Ferrone Crime Family

Brooklyn in the 1980s

The Ferrone crime family is an Italian-American criminal organization from south Brooklyn, New York. They were founded in 1949 by Carmine Ferrone, as a result of the 86th Street Gang's split. They were little more than a small handful of petty crooks until the late-1960s, when they began to branch off into high-risk extortion rackets and dominating the heroin trade in south Brooklyn.

While the Ferrone crime family has heavy ties to The Commission, it is unknown if they are a part of it. Due to the looseness of the Ferrone family's structure, and their heavy ties to criminal organizations from Manhattan, many people have mistaken them to be an unofficial offshoot of the Gambino crime family.

## Early History

The Ferrone crime family was founded in the late-1940s by Carmine Ferrone and Tom DiSerro, following the split of the 86th Street Gang due to internal disputes. Ferrone and DiSerro ran their enterprise of robberies and small-time extortion out of the Ferrone Bar on 86th Street in south Brooklyn.

By the late-1950s, the Ferrone Gang was a known force in south Brooklyn. However, they were poor and politically unstable. A restructuring took place in 1957, and the group became more organized.

## First Ferrone War (1970-72)

As the Ferrone family began to make fortunes selling heroin, they moved westward into Staten Island. The Wilson Gang, a mostly-Italian American street gang of south Staten Island noticed this, and a war ensued between the two entities. From 1970 to 1973, over 12 homicides resulted from the war. Frank Rosenburg was a hitman who participated in a lot of the murders for both parties, according to his own testimony.

## Cocaine Wars (1982-85)

In the early-1980s, the Ferrone family began to branch off into the cocaine trade. In late-1982, small-time marijuana dealer Frank Cabrese from Queens was one of the first dealers who was given charge of distributing cocaine that the Ferrone family obtained from Colombia. Although Frank Cabrese was an excellent drug dealer, some reports claim that he was chosen due to his supposed friendship with then-underboss Carmine Ferrone, Jr., son of boss Carmine Ferrone.

Frank Cabrese's activity began the rivalry of Ya Pradesh Gang, a small criminal outfit from southern region of the Kingdom of Adrionis, who also had ties to several Pakistani criminals. The Ya Pradesh gang began targeting Ferrone family associates, including the priest of Ferrone's church, who they beheaded.

In mid-1983, Carmine Ferrone died of a stroke and his body transported back to his birthplace in Sicily. His son, Carmine Ferrone, Jr. took over operations of the family.

Throughout 1983, the Ferrone crime family pushed back heavily against the Ya Pradesh Gang until the latter was completely destroyed.

Frank Cabrese went on to be one the primary cocaine distributors of the Ferrone family alongside his best friend (and later leader of the gang) John Strattonato. Frank made regular visits to Miami, and sold cocaine out of Frank's Diner in Queens, and the Amethyst Gentleman's Club in Montclair, New Jersey.

## RICO Crackdowns (1980s - 2000s)

The heavy RICO crackdowns from the FBI of the late-1980s and 1990s resulted in numerous arrests of Ferrone family members and associates.

## Post-RICO Era (2000s - 2020s)

On April 9, 2012, Carmine Ferrone, Jr. and his wife, Bella were found dead in his car in an underpass of the McCarter Highway in Newark, New Jersey. Both of them had been shot over 10 times with a small-caliber firearm. The official investigation by the FBI turned up little evidence, but Richard Colombo, a Newark teenager suffering from various mental problems, was later found dead on the side of a road in Perth Amboy in August 2014. Investigators determined that Richard Colombo possessed the firearm used to kill Carmine and Bella, and that the murder of Richard was probably in retaliation.

John Strattonato took over operations of the Ferrone crime family directly after the death of Carmine. He currently lives in North Caldwell, New Jersey.

## Turbulence (2020s - Present)

Following the attempted assassination of John Strattonato by the Torelli crime family, the power structure of the Ferrone family was shaken. Frank Tacito, John's lifelong friend, took over the operations of the Ferrone family.