Joseph Masella
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Joseph "Joey O" Masella (d. October 10, 1998) was a soldier within New Jersey's DeCavalcante crime family and friend of known mobster Vincent "Vinny Ocean" Palermo. One of his vices was that he was a gambler to excess and fell into debt with many mobsters, including members of the Gambino crime family and this put him in an unenviable position. Authotites have speculated Masella's possible involvement in the failed Brinks bank robbery of $1.6 million from the World Trade Center may have been a possible motive for his death [1].
Had he lived to see the FBI raid on the DeCavalcante crime family in the last days of 1999 he would have been indicted on numerous counts of racketeering and other such offences after DeCavalcante associate, Ralph Guarino, became an FBI informant and wore a wire to record much of what Joey Masella said.
He was called by a man named 'Steve' to a meeting place, he went in the hope that 'Steve' could solve his gambling debts, when he arrived the location was changed to a deserted golf-course parking lot in Brooklyn. When he arrived he was gunned down and died not long afterward, in hospital, from his wounds.
During the aftermath of the FBI raid on the DeCavalcante family a DeCavalcante member was charged with offences relating to Masella's murder.
[edit] References
- Smith, Greg B. Made Men: The True Rise and Fall Story of a New Jersey Mob Family. Berkley, 2003. ISBN 0425185516
