Wilfred Johnson

Wilfred Johnson
Born	September 29, 1935 Brooklyn, New York City, New York
Died	August 29, 1988 Brooklyn, New York City, New York

Wilfred "Willie Boy" Johnson (September 29, 1935 – August 29, 1988) was a United States (FBI) Federal Bureau of Investigation informant from 1966 to 1985. He provided the FBI, who code-named him "Wahoo" because of his Native American heritage, with information relating to John Gotti and other members of the Gambino family. Johnson was a friend of Gambino crime boss John Gotti even though Johnson was informing on him.

Johnson was born in Canarsie, Brooklyn, one of five children of a part Native American father John Johnson, and an Italian-American mother. His parents had settled in Red Hook, Brooklyn where Wilfred Johnson was raised with his brothers and sisters.

He was known on the streets as "Indian". Johnson's father, John, was an abusive alcoholic who frequently beat his wife and children and spent his entire paycheck on alcohol. Johnson's mother would periodically desert her husband and children, only to return later. This dysfunctional and vicious childhood helped mold Johnson into a criminal. He was referred to as a "half breed" in reference to his mixed Italian-Lenape heritage and Cher's song "Half-Breed".

Johnson's criminal career began when he was only nine years old; he was arrested for stealing money out of a Helen's Candy Store cash register, a Murder, Inc. mob hangout. Johnson's school life was quite traumatic as well. The boy had a hair-trigger temper that frequently got him into trouble. At age 12, Johnson either fell or was pushed off the school roof during a fight. As a result of this accident, Johnson sustained head injuries that would plague him with persistent headaches for the rest of his life.

As a young man, Johnson was physically imposing. Allan May, quoting from the memoir of Retired Lieutenant Remo Franceschini of the Queens District Attorney's Squad, describes Johnson thusly:

This led Johnson to become a Mafia enforcer. By 1949, he was running a gang of thugs in East New York who strong-armed debtors into paying their mob debts. In 1957, Johnson met John Gotti for the first time. Gotti was a 17-year-old high school dropout and Johnson was a street thug perpetually in trouble with the law.

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