Frank (Funzi) Tieri

For their part, the FBI and federal prosecutors maintained a constant vigilance and kept up the law enforcement pressure against the old mafioso. To all who paid attention to such things, Tieri seemed to be at death’s door daily. The Grim Reaper hovering over the old hood like a bad rash.

Frank Alphonse (Funzi) Tieri - aka “Frank Tieri” “Alphonse Tieri” “Funzuala” “Frank Teri” “Francesco Alfonso Tieri” (TN). He was born at Naples, Italy, on February 22, 1904. He immigrated to the U.S. as an 8-year old boy, along with his father, Agustini, mother Carmela (nee’ Tufano), and two sisters, Assunta (Suzie) and Antonietta (Nettie).

Mugshot of Frank Tieri

The Tieri’s first settled in the home of an uncle, Raffaele Tieri, who resided at 132 Thompson Street, in the Italian section of Greenwich Village, in Lower Manhattan. Within a few years, they relocated to 1738 56th Street, in the Bath Beach section of Brooklyn. Tieri would reside in Kings County for the remainder of his life.

After getting married and starting a family of their own, He and his wife, along with their own two young daughters, resided for decades in a two-family, stucco home at 68 Bay 28th Street, in the Bay Ridge section. This residence would become Tieri’s home for the rest of his days.

By the 1950s, he also enjoyed flying down to Miami for a week or so during the winter months. He was also documented visiting the El San Juan Hotel & Casino, in San Juan, Puerto Rico. During these vacations, he either traveled with or met while he was there, various known New York hoodlums.

Tieri’s home at 68 Bay 28th Street

Side Note: He arrived at the Port of New York on October 22, 1911, abroad the “SS Rochambault.” The family surname was written as “Fieri.” He was listed as Francisco Fieri, as were his mother and sisters.

It was later determined that the family surname was just entered incorrectly by the receiving immigration agent at that time. Similar to the celluloid version captured in the iconic film, The Godfather, where young Vito Andolino has his surname changed forever by the Irish immigration officer at Ellis Island who mixes up Andolino’s last name with the name of his birthplace, switching the young boy’s last name from Andolino, to Corleone.

He adopts his new name and becomes Vito Corleone for the rest of the film.

Through FBI surveillance teams in the 1960s, it was soon revealed that the wily Funzuola also maintained a “second” life at nearby 2035 Bay 58th Street just blocks away from his family home.

In essence, he “kept” another woman, who was essentially a “second” common-law wife to him. He would lead a double life with her, along with two more young daughters he had apparently sired with his “comare.” An investigation by the agents revealed that Tieri was also the owner of record of the 58th Street home.

As if that was not drama enough, this “As the Mafia World Turns-type soap opera” gets even better.

Through continuing daily surveillance by federal agents, it was soon discovered that Tieri also regularly saw a third woman that he would visit on a weekly basis for years, who also happened to live in the neighborhood.

It seems that old Funzuala was something of an underworld lothario, to say the least.

Since at least the late 1940s-early 1950s, Frank Tieri was viewed as a respected, key soldier of the Vito Genovese Family. He would quickly rise to become one of that borgata’s thirteen reputed ”capo-regimes.”

‘Don’ Vitone Genovese

By early 1962, he was being listed as a “capo,” and was considered one of Brooklyn’s top underworld powers. His influence as a “capo-regime” was felt throughout the Lower Manhattan, and Northern New Jersey areas as well.

Over the years, he made it a point to affiliate himself with many varied legitimate businesses.

Some of the more prominent of which was his longtime ownership of the Endicott Sportswear Company of 1412 Bay Ridge Avenue, Brooklyn. This was a piece-goods garment factory, with approximately 70 women running sewing machines that turned out various types of sportswear.

He was also partners with John Battaglia in the Jay-Zee Sportswear Company of 1015 Grand Street in Hoboken, New Jersey.

In later years, by 1962, Tieri would also infiltrate and become a partner, holding 20 shares of stock, in a large trucking company based in New Jersey called the Frigid-Express Trucking Company located at 473 Broadway, in Bayonne. His partner in Frigid-Express was said to be Leo Genova.

Back in 1959, the FBI noted that Tieri was also the registered principal of the Amerfrank Holding Corp., located at his home address of 68 Bay 28th Street. Amerfrank was a property holding company that maintained various parcels of real estate he owned.

When he was interviewed by detectives of the New York City Police Department on September 8, 1958, he advised them that for the past 20 years he was also employed as a show business manager and talent booking agent.

He said that he liked to be known as an “impresario” who booked mostly Italian-styled singers and musicians into school auditoriums, and midtown Manhattan theaters such as the Majestic Theatre, Academy of Music, Brooklyn Hudson Theatre of Hoboken, and the Newark Opera House, the last two venues being located in New Jersey.

He claimed that his contacts in foreign countries brought him these bookings, and that he typically booked anywhere from two to ten such jobs per year, but that in the last few years he had gotten out of this business.

Tieri stated that 10-15 years earlier, he had also been in a business called the Ria Rosa Cheese Company, at 60 Bergen Street, Brooklyn. This business lasted five years.

He and his partners also purchased the Oneonta Dairy, up in Oneonta, New York. This was a cheese product manufacturing firm.

But during the winter of 1947-48, heavy storms prevented them from getting products to their customers, and they went bankrupt in 1948.

He told investigators that he subsequently went into the glove manufacturing business known as the Broadway Glove Company, located at 1412 69th Street, Brooklyn. This company lasted only three or four years before closing, but Tieri advised that he still owned the building at that address.

Although he would attempt to cloak himself in an air of respectability through the years and try his best to maintain the lowest of underworld profiles, he eventually came to the attention and curiosity of both local and federal law enforcement officials.

They knew him better as NYCPD # B-415324, FBI # 4372673. INS # A-5203294.

By at least 1958 or so, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), started to investigate Tieri as a possible candidate for deportation back to his native Italy.

From this point forward, he would face repeated attempts to deport him back to Naples. It was a protracted fight with the federal government that would last for years.

He had first applied for citizenship back on January 20, 1959, but had been denied. From that date forward, Tieri would fight the U.S. Government as they attempted to have him thrown out of the country and returned to Italy.

Tieri’s criminal arrest record started early in life. But with the exception of a youthful indiscretion which resulted in him being arrested and jailed on an armed robbery charge, for the next 50 years, Tieri seems to have stayed away from the type of crimes that warranted heavier sentences upon conviction.

He seems to have concentrated his underworld efforts more towards gambling and shylocking activities.

He became well known as the financial backer of floating crap games in Brooklyn. He also became very active in the bookmaking and policy rackets.

As he grew his financial portfolio, he expanded into the shylock, or loan-sharking racket as well. Frank Tieri was to become a major shylock among Brooklyn’s racketeers.

By the time he was in his50s, Funzi was thought of as a “shylock’s shylock,” a mafioso who funded the operations of smaller loan sharks.

His areas of operation were mostly the Bay Ridge, Bensonhurst sections, and the Little Italy section of Lower Manhattan.

In 1958, informants reported that Funzi had also been assigned control of all Genovese Family rackets in the North Brooklyn neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Greenpoint, and the Navy Yard section as well.

When checking on his North Brooklyn operations, Funzi was known to “hold court” at the Bamonte Restaurant, located on Withers Street in Williamsburg. This was a very famous Neapolitan-styled eatery, frequented by most of New York’s top racketeers at one time or another.

Whenever he was closer to his neck of the woods, he was a regular at Rosal Restaurant (owned by Tommy Lombardi), at McDonald Avenue and Avenue X. Another steady hangout was a notorious hoodlum eatery called Dutchie’s Restaurant, at 66th Street and 14th Avenue, which was operated by Genovese member “Dutchie” Tuzzo, and his younger brother, future Genovese Family bigwig, Charles (Chuckie) Tuzzo.

Another mobbed-up eatery he frequented was the Villa 66 in Brooklyn, a well-known Genovese hangout.

When hanging around in Manhattan, his favorite haunts included Napoli’s Pizzeria, at 165 Thompson Street; Aldo’s Meat Market, at Spring and Mulberry Streets; Roma Bakery, at the corner of Mulberry and Broome Streets (owned by underboss Eli Zeccardi and soldier Benny Cinquegrana); and the Alto Knights Social Club.

Underboss - Eli (The Baker) Zeccardi

For a time in the 1950s, among his closer associates was a notorious, Coney Island-based, Profaci Family hoodlum named Dominick (Mimi) Scialo. They were often seen together hanging out at a mobbed-up bar named the 7-Seas Lounge in that same neighborhood.

Informants also reported he was known to frequent Manny’s Bar, at 148 Delancy Street, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. This was a heavily populated Jewish ghetto.

Tieri was seen in regular weekly conferences with three Jewish hoodlums known to be shylocks and numbers men who operated the area. Funzi was alleged to be the source of their loan shark bankroll.

He also had a huge loan-shark business which was said to be thriving.

It was an open secret for years that “Funzuala” dealt with numerous shylocks, who all got the bankrolls to operate their respective loanshark operations from Tieri. Literally, dozens of shylocks were thought to deal with him on a regular basis.

He most certainly had hundreds of thousands of dollars out “on the street,” if not more, generating income for him at any given point in time. He charged them 1% weekly interest (52% annually) on any outstanding monies loaned.

They, in turn, would loan out those same funds at interest rates ranging from 2-5% weekly. An annual return of 102% to 260% in vigorish.

These same informants reported that Tieri was a well-known gambler, said to be in control of a floating card game that operated at various apartments on Manhattan’s East Side.

These card games were said to be substantial in size, with blackjack and poker generally played at these locations. It was thought that Funzi made regular payoffs to the Borough Command, the Division Command, and the local precinct in order to be allowed to have his games continue unimpeded from raids and arrests.

In March of 1963, it was reported to the FBI that Funzi Tieri was one of the partners in a large gambling operation being conducted on Eighth Avenue in Manhattan that specialized in blackjack, poker, and Ziganette games. The game catered mostly to New York’s hoodlum clientele and was alleged to generate large pots of cash.

He also operated an “afternoon” dice game on Bath Avenue in Brooklyn for local businessmen and his hoodlum friends who had extra time on their hands. This particular dice game was said to have a $300 limit and operated Thursdays through Sundays each week. Profaci-Colombo Family capo John (Johnny Bath Beach) Oddo, was said to be Tieri’s partner in this game.

In 1967, it was reported that Funzi had his hands in the systematic thefts of U.S. Postal money orders, as well as, cases of liquor, frozen seafood, and other merchandise - some of which were thought to have originated from various tractor-trailer loads hijacked from trucking terminals near the Brooklyn piers, and his own freight carrier firm, Frigid-Express Trucking Co., in New Jersey.

Several crew members and associates also handled the wholesale distribution of untaxed cigarettes, which was smuggled up from the Carolinas on a regular basis during the 1960s, early 1970s, time period. It’s believed that Tieri sanctioned this racket operation by his subordinates and was receiving a regular tribute relative to the same.

Capo - Petey DeFeo

In January of 1968, Tieri was subpoenaed to testify before a New York grand jury investigating this matter. He pled his Fifth-Amendment privilege against self-incrimination to every question put to him regarding his involvement in this cigarette-smuggling ring.

In 1968, he and fellow capo Pete DeFeo were also investigated for their possible ties to the operation of gambling “junkets” from NYC, to the Dunes Hotel & Casino, in Las Vegas.

Frank (Funzi) Tieri stood approximately 5-feet 9-inches tall and weighed 185 pounds with dark brown hair and eyes, a dark-swarthy complexion, and a pocked-marked face.

It was noted in police files that he was a sharp dresser. He was referred to as a “neat dresser” who wore expensive clothes and drove late-model Cadillac or Lincoln automobiles.

He alternated his color preference over the years between deep blue, cocoa brown, white, and black exteriors.

A check of his NYCPD “B” number, revealed a criminal record file dating back to October 19, 1922, with his first arrest at Albany, New York. From that year forward, listed under the name Frank A. Tieri, he would pile up multiple arrests. Here is his known police record:

1922 - first degree armed robbery (pled down to 2nd degree, he received 2-4 years in prison which he served at Dannemora Penitentiary, Dannemora, NY.)

1940 - anti-racketeering/alien registration

1945 - conspiracy to violate Internal Revenue Laws, operating an alcohol-still (acquitted)

1946 - bookmaking (dismissed)

1952 - vagrancy (dismissed)

1958 - vagrancy (dismissed)

1959 - vagrancy (dismissed)

1961 - deportation proceeding #A-5203294 (later dismissed)

1973 - violation of the Hobbs Act (extortion and conspiracy)

1973 - racketeering conspiracy (extortionate credit transactions)

1980/81 - RICO conspiracy, racketeering, and related counts of murder, extortion, gambling, loansharking, bankruptcy fraud (this is the first time that anyone has been charged as the ‘boss’ of a Cosa Nostra family)

Intense surveillance by the FBI and NYPD Racket Squad identified many top hoodlums who were closely affiliated with Tieri over the years.

These included such Cosa Nostra luminaries as; Peter DeFeo, Lorenzo (Chappy) Brescio, Thomas (Tommy Ryan) and Pasquale (Paddy Ryan) Eboli, Vincent (Chin) Gigante, Pasquale (Paddy Mack) Macchiarole, Vincent (Jimmy Nap) Napoli, Gaetano (Toto) Marino, and Thomas (Crazy Tommy) Contaldo.

He was said to be very close to members of the Colombo Family and a close friend of boss Joseph Colombo himself, having grown up and lived in the same neighborhood as one another since they were young men.

One of his closest connections and liaisons to the Carlo Gambino Family was said to be Carlo’s cousin, Joseph Gambino.

But Funzuala’s real ace in the hole was his longtime friendship with Carlo himself. They two were said to have been old buddies, with Carlo later backing Tieri for the top post of the Genovese Family.

Among the direct subordinates in his “regime” identified over the years, who handled his personal affairs and racket operations included soldiers Ottaviano (Tommy) Lombardi, Johnny Russo, and Louie La Rocca,

By the spring of 1969, numerous reliable informants were starting to report to their FBI handlers that Frank Tieri had been named the boss of the Genovese Family. They reported that he was well-liked by all factions of the borgata and the other New York Families as well - that he was, in fact, a top earner, and a capable leader who was voted in.

They also stated that it was thought Tieri was not the sole leader of the Family, but one of several top capos functioning as a “panel” for the borgata. (we now know that this was true. The Genovese were one of the first crews to implement this form of overall control).

A celebration party thrown in Tieri’s honor was said to have been given for him in Brooklyn shortly after he was elevated to head the borgata.

Additionally, on December 19th of that year, Funzi was said to have thrown a huge Christmas party for the entire borgata at the Imperial Terrace, 1657 78th Street, Brooklyn.

FBI agents surveilling the get-together noted that the place was packed, with license plates parked in the lot of the catering hall that represented individuals from New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.

Also in the spring of 1969, Tieri was livid over the fact that the NY/NJ Waterfront Commission had revoked Frigid-Express’s waterfront license to do business on the piers.

He quickly removed himself from the list of the company's officers in a futile attempt to get the trucking firm’s waterfront authority re-instated.

The All-State Insurance Company also notified the company that it would not renew the cargo insurance policy for Frigid-Express because their cargo losses were too great.

Side Note: Frigid-Express Trucking Company had sustained massive losses of various shipments through losses from various cargo thefts; warehouse stock thefts, missing and unaccounted for crates, truck hijackings, case pilferage or “tapping” of certain expensive cargos such as lobster, shrimp, steaks, and other expensive dry goods.

The Genovese Family (and Tieri) were having a party until these legal restraints were put in place to halt the racketeering. Another top Genovese member allegedly partnered with Tieri in Frigid-Express was the notorious Pasquale (Paddy Mack) Macchiarole.

Simultaneous to all these other happenings in 1969, Funzi underwent a very serious operation for throat cancer.

It was ‘touch and go’ for a while, and of great concern to him. This malignancy was eventually removed from his throat successfully but left Tieri with a very poor ability to talk.

He would later talk in a very raspy voice, the result of having removed part of his vocal cords. He had first undergone a similar operation back in 1963. But the problem persisted. This follow-up procedure was needed to remove all possible malignancies.

Interesting Side Note; At Christmas time in early December 1967, the FBI received information that Tieri had forwarded five $250 baskets of fruit and Italian specialties as gifts to the hierarchy of the Chicago syndicate. Anthony (Joe Batters) Accardo, Felice (Paul the Waiter) DeLucia, Felix (Milwaukee Phil) Alderisio, and Samuel (Teets) Battaglia, were said to be four of those who received the holiday cheer.

It was also reported that when Tieri and the Genovese Family needed to contact or discuss mutual Cosa Nostra business, Tieri would fly into Miami, Florida, where he would meet his Chicago counterparts at prearranged meetings and locations, so as to avoid law enforcement surveillance back in NYC and Chicago.

On July 7, 1970, Funzi was reported to have been left alone for a European trip to visit his native Italy. He departed from New York harbor by himself, on the ‘SS Michelangelo” for Naples, located in the Campania region of Italy where he was born.

He was said to be intent on returning to the states sometime that September.

The FBI contacted the Legat in Rome for an investigation relative to Tieri’s stay in Italy. It was believed that while in Italy he had visited an old associate named Cosmo D’Amico, who was a veteran Profaci Family capo from Brooklyn who retired to Rome years earlier.

On December 18, 1970, the NYPD went looking for Tommy Lombardi and another associate after informants told police that they were responsible for a shooting that took place in a private social club on Graves Neck Road in Brooklyn.

The victim was said to have been a local hoodlum who had the temerity to stick up a card game controlled by Tieri. They reportedly shot the man in the head, but he survived.

In 1971, Funzi decided to purchase a summer home set on 1.5 acres of land in the Village of New Paltz, Upstate New York. In April that same year, he decided to buy into a neighborhood pizzeria located at 52nd Street and Eighth Avenue, Brooklyn.

He was also thought to have bought in a retail cheese shop, and dress factory, both of which were also in Brooklyn.

Each of these transactions was now being closely monitored by federal law enforcement: the Federal Strike Force, FBI, IRS, and INS, in order to try and make a major criminal case against the wily old mafioso. The ever-present NYCPD Rackets Bureau was also closely following Tieri’s movements.

In May, He flew down to Miami Beach. He checked into one of the higher-priced hotels under his own name. It was said that Tieri was there to negotiate a partnership with business people from the Bahamas, in order to open up a gambling casino at Nassau, Bahamas.

There was also some talk of Tieri and the Genovese Family taking over control of the casino inside the Hilton Hotel at Curacao, West Indies.

By October 1971, he was spending considerable time at a new company of his called Resource Sales, Inc., 176 Sixth Avenue, in Lower Manhattan. FBI agents were staked outside on almost a daily basis, watching as he met with his mob underlings and top members of the other four borgatas. Resource was said to be a retailer and wholesaler of men's apparel.

At about this same point in time, Tieri and members of the Colombo Family were attempting to take over several school bus companies in Brooklyn that held lucrative city contracts to transport children to and from various public schools within Kings County.

This was big business for the mob. These were multimillion-dollar contracts, awarded to a chosen few companies. Cosa Nostra had used their considerable influence to swing many of these contracts their way, ensuring a built-in profit for the Mafia.

To watch over Genovese Family interests, Tieri had assigned soldier Lawrence (Fat Larry) Paladino - a Colombo soldier by the name of Lorenzo (Larry) Lampasi, was said to handle that borgata’s bus company investments.

Around 1972, several active floating dice games were again tied into Tieri. One had potential players congregate at the Night Gallery Bar, where they were then driven to a secret location where the games were played. Another dice game was said to operate out of Staten Island and was being run by a soldier in Tieri’s crew.

By this time, former acting boss Tommy Eboli had been killed gangland-style. Up until that point, a triumvirate of top capos had acted collectively as a “panel” of sorts to govern the borgata with Eboli a first among equals.

After Eboli’s murder, it was said that Tieri was almost immediately elected to head the Family. Although he was now “the boss,” it was said that any major decisions affecting the borgata would still be run past aging consigliere Mike Miranda, as well as the semi-retired Jerry Catena, who had already been residing down in Florida for years already.

Several highly trusted capos were also consulted by Tieri. Pete DeFeo in particular was thought to be a very close friend of Funzi’s. There were several others whom the new acting boss took into his fold as well.

Authorities reported that Tieri was also sharing in other rackets such as the policy-lottery profits of numbers kingpin Jimmy “Nap” Napoli, who was widely accepted to operate the largest illegal numbers business in the entire NY-NJ area. Funzi was also said to have given the ok for several minions to start up a phony “paper-union local” to shakedown extortion payments from illegal massage parlors operating within the five boroughs.

By early 1972, Funzi and his garment partner John Battaglia had opened up another garment factory, called BGT Sportswear Company, located at 1015-17 Grand Street, Hoboken.

Then, on February 22, 1973, all the FBI’s hard work finally paid off. They got their first pound of flesh from the aging ‘Don.” Early that morning a team of FBI agents arrested Tieri at his home.

He was charged with Hobbs Act Extortion relating to one of his shylocking operations. The specific count was “extortionate credit transactions.” He was arraigned that same afternoon in Newark, NJ, and released on a $100,000 surety bond.

Additionally, at the time of his arrest, federal agents armed with a search warrant out of the EDNY went through every inch of Tieri’s residence with a fine-tooth comb.

Indicted along with Tieri in the case were the Queens-based Macchiarole, New Jersey-based soldier Johnny DiGilio, and three other hoods. In the months leading up to their arrests, Macchiarole, DiGilio, and a veteran, Queens-based capo named John (Buster) Ardito, since elevated to the consigliere position, had been repeatedly seen visiting the house.

Consigliere - John (Buster) Ardito

It was obvious to anyone paying attention, that Funzi was conducting much of the Genovese Family business right out of his home. This was a departure from his modus operandi from years past. Maybe his age was catching up with him, or his constant “on the move” activities became too much. Whatever the reason, it allowed for concentrated federal surveillance on a daily basis.

Then on August 2, 1973, the other shoe dropped for the 69-year old acting boss. He was indicted along with Tommy Lombardi and Johnny Russo on another federal indictment. They were charged with two counts in a federal loansharking and extortion again.

It was Tieri’s second usury-related indictment in six months. The three were charged with having extorted $150 per week, on a $3000 shylock loan they provided to several struggling Brooklyn restaurant owners.

The businessmen had paid the “vigorish” for over one year, from July of 1967, through August of 1968, aggregated to over $7,500 in interest alone, with the restauranteurs still owing the original $3000 loan principal.

Tieri’s codefendants, Lombardi and Russo, were described as being among his closest subordinates and confidantes. Reputed acting capo-regime Ottaviano (Tommy) Lombardi, 49; resided at 2077 Colby Street, in Coney Island. While soldier Johnny (Mumbles) Russo, 57; lived at 1977 63rd Street. Both men lived just a short distance away from their boss, and were available for any assignments at the drop of a hat.

The three mafiosi were released on $50,000 bail each. They each faced twenty years imprisonment, on each of two counts against them. A maximum of forty years in a federal penitentiary.

They were accused of having used extortionate means and fear tactics to collect on the outstanding loan from Dino’s Lounge, a licensed establishment, at 2392 Nostrand Avenue, in the Sheepshead Bay section of the borough.

The three partners who owned the club, Irwin Nadborne, Leonard Finkel, and Anthony Vulpio, paid the vigorish for over thirteen months before the club finally went out of business.

Six months after their business closed, but Russo and Lombardi assaulted the trio with fists and threats, extorting another $2000 from the men. The hoodlums committed this assault despite the fact that they knew a full-blown FBI investigation into these extortionate transactions had already been initiated.

At the time of the indictment, an FBI spokesman stated to the newspapers that it was believed Tieri had over $1,000,000 out “on the street” in shylock loans.

They also stated publicly that he was the new acting boss of the Genovese crew, having been elevated to the top spot with the tacit approval of Don Carlo Gambino himself, right after the machine-gun assassination of former acting boss Tommy Eboli, who was hit by multiple slugs on a Brooklyn street as he was leaving a girlfriend's apartment.

They also said that Tieri controlled several major gambling operations spanning the New York-New Jersey areas.

As though this double-barreled federal assault was not already enough of a headache, no more than one month after the arrests, several FBI agents visited Funzi at his residence.

They informed him that just the night before, they had tried serving a subpoena on Paddy Macchiarole. When they handed Paddy the subpoena, he went ballistic, cursing them out and screaming at the top of his lungs.

He then proceeded to make nasty remarks about one of the agent's wives and made several personal threats against the agents themselves.

They asked Tieri if this is how he schools his subordinates, and whether or not he condones such actions by his men.

For his part, Funzi told them that Macchiarole does not work for him, nor does he have any control over him. But that for the sake of common decency, he would in fact speak with Macchiarole about his stupid conduct.

He also informed the agents that as of late, Paddy Mack had had a mental breakdown, and was acting more and more bizarre in his behavior.

Tieri felt that his friend might be in need of a mental institution….In more ways than one, it seemed Tieri’s chickens were starting to come home to roost.

Capo - Pasquale Macchiarole

Side Note: Paddy Macchiarole had a well-earned reputation as a hot-tempered hoodlum. He traveled around and carried himself as though he thought he was Al Capone reincarnated and it was the Roaring 1920s all over again.

Many of his fellow mafiosi in the underworld did not go for Paddy. He was not a well-liked guy. He was known to be foul-mouthed and liked to push his weight around. This incident, along with several other transgressions, would start to be the undoing of Paddy Mack. It was only a matter of time from this point forward.

On March 22, 1978. Paddy Mack’s lifeless body was discovered in the trunk of his Lincoln automobile, which had been left abandoned on a Brooklyn side street. He had been missing for several weeks. Upon popping the trunk, NYPD homicide detectives found Macchiarole’s mangled, trussed-up corpse. The boisterous capo had been repeatedly shot in the head and torso, and his stomach ripped open by a stiletto.

By late fall of 1973, it was being reported to the FBI by informants that Paddy Mack had a serious “falling out” with Funzuala.

They additionally were reporting that Tieri was in failing health. He had recently gone through two serious operations at Mt. Sinai Hospital and had lost so much weight that he was hardly recognizable. They said the word on the street was that Tieri would not survive much longer.

Upon his ascension to the boss seat, Funzuala had elevated old friends Carmine (Eli the Baker) Zeccardi to serve as underboss, and Buster Ardito, to the number three spot as Genovese consigliere. Zeccardi and Ardito were now acting in Funzuala’s stead, helping to hold the borgata together while Tieri remained in the hospital in grave condition.

He had gone through two heart surgeries and was to remain bedridden for at least four more weeks to see if his health would improve enough so that doctors could perform a third operation to remove a colostomy.

Tieri’s health was so bad, that after investigating the validity of his medical issues and his condition, the FBI and federal prosecutors decided to place both of his pending criminal cases, and any subsequent trials in abeyance. Essentially “shelving” them until “if and when” Tieri’s health stabilized.

But just like the diehard, Cosa Nostra-Duracell Battery that he was, by late January 1974, Tieri was again seen being chauffeured around town by his trusty driver and aide Johnny Russo. The dynamic duo was repeatedly seen visiting the Bowery Diamond Exchange, various Little Italy haunts and expresso shops where Tieri would consult with the likes of Pete DeFeo, and other top capos.

A favorite meeting spot was Patrissy’s Ristorante. Renowned for their authentic Neapolitan cuisine, this eatery was one of Pete DeFeo’s main hangouts and dining locales.

He seemed to be “rockin and rollin” as usual, but on March 18, 1974, Tieri was readmitted to the hospital. This time around he was rushed to Interboro Hospital, and then directly to NYU Medical Center in Manhattan, where he was said to have undergone emergency intestinal surgery.

Johnny Russo reported that he looked terrible and Funzi’s prognosis was not good. As of April 15, the aging mafioso was still a patient and was extremely ill. Many didn’t think he’d even make it out of the hospital alive.

By April 22, he had undergone another procedure. It had been a success, and his condition was improving. But his recuperation period was reportedly going to take a long time… Still, he was alive and kicking.

The resident physician handling Funzi, emphatically stated that even if Tieri survived, he would never be able to withstand the rigors of a trial, let alone two trials.

Nonetheless, on November 18, 1974, another FBI agent visited the wily old mafia don at his hospital bed, where he served Tieri another federal subpoena for his testimony. But after personally interviewing Funzi the agent reported that any criminal prosecutions of him should remain in an “inactive status.”

By late 1974, into February 1975, old Funzuala was back at it again. After taking it slow and recuperating for nine months or so, despite another quick, in-patient medical procedure that January, Tieri was once again making the rounds checking on his underworld operations, his legitimate business interests, and socializing on a limited basis with his old friends.

So the feds got back at it again also. But it was the equivalent of “touch and go racketeering.”

One week, Funzi would be out there meeting with associates, the following week he was back in the hospital under his doctor’s care. He wasn’t even walking anymore.

One close aide likened it to more of a shuffling along than actually taking strides. And he looked like death warmed over. Yet, he continued the best he could.

The sickly hood was said to be suffering from intestinal disease, gall bladder disease, serious heart disease, several types of cancer, cataracts, and had to carry around a colostomy bag wherever he went.

Over a year later, in the summer of 1976, it was reported that although very sick, Tieri was still the boss of the borgata.

In fact, over the past six months or so, when he wasn’t in a hospital bed, Funzi was being driven around on a steady basis by Johnny Russo. They were repeatedly seen down on Mulberry Street, at the Diamond Exchange, at his garment factory, and at various hoodlums get-togethers and “sit-downs.”

A straight-up ‘dyed in the wool’ mafioso to the grave, as sick as he was, Funzuala had even officially ordered the “books” reopened, so that ten aspiring hoodlum associates could be formally inducted into the borgata, thereby bolstering their ranks.

Shortly thereafter, informants reported to their FBI handlers that various former mob associates were now formal mafia soldiers.

Months later, Funzuala allowed several more small groups of trusted associates to be inducted as well.

On Sunday, March 21, 1976, the hierarchy of the Genovese Family held an elaborate private party in honor of their leader at the Cotillion Terrace in Brooklyn. Informants reported that over 800 people attended this extravagant affair.

Ever the astute, ambitious businessman and racketeer, in early 1976, Funzi was reputed to have either infiltrated or bought into a large indoor flea market, at New Utrecht Avenue and 66th Street.

He was also said to be involved in The Hungry Lion Restaurant chain, with eateries at Nanuet, and Monroe, both in Upstate New York.

During the late summer of 1976, it was reported that Tieri had been in and out of the hospital numerous times, where he underwent two serious abdominal surgeries.

That September, a subpoena was issued by the Federal District of New Jersey, ordering Tieri to testify about what he knew relative to a racketeering case they had brought against several mob associates for smuggling aliens into the country.

In a subsequent interview conducted by two federal agents at his home that October, Tieri showed the agents prove of his poor condition by opening his silkened bathroom to reveal several long scars across his midsection.

The agents also observed a large growth about the size of a honeydew melon attached to his lower abdomen. Funzuala said that he was facing another upcoming surgery to remove the growth and that he wasn’t sure he’d survive the operation.

The mobster’s days were numbered, it was as obvious as the nose on the agents' faces. Federal prosecutors had put several pending indictments on ice because of it.

Yet, the FBI continued to harass Tieri as best they could. It was as if they hoped all the aggravation they were causing the old mafioso would help to kill him faster.

This was to be a fight to the finish. To the bitter end!…and Funzuala knew it.

Over the next five years, the wily, resilient mafia boss would fight the feds tooth and nail.

Tieri at the height of his power, and under arrest.

For their part, the FBI and federal prosecutors maintained a constant vigilance and kept up the law enforcement pressure against the old mafioso. To all who paid attention to such things, Tieri seemed to be at death’s door daily. The Grim Reaper hovering over the old hood like a bad rash.

Yet, Funzuala just kept on keepin’ on.

He did his best to maintain his daily habits and underworld schedule. He was still picked up almost daily by his trusty aide and driven to various prearranged appointments and mafia “sit-downs.”

He was still the boss and barked commands as he saw fit. All those who fell within his jurisdiction, or under his command, still shook in their alligator shoes whenever Tieri spoke. After all, he was their “representante.”

Despite their previous declarations of having shelved open indictments against the sickly hoodlum, federal prosecutors were preparing another major criminal case against Tieri. This time it would be a Federal Rico indictment.

In fact, this case would be the first time in American history that a sitting Mafia boss would be charged, and subsequently convicted, under the Rico statute. Created back in 1970, the previously little-used RICO laws were largely unfamiliar to prosecutors around the country.

It was an ambitious plan to dust off these complex racketeering laws, decipher their content and usage, and then apply them against Frank Tieri properly.

He was publicly arrested by several teams of FBI agents and paraded in front of television news cameramen for the public to see. He was arraigned before a federal magistrate, released on a whopping bail package, and sent home to both covalence, and prepare whatever legal defense he would mount against this latest federal assault to jail him.

After a charade of a very public criminal trial, in which Tieri was charged with conspiracy, racketeering, gambling, loansharking, and extortion, as the “boss” of the Genovese Mafia Family of New York, he was convicted on January 23, 1981.

Under arrest on his way to the lockup with FBI agents.

On the day of his sentencing, the ailing mob boss, using a wheelchair to get around, connected to an oxygen tank, and sporting a medical patch over one bad eye, sat before Judge Thomas P. Griesa, while his defense team pled for leniency.

His defense lawyers, led by Jeffrey Hoffman, argued that Funzi was a shell of his former self and that he was in fact dying at that very moment as they spoke.

But the judge was unmoved. Prosecutors rebutted that the old man was just faking it. That he was indeed the top mafia boss in the United States and demanded that he be sent away for a long period of incarceration as an example to others who would follow in his footsteps.

Tieri stated to the jurist that “I’m a sick man, very sick,” he then unbuttoned his shirt to show the judge several abdominal scars from previous operations.

Tieri added, “I’m in your hands, Judge.”

Griesa then stressed the racketeering conviction, additional murder allegations, and ample evidence that Tieri was indeed the boss of the Genovese Mafia Family. Stating that “it's a tragedy that an elderly, ill man has to be imprisoned,” he stated that “the real tragedy started years earlier when Tieri became a criminal.” The veteran jurist then pronounced the sentence.

Judge Griesa ordered Tieri jailed for a 10-year prison term, and fined him the maximum $60,000, in Manhattan Federal District Court…It was Funzuala’s first criminal conviction in over fifty years.

The judge allowed the defendant to remain free on bail, pending his appeal.

Prosecutors protested that Mr. Tieri “stands at the pinnacle of power in organized crime’ as a New York boss on the “National Commission” that oversees Cosa Nostra.

Prosecutors also said they had “reliable informant information” that Tieri had “ordered several murders over Cosa Nostra’s interests in Atlantic City.” They also stated Mr. Tieri had ordered the murders of three of his own associates in the last three years alone.

The judge remained steadfast in his decision but ordered Tieri to remain inside his house except for doctor's appointments and refrain from any contact with underworld figures.

Side Note: Among the many murders law enforcement laid at Tieri’s feet over the years, were the following killings that had taken place a short time earlier during his tenure as boss: Carmine (Eli the Baker) Zeccardi, alleged to have been his underboss; the aforementioned Macchiarole, a top capo-regime; John Macchiarole, Paddy Mack’s son, shotgunned inside a bar he owned shortly after he father was killed.

The son had sworn revenge against his father's murderers; and Vincent (Jamesy) Delio, a family soldier, and Macchiarole’s nephew, who was shot to death in October 1980.

There were others suspected of being victims of Tieri’s rathe as well. These included Tommy Eboli, the former acting boss, whose position Tieri assumed once Eboli was killed; Philadelphia boss Angelo Bruno, who was lured to his death with the unofficial sanction of Tieri; Philadelphia consigliere Antonio (Tony Bananas) Caponigro, and his soldier and brother-in-law Alfred (Freddy) Salerno, both murdered in a Genovese power play for the “unsanctioned” Bruno murder plot; and several other local gangland-slayings of mob underlings who fell afoul of the mob boss.

Tieri was sentenced on January 23rd. Francesco Alfonso (Funzuala) Tieri died of natural causes at Mount Sinai Hospital, from a myriad of ailments just two months later, on March 29th, 1981. He never served one day of his ten-year jail sentence. He was 77 years old.

It seems that despite their best efforts, neither the FBI nor the U.S. Government, ever really laid a single glove on the wily old mafioso.

Tieri was buried at Saint John’s Cemetery in Queens. He joined a long list of Genovese Family bosses, and fellow Mafia members who call Saint John’s home…their final resting place after a lifetime of mayhem, murder, and lawlessness.

Until next time…”The Other Guy!”

Frank (Funzi) Tieri

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Frank (Funzi) Tieri

Unlock This Door to the Underworld

Take the Journey!

You May Also Enjoy

The Anthony Strollo Regime of NY/NJ

The Day Charlie (the Bug) Workman Saved a Horse

Racketeer Profile – San Francisco’s “Jimmy the Hat” Lanza

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