THE
CASE OF THE STUFFED CANARY
Louie Bagels Sentenced to Life for Racketeering and Murder
07/06/04
On 6/29/04, Louis Daidone,
Acting Boss of the Luchese Organized Crime Family, aka Louie Bagels, aka
Louie Cross Bay, was sentenced to life in prison, with no chance of parole,
for murdering two suspected mob informers and for a long-term loansharking
conspiracy.
It's quite a story.
Louie Daidone
started his career with the Luchese Family in the early 1980s as a Soldier. You
know--the Luchese Family, founded by Gaetano "Three Fingers Brown" Luchese
in New York with strongholds in East Harlem and Bronx and specializing
in illegal gambling, loansharking, labor racketeering, truck hijacking,
drug dealing, things like that.
He rose quickly
to Acting Capo, then Consigliere, and finally Acting Boss. But along
the way he left his fingerprints on some episodes of classic mob justice.
In 1989, he and two
associates, under orders, tailed small-time mob car thief Tom (Red) Gilmore
to his home in Queens, then ran up behind him and shot him in the head
and neck. Why? He was suspected of singing to us feds.
Then, in 1990, Luchese
Acting Boss Alphonse D'Arco called him in: Bruno Facciola is a rat, D'Arco
said, Boss Vittorio Amuso wants him whacked. So Daidone made plans.
First he got
a dead canary and put it in the freezer. Then he arranged with
two associates to lure Facciola to a garage. When Facciola saw his welcoming
committee, he ran--but Daidone chased him down and dragged him back,
where he was stabbed, shot in the head and both eyes, and had that defrosted
canary stuffed in his mouth to prove that "you sing to the feds,
you're going to get your head blown off." The body was found in
Brooklyn, days later, stuffed into the trunk of his own car.
Was Facciola a rat?
Apparently not. Didn't matter.
The long arm
of the law. It took time to get the evidence needed to make
Louie Bagels accountable for his crimes--time and people willing to testify.
But Daidone was arrested in March 2003, following a joint FBI-NYPD investigation.
He was convicted in January 2004, and sentenced this week. Case closed.
Links: New
York Press Release | New York Field
Office | La Cosa Nostra
Organized Crime Program
