The President Street Boys: Growing Up Mafia
Frank Dimatteo
eBook
(Kensington Books, Aug. 1, 2016)
âWhen Mom got out of jail, it was great having her home.âMondo the Dwarf. Frankie Shots. Jospeh âLittle Lolly Popâ Carna. Larry âBig Lolly Popâ Carna. Salvatore âSally Boyâ Marinelli. Johnny Tarzan. Louie Pizza. Sally D, Bobby B, Roy Roy, and Punchy.They were THE PRESIDENT STREET BOYS of Brooklyn, New York.Frank Dimatteo was born into a family of mob hitmen. His father and godfather were shooters and bodyguards for infamous Mafia legends, the Gallo brothers. His uncle was a capo in the Genovese crime family and bodyguard to Frank Costello. Needless to say, DiMatteo saw and heard things that a boy shouldnât see or hear.He knew everybody in the neighborhood. And they knew him. . .and his family. And does he have some wild stories to tell. . .From the old-school Mafia dons and infamous âfive familiesâ who called all the shots, to the new-breed âindependentsâ of the ballsy Gallo gang who didnât answer to nobody, Dimatteo pulls no punches in describing what itâs really like growing up in the mob. Getting his cheeks pinched by Crazy Joe Gallo until tears came down his face. Dropping out of school and hanging gangster-style with the boys on President Street. Watching the Gallos wage an all-out war against wiseguys with more power, more money, more guns. And finally, revealing the shocking deathbed confessions that will blow the lid off the sordid deeds, stunning betrayals, and all-too-secret history of the American Mafia.Originally self-published as Lion in the BasementRaves For THE PRESIDENT STREET BOYS: Growing Up MafiaâFrankie D was born and raised in this lifeâand heâs still alive and still free. They donât come any sharper then Frankie D. A real gangster story. Read this book!â âNicky âSlickâ DiPietro, New York CityâI know Frankie D from when i was a kid living in South Brooklyn. It was hard reading about my father, Gennaro âChitozâ Basciano, but I knew it was the truth. Frankieâs book is dead on the moneyâI couldnât put it down.â âEddie Basciano, somewhere in FloridaâItâs been forty years since Iâve been with Frankie D doing our thing on President Street. This book was like a flashback, Frankie D nails it from beginning to the end. Bravo, from one of the President Street Boys.â âAnthony âGoombadielâ DeLuca, Brooklyn, New YorkâAs a neighborhood kid I grew up around President Street and know firsthand the lure of âthe lifeâ as a police officer and as a kid that escaped the lure. I can tell you the blind loyalty that the crews had for their bossesâunbounded, limitless, and dangerous. As the Prince of President Street, Frank Dimatteo, is representative of a lost generation of Italian Americans. If any of this crew had been given a fair shot at the beginning they would have been geniuses in their chosen field.â âJoseph "Giggy" Gagliardo, Retired DEA Agent, New York CityâThe President Street Boys takes me back as if it was a time machine. Its authenticity is compelling reading for those interested in what things were really like in those mob heydays; not some authorâs formulation without an inkling of what was going on behind the scenes. I loved the book because I was there, and know for sure readers will love it too.â âSonny Girard, author of Blood of Our Fathers and Sins of Our Sons