Santino "Sonny" LoSpecchio (1913 - 1968) was an Italian-American mob boss who was based out of The Bronx, New York City during the 1960s.
Biography[]
Santino LoSpecchio was born in The Bronx, New York City in 1913 to a family of Italian immigrants. He turned to crime as a boy in order to provide for himself, and he soon became a respected neighborhood mob boss. In 1960, he was charged with shooting a man
in defense of his friend Carmine, whom the stranger was attacking with a baseball bat. Calogero Anello, a young boy, was brought in to identify the suspect in the shooting, but Anello refused to identify anyone, and LoSpecchio took a liking to the boy due to his respect and loyalty. By 1968, LoSpecchio and young Anello were friends, to the dismay of Anello's father Lorenzo Anello, a modest bus driver who disapproved of the criminal lifestyle. LoSpecchio later assisted Calogero in breaking free of his friend's gang, "Deuces Wild", although Calogero's friends all died in a Molotov cocktail explosion during a racist attack on African-Americans shortly after. Anello then headed to LoSpecchio's home to thank him, but LoSpecchio was shot in the head by the son of LoSpecchio's 1960 shooting victim. Anello mourned LoSpecchio's death, as he was another father figure to him.