Salvatore (Charlie Lemons) Mineo

Salvatore Mineo was a sleeper thought to have originally been assigned as a soldier in the regime of iconic capo Enrico (Harry) Fontana. At one point, the FBI thought that Mineo either held the underboss or consigliere position under Colombo. From being a shadow soldier, he quickly ascended into a position of prominence due to his low-key and quiet persona.

Colombo was also thought to have felt "safe" with Mineo at his back, as much for Mineo's lack of ambition as for the respect and knowledge of Cosa Nostra's rules and decorum that he carried with him as a veteran old-timer in the Family

Salvatore (Charlie Lemons) Mineo was born in the Palermo province of Sicily on October 18, 1897. After immigrating to this country as a six-year-old with his parents in 1903, the family first resided on East 14th Street off First Avenue in Lower Manhattan, a largely Sicilian enclave.

At some point, his father Benedetto relocated their family to Kings County, Brooklyn. Mineo became a naturalized citizen of the U.S. in 1938.

Salvatore Mineo

By at least the 1940s, Charlie listed his home at 42 First Place in the South Brooklyn area near the docks. This section was also known as “Red Hook” and later called “Carroll Gardens.” He may have been first drawn to this area for work because, during the 1920s, he listed his employment as a longshoreman on the waterfront.

Red Hook is also the section of Brooklyn that Mineo would operate from and hang around his entire life.

He was thought to have worked under future Profaci soldier and “dock boss” Filippo (Phil) Fontana, a brother of Harry Fontana. The Fontana brothers were early powers along the Red Hook's dock rackets.

The Little Park Bench

One of his favorite haunts, especially as he aged, was a little nondescript candy store at the corner of Court Street and First Avenue, just a few doors down from his home. A second favored hangout was a little watering hole called the Stumble Inn Bar and Grill, also only a stone's throw away.

But of all his favored neighborhood stomping grounds that NYC police investigators recorded during surveillance of him in the early 1970s was his near-daily habit (weather permitting, of course) of visiting a little park bench along Court Street where he would sit for several hours sunning himself.

Being outdoors, this park bench also served as a refuge away from law enforcement’s “bugs” and other electronic eavesdropping devices commonly placed within mob social clubs and other indoor locations. It allowed Charlie Lemons and his minions to have the kind of “sensitive” mob chats required to run one of the city’s Five Mafia Families.

Detectives would watch Mineo receive visitors at that park bench daily while the old man’s younger bodyguard kept watch a few feet away.

One of his most constant aides and trusted companions was a little-known soldier with the scary moniker of Sammy the Assassin . Born in 1920, Sammy’s true name was Salvatore Peritore, and he served under Mineo for years as his watchdog and guardian.

These visitors ranged from regular neighborhood denizens, who would stop by to shake hands with Charlie or wave hello, to "friends" who would either walk up or drive up in their late-model Cadillacs and Lincolns, approach him one by one for a brief chat, and then depart, only for Mineo to receive another "friend" for a quick conversation.

“Charlie Lemons” as he was more commonly known, stood about 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed a solid 180 pounds. He had a quiet and stoic style about him. He generally spoke very little, but when he did, people were said to have listened.

Allied with Profaci

Salvatore Mineo was thought to have been a formally inducted mafia member since at least the 1930s. He allied early on with Giuseppe Profaci and served loyally in that borgata for decades.

He was thought to have originally been assigned as a soldier in the regime of iconic capo Enrico (Harry) Fontana. With Joe Colombo’s ascension to boss by mid-1964, Mineo was elevated to serve within the hierarchy by Colombo.

Side Note: There is some speculation that Charlie Mineo could have been related to the infamous Manfredi (Al) Mineo of Castellammarese War fame.

At one point, the FBI thought that Mineo either held the underboss or consigliere position under Colombo. From being a shadow soldier, he quickly ascended into a position of prominence due to his low-key and quiet persona.

Colombo was also thought to have felt "safe" with Mineo at his back, as much for Mineo's lack of ambition as for the respect and knowledge of Cosa Nostra's rules and decorum that he carried with him as a veteran old-timer in the Family

Although thought to have served Colombo as one of a “three-member triangle hierarchy” during the mid-1960s, informants reported that Charlie also oversaw a small “crew” of his own that were assigned to him by the boss.

These veteran soldiers and “proposed” associates were said to have included such well-known hoodlums as Anthony (Abby Shots) Abbatemarco, Anthony (Tony Long) Ricciardi, Joseph (Joe Yak) Yacovelli, James (Jimmy Bats) Cardello, and Alphonse (Allie LaMott) Giannatasio.

Side note: Later, most of these mafiosi were moved under the Persico regime, but at one time, they were thought to have served first under Fontana and later under Mineo.

Law enforcement admittedly never knew too much about Mineo or his activities with the exception that in his younger days, he was said to have been an active shylock. He had a very minor record for gambling and had never served one day in jail in all his years in the mafia.

Exposed by an Informant, But Still Low-Key

Mineo really first came to the attention of authorities in 1965 after a key informant, now thought to have been Gregory Scarpa Sr., told his FBI handler that an old-timer named Charlie Mineo was now “underboss” to boss Joseph Colombo.

But that’s pretty much where it stayed because Mineo was such a stoic, low-key figure that he never actually did much except hang at that park bench or corner candy store.

Immediately after Colombo’s shooting in 1971 was the first time that Mineo’s true power was observed. Wiseguy after wiseguy, capo after capo, would visit him at that little park bench almost daily. This went on for months until all the dust surrounding the shooting settled.

The one notable difference that detectives noticed was that Mineo now had more than one bodyguard at his side. There was a cadre of five or six armed soldiers stationed at different spots up and down the block protecting the old man as he received his daily visitors. It became obvious to anybody paying attention that Mineo was now giving the marching orders to the Family’s various group leaders.

A dark horse candidate for Family boss after Colombo’s attempted assassination, Salvatore Mineo, at 74 years old, eventually faded back into the woodwork just as quickly as he had first emerged.

An older Charlie Lemons.

Several other members, including Mulberry Street's Joseph (Joe Yak) Yacovelli and Vincent (Vinny) Aloi, the son of an old-time Family veteran, would step to the front for a bit in those early years in an attempt to stabilize the borgata.

Then for a short period, the leadership fell to another little-known capo from North Brooklyn’s Greenpoint section named Joseph Brancato . Better known as “Little Joey” Brancato ran the Family for less than a year until a third shadowy soldier by the name of Thomas DiBella rose to power.

DiBella quietly assumed the acting boss position serving as the Family’s “Representante” for years until he too later stepped aside for the notorious Carmine Persico . A top gunsel and capo who was released from prison in the late 1970s, Persico was voted in as the “official” boss of the Family, a position he’d hold onto for the next forty years.

Salvatore (Charlie Lemons) Mineo passed away in 1977 at the comfortable age of 79 years old. His death went largely unnoticed by both the media and law enforcement, in general, the way Charlie Lemons would have planned it...and that was just the way he would have wanted it too!

In death as in life, Mineo ostensibly caused hardly a ripple. However, his influence was felt where it needed to be—within the Cosa Nostra of New York City's underworld.

Until next time..."The Other Guy"

Salvatore (Charlie Lemons) Mineo

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