Manhattan Mafia Guide by Eric Ferrara

Author:Eric Ferrara
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The History Press
Published: 2012-05-14T16:00:00+00:00

373 Broome Street today. Courtesy of Sachiko Akama.

He was said to be a quiet, reserved and utterly unassuming mobster who preferred quiet evenings at home collecting coins or spending time with his family and dog to partying with the boys at noisy nightclubs and unfamiliar restaurants. According to Nicolas Pileggi’s excellent New York Times magazine article entitled “The Story of T” (March 29, 1970), Mari was the kind of guy who did not flex his Mafia muscle in his private life; he stood in line at the movies and took verbal abuse from retail clerks like everyone else. Only on occasion did Mari take advantage of his position at home, like the time he had a non-mob drug pusher “mercilessly” beaten at the request of a friend for selling drugs too close to a neighborhood school.

Eight-year-old Franceso Mari arrived in New York City from Naples with his older sisters, Domenica (twenty-five years old), Antonia (sixteen) and Adelina (fifteen), aboard the SS Conte Di Savoia on January 17, 1935. Father Matteo and mother Concetta De Franco had been in New York City for several years before their children joined them, making at least three trips back to Italy during the interim.

Mari grew up on Broome Street in the heart of Little Italy, where his father is recorded as working at Macy’s department store on Thirty-fourth Street. After only two years of high school, Mari, now living in Knickerbocker Village, teamed up with neighborhood pal Carli Di Pietro to organize a variety of neighborhood hustles, eventually basing operations out of a sandwich shop on Rutgers and Cherry Streets.

Mari understood the code of the streets at a young age. Even as a teenager, he knew he would get nowhere without the backing of the local mob, so he was sure to get its blessing before any endeavor and always kicked back a tribute. This show of respect impressed local Mafioso like Carmine Galante, who virtually took Mari under his wing and bred him for a life in the Mafia.

At twenty-one, Mari married Di Pietro’s sister, Mildred. By that time, with the help of Galante and others, Mari allegedly branched out into loan-sharking, narcotics sales, gambling and murder-for-hire. Since he was from a “civilian” family—that is, he had no previous Mafia connections—Mari felt he had to work harder to gain a position in a mob family. It is said that he never turned down a job and showed a great deal of respect to his handlers, showing up at every funeral or ceremony and keeping out of petty disputes. Before long, Mari was overseeing a number of diverse operations, contracting out assignments to crews of hit men, jewelry thieves, racketeers and burglars. He also expanded his horizons and acquired interest in several legitimate businesses, including a handful of discount appliance stores.

Frank Mari and Carli Di Pietro were made in 1956 at a ceremony presided over by Thomas Lucchese and Albert Anastasia, held in a basement of an Elizabeth, New Jersey home. It is said

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