Frank Serpico was a longtime, veteran “soldier” in the old Genovese family who was primarily a policy racketeer, dice game operator, and gambler active with the “Harlem” crew of (Trigger Mike) Coppola and later under (Fat Tony) Salerno.
Serpico had a nephew, his namesake, named Frank R. (Little Farby) Serpico who would later rise to “Acting Boss” of the Family, but this story focuses on “Farby.”
Frank (Farby) Serpico – aka Frank Rusco and Frank Napiltano – was born on August 11, 1916, at 110-26 Corona Avenue in Corona, Queens to parents Frank and Rose (nee Napiltano). In later years as he got older and better established, he relocated to 251 W. 74th Street in upper Manhattan where he did most of his business.
Serpico stood 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 150 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. He was a longtime veteran “soldier” in the old Genovese Family.
Farby had several family members who followed him into the life, including an older brother Ralph (Ralph Farbs) Serpico who would also join the Family as well as several nephews. One nephew, Frank R. (Little Farby) – his namesake – would later be sponsored into and rise to become an “Acting Boss” of the Family.
NYCPD # 117354
A very well-liked and active member his whole life, he was primarily a policy racketeer, dice game operator, and gambler active with the “Harlem” crew of (Trigger Mike) Coppola and later under (Fat Tony) Salerno.
As a partner through his brother Ralph, a notorious (KG), Frank ran floating dice games and numbers for decades in the Corona-Flushing sections of Queens and Harlem.
Serpico’s activities included policy rackets, floating dice games, counterfeiting, and police bribery.
His arrest record included robbery, possession of a gun, (OPA) violations-counterfeit ration stamps and conspiracy, vagrancy (twice), policy (several times), operating dice games, bribery, and conspiracy.
Just Kidding Around
In 1935, as a 17-year-old young man, he was arrested in Corona for robbery with a boyhood friend, Mario Riccardi. They pled guilty to the holdup and served a 2.5 to 5-year stretch in Sing Sing.
In 1943, at the age of 27, he was investigated by the FBI, and later federally indicted by the Secret Service on counterfeiting charges for the sale and distribution of counterfeit “T-Series gas-ration stamps,” a huge racket during WWII because the U.S. government rationed key provisions to the populous.
Farby got a 2.5 to 5-year federal prison term for this. Farby Serpico operated this racket throughout all northern Queens at that time.
Although a very serious problem for “the guys,” he was later on often kidded by other mob guys because he had the same name as a police “whistleblower” named Frank Serpico, an undercover “honest” cop whose information was instrumental in the forming of the Knapp Commission Hearings on police corruption in NYC during the early 1970s.
The focus of those hearings was on the Harlem gambling and drug racketeers.
Farby was exposed as a “key” mob figure who handled “the pad” (systematic bribery of policemen and detectives in Harlem’s 25th precinct.)
It brought him a lot of heat, and he was indicted with many others in the scandal. It was probably the most exposure he ever received in his very low-keyed career.
Some early and lifelong associates included his brother Ralph and his nephews, Mario Riccardi, Frank (Frankie Bell) Campanello, Joseph (Joe Brown) Lucchese, Joseph (Joey Narrow) Laratro, Frank LaPolla, Walter Ferrentino, Michael Coppola, Anthony Salerno, Thomas (Moe) Lentini, Alfred (Sharkey) Cupola, and Vincent (Fish) Cafaro.
Frank “Farby” Serpico died on December 29, 1993. He was 76 years old. Note: Several sources say 2002, but this is incorrect. 2002 is the year his nephew Frank (Little Farby) died.
His older brother Ralph outlived him, passing in 2001.
In closing, let me say that Frank (Farby) Serpico was a trusted member and close to many top figures throughout NYC, but especially in Harlem.
And his profile is a “classic” sketch of many of the “rank and file” early members of all five Families!
Until next time…”The Other Guy”
