “break” the strike and to disrupt union efforts to “organize” a union at the company.

Union Racket Goon

On February 9, 1960, Mugnolo was one of seven young men taken into custody in Newark, New Jersey after police reported they were involved in a violent confrontation with striking workers picketing in front of the Commercial Can Company.

New Jersey authorities took action after numerous witnesses reported that a carload of strikebreakers had crashed through a picket line and then fled the scene, injuring two policemen and a picketer in the process.

The injured patrolmen struck by the car were identified as officers Emmett Salvatore, and his partner, William Haff. Although cut and bruised, the two cops managed to jump into their patrol car and give chase, catching and arresting the suspects at gunpoint about a half-mile away from the scene of the incident.

Those injured in the assault were later taken to St. James Hospital for treatment and later released.

The two cops who were knocked down and gave chase to Mugnolo and his buddies.

In describing the incident, Police Captain Charles E. Kelly stated he witnessed two other automobiles filled with "hooligans" drive past the company while 50 or so striking workers walked a picket line, but they didn’t start any trouble at that time.

Kelly said this was shortly before the third car came smashing through the pickets and caused the disruption which led to their arrests.

Authorities said that this was the third incident involving violence since approximately 100 members of Local #810 of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters went on strike over a new contract back January of that year.

Police reported that previous incidents included striking workers hurling a can of gasoline into a parked tractor-trailer which caused heavy damage to the vehicle. They said the Arson Squad was investigating that particular incident, though no further information could be found.

A second incident occurred the following week, when another picketer was arrested for smashing the windshields of cars with rocks. This second flare-up forced state officials to increase police protection of the company’s plant and property and upper management.

Authorities identified the seven suspects arrested that morning — all residents of Brooklyn — as Anthony J. (Tony) Cataldi, who police said drove the car and was employed as a truck driver. He was charged with leaving the scene of an accident. The car, however, was actually registered in the name of another of those arrested -- Albert Mugnolo.

Cataldi was also charged with atrocious assault and battery by automobile, as were the six other young men in the car with him.

A police spokesman stated, “The seven are accused of acting in concert to assault two patrolmen and a picket with a car at the plant, 650 Ferry Street.”

He said most of those arrested were ostensibly employed as either construction laborers, truckers or longshoremen on the South Brooklyn docks. Those charged included 26-year old Albert Mugnolo, who told police he was employed as a bricklayer. The others were identified as Ernest Alfano, Ralph A. Casale, Emilio Vignapiano, William A. Lewis, and Jack M. Enea.

During their interrogation, the young hoodlums told police they had been approached and hired earlier that morning by an unknown man at a local tavern on Second Avenue and Fifty-Eighth Streets in Brooklyn. They said they had been promised $25 a day to work at the Newark plant.

Teamsters Local #810 accused the company of having hired these men and others like them to help bust up the strike, an accusation executives at the Commercial Can Company vehemently denied.

When confronted by news reporters, company manager Theodore Junsch said, “Nothing of the sort. We are hiring from regular employment agencies and from an advertisement in the paper.” He added that new workers were being offered a basic starting salary of $1.57 per hour. The strikers were said to be employed as maintenance and production workers.

However, the union said they received information that “three carloads of goons” had been recruited to smash through the picket line. This particular incident led the union representing the striking workers to ask the Department of Labor to investigate the matter.

In a formal letter to then Labor Secretary James P. Mitchell, union officials stated “The transportation and importation of these violent strikebreakers from Brooklyn to Newark constitutes a violation of federal law.”

Less that two years later Mugnolo found himself in the crosshairs of law enforcement once again. Only this time around it was with the feds.

The White Turkey Shoot

On January 4, 1961, New York City Detectives staged a surprise raid at the White Turkey Restaurant, at 300 East 57th Street and Second Avenue, in Midtown Manhattan. Eighteen men and one woman were taken into custody.

At a news conference held later to announce the arrests a police spokesman said a long-term investigation into the underworld’s organized gambling operations had led them to the White Turkey, where they said the “creme-de-la creme” of the city’s gambling elite conducted much of their business.

Arrested in the raid were fourteen top bookies, who police said had “made themselves sitting ducks by habitually transacting their business inside the upscale White Turkey Restaurant."

Among those picked up in conjunction with the raid included, Milton (Milty) Wekar , a top gambler who police said had $8,000 cash in his pocket when they raided an apartment at 345 E. 56th Street, located directly around the corner from the restaurant. Also arrested was Phyllis Maimes, who police say rented the apartment.

Two more suspects were nabbed in a reputed wire-room at 112 E. 88th Street, and at another location, 2434 Eastchester Road, The Bronx.

Deputy Chief Inspector John Bradt, who ordered the 4:00 p.m. crackdown, later stated, “Those grabbed were definitely not street corner bookies. These were the big boys, the brains boys.”

NYC Chief Inspector Bradt coordinated the raid.

Led by Police Lieutenant Thomas Madden, a force of 30 police officers and detectives hit the restaurant at 4:00 P.M. in the afternoon.

Lt. Madden said the large police contingent was utilized ensure "nobody flew the coop.” Two police paddy-wagons had to be called to the scene to transport all the prisoners to police headquarters.

All those arrested were charged with various bookmaking offenses and consorting with known criminals (each other).

Detectives revealed that approximately one month earlier, the "hoodlum element" met at The White Turkey each afternoon to conduct their criminal affairs.

The authorities said they had began receiving tips back in December that “The men in white-on-white shirts, pointy shoes and grease-groomed hair" were gathering at the restaurant in mid-afternoon, enjoyed cocktails and lunch, and then "openly passed large sums of money amongst themselves.”

Newspapers reported that the men "talked softly among themselves," but other patrons and the restaurant's management overheard their conversations.

After the tip, the New York Police Department began an undercover operation with detectives hanging around the eatery posing as customers to observe and note what was going on.

They quickly discovered that the White Turkey was being used as a payoff rendezvous for New York’s gambling syndicate, where money was dispatched from that location to various bookmakers rings throughout the five boroughs.

After gathering up enough intelligence and evidence, Chief Inspector Bradt ordered his men to raid the place.

By prearranged signal, the raiding party burst into the restaurant from two entrances on 57th Street, and another on Second Avenue.

The jig is up for Ruby and Jiggs as Forlano (black topcoat) and Stein (white topcoat) are loaded into the paddy wagon.

Police then lined the suspects up against a wall in the bar area and frisked them. No weapons were found, but they did find tens of thousands of dollars in the pockets of the prisoners, which was confiscated as evidence.

Among those grabbed in the raid were numerous men police identified as mafiosi, including Profaci Family captain Nicholas (Jiggs) Forlano, and his partner, Charles (Ruby) Stein , who hailed from Astoria and Jackson Heights, Queens, respectively.

Also arrested were a number of Family soldiers including Anthony (Tony Lap) LaPonzina and two fast-rising young men who would eventually become top leaders of the Family, Joseph (Joe Yak) Yacovelli , and the notorious Carmine (The Snake) Persico, who would one day become the Family’s boss.

Another of those arrested that day was Vincent J. Caputo, who police nabbed up in The Bronx. Caputo was a suspected associate of the Thomas Lucchese Family.

Also arrested were known Profaci Family associates, Albert (Kid Blast) Gallo, Philip (Fat Fungi) Gambino, and our boy, 27-year old Albert Mugnolo.

Albert Mugnolo (2nd) and his buddy Albert Gallo (3rd) in the custody of detectives after the White Turkey raid.

Still others nabbed included Irving Goldsmith, Murray Tannenbaum, Jack Weinstein, Joseph Foti, Carlton (Carl) Auerbach, Jack Kapitofsky, Vincent Sercia, Solomon (Crew-Cut Solly) Margolis and Hyman Stutman — the majority of whom were considered by the police to be “KG’s” or known gamblers.

Side Note: The infamous Genovese Family underboss Antonio (Tony Bender) Strollo was also being targeted for arrest in this investigation as a regular member of the White Turkey set. But New York authorities said that Strollo began staying away from the place weeks earlier after he became suspicious that the cops knew what was going on there. Strollo’s “sixth sense” saved him from being charged in this case.

By this point in time young Mugnolo had already accumulated a number of arrests including assault, gambling and other offenses.

Funny Money Wasn't So Funny

Aside from handling policy-numbers and horse bookmaking, around this same point in time, police suspected Albert of also dabbling in other criminal pursuits such as the hijacking of cargo trucks off the docks, the “fencing” of stolen goods, and strong-arm work.

By the early 1960s, Mugnolo decided to move his wife and family from the city out to the bucolic suburbs of Long Island.

But despite his best efforts, Albert’s life wouldn’t stay quiet for long.

In 1962, members of the U.S. Secret Service, working with New York City Detectives, arrested Mugnolo and several associates of his, including Ralph DeSantis and Peter L. Yuastella, for the possession counterfeit money.

Authorities accused Mugnolo and his two accomplices with strong-arm robbery after they “hijacked” two other hoodlums and reportedly robbed them of $100,000 in counterfeit freshly-printed notes. Caught red-handed in possession of the funny-money, It was a slam-dunk case for the government.

Mugnolo and Yuastella, both of whom were 29-years old at the time, later pled guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court to a charge of possession of counterfeit U.S. currency. Federal Judge John R. Bartels sentenced both men to serve 8 years behind bars in a federal penitentiary.

DeSantis, of Bayside, Queens, later pleaded guilty to a charge of conspiracy to possess counterfeit money. He was allowed to remain free on a $25,000 bail package to await sentencing that December 14th.

Side Note: By the early 1980s Ralph DeSantis had been identified as a close associate of the Genovese Family.

Mugnolo’s lawyer filed an appeal of his conviction, which was later denied. But he did manage to win numerous court delays for his client. Finally, in 1964, with all possible appeals thoroughly exhausted, Albert Mugnolo was finally ordered by the court to turn himself in to the authorities to start serving his time. He was shipped off to Lewisburg Federal Penitentiary, in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.

The Gooch ended up serving a little over three years before he was finally released from prison in 1967. He was then placed under the supervision of the Federal Parole Office until 1972 when the full time of his sentence expired.

Mugnolo initially returned to his home in Valley Stream, Long Island. But several years later, he and his wife decided to move back to the city. The Mugnolos relocated to Staten Island.

The Country Squire

By the 1960s, Al’s reputation was such that he had become a well-known mob figure and a worthy target for local and federal law enforcement agencies focusing their efforts against organized crime.

Subsequently, during the year 1969, after extensive research, several local newspapers started publishing a series of investigative articles exposing mob figures who both lived and operated in Nassau and Suffolk Counties in suburban Long Island.

In all, over 170 mob members and their associates of New York’s “Five Family” structure were identified. The press named Albert Magnolo as one of 37 reputed Colombo Family members profiled. Mugnolo was identified as a “Family associate, who may have attained soldier status.”

He was in good company. Among some of the others listed included such Cosa Nostra stalwarts as “crime captains” John (Sonny) Franzese , Enrico (Harry) Fontana, Salvatore (Sally the Sheik) Mussachio , and Carmine (The Snake) Persico.

Yet, for all the unwanted attention he was given — for all intents and purposes — although technically speaking “The Gooch” was now residing in the leafy environs of suburban Long Island, he seems to have always viewed Nassau County and the suburbs in general as a bedroom community to just hang his hat and enjoy personal family life. He was not known to operate criminally on Long Island.

It appears that Mugnolo still conducted any activities connected to his “other family” back in the city.

But despite any preference to conduct his criminal business within the five boroughs as opposed to Long Island, nonetheless, by the late 1960s, investigators connected to the Nassau County Rackets Squad discovered Mugnolo was now residing within the county. That made him an instant target.

At the time, an intensive drive then being conducted by Nassau County District Attorney William Cahn, who had quickly gained a well-deserved reputation as a “racket buster” who was fighting what he described at the time as “Cosa Nostra’s expansion into Long Island to takeover the rackets and to infiltrate legitimate businesses.”

Subsequently, as a Nassau County resident, Mugnolo became one of the mob figures identified by the district attorney’s office as a subject for investigation and possible prosecution.

From that point forward, Mugnolo was periodically surveilled by detectives and repeatedly subpoenaed to appear to testify before the Nassau County Grand Jury.

After several years of this type of harassment by the district attorney and his rackets bureau, by the early 1970s, Mugnolo had had enough. He decided to move back to Brooklyn.

But New York’s law enforcement community wasn’t quite done with him yet.

The FBI Gets Into the Act

On October 17, 1972, teams of F.B.I. agents fanned out across New York as they conducted 13 separate raids and served at least 15 command subpoenas in what was described by federal law enforcement officials as “The biggest gambling and shylocking operation” in Brooklyn.

At a news conference, officials said the gambling ring was reportedly run by the Mafia Family of Joseph Colombo Sr. and was estimated to gross between $10 and $50 million annually. The operation was allegedly controlled by Joseph (Joe Lane) Gentile , who they described as an associate member and a top moneymaker for the Family.

Gentile was served with a subpoena commanding him to appear before a Federal Grand Jury. Although Mugnolo was not arrested or charged in this case, he was one of those who received a federal subpoena commanding him to appear and testify before the grand jury about what he knew regarding this Colombo Family gambling operation.

An FBI spokesman said that during the course of the raids, agents discovered and confiscated as evidence caches of money totaling $22,000 cash, numerous bank accounts indicating balances of $93,000, a number of diamonds, as well as volumes of shylocking and gambling records.

“Have Gun, Will Travel”

According to the FBI, if their informants are to be believed, Mugnolo took the show on the road whenever he was ordered to by the Colombo Family brass. And just like Palladin — the hit 1960s television’s series about a gun for hire — Mugnolo’s mantra could have been, “Have Gun, Will Travel.”

During September 1972, the FBI’s Miami Division reported they had received information that two Gambino Family “button men” from New York City, Albert Mugnolo and Anthony (Tony Lap) LaPonzina, had allegedly been dispatched down to Miami by fellow mobster Joseph (Joe Lane) Gentile.

According to the FBI’s sources, their assignment was to force a local mob associate named Sanford (Sandy) Rafsky to reveal the whereabouts of wayward Gambino soldier John Lombardozzi, a brother of the notorious Gambino caporegime, Carmine (The Doctor) Lombardozzi .

Rafsky owned Miami Originals, Ltd., a Miami-based dress manufacturing company with alleged LCN connections. Authorities said that Rafsky also figured into an active criminal investigation being conducted by the FBI’s Miami Office.

According to FBI memos, because John Joseph Lombardozzi was alleged to be a partner with Rafsky in this company, the Bureau was concerned that the New York Mafia had sent hitmen down to Florida to kill Lombardozzi.

So a surveillance was set up to monitor the two mobster’s movements. But it was later reported that neither Mugnolo or LaPonzina had ever approached Rafsky.

Side Note: At the time of this incident, Gambino soldier John Lombardozzi had been revealed to be an informant for the FBI. No doubt federal law enforcement authorities were concerned about possible mob efforts to find and eliminate one of their Mafia cooperators.

The FBI had also misidentified Mugnolo and LaPonzina as affiliates of the Carlo Gambino Family. When, in fact, they were actually connected to the Joseph Colombo Family.

I Got Nuttin' But Contempt for this Court!

Then, on the morning of November 14, 1974 Nassau County Detectives came to arrest Mugnolo for criminal contempt of court, after the Nassau Grand Jury voted to indict him for refusing to truthfully answer a series of questions asked of him.

The questions ranged from his general knowledge about the Colombo Family and various criminal activities of its members, to more specific questions about criminal activity in the field of pornography and the Family’s criminal infiltration of legitimate businesses.

Described as an ex-convict and former Long Islander now living on Staten Island, the 41-year old Colombo hood was ordered held in lieu of $15,000 bail by County Court Judge Raymond L. Wilkes after Mugnolo was formally charged with first-degree criminal contempt for allegedly giving evasive answers when he testified before the investigative panel the previous month of October.

A spokesman for District Attorney William Cahn said Mugnolo had actually been indicted back on October 18th, but was only arrested yesterday morning at his Staten Island home after an unsuccessful search for him during the interim by Nassau detectives who were looking for.

D.A. Cahn later released a partial transcript of Mugnolo’s testimony before the grand jury, including his replies to questions posed to him by the prosecutor regarding his knowledge of, and conversations with, various organized crime figures.

One exchange between the prosecutor and the hoodlum went as follows when the prosecutor asked, “Did you ever have a conversation with Dominick “Mimi” Scialo? (A Coney Island-based racketeer who went missing and whose body was later found buried under the basement cement of a Brooklyn social club on October 9). Mugnolo answered: “Yeah, hello and goodbye.”

At the time of his arrest, Assistant Nassau District Attorney John M. Galasso described Mugnolo as a former chauffeur and bodyguard to crime boss Joseph A. Colombo Sr..

The prosecutor informed the judge that although Mugnolo owned a Staten Island house worth an estimated $35,000, when asked how he earned his living Mugnolo stated to Nassau investigators that he was unemployed and could not recall who his previous employer was.

The District Attorney’s Office also informed Judge Wilkes they had reliable information that Mugnolo actually made his living as a major distributor of pornography in the New York Metropolitan area.

Checking Out

By the late 1970s forward, very little was ever heard from Mugnolo again — at least publicly. It appears that for the next twenty years or so, Mugnolo and his wife lived quietly on Staten Island, successfully staying under law enforcement’s radar and the glare of the media spotlight.

If he did remain active in the streets, he did so without any fanfare and tumult.

Albert Dominick Mugnolo died on September 16, 1999 while still residing on Staten Island. Gooch was only 66 years old.

Mugnolo was waked for two days at the Matthew Funeral Home, 2508 Victory Boulevard. He was then given a Mass of Christian Burial at Our Lady Star of the Sea R.C. Church, before being interred at the nearby Moravian Cemetery on Staten Island.

His devoted wife, Josephine, died two years earlier, in 1997. She was only 55.

Until next time..."The Other Guy"

Colombo Mobster: Albert (Gooch) Mugnolo

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Colombo Mobster: Albert (Gooch) Mugnolo

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