Historica Wiki
Advertisement


John "Johnny Sack" Sacrimoni (8 February 1954 - 2 September 2007) was boss of the Lupertazzi crime family from March 2004 to Mid 2007, succeeding Carmine Lupertazzi Sr. and preceding Faustino Santoro. Sacrimoni was Lupertazzi's longtime right-hand man as his underboss, and he became boss after a bloody power struggle with Carmine Lupertazzi Jr.. Sacrimoni was later imprisoned, and he died of lung cancer in a federal prison at Springfield, Missouri in 2007.

Biography[]

Johnny Sacrimoni was born in New York City, New York in 1954, and he became a member of the Lupertazzi crime family. Sacrimoni became a high-ranking member of the family, serving as Carmine Lupertazzi Sr.'s underboss and right-hand man. He came to operate out of his social club and construction site, and he handled political pay-offs and bid-rigging for the organization. Sacrimoni became known for his scheming and political manipulation, and he deceived DiMeo crime family capo Paulie Gualtieri into revealing information about his own family, including Ralph Cifaretto insulting Sacrimoni's obese wife Ginny. Sacrimoni was defensive about his wife, and he sought permission to kill Cifaretto to defend his wife's honor. However, DiMeo boss Tony Soprano and Lupertazzi both knew that Cifaretto was key to running the Esplanade construction site in Newark, and they secretly plotted to kill Sacrimoni, although this hit would be called off when Sacrimoni cooled down and called off the hit on Cifaretto. Sacrimoni would later plot with Soprano to kill his own boss due to his opposition to Lupertazzi naming his own son Carmine Lupertazzi Jr. as his successor, but this hit would be called off when Soprano and Lupertazzi came to a compromise about Soprano's Frelinghuysen Avenue operation.

In March 2004, Lupertazzi died of a massive stroke at his country club, and Sacrimoni sought to usurp the title of boss from the late boss' son, "Little Carmine". Both New York factions suffered heavy losses, with Sacrimoni's faction losing Joey Peeps and Billy Leotardo at the hands of DiMeo family member and Little Carmine's associate Tony Blundetto. Soprano had Blundetto (his own cousin) whacked to bury the hatchet, but the moment was cut short when Sacrimoni was arrested by the FBI following Jimmy Petrille's decision to turn states. Sacrimoni remained in control of the family from jail, but he made Phil Leotardo his acting boss. Sacrimoni was later allowed to attend his daughter's wedding for six hours, but he was dragged away in handcuffs before he could see his daughter and groom leave. Sacrimoni's removal from the wedding in tearrs was seen by some as a sign of weakness, but Soprano knew that all bets were off when it came to daughters. At the wedding, Sacrimoni had asked Soprano to whack capo Rusty Millio, fearing that he would once more act as kingmaker now that he was in prison, and Soprano had two Neapolitan imports kill him.

Sacrimoni's lawyer secretly arranged a deal with the government, even after Sacrimoni refused his suggestion to work with the FBI, and Sacrimoni pled guilty to 47 RICO charges to prevent a massive asset seizure from leaving both him and his wife destitute. Sacrimoni was fined $4.1 million and sentenced to 15 years in prison, effectively forfeiting his position as boss, while living his wife a comfortable amount of money. Sacrimoni also gave a formal statement acknowledging that he was a Mafia member, breaking omerta (despite not naming any of his associates). During his incarceration, he fell ill with lung cancer after 38 years of chain-smoking, and he died in federal prison in Springfield, Missouri.

Advertisement