Ronnie Trucchio

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Ronald Joseph Trucchio (born 1951) also known as "One Armed Ronnie", is a New York mobster with the Gambino crime family who ran The Ozone Park Boys crew during the 1990s.[1]

Biography

Trucchio was born in Ocean Hill, Brooklyn and raised in Ozone Park, Queens. As a child, Trucchio was hit by an automobile and sustained severe damage to the scapula and ulna in the humerus from a severe fracture in the forelimb, leaving his arm partially paralyzed. This injury led to his nickname of "One-Armed Ronnie".[2] Trucchio is the father of reputed Gambino soldier Alphonse Trucchio. He lived in South Richmond Hill, Queens as an adult.

In 1988 Trucchio, a protegee of Gambino boss John Gotti, was inducted into the Gambino family.[3]

The Young Guns

In the mid-1990s, Trucchio was promoted to caporegime and given control over the Ozone Park Boys, a Gambino crew in Queens. Trucchio reportedly drove around Ozone Park looking for recruits for his crew. He drove a silver Cadillac, wore $5,000 suits, and displayed thick roll of bills. One police investigator compared Trucchio to Fagin, the 19th century London gang leader in the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist.[4]

The Ozone Park Boys specialized in illegal gambling, loansharking, bookmaking, fraud and wire fraud. Trucchio and Alphonse ran an illegal gambling operation that grossed approximately $30 million a year, with bettors who placed wagers as large as $15,000 on American football and basketball games. Michael Fiducia an underling of the crew was said to be the collector of the gambling debts by a confidential informant, Trucchio owned a restaurant in Ozone Park that allegedly earned him $6.5 million but was forfeited by the Queens District Attorney due to charges of tax evasion and tax fraud. Also involved in criminal activities in South Florida, Trucchio's crew was frequently called "The Young Guns" and the "Liberty Posse".[5]

In October 1995, Trucchio was allegedly involved in the shooting murders of three people in Florida. Gambino associate Mark Rizzuto was found dead in Boca Raton. Gambino associate and strip club bouncer Vincent D'Angola, along with D'Angola's dancer girlfriend Jami Schneider, were discovered dead in D'Angola's Fort Lauderdale apartment.[4] The Gambino family suspected the two men of skimming family profits and sent other Florida crew members to murder them. Schneider may have been an innocent bystander.[6][7]

By 1997, Trucchio was reportedly concerned about the number of violent acts being committed by crew members in Florida and directed Gambino soldier Michael Ciaccio to watch them.[5] Years later, Ciaccio would testify against Trucchio in Trucchio's 2003 racketeering trial.

Convictions and prison

On December 9, 2002, Trucchio was indicted in New York state court on enterprise corruption, conspiracy, promoting gambling and possession of gambling records.[2] The indictment stated that Trucchio conspired to engage in racketeering, murder, robbery, arson, extortion, kidnapping, drug trafficking, tampering with witnesses, retaliating against witnesses, credit card fraud, intrastate travel in aid of racketeering activity, interference with commerce by threats and violence, interstate transportation of stolen property, and thefts from interstate shipments. On April 14, 2003, Trucchio pleaded guilty to lesser charges.[8] On October 29, 2003, Trucchio was sentenced to one to three years in state prison.[9]

On December 4, 2003, Trucchio and other family members were indicted in federal court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for the 1995 Florida murders, two armed robberies in New York, and the 2003 Bosshart murder in New York.[6] On January 9, 2004, Trucchio pleaded not guilty in court to all the charges.[10] In August 2005, Trucchio was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison.[11] In October 2006, Trucchio and other Florida crew members went on trial in Tampa, Florida on new federal racketeering and extortion charges. Truccchio was accused of using intimidation to gain control of valet parking services for hospitals, restaurants, and adult entertainment clubs in the Tampa Bay area.[12] In December 2006, Trucchio was convicted and in March 2007 was sentenced to life in prison.[13][14]

As of December 2011, Ronald Trucchio is serving a life sentence at the United States Penitentiary (USP) in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania.[15] Trucchio reportedly underwent hip replacement surgery a few years earlier and is said to be in poor health.

References

  1. ↑ Ronnie Trucchio 1
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 "Queens Father and Son Accused In Illegal Gambling Operation" By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM New York Times December 10, 2002
  3. ↑ "Witness Led Life Of Money, Violence - Miami Trial Hears Of Gambino Family" By Ann W. O'Neill Sun Sentinel February 04, 2005
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Reputed Mob Recruiter Faces Trial For Scions' Sins" by Ann W. O'Neill Sun-Sentinel January 10, 2005
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 USA v. Ronald Trucchio, (11th Cir. 2007) Federal Circuits V Lex
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ July 8, 2004 - LAWFUEL
  8. ↑ Metro Briefing New York: Queens: 2 Plead Guilty In Betting Ring" by Corey Kilgannon New York Times April 15, 2003
  9. ↑ "Metro Report QUEENS: CRIME FIGURE IS SENTENCED" New York Times October 29, 2003
  10. ↑ "Reputed Organized Crime Captain Pleads Not Guilty" By Ann W. O'Neill Sun-Sentinel.com January 9, 2004
  11. ↑ "Arrest in Killings Of 2 Who Dared To Rob the Mob" By WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM New York Times September 23, 2005
  12. ↑ "Who parked your car?" By Carrie Weimar Tampa Bay Times October 16, 2006
  13. ↑ "Entire John "Junior" Gotti Tampa Gambino Crime Family Indictment" The Chicago Syndicate.com August 9, 2008
  14. ↑ "Four Tampa men convicted as members of Gambino crime family" Gina McQueen 10News WTSP.com December 4, 2006
  15. ↑ Federal Bureau of Prisons Inmate Locator
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