Ralph Daniello (born Alfonso Pepe; 1886 – August 15, 1925), also known as "The Barber" was an Italian-born New York criminal who belonged to the

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

Navy Street Gang and participated in a major gang slaying in the Mafia-Camorra War. In 1917, Daniello eventually became an

informant An informant (also called an informer or, as a slang term, a "snitch", "rat", "canary", "stool pigeon", "stoolie", "tout" or "grass", among other terms) is a person who provides privileged information, or (usually damaging) information inten ...

for the New York police and helped destroy the Camorra crime gangs in Brooklyn. Daniello's testimony helped to clear up 23 homicide cases in New York.

Early life

Daniello was born in

Pagani, Campania Pagani (; , ) is a town and in Campania, Italy, administratively part of the Province of Salerno, in the region known as the Agro nocerino-sarnese. Pagani has a population of 35,834, as of 2016. History In the period before the Roman suprema ...

in 1886 as Alfonso Pepe.Raffaele Daniello
GangRule.com In Italy he was arrested for attacking a woman and on suspicion of involvement in a murder. After his escape from prison in 1906 he made his way to the French port of

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

, from which he sailed to New York where he was smuggled in illegally.Di Marco Murder Is Again Described
The Daily Standard Union, March 7, 1918 In New York, Daniello became a low-level criminal with the Brooklyn-based Navy Street gang, made up primarily of Italians from

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

and

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

in Italy, where the

Camorra The Camorra (; ) is an Italian Mafia-typeMafia and Mafia-type orga ...

hailed from, and headed by Alessandro Vollero and Leopoldo Lauritano based with its nerve centre in Vollero's coffee house at 113 Navy Street. Daniello participated in labor

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

and

extortion Extortion is the practice of obtaining benefit (e.g., money or goods) through coercion. In most jurisdictions it is likely to constitute a criminal offence. Robbery is the simplest and most common form of extortion, although making unfounded ...

. He was involved in the 1913

Labor slugger war The Labor Sluggers War was a 15-year period of gang wars among New York City labor sluggers for control of labor racketeering from 1911 to 1927. This began in 1911 with the first war between "Dopey" Benny Fein and Joe "The Greaser" Rosenzweig a ...

Mafia-Camorra War

In 1916 he became involved in the Mafia-Camorra War. He was a member of the Navy Street Gang, made up primarily of Italians from

Naples, Italy Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. In November 1916, Daniello participated in the ambush murders of

Nicholas Morello Nicolò Terranova (1890 – September 7, 1916), also known as Nicholas "Nick" Morello, was one of the first Italian-American organized crime figures in New York City. He succeeded Giuseppe Morello as boss of the then Morello Gang in 1909 and was ...

and

Charles Ubriaco Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was ...

on a New York Street.Camorra: The Navy Street Gang
GangRule.com These killings were part of an ongoing gang war between the Morello crime family, part of the traditional Sicilian mafia, and the Brooklyn

Camorra The Camorra (; ) is an Italian Mafia-typeMafia and Mafia-type orga ...

, a

Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and High ...

crime organization. During this era, a crime organization would usually consist of individuals from the same clan, village, or region in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. In later years, the gangs would be based more on individual families and would allow any Italian to become a full member.

In hiding

After being acquitted on

robbery Robbery is the crime of taking or attempting to take anything of value by force, threat of force, or use of fear. According to common law, robbery is defined as taking the property of another, with the intent to permanently deprive the person o ...

and abduction charges, Daniello decided it wasn't safe to stay in New York. In May 1917, Daniello and his girlfriend fled to

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada–California border. It is the county seat and most populous city of Washoe County, Nevada, Washoe County. Sitting in the High Eastern Sierra foothills, ...

. In July 1917, the

New York City Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

(NYPD) police issued a warrant for Daniello's arrest for the May 7 murder of Louis DeMarro in

. Meanwhile, Daniello and his girlfriend were running low on money in Reno. He wrote the Camorra Gang asking for help, but they ignored his requests. Daniello was eventually arrested in Nevada and

extradited In an extradition, one jurisdiction delivers a person accused or convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforcement procedure between the two jurisdic ...

back to New York.Confession May Clear 23 Feud Murders
The New York Times, November 28, 1917

Informant

Facing

indictments An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use th ...

on murder, grand larceny and

perjury Perjury (also known as forswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury The act or an insta ...

, Daniello began to tell the police about the Navy Street crew and its connection to the Morello and Ubriaco murders. He provided evidence about 23 murders. Several Grand Juries issued 21 indictments in November 1917.Nelli, ''The Business of Crime''
pp. 133-134
/ref>Indict Twelve In Murder Conspiracy
The New York Times, December 1, 1917 New York prosecutors offered Daniello a deal if he would testify against Alessandro Vollero, the Camorra leader. Daniello, who had attended several high level meetings with Vollero, agreed to the deal. In 1917, Vollero was extradited to New York and indicted in the murders of Morello, Umbracio and Manhattan gambler George Verrizano (which Daniello later claimed he had participated in). Daniello's testimony, along with that of "Johnny the Left" Esposito, Tony Notaro, and other Navy Street and Coney Island gang members, led to Vollaro's conviction. The conviction of Vollero and his associates marked the end of both the Navy Street Gang and the Brooklyn Camorra organization.

Death

Because of the abuse he received after testifying at the trial against Vollero, Daniello was moved to a different prison. He received a suspended sentence in consideration of his testimony. However, shortly later he was arrested for assaulting a man in Coney Island. Daniello claimed he shot the victim thinking that he had been sent on a vendetta from his former associates of the Navy Street gang. He was sentenced to five years in prison. Released in 1925, he was shot dead in front of his

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, saloon on August 15, 1925.

References

Sources

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