Thomas Cacciopoli (born September 5, 1949), also known as Tommy Sneakers and Cacci, is an American member of 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. ...

, holding the rank of

caporegime A ''caporegime'' or ''capodecina'', usually shortened to ''capo'' or informally referred to as "captain", "skipper" or "lieutenant", is a leadership position in the Mafia (both the Sicilian Mafia and Italian-American Mafia). A ''capo'' is a "made m ...

in the

Queens Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

, and Westchester faction of the family.

Days of John Gotti

After

John Gotti John Joseph Gotti Jr.Capeci, Mustain (1996), pp. 25–26 ( , ; October 27, 1940 – June 10, 2002) was an American '' mafioso'' and boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City. He ordered and helped to orchestrate the murder of Gambin ...

became boss in December 1985, Cacciopoli became a made member in the crew led by Gotti's son, John "Junior" Gotti and brother Peter Gotti. When John Gotti went to prison in 1992 and Junior Gotti became acting boss, Cacciopoli became Junior's top protegee and bodyguard. Cacciopoli allegedly received his moniker "Tommy Twitch" because he suffered from facial

neuralgia Neuralgia (Greek ''neuron'', "nerve" + ''algos'', "pain") is pain in the distribution of a nerve or nerves, as in intercostal nerve, intercostal neuralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, and glossopharyngeal nerve, glossopharyngeal neuralgia. Classifica ...

, an uncontrollable

muscle spasm A spasm is a sudden involuntary contraction of a muscle, a group of muscles, or a hollow organ, such as the bladder. A spasmodic muscle contraction may be caused by many medical conditions, including dystonia. Most commonly, it is a musc ...

condition.

Days of Junior Gotti

During the late 1990s, Cacciopoli was indicted along with dozens of other members of the Gambino family, as the U.S. government charged Junior Gotti with conspiracy and association with known

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

members, in 1998. Following Gotti, Jr. stepping down as acting boss in 1999, and the elevation of Peter Gotti as ''acting boss'' in 2000, Cacciopoli was listed as a caporegime of the Gambino family, with a crew and illegal activities originally based in the

faction, with possible operations in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Capo and indictments

On March 9, 2005, Cacciopoli was indicted on charges of extorting payments from construction companies in

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

and

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. Cacciopoli was indicted on four counts of breaking the

Hobbs Act The Hobbs Act, codified at , is a United States federal law enacted in 1946 that prohibits actual or attempted robbery or extortion that affects interstate or foreign commerce, as well as conspiracies to do so. The Act is named for United Stat ...

Extortion (HAE), which shows that Cacciopoli was possibly involved in extortion operations in

. In September 2006, before the trial start, Cacciopolio, along with most of the defendants, accepted a plea arrangement from the government. On February 8, 2008, as part of the Operation Old Bridge investigation, Cacciopoli was again indicted on racketeering charges. The indictment stated that the defendants ran extortion rackets at the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

track construction site in Staten Island and the Liberty View Harbor site in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

. Government witness Joseph Vallaro testified that Cacciopoli extorted over $160,000 from Vallaro's trucking company. On February 28, 2008, the government offered a plea deal to Cacciopoli and most of the other defendants. On April 4, 2011, Cacciopoli was released from prison.

References

The Laborers.net: "UNITED STATES OF AMERICA v ARNOLD SQUITIERI
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cacciopoli, Thomas 1949 births Criminals from New Jersey American gangsters of Italian descent Gambino crime family Living people

Days of John Gotti

Days of Junior Gotti

Capo and indictments

Further reading

References