Carmine (Carlo) Mastrototaro

Carmine (Carlo) Mastrototaro lived a double life as a decorated war hero and a fiercely loyal mafioso in the Genovese Family's Worcester faction. From saving his platoon in WWII to running high-stakes gambling rackets and tangling with mob titans, Carlo’s story is one of honor, cunning, and controversy.

Carmine (Carlo) Mastrototaro was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on July 30, 1920, an area where he would continue to reside and operate for the rest of his life. His longtime address was 40 Hancock Hill Drive in Shrewsbury in Worcester.

He stood at a slim and trim 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighed about 145 pounds. Carlo had an olive complexion, smooth jet-black hair, and dark brown eyes like a wolf. He was allegedly a sharp dresser, and when he spoke, it was usually in a low-key, controlled manner. That was Carlo.

He got married young and had two daughters. Later in life, in his 70s, he married a second time and stayed hitched for 15 years before his death.

During WWII, he enlisted in the Marines and was stationed in the South Pacific and Philippine Islands. As a Private First Class, he became a war hero, earning himself the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart. He served from 1939 to 1944.

It was said that Mastrototaro had saved his entire platoon one evening while he was standing guard, allegedly killing 8 or 9 Japanese enemies who tried sneaking up on his troop's camp during the Battle of Saipan. He later also participated in several other major combat missions. It was a tremendous badge of honor he would carry with him for the rest of his life.

Side Note: Through the years, Carlo said that getting wounded most definitely saved his life because it took him out of action and away from his platoon, which went on to fight another major battle where the enemy wiped out his entire squad. Being wounded in battle saved him from certain death.

He was badly wounded during one battle and eventually sent home to recuperate at a Marine hospital. Upon his release from the armed services, he relocated back to his hometown of Worcester, where he soon embarked on a career with the mob. In other words, he traded in his M-1 carbine rifle for a “button." The positions might have been two very different types of “soldiers,” but he was said to have been equally devoted to both once he’d signed up.

A Proper Mafioso

Starting as a soldier in the small Iaconi regime of Worcester under the tutelage of the city’s reigning mafia capo, Frank Iaconi , Carlo would serve Iaconi loyally. Although boss of a small city, the Calabrian-born Iaconi became a very powerful mob boss in the area and extremely wealthy during his tenure.

Worcester boss Frank Iaconi.

By the early 1980s, after many years as a soldier, Mastrototaro rose to the capo post of whatever was left of this small regime. It was thought that at its peak, the Worcester “crew” had no more than 7 to 8 "made" members, including Carlo and another dozen or so crew associates.

But regardless of his “official” position, Carlo was always a very well-respected mafioso, both for his street abilities and for his decorum and knowledge of proper Cosa Nostra protocol when interacting with fellow mafiosi and his ethics.

Side Note: Despite later testimony that helped convict Mastrototaro, informer Vinny Teresa had a clear admiration for Carlo in his later autobiography.

“He was as honest as they come in the mob when you dealt with him,” Teresa wrote. “If you had a cent and a half coming from him, it didn’t make one bit of difference if you didn’t show up to collect for six months. When you got there, the money was there waiting for you.”

Mastrototaro was a very versatile mafioso, primarily involved in gaming rackets within the Worcester area. During the late 1960s, he was also tied to legal casino operations in London, England, the Bahamas, and the island nation of Haiti on behalf of the Genovese Family.

Side Note: Mastrototaro gained a reputation early in his career as a capable and reliable moneymaker, especially in bookmaking and various casino-style games for which he was considered an expert in gambling.

During his years in Worcester, he dabbled in. He helped control their gambling and shylocking business, jukeboxes, vending machines , and whatever other rackets would occasionally pop up, such as the casino gambling junket business. It was a huge moneymaker during the 1960s and 1970s era for both the mafia, in general, and Worcester’s wiseguys in particular.

Iaconi and Sam (Big Nose Sam) Cufar i looked toward Carlo with confidence to take control of the junket business to turn a profit. Cufari was a veteran member of the Luciano/Genovese mob nominated as “capo” over the large Springfield, MA regime of the borgata and the neighboring town of Worcester.

Springfield boss Sam Cufari

It was believed that Mastrototaro's connections to various casinos were largely due to his developing working relationships with several casinos in different territories and island nations to facilitate their gambling junket business.

Underworld legend has it that during the 1960s, Mastrototaro was also brought in by his capo to help stabilize their local policy numbers business and a large-scale horse and sports betting business run by other crew members in financial trouble. Within one season, Carlo had turned the business around, and they had earned over $83,000 net profit for their bank after the football season was completed.

Carlo Mastrototaro soon became a very trusted soldier within the Family.

Being a War Hero Should Count for Something

Having been around for so many decades, Carlo was known by and knew most everybody there was to know in his neck of New England’s underworld woods, so to speak.

But among his closest friends and associates in the mafia were his fellow crew members, all of whom were considered “inducted” as part of the Worcester faction of New York’s Genovese mob. These friends and associates included Francesco (Frankie I) Iaconi, Angelo (Chester) Iaconi, Salvatore (Sully) Iaconi, Francis (Jigger) Santo, Anthony (Champ) Sanfratello, James Collaro, and Cosmo (Pinky) Panarelli.

Additionally, he was close with their sister Genovese regime operating in the nearby Springfield, which included their resident capo Salvatore (Big Nose Sam) Cufari, acting capo Francesco (Frankie Skyball) Scibelli, and soldiers Adolph (Big Al) Bruno, Albert (Baba) Scibelli, Anthony (Turk) Scibelli, Girolamo (Bobby Doyle) Santuccio, and Amato Santaniello, among others.

He was also a contemporary of other iconic figures of New England’s mob, such as Raymond L.S. Patriarca , Joseph (JP) Patriarca, Gennaro (Jerry) Anguilo, Frank (The Spoon) Cucchiara , and Joseph (Joe Beans) Palladino. In addition, he was a contemporary of fellow Genovese mob figures such as Michele (Mike) Miranda, James Angelina , John (Buster) Ardito, Vincent Pollina, the Curcio brothers, and Salvatore (Sabby) Basso .

Through the years, Carlo held legitimate ownership or was partnered in several popular Worcester Italian restaurants and casual eateries.

Mastrototaro’s criminal record listed such charges as interstate transportation of stolen securities, wire fraud, racketeering, gambling, and usury.

Carlo Mastrototaro

In what later became a well-publicized case in 1980, he had partnered with Boston’s Jerry Anguilo and several Patriarca minions in operating the United Books Shop of Worcester, a popular pornography store offering dirty sex magazines, porn movies, and other smut.

As the only pornography shop operating in that city, the store quickly became a very lucrative business and a major bone of contention between the two mafiosi. When things got heated between them, Carlo, who was still a soldier at the time, had to reach out for his friend and resident Genovesec caporegime, who operated from the city of Springfield, Massachusetts, to represent him at a sitdown against Anguilo, who was the official underboss of the Patriarca Family of New England.

In 1971, Mastrototaro fell on a federal case brought against him and seven others in Baltimore, Maryland, for the handling of stolen U.S. Treasury notes. After conviction, Carlo received nine years in federal prison and a $5,000 fine.

Pivotal to his conviction was the riveting courtroom testimony of a notorious New England mob informer named Vincent (Fat Vinny) Teresa. Fat Vinny pointed his finger at Mastrototaro and said Mastrototaro was the key mafioso orchestrating the fencing of three stolen U.S. Treasury bills with a face value of $100,000 each from New York City to Baltimore.

It was alleged that Carlo had provided $25,000 upfront as a down payment for purchasing the securities so the hoods could later resell them through “fencing.” Trial testimony revealed that they had negotiated a price of $60,000 for all three notes, which was the typical fenced rate of 20% of the face value of the stolen goods or “swag” value of $300,000.

Mastrototaro served most of this nine-year bid at the Danbury Penitentiary in Connecticut.

Carlo Mastrototaro in his prime.

In 1993, the 74-year-old Mastrototaro, now having risen to a caporegime, was one of 13 reputed mafia members indicted in Hartford, Connecticut, on various RICO charges, which included illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, and racketeering.

A federal grand jury in New Haven authorized arrest warrants for top Genovese figures that included those mentioned above now 82-year-old fellow capo Frank Scibelli , soldiers Adolfo Bruno and Anthony Volpe , and nine of their mob associates, including Patrick (Pat the Rat) Guglietta and John Barile.

After his conviction, the judge sentenced Carlo to a 27-month jail term. However, as Mastrototaro stood before the court, the justice immediately reduced it to 21 months, saying that being a war hero should count for something at a certain point in a person's life. For Mastrototaro, this was that day.

Carmine (Carlo) Mastrototaro died on October 5, 2009, at the very comfortable age of 89. With his passing, the last vestiges of the Worcester faction of New York’s Genovese Family largely died with him. Today, the Worcester regime is no longer in existence.

Until next time, “The Other Guy!”

Carmine (Carlo) Mastrototaro

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