A Bonanno crime family soldier was gunned down at a Staten Island bus stop Thursday, sparking fears of a brewing mob civil war, law enforcement sources said.
Anthony (Little Anthony) Seccafico, a hot-headed “made man” in the notorious Mafia family, was shot several times near his home at 4:30 a.m., police said.
Seccafico, a union construction worker, was waiting on a deserted corner for an express bus into Manhattan when a man stepped out of the shadows and approached him.
Seccafico recognized his attacker and tried to flee, but the man opened fire, getting off at least seven shots and hitting the mobster several times in the chest.
“He was on the street laying on his back,” said witness Edwin Clarke who stared out his bedroom window at the mobster sprawled in the middle of Ilyssa Way.
“He was moving [and] said ‘My chest, my chest, I got shot in the chest,'” said Clarke, 20. “It shook me up.”
Seccafico, father of young twins, died a short time later at Staten Island University Hospital. Investigators believe the shooting was a hit, and not a robbery, since nothing was taken from the dead man, sources said.
Because Seccafico was a made man, his killing would have required the approval of Bonanno bosses, the sources said.
Law enforcement sources said Seccafico had become a made man in recent years: In 2003, the government came upon a list of potential Bonanno soldiers, and Seccafico’s name was on there as a potential member, sources said.
That list was provided by a Bonanno capo who helped rat out former family leader Joseph Massino.
The murder comes just months after the feds deported Bonanno boss Salvatore (Sal the Ironworker) Montagna to Canada, creating a fight for power atop the family
“The timing is curious,” a law enforcement source said.
Investigators were exploring several possible motives for the execution. One theory is that it was a revenge killing because Seccafico had recently assaulted the son of a respected Bonanno solider who is in jail, sources said.
Sources said Seccafico – a stocky 5’5″ kick-boxer – had a lengthy rap sheet which included arrests for assault, menacing and attempted murder. He served time for a drug sale conviction in the late 1980s, record show.
In 2002, he was among 20 Bonanno associates busted for running a $2.5 million gambling and loansharking ring.
Former Bonanno capo Patrick DeFilipp, soldiers Emmanuel Guaragna, Anthony Frascone and John Spirito were among the others arrested amid the takedown by the NYPD and Manhattan district attorney’s office. Seccafico’s father was a gangster in the Colombo crime family, sources said.
Neighbors, who said the dead man took the X17 bus every morning at 4:30 a.m., claimed they knew nothing of Seccafico’s mob ties and remembered him only as a devoted caretaker of his wife and children.
“He’s a nice guy [and] he never bothered me,” said Mona Gaber, 37. “He’s a good man.”
Comments
Hollywood goodfella 