January 16, 2021 – Babyfaced east coast mob aspirant Pete (Peter Pan) Tuccio took a beating for disrespecting a Bonanno crime family crew in an angry text message exchange with crew members in 2015, around the same time he was torching an extortion victim’s vehicle on behalf of a dying Gambino crime family captain, according to Lucchese mob soldier turned star witness and blogger John Pennisi’s most recent Sitdownnews.com post titled “Peter Pan Headed To The Can.”
It was only a few years ago that the so-called 27-year old “Peter Pan” of the New York mafia, began seeing his picture begin popping up in the tabloids and his name bandied about as fodder for on-line mob-watching forums. The sudden notoriety was tied to his emergence as Philadelphia mafia boss Joseph (Skinny Joey) Merlino’s driver and bodyguard whenever the Skinny One, dubbed by some the Instagram Don for his social media presence and accessibility, was in the Big Apple.
Tuccio, who has found his way into upper levels of power in multiple crime families lining the eastern seaboard at a very young age, pleaded guilty to the extortion count earlier this week and faces a 10-year prison term when sentenced in April. He set fire to a Queens pizza parlor owner’s Mercdes-Benz refusing to pay his monthly $500 tribute to Gambino skipper Ignazio (Uncle Iggy) Alonga, a one-time confidant of the Dapper Don, John Gotti (died of cancer in prison in 2002). Alonga died of natural causes in 2016.
Pennisi blogged this week in the wake of Tuccio’s plea deal being announced and wrote about meeting Tuccio through Tuccio’s uncle, Lucchese crime family capo Joseph (Joe Cafe) Desena just before Peter Pan got pounced by the Bonannos coming out of his Howard Beach home to check on his car. According to Pennisi, Tuccio engaged in a “texting war” with members of a Bonanno crew ran by Ronnie Giallanzo and Mike Padavona and Joe Cafe was calling on him to help squash the bad blood and take Tuccio under his wing for a while to keep an eye on him.
Pennisi, 51, met “Ronnie G” Giallanzo at house he was building in Howard Beach and instructed him to lay-off and call of the beating. Ronnie G told Pennisi the matter was out of his hands, saying he was inactive for the time being (fighting a case) and Mike Padavona was running the crew and had already green-lit things. Giallanzo called Tuccio a “punk” and a “mutt” and ended the chat by saying, “Fuck Joe Cafe, he’s a fucking errand boy.”
Days later, Tuccio was jumped and beaten by Padavona goons outside his house after the Bonnano thugs sent to harm him bumped his car with theirs’ to set off his alarm and draw him out into the open. The Luccheses believed the Bonnanos didn’t handle the situation right and should have gone to Joe Cafe first prior to putting an authorized beating into motion.
Pennisi began cooperating in 2016 out of fear that the Lucchese bosses were aiming to kill him. His job as a star witness has helped dismantle the crime family. In part of his testimony, Pennisi speaks of taking Tuccio with him to see Lucchese soldier Joseph (Little Joe) Perna in New Jersey. Little Joe Perna is close with Skinny Joey Merlino and federal authorities are of the opinion that it was through Perna that Tuccio was introduced to Merlino.
Earlier this month, Pennisi penned a blog post revealing what Perna told him about an infamous Philly mob murder; per Perna during a late-night drive back to New York after partying with Philly mobsters, Merlino’s former driver and bodyguard Anthony Nicodemo and Domenic (Baby Dom) Grande were the triggermen in the 2003 John (Johnny Gongs) Casasanto hit. Casasanto was a wiseguy rival of Skinny Joey’s and allegedly sleeping with Merlino’s wife while Merlino was away serving a prison bid. Merlino, 58, came out of the Big House and moved to Florida where he’s taken parole violation and gambling pinches.
Nicodemo is already doing 25-to-50 years for a 2012 mob hit (drug dealer Gino DiPietro) that Grande is also suspected of taking part in. Baby Dom Grande, 41, was indicted on drug and racketeering charges last November and is awaiting trial from home confinement. A photo of Grande and Tuccio smoking cigars on Tuccio’s backyard patio surfaced on social media last summer.
The post NY-PHIL Mafia’s “Peter Pan” Tuccio Got A Beat Down For Being Disrespectful To Bonannos In ’15 appeared first on The Gangster Report.