Frank Gangi was six foot three, thin, and wiry. When he walked around Brooklyn, he looked like a scarecrow that had stepped off his pedestal and was moving about. He had a large, oval-shaped face. He was a chain-smoker, and when he laughed, phlegm readily bubbled in his lungs and he coughed. He did not have the demeanor, the features, or the carriage of a predatory animal. When you looked at Gangi, you thought more of a cook working in a busy kitchen, a friendly grocery-store clerk, or, perhaps, the local pizza man, not a killer, certainly not a Mafia associate.
However, Frank Gangi was a dedicated drug dealer, had been charged with murder, though he was acquitted. He was associated with the Bonanno crime family and he came from a culture of mafiosi. His father, uncles, and cousins were associates in the Bonanno and Genovese families. His uncle was Angelo Prezzanzano, a respected capo in the Bonanno family. His father, Frank Gangi Sr., was also an associate of the Bonanno family and had dealt in drugs. His cousin Rosario “Ross.” Gangi was a highly respected captain in the Genovese family.
Frank Gangi was one of those individuals who existed on the periphery of Mafiadom. He was the proverbial three-time loser. Whether it was a combination of bad luck, bad timing, being ill informed, or abusing drugs was all up for debate. Suffice it to say, Frank Gangi would become one of the most important players in the life and times and crimes of Tommy Karate Pitera. Certainly a large part of Frank’s difficulties in life stemmed from the fact that his father had spent three years in prison, from when Frank was five until he was eight. Without his father, the boy’s feeling of isolation from his family and from society at large was amplified. His mother, Margaret, had a male child from a previous marriage and she openly and without question preferred her first boy to Frank. To further muddy the waters of his turbulent life, Frank’s father was murdered when Frank was nine years old. He was killed in a mob-related incident that involved Sicilian hit men being brought down from Canada to kill Frankie Tuminaro and the senior Gangi. With the loss of his father, Frank Gangi withdrew further and further into himself. Whatever problems the young boy had were magnified. He was destined for trouble with the law, society, and especially those of his own kind. He would become a pariah from not only the Mafia but his own family as well. He would become a man with no country.
Though Frank Gangi was an average-looking man, women were drawn to him in a big way. He was tall and well put together. He had the golden gift of gab and was easy to warm to. He was not threatening. He seemed sincere and would readily offer to help if he could. Unlike many of the connected men that come from Bensonhurst and Gravesend, Frank Gangi was not a natural-born killer; it seemed that he was born in the wrong place at the wrong time.
When he was in his early twenties, Gangi had a marijuana business. With his two partners, Billy Bright and Arthur Guvenaro, he sold hundreds of pounds of pot every week, happily filling the need for marijuana in Brooklyn and the tristate area. Arthur Guvenaro was a freebase head and began stealing from Bright and Gangi. They realized what he was doing and made up their minds to kill him. The night of the murder, April 27, 1985, Bright and Gangi lured Guvenaro to their stash house near Stillwell Avenue in Gravesend and began freebasing with him. When Bright and Gangi finally pulled out guns, they were so stoned, they were inefficient, and their minds so fogged by the drugs that they bungled the murder. Still, the two aimed and shot Guvenaro. After Guvenaro was shot several times, he dove through a large bay window, rolled onto the street, and, miraculously, took off with incredible speed, bullets lodged in his upper back as well as the back of his head. When he reached the corner, he dropped. A police car rolled up to him. His dying words were, “Frank Gangi and Billy Bright did this to me.”
Gangi and Billy Bright were quickly arrested.
Shockingly, when the case went to trial, they were acquitted. Their lawyer convinced the jury that Guvenaro was the bad guy, that he pulled out a gun and had started shooting at them, and they were just defending themselves. Because there was no one to contradict them on the stand, the jury found them not guilty. They were, however, found guilty of possession of a gun. For the gun charge, they were each sentenced to a year in prison.
In the spring of 1986, Frank Gangi emerged from jail. He had little money, little resources, and was looking for something to do. He was a friend of Judy Haimowitz’s and she suggested he go see Tommy Pitera. She said that Pitera had a lot going on and could, perhaps, help set him up.
When Frank Gangi first met Tommy Pitera in the Just Us Bar in 1986, Gangi was taken aback by Pitera’s voice. Those who knew Pitera knew the sound his voice made coming out of his mouth and readily accepted it. However, Frank Gangi was hearing it for the first time, and couldn’t help but think of Mickey Mouse or, worse yet, Minnie Mouse. Here was this ruthless killer, with a reputation that far preceded him, talking like a cartoon character. The comedy of it was not lost on Gangi. In that Gangi had this outgoing, gregarious personality, it was easy for him to get Tommy to warm to him. After the two of them had talked awhile, Tommy said, “What can I do for you? What are you here for?”
In a vague sense, Gangi talked about borrowing money.
“Hold on a second. I’m not a shylock. That’s not what I do,” Pitera said.
“I’m sorry. I thought maybe you could help me tide things over until I can get something going.”
“No,” Pitera said. “I don’t loan money. But maybe there are other things we can do together.”
Pitera already knew who Frank Gangi was. He knew his family was all mobbed up; that Frank had previously sold large amounts of marijuana; that he had murdered Arthur Guvenaro with Billy Bright. These were the best credentials Gangi could have had. Pitera knew he was an amiable guy who had come up the hard way, who came from the nearby streets, and he immediately viewed Gangi as a potential member of his world. Likewise, Frank Gangi had heard all about Pitera and was open to becoming involved with him and working with him. Pitera arranged for Gangi to be fronted weight in cocaine and heroin and even marijuana. With his reputation and former connections and outgoing personality, Gangi was able to quickly make money for not only himself, but Tommy Pitera, too. Like this, little by little, over the weeks and months, Frank Gangi became a trusted confidant of Tommy Pitera’s.
Pitera also hooked Gangi up with an Israeli coke dealer who was one of several sources Pitera had outside the Bonanno family. His name was Shlomo Mendelsohn. A rough-around-the-edges, military-trained Israeli, Shlomo was part of a drug-dealing cartel that consisted of all Israelis. They were arrogant, tough, independent, and well connected. Because Pitera liked to stay as far away from the drugs as possible, it was not unusual for him to have underlings meet people, pick up the drugs, and distribute them appropriately. Knowing that Gangi was working for Pitera, Shlomo pretty much gave him whatever he asked for on consignment. Suddenly Gangi was no longer a Mafia wannabe. Thanks to Pitera, he was up and running and in the game again, though Frank Gangi still had a problem that would come back and shake the very foundation of the Bonanno crime family.