FBI files indicate that Bonanno crime family captain Dominic “Sonny Black” Napolitano allegedly ordered the murder of a Brooklyn bookmaker in 1980, a killing that left four innocent bystanders wounded. Napolitano, who was born in June 1930, became widely known through the classic mob film “Donnie Brasco,” where he was portrayed by actor Michael Madsen. He was inducted into the Bonanno family in January 1976, part of the first wave of ceremony participants that included James “Legs” Episcopia, Anthony “Bims” Bonacci, and Alfonso “Sonny Red” Indelicato. Following the 1979 murder of powerful Bonanno mobster Carmine Galante, Napolitano was promoted to captain, taking over from longtime captain Mike Sabella, who was demoted.
Serving under him in his crew was Bonanno soldier Benjamin “Lefty Guns” Ruggiero, another figure made famous in “Donnie Brasco. ”
Even as a captain, one FBI file indicates Napolitano personally participated in armed robberies. In one documented case, he reportedly joined soldier Ruggiero and crew associate John “Booby” Saraceni in the armed theft of valuable metals in the New York–New Jersey area. The FBI file states that a source advised that three made men, one of whom was a captain, had taken part in the theft and were reportedly on the scene of the robbery.
The load was subsequently recovered by the FBI. The source further advised that the three individuals involved were Napolitano, Ruggiero, and a man named John, also known as “Booby,” an Italian male around 40 to 42 years old with dirty blonde hair, about 170 to 180 pounds, who had previously served time for a hijacking in New York. When asked if this John could be John Saraceni, the source said he was almost certain that was Booby’s true name. Another FBI file states that Napolitano, Ruggiero, and Saraceni had worked on robberies and hijackings together in the past, and that the source believed these individuals would be the likely ones to enter a location and initially accost victims with guns.
In late April 1980, a Brooklyn bookie named Philip Aruri was murdered. Aruri was connected to organized crime and had been linked with wealthy Gambino family captain Carmine “The Doctor” Lombardozzi. Lombardozzi had once been highly respected but had an affair with the daughter of another made man, and according to some sources, was forced to divorce his wife and marry the mobster’s daughter. For a period in the 1960s, Lombardozzi was also an active FBI informant.
The FBI file reads that on May 1, 1980, a source advised that he had heard the recent murder of Philip Aruri, a Brooklyn bookmaker, on or about April 29, 1980, was allegedly at the direction of Sonny Black, the Bonanno family captain. The source was unable to determine the motive for Aruri’s murder. The hit took place on April 29, 1980, and was a messy affair. A newspaper reported that Aruri, a 51-year-old bookmaker who had once associated with underworld figures such as Lombardozzi, was shot to death in a fruit and vegetable store in Brooklyn by two men who had shouted “Hey, Philly.
” Four other people were slightly wounded, two of them customers and two of them pedestrians about a block away. According to police, Aruri was passing Santos’s Fruit and Vegetable Store at 429 Court Street around 6 p. m. when three men pulled up in a car.
Two men stepped out, one yelled “Hey, Philly,” and Aruri ran toward the store as the gunmen opened fire. Aruri fell in a hail of shotgun pellets and bullets inside the store, and to make sure he was dead, one gunman stood over him and fired a single shot into his head. Two men in the store, Alo Adam, 51, and his son Puricio, 22, were shot and wounded in the scramble. Also hit with shotgun pellets were Linda Jabaldi, 17, and Nicholas Danetti, 51, who were at least a block away when the shooting started.
All four were treated at Long Island College Hospital and released. The FBI file stated that it was not possible to determine the motive for why Napolitano allegedly ordered the hit on Aruri. FBI agent Joe Pistone, who infiltrated the Bonanno family as jewel thief Donnie Brasco, stated that he was close with Sonny Black and, out of all the mobsters he dealt with, actually liked him.
Regardless, Napolitano would not have risen to the heights he did in the New York Mafia without a deadly and ruthless streak.