A carefully planned mob hit in Brooklyn in 1990 was meant to send a message about the dangers of cooperating with the government. Instead, it set off a chain of events that would ultimately expose the inner workings of the Gambino crime family and send its top leadership to prison. Edward “Eddie” Garofalo, a 49-year-old demolition contractor with ties to the Gambinos, was shot to death outside his Bensonhurst home on August 8, 1990, just after 10:30 p. m.
He was walking toward his car with a woman when gunmen opened fire, striking him in the head, chest, and back. The woman survived. The killing was carried out with military-like precision. A second car deliberately ran a red light nearby, drawing police attention away from the escaping gunmen.
What appeared to be two separate incidents that night was actually one coordinated assassination. At the center of the plot was Sammy “The Bull” Gravano, then the underboss of the Gambino family under John Gotti. Federal prosecutors later said Gravano believed Garofalo was cooperating with law enforcement. In the paranoid atmosphere of the Gambino organization at the time, that suspicion was enough to seal the contractor’s fate.
Garofalo’s position in the construction industry made him valuable to the mob, but it also made him dangerous. Construction generated legitimate revenue while creating opportunities for organized crime to exert influence through contracts, unions, and subcontracting. A contractor with mob ties could direct work, intimidate competitors, and quietly distribute money through layers of seemingly ordinary companies. Federal court records show that Gravano recruited a team for the hit, assigning specific roles.
Frank Fabbiano and Joseph “Little Joe” D’Angelo were chosen as shooters. Thomas “Hack” Carbonaro was given a support role. Daniel Fama was later accused of helping as a driver, though the federal case against him was ultimately dismissed. The most crucial piece of the plan involved the victim’s own cousin.
Edward Garofola, whose name is spelled with an “A” instead of an “O,” was married to Gravano’s sister and was a Gambino soldier. Court records show Garofola made the phone call that lured Garofalo outside, using a family bond to make the trap seem harmless. The spelling distinction between the two names became legally important over time. The victim, Edward Garofalo with an “O,” was the demolition contractor killed in 1990.
The surviving cousin, Edward Garofola with an “A,” helped arrange the murder. Court records keep the two men clearly separate, even though media reports and online histories sometimes merge them. On the night of the killing, the team gathered before the murder. Court records state they prepared their weapons and reviewed the mission.
After the shooting, Carbonaro ran a red light down the street, was stopped by police, and received a ticket while the gunmen escaped. That minor traffic stop later became key evidence of the planning involved. The next day, the team gathered outside Gravano’s office. According to a later federal court report, Gravano congratulated them on a successful hit.
The murder came at a time when the Gambino leadership was under intense surveillance. Gotti required leaders to report regularly to the Ravenite Social Club in Manhattan, where federal agents monitored meetings, recorded conversations, and mapped out the family’s hierarchy. On December 11, 1990, federal agents arrested John Gotti, Sammy Gravano, and Frank Locascio. The prosecution relied heavily on secret recordings made around the Ravenite club.
Gotti and Gravano initially prepared to face the case together. Then Gravano listened to the tapes. The recordings captured Gotti discussing murders and describing Gravano in ways that shifted blame onto his underboss. Gravano concluded that Gotti intended to leave him to carry the weight of the case alone.
In November 1991, the man who ordered Garofalo’s murder because he suspected cooperation with the government reached his own agreement with the government. Gravano became the most important mob witness of his generation. His testimony helped convict John Gotti and detailed 19 murders in which Gravano admitted participating. One of those was the killing of Edward Garofalo.
Gravano described the arrangements, the phone call, the shooters, and the support cars. But his cooperation did not immediately resolve every aspect of the case. Different defendants were tried over the years, and prosecutors had to prove individual knowledge and intent rather than relying on the general fact that a murder had occurred. Edward Garofola, the cousin, eventually pleaded guilty to racketeering charges that included conspiracy to murder and causing the death of Edward Garofalo.
His plea established that the relative used to lure the victim had knowingly joined the plot. He later tried to withdraw the murder portion of his plea, but courts rejected his request. Garofola admitted that he discussed the murder with Gravano and was present when the team was assigned. The court treated the plea as part of a racketeering pattern with a potential sentence of life in prison.
His attempt to reverse the plea focused on legal arguments and the circumstances of the admission, but it did not convince the courts. Thomas Carbonaro was also convicted in a federal racketeering case involving the Garofalo murder. The decoy car and traffic stop became part of the detailed account of his role. He received a 70-year federal sentence for crimes including murder and conspiracy.
Frank Fabbiano, one of the shooters, later testified about the planning of the crime, supporting the government’s description of how Gravano assigned tasks. Joseph D’Angelo also became a government witness and was identified as the other shooter. Daniel Fama’s case ended differently. In 2013, federal prosecutors charged him with participating in the murder of a suspected informant.
The charge required proving he acted to prevent Garofalo from communicating with law enforcement. But Gravano’s testimony created a problem. Team members were assigned tasks without all of them being told why Garofalo was killed. Prosecutors eventually dropped the case against Fama because they could not prove he knew the murder was meant to silence a suspected witness.
The differing outcomes show how carefully the plan was divided into secret parts. Gravano did not need every participant to understand the motive. The shooter needed a target. The driver needed a route.
The distraction needed to attract police. The fewer people who knew the full reason, the fewer who could explain it later. Only Gravano knew exactly why the order was given. His decision reveals the brutal logic surrounding mob-controlled construction.
Garofalo was valuable as long as he brought in money and protected relationships. Once leaders suspected his knowledge might reach law enforcement, the expertise that made him valuable became deadly. The location of Garofalo’s murder carried special significance. He was not killed in a hidden warehouse or taken to an isolated field.
He was attacked outside his home, at the boundary between his criminal associations and his private life. The message was that familiarity offered no protection. A relative could make the call. Men from the same organization could wait outside.
The home address was not a safe haven. After Gravano cooperated, Garofola joined a later conspiracy to kill him. The man who helped Gravano eliminate a suspected informant now saw Gravano as the biggest informant of all. Loyalty had not changed, only the target.
Garofalo was killed because leadership believed he might talk. Gravano ordered the killing, then talked himself when it served his interests. Garofola helped lure Garofalo to his death, then later conspired against Gravano for doing what Garofalo had only been suspected of doing. By the day after the murder, Gravano was congratulating the team.
Sixteen months later, he was preparing to speak to the same government that Garofalo was killed for allegedly helping. The rule was never absolute silence. The real rule was survival for those who held power.