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Dominick Pizzonia

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Rogermx (talk | contribs) at 21:03, 16 December 2011 (→Early life and rise: added reference for becoming made man.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Dominick "Skinny Dom" Pizzonia (born November 19, 1941) is a New York mobster and captain with the Gambino crime family who was a hitman and loanshark.

Early life and rise

Born in the Ozone Park section of Queens, Pizzonia began working for the Gambino family as a crew member for then caporegime John Gotti. On December 16, 1985, Pizzonia allegedly participated in the assassinations of Gambino boss Paul Castellano and underboss Thomas Bilotti outside a Manhattan steakhouse. After Castellano's murder, Gotti took over as family boss.

In June 1988, Pizzonia allegedly murdered mobster Frank Boccia at the family's request. The Gambinos ordered Boccia's murder because Boccia had punched his mother-in-law, the wife of mobster of Anthony Ruggiano, while Ruggiano was in prison. Pizzonia and Gambino associate Alfred Congiglio lured Boccia to a social club and shot him dead. They loaded his body onto a boat and dropped it in the ocean off New York City.[1]

On December 24, 1988, as a reward for the Castellano and Boccia murders, the Gambinos allowed Pizzonia to become a made man, or full member, in the family.[1] He earned the nickname "Skinny Dom" Pizzonia to distinguish himself from Gambino crime family mobster "Fat Dom" Borghese, so associates would not get confused.

In 1992, Pizzonia participated in the murder of Thomas Uva and his wife Rosemary. Previously that year, the Uvas had robbed several social clubs belonging to the Gambino, Bonanno, and Colombo crime families. Pizzonia was especially enraged by the Uvas because they twice robbed Gotti's Bergin Hunt and Fish Club in Ozone Park, which Pizzonia managed.[2] On December 24, 1992, Pizzonia and mobster Ronnie Trucchio located the Uvas in Queens and shot both of them dead in their car.

In 1995, Pizzonia became the head of a Gambino bookmaking operation and later replaced Peter Gotti as capo.

Conviction

On September 22, 2005, Pizzonia and Trucchio were indicted in the 1988 Boccia murder and the 1995 Uva murders.[3] In May 2007, a federal jury convicted Pizzonia on a racketeering charge of conspiracy to commit murder in the 1992 Uva murders. However, he was found not guilty on three counts of murder and loan sharking. Pizzonia was also found not guilty in the 1988 Boccia murder. Because Pizzonia had already pleaded guilty to an illegal gambling charge before the trial, the one single act of conspiracy was enough to convict him on the entire count. On September 5, 2007, Pizzonia was sentenced to 15 years in federal prison.[2]

As of October 2010, Pizzonia is serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) (Otisville) outside New York City. Pizzonia will be 80 years old on his scheduled release of February 28, 2020.

References

  1. ^ a b Brick, Michael (April 11, 2007). "Trial Starts in Case of Couple Who Robbed Mob, and Paid for It". New York Times. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  2. ^ a b Lee, Trimaine (September 6, 2007). "Reputed Gambino Figure Sentenced in '92 Deaths of Mob Antagonists". New York Times. Retrieved 16 December 2011.
  3. ^ Rashbaum, William K. (September 23, 2005). "Arrest in Killings of 2 Who Dared to Rob the Mob". New York Times. Retrieved 16 December 2011.

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