Do-Do Makes a Deadly Boo-Boo – The Paddy Whack Series

On June 1, 1976, the body of an unidentified male was discovered near a garbage container in an industrial area of Maspeth, Queens. Authorities said the man had been shot five times in the head with a small caliber weapon. His body was then bound, wrapped, and disposed of behind the dumpster.

Through a fingerprint check, police were able to identify the partially decomposed corpse as that of 44-year-old Joseph (Do-Do) Pastore. At the time he was found, Pastore had been dead for about a week already. Yet, his family had not reported him as missing.

Joseph Pastore

Pastore, who lived in Oceanside, Long Island with his wife and child, was discovered by garbage men making daily trash collections. The workers told the police they found Pastore’s body under a mound of garbage that had been thrown on top of him, in the corner of an alleyway behind the Alfred Bleyer & Company, Inc., a paper goods distribution firm located at 58-77 57th Street.

The carters reported that, at first, the large pile appeared to be no more than garbage. But upon further inspection, they were shocked to discover a dead body underneath.

58-77 57th Street, Maspeth

Interviewed by the media, NYPD Detective Michael Bottari of the 15th Homicide and Assault Squad said that after being shot in the head, Pastore was then stripped of his clothes and jewelry, leaving him clad only in socks and shorts. A rope was then wrapped around his neck and feet, trussing him up tight which forced his body into a fetal position.

With their victim now essentially hogtied, Detective Botttari said the killers then wrapped the body inside a large white sheet and discarded the corpse in the alleyway. Authorities called it a typical “gangland-style” execution.

Putting the Puzzle Together

Detective Bottari said that at the time of his murder, Pastore was known to be engaged in shylocking, gambling, and cigarette smuggling rackets. He would purchase truckloads of cigarettes down in Virginia and North Carolina and then smuggle them back into New York City to evade state and city tax levies.

In fact, Pastore had been arrested just two years earlier, in 1974, on a charge of possession of untaxed cigarettes. Bottari also said that Pastore had previously served time on an old hijacking conviction for cargo theft.

Pastore officially listed his employment as the sales manager for a Carteret, New Jersey electronics firm. But organized crime investigators described Pastore as a known “associate” of both the Joseph Colombo and Vito Genovese Crime Families. Authorities said that Pastore was known to associate and do business with a wide range of mob figures from at least three different Mafia Families.

His kid brother, Richard T. (Richie) Dorme, was also affiliated with the mob and was known as Doo-Doo’s constant companion and partner. Another sometimes partner of Pastore was Anthony (Donuts) DeDona, another local cigarette smuggler who owned a Maspeth cigarette-vending machine company that was used to distribute the illegal butts.

Police said Pastore was also a friend of Joseph (Joe Bikini) Brocchini, a major pornography rackets czar and documented soldier in the Lucchese Family (at the time authorities told newspapers it was the "Carmine Trumunti Family".) The Queens Homicide Squad said that Brocchini had himself been found shot to death just two weeks earlier, on May 19, in the Woodside section of the borough.

Strong Arming for "Paddy Mac"

Back in February 1972, Pastore was indicted on second-degree assault charges along with his brother Richie Dorme and two other mob figures in connection with a beating they meted out to the maitre’d and a customer of a local nightclub. The nightclub allegedly targeted by the hoods was The Cloud Room, a popular club located directly across from LaGuardia Airport.

At the time of their arrests, Queens County District Attorney Thomas Mackell identified Pastore and the others as part of a Genovese Family extortion scheme to muscle in on various restaurants, bars, and nightclubs located in the county.

A follow-up police investigation into the mob’s shakedown racket eventually led to the additional arrests and indictments of notorious Genovese Family capo Pasquale (Paddy Mac) Macchiarole , two of his nephews, Anthony and Thomas (Red) Delio, as well as several other mob minions.

Weeks later, The Cloud Room’s owner, Conrad Greaves, was killed in a gangland-style rubout to stymie the investigation. Greaves’ murder successfully thwarted the police probe and ended in the dismissal of all criminal charges against Macchiarole and the others.

Police Theories Abound

Initially, local and federal law enforcement authorities came up with several “theories” as to why Pastore had been killed.

One theory proposed was that he had been killed by members of the Colombo Family during the near-constant internal conflicts that were consuming the Family during that time period.

Another theory was that Pastore’s murder was part of a wider purge and underworld “housecleaning” across the city of wayward mobsters and malcontents that had been ordered by Mafia higher-ups in the fabled Five Families.

Yet another theory tied his killing to Paddy Macchiarole and the Genovese Family.

In reality, however, none of those theories could have been further from the truth.

Truth is Stranger than Fiction

Many years later, another local Queens hoodlum by the name of Joseph (Fat Joey) Massino, who had since become a prized FBI informant, finally revealed why, and by whom, Pastore had been killed.

Massino, a longtime Bonanno Family associate, who first served under Family boss Philip (Rusty) Rastelli , had since been inducted into the Family by Rastelli and had risen to become the new boss of the Bonanno Family.

Joseph Massino and Carmine Franzese caught on FBI surveillance pic.

After getting indicted in several major criminal cases, Massino turned rat. Subsequently, during his many debriefings by FBI agents, Massino confessed that he had been the one behind the plot to murder Pastore.

Massino said he decided to do away with Pastore after he borrowed $10,000 from the unsuspecting hood and didn’t want to pay him back. Massino explained that he approached a close personal neighborhood friend named Carmine (Tutti) Franzese to help him kill Pastore.

Days later, Massino and Franzese, who happened to be a member of the Colombo Family and nephew of the infamous John (Sonny) Franzese, lured the unsuspecting Pastore to an apartment where they shot him to death and then dumped his body a few doors down from the murder location, behind a warehouse alley-way where he was later found.

Until next time…”The Other Guy”

Do-Do Makes a Deadly Boo-Boo – The Paddy Whack Series

You May Also Enjoy

The “Happy” Hood

How the Wiseguys Used to Handle Rodent Problems

There’s Only So Much You Can Take

Welcome Back!

Create New Account!

Retrieve your password

Are you sure want to unlock this post?

Are you sure want to cancel subscription?

Do-Do Makes a Deadly Boo-Boo – The Paddy Whack Series

Unlock The Door to the Underworld

Purchase Subscription

You May Also Enjoy

The “Happy” Hood

How the Wiseguys Used to Handle Rodent Problems

There’s Only So Much You Can Take

Welcome Back!

Create New Account!

Retrieve your password

Are you sure want to unlock this post?

Are you sure want to cancel subscription?