Sam (Sammy Feet) Falgiano

Sabato (Sammy Feet) Falgiano once thought he was making a score stealing TVs, but he and his gang made a mistake they couldn't live down. He was also alleged to be affiliated with the notorious David (Little Davy) Betillo, a former associate and minion of Lucky Luciano and a co-defendant in Lucky’s prostitution trial that sent them all away for years.

He was identified early on as a mob associate. By the early 1950s, he was affiliated with a Genovese Family faction out of East Harlem . In 1983, the FBI and NYCPD listed him as an (inducted) member of that Family, and he was named in U.S. Senate Hearings as a soldier.

Sam (Sammy Feet) Falgiano - aka Sam Falgano and Sabato Falgiano (TN) - was born on December 3, 1913, to Antonio and Alphonsina (nee Mauro) Falgiano. He was raised and resided at 308 E. 108th Street in East Harlem for many years. Later, he lived at 331 E. 108th Street. In later years, he moved to the Elmhurst-Jackson Heights area.

He was identified early on as a mob associate. By the early 1950s, he was affiliated with a Genovese Family faction out of East Harlem. In 1983, the FBI and NYCPD listed him as an (inducted) member of that Family, and he was named in U.S. Senate Hearings as a soldier.

Sam Falgiano

Falgiano had a brother named Frank (Frankie Savoia) Falgiano who ran a very successful restaurant in Jackson Heights for several decades named Savoia Italian Restaurant, located at 80-13 Roosevelt Avenue.

Although Frank was a completely legitimate businessman, he knew everybody, and his restaurant was one of the top mob hangouts of that era. Sammy would often use the restaurant as a cover for employment but he never worked there or had any financial interest.

Sam Falgiano's activities included hijacking, fencing stolen goods, burglary/high-end thefts, and bankruptcy fraud.

Sammy was later alleged to be affiliated with the notorious David (Little Davy) Betillo, a former associate and minion of Lucky Luciano and a co-defendant in Lucky’s prostitution trial that sent them all away for years. I believe Sammy had possibly met and befriended Betillo in prison and later affiliated with him when they both were paroled.

Falgiano's other associates included Angelo Ferrugia, Anthony Soldano, Al Rizzo, Armando Romanelli, Louis Riggio, Jack Priore, Peter Cappiello, Bruno Carnevale, John Verrastro, and Thomas Masone. Many of these men were indicted on criminal cases with Falgiano over the years.

Sammy Feet was a heavy gambler his whole life. And he was constantly looking for that big money score to “bail him out” of debt or keep him afloat. Because of that, he often involved himself in “risky” scores and dealt with less than “solid” associates.

In 1939, Fagiano, who was 26 at the time, was one of two men charged with the attempted robbery of a haberdashery store at 436 Seventh Ave., in Manhattan.

Earlier that evening they had attempted the robbery of a shoe store. Detectives trailed them and confronted them at the haberdashery. When Falgiano pulled a gun on the cops, the detectives shot his associate, Armondo Romanelli, and arrested them both.

They were sentenced to 66 days at Sing Sing for armed robbery.

Sammy Feet's Sing Sing record.

In 1953, a 39-year-old Falgiano was one of four ex-convicts charged by the FBI with truck hijacking for the theft of $500,000 in television tubes from the Sylvania Electric Corp. They accosted the driver and held him for five hours while they unloaded the shipment into a friend's Bronx warehouse.

They were charged with “illegal possession of goods shipped in interstate commerce.”

As a side note, Falgiano apparently had his balls broken over this hijack by friends because he thought they were stealing actual TV sets, not the inner “tubes” which had zero street value to “fence.” The heist was a total failure in more ways than one.

In 1971, Falgiano, then 58 years old, and Ferrugia were arrested for attempted bribery after they approached several cops who had arrested their associates for the burglary of a U.S. Post Office. After offering the cops $4,000 to forget the whole thing, they were all re-arrested.

Carnevale, Verrastro, and Masone were the burglars. Each of them was loosely affiliated associates of various mob crews. Bruno Carnevale would be shot to death shortly after this arrest. I don’t know if the arrest played a part.

Also in 1971, Sammy was among five indicted for several bankruptcy fraud “bust out” schemes. They siphoned off $100,000 from two Patchogue companies before driving them into deliberate bankruptcy.

NATCO Beauty Supply Center Inc., and Merchandise Plus, Inc., were the two victim companies. Falgiano and company would order supplies on credit, sell everything out the back door for cash, and then collapsed the companies when creditors came calling.

Another part of the scheme was to issue company checks for “credit and casino chips” at casinos in Las Vegas and the Bahamas that they later cashed out and pocketed. When the casinos came for their money, Falgiano and the others showed proof of their losses and failure to repay.

Among the conspirators was the notorious Michael Hellerman who was a John Dioguardi minion who later turned informant.

Nothing more was heard from Falgiano in his later years. Sam (Sammy Feet) Falgiano died on August 19, 2000, at the age of 86.

Until next time..."The Other Guy"

Sam (Sammy Feet) Falgiano

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