Retired Intelligence Unit detective Gary Jenkins interviews Andrew DiDonato, a former mafia associate of the Gambino crew that Nicky Corazzo skippered. Andrew tells how Corazzo took him in and groomed him to be a part of his crew and how he made money for the Gambino family. He learned the hard way that there is no real honor in the mafia, only greed. As he brought in guys from other families and created a bank robbery crew, Corazzo became jealous and wanted more money and more money while Drew took all the risks. He describes a successful bank robbery in great detail.
Andrew DiDonato and his co-author Denny GFriffin released a popular book about his exploits. Click here to get Surviving the Mob: A Street Soldier’s Life inside the Gambino Crime Family.
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Transcript
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
money, knew, bags, life, lawyer, run, people, kill, friend, bank robbery, pinched, gary, day, put, nicky, street, lived, problems, location, years
SPEAKERS
GARY JENKINS, Andrew DiDonardo
00:00
Hey all you wiretappers out there back here in the studio gangland wire. Nice sunny day here in Kansas City. This is the second of a two part episode with Andrew D DiDonato. A Gambino family Nicky Corazzo crew associate and in this he tells about, a litle bit about his life getting into the Mob, how they recruited him how they groomed him. He tells in great detail, you got to wait a little bit for it stick with it about doing a big bank robbery, which is really interesting. Now he did it. Then it ends up down about how he ended up going into witness protection. Actually, he never went into witness protection. He lived in New York as you see him on Facebook every once awhile, I think he if you remember from the last episode, he was talking about being in the car business, I think he’s in the car business, I need to get ahold of him and see how he’s doing and what’s going on with it was really a good guy. I really liked talking to him and would mind talking to him to get an update on what’s going on. You know, he was involved with Nicky Corazzo in that crew during the time when Michael DiLeonardo ends up coming in and and he knew about that whole deal where John Gotti Jr. was gonna try to kill or actually was only gonna have him beat up and then the guy tried to kill him, Curtis Sliwa. And so he was real close to all those guys that were close to God. And he was. I mean, he was in there and he was a moneymaker for him. And he got tired of being, you know, the guy that made all the money. And while they got all the gravy, and he took all the risk at the end, which is the way it is in the mob, listen to this and bear with it, especially if you want to hear about that armed robbery because it’s a great story. And he’s a good storyteller. As you know, if you’ve listened to that last one. You haven’t listened to the one I put that before, go back and find it. And it’s just like a couple of weeks ago, I’m gonna put this up right away. Listen, guys, it’s a good one. It really is no Ilana, there’s no Ilana, these guys were robbed everyone, mothers with the lights off, there’s money on the table. There’s no honor here. That’s a fabricated thing. It’s a fabricated thing to brainwash young guys like me to think that when they’re out there doing these things, justified in their actions. For many years, I carried myself again, I was part of this honor system, I was wanted to be a man of respect, there is none. The end of the day when you realize who you want, you look in the mirror, and I’m a grown man. And I realized that no one I am a criminal, plain and simple. In New York, it was a little bit different. I never had a friend of mine on had any sort of knowledge about a guy having a judge. I did know that a few times, you know, Jehovah’s were paid jurors were gotten to, you know, and that would happen in any big case, you know, witnesses were tampered with, you know, I myself, and we were witnesses in somebody’s case to try to deter them from, you know, pointing people out in a lineup or doing something like that, or in this case, we know of a case, the first case that Nikki was on, it got pinched in 1987. And it was Nicky, John. Lenny, was a few other guys, Tony Lee, I forget there was a few guys on trial back then. Back in 87, Sammy Gravano was the one who found the juror, and the juror happened to be a relative to an Albanian guy, they were able to give the guy 60,000. And that’s how they beat the first trial back in 87. Really? So New York, it was a little bit different. It was more about the intimidation of the witnesses as opposed to having to court people in your pocket. No, because in New York, it seemed like those people in Chicago they had that political system wired in Chicago. I didn’t I never knew about New York. And there’s a certain amount of corruption in any large city. But it doesn’t sound like you. Yeah, none of my ever though. Not none of my ever, Gary. And not in my area, like in the eighth. Like, I remember I was in the street from early, early 1980s, like 8182, all the way up until the late 90s until I got locked up on my second case and went away. So during that time period, that’s when the FBI and the government was putting a target on organized crime. Yeah, so there was it was no room for corruption, then back then there was just an all out assault on organized crime back then. It was so it was a big difference. You know, Rudolph Giuliani was that prosecutor in the early 80s. Friends of mine were now going away when going away it was never ever even spoken about. These guys were never getting the time that they would want get for the same crime. And that’s what they did. They stepped up all of these protocols on the federal guidelines were years ago, before this ice would do not even a third of what they’re trying to give you on the first number. Now they’ve given football numbers 30 years 40 years to start. Guys are, they are shutting guys lights out with 100 year sentences or whatever. And at the end of the day, I mean, that’s what’s happening today. You see guys are gonna go to jail for 100 years knowing that you’re expendable knowing that you know these guys are feeding you a lie. It really isn’t honor there is no honor. These guys were robbed everyone. Even their own mother’s with thier lights off.
05:00
When there’s money on the table. There’s no honor here. That’s a fabricated thing. It’s a fabricated thing to brainwash young guys like me to think that when they’re out there doing these things, they’re justified in their actions. For many years, I carried myself it can I was part of this honor system, I was wanting to be a man of respect, there is none. The end of the day when you realize who you want, you look in the mirror, and I’m a grown man. And I realized that no one I am a criminal, plain and simple. I’m not this honorable character that you see on TV, or what they portray in the movies. I’m a guy who’s told to do something, and I’m going to do it. And I’m only going to do it because it’s self preservation. My boss tells me to do this. It’s done. You could be the nicest guy in the world. But if my boss tells me, rake your arms and your legs, I’m breaking your arms and your legs because I know if I don’t, I’m the guy you’re going to see with his arms and legs broken. How did you first learn you were become an expendable, Andrew went to prison, on my first case, and a five to 15 year sentence was that on a bank robbery, no, that was on an attempted murder charge. Oh, I shot somebody. And I was away on that case. And on that case, my wife at the time was on welfare, Gary, my friends is stealing on the street, my wife’s on welfare, my friends came to see me maybe once or twice a year, first year, maybe once, twice a year, the second year, third year, I don’t even think I got to visit, I used to get a Christmas card every year, guys in the crew with sided, they at least you knew they cared about the guys that were away. But now maybe the gene pool changed or the way a life change, or I understand being industry, it is difficult. I’ve been in the street my whole life. So maybe you just get distracted from being in the street and you’re worried about your own problems. You’re worried about your friendships and your stuff. When those guys get out of prison, I understand that. But at the end of the day, when guys are swallowing sentences, and you expect loyalty and you expect this guy to give something back, that’s what organized crime is having the guys at the top just take and take and take they don’t share. The only time you get to share in those prizes is if you get to those positions. Other than that, you’re just going to keep on shoveling money to them. And you’re expendable. Every venture, you’re expendable guys are fighting for their lives. They’re away doing those life sentences, 20 years, 30 years, no what’s happening, Gary? Nothing. There a way it might get comments every and every now and then. It depends what kind of crew you get. It depends what kind of friendships you’ve got. Because that’s also and also plays into it. But for the most part, your wife is going to be on welfare. If you don’t have a pocket fold when you go away, where your wife can hold on to that money you’re in for a long ride you really are. And that’s definitely the myth. You keep your mouth shut, this is going to happen. And it doesn’t these days, you know what they do when you go away?
