Dominick Cataldo (March 19, 1923 – April 27, 1997), known as "Little Dom", was a

Sicilian-American Sicilian Americans (; ) are Italian Americans who are fully or partially of Sicilian descent, whose ancestors were Sicilians who immigrated to United States during the Italian diaspora, or Sicilian-born people in U.S. They are a large ethnic grou ...

soldier in the New York

Colombo crime family The Colombo crime family (, ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and the youngest of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City within the criminal organization known as the American Mafia. It was during ...

Biography

Dominick Cataldo was born in

Lower East Side of Manhattan The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal Street (Manhattan), Canal to Houston Str ...

in a small apartment on

Essex Street Essex Street is a north–south street on the Lower East Side of the New York City borough of Manhattan. North of Houston Street, the street becomes Avenue A, which goes north to 14th Street. South of Canal Street it becomes Rutgers Street, ...

, his father, Samuel Cataldo, was a Sicilian immigrant from San Cataldo and member of the Profaci crime family. Dominick and his brother, Joseph, both joined the Colombo family. In 1972, Cataldo started an illegal

bookmaking A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds. History The first bookmaker, Harry Ogden, stood at Newmarket in 1795, although similar a ...

operation and casino out of an after-nights club located on 87th Street just across Atlantic Avenue, which was one block over and one block down from Salvatore Polisi's apartment on 95th Avenue and 88th Street. He lived a quiet life in

Valley Stream, New York Valley Stream is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United States. The population in the Village of Valley Stream was 40,634 at the tim ...

, which was home to many Mafioso in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

The Gerard Pappa murder

On June 16, 1980, Genovese crime family soldier Gerard Pappa was shot to death in a Brooklyn

luncheonette A lunch counter or luncheonette is a small restaurant, similar to a diner, where the patron sits on a stool on one side of the counter and the server serves food from the opposite side of the counter, where the kitchen or food preparation ar ...

by a Colombo hit squad. This was an act of revenge for carrying out the murder of a suspected Colombo police informant Ralph Spero, the uncle of mobster Angelo Sepe. He was murdered by Cataldo and his nephews Nicholas and Joseph. Knowing how hard Pappa would be to kill, that he was always armed, and that he was very fast, they were hiding in the luncheonette's rear kitchen when he arrived. They approached him from behind and shot him in the head with a sawed-off shotgun. He was killed instantly. Sammy Gravano later spoke of feeling great sadness and remorse for the loss of his childhood friend. Genovese crime family mob boss Vincent Gigante was suspected of handing down the murder contract, but was acquitted of his alleged involvement in the murder in 1997.

Indictment and incarceration

The "books" for membership into

La Cosa Nostra The American Mafia, commonly referred to in North America as the Italian-American Mafia, the Mafia, or the Mob, is a highly organized Italian-American criminal society and organized crime group. The terms Italian Mafia and Italian Mob apply t ...

had been officially closed since the late 1950s. Following the death of

Carlo Gambino Carlo Gambino (; August 24, 1902 – October 15, 1976) was a Sicilian crime boss who was the leader and namesake of the Gambino crime family of New York City. Following the Apalachin Meeting in 1957, and the imprisonment of Vito Genovese i ...

in 1976, the last remaining mob boss to have decried such a rule, the books for proposed members were reopened. Cataldo received his membership into the Colombo family in the late 1970s. In 1981, Cataldo was convicted of providing unlicensed 9-millimeter semiautomatic pistol and a silencer to an undercover federal agent. On October 26, 1984, Cataldo was indicted on federal racketeering charges that included extortion, theft,

loansharking A loan shark is a person who offers loans at extremely high or illegal interest rates, has strict terms of collection, and generally operates outside the law, often using the threat of violence or other illegal, aggressive, and extortionate ...

illegal gambling Gambling law is the set of rules and regulations that apply to the gaming or gambling industry. Gaming law is not a branch of law in the traditional sense but rather is a collection of several areas of law that include criminal law, regulatory law ...

, bribery and

drug trafficking A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalation, injection, smoking, ingestion, ...

. Because of the testimony and evidence gathered by Ianuzzi and also by his supposed protege, Sal 'The Rat' Polisi, during Operation Homerun, Cataldo was convicted for a host of racketeering crimes or

Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act is a United States federal law that provides for extended criminal penalties and a civil cause of action for acts performed as part of an ongoing criminal organization. RICO was e ...

predicate acts. In 1985, Cataldo was sentenced to 35 years in prison. On April 27, 1997, Cataldo died in prison of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

, aged 74.

References

Sources

*Taylor, Nicholas, ''Sins of The Father The True Story of A Family Running From the Mob'' Backinprint (August 2002) *Schumacher, Michael, ''Dharma Lion : A critical biography of Allen Ginsberg''St Martins Press (December 1994) *Ianuzzi, Joseph, ''Joe Dogs: The Life and Crimes of a Mobster'' Simon & Schuster (June 1993) *Dietche, M. Scot
"The Beating of Joe Castellano"
(1999) *Albanese, S. Jay ''Contemporary Issues in Organized Crime'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Cataldo, Dominick 1923 births 1997 deaths Colombo crime family American gangsters of Italian descent People of Sicilian descent People convicted of racketeering People from the Lower East Side People from Valley Stream, New York