Frank Amato
Encyclopedia
Frank Amato pronounced legally dead 1985, was a Sicilian-American
mafioso who was the son-in-law
of Gambino crime family
boss Paul Castellano
.
raised in a blue collar
family in New York City
. He worked as a butcher and as a transport truck "stick up man" or hijacker for a crew in the Gambino crime family
crew that robbed transport trucks coming in and out of John F. Kennedy Airport. He was a fellow criminal associate of transport truck hijacker Edward Grillo
. His marriage to Constance was an Old World
traditional Sicilian style wedding that was attended by many powerful Gambino mobsters.
. Castellano greatly misjudged Amato who did not share the same keen business sense as Castellano and the Italian ice distribution business failed. Castellano put Amato to work as a butcher at his successful Meat Palace, a butcher shop franchise owned by Castellano and his sons. As a butcher employed at Dial Meat Purveyors Inc. and the Meat Market, he was involved in the selling of rancid and expired meat products. Although Amato had little formal school education, he could quarter a lamb with great skill and was knowledgeable about tallow
. In of Bosses: The FBI and Paul Castellano, FBI Special Agent Joseph O'Brien suggests that at Dial Meat and the Meat Market he was taught by Castellano's men how to bleach tainted, outdated, uninspected meats or meats of a dubious provenance by using a white preservative powder known as "dynamite" that gave the faded, discolored meat a healthy fresh red appearance. Frank was also shown how to drain meat of any foul smelling juices it had accumulated by using formaldehyde
and use counterfeit United States Department of Agriculture
stamps to assign meats a false grade or expiration date. O'Brien would also state that at Castellano's meat suppliers he would have Amato and fellow butchers carve meat and label it as "beef" that was not always carved from cows and "pork" that was not always carved from pigs.
(FBI) early on in the successful investigation dubbed "Operation Meathead". Castellano's sons, Joseph and Phillip, managed the chain. There is no evidence that Castellano promoted or wanted to induct Amato as a "made man
" into the Gambino crime family. Dial Meat Purveyors, Inc. also served Waldbaum's
and Key Food
Cooperative on whose boards of directors Gambino crime family capo Pasquale Conte
sat as a member.
, Gambino crime family
associate, Dominick Montiglio
, informed authorities that Frank had been witnessed by mob associates and superiors like capo, Anthony Gaggi
, making sexual advances and having had brief encounters with the female employees who worked with him at the Meat Palace. A few weeks after Gaggi witnessed this, Castellano had the female employee fired. Amato was later transferred to Castellano's other butcher store chain, Dial Meat Purveyors, Inc., formerly known as Blue Ribbon Meats, the business that helped poultry magnate Frank Perdue
distribute his chickens in supermarket chains. Amato worked for brother-in-law, Paul Castellano Jr. After a few months of working at Dial Poultry, Amato was caught committing adultery
.
with the help of cousin-in-laws Thomas Gambino
and Joseph Gambino, the sons of Carlo Gambino, and supplemented his meager income by committing petty burglaries. Constance moved to West Palm Beach, Florida
and lived in her father's condominium to overcome her emotional distress.
housekeeper and maid Gloria Olarte, Constance left her father. After moving with her mother into a nearby home, it was reported by FBI Special Agent Joseph O'Brien that she hardly ever left her mother's home and remained at her mother's side constantly.
, Anthony Gaggi
, Joseph Testa, Frederick DiNome
, Chris Rosenberg
and Joseph Guglielmo were later charged with his disappearance and suspected murder, but no convictions were ever obtained. Although his remains have never been found, authorities suspected that his body was dismembered, wrapped in plastic garbage bags, placed in cardboard boxes and taken to the Fountain Avenue landfill in East New York, Brooklyn
. The murder and disposal of Frank Amato earned Roy DeMeo and his crew great respect from Paul Castellano
.
Sicilian-American
Sicilian Americans are American people from Sicily or of Sicilian heritage. They are considered Italian Americans but are sometimes treated as a separate group due to cultural and historical differences between Sicily and the mainland....
mafioso who was the son-in-law
Son-in-Law
Son-in-Law was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and an influential sire, especially for sport horses.The National Horseracing Museum says that Son-in-Law is "probably the best and most distinguished stayer this country has ever known." Described as "one of the principal influences for stamina in...
of Gambino crime family
Gambino crime family
The Gambino 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 group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...
boss Paul Castellano
Paul 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...
.
Biography
There is little information available on Frank Amato before his marriage into the Castellano-Gambino-Lucchese blood relative family. Amato was an Italian-American of Sicilian descent from Brooklyn, New York. Frank was born out of wedlockWedlock
Wedlock may refer to:* Marriage* Wedlock , an album by Sunburned Hand of the Man* Wedlock , directed by Lewis Teague* Billy Wedlock, an English footballer* Fred Wedlock, an English folk singer...
raised in a blue collar
Blue collar
Blue collar can refer to:*Blue-collar worker, a traditional designation of the working class*Blue-collar crime, the types of crimes typically associated with the working class*A census designation...
family in 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...
. He worked as a butcher and as a transport truck "stick up man" or hijacker for a crew in the Gambino crime family
Gambino crime family
The Gambino 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 group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...
crew that robbed transport trucks coming in and out of John F. Kennedy Airport. He was a fellow criminal associate of transport truck hijacker Edward Grillo
Edward Grillo
Edward "Danny" Grillo was a member of a Gambino crime family crew headed by soldier Roy DeMeo. After falling deeply into debt to DeMeo and other loansharks, Grillo was murdered by his own associates in the DeMeo Crew....
. His marriage to Constance was an Old World
Old World
The Old World consists of those parts of the world known to classical antiquity and the European Middle Ages. It is used in the context of, and contrast with, the "New World" ....
traditional Sicilian style wedding that was attended by many powerful Gambino mobsters.
Being a legitimate businessman
FBI Special Agent Joseph O'Brien states in Boss of Bosses that after Amato married Paul Castellano's daughter, Constance, Castellano set Amato up in the legitimate business world as a distributor of Italian iceItalian ice
Italian ice, also known as water ice, is a sweetened frozen dessert made with fruit or other natural or artificial food flavorings, similar to sorbet. Italian ice is not shaved ice that is flavored; rather, it is made by the same process by which ice cream is made: freezing the ingredients while...
. Castellano greatly misjudged Amato who did not share the same keen business sense as Castellano and the Italian ice distribution business failed. Castellano put Amato to work as a butcher at his successful Meat Palace, a butcher shop franchise owned by Castellano and his sons. As a butcher employed at Dial Meat Purveyors Inc. and the Meat Market, he was involved in the selling of rancid and expired meat products. Although Amato had little formal school education, he could quarter a lamb with great skill and was knowledgeable about tallow
Tallow
Tallow is a rendered form of beef or mutton fat, processed from suet. It is solid at room temperature. Unlike suet, tallow can be stored for extended periods without the need for refrigeration to prevent decomposition, provided it is kept in an airtight container to prevent oxidation.In industry,...
. In of Bosses: The FBI and Paul Castellano, FBI Special Agent Joseph O'Brien suggests that at Dial Meat and the Meat Market he was taught by Castellano's men how to bleach tainted, outdated, uninspected meats or meats of a dubious provenance by using a white preservative powder known as "dynamite" that gave the faded, discolored meat a healthy fresh red appearance. Frank was also shown how to drain meat of any foul smelling juices it had accumulated by using formaldehyde
Formaldehyde
Formaldehyde is an organic compound with the formula CH2O. It is the simplest aldehyde, hence its systematic name methanal.Formaldehyde is a colorless gas with a characteristic pungent odor. It is an important precursor to many other chemical compounds, especially for polymers...
and use counterfeit United States Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
stamps to assign meats a false grade or expiration date. O'Brien would also state that at Castellano's meat suppliers he would have Amato and fellow butchers carve meat and label it as "beef" that was not always carved from cows and "pork" that was not always carved from pigs.
Under FBI scrutiny
Because of his involvement in Castellano's stranglehold on the East Coast wholesale meat market and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Amato became a target for the Federal Bureau of InvestigationFederal 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) early on in the successful investigation dubbed "Operation Meathead". Castellano's sons, Joseph and Phillip, managed the chain. There is no evidence that Castellano promoted or wanted to induct Amato as a "made man
Made man
A made man, also known as a Mafioso , made guy, man of honor, or uomo d'onore , is someone who has been officially inducted into the Sicilian or American Mafia . They may also be referred to by some as a goodfella or wiseguy...
" into the Gambino crime family. Dial Meat Purveyors, Inc. also served Waldbaum's
Waldbaum's
Waldbaum's is a supermarket chain with stores on Long Island, in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island, and one store in Connecticut. It began in 1904 as a shop run by Sam and Wolf Waldbaum in Brooklyn. Their nephew, Izzy, emigrated to America and joined the business....
and Key Food
Key Food
Key Food Stores Co-Op Inc. is a cooperative of independently owned supermarkets in southern New York, plus one store in Stamford, Connecticut. Key Food was founded in 1937 by Sam Mandel; it is headquartered on Staten Island...
Cooperative on whose boards of directors Gambino crime family capo Pasquale Conte
Pasquale Conte
Pasquale Conte , also known as "Patsy", is a New York mobster who became a caporegime with the Gambino crime family.-Background:Born in Sicily, Conte is a resident of Roslyn, New York. He was at one time a board member of Key Food Cooperative Supermarket Chain, an association of small supermarkets...
sat as a member.
Infidelities and spousal abuse
Although married to Constance, after turning state's evidenceState's Evidence
State's Evidence is an independent film created in 2004 and released in 2006, directed by Benjamin Louis and starring Douglas Smith, Alexa Vega, Majandra Delfino, Kris Lemche, Cody McMains, and Drew Tyler Bell.-Plot summary:...
, Gambino crime family
Gambino crime family
The Gambino 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 group is named after Carlo Gambino, boss of the family at the time of the McClellan hearings in 1963...
associate, Dominick Montiglio
Dominick Montiglio
Dominick Montiglio is a former associate of the Gambino crime family. The nephew of Anthony 'Nino' Gaggi, who was a powerful and respected captain in the Gambino family, Dominick became a government witness in 1983 after being arrested for extortion and went on to testify in two Federal trials...
, informed authorities that Frank had been witnessed by mob associates and superiors like capo, Anthony Gaggi
Anthony Gaggi
Anthony "Antonino" "Nino" Frank Gaggi was a captain in the New York Gambino crime family who supervised the infamous DeMeo crew, headed by Roy DeMeo. It is estimated that the DeMeo crew murdered between 75 and 200 people....
, making sexual advances and having had brief encounters with the female employees who worked with him at the Meat Palace. A few weeks after Gaggi witnessed this, Castellano had the female employee fired. Amato was later transferred to Castellano's other butcher store chain, Dial Meat Purveyors, Inc., formerly known as Blue Ribbon Meats, the business that helped poultry magnate Frank Perdue
Frank Perdue
Franklin Parsons "Frank" Perdue , born in Salisbury, Maryland, was for many years the president and CEO of Perdue Farms, now one of the largest chicken-producing companies in the United States.-Career:...
distribute his chickens in supermarket chains. Amato worked for brother-in-law, Paul Castellano Jr. After a few months of working at Dial Poultry, Amato was caught committing adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
.
Separation from Constance
After he caught Frank having an affair with a fellow co-worker, Paul Castellano became enraged and ordered Amato to move out of the Todt Hill mansion and had him fired from his job as a butcher at Dial Poultry. After being fired, Amato found work at a clothing store in QueensQueens
Queens is the easternmost of the five boroughs of New York City. The largest borough in area and the second-largest in population, it is coextensive with Queens County, an administrative division of New York state, in the United States....
with the help of cousin-in-laws Thomas Gambino
Thomas Gambino
Thomas "Tommy" Gambino is a New York mobster and a longtime Caporegime of the Gambino crime family who successfully controlled lucrative trucking rackets in the New York City Garment District.-Early life:...
and Joseph Gambino, the sons of Carlo Gambino, and supplemented his meager income by committing petty burglaries. Constance moved to West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, Florida
West Palm Beach, is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and is the most populous city in and county seat of Palm Beach County, the third most populous county in Florida with a 2010 population of 1,320,134. The city is also the oldest incorporated municipality in South Florida...
and lived in her father's condominium to overcome her emotional distress.
Divorce
Constance was granted divorce from Frank in 1973 on grounds of spousal abuse and infidelity. Following the divorce from Amato, and after her mother Nina separated from her father for having an affair with their live-in ColombianColombian people
Colombian people are from a multiethnic Spanish speaking nation in South America called Colombia. Colombians are predominantly Roman Catholic and are a mixture of Europeans, Africans, and Amerindians.-Demography:...
housekeeper and maid Gloria Olarte, Constance left her father. After moving with her mother into a nearby home, it was reported by FBI Special Agent Joseph O'Brien that she hardly ever left her mother's home and remained at her mother's side constantly.
Mob slaying
The mob executed Amato on September 20, 1980. Roy DeMeoRoy DeMeo
Roy Albert DeMeo was a soldier in the Gambino crime family. He is infamous for heading the DeMeo crew, a gang suspected by the FBI of murdering at least 70 people between 1973 and 1983. The vast majority were disposed of so thoroughly that they were never found...
, Anthony Gaggi
Anthony Gaggi
Anthony "Antonino" "Nino" Frank Gaggi was a captain in the New York Gambino crime family who supervised the infamous DeMeo crew, headed by Roy DeMeo. It is estimated that the DeMeo crew murdered between 75 and 200 people....
, Joseph Testa, Frederick DiNome
Frederick DiNome
Frederick DiNome was a professional drag racer and a member of the DeMeo crew, headed by Gambino soldier Roy DeMeo...
, Chris Rosenberg
Chris Rosenberg
Harvey "Chris" Rosenberg was a Jewish-American member of the DeMeo crew run by Gambino crime family soldier Roy DeMeo. The gang is suspected of between 75–200 murders in the mid 1970s to the early 1980s...
and Joseph Guglielmo were later charged with his disappearance and suspected murder, but no convictions were ever obtained. Although his remains have never been found, authorities suspected that his body was dismembered, wrapped in plastic garbage bags, placed in cardboard boxes and taken to the Fountain Avenue landfill in East New York, Brooklyn
East New York, Brooklyn
East New York is a residential neighborhood located in the Eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 5...
. The murder and disposal of Frank Amato earned Roy DeMeo and his crew great respect from Paul Castellano
Paul 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...
.