Michael (Big Mike) LaBarbara, Sr.

Michael LaBarbara Sr. was a Lucchese Family associate who was ambitious and always seemed to be in the middle of the action. He was a member of Paul Vario's crew and active in bootlegging, shylocking, cigarette smuggling, and counterfeiting bonds and securities.

But as a young boy, before he began his underworld career, LaBarbara Sr. would be hailed a hero by local Brooklyn newspapers!

Michael (Big Mike) LaBarbara Sr. was born on December 22, 1913, and raised at 687 Crescent Street in the East New York section of Brooklyn before later moving as a young man to 74-11 97th Avenue in the Ozone Park section of Queens.

Michael LaBarbara Sr.

He eventually relocated to Suffolk County, Long Island, in the early 1950s. He lived for years at 207 Pearl Avenue in Holtsville.

LaBarbara had a son, also named Michael, who would grow up to become a Lucchese associate active in the Laborers Union - Local # 59 in Melville, Long Island.

His activities included bootlegging, shylocking, stolen goods, cigarette smuggling, bookmaking, forgery, and counterfeiting bonds and securities.

Smarts and Bravery

Say what you will about his later underworld career, but as a young nine-year-old, Mike LaBarbara showed amazing smarts, bravery, and moxie for saving the life of his nine-year-old neighborhood buddy after the two of them got trapped in a sand pit that collapsed while playing and caved in on the boys.

As thousands of pounds of sand cascaded all around them, Mike pulled himself up and then dug furiously with bare hands to try and pull his companion out of the mix. He was able to reach him and successfully held his unconscious friend’s head above the sand while screaming at the top of his lungs until help came.

He was named in the local Brooklyn newspapers as a hero!

Moving Into Crime

LaBarbara started off as a bootlegger. By the early 1940s, he was firmly entrenched in the racket, operating alcohol stills variously in the city and deep out on Long Island. He would be repeatedly arrested for operating stills over many years.

Because of his close friendships with several Gallo gang members and Colombo figures, he was mistakenly identified as a Colombo associate. He was actually either an inducted soldier or a very close top associate of the Lucchese mob.

He was thought to be affiliated early on with the Nuccio brothers, specifically Vincent and Frank Nuccio, well-known Mulberry Street hoodlums and bootleggers themselves. But, in actuality, having grown up in the same section of Brooklyn as Paulie Vario , in later years, he would affiliate with Vario as his immediate superior.

Paul Vario

In 1944, he was federally indicted for running a liquor bootleg still the previous year on the Lower West Side of Manhattan.

In 1945, he was again nabbed, along with five others, for heading a 500-gallon alcohol still operation at 108th Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. Also nabbed in this case was well-known hood Nicky Blanda. The still was hidden in the back of a horse barn.

In 1948, after pleading out in Brooklyn federal court, he received an 18-month sentence after dragging the case out for several years. He served his sentence in a federal penitentiary.

In 1958, he was again convicted after trial for the operation of an alcohol still that he ran out in Nesconset on Long Island. He drew a four-year prison term and a $1,000 fine for that one.

Also in 1958, while out on bail and in the midst of fighting a trial on the above bootleg case, LaBarbara was rearrested by U.S. Treasury Tax Agents after they raided a second liquor still he was operating in Central Islip.

In this case, his young son, 29-year-old Mike Jr., and 45-year-old Vincent Nuccio, Frank's brother, and himself, a formally inducted Lucchese soldier, were charged with him.

In 1965, LaBarbara was one of three hoods nabbed by Suffolk detectives and NYS Tax Revenue agents after a raid on a bootleg cigarette smuggling ring that authorities say evaded over $60,000 in state taxes in a 10-week span. The raiders found and confiscated 119 cases or over 3,400 cartons of cigarettes.

Prosecutors alleged the men made an average of two trips per week to Washington D.C. and North Carolina to buy the butts, hauling them back to the New York area for resale. This particular haul cost the men $4,765 to purchase and was being resold for $8,170, a net profit of over $3,400 for several days' work. The average cost to them was $1.40 per carton to buy, and they sold them for $2.40.

A big, big profit!

Authorities estimated the men brought in over 60,000 cartons valued at $180,000 in ten weeks, and sold them for a net profit of approximately $48,000 to $60,000. What a racket that was back in the day!

They were charged with numerous misdemeanors, each punishable by a $50 fine and up to 30 days in jail. Tell me, where do I sign up?

An Ambitious Hood

Big Mike was a very ambitious hood and always seemed to be in the middle of the action. Once he had migrated out to deep Suffolk, he rolled up his sleeves and dove headfirst into just about any and every racket scheme available.

By late 1968, he had been arrested twice by both the Suffolk Rackets Squad and the FBI for co-heading a large loanshark ring in Eastern Suffolk County that coordinated with a group of Colombo and Gambino-oriented shylocks operating out of a Center Moriches horse farm as a base.

This joint effort would quickly come under law enforcement scrutiny after several fearful loan victims ran to authorities, claiming their lives had been threatened if vigorish payments weren’t forthcoming immediately.

Joe Bandy Biondo

He operated in tandem with Benny Biondo, the nephew of underboss Joe Bandy Biondo, Tommy Tedesco, and Andy Preli. Nunzio (Big Ned) Vetrano, Vinny Correlli, and (Big Bernie) Dolcemaschio, all known Colombo associates, were also co-leaders in this racket. They would all be convicted by trial or plea and sent to jail for significant prison stays.

Mike received a state term between 2 to 8 years in jail. He was immediately remanded to the County jail while he appealed the sentence because of his previous convictions.

In 1970, he was one of four arrested on a five-count indictment for the forging of 86 U.S. Treasury checks stolen in a 1968 burglary of the Hicksville Post Office on Long Island.

Famed Strike Force director Denis Dillon said that LaBarbara received 25% of the face value of the checks after his three accomplices had cashed them. The checks were part of a $35,000 mail heist.

Co-defendants included Colombo bookmaker Henry Mandatto and Robert Aaron, another Brooklynite who would go on to infamy for his setting up of the $750,000 jewel heist of the Garden City Diamond Exchange that Boss Joseph Colombo and various associates would get arrested only months from then.

A Long "Yellow Sheet"

LaBarbara had a very long criminal record with over 36 arrests, including the following:

burglary

possession of a gun

operating an alcohol still (10 times)

shylocking (twice)

usury conspiracy

attempted grand larceny by extortion

attempted coercion

cigarette smuggling

forgery and conspiracy

transferring forgery checks (U.S. Treasury Bonds)

He also had eight convictions for bootlegging and served jail terms of 18 months, 1 year, 18 months, 4 years, 18 months, 2 years, 3.5 years, and a combined loansharking sentence of several more years.

By the late 1970s, LaBarbara was slowing down.

Big Mike

Michael (Big Mike) LaBarbara Sr. died on October 18, 1997. He was 84 years old. Suffice it to say that Big Mike LaBarbara had his two feet firmly entrenched in underworld rackets for upwards of 50-plus years.

Postscript: His son would later figure into a major federal probe of union corruption in the Laborers Union. By the early 1980s, Mike Jr., Vario’s son, Peter, and several other union officials would be indicted. They were all convicted on various RICO counts and went to jail.

The federal government would also bring a little-used provision in the civil forfeiture laws to expel all mobbed-up union members and actually seize Union Local # 59 -- installing a federal court-appointed “monitor” to operate and oversee the membership for years to come.

It was a disaster! This was true not only for the Luccheses but also for the rank-and-file union members, who complained that the government didn’t know what the hell they were doing and was messing up the union.

Until next time..."The Other Guy"

Michael (Big Mike) LaBarbara, Sr.

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Eugene (Little Gene) Giannone

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