Theresa Ferrara
Encyclopedia
Theresa Ferrara an Italian-American born in the Five Towns
area of Long Island, New York. She worked with Lucchese crime family
associates, and eventually became an informant
for the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI). Ferrara was a distant relative of New Orleans crime family
boss Carlos Marcello
. As a young woman, Ferrara moved from Long Island to Ozone Park, Queens
to pursue a career as a fashion model or actress.
in [South Ozone Park, Queens, New York]] and later Henry Hill's The Suite in Queens. Around this time, Ferrara became a drug dealer, dealing small quantities of cocaine
and Quaaludes to DeSimone and other Lucchese mobsters. Ferrara also opened a mob-funded beauty salon
in Bellmore, Long Island. Ferrara soon started dealing cocaine out of the salon itself. In summer 1977, Ferrara was arrested after selling drugs to an undercover Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent. Faced with a lengthy jail sentence, Ferrara became a co-operating witness for the authorities.
In 1978, Ferrara and mob associate Richard Eaton allegedly conspired to swindle the Lucchese family out of $250,000 worth of cocaine from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
. Ferrara and Eaton were also suspected of stealing a fair portion of money taken during the famous Lufthansa heist
at John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens. None of this was ever proven by the FBI. However, in early 1979, Ferrara moved out of her downscale duplex in Queens into a thousand-dollar-a-month penthouse apartment in Manhattan
.
Paul Vario
. Her information was responsible for exposing a major cocaine deal on November 11, 1978. The Coast Guard
and DEA
agents confiscated thirty tons of cocaine
on the Flushing, Queens
waterfront. However, they were unable to catch the smugglers, who were allegedly Vario, Jimmy Burke and Tom Monteleone. Vario was furious at the undercover drug sting operation that cost him and Burke $250,000. At some point, Vario or someone in the Lucchese family started to become suspicious of Ferrara. It also did not help Ferrara that she knew about the Lufthansa heist at a time when Burke was systematically eliminating many of the participants in that robbery.
diner and Sanacore should come looking for her if she did not return in fifteen minutes. Before leaving the salon, Ferrara left behind her purse, car keys, and mink
coat. Ferrara also told Sanacore, "I have a chance to make $10,000." Ferrara did not return from the meeting.
On May 18, 1979 a dismembered female torso was found floating in Barnegat Inlet
near Tom's River, New Jersey. An autopsy
performed at the Saint Barnabas Community Medical Center
in Toms River confirmed, through recent breast augmentation
surgery
, that the body was Theresa Ferrara. No one was ever convicted of her murder.
Five Towns
The Five Towns is an informal grouping of villages and hamlets in Nassau County, New York, United States on the South Shore of western Long Island adjoining the border with Queens County in New York City. Despite the name, none of the communities is a town...
area of Long Island, New York. She worked with Lucchese crime family
Lucchese crime family
The Lucchese crime family is one of the "Five Families" that dominates organized crime activities in New York City, United States, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the Mafia . The family originated in the early 1920s with Gaetano "Tommy" Reina serving as boss up until his murder...
associates, and eventually became an informant
Informant
An informant is a person who provides privileged information about a person or organization to an agency. The term is usually used within the law enforcement world, where they are officially known as confidential or criminal informants , and can often refer pejoratively to the supply of information...
for the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI). Ferrara was a distant relative of New Orleans crime family
New Orleans crime family
The New Orleans crime family is one of the oldest American criminal organizations in activity. It is based in New Orleans and parts of southern Louisiana in the United States. Its status today is unknown, as it remained in the shadows since 1993...
boss Carlos Marcello
Carlos Marcello
Carlos "The Little Man" Marcello was a Sicilian-American mafioso who became the boss of the New Orleans crime family during the 1940s and held this position for the next 30 years.-Early life:...
. As a young woman, Ferrara moved from Long Island to Ozone Park, Queens
Ozone Park, Queens
Ozone Park is a working class neighborhood located in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens bordering Woodhaven, Richmond Hill, South Ozone Park, Howard Beach, and City Line, Brooklyn....
to pursue a career as a fashion model or actress.
Mob connections
With her natural blonde hair and deep suntan, Ferrara soon attracted the attention of Lucchese mob associate Tommy DeSimone. In 1972, Ferrara and the married DeSimone started an affair. Ferrara started frequenting mob hangouts such as Robert's LoungeRobert's Lounge
Robert's Lounge was a saloon that was owned by Lucchese crime family associate James 'Jimmy the Gent' Burke. Robert's Lounge was located at 114-45 Lefferts Boulevard in South Ozone Park, Queens, near the John F. Kennedy International Airport Air Cargo Center...
in [South Ozone Park, Queens, New York]] and later Henry Hill's The Suite in Queens. Around this time, Ferrara became a drug dealer, dealing small quantities of cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
and Quaaludes to DeSimone and other Lucchese mobsters. Ferrara also opened a mob-funded beauty salon
Beauty salon
A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment dealing with cosmetic treatments for men and women...
in Bellmore, Long Island. Ferrara soon started dealing cocaine out of the salon itself. In summer 1977, Ferrara was arrested after selling drugs to an undercover Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent. Faced with a lengthy jail sentence, Ferrara became a co-operating witness for the authorities.
In 1978, Ferrara and mob associate Richard Eaton allegedly conspired to swindle the Lucchese family out of $250,000 worth of cocaine from Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Fort Lauderdale is a city in the U.S. state of Florida, on the Atlantic coast. It is the county seat of Broward County. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 165,521. It is a principal city of the South Florida metropolitan area, which was home to 5,564,635 people at the 2010...
. Ferrara and Eaton were also suspected of stealing a fair portion of money taken during the famous Lufthansa heist
Lufthansa heist
The Lufthansa heist was a robbery at John F. Kennedy International Airport on December 11, 1978. An estimated $5 million in cash and $875,000 in jewels were stolen, at the time making it the largest cash robbery ever committed on American soil...
at John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens. None of this was ever proven by the FBI. However, in early 1979, Ferrara moved out of her downscale duplex in Queens into a thousand-dollar-a-month penthouse apartment in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
.
Government informant
From 1977 to 1979, Ferrara was the government's eyes and ears on Lucchese caporegimeCaporegime
A caporegime or capodecina, usually shortened to just a capo, is a term used in the Mafia for a high ranking made member of a crime family who heads a "crew" of soldiers and has major social status and influence in the organization...
Paul Vario
Paul Vario
Paul Vario was a caporegime of a crew in the Lucchese crime family. In the 1970s Vario held the position of consigliere in the family but later resigned. In 1980, longtime associate Henry Hill became a government witness and testified against Vario and members of his crew...
. Her information was responsible for exposing a major cocaine deal on November 11, 1978. The Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
and DEA
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
agents confiscated thirty tons of cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
on the Flushing, Queens
Flushing, Queens
Flushing, founded in 1645, is a neighborhood in the north central part of the City of New York borough of Queens, east of Manhattan.Flushing was one of the first Dutch settlements on Long Island. Today, it is one of the largest and most diverse neighborhoods in New York City...
waterfront. However, they were unable to catch the smugglers, who were allegedly Vario, Jimmy Burke and Tom Monteleone. Vario was furious at the undercover drug sting operation that cost him and Burke $250,000. At some point, Vario or someone in the Lucchese family started to become suspicious of Ferrara. It also did not help Ferrara that she knew about the Lufthansa heist at a time when Burke was systematically eliminating many of the participants in that robbery.
Death
On February 10, 1979 Ferrara received a phone call at her salon. She told her nineteen-year-old niece Maria Sanacore that she was meeting someone at a nearby Long IslandLong Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
diner and Sanacore should come looking for her if she did not return in fifteen minutes. Before leaving the salon, Ferrara left behind her purse, car keys, and mink
Mink
There are two living species referred to as "mink": the European Mink and the American Mink. The extinct Sea Mink is related to the American Mink, but was much larger. All three species are dark-colored, semi-aquatic, carnivorous mammals of the family Mustelidae, which also includes the weasels and...
coat. Ferrara also told Sanacore, "I have a chance to make $10,000." Ferrara did not return from the meeting.
On May 18, 1979 a dismembered female torso was found floating in Barnegat Inlet
Barnegat Inlet
Barnegat Inlet is a small inlet connecting the Barnegat Bay with the Atlantic Ocean in Ocean County, New Jersey. It separates Island Beach State Park and the Barnegat Peninsula from Long Beach Island...
near Tom's River, New Jersey. An autopsy
Autopsy
An autopsy—also known as a post-mortem examination, necropsy , autopsia cadaverum, or obduction—is a highly specialized surgical procedure that consists of a thorough examination of a corpse to determine the cause and manner of death and to evaluate any disease or injury that may be present...
performed at the Saint Barnabas Community Medical Center
Community Medical Center
Community Medical Center is a hospital in Toms River, New Jersey. The original hospital was small, but was expanded in the 1980s with a five-level parking garage and a new four-story section of patient rooms. The hospital has been undergoing another expansion since 2004; when completed, the...
in Toms River confirmed, through recent breast augmentation
Breast augmentation
Breast augmentation denotes the breast implant and fat-graft mammoplasty procedures for correcting the defects, and for enhancing the size, form, and feel of a woman’s breasts...
surgery
Surgery
Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...
, that the body was Theresa Ferrara. No one was ever convicted of her murder.
In popular culture
- Ferrara is portrayed in the 1990 film GoodfellasGoodfellasGoodfellas is a 1990 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is a film adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, who co-wrote the screenplay with Scorsese...
as "Theresa" by Elizabeth WhitcraftElizabeth WhitcraftElizabeth Whitcraft is an American actress who played small parts in some notable American films in the 1980s and 1990s. She was often credited as Liza Whitcraft or Liz Whitcraft....
. - In the 1991 television movie The Ten Million Dollar Getaway, Ferrara is portrayed as "Theresa" by actress Karen YoungKaren Young (actress)Karen Young is an American actress.Born in Pequannock Township, New Jersey, Young studied at Rutgers University. After graduation she moved to New York City and became an actress, appearing in such films as 9½ Weeks, Jaws: The Revenge, Daylight, Mercy and Hoffa. Her ex-husband is Tom Noonan...
. - Theresa Ferrara is not to be mistaken for Theresa Bovina, who was rescued by Lucchese mobsters during an attempted muggingRobberyRobbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take something of value by force or threat of force or by putting the victim in fear. At common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person of that property, by means of force or fear....
in 1966.