Tanglewood Boys

In the 1990s, the gang began to rise in the public eye as a "farm team" led by Anthony Santorelli for the Lucchese crime family.{{cite news|last=McCalary|first=Mike|title=Tangled Web of Gangsters in The Bronx|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/tangled-web-gangsters-bronx-article-1.689415|date=June 23, 1995|newspaper=Daily News|access-date=October 10, 2012}} Many members of the gang were sons of "made men", who grew up in the suburbs north of New York City. The gang was involved in murders, assaults, armed robbery, arsons, and bookmaking operations in Westchester County, the Bronx and the Upper West Side of Manhattan.{{cite news|last=McAlary|first=Mike|title=Breaking the Code|url=http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/crimelaw/features/2527/|date=April 13, 1998|newspaper=New York|access-date=October 10, 2012|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090109164607/http://newyorkmetro.com/nymetro/news/crimelaw/features/2527/|archive-date=January 9, 2009}}

On March 6, 1992, two members, Darin Mazzarella and Joseph Petrucelli got into a racial argument and shot 16-year-old Kasiem Merchant to death in New Rochelle.{{cite news |last=McAlary |first=Mike |date=July 3, 1995 |title=Sour Fruit Falls From Mob Trees |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/1995/07/03/sour-fruit-falls-from-mob-trees/ |access-date=2025-04-17 |newspaper=Daily News}} Joseph Petrucelli received a life sentence for the murder. Joseph's brother John stabbed a random African-American to death in the Bronx to "avenge" his brother's imprisonment, after separately killing an Albanian gangster who insulted him.

On February 4, 1994, the Tanglewood Boys murdered Louis Balancio, a 21-year-old Mercy College student, outside the Strike Zone Bar after he was mistaken for a rival Albanian gangster. The same day, an FBI agent observed Anthony Santorelli dumping something into a garbage can, which turned out to be clothes covered in blood.{{cite news |last=McAlary |first=Mike |date=6 February 1995 |title=Music's Fading for Thug Boys |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-news-musics-fading-for-thug-boys/170529351/ |access-date=2025-04-17 |newspaper=Daily News |page=8 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news|last=McAlary|first=Mike|title=A Case of Dumb and Dumpster|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/a-case-dumb-dumpster-article-1.792409|date=March 13, 1998|newspaper=Daily News|access-date=October 10, 2012}} A DNA check was conducted on the clothes and the blood belonged to Louis Balancio. Anthony DiSimone, the son of Lucchese family capo Salvatore DiSimone, went into hiding after the murder of Balancio.

In 1994, Joseph Lubrano was wrongfully sent to prison for beating a black police officer and was released four years later.{{cite news|last=McAlary|first=Mike|title=The wrong guy got jail in 1994 attack |url=http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/wrong-guy-jail-1994-attack-article-1.788958|access-date=April 15, 2012|newspaper=Daily News|date=May 22, 1998}} During the trial, it was alleged that Lubrano was a member of the Tanglewood Boys.

In May 1995, Alfred "Freddy Boy" Santorelli and Darin Mazzarelli had a sit-down with brothers Joseph and Adam Cosentino over bookmaking operations in the Bronx.{{cite news |last=McAlary |first=Mike |date=July 5, 1995 |title=Write Cross Hits Thugs Mob Pen Pals Aid Cops |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/1995/07/05/write-cross-hits-thugs-mob-pen-pals-aid-cops/ |access-date=2025-04-17 |newspaper=Daily News}} The sit-down took place in a Pelham Parkway bar that was owned by Bonanno crime family soldier Vincent Basciano. After drinking, Santorelli and Mazzarelli began hitting the brothers with bottles and shot at them as they escaped.

In June 1995, Darin Mazzarelli and John Petrucelli got into an argument with Gene Gallo in Loreto Park. Gallo left and got his friend Michael "Mike" Zanfardino, a hitman who worked for Genovese crime family capo Barney Bellomo's crew in Pelham Bay. Zanfardino pulled out a gun and shot Mazzarelli and pointed the gun at Santorelli before leaving the scene. Petrucelli and others came back that night and stabbed Paul Cicero, Gallo's cousin, to death.

In December 1996, Darin Mazzarella was charged with the 1994, murder of Louis Balancio and Anthony Santorelli was charged with throwing the bloody clothes into the dumpster.{{cite news|last=Berger|first=Joseph|title=After 3 Years of Witnesses' Silence, Man Is Charged in a College Student's Killing|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/12/10/nyregion/after-3-years-of-witnesses-silence-man-is-charged-in-a-college-student-s-killing.html?pagewanted=2&src=pm|date=December 10, 1996|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=October 11, 2012}}

After his imprisonment, Darin Mazzarella agreed to become a government witness in 1997.{{cite news |last=Gearty |first=Robert |date=October 24, 2002 |title=Ex-tanglewood Boy Accuses Mate In Teen's Killing |url=https://www.nydailynews.com/2002/10/24/ex-tanglewood-boy-accuses-mate-in-teens-killing/ |access-date=2025-04-17 |newspaper=Daily News}} He provided information that is credited with leading to significant disruption of the Tanglewood Boys and the Lucchese family. Mazzarella gave information for investigators and prosecutors on the Lubrano assault; he admitted participating in the assault with Alfred Santorelli, the son of Anthony Santorelli, and asserted that Lubrano was not a Tanglewood member.

In 1999, Anthony DiSimone turned himself in to the police and was sentenced in 2000 to 25 years to life for the murder of Louis Balancio.{{cite news|last=O'Connor|first=Timothy|title=Wife blames Pirro for murder case against DiSimone|url=http://www.lohud.com/article/20080703/NEWS02/807030422/Wife-blames-Pirro-murder-case-against-DiSimone|date=July 3, 2008|newspaper=The Journal News|access-date=October 16, 2012}} Anthony DiSimone served seven years in prison before the conviction was overturned, the defense never reviewed the evidence, he later pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2010, and served no additional time.{{cite news|last=Fitz-Gibbon|first=Jorge|author2=Bandler, Jonathan|title=Mobbed up: Lower Hudson Valley's historical ties to La Cosa Nostra|url=https://www.lohud.com/story/news/crime/2018/03/28/historical-ties-la-cosa-nostra-mob/465435002/|date=March 28, 2018|newspaper=Journal News|access-date=May 27, 2019}}

In October 2002, Darin Mazzarella testified against John Petrucelli, in the murder trial of Paul Cicero. Petrucelli had murdered Cicero in retaliation for Mazzarella being shot early by Cicero's cousin Gene Gallo, a Genovese crime family associate. In February 2003, John Petrucelli was sentenced to life in prison for the 1995 murder of Paul Cicero.{{cite news|last=Weiser|first=Benjamin|title=Metro Briefing New York: Manhattan: Sentencing In 1995 Murder|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/12/nyregion/metro-briefing-new-york-manhattan-sentencing-in-1995-murder.html|date=February 12, 2003|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=October 17, 2012}}

In 2005, the leader of the gang Michael "Chunk" Londonio opened fire on police officers searching his apartment, wounding two, before he was shot and killed. Five others were arrested.

In 2016, it was revealed by government informant Anthony Zoccolillo that both Joseph Lubrano and Steven Crea Jr. started their criminal careers in the Tanglewood Boys.{{cite news |last1=Capeci |first1=Jerry |title=Feds Pull Out 45 Years Of Racketeering Crimes Against The Meldish Murder Five |publisher=Gangland |date=17 January 2019}}

In 2005 and 2006 a fictionalized version of the Tanglewood Boys was featured on CSI: NY, in episode 1.13 "Tanglewood"Huntley, Kristine (January 27, 2005). [http://www.csifiles.com/reviews/csi/tanglewood.shtml "CSI: New York–'Tanglewood' review"]. CSI Files. Retrieved October 29, 2012. and in episode 2.20 "Run Silent, Run Deep".Huntley, Kristine (April 20, 2006). [http://www.csifiles.com/reviews/miami/run_silent_run_deep.shtml "CSI: New York–'Run Silent, Run Deep' review"]. CSI Files. Retrieved October 29, 2012. In the series the gang is led by Sonny Sassone (Michael DeLuise) and one of the more notorious members of the gang is Louie Messer (Larry Romano), Danny Messer's (Carmine Giovinazzo) older brother.

{{reflist|3}}

{{refbegin}}

• Garcia, Joaquin and Levin, Michael. Making Jack Falcone: An Undercover FBI Agent Takes Down a Mafia Family. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009. {{ISBN|1439149917}}.
• Abadinsky, Howard. Organized Crime. Cengage Learning, 2010. {{ISBN|9780495599661}}.

{{refend}}

• [https://cases.justia.com/federal/district-courts/new-york/nysdce/1:2005cv09582/276331/5/0.pdf John Petrucelli v. United States of America] (December 15, 2009)

{{Lucchese crime family}}

{{American Mafia}}

{{Organized crime groups in New York City}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanglewood Boys}}

Category:1990s establishments in New York (state)

Category:2000s disestablishments in New York (state)

Category:American Mafia gangs

Category:Former gangs in New York City

Category:Gangs in New York (state)

Category:Italian-American culture in New York (state)

Category:Italian-American gangs

Category:Lucchese crime family

Category:Organizations based in Yonkers, New York

Category:Organizations disestablished in the 2000s

Category:Organizations established in the 1990s

Category:Street gangs