Anthony “Fat Andy” Ruggiano was a Gambino crime family captain and hitman who ran large gambling and loansharking operations out of Ozone Park, Queens, and later South Florida from the 1950s into the 1990s. He was a protégé of Carmine “Charley Wagons” Fatico, a contemporary of John Gotti, and the man who ordered the 1988 murder of his own son-in-law behind a Queens social club. A federal racketeering conviction in Florida ended his career with a 40-year prison sentence in 1987. He was released in 1997 and died in 1999.
Rise Through the Gambino Family
Ruggiano’s first prison term had nothing to do with the Mafia. In 1947, he was sentenced to five years for abandoning his post in the U.S. Army during World War II.1Sun Sentinel. Reputed Mob Figure Sentenced to 40 Years According to his son, he became a made member in 1953 under Albert Anastasia, the boss of what would become the Gambino family.2AnthonyRuggiano.com. Anthony Ruggiano
He came up under Gambino capo Carmine “Charley Wagons” Fatico and eventually ran one of the family’s biggest crews, based in East New York and Ozone Park. Among the figures he mentored were Anthony “Tony Lee” Guerrieri and Anthony “Tony Pep” Trentacosta.
By the early 1970s, prosecutors had tied him to a massive bookmaking operation across Brooklyn and Suffolk County. In August 1971, Brooklyn District Attorney Eugene Gold announced a crackdown on a gambling syndicate said to generate $50 million a year. Ruggiano, then 44 and living in Woodhaven, Queens, was named as a ringleader and as an associate of Carlo Gambino.3The New York Times. 14 Are Arrested in Gambling Raid
He was also known for an old-school fixation on leaving no paper trail. At his son’s 1977 wedding, when Gambino boss Paul Castellano handed him a card containing $500, Ruggiano tore the card to pieces on the spot.
His Relationship With John Gotti
Ruggiano and John Gotti came up in the same Ozone Park orbit, where the Bergin Hunt and Fish Club served as Gotti’s base and the family threw neighborhood barbecues and Fourth of July fireworks shows.4The New York Times. In Ozone Park, the Mob Ties That Bind Ruggiano was reportedly skeptical when he learned Gotti had taken over. On hearing the news from Tony Lee Guerrieri, he is said to have asked: “This is the same John Gotti I knew when he was growing up?”
According to Ruggiano’s son, Gotti later said, after Sammy “the Bull” Gravano turned government witness: “If Fat Andy had been out, I wouldn’t be in this mess.” The remark suggested Gotti saw Ruggiano as someone who could have steadied the family or bridged tensions with Brooklyn capos such as Jimmy Brown Failla, Tommy Gambino, and Danny Marino. By the time any of that mattered, Ruggiano was in federal prison.
The Cafe Liberty Murder of Frank Boccia
Ruggiano’s Queens crew operated out of the Cafe Liberty social club. In 1988, his son-in-law Frank “Geeky” Boccia was murdered in the garden behind the club. The killing was sanctioned by John Gotti.
The trigger was a family argument. Boccia had struck Ruggiano’s wife after she refused to give him money for a baptism.5New York Daily News. Mob Rat Avoids Prison for Role in John Gotti-Sanctioned Cafe Killing Ruggiano’s son lured Boccia to the club. Dominick “Skinny Dom” Pizzonia shot him five times. The body was cut open and weighted with stones so it would not float when dumped at sea, and the remains were never recovered.6New York Post. Mobster Who Had In-Law Killed Gets Off With Time Served
Reporting described Ruggiano as a “prolific killer and powerful soldier” who ran operations through the social club.5New York Daily News. Mob Rat Avoids Prison for Role in John Gotti-Sanctioned Cafe Killing Even in prison, his son later said, he continued to direct his crew through intermediaries, including Guerrieri, ordering “extreme acts of violence and other crimes.”2AnthonyRuggiano.com. Anthony Ruggiano
The Florida Racketeering Case
Ruggiano moved his operations to South Florida and ran a Gambino crew there. Federal attention followed. He had supervised an effort to open an illegal “bottle club” in Riviera Beach, and witnesses testified that he authorized $4,200 in bribes to Riviera Beach police chief William Boone Darden to secure protection. Darden was convicted separately in 1984 and sentenced to six years.1Sun Sentinel. Reputed Mob Figure Sentenced to 40 Years
The case was not easy for the government. The U.S. Justice Department’s Organized Crime Strike Force in Miami tried Ruggiano three times. The first two juries hung. A third jury convicted him in March 1987 of racketeering, racketeering conspiracy, and loansharking.1Sun Sentinel. Reputed Mob Figure Sentenced to 40 Years
There was an odd detour in between. Ruggiano had originally pleaded guilty and taken a 17-year sentence, but was allowed to withdraw the plea after claiming he had believed the maximum was six years. After the third trial, U.S. District Judge Frank Theis sentenced him on April 7, 1987, to 40 years in federal prison with a mandatory 13 years before parole eligibility. He was 60.
Release and Death
Ruggiano had entered federal custody in 1984, before his formal 1987 sentencing. He served roughly 13 years and was released in 1997. The world he returned to had changed. Gotti had been convicted in 1992 and would die in prison in 2002. Gravano had cooperated. Federal sweeps had hollowed out the Ozone Park operations.
He died in 1999, about two years after his release.7New York Daily News. Wiseguy Whacked His Brother-in-Law, Feds
What Happened to His Crew
Gambino leadership tapped Anthony “Tony Pep” Trentacosta, one of Ruggiano’s protégés, to take over the South Florida crew. The handover lasted about a year. In September 2000, Trentacosta was indicted on federal racketeering charges covering 1994 to 2000, including murder, bank fraud, extortion, and obstruction allegations.8Gangsters Inc. Tony Pep: Profile of Gambino Mafia Family Capo Anthony Trentacosta A jury convicted him of racketeering conspiracy in December 2001 and acquitted him of murder. He was sentenced to eight years and died in custody on Christmas Day 2005.
The deeper blow to Ruggiano’s old crew came from inside the family. His son, Anthony Ruggiano Jr., had been pulled into the business at 16, became a “proposed member” of the Gambino family but was never formally inducted, and accumulated his own long record, including a 112-month federal racketeering sentence in January 1998.9FindLaw. Ruggiano v. Reish He eventually cooperated with the government. Prosecutors called his assistance “historic.” His testimony helped convict Gambino capos Bartolomeo “Bobby Glasses” Vernace and Dominick “Skinny Dom” Pizzonia, the man who had killed his brother-in-law, and he also testified against former Gambino hitman Charles Carneglia. In November 2014, Judge Jack Weinstein sentenced him to time served, three days, for his role in the Boccia killing.6New York Post. Mobster Who Had In-Law Killed Gets Off With Time Served