Anthony Corallo

Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo (February 12, 1913 – August 23, 2000) was a New York City mobster and boss of the Lucchese crime family.

Early life

Corallo grew up in an Italian section of East Harlem. He would get his nickname, "Tony Ducks" by his ability to avoid, or "duck", legal subpoenas. In the 1920's, Corallo joined the 107th Street Gang in East Harlem. By the time that Corallo was arrested for grand larceny in 1935, he was working with the Gagliano crime family under boss Tommy Gagliano. Underboss Tommy Lucchese recruited Corallo to work with mobster Johnny Dio, the leader of labor racketeering operations in the Manhattan Garment District.

In 1941, Corallo was arrested after police found a cache of narcotics valued at $150,000. He was convicted of narcotics violations and was sent to the city jail on Rikers Island for six months.

In 1943, Corallo was appointed as a caporegime of his own crew, an accomplishment for a man in his early 30's. Corallo with Johnny Dio went on to control five Teamsters Union locals, the Painters and Decorators Union, the Conduit Workers Union and the United Textile Workers earning the family millions.In 1951, Gagliano died of natural causes and Lucchese took over what we now called the Lucchese crime family.

Rise to power

After he was appointed capo, he moved his base of operations to Queens. His main business was Labor extortion and racketeering in the late 1940s, where he would do business with Jimmy Hoffa. He had close ties to the Painters and Decorators Union, the Conduit Workers Union, and the United Textile Workers. All of which proved successful, having executive positions in these unions to show for his efforts. The thing he was best at, though, was maneuvering the control of legitimate businesses toward personal for his own profit. Corallo was, however, called before the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Improper Activities in Labor and Management to answer some questions about $70,000 US dollars stolen from the Teamsters Union local 239 by using names of dead mob members. Like many other mobsters, Corallo pleaded the Fifth Amendment many times during his two-hour interrogation. After Lucchese's death, Corallo was to be put in charge, but that had to be put on hold, however, due to a two-year prison term Corallo received in 1968. This for attempting to bribe New York Supreme Court Justice James "Vinny" Keogh and Assistant US Attorney Elliot Kahaner in an attempt to get a reduced prison term on a Lucchese family member. While the Commission awaited his release, Carmine Tramunti was selected as interim boss. It has been speculated by former law enforcement and Mafia historians that Corallo was promoted immediately upon his release in 1970 and that Tramunti was only an "Acting" or "Front" Boss for the last few years of his reign before being jailed in 1973 allegedly leaving Corallo to take over as official Boss. One of Corallo's first moves was to take over gravel distribution in various areas of New York such as Long Island. In owning major gravel companies in his territories or areas of influence, Corallo increased the Lucchese crime family's influence in the construction industry and with the unions involved. The garbage industry would be next on his list. With the help of a union official named Bernie Adelstein, the front business would be called Private Sanitation Industry Association. Next with the help of Lucchese capo Paul Vario and his crew, Corallo would gain power at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Downfall

An FBI mugshot of Anthony Corallo

Corallo would eventually become a victim of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), as had other bosses of the Five Families and other high ranking members of organized crime. A microphone and recorder was planted inside Corallo's car where he often talked to his driver about many family-related items. That is what would bring him down. Corallo owned a million-dollar home in the village of Oyster Bay Cove, New York. The FBI and New York City Police came there on February 25, 1985, with an arrest warrant for Corallo. The next day a federal grand jury indicted Corallo and the other New York crime family bosses. Corallo was convicted and sentenced to 100 years in prison.

In 2000, Anthony Corallo died at the Federal Medical Center for prisoners in Springfield, Missouri.