Michael Taccetta
| Michael Taccetta | |
|---|---|
| Born |
September 16, 1947 Newark, New Jersey, U.S. |
| Other names | Mad Dog |
| Occupation | Caporegime of the Lucchese crime family Boss of the Jersey Crew |
| Criminal charge | Murder, conspiracy to commit murder, extortion, racketeering, loansharking, drug trafficking |
| Criminal status | Released by NJDOC, 2014 |
Michael Salvatore Taccetta (born September 16, 1947), also known as "Mad Dog," is a high-ranking member of the Lucchese crime family, who controlled the family's New Jersey faction in the 1980s.
Taccetta, also known as "Mike T," was born in the Vailsburg neighborhood of Newark, New Jersey on September 16, 1947. This was the same neighborhood as the Gambino crime family's capo Joseph Paterno, for whom Taccetta reportedly worked in his early teens. Taccetta is the son of Angelo Taccetta, a self-employed building materials supplier, who law enforcement agencies reputed was a "made man" in the Lucchese crime family. Taccetta stands at 5'7" and weighs close to 300 pounds with black hair and brown eyes.
Michael was first arrested for assault at the age of twelve and was sent to Boys Town, a Catholic youth facility. He lived in Florham Park, New Jersey before his incarceration. He told people that he was self-employed. Taccetta graduated from Saint Benedict's Preparatory School in Newark at nineteen years old and attended one semester at Johnson & Wales University School of Business in Providence, Rhode Island. Taccetta returned to New Jersey and enrolled in Essex County College School of Business for a Bachelor of Arts in Business Management, receiving grades of C and D. He later worked as a laborer with his father and younger brother at the family construction supply firm. Taccetta married his long-time girlfriend, Carol Ann Nozdrovicky, whom he had met at Newark Preparatory in his early twenties. They have one son, Carlo Taccetta, who is a made member of the Lucchese crime family. The couple lived with Carol's parents in South Orange, New Jersey before moving into a three-family house.
In 1983, Taccetta's wife, Carol Ann, won $611,979 from the New Jersey State Lottery. Carol was deemed the '100th Millionaire' by the State Lottery Commission, since it began holding the lottery in 1969. She described Michael to the media upon winning the lottery as an "oil company consultant." They were married for seventeen years and Michael fathered four children. As father and husband, he attended the Holy Family Parish with his family. Michael is the godfather to his brother Martin's children as Martin is to his. Michael was a heavyset man whose dark, sunken eyes always appeared to be tired but liked to be thought of as an intellectual. During conversations, he would often quote and misquote passages from Niccolò Machiavelli's The Prince to anyone who would listen, in an attempt to impress them.
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