Robert Perrino

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Robert Francis Perrino, also known as "Bobby Perrino" (February 9, 1938 in

After his disappearance, police discovered in his Huntington home a stunning arsenal of firearms, including some with erased serial numbers, plus $105,000 in loose currency. Months following his disappearance, Perrino's picture was broadcast on the television show America's Most Wanted, but the show elicited no tips. Law enforcement officials and most Newspaper and Mail Deliverers Union (NMDU) workers assumed Perrino had been murdered. He was declared legally dead in 1997.

The Post Circulation Crew

The Post Circulation Crew was formed in the early 1960s before Perrino was hired at The Post by

For years, through the influence of Joseph Massino and Salvatore Vitale, Perrino while leading The Post Circulation Crew organized the theft of thousands of newspapers every day and sold them to non-connected independent street vendors and stores in Manhattan and Staten Island at a rate of twenty to thirty cents each; the standard newspaper price at the time was fifty cents. Although Perrino helped the Bonanno crime family orchestrate many rackets at the newspaper they demonstrated no interest in the actual content that was printed by The Post and did not control its content.

With Perrino's help the Bonanno crime family became entrenched at the newspaper – the mobsters organized loan shark operations to employees, sold small quantities of stolen firearms, ammunition and drugs. Perrino collected the loan shark debts by threatening his indebted employees with

Richard Cantarella and Robert Perrino spoke freely in his office about racketeering matters. He was also a close friend of Bonanno crime family capo Albert Embarrato. A wire transmitter in Perrino's office caught saying to Richard Cantarella, as reported in The Village Voice's article "The Newspaper Racket: Tough Guys and Wiseguys in the Truck Drivers Union", "Al Walker's the smartest guy in the whole Bonanno family, and he's the toughest fuckin' guy".

Perrino was in regular contact with Bonanno crime family underboss Salvatore Vitale to whom he handed over the weekly proceeds from their racketeering ventures. When law enforcement finally came down on the newspaper's crooked workforce, Perrino was not arrested or indicted although Bonanno crime family members and several others were caught in the sting operation – making Salvatore Vitale nervous. A secret video camera placed in Perrino's office in late 1991 caught Perrino discussing his important role in the Bonanno crime family. It also taped Perrino and other Post employees discussing the finer points of

Botched execution

Richard Cantarella told Perrino that he needed to attend a meeting and discuss the case against the Bonanno crime family and the investigation of their infiltration of the New York Post. He accompanied Michael "Mickey Bats" Cardella to a Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, social club owned by Bonanno mob associate Anthony Basile, a relative of Long Island discothèque owner and Lucchese crime family associate Phillip Basile.

As Perrino entered the club, Baldassare Amato, waiting inside the social club, shot Perrino several times in the back of the skull and immediately left with Cardello. Frank Lino was then notified of the completion of the execution and sent over a "clean up team" that consisted of his cousin Robert Lino, Frank Ambrosiano and Anthony Basile. Upon entering the club, the trio were shocked to discover that Perrino was still alive, and one of the team stabbed Perrino to death with an ice pick to the chest. Frank Lino, angered at the botched execution, would later tell Salvatore Vitale in Joey Massino: The Rise and Fall of the Last Godfather, "Tell the guy that did the shooting to make sure that next time that the victim was dead". Perrino's car was later recovered nearby with a parking ticket in the windshield.

According to The Last Godfather, the men wrapped Perrino's corpse in a carpet and drove to a construction company, Commercial Brick, located at 98 Jewett Avenue in Port Richmond, Staten Island owned by Anthony Basile and buried him underneath the cement floor of the store. Several weeks later, one of his limbs was said to have risen up from the floor, making the mobsters dig a deeper grave. Years later, Anthony Basile was indicted on drug trafficking charges; Salvatore Vitale and Joseph Massino feared Anthony would become an informant and reveal Perrino's gravesite. His remains were removed from the cement floor and buried again.

The New York Post labor racketeering investigation

After the disappearance and later confirmed murder of Perrino, only a handful of Bonanno crime family members and associates involved in the News and Mail Deliverer's Union were incarcerated for racketeering at

Perrino's body remained hidden until December 2003, when his skeleton was found embedded in the concrete floor of the construction company. He had been shot multiple times in the head. Richard Cantarella, Frank Ambrosiano, Baldassare Amato, Frank Lino and Robert Cardello were all convicted of the murder. Bonanno crime family don

After an eight-week trial on October 27, 2006, Bonanno crime family capo Baldassare Amato, a cousin of Bonanno crime family capo Cesare Bonventre, and Bonanno crime family mob associates Stephen Locurto and Anthony Basile, were convicted of murdering Robert Perrino, Joseph Platia and Sebastiano DiFalco along with Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act charges. The government's case was tried by Assistant U.S. District Attorneys John Buretta, Jeffrey A. Goldberg and Andrea Goldbarg.

Trivia

After Perrino was indicted for fraud and racketeering, he was represented by the criminal attorney Matthew Marie. In 2004, Marie would represent Richard Cantarella, one of Perrino's accused executioners. During the Perrino murder trial Marie argued that his client had nothing to do with Perrino's murder – Cantarella was found not guilty.

Discrepancies in articles

Perrino is wrongfully labeled as being the son of former Bonanno crime family

References

• "The United States Attorney's Office: Eastern District of New York Public Affairs Officer, July 12, 2006
• Crittle, Simon, The Last Godfather: The Rise and Fall of Joey Massino Berkley (March 7, 2006)
  ISBN 0-425-20939-3

• The PEOPLE of the State of New York, v. Richard Cantarella, Frank Cantarella, Anthony Michele, Vincent DiSario, Corey Ellenthal, Michael Fago, Gerard Bilboa, Anthony Turzio
• People v. Newspaper and Mail Deliverers' Union of New York and Vicinity Archived 2020-08-05 at the Wayback Machine