Federico "Fat Derek" Pappalardo (23 August 1900 - 25 September 1951) was a caporegime in the Vinci crime family. A union boss, Pappalardo held control over the docks. He was killed in 1951 by Vito Scaletta after he found out about Pappalardo ordering his father's death.
Biograpy[]
Pappalardo was born to an Italian-American family in New York City, New York. He began working as a strikebreaker in the docks in 1916, through which he was introduced to the Vinci crime family led by Don Frank Vinci. He was imprisoned for embezzlement and spent two years in prison, where he met his future right-hand man Steve Coyne. After his release, he played a prominent role in the Vinci-Moretti war of the 1930s, being rewarded with a capo's position and control over the longshoremen's union in its aftermath. Pappalardo also married Vinci's goddaughter, which furthered his career and made him closer to Vinci. A ruthless and unpleasant labor boss, Pappalardo had Coyne kill dockworker Antonio Scaletta in 1943 due to Scaletta's growing debts. In February 1945, he met Scaletta's son Vito and initially employed him as a union worker, but after learning about his friendship with Joe Barbaro, he instead had him collect the dockworkers' protection money, and began a lasting relationship with Scaletta. Pappalardo even attended Scaletta's making ceremony into the Moretti family in 1951, still occasionally using him for dirty work on the docks.
Death[]
On 25 September 1951, Pappalardo called Scaletta over for a job, but was interrupted by Coyne announcing the dockworkers were refusing to work after a laborer was unfairly fired by Pappalardo. He then ordered Scaletta to follow him and Coyne in order to intimidate them into getting back to work. As they confronted them and were about to leave after a minor scuffle, Pappalardo called Scaletta by name, which made one of the dockworkers, a friend of Scaletta's father, recognize him and question why Scaletta would be working for Pappalardo after he, unbeknownst to Scaletta, killed his father. Scaletta then turned his gun on Pappalardo and Coyne, who relucantly admitted it and briefly backed away. Scaletta took some workers, and they engaged in a shootout with Pappalardo and his men, with Scaletta killing Pappalardo and avenging his father's death.