WARNING: EXPLICIT MATERIAL

Angelo Bruno

AKA:

the Gentle Don

Birth Name:

Angelo Annaloro

Birth Date:

May 21, 1910

Birth Place:

Villalba, Sicily, Italy

Death Date:

March 21, 1980

Place of Death:

934 Snyder Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Age:

Cause of Death:

Shotgun blast to the head

Cemetery Name:

Holy Cross Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Crime and their Victims

Known as the “Docile Don,” his time at the top of Philadelphia’s criminal hierarchy was marked by a relative lack of violence, and like Bufalino, he kept a low profile. His organization ran gambling and loan sharking enterprises, and owned stakes in multiple legitimate businesses including an extermination company in New Jersey, an aluminum products company in Florida and a share in the Plaza Hotel in Havana, Cuba. Bruno was a powerful figure, and was reportedly a member of the mob’s all-powerful national commission. But he was considered something of an old-fashioned don and riled his underlings by refusing to allow them to be directly involved in drug trafficking and the considerable profits that accompanied it. This old-fashioned approach worked—the FBI didn’t make the Philadelphia mafia a priority during Bruno’s reign. But it also may have cost the crime lord his life. “He wasn't making any new members,” one investigator told the New York Times in 1982. “They say he was 'the gentle don.' That's bull. But he was conservative. He was cautious. He was old, and he didn't want to go to jail. These young guys were getting restless because they weren't making any money.” He prohibited his family’s involvement in narcotics trafficking and focused on traditional Costa Nostra operations like bookmaking and loan sharking. Some family members were discontent with this decision and suspected Bruno of profiting from the narcotics business secretly. This will ultimately lead to his murder.

Who Killed Angelo Bruno

On March 21, 1980 when 69-year-old mob boss Angelo Bruno was shot in the head while sitting in a car outside of his South Philadelphia rowhouse, it didn’t take a genius to figure out who was responsible. Angry that they were not getting their cut of the money from the drug trade, Anthony Caponigro (aka Tony Bananas) conspired with Bruno soldier Frank Sindone (aka Barracuda Frank), John Simone and Frank Tieri (the boss of the New York Genovese crime family) in a plan to overthrow Bruno. Bruno’s consigliere, Anthony Caponigro, is thought to have pulled the trigger.

After Bruno’s assassination, Sindone’s plan was to become underboss of the Philadelphia family with Caponigro as boss. However, less than a month later, Caponigro and his cousin were found stuffed in the trunks of two cars a few miles apart in the South Bronx section of New York City. On September 17, 1980, John Simone was found dead. On October 29, 1980, Frank Sindone was found dead in an alley behind a variety store in South Philadelphia, shot three times in the head. The Mafia Commission had ordered the murdered of all four men in retribution for the unsanctioned murder of Bruno.

This murder of Angelo Bruno set in motion Philadelphia’s most violent gang war yet with several different factions of the mob fighting against one another. Over 25 mobsters and mob associates were left dead over the next 10 years.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Holy Cross Cemetery

626 Baily Road

Yeadon, Pennsylvania, 19050

USA

North America

Map:

Map of Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, Pennsylvania

Grave Location:

Section 23, Range 2, Grave 2

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery from the second entrance on Baily Avenue (not the office gate) drive straight ahead to the third section on your left (Section 23). Look to your left for the Bruno memorial in the second row from the road just behind the Willard memorial.