How did Roy DeMeo get into a Life of Crime
Roy Albert DeMeo was born into the Mafia neighborhood of Bath Beach Brooklyn. As a teenager, he starts loansharking while enrolled in James Madison High School. It would be during this time he is noticed by a Gambino crime family soldier named Nino Gaggi who takes him under his wing. Growing up in this atmosphere young Roy DeMeo, not unlike Henry Hill, notices that the men who have the money as represented by cash, cars, jewelry, and neighbor respect are all “connected guys” like Nino Gaggi.
Early adulthood
Nino Gaggi uses his Gambino connections to increase young Roy’s loanshark business by investing his cash into the young loan shark and sent him men who needed larger loans than DeMeo’s high school friends. Roy DeMeo will find other criminal opportunities as an associate to Gaggi’s crew. He recruited other neighborhood guys to steal cars and sell drugs. One of his first recruits is a high school friend named Chris Rosenberg. DeMeo finds Rosenberg hanging out at a popular Canarsie gas station where he was basically a street dealer. Roy had connections and money that allowed Rosenberg to deal with narcotics in larger amounts. With Roy as his partner, Chris became an illegal drug wholesaler with street dealers working for him. In the early 1970s, Chris introduced some of his friends to Roy. Joseph “Dracula” Guglielmo, Anthony Senter, and brothers Joseph Testa and Patrick Testa became the core members of Demeo’s crew.
A New Murder Inc.
After a life devoted to crime in his teens and early 20s, Nino Gaggi will mentor Roy Demeo as an associate of the Gambino crime family. He became a proficient killer who will live on in mob lore for the deeds of “DeMeo crew.” Joey Testa and Anthony Senter, who became known as the “Gemini Twins,” were the most feared crew members. DeMeo owned a Brooklyn tavern at 4021 Flatlands Ave. that he named the Gemini Lounge. During this time he recruited another psychopathic killer named Henry Borelli. DeMeo was a gun nut and he stored an impressive arsenal of machineguns, automatic rifles, and silencers in a storeroom at the lounge. He installed his cousin, crew member Joseph “Dracula” Guglielmo, into the adjoining apartment as a security procedure to prevent the NYPD cops and/or FBI from planting listening devices. The building is still there, and in an ironic twist, it is now the Purpose Life Church. Like the Jimmy Burke crew meeting at the nearby Bamboo Lounge, the DeMeo crew came in almost every day and drank, planned scores, critiqued past scores, gossiped as any mafia crew might do at their social club. Roy DeMeo had once worked as a butcher in his early life, and some mob historians claim the Gemini Lounge was more like the killing floor in a slaughterhouse except they killed and butchered humans instead of pigs. I remember a Sopranos’ episode where they cut up Richie Aprile’s body in Satriale’s Pork Store using the utensils normally used for the pork. The FBI claimed the DeMeo crew was responsible for as many as 200-300 murders from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. Law enforcement often described the Demeo crew as the deadliest and most feared Mafia crew of the 5 Families in New York. They were described as “sadistic homicidal maniacs,” “the crazy killers,” “ice-cold murderous maniacs,” “lethal animals,” “barbaric psychopaths,” and “brutal psychopathic killers.” Law Enforcement at the time estimated the DeMeo crew contained over 40 men who were each trying to outdo each other as vicious, ruthless, bloodthirsty psychopathic killers.
Roy DeMeo infiltrates the Brooklyn Credit Union
In one of his more sophisticated operations, Roy joined the Borough of Brooklyn Credit Union and used his Gambino influence to gain a position on the board of directors. Roy DeMeo used his position at the credit union to launder illegal profits from loansharking and drug dealing as well as other rackets. He became the money launderer for many New York drug dealers.
Roy Albert DeMeo was born into the Mafia neighborhood of Bath Beach Brooklyn. As a teenager, he starts loansharking while enrolled in James Madison High School. It would be during this time he is noticed by a Gambino crime family soldier named Nino Gaggi who takes him under his wing. Growing up in this atmosphere young Roy DeMeo, not unlike Henry Hill, notices that the men who have the money as represented by cash, cars, jewelry, and neighbor respect are all “connected guys” like Nino Gaggi.
Early adulthood
Nino Gaggi uses his Gambino connections to increase young Roy’s loanshark business by investing his cash into the young loan shark and sent him men who needed larger loans than DeMeo’s high school friends. Roy DeMeo will find other criminal opportunities as an associate to Gaggi’s crew. He recruited other neighborhood guys to steal cars and sell drugs. One of his first recruits is a high school friend named Chris Rosenberg. DeMeo finds Rosenberg hanging out at a popular Canarsie gas station where he was basically a street dealer. Roy had connections and money that allowed Rosenberg to deal with narcotics in larger amounts. With Roy as his partner, Chris became an illegal drug wholesaler with street dealers working for him. In the early 1970s, Chris introduced some of his friends to Roy. Joseph “Dracula” Guglielmo, Anthony Senter, and brothers Joseph Testa and Patrick Testa became the core members of Demeo’s crew.
A New Murder Inc.
After a life devoted to crime in his teens and early 20s, Nino Gaggi will mentor Roy Demeo as an associate of the Gambino crime family. He became a proficient killer who will live on in mob lore for the deeds of “DeMeo crew.” Joey Testa and Anthony Senter, who became known as the “Gemini Twins,” were the most feared crew members. DeMeo owned a Brooklyn tavern at 4021 Flatlands Ave. that he named the Gemini Lounge. During this time he recruited another psychopathic killer named Henry Borelli. DeMeo was a gun nut and he stored an impressive arsenal of machineguns, automatic rifles, and silencers in a storeroom at the lounge. He installed his cousin, crew member Joseph “Dracula” Guglielmo, into the adjoining apartment as a security procedure to prevent the NYPD cops and/or FBI from planting listening devices. The building is still there, and in an ironic twist, it is now the Purpose Life Church. Like the Jimmy Burke crew meeting at the nearby Bamboo Lounge, the DeMeo crew came in almost every day and drank, planned scores, critiqued past scores, gossiped as any mafia crew might do at their social club. Roy DeMeo had once worked as a butcher in his early life, and some mob historians claim the Gemini Lounge was more like the killing floor in a slaughterhouse except they killed and butchered humans instead of pigs. I remember a Sopranos’ episode where they cut up Richie Aprile’s body in Satriale’s Pork Store using the utensils normally used for the pork. The FBI claimed the DeMeo crew was responsible for as many as 200-300 murders from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. Law enforcement often described the Demeo crew as the deadliest and most feared Mafia crew of the 5 Families in New York. They were described as “sadistic homicidal maniacs,” “the crazy killers,” “ice-cold murderous maniacs,” “lethal animals,” “barbaric psychopaths,” and “brutal psychopathic killers.” Law Enforcement at the time estimated the DeMeo crew contained over 40 men who were each trying to outdo each other as vicious, ruthless, bloodthirsty psychopathic killers.
Roy DeMeo infiltrates the Brooklyn Credit Union
In one of his more sophisticated operations, Roy joined the Borough of Brooklyn Credit Union and used his Gambino influence to gain a position on the board of directors. Roy DeMeo used his position at the credit union to launder illegal profits from loansharking and drug dealing as well as other rackets. He became the money launderer for many New York drug dealers.
Activity