Butch DeConcini

**Butch Jerome "The Little Guy" DeConcini** (born January 16, 1947) is an American mobster and boss of the Lupertazzi crime family since 2007, succeeding Phil Leotardo.

## Biography

### Background

Born in Brooklyn in 1947 to the young sons of Italian immigrants, Butch DeConcini was always a troubled individual. He lived in an impoverished bloc and didn't seem to get along with those of his age. At 8 years old he gave a nosebleed to a neighborhood kid simply because he accidentally made him fall from his bike, and at 10 he fractured a classmate's skull after he pushed him and made him fall several feet from a mountain during a school trip. This incident cuased him to be expelled and be placed in a correctional center. After showing a surprising good behaviour, he was released after 5 months and allowed back into school. He had seemed to learn from his previous misbehavior, as while he still bullied his fellow classmates, he would pay them after the fact so they wouldn't tell the shool staff. In terms of his grades, they were average at best, but he managed to put in the work and finally graduated in 1965. Instead of attending university, however, he became friendly with an older kid, Phil Leotardo. Leotardo became an associate of the Lupertazzi crime family, and he saw potential in DeConcini. He invited him into their headquarters and convinced the higher-ups to let him enter the family, which they allowed. Since 1967 he was an official associate, and a year later gained their trust when he, along with Leotardo, burned a rival family's soldier's car. He had entered the Mafia business, and he would never leave it

### Mafia work

In 1970, after doing more and more favors for them, boss Carmine Lupertazzi felt DeConcini was ready to be made, but first he would have to make his bones (kill someone). Lupertazzi decided Joey Damaso, a gambler who didn't pay his debts, would be the target. Leotardo, who had already killed his first victim two years prior, helped DeConcini to prepare for the hit. He suggested DeConcini wear gloves, sport a big coat and hat so as to not be recognized should there be any witnesses and use a silenced pistol. Damaso was dining at a restaurant a stormy night while DeConcini waited outside inside his car. When Damaso finally exited the restaurant, DeConcini began unsuspiciously following him through an alleyway he entered. DeConcini then rushed behind him, shut his mouth with his hand and shot him twice in the back and once in the head, quickly leaving the same way he came. No one witnessed the murder, and Damaso's body was found minutes later by a pedestrian. DeConcini was made a soldier in Donnie Gatuso's crew.

### Family life

DeConcini met the love of his life, Lorraine Annetta, at a library in Flatbush. While initially rejecting his advances, she finally agreed to date him. They married on October 18, 1972 at the All Saints Catholic Church in Throop Avenue, Brooklyn, and had their first son, Jerry, on July 1973. Their second son, Cory, was born two years later in 1975.

### Crackdown of 1984

In the early 1980s, the American Mafia as a whole underwent a major hit when nationwide indictments were printed and major figures were arrested. DeConcini's longtime friend and capo Phil Leotardo was among the arrested, and he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. DeConcini wasn't named in the indictments as no crime could be traced back to him.

### Caporegime

DeConcini became a capo when then-capo Donnie Gattuso died of pneumonia in 1988. The question about what to do with his crew remained and some even considered merging it into the Santoro crew, but DeConcini was handpicked by Camine Lupertazzi for the job and he was made a captain. As capo, DeConcini earned $4600 a month, the second captain in the family to bring in the most money.

### Conflict with the DiMeos

#### Class of 2004

In 2004, Phil Leotardo, along with former consigliere Angelo Garepe as well as other mobsters, were released from prison after serving their 20-year-long prison sentences. Butch was glad to get to see his old friend again, but conflict would quickly arise. A conflict of power began after the death of Carmine Lupertazzi between his son, Carmine Lupertazzi Jr., and underboss Johnny Sacrimoni. Butch, along with Phil and others of his crew, supported Johnny Sacrimoni, while those like Angelo Garepe or Rusty Millio supported Carmine Jr.. Garepe and Millio requested Tony Blundetto, the cousin of the boss of the New Jersey DiMeo crime family Tony Soprano, to murder associate Joey Peeps, which brought New Jersey into the conflict. In retaliation, Phil Leotardo and his younger brother Billy murdered Garepe, and enraged, Blundetto then shot Billy Leotardo to death, devastating his older brother. The conflict came to a close, however, when Tony Soprano executed his cousin to avoid him being tortured.

#### Underboss

Right after the whole conflict, Johnny Sacrimoni was arrested at his own house by the FBI and imprisoned, leaving Phil Leotardo as acting boss, who in turn promoted DeConcini to acting underboss. As underboss, DeConcini saw the revelation of DiMeo family capo Vito Spatafore being gay and his subsequent murder and the murder of Lupertazzi soldier "Fat Dom" Gamiello by the DiMeos. Afterwards, they also tried to have Leotardo killed when they planted a bomb at the Lupertazzis' wire room. It was then that DeConcini discussed murdering Tony Soprano, an idea which was staunchly rejected by Leotardo. Another short conflict of power after Johnny Sacrimoni died of cancer resulted in Leotardo ordering the murder of short-lived boss Faustino "Doc" Santoro, with DeConcini serving as the getaway driver. Thus Leotardo seized complete power over the family, and DeConcini became the official underboss.

#### War of 2007

Tensions between the Lupertazzi and DiMeo families were constant, not helped by the fact that in 2007 Tony Soprano and Phil Leotardo had a dispute over some asbestos and Soprano pistol whipping and nearly killing Lupertazzi soldier Coco Cogliano for making a move on his daughter, an incident which was seen firsthand by DeConcini. Soprano also pointed a pistol directly at him. It was then that negotiations were off the table: the Lupertazzis would go to war. Leotardo ordered the murders of the "top three guys", the most important figures of the DiMeo crime family; Tony Soprano, consigliere Silvio Dante and underboss Bobby Baccalieri. The Lupertazzis also tried to sway DiMeo members to their side, mainly soldier Burt Gervasi, who was garroted to death by Silvio Dante. As soon as the DiMeos learned of the planned hits, they tried to strike first, ordering the murder of Leotardo; however the hit was botched and two civilians were killed instead. Soprano wanted to advise all members to lay low, but for underboss Bobby Baccalieri, it was too late, as he didn't notice the phone call and was shot to death in a toy train store by Lupertazzi gunmen. Silvio Dante was next, and just as he was leaving the Bada-Bing strip club in a car with soldier Patsy Parisi, Lupertazzi gunmen entered a shootout with him, and though he survived, he was put into a coma, with very few chances of him waking up from it. They weren't able to encounter Tony Soprano, as he hid in a New Jersey safehouse along with his other soldiers and captains , making sure nobody could track him down. Leotardo did the same, and was outraged at DeConcini when he wasn't able to do the hit, hinting at the possibility of getting rid of him. For DeConcini, the fact that Phil Leotardo, the man who had once been his best friend, who helped him when he needed him, suggesting and considering killing him was the last straw; he, along with consigliere Albie Cianflone and Carmine Lupertazzi Jr. organized a truce with Tony Soprano and gave the okay for him to kill Leotardo. As one last act of respect for his boss, though, he didn't tell him where he was, and let him figure it out on his own. Leotardo was eventually found, shot and killed at a raceway gas station in Oyster Bay, Long Island, and DeConcini stepped up as the boss of the family.