Thomas Eboli
Encyclopedia
Scisciano
Scisciano is a comune in the Province of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 20 km northeast of Naples...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
- July 16, 1972 Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Crown Heights, Brooklyn
Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The main thoroughfare through this neighborhood is Eastern Parkway, a tree-lined boulevard designed by Frederick Law Olmsted extending two miles east-west.Originally, the area was known as Crow Hill....
) was a New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
mobster who eventually became the acting boss of the Genovese crime family
Genovese crime family
The Genovese 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 Genovese crime family has been nicknamed the "Ivy League" and "Rolls Royce" of organized crime...
.
Early life
Born Tommaso Eboli in ItalyItaly
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
to Louis and Madalena Maddalone, Eboli stood 5'10, weighed 165 pounds, and had a tattoo on his right arm. Eboli was the brother of Genovese crime family
Genovese crime family
The Genovese 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 Genovese crime family has been nicknamed the "Ivy League" and "Rolls Royce" of organized crime...
capo Pasquale "Patty Ryan" Eboli. To hide his Italian
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
heritage, Eboli adapted the nickname "Tommy Ryan" from professional boxer Tommy Ryan
Tommy Ryan
Tommy Ryan was a famed welterweight and middleweight champion boxer who fought from 1887-1907. Ryan was considered an excellent boxer-puncher, and many consider him one of the all time greatest middleweight champions. His won lost record is 86 wins , 3 losses and 6 draws...
. Eboli became a U.S. citizen on August 27, 1960. He was married to Anna Ariola from Melrose Park, Illinois
Melrose Park, Illinois
Melrose Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is a "near-in" suburb of Chicago. The population was 23,171 at the 2000 census. Melrose Park has long been home to a large Italian-American population, though now it is majority Mexican-American. It was the home of Kiddieland...
. Their children were Thomas Eboli Jr. and Chicago Outfit
Chicago Outfit
The Chicago Outfit, also known as the Chicago Syndicate or Chicago Mob and sometimes shortened to simply the Outfit, is a crime syndicate based in Chicago, Illinois, USA...
mobster Louis "The Mooch" Eboli. After separating from Ariola, Eboli entered a relationship with Mary Perello. She bore him two daughters, Madelena and Mary, and a son Saverio.
In the early 1920s, during Prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
, Eboli worked as a bootlegger
Rum-running
Rum-running, also known as bootlegging, is the illegal business of transporting alcoholic beverages where such transportation is forbidden by law...
for future crime boss Lucky Luciano
Lucky Luciano
Charlie "Lucky" Luciano was an Italian mobster born in Sicily. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in the United States for splitting New York City into five different Mafia crime families and the establishment of the first commission...
By the early 1930s, Eboli had become the personal bodyguard for Luciano's underboss
Underboss
Underboss is a position within the leadership structure of Sicilian and American Mafia crime families. The underboss is second in command to the boss...
, Vito "Don Vito" Genovese
Vito Genovese
Vito "Don Vito" Genovese was an Italian mafioso who rose to power in America during the Castellammarese War to later become leader of the Genovese crime family. Genovese served as mentor to future mob boss Vincent "The Chin" Gigante...
. In 1933, Eboli was arrested on six counts of illegal gambling and disorderly conduct
Disorderly conduct
Disorderly conduct is a criminal charge in most jurisdictions in the United States. Typically, disorderly conduct makes it a crime to be drunk in public, to "disturb the peace", or to loiter in certain areas. Many types of unruly conduct may fit the definition of disorderly conduct, as such...
.
Boxing manager
On January 11, 1952, Eboli assaulted boxing referee Ray Miller during a professional match at Manhattan's Madison Square GardenMadison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
. On that evening, Eboli was the manager for Rocky Castellani
Rocky Castellani
Attilio N. "Rocky" Castellani was an American boxer. He was born in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, to Attilio Castellani and Rose Isopi Castellani , who later moved to Margate City, formerly South Atlantic City, in Atlantic County in eastern New Jersey...
, who was fighting Ernie (The Rock) Durando . After Durando knocked down Castellani in the 6th and 7th rounds, Miller stopped the fight and declared Durando the winner. At that point, Eboli assaulted Miller. As a result, Eboli was banned from boxing and prosecuted for assault. After his conviction, Eboli spent 60 days in prison, his only incarceration during a life of crime.
Acting Boss
In 1957, Genovese finally became boss, and Eboli became the 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...
over the old Greenwich Village Crew
Greenwich Village Crew
The Greenwich Village Crew is a crew within the Genovese crime family, active in the Greenwich Village area of Manhattan. Original controlled by Don Vito Genovese from the early 1920s up until his arrest in the late 1950s. In the early 1980s Capo Vincent Gigante, was made the new boss of the...
crew. In 1959, after Genovese was sent to prison, Eboli became acting boss with Gerardo "Jerry" Catena
Gerardo Catena
Gerardo "Jerry" Catena was a New York mobster and a top member of the Genovese crime family during the 1950s and 1960s, along with Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli, Philip "Benny Squint" Lombardo and Michael "Big Mike" Miranda....
as underboss and Michele "Big Mike" Miranda
Michele Miranda
Michele "Big Mike" Miranda was a longtime member and eventual consigliere of the Genovese crime family and one of the most powerful New York gangsters in the 1950s and 1960s.-Early years:...
as consigliere. Anthony "Tony Bender" Strollo
Anthony Strollo
Anthony C. Strollo , aka "Tony Bender", was a New York mobster who served as a high ranking member of the Genovese crime family.-Early years:...
became Eboli's top aide. At the same time, Caporegime Philip Lombardo was to have a final say in things. These men were known as the "Committee/Ruling Panel", and ran the family throughout the 1960s.
After the 1969 death of Genovese and the 1970 indictment of Catena, Eboli became the official boss of the Genovese family. However, Lombardo and Miranda were really in charge and Eboli was just a front for the authorities. As Eboli wanted to be the real head of the Genovese crime family, he borrowed $4 million from the Commission
The Commission (mafia)
The Commission is the governing body of the American Mafia. Formed in 1931, the Commission replaced the "Boss of all Bosses" title, with a ruling committee, consisting of the New York Five Families bosses and the boss of the Chicago Outfit...
chairman and head of the rival Gambino crime family, Carlo Gambino
Carlo Gambino
"Don" Carlo Gambino, was a Sicilian mafioso who became Boss of the Gambino crime family, that still bears his name today. After the 1957 Apalachin Convention he unexpectedly seized control of the Commission of the American Mafia. Gambino was known for being low-key and secretive...
to fund a new drug trafficking operation.
Eboli's downfall
Eboli continued as the "front boss" of the family for two more years, during which time US authorities arrested most of the Eboli crew, and shut down their drug operation. Allegedly, Gambino and his underboss Paul CastellanoPaul Castellano
Constantino Paul "Big Paul" Castellano , also known as "The Howard Hughes of the Mob" and "Big Paulie" , was an American Mafia boss in New York City. He succeeded Carlo Gambino as head of the Gambino crime family, at the time, the nation's largest Mafia family...
came to Eboli to get their money back, but Eboli didn't have it.
On July 16, 1972, Eboli was leaving his girlfriend's apartment in Crown Heights around 1:00 A.M. As Eboli reached his car, a gunman shot him five times, killing him. No one was ever arrested for his murder. Reportedly, Gambino organized Eboli's murder so that his friend, Genovese Caporegime Frank "Funzi" Tieri, could become Genovese boss. Some even believe that the entire drug trafficking operation had been a setup by Gambino from the beginning.
Eboli was buried at George Washington Memorial Park in Paramus, New Jersey
Paramus, New Jersey
Paramus is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 26,342. A suburb of New York City, Paramus is located between 15–20 miles northwest of Midtown Manhattan and approximately west of Upper Manhattan.Paramus is one of...
.
Further reading
- Capeci, JerryJerry CapeciGerald "Jerry" Capeci is an American journalist and author who specializes in coverage of the Five Mafia crime families of New York City. Capeci has been described by news organizations, such as CNN and BBC, as an expert on the American Mafia.-Gang Land:Capeci writes a column called Gang Land...
. The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Mafia. Indianapolis: Alpha Books, 2002. ISBN 0-02-864225-2 - Davis, John H. Mafia Dynasty: The Rise and Fall of the Gambino Crime Family. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. ISBN 0-06-016357-7
- Kwitny, Jonathan. Vicious Circles: The Mafia in the Marketplace. New York: W.W. Norton, 1979. ISBN 0-393-01188-7
- Raab, Selwyn. Five Families: The Rise, Decline, and Resurgence of America's Most Powerful Mafia Empires. New York: St. Martin Press, 2005. ISBN 0-312-30094-8
- Mafia: The Government's Secret File on Organized Crime
External links
- Thomas Eboli: Down for the Count by Allan May