Gaetano (Tommy) Masotto - Sleeper in the Gambino Crime Family

Gaetano (Tommy) Masotto was a Mafia powerhouse, but a sleeper for his entire life.

A little-known or written-about blood cousin of Mafia boss Carlo Gambino , Tommy Masotto served as one of Carlo’s top capos and closest aides and advisors for many years.

Born in Palermo, Sicily and immigrating to New York City as a young boy, Masotto came from a bloodline with deep roots in the Sicilian Mafia. As he grew older, he was automatically absorbed into what would later become the Gambino Crime Family , first as a soldier and then rising to a capo position.

And aside from his many blood relatives including Gambino and Paul Castellano, Tommy Masotto associated with many other powerful mafia figures in the New York underworld including Gambino capo Carmine (The Doctor) Lombardozzi and Lucchese Family soldier and noted labor racketeer John (Johnny Dio) Dioguardi .

Continue reading to learn about the shadowy life and times of Gambino caporegime Gaetano (Tommy) Masotto...Only at Button Guys!

The Masotto Family - Beginnings

One of the least known, yet most important, low-keyed “capo di decina” to ever serve in the Carlo Gambino Family was old-time mafioso Gaetano (Tommy) Masotto.

Masotto was born in the City of Palermo, Sicily, on July 8, 1907.

As a young boy, he immigrated to the United States in 1913 along with his father, mother, and siblings. They eventually arrived in New York City where they had many relatives and fellow “amici” from their village back in Palermo.

In 1930, by the age of twenty-two, Tommy Masotto had married a non-Italian girl originally from Connecticut named Evelyn Cropper.

By 1940, the thirty-three-year-old Masotto and his thirty-two-year-old wife Evelyn were residing at 216 Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn. (HIs cousin, future mob boss Carlo Gambino lived only a few blocks down at 2230 Ocean Parkway.)

The Masotto family had many relatives who were connected to the Sicilian Mafia, many of whom also sailed to America to start new lives.

His older cousins Carlo and Paul and their younger brother Joseph Gambino among them. The Gambino brothers' mother and Masotto’s mother were sisters which made the Gambino and Masotto boys first cousins.

Tommy Masotto is grilled by the Brooklyn DA’s Office in the late 1950s about suspected gun-running and dock thefts of firearms.

Masotto was part of a larger interlocking network of blood relatives who had arrived in New York City years earlier. He had a bunch of brothers and nephews who were also “connected” to Brooklyn’s Cosa Nostra to one degree or another.

His brother Paolo (Paul) Masotto Sr. and Paul’s two sons Anthony and Paul Jr. were all active with their relatives in criminal activities. They specifically dealt in fraudulent bank loans and business bankruptcies during the 1960s and 1970s.

Masotto also had other brothers and many close relatives who were later documented as a mafiosi as well.

His father was Salvatore Masotto who was born in 1863 and thought to have first immigrated to the U.S. sometime before 1913, sailing back and forth to Italy several times in the coming years. He was one of the earliest and most important members of the Palermo-based Mafia to ever operate in New York.

Salvatore Masotto was believed to have served as a senior “capo di decina” within the larger D’Aquila Family headed by the storied “Capo Familia” Salvatore (Toto) D’Aquila.

Aside from the Gambino brothers, the Masottos were also related to the Castellano and Guglielmini families who were all cousins of the Masottos and mafiosi also affiliated with the “Palermitani” faction of the D’Aquilla Family.

By the 1930s, this Family was later headed by Vincent Mangano.

Then in 1951, Albert Anastasia came to power until his execution six years later in the barber’s chair inside the Park Sheraton Hotel in 1957, at which time, Carlo Gambino rose to become boss of the borgata.

Thereafter, this Cosa Nostra network became renamed the Carlo Gambino Family.

Members of the Masotto family were themselves mafiosi back in Sicily. So, upon immigrating to the United States, Tommy Masotto was automatically absorbed into their New York Mafia clan as a young adult.

A Lofty Elevation

Carlo would eventually elevate Masotto to one of twenty-two alleged “capo di decina” positions within the borgata.

But despite his lofty perch as a hierarchy boss overseeing a “crew” of soldiers and associates who reported to him, Masotto successfully maintained a low-key and shadowy existence for much of his underworld career.

Aside from any illegal activities he engaged in, Masotto was interested in many legitimate business ventures as well.

By the late 1950s, he had invested in several butcher shops and wholesale meat supply firms based in Brooklyn and Queens.

For all intents and purposes, Thomas Masotto was a meat purveyor and owner and operator of several successful meat companies. He was partners with his cousins Carlo Gambino, Paul C. Castellano, and Peter Castellana, in a citywide chain of retail meat markets.

The cousins also partnered in several large wholesale meat companies that supplied their chain of stores as well as hundreds of other independent butcher shops and meat dealers located throughout the New York-New Jersey metropolitan area.

The boss!…”Don” Carlo Gambino

By the early 1950s, Masotto had become a very wealthy man. He and Evelyn and their children now resided in a palatial $50,000 waterfront home he purchased for his family at 103 Long Pond Road, in upscale Awosting, New Jersey. [In today’s economy this same home would be valued at closer to $2,500,000.]

He took on the outward appearance and had all the trappings of a hardworking legitimate businessman. A typical immigrant success story as it were…but Gaetano Masotto had a darker, more shadowy side to him as well.

Buried within the files of the New York City Police Department’s Intelligence Unit as well as the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the name of Gaetano (Tommy) Masotto had been repeatedly noted.

Through underworld informants and subsequent follow-up law enforcement surveillance, the shadowy Masotto soon started to appear more and more on law enforcement’s radar screen.

A Very Important Mafioso

During their intense surveillance of his cousin Carlo Gambino during the mid to late 1960s, FBI Agents often saw Masotto in the company of Gambino.

Upon further investigation into Masotto’s background, they discovered that he was a blood cousin of Gambino’s. Through several well-placed informers, they also learned that Masotto was a mafioso himself who was very close to Carlo and that he was actually an inducted “soldier” serving within the Gambino Family.

Masotto was known to affectionately refer to his cousin Carlo as “Papa.”

Tommy “hams it up a bit” for his cousin Carlo who gets a good laugh out of it.

Agents also took note that the Brooklyn butcher was close to at least two other notorious mafiosi - Gambino capo Carmine (The Doctor) Lombardozzi and Lucchese Family soldier and noted labor racketeer John (Johnny Dio) Dioguardi.

Police and FBI intelligence realized that although he was an intimate of many important mafioso, up to that point, Masotto had never been convicted of a crime.

Ostensibly he was just a butcher by trade who owned a retail meat store in Brooklyn for many years after immigrating from Italy as a boy.

Intelligence reports further stated that over the years, Thomas Masotto had partnered with his cousins Carlo and Paul Gambino and another cousin, Paul Castellano, in several retail and wholesale meat companies , several of which later filed for bankruptcy under questionable circumstances.

Business Bust-Outs...A Lucrative Racket

Years later, the FBI realized this pattern of interlocking bankrupted meat companies was a lucrative criminal racket itself.

Various soldiers of Gambino’s Family, notably Paul Castellano, Peter Castellana, brothers Frank and Salvatore Guglielmini, and Masotto among them - each of whom were all cousins to one another - had operated in this fraudulent fashion for more than fifteen years.

Through various frontmen, and often times in their own names, the mafiosi had bought and sold numerous retail and wholesale meat companies among themselves.

With front money and a seemingly legitimate business profile, they would first establish a line of credit with reputable meat dealers and start purchasing loads of meat on a regular basis to give the air of a legitimate business.

Eventually, they would either abruptly close the business and declare bankruptcy, thereby stiffing their suppliers, or, using frontmen, just shut down the business and have their proxy disappear into thin air; this had the same effect of leaving creditors holding the bag for thousands and thousands of dollars in unpaid invoices.

One particular “bust-out scam” they operated - as fraudulent bankruptcies are known as in the underworld - was later exposed, and the fraudsters were arrested and later indicted on bankruptcy fraud, conspiracy, and grand larceny charges by the FBI.

This particular scam occurred after a soldier in the Vito Genovese Family named Joseph (Little Joey) Pagano had extended a shylock loan to the owners of a large wholesale meat distributing firm called Murray Meat Packing, Inc.

As a prerequisite to giving them the money, Pagano demanded that he be named as a principal and stockholder in the company and that he control the firm’s checking account.

Within six weeks of his affiliation with Murray Packing, Pagano had siphoned off over $1,200,000 in meat supplies and company funds from the firm’s bank account. Thereafter, the company was almost immediately forced to file for bankruptcy protection after creditors demanded to be paid.

The FBI soon stepped in and arrested all the participants.

Among those indicted in the scam included Pagano, several principals of the company, and Gambino soldier Peter Castellana.

It later came out in court testimony that Pagano had “sold” on credit and then shipped nearly all the company’s meat supply to Castellana’s company, Pride Wholesale Meat & Poultry Corp. of Brooklyn. Castellana's company then disposed of the meat and kept the receipts never paying Murray Packing all open invoices it was owed.

As large meat deliveries arrived at the Murray Meat Packing warehouse through the front door, Joey Pagano almost immediately shipped those same loads out through the backdoor to his buddy at Pride Meat & Poultry…all open unpaid invoices.

All the defendants were later convicted at trial and received Federal Prison terms.

Joey Pagano was sentenced to serve five years behind bars while his mafia contemporary Petey Castellana received two years in jail.

A Shadowy Mafia Figure

In the meantime, as law enforcement continued to observe Tommy Masotto’s movements, they documented some of his other connections which included known organized crime figures, labor union leaders, at least one New York State Judge, and a mobbed-up corrupt financial wizard and noted fraud artist named Louis Osterer.

Some of his close associates over the years included many senior members of the Gambino borgata such as Paolo (Don Paolo) Gambino, Joseph N. Gallo , Joseph Gambino, Gandolfo (Buddy) Sciandra, Giacomo (Jack) Scarpulla , James (Jimmy Brown) Failla, and Giuseppe (The Peasant) Traina.

Over the years, Tommy was repeatedly documented as a frequent visitor to his cousin Carlo’s home at 2230 Ocean Pkwy. in Brooklyn and another oceanfront Long Island ranch-style residence he owned at 34 Club Drive in Massapequa.

He also often accompanied Carlo to various weddings and wakes and was known to be one of the very few people who were really close to Gambino.

Law enforcement agents, tracking his movements later, compiled an extensive “criminal profile” for Thomas Masotto.

They said a typical day in Tommy’s life might consist of him leaving his Brooklyn home by mid to late morning and heading straight to the Vanderbilt Barber Shop for a quick trim of his thinning-grey hair before then driving over to the Deluxe Restaurant for a lite snack before walking over to the wholesale meat center located in the same area to check up on his meat companies.

He might then drive over to the Brooklyn piers and speak to several subordinates about various waterfront rackets the Family controlled.

Federal investigators took note that at the time Masotto was employed on the books of the American Stevedores, Inc., a waterfront freight handling company that was being probed for hidden underworld ties, specifically to mob boss Carlo Gambino.

Friends in High Places

On other days, he might drop in to see one of several friendly court judges and hold a private conference in the judge’s chambers.

After FBI surveillance revealed these connections, the authorities later brought a major investigation into judicial corruption and “judge buying” by the mob after New York Civil Court Judge Ross J. DiLorenzo was tied to Masotto.

After a thorough investigation, a special empaneled State Grand Jury later indicted Judge DiLorenzo on multiple counts of perjury and obstructing of governmental administration.

It was noted State Prosecutor Maurice H. Nadjari who was assigned to probe government corruption had brought the case against DiLorenzo.

Judge DiLorenzo was specifically charged with committing eight counts of perjury after he repeatedly lied about his attempts to influence an Assistant Lead Counsel to the NY Waterfront Commission named Anthony L. Piazza in its probe of organized crime influence on the Brooklyn waterfront.

DiLorenzo was also charged with having spoken to another judge about “going easy” on the Masotto case relative to his employment at American Stevedores, Inc. and Masotto’s involvement in waterfront dock rackets.

On other occasions, Masotto was also seen driving out to JFK International Airport in Queens where he would meet with top Teamster Union officials presumably to discuss the mob’s air-freight rackets.

Tommy was a very busy mafioso, indeed.

His cousin entrusted him to keep tight control over many far-flung Family enterprises. For many years, Masotto essentially served as Carlo’s eyes and ears over key segments of their borgata.

Lunch Gave Them Agita

Through the years, Tommy often held “court” and “sit-downs” with his underworld cronies at several Brooklyn locations, one of his favorites being the Ristorante Villa Vivolo.

But he and Carlo both enjoyed Chinese food as well.

This was a fact that became clearly evident after Masotto and Gambino were interrupted by NYPD Detectives as they enjoyed lunch at the famed House of Chan Chinese Restaurant, located at 52nd Street and Seventh Avenue in Manhattan on July 11, 1969, along with four other top mafia leaders.

Law enforcement officials later stated that they had intercepted a high-level “Commission Meeting” between several Mafia Families that day.

“The gang’s all here” after police raid on House of Chan Chinese Restaurant. (L-R) Vinny Aloi blocks his face from cameras, Carlo Gambino fourth from the right, Angelo Bruno - second from right, Masotto on far right. Photo credit: LCNbios .

Masotto (L), Bruno (M), and Gambino (seated) chat amongst themselves while being detained. Photo credit: LCNBios

Besides Carlo Gambino and Thomas Masotto, also taken into custody that afternoon on charges of “consorting with known criminals” was Family boss Joseph Colombo , Genovese Family “capo” and elder statesmen Vincent (Jimmy Blue Eyes) Alo , Philadelphia Family boss Angelo Bruno , and an important Bruno Family “capo” named John (Johnny Keys) Simone.

All charges lodged against the six mafiosi were eventually dismissed in New York State Court, but not before the news media had a field day with it.

A Potpourri of Rackets

The only other known arrest for Masotto dated back to November of 1959 when he was charged with having sold an illegal handgun from the backroom of his Brooklyn butcher shop; one of forty-five such pistols that had been stolen from a crate being offloaded on the Brooklyn docks.

Detectives of the NYPD Rackets Bureau, under the direction of famed Police Inspector Raymond V. Martin, arrested Masotto as he sat behind the wheel of his car at Flatbush and Atlantic Avenues in Brooklyn.

He was brought to the Bergen Street Station House for questioning and was later booked on a Sullivan Law Violation.

The Prosecutor asked the judge to hold Masotto on a whopping $50,000 bail because of the serious nature of the offense charged and the fact that at least one gangland-style murder had been committed by guns traced back to the defendant.

At the time of his arrest, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office stated that Masotto had been identified as the “key” figure in Brownsville’s so-called “Arsenal Gang” gun ring that was selling stolen firearms to the underworld.

Despite all the initial hoopla and publicity, Masotto was later acquitted of all charges in criminal court after a jury trial.

Side note: A second gun traced back to Masotto was a .38 caliber revolver that was later identified through serial numbers as being part of an overseas shipment that had been stolen from the Brooklyn docks.

This particular gun had been dropped by mob assassins at the murder scene of Profaci Family gambling kingpin Frank (Frankie Shots) Abbatemarco who was killed inside a Brooklyn tavern only weeks earlier.

The resulting police investigation into the Abbatemarco slaying is what intensified the probe of Masotto and led to his arrest on gun trafficking charges.

Although he was acquitted of the gun charge, as a result of his gun arrest and newly minted criminal record, Masotto lost a New York State gun permit he had held since 1939.

Masotto was immediately ordered to turn in three legally-registered handguns he owned and “carried” for business purposes to a nearby Brooklyn Police Precinct.

Take the Money and Run

In 1972 and again in 1973, Masotto, his brother Paul, Paul’s two sons, and various mob associates of theirs were indicted for a series of fraudulent bank loan applications.

They eventually defaulted on the bank loans granted them by the Brooklyn-based Kings Lafayette Bank.

A year later, in March of 1973, Tommy Masotto’s brother and nephews were indicted yet again for a string of bankruptcy frauds aimed at bilking wholesale food supply manufacturers and distribution companies of their product.

The indictment listed 11 counts of grand larceny, 16 counts of issuing a bad check, 1 count of criminal conspiracy, and 1 count of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle.

At the time, Brooklyn District Attorney Eugene Gold identified all those indicted as members and associates of either the Gambino, Colombo, or Tramunti (Lucchese) crime Families .

Those arrested included Paul Masotto Sr., his son Anthony Masotto and son-in-law John Romano, Paul G. Spera, Aniello Panariello, Dominick Yanotti, and Joseph Martino.

The men were accused of opening up various food-related businesses over the course of several years.

They obtained thousands of dollars of food on credit only to then quickly dispose of the goods for a quick cash profit before then abruptly shutting down those businesses leaving all their creditors and suppliers unpaid.

Stealing Money - Mob 101

A typical example of how this type of scheme operated was a case in point years earlier when Paul Masotto Sr., working in concert with other mafiosi, was specifically charged with doing business under the corporate name of Capitol Meat Market.

Later investigation reflected that Masotto had purchased this business from his nephew Peter Castellana, who had obtained it for ‘pennies on the dollar’ at a Sheriff’s auction sale.

In this case, Paul Masotto did business from July to November 1955.

In the two-week period before Thanksgiving, Masotto purchased approximately $136,000 worth of meat on credit and then disappeared on Thanksgiving Eve along with all the books and records of the business.

Examination of Castellana’s records showed that in the period from July to November 3, 1955, he purchased approximately $67,000 worth of meat from Masotto. It was also alleged that he purchased additional large quantities of meat just prior to the date of Masotto’s disappearance, but this could not be verified by an investigation.

They worked dozens of similar “bust out” scams using other mafiosi and hoodlums as frontmen over the years as well.

Good examples of this were the Upgrade Meat Markets run in 1957 by Gambino soldier Lawrence J. Pistone, who later disappeared and defrauded creditors for over $25,000 in meat products.

Or their associate Salvatore J. Bilello who ostensibly owned and operated the Tops-All Supermarket Company from November 1957 until April 1958, after which he too disappeared with all books and records.

Creditors were defrauded of over $19,000 worth of meat.

In another instance around the same time period, mob associate Vito Maltese operated Eastern Meat Brokerage in Hoboken, New Jersey from November 1958 until April 1959.

Maltese had purchased over $270,000 worth of meat on credit. Evidence later came out in Bankruptcy Court that Petey Castellano had bought much of the meat Maltese’s company had originally procured from suppliers.

These are all prime examples of how Masotto and his mafiosi cousins Pete Castellana, Paul Castellano, Frank and Sal Guglielmini, and others earned millions of dollars for themselves while “busting out” meat companies under their control.

Tommy Masotto always seemed to be right in the thick of it too!

Even Mafiosi Retire

When his cousin Carlo Gambino passed away in 1976, FBI agents monitoring the wake and funeral spotted Masotto most prominently among the mourners paying respects to the legendary mob boss.

But after his cousin died, Masotto seemed to take a step back into the shadows where he had always preferred to be.

For the remaining years of his life, Tommy continued on as a very respected member of the borgata, but his days in the spotlight were finally over.

After Gambino’s death, Masotto no longer had the same daily underworld responsibilities as before.

Gaetano (Tommy) Masotto passed away in December 1980, only four years after his cousin. Tommy was 73 years old.

Postscript - Victor Masotto

As the years passed, another old-time mafioso with the Masotto surname came to the attention of local and federal law enforcement.

It was Tommy’s kid brother Vittorio (Victor) Masotto born in Sicily back on January 14, 1909, and better known to the NYPD as #B-312689.

After immigrating to this country, he resided for years in Brooklyn before moving to 1023 Fernwood Drive in Valley Stream on Long Island by the early 1970s.

By 1980, Vic Masotto had relocated once again to a larger split-level style home he bought at 240 Bayview Avenue in Massapequa. This is the same neighborhood where his cousin Carlo Gambino also owned a waterfront home.

In May 1974, Victor Masotto was one of 117 defendants indicted by the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office on gambling charges. The DA announced 61 “wire-rooms” had been raided, belonging to four different crime families who controlled a multimillion-dollar betting “action” weekly.

The DA also remarked that he considered two Gambino soldiers, in particular, Vic Masotto and Peter (Petey Todd) Tortorello, to be among the most significant of those arrested.

This was the first time that Vic Masotto had been officially identified as a mafia soldier.

Some years later during the 1983 and 1988 U.S. Senate Hearings in Washington, D.C. which were held to investigate organized crime’s vice grip on America, Victor Masotto was publicly named by the FBI as a documented “soldier” in the Gambino Crime Family

By that time, the Famiy was headed by his cousin Paul C. Castellano. After Castellano’s sensational midtown Manhattan assassination in December 1985, the new boss became John Gotti.

Victor Masotto was indeed the son of Salvatore Masotto and the younger brother of Gaetano Masotto. Tommy was two years older than Vic having been born in 1907.

They also had a sister named Yolanda and another older brother named Constantino (Jerry) Masotto, who was also a mafioso.

Unfortunately, as a young woman, Yolanda disappeared and was later found slain on July 29, 1942, in Upstate New York where she had gone for a vacation.

Almost simultaneously after their sister was found killed, Constantino also disappeared.

It was later discovered that he had fled the New York area after the Masotto family learned he was behind their sister's murder.

A murder “contract” was then placed on Constantino’s head.

Less than eighteen months later in 1943, mob assassins finally caught up to Constantino Masotto in the City of New Orleans, Louisiana where he had been living under an assumed name at the time.

He was repeatedly struck in the head and bludgeoned to death and buried in a shallow grave on the outskirts of town.

Constantino (Jerry) Masotto’s decomposed body was discovered months later in November of that year by two teenage boys playing in the marshlands in a desolate wooded area. New Orleans Homicide Detectives determined that his killers had covered his corpse with lime in an effort to destroy all evidence.

Vittorio (Victor) Masotto passed away in 1989, nine years after his big brother Tommy. Victor was 80 years old.

Here We Go Again - The Next Generation

Believe it or not, there was yet another Masotto relative who later became an important mafia member also named Thomas J. Masotto. This man was believed to have been the son of either Gaetano or Victor Masotto.

Tommy Masotto lived on Long Island’s affluent North Shore where he owned a sprawling mansion that he and his wife and four children resided at 7 Birchell Lane in Glen Head, long regarded as one of Nassau County’s wealthiest neighborhoods.

Federal authorities identified him as a very wealthy businessman who owned numerous real estate investments and the Alpine Carting Corporation, a major garbage collection company based in Brooklyn.

Authorities stated that Masotto also doubled as a high-ranking “soldier” in the Gambino Family hierarchy. They stated that Masotto’s estimated net worth totaled at least $ 4 million to $ 5 million dollars in assets at the time.

In July 1993, the then 58-year-old Masotto was indicted along with a group of young mob associates in his “crew” based on a long-running investigation conducted by the FBI into Tommy Masotto’s criminal activities.

Named as members of Masotto’s “crew” were the following five young hoodlums: Frank Scerbo, Peter Bertuglia, Joseph Lucas, Michael Verone, and Dave Amato.

They were named in a wide sixteen-count indictment on a slew of charges which included RICO conspiracy, racketeering, arson, theft from interstate shipments (truck hijackings) , conspiracy to commit robbery, armed robbery, use of firearms in the commission of a crime, loansharking, extortion, attempted extortion, conspiracy to commit credit card fraud, credit card fraud , felonious assault, and obstruction of justice.

The charges carried maximum criminal penalties of up to 220 years in jail and fines totaling $ 4 million.

The details of the case dated back to 1991 when after learning he was being surveilled, Masotto reputedly ordered several underlings to burn down an FBI surveillance post agents had constructed in a building located at 369 Woodcleft Avenue directly adjacent to a restaurant Masotto owned in Freeport on Long Island’s South Shore.

Masotto was the hidden owner of Michael’s Ristorante, located at 301 Woodcleft Avenue. At the time, it was a very popular waterfront eatery and bar where Masotto also allegedly conducted a lot of his underworld activities.

During that time, authorities said Masotto’s mob superior was Brooklyn-based “capo” James (Jimmy Brown) Failla.

Masotto first learned the FBI was watching him after he had the license plate of a car that was parked outside the surveillance post checked through a connection he had in the Village of Freeport. Their computer had access to all New York State Motor Vehicle Department records, authorities said.

Based upon the seriousness of the charges against him, at his arraignment, Chief District Judge Thomas Platt ordered Masotto held without bail at the Federal Correctional Center in upstate Otisville, New York.

Federal Prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Wasserman said, “He’s being held without bail on the grounds that he’s a danger to the community.”

Ah Finito

By the time Masotto was indicted in December 1992, four of Masotto’s crew associates had already decided to change sides and play for Team America after they were arrested that previous June.

They provided even more inside information to the FBI that was later used to charge and enhance the prosecution of Masotto for additional crimes.

On September 23, 1993, a superseding indictment was filed and Masotto’s trial commenced in January of 1994.

Verone, Lucas, Scerbo, and Bertuglia each agreed to cooperate and help the government in its investigation of Masotto. Each took the witness stand and proceeded to bury their former criminal colleague and Mafia superior.

Masotto was convicted on fourteen counts of the indictment after a jury trial. The district court later sentenced Masotto to serve 248 months (over 20 years) behind bars in a Federal Penitentiary.

In addition to prison time, he also received 6 years of supervised release and a $700 special assessment.

Masotto’s defense attorneys immediately filed a lengthy and complex appeal of his conviction. But the Federal Circuit Court hearing his appeal later rejected it completely and affirmed his conviction.

The long and storied history of the Masotto family is an interweaving study of Cosa Nostra blood ties that have bound one another to “The Brotherhood” for over a century…It is a seemingly never-ending underworld saga!

Until next time…”The Other Guy”

Gaetano (Tommy) Masotto and the Masotto Family – Sleepers in the Gambino Family

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