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Stephen "Steve" Coyne (died 25 September 1951) was an enforcer in the Vinci crime family. The right-hand man to capo Derek Pappalardo, Coyne and Pappalardo were both killed in 1951 by Vito Scaletta after he found out about their involvement in his father's death.

Biography[]

Coyne was born in 1902 to a family of Irish and Dutch descent in Boston, Massachusetts. He moved to New York City at age 16, and was sentenced to 10 years in prison shortly after for beating an NYPD officer after he tried to arrest him for battery. While in prison, he met Vinci crime family capo Derek Pappalardo, and started working as muscle for him, which he continued doing after his release following five years of his sentence, serving as Pappalardo's man on the ports and supervising the dockworkers union. During the Vinci-Moretti war of the 1930s, Coyne aided in ending the conflict by placing a bomb under Tomaso Moretti's car in 1933 on the orders of Leo Galante and Carlo Falcone, the latter of whom would subsequently take over the family. He also fulfilled Pappalardo's orders in 1943 by killing incompetent dockworker Antonio Scaletta, going on a stroll with him while he was drunk then drowning him in the lake to make it seem as though he slipped there after an alcoholic stupor. In February 1945, he gave Scaletta's son Vito a job at the port and helped him out due to his friendship with up-and-coming mobster Joe Barbaro. He also helped Scaletta and Barbaro in beating down the Greasers gang in April 1951 as retribution for them having gravely injured his cousin.

Death[]

On 25 September 1951, Pappalardo requested Scaletta's help in breaking up a labor revolt by some workers urging Pappalardo to hire back a union member who hurt himself while working. Pappalardo, Coyne and Scaletta went to confront them armed with shotguns and submachine guns, hoping their presence would be enough to deter them, but the dockworkers refused to back down, leading to Coyne hitting one of them in the stomach with the butt of his gun. As they left, Pappalardo called Scaletta by name, and an old dockworker and acquaintance of Scaletta's father recognized him and started questioning why he worked for Pappalardo who, unbeknownst to Scaletta, had his father killed. Scaletta then turned his gun on Coyne and Pappalardo, who retreated momentarily, but Scaletta chased after them with the help of some dockworkers, and after a shootout, killed both Coyne and Pappalardo, thus avenging his father's death.

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