Thomas Agro (November 29, 1931 – August 31, 1987), also known as "Tommy A", "T.A.", "Tipp", and "Thomas Ambrosiano", was a

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

gangster with the

Gambino crime family The Gambino crime family (pronounced ) is an Italian American Mafia crime family and one of the "Five Families" that dominate organized crime activities in New York City, within the nationwide criminal phenomenon known as the American Mafia. ...

who ran lucrative bookmaking and gambling operations in

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

Biography

In 1975 or 1976, Agro became a "

made man In the Sicilian and American Mafia, a made man is a fully initiated member of the Mafia. In order to become eligible to be "made", an associate must fulfill several requirements, such as being Italian or of Italian descent and sponsored by ...

," or full member, of the Gambino crime family. Agro was sponsored for membership by Joseph N. Gallo, the family

consigliere Consigliere ( , ; plural is a position within the leadership structure of the Sicilian, Calabrian, and Italian-American Mafia. The word was popularized in English by the novel ''The Godfather'' (1969) and its film adaptation. In the novel, a c ...

and worked under Joseph Armone, one of Paul Castellano's most trusted associates. While Agro was never promoted above street-level soldier, he enjoyed a privileged relationship with family boss Paul Castellano. During this period, Agro was sent to prison for bookmaking. By 1976, Agro was dividing his time between New York and

Palm Beach County, Florida Palm Beach County is a county in the southeastern part of Florida, located in the Miami metropolitan area. It is Florida's third-most populous county after Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and Broward County, Florida, Broward County ...

. In Florida, Agro chose mobster Joseph Iannuzzi as his representative. Iannuzzi enjoyed the attention and respect he received when Agro was in Florida. The two mobsters frequented the top nightspots and betting tracks. It was while at the

greyhound racing Greyhound racing is an organized, competitive sport in which greyhounds are raced around an oval track. The sport originates from Hare coursing, coursing. Track racing uses an artificial lure (usually a form of windsock) that travels ahead of th ...

tracks that Agro coined Iannuzzi's nickname, "Joe Dogs". Iannuzzi was given free rein to operate on behalf of Agro and the Gambino crime family. Iannuzzi operated bookmaking and loansharking while engaging in the occasional robbery and burglary. When Agro's sponsor, Joe N. Gallo, visited Florida, Iannuzzi would look after him. In 1980, the Agro/Iannuzzi relationship began to fizzle. Agro had previously lent Ianuzzi a sizeable amount of money to be used to facilitate a loanshark book. Ianuzzi was supposed to pay Agro several percentage basis points ("points") a week. Ianuzzi would then offer loans to fellow criminals and gamblers at several additional points. The difference, called the "spread," would be Iannuzzi's profit. Ianuzzi would hold several weeks' or months' worth of interest ("vig"), delivering it to Agro whenever he visited New York. At other times, Agro would visit Iannuzzi in Florida to collect the interest. Agro had plans to invest the illegal interest into legitimate businesses. However, Ianuzzi soon fell several months behind in delivering the money to Agro. Later in 1980, while visiting New York, Ianuzzi deliberately snubbed Agro. On January 19, 1981, the enraged Agro found Ianuzzi at the Don Ritz Pizzeria on Singer Island, Florida and severely beat him with a

baseball bat A baseball bat is a smooth wooden or metal Club (weapon), club used in the sport of baseball to hit the Baseball (ball), ball after it is thrown by the pitcher. By regulation it may be no more than in diameter at the thickest part and no more t ...

. After surviving this attack, Ianuzzi decided to start working as an informant for the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

(FBI). Since Ianuzzi had been assaulted with a bat, the FBI agents appropriately dubbed the case Operation

Home Run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

. Ianuzzi now paid Agro the delinquent money (with funds supplied by the FBI), and Agro welcomed him back to the family. Ianuzzi now wore a hidden listening device whenever he met with Agro and other Florida mobsters. On one tape, Agro told Iannuzzi that he had survived the January attack only because the pizzeria owner's wife entered the room. On one occasion, Agro confessed to the murders of Lucchese associates Anthony DeSimone and

Thomas DeSimone Thomas James DeSimone (June 6, 1946 – disappeared January 14, 1979) was an American criminal associated with New York City's Lucchese crime family who is alleged to have participated in both the Air France robbery and the Lufthansa heist. H ...

. However, Ianuzzi was not recording at that moment, so Agro was never convicted of these murders. In 1984, Agro was prosecuted at the Home Run trials in Florida for loan sharking, extortion, and attempted murder. After being sentenced to fifteen years in a federal

penitentiary A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state, usually ...

, Agro fled to

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, where he was joined by LuAnn. The couple later moved to the Nuns' Island section of

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, where he deserted LuAnn for another woman, Ann Okcha. Later in 1984, the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

(RCMP) arrested Agro. He was soon repatriated to the United States and sent to prison. In 1986, Agro was released from prison due to an inoperable

brain tumor A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the Human brain, brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign ...

. On February 11, 1987, Agro pleaded guilty to federal racketeering charges in a court session held in his hospital room at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Agro died later in 1987.

In popular culture

* In the 1990 film '' Goodfellas'', the character "Vinnie" (played by Charles Scorsese, the father of director

Martin Scorsese Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November17, 1942) is an American filmmaker. One of the major figures of the New Hollywood era, he has received List of awards and nominations received by Martin Scorsese, many accolades, including an Academ ...

) is based on Agro. Vinnie is seen cooking sauce while in prison and when the character Tommy DeVito (based on

) is murdered. * Agro is portrayed by Ron Gabriel in the 2001 film '' Boss of Bosses''.

Biography

In popular culture

References

Further reading