Peter DeFeo

Peter DeFeo (March 4, 1902 – April 6, 1993), also known as "Philie Aquilino", was a New York mobster who became a caporegime with the Genovese crime family.

Growing up in New York's Little Italy neighborhood, DeFeo joined the Luciano crime family under boss Frank Costello. When DeFeo became a made man, he entered a crew belonging to mobster Mike Miranda that operated in Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. DeFeo soon aligned himself with capo Vito Genovese, who would depose Costello as boss in the late 1950s. When Genovese went to prison in 1959, DeFeo served under acting boss Thomas "Tommy Ryan" Eboli.

DeFeo was a member of Patty Ryan Eboli's crew, and would eventually become the crew's captain. DeFeo operated most of his businesses from the Alto Knights Social Club in Little Italy. However, he also conducted business from other social clubs and the Cuomo Cheese Corporation in Little Italy. DeFeo's top button men were Alexander "Black Alex" Morelli and Lorenzo "Larry Chappie" Brescio. DeFeo was one of the main bosses of the Lower East Side Italian lottery, and controlled bookmaking in the area.

DeFeo's crew was involved in the N.Y.C. District Council of Carpenters during the 1970s. Mobster Vincent Cafaro testified that DeFeo's interests in the Carpenters Union were represented by Morelli and Genovese associate Marcello Svedese, a union official with Local 17.

DeFeo's crew also extorted money from construction and construction-related trucking companies. As an example, DeFeo was receiving between $8,000 to $10,000 per year from P. Chimento Trucking during the 1980s. DeFeo also received payments from Ross Trucking, and controlled Pier 13 in Manhattan, which was known as "the Banana Pier".

In 1974, DeFeo came into the news after Ronald DeFeo Jr. murders in Amityville, New York. As it turned out, Peter DeFeo's grandnephew, Ronald DeFeo, had murdered his father, mother, two brothers and two sisters in their suburban home. There were reports that the police originally considered Peter DeFeo as a suspect.

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