Updated news on the Gambino, Genovese, Bonanno, Lucchese and Colombo Organized Crime Families of New York City.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Reputed Genovese hitman Michael (Mikey Cigars) Coppola did hit job 'with tears,' says mob rat


Reputed Genovese gangster Michael "Mikey Cigars" Coppola was a hit man with a soft spot for at least one gangland victim he gunned down, a government witness testified Tuesday.
Coppola admitted killing gangster John "Johnny Coca Cola" Lardiere outside the Red Bull Inn in New Jersey in 1977 - but wasn't proud of the deadly deed, mob rat Thomas Ricciardi recalled
FBI surveillance photograph of Tino FiumaraGenovese Family Capo Tino Fiumara via Wikipedia
in Brooklyn Federal Court.
"Some you do with tears in your eyes," Coppola said, according to Ricciardi, who pleaded guilty to participating in 11 murders.
Ricciardi, a soldier with the Luchese crime family, said Coppola openly discussed how the rubout went down several years later while the two wiseguys were talking shop in a restaurant.
"What I got out of it was I don't think he agreed with the decision [to kill Lardiere]," Ricciardi, 57, told Assistant U.S. Attorney Jack Dennehy.
Coppola made it clear in their conversation that he was in no position to question the orders from Mafia superiors.
"Don't get me wrong ... you may not agree with what you gotta do, but you gotta do what you gotta do," Ricciardi quoted Coppola as saying.
Coppola praised the victim with being a tough guy who "'died like a man,'" Ricciardi said.
After Coppola hit Lardiere with one shot, his gun jammed and the victim cracked: "What are you going to do now, tough guy?"
Coppola drew a second handgun from an ankle holster and calmly finished off the hood.
Ricciardi implicated Genovese capo Tino Fiumara in the Lardiere killing. Fiumara, a Newark hood tied to waterfront rackets, has not been charged.
NY Daily News


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