| |
| Carmine Cuneo | |
| Biographical Information | |
| Aliases | The Milkman |
| Gender | Male |
| Born | January 17, 1883 Villabate, Sicily, Italy |
| Died | August 1, 1955 New York, United States |
| Affiliation |  Cuneo
|
| Title(s) | Don |
Carmine "the Milkman" Ottilio Alfonso Cuneo was an Italian-American Mafiosi and the first boss of the Cuneo crime family, one of New York's Five Families of the 1940s. Cuneo was known to be a softer mob boss and middler of his brothers, refusing to sell drugs to children, and rather investing in the milk delivery business, using the milk trucks as a front, getting his nickname "The Milkman" from his involvement in this practice. Cuneo was gunned down at the Savannah Hotel in 1955 and replaced by his older son Leo Cuneo.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Carmine Ottilio Alfonso Cuneo was born in the town of Villabate, in Siciy. In 1895 his family immigrated from Sicily to The Bronx, New York City, on a transport barge, and they were poor, living in a tenement. Cuneo became involved in pickpocketing and other petty crimes for which he was caught in 1912, but was let off after a fine of $500.
Small-Time Career[]
Cuneo managed a small group of robbers known as the "Bronx Boys", and in 1921, Cuneo founded the Cuneo crime family. The Cuneo Family was based in Hell's Kitchen, which became Carmine's new base-of-operations, building a home for himself near the Kansas City-New York railroad line's New York end in northern Hell's Kitchen, by the seaport.
As a small-time Mafiosi, he began his career by extorting Leo's Milk Trucks, a company of milk deliverers, and made lots of money off of the business. He also refused to invest in any businesses that could hurt any children, as his mother was always a lover of small ones. Carmine gained representation on The Commission by 1933 and became the Vice-Chairman under Vincent Forlenza of Cleveland.
Five Families[]
Cuneo's outfit became one of New York's Five Families of organized crime after taking over large amounts of the Barzini crime family's turf in The Bronx in 1943 in a gang war that left several dead on both sides, but he arranged a peace treaty by 1945, when drug dealer Virgil Sollozzo arrived in New York and arranged cooperation between the families via the drug trade. When the Corleone crime family murdered Sollozzo following a year of fighting between their assets, the Five Families War broke out, and Carmine Cuneo joined the four families' alliance against the Corleones, because Vito Corleone had all of the politicians in his pocket, and he wanted a slice of the winnings for the war.
The Cuneos played a large part in the war, but lost most of their made men and fronts to Corleone attacks, with their financial asset in New Jersey, Nicholas Klaus, being strangulated at a New Years' Day 1950. Carmine arranged a peace with the Corleones in 1951, but small-scale turf warfare continued. When Vito Corleone died in 1953, his son Michael Corleone prepeared to get rid of the last enemies to the family to consolidate Corleone control over New York.
Death[]
Carmine Cuneo is gunned down by Aldo Trapani.
Cuneo was at the Savannah Hotel in Midtown collecting protection money from Umberto Raffini when Willie Cicci and Aldo Trapani were sent to murder him. As he left the revolving door, he was gunned down on the threshold of the hotel, and his older son Leo Cuneo became boss.