Frank Illiano

Frank Illiano
Born	1928
Died	January 6, 2014 New York, United States

Frank "Punchy" Illiano (1928 – January 6, 2014) was a Brooklyn capo with the Genovese crime family. During the 1960s and 1970s, he served as a top lieutenant to the Gallo brothers in their two wars with the Colombo crime family leadership.

Illiano began his criminal career as a member of the Gallo crew in the Profaci crime family, later known as the Colombo family. Illiano earned the nickname "Punchy" as a result of a short boxing career. His capo was "Crazy Joey" Gallo, who would become infamous for his feuds with the Profaci family bosses. In 1957, Illiano may have participated in the murder of Albert Anastasia, boss of the Mangano crime family.

Anastasia's underboss, Carlo Gambino, plotted with Joseph Profaci, boss of the Profaci family, to murder Anastasia while he was at a Manhattan barber shop. According to FBI and NYPD sources, Profaci delegated the job to Joey Gallo, who allegedly included Illiano in the assassination. Gallo allegedly referred to the hit squad, including Illiano, as his "barbershop quartet". Today, some sources believe that Joseph Biondo and other Gambino mobsters committed the murder.

According to Colombo government informant Joseph Luparelli, during the late-1950s, Joe Gallo and Illiano got into a fight with a much larger man at a Chinese restaurant in Little Italy. Luparelli had to help them subdue the guy. Gallo then used a kitchen cleaver to break open a storage room and shove the man inside.

The First Colombo War started in February 1961, when the Gallos kidnapped several family leaders to force boss Joseph Profaci to distribute profits more fairly. Profaci agreed to a settlement to gain his loyalists' release, then later in 1962 tried to murder Larry Gallo at a meeting in a bar.

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