Angelo Ruggiero

Angelo Salvatore Ruggiero Sr. (July 29, 1940 – December 4, 1989), also known as "Quack Quack", was a member of the Gambino crime family and a friend of John Gotti's. Once Gotti became leader of the family he made Ruggiero a caporegime.

Although he showed little organizing or money making ability, anyone questioning Ruggiero's suitability for a top position in the hierarchy did so at their peril so the FBI regarded Ruggiero as an unpredictable psychopath not amenable to confrontational tactics.

While Gotti was held in pretrial detention for a state case that he eventually beat, Ruggiero served as his contact with the crime family until the impulsive capo got himself thrown in jail beside Gotti by cursing and arguing with the judge during a hearing.

This blunder lost Ruggiero any chance he had of becoming Gotti's underboss.

Ruggiero's father was a first-generation immigrant from Naples, Italy who was not involved in organized crime.

Ruggiero's mother was Mary Dellacroce.

Ruggiero's brothers were Gambino associate Salvatore Ruggiero Sr., John Ruggiero (born June 9, 1946), and Francis A. "Little Frankie" Ruggiero (born c. 1964).

Ruggiero's nephew is mob associate Salvatore Ruggiero Jr.

Ruggiero's cousins include Gambino underboss Aniello Dellacroce, and Sean and Shannon Connelly.

Angelo Salvatore Ruggiero was born at Lutheran Hospital and raised in the East New York section of Brooklyn.

A high school dropout, Ruggiero grew up with future Gambino boss John Gotti and underboss Sammy Gravano.

In the 1950s, Ruggiero was arrested for street fighting, public intoxication, car theft, bookmaking, possession of an illegal firearm, and burglary.

Several of his recorded arrests as a juvenile delinquent were in the company of John Gotti.

In 1966, Ruggiero and Gotti were arrested for attempting to steal a cement mixer truck.

On May 22, 1973, Ruggiero, Gotti, and a Gambino gunman, Ralph Galione, killed mobster James McBratney in a Staten Island bar.

McBratney had recently tried to kidnap a Gambino loanshark for ransom, and the Gambino family leadership wanted him dead.

The plan was to lure McBratney out of the bar before shooting him, but McBratney refused to cooperate, and the gunmen shot him there.

Gotti and Ruggiero were later convicted of manslaughter and sent to prison.

In July 1977, both men were released on parole.

Soon after their release, Ruggiero and Gotti were inducted into the Gambino family as made men in a ceremony officiated by the family boss Paul Castellano, consigliere Joseph N. Gallo, and underboss Dellacroce.

It is suggested by law enforcement that Dellacroce's role as underboss and fondness for John Gotti and his nephew were the reasons they were promoted to "made men".

From 1977 to 1984, to satisfy his parole conditions, Ruggiero took a no-show job as a salesman for Arc Plumbing and Heating Corporation, which was owned by Gambino associates Anthony and Caesar Gurino.

After his brother Salvatore became a wanted fugitive, Ruggiero and Gene Gotti kept in touch by calling Salvatore "just about every night from various public phone booths."

Finally, Ruggiero was suspected in the 1980 disappearance of John Favara, a neighbor of Gotti's who had killed Gotti's 12-year-old son Frank in a car accident.

Ruggiero was later the subject of a government undercover investigation.

Mobster turned government informant Wilfred Johnson provided investigators with the layout of Ruggerio's home so that they could install four bugs and wire taps.

Investigators monitored Ruggiero's activities in narcotics.

Investigators later recorded conversations between Ruggiero and Gene Gotti that implicated the two men in Castellano's murder.

Ruggiero's uncle, Aniello Dellacroce, was an original supporter of Gambino boss Albert Anastasia's who became underboss under Anastasia's successor, Carlo Gambino.

Before Gambino died, he named Paul Castellano as boss with Dellacroce remaining as underboss.

Although Dellacroce was unhappy with Gambino's decision, he supported Castellano in the name of family unity.

Although Dellacroce helped Ruggiero during his early years with the family, many observers felt that Dellacroce was actually much closer to Gotti.

Dellacroce's relationship with Ruggiero was tested when Peter Tambone, a Ruggiero associate, was arrested for narcotics trafficking.

Dellacroce made it clear that he would kill Ruggiero, Gotti, or anyone else he discovered dealing in narcotics.

To save Tambone's life, Ruggiero instructed Tambone to claim that he was never involved with the heroin, only the laundering of the drug money.

Sammy Gravano later said:

"I don't think if he lived (Dellacroce), he would've let Angelo get murdered. He would have probably put him on a shelf somewhere and appease Paul that way. If he let Paul kill him, there would have been a war. I think he felt, Paul's the boss, so let's 'fess up, this is the truth, this is what happened, here are the tapes. Then, if Paul followed up and said, 'Well, I want him dead', Neil would have fought tooth and nail to save him. And if he couldn't, who knows what the fuck would've happened?"

Gravano also later stated:

"I don't think John (Gotti) gave a fuck about Angelo or the tapes. I think he was looking to create a situation to capitalize on our other grievances about Paul. There was tension between Aniello Dellacroce and his followers and Paul Castellano, and Frank DeCicco enjoyed their mutual respect. But when Ruggiero tried to convince DeCicco that Dellacroce had real disputes against Castellano, he did not believe him. To Ruggiero's unhappiness, DeCicco said that as far as he was concerned, his uncle was a faithful underboss to Paul Castellano. Angelo would also listen to his uncle's protege and childhood friend, John Gotti, insult Dellacroce about his 'La Cosa Nostra bullshit'."

Ruggiero also participated in the 1985 slaying of Gambino leader Paul Castellano.