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Salvatore "Coco" Cogliano (1953–) was an Italian-American mobster and soldier in the Lupertazzi crime family. In 2007, he was nearly beaten to death by DiMeo crime family boss Tony Soprano after he had attempted to make a move on Soprano's daughter.

Biography[]

Salvatore Cogliano was born to an Italian family in Brooklyn in 1953, and he got affiliated with the Lupertazzi crime family, becoming a soldier under capo Butch DeConcini. He worked along with DeConcini on a construction job in the Brooklyn area, and owned a restaurant in Manhattan. Cogliano was loyal to acting boss Phil Leotardo, attending his "welcome home" party when he returned from the hospital following a stroke. He was also deeply critical of the New Jersey DiMeo crime family, seeing them as "farmers" and unequal to the New York families. When Leotardo orchestrated the murder of self-imposed boss Faustino "Doc" Santoro in September 2007, Cogliano was fully supportive of him and gladly became a part of the new family structure. Conflicts began to arise with the DiMeo family over the payment of an illegal asbestos dumping operation in New York. Leotardo demanded a 25% cut of the profits, arguing he had been left out the loop on the knowledge that the job involved asbestos removal. When Soprano declined, instead offering 15%, which Leotardo refused to accept, he took Cogliano's and DeConcini's payroll off the Brooklyn construction job.

When the foreman on the job, Edgar Ramirez, informed them of the news, they both gravely assaulted him, and Cogliano took his wallet, snatching $320 from him in lieu of the check. Later that day, Cogliano was out drinking with consigliere Albie Cianflone at a restaurant in Little Italy, when he recognized Tony Soprano's daughter Meadow. Inebriated on sambuca, Cogliano approached Meadow and began making inappropriate comments to her, which bordered on sexual harassment.

Meadow's date Patrick Parisi stood up to Cogliano, but Cianflone pulled him back before things got heated. When Meadow reluctantly confessed what happened to her father the following day, Tony was furious. Soprano then walked over to Cogliano's restaurant, and, with DeConcini present, knocked him to the ground after striking him with his gun. When DeConcini attempted to interfere, Soprano held him at gunpoint, making him back down.

Soprano aggressively pummeled Cogliano's face with his pistol, even shoving it in his mouth while mocking his drinking. He then put Cogliano's mouth against the counter, and curb stomped him, knocking out nearly all his teeth, before threatening DeConcini once more and walking out of there. Cogliano nearly died and was in critical condition, his beating being the last straw for Phil Leotardo; after that, he decided to declare war on the DiMeo family.

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